Wanda the Wanderer: JTRD with Alu-Cab Canopy Camper

[fourfa]

I was NOT impressed by how the MP Concepts winch plate (included with my bumper) bent when used in anger. I was impressed by the Grimm Offroad solution - one piece, full-width bends for strength, no janky brackets to move around, none of the load carried by the undersize bolts holding the brackets together, smartly skeletonized to reduce weight with no strength penalty. So I went from this:

(note the upward curve in that back corner)

to this:

Bonus, this type of plate is fully and rigidly mounted before the bumper. So the install sequence is winch plate -> winch -> bumper like nature intended. Not the absurd clusterfuck of the old plate - which can't hold itself in place with the weight of the winch on it, so the entire bumper + winch + winch plate has to be wrestled into place all at once.

While in there I assessed a few things after 10k miles. Some of the cables from the control box to the motor were rubbing on the bottom edge of the grille. So I added some clear 3M protection film where the rub was happening:

And added woven loom to the cables in question. It was very clear where the rub point was on their insulation, so this seemed prudent. Finished off with color coded electrical tape because why not:

Replaced the Rusty's winch hook plate I got originally with the Grimm bumper cover plate. Simpler, cleaner. Added a pivoting front license plate holder (required around here, and I have been pulled for it in the past)

One last look at a crap winch plate before it goes in scrap metal

Extra bonus: the Grimm plate is light, 17.5 lbs bare, 20.14 lbs with all hardware. Saved 7.25 lbs in the swap. Total install weight for the aluminum bumper (light, about the same as the plastic bumper), aluminum skid and other hardware that comes with it, winch (VR10 Evo, on the lighter side), plate, and wiring comes to +73.35 lbs.

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[fourfa]

New jack

I had a flat tire on my last trip, which forced me come to grips with how crummy the stock jack is. Right after that trip, I put 37s on and tested the height of the stock jack. Best case scenario, it can get a fully inflated 37" front tire 2.5" off the ground. That doesn't leave much safety factor for soft or uneven terrain. I did consider a jack base to elevate the stock jack - one more bulky, expensive, single-purpose accessory; does the job I'm sure but doesn't deal with the grunt factor using that stock jack. I was kinda shocked how much effort it took to operate in the field, on an unavoidable upward slope, under my heavily loaded rear axle.

After some thought I went for a milsurp HMMVW scissor jack. Since I didn't find a lot of pics or direct comparisons, I thought I'd do a post about it here.
Pro:

• Higher lift
• Huge base plate (basically just a piece of sheet steel welded onto the larger foot)
• Made in USA
• Simple
• 3.5 ton capacity
• Gear reduction head at the input (2:1 or 3:1 reduction in force, really noticeable)
• Definitely fits under an axle with a flat on it (not true of many bottle jacks with enough reach)
• Comes with a nice long sturdy ratcheting handle
• Can drive it with a 16mm socket if you're carrying an impact tool or a big ratchet driver; no adapter needed

Con:

• Heavier (23.5 lbs with tools, or +18 lbs over the stock jack)
• Not so cheap any more (these were ~$60USD as little as a year ago, surplus stock seems to have dwindled and prices risen to $100-200)
• Bulky (doesn't really fit in the stock jack location, the flip up seat has to be jammed down, not trivial to tie down this dense, sharp projectile from a crash)
• Needs an adapter for the round pivoting nub it comes with to jack a standard axle

Problem 1: the axle adapter. You can definitely just buy a couple of pre-built adapters (Agile, Safe-Jack) but I decided to build one myself. Started with an inexpensive leaf spring saddle, enlarged the central hole that didn't fit over the H1 nub, bolted on a small spacer plate, done.

Stock jack (best case scenario jacking from the lowest-hanging point, the LCA):

About 2.5" off the driveway

H1 jack:

6.5" plus the wide base leaves a lot more wiggle room for varied terrain

The remaining problem is where to store it. Stock location interferes with the bottom of the back seat somewhat; you can force the seat down but it feels like the nub on the top might do a little damage to the bottom of the seat, and it won't interface with the stock retain features (M6 nub and thumbscrew). It won't fit in the locking underseat box that came with my truck. If I remove that box it'll fit but still needs to be tied down very securely; I definitely don't want this this flying around in a crash. For the time being, it lives in back in the camper.

I used to use a Hi-Lift in my old Tacoma, but with the articulation on this Jeep using a Hi-Lift as a jack is a Very Bad Idea IMO. Yes, some random large piece of wood might do the job elevating the stock jack for cheap or free. If someone's budget is little to zero, you could stick with stock and a piece of wood, or maybe weld or bolt on a sturdy steel base plate. I'm sure there are other good options too but this one seemed right to me.

 

[antwon412]

Why not get a $20 bottle jack from harbor freight?
They should have no problem, lifting a vehicle high enough to change a 37 when you put it up underneath the axle.

 

[fourfa]

I’ve had $20 HF bottle jacks. They always leak hydraulic fluid, especially when stored sideways and brought up and down in elevation. I’m not opposed to a quality hydraulic jack but they’re actually not cheap, and still typically have puny baseplates so I’d want to fab up a wide baseplate

 

[antwon412]

I’ve had $20 HF bottle jacks. They always leak hydraulic fluid, especially when stored sideways and brought up and down in elevation. I’m not opposed to a quality hydraulic jack but they’re actually not cheap, and still typically have puny baseplates so I’d want to fab up a wide baseplate

Good to know about the leaking hydraulic fluid. I’ve been thinking of getting one. Appreciate it!

 

[fourfa]

The problem with bottle jacks isn’t getting high enough, it’s getting low enough to fit under the axle when the tire is completely flat. Many that reach high enough for the inflated tire are too tall for the flat tire. The ones that work tend to have a double-ram piston. Just something to watch out for - hate for you to find out the hard way after leaving the stock scissor jack at home

 

[fourfa]

Local OHV park has an obstacle course. I needed to get full flexed to check clearances after installing the lift this spring and 37s this summer (Yoko X-ATs from the crazy walmart deal -thank you forum - on Icon Rebound Pros). That was a while ago; driveway checks with jacks and no springs looked good, measuring tape checks looked good, alignment came back dead on (shop only ended up setting steering angle, but it was nice to get the full measurements). But on a CO trip this summer I found a slight rub on the front bumper wings at full bump and full lock. And it turns out, the rear isn't centered at full bump either:

So a couple things to work on.

Small clean-up job this morning; with the extended rear brake lines (part of the Teraflex rear extended travel kit) the routing of the brake and ABS lines gets a little messy due to losing some factory ABS retention brackets. I had it just ziptied in place like this, and it just looks like it wants to grab every passing stick and rock:

Wrapped with thick 1/2" HDPE spiral wrap, cleaned up the zipties, cut and moved the rubber grommet back to the proper spot, and ahhh much better:

First tire rotation on the 37s, and I used just the H1 jack instead of the big home hydraulic jack and jackstands (see photo above) and I'm super stoked on that piece of gear. One nice thing about a 5-tire rotation; there's no need for jackstands at all

So many other things I want to post up:
Electrical build-out: solar, switch and fuse panels, house battery, Anker Everfrost 40 fridge
MOLLE storage everywhere: kitchen supplies on rear door, general storage on front bulkhead
Pass-through space between cab and Alu-Cab: put the side doors on hinges and using the space for MaxTrax (and dog poops)
Seat Jackers with fire extinguisher and flashlight install
VHF/UHF radio install (tech class test tomorrow!)

Also while I was at the OHV park I just had to try out this absurd contraption:

 

[fourfa]

I put a Next Venture Motorsport rear diff skid on. 21 lbs of pure 1/4" steel beef. Very solid.

Only thing I noticed about the install is their lower diff cover replacement hardware. The stock screws are 10.9 M8x1.25x20mm hex head flange bolts, and the extra 1/4" steel mounting rib wouldn't leave much thread into the diff, so they supply M8x1.25x30mm socket head cap screws in grade 8.8. 8.8 would be fine for the specified 26 ft-lbs in a hex bolt, but there's no room in this design for a hex bolt. So unfortunately with a socket head cap screw like this, they all deformed while torquing. I replaced with hardened stainless I was able to find locally, and they torqued right up no problems. You can see how the 8.8s mushed in the socket:

Something to watch out for.

I added Rock Hard 4x4's rear lower shock mount skids (the link is for control arm + shock skid, though I can't use the control arm skid due to my Teraflex upper control arm relocation bracket, which occupies the same space. If you call, Rock Hard will sell their skids piecewise if you want). As noted in other threads, these Rock Hard skids don't actually fit. Not with stock shocks, not with aftermarket shocks. The side plates interfere with how the plastic shaft covers mount to the bottom of the shock. Options are: remove the cover and let the shock shaft get damaged (no thanks), modify the plastic mounts (seems like asking for them to break, no thanks), avoid Rock Hard skids and get Ranchos (too late for me), or modify the Rock Hard skids.

That's the direction I went, cutting a scoop out of each side to clear the shock.

Lastly, the stock lower shock mount bolts are 10.9 M14x1.5x75mm. When you add two side plates of 1/4" steel here, the stock bolt is too short and won't come all the way through the nut. Since it's a taper-tip bolt anyway, there's just not enough thread engagement - you need longer bolts. M14 x 80mm will work, however you'll only find fine-pitch 1.5 tpmm bolts (like stock) in a class 8.8, which is a downgrade from stock 10.9. The stock 89 ft-lbs of torque is uncomfortably close to their yield rating. If you stick to 10.9 - and you should - you'll likely only find coarse 2.0 tpmm threaded bolts locally. For whatever reason, 10.9 M14x1.5 seems to be a specialty bolt. (I felt the 8.8s yield when torquing, so I replaced the ones in the pic above with 10.9 2.0 tpmm.)

Rock Hard does not supply any bolt at all with their skids. You're on your own.

In short, skip the Rock Hard skids. Ranchos or Datin Fab look good

 

[fourfa]

Added a Purple Cranium front diff guard to sorta go with the rear. I like it; simple, fairly light, very rugged. I'll admit the stock cover plus this isn't as aesthetic as the heavy duty covers out there with contrasting machined accents and whatnot. Still it seems to make more sense to me to armor the stock cover than to just plan on an aftermarket cover getting hit and hoping for the best...

Hopefully the "Spider" vinyl sticker will peel off easily; looks dumb. I wish they didn't bother with the welded tag on the front either; at least it's easy to bend back along the bottom rail so it's less likely to catch on things.

No leakage either front or rear while removing 6 stock bolts each to install. Really 5 min job.

 

[fourfa]

Thanksgiving wheeling trip to all three Big Bear BOH trails and Anza-Borrego, went great. I’d never been to Big Bear, and it looks like I could spend half a lifetime on the trails there. We just hit the BOHs and moved on to our favorite Anza-Borrego, but we’ll be back for sure.

After watching a TON of videos of people negotiating The Squeeze on Pinyon Mountain trail, we went for it. Partner was CERTAIN that we were going to be jammed in there for all eternity, but it fit with maybe an inch to spare. Tires didn’t even squeak on the walls or try to ride up. Passenger mirror and door handles made just the lightest contact but if I’d been smart and left the front swaybar connected, we wouldn’t have done even that. The rear axle remains flat for a while when the front axle is dropping down and left, exactly at the moment you want the bodywork to move left. So following the front axle instead of the rear would give you more wiggle room. Alu-Cab never came close - it’s all about tires, fenders, mirrors, door handles.



(bumper contact at the end was driver error - another foot or two forward and I’d have been fully clear)

Camped outside Mojave on the way down. 60mph gusts all night. That dog water dish by the tire blew away, never to be found :/

I’d added differential, front axle-side lower control arm, rear frame-side lower control arm, and rear shock skids before this trip and used them all, heavily. John Bull and Holcomb Creek make a LOT of underbody contact. Finished the job after this trip with the Next Venture Motorsport aluminum + UHMW belly skids:

Can’t wait to get back out on the trail with these. Total NVM skid weight ended up being +48 lbs with this setup.

 

[fourfa]

Picture post from recent trips (Big Bear and Anza-Borrego thanksgiving, Arizona Peace Trail xmas, etc)

Steep climb on John Bull (I think - there was a lot of steep climbing in Big Bear)

Low tech campsite leveling

Nice dark skies in Anza-Borrego

Southwestern AZ got hit with pretty heavy rain shortly before we started the AZPT, lots of muddy puddles early on

Then down towards Yuma it started getting seriously sticky and wet.

This road had been all graded compacted desert dust... then we found a quarter mile where the nearby creek had flashed, jumped its banks, and turned this section into a sea of bottomless mud. We detoured rather than spend two days mucking through that. Even the detour was hard, tons of cut-through canal banks, mud bogs over farm roads, gates on farm roads. Eventually found a way around

Relaxing in Imperial Dunes on the way home. Can't wait to go back and finish the west side of AZPT

 

[GladiatorPilot23]

Thanks so much for all the great info!

For the rear shock and control arm skids Im going with Rusty's. They make a nice on the shock going up more.

I did order the front and rear next venture diff skids.

I order the front control and shock skids from rock hard since Rusty's doesn't make one.

I did Artec for the full skids over next venture. I like the 6061 and more clearance over and less weight then the the 5051 with UHMW. Both are nice but I give the overall on the finish design to Artec.

Interesting you have the stock slider still. I did the JRC Crusader with the step and bolt on.

Right now doing the front CP/Mopar clown bumper and winch with the grimm plate. I also liked the Mopar 3 hoop guard and putting the 4" Baja Design lights under them on the bumper. I also wanted to do the 2024 grill at the same time.

 

[PsyRN]

Thanksgiving wheeling trip to all three Big Bear BOH trails and Anza-Borrego, went great. I’d never been to Big Bear, and it looks like I could spend half a lifetime on the trails there. We just hit the BOHs and moved on to our favorite Anza-Borrego, but we’ll be back for sure.

After watching a TON of videos of people negotiating The Squeeze on Pinyon Mountain trail, we went for it. Partner was CERTAIN that we were going to be jammed in there for all eternity, but it fit with maybe an inch to spare. Tires didn’t even squeak on the walls or try to ride up. Passenger mirror and door handles made just the lightest contact but if I’d been smart and left the front swaybar connected, we wouldn’t have done even that. The rear axle remains flat for a while when the front axle is dropping down and left, exactly at the moment you want the bodywork to move left. So following the front axle instead of the rear would give you more wiggle room. Alu-Cab never came close - it’s all about tires, fenders, mirrors, door handles.



(bumper contact at the end was driver error - another foot or two forward and I’d have been fully clear)

I've wondered if making it through the squeeze with a camper was possible. Gives me hope.

So you would've kept the swaybar connected?

 

[fourfa]

I've wondered if making it through the squeeze with a camper was possible. Gives me hope.

So you would've kept the swaybar connected?

Yes, but only if you follow the exact line I did, with rocks stacked the same as they were for me. We did a lot of fine tuning the rock stacking.

 

[Brandon Glads]

Great ride !

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