TheMike
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- Mike
- Joined
- Jul 8, 2018
- Threads
- 8
- Messages
- 133
- Reaction score
- 262
- Location
- Anchorage, AK
- Vehicle(s)
- Red 2021 JLURD "The Big D"
- Build Thread
- Link
- Occupation
- Supervisor, Air Traffic Control. RETIRED at 51 baby!!!
- Thread starter
- #1
I'm not new to the Jeep world I've build quite a few rigs to include Hemi JK's. I ordered a 392 JL but backed out of the deal after the dealership pulled a fast one. Decided on going with a 2021 Red Diesel instead.
I've done the hard rock crawling and all that comes with it (build, break, repair and repeat). I've also done the overloading thing pulling an Adventure Trailer (Chaser model) and that's where this Jeep is going.
Ordered up a new Diesel with Paul (PaulwithJeep here on the forums). From moment one, he was awesome. Extremely fair, honest, and helpful. Dwayne Lane's in Everett, WA was amazing. Everyone there went way above and beyond what I wold consider good customer service.
As I live in Anchorage, flying down to get the new Jeep was the only option for me. Anything for a trip. But this trip turned into a logistical nightmare. I started buying stuff for the 392 the day I ordered it in November so my garage in Anchorage had a crap load of stuff waiting to install. Things are very expensive to ship up to Alaska so when the plan started coming together to go to Everette to get the Jeep, I had an idea.
A very good friend in Colorado offered up his shop to transform the Jeep. So what I did was have the roof top tent, roof rack, remote battery setup with ARB dual compressor, Trailrax and Rotopax, and Goosegear (platform, camp kitchen, and drawer) and loads of other little things all sent to his place.
As I had lights, winch, an AEV rear bumper and tire carrier all sitting in my garage, I wanted to get all of that to Colorado too. Best kept secret in the airline world is Airline Freight. I had that 480 lbs of stuff, plus all my travel and camping gear palletized and sent on Alaska Airlines flight to Seatle. Get this, $359 to have it send down. Can't beat that!!! Now I can do absolutely everything at one time, play around with it then head home via the Alaska Highway and be self sufficient.
The pallet:
26 Feb - Fly to Seattle
27 Feb - Pick up the Jeep from the Dealership and get palletized boxes from Alaska Airlines
28 Feb - Do some road trip prep with Jeep
1-7 Mar - See some friends, drive to Colorado via Las Vegas
8-14 Mar (Today) - Build the Jeep.
The Rubi is fully loaded to include:
Off-Road Camera
Engine Block Heater
Black 3-Piece Hard Top
Remote Proximity Keyless Entry
All-Weather Floor Mats
Cargo Group w/ Trail Rail System (ended up totally removing this)
Hardtop Headliner
Perforated Leather Black
Steel Bumper Group (removed the rear)
SafetyAdvanced Safety Group
Safety Group
8.4" Radio and Premium Audio Group
LED Lighting Group
Trailer Tow and HD Electrical Group
Cold Weather Group
All packages except smoke & half doors
Here's an overall list of what's going onto the Jeep:
Mopar bumper plates and stuff for the winch
Warn Zeon 10k Platinum Winch
Factor 55 Prolink for the winch
AEV Rear Bumper, tire carrier with Fuel Caddy (YES I DID GET ONE!! in their first lottery)
Mopar 7" LED aux lights and their bumper light bar
Rhino Rack Backbone rack system (3 HD Bars instead of the platform)
Trailgate tailgate table
Goose Gear Platform system
Goose Gear Camp Kitchen 2.3 (I already have a Engle 45l fridge/freezer)
Partner Steel 22" stove
American Adventure Labs Dual ARB Compressor mount and Odyssey battery tray (for the rear cubby)
Amercian Adventure Labs Dual ARB Compressor Remote Kit
REDARC BCDC 1225D - In-Vehicle DC-DC Battery Charger for the remote battery
1500 watt inverter with remote 110 plugs in the rear of the JL.
Trailrax and Rotopax setup
Eezi-Awn Series 3 1800 Roof Top Tent
Eezi-Awn 270 Manta Awning
Rocksliding Engineering Slider Steps
Metal Cloak Hing steps
Motorola MXT275 Radio
I'm sure I'm forgetting something....
The first week of the build was from wake up to bed time. More runs to the hardward/auto part stores than I count and very cut up and bruised hands has got it done. And done RIGHT!
So here you go.....
The new JLURD the night before I picked it up.
I picked up my wife's bike that was in storage in Vegas and towed it to Colorado. (550lbs or so in the back and the trailer tongue has it squatting a bit).
The completed inside (what in there is listed above):
What so many may be interested in is the AEV rear bumper and Tire carrier. I also added their 10.2 gal aux tank.
The front end:
Roof rack and Trailpax:
Motorola GMRS Radio installed now too. Used their "Ghost" antenna and added a magnetic mic mount.
Under the passenger side of the dash, where the LED floor light wire is attached, that screw and hold is used to the mount the radio bracket. Worked like an absolute charm. The radio has to go in an angle which worked perfectly for the antenna wire to come out the rear of the radio and the speaker is facing down so it can be heard perfectly.
What I have waiting to go on are AEV Borah wheels and AEV 2.5" lift. Am doing the lift due to the weight of the Jeep (their lift is made for rigs just like this). It's heavy and I don't have the tent or Awning mounted yet. Only going to 35's as I plan to Overland with this Jeep and 37's are really a waste for my purposes.
I've had the Jeep for two weeks now and drove it 2215 miles the first week. All of it was with about 800lbs loaded and the last half was also pulling 2,000 lbs. Mostly highway. I averaged 24 mpg without towing and 18 mpg towing. Love the diesel!!!
I will post up pics when the lift/tires/tent/awning have been installed. Then when I drive it back to Alaska, I'll take some pics and report back how it does when it's fully loaded and how it works out camping and all that.
EDIT 3/26: AEV 2.5" for the diesel installed. Took all of 5 hours. 37's few days.
As AEV's fuel caddy is/was designed for GASOLINE (Diesel's were not around when they designed them)...I had a friend who does graphics for a living make me a new sticker to cover up AEV's GASOLINE sticker. She's NAILED IT!!
Tires mounted on the Borah’s. They go on tonight after we get the roof top tent mounted.
She’s all put together. Put the tent, awning, tires and rims on today. Tomorrow I hope to open everything up.
I've added a few more things before I finalized the rig and headed back to Alaska.
I added Rock Sliding Engineering Slider Steps and a set of Metal Cloak hinge steps.
I've since driven back to Alaska. I decided on putting the 4 stock 33's on for the drive. Had the 37's and all the original parts as well as a motorcycle in the trailer in tow.
The Jeep did WONDERFUL.
Since getting back to Alaska I've put the 37's on, did some camping and some wheeling. This thing is a beast. I don't regret anything any this point. Less than 2 months old at this time of edit, 7400 miles!
Nothing else to do to it really.
Oh yeah, one more thing....I'm a hug fan of Smart Garage. I have 16 of their motors on my ceiling lifting 2 sets of tires and rims, the hard top, 3 bikes, a motorcycle trailer, and now the roof rack with the tent and awning attached. Takes seconds to remove and even less to attach it again.
I've done the hard rock crawling and all that comes with it (build, break, repair and repeat). I've also done the overloading thing pulling an Adventure Trailer (Chaser model) and that's where this Jeep is going.
Ordered up a new Diesel with Paul (PaulwithJeep here on the forums). From moment one, he was awesome. Extremely fair, honest, and helpful. Dwayne Lane's in Everett, WA was amazing. Everyone there went way above and beyond what I wold consider good customer service.
As I live in Anchorage, flying down to get the new Jeep was the only option for me. Anything for a trip. But this trip turned into a logistical nightmare. I started buying stuff for the 392 the day I ordered it in November so my garage in Anchorage had a crap load of stuff waiting to install. Things are very expensive to ship up to Alaska so when the plan started coming together to go to Everette to get the Jeep, I had an idea.
A very good friend in Colorado offered up his shop to transform the Jeep. So what I did was have the roof top tent, roof rack, remote battery setup with ARB dual compressor, Trailrax and Rotopax, and Goosegear (platform, camp kitchen, and drawer) and loads of other little things all sent to his place.
As I had lights, winch, an AEV rear bumper and tire carrier all sitting in my garage, I wanted to get all of that to Colorado too. Best kept secret in the airline world is Airline Freight. I had that 480 lbs of stuff, plus all my travel and camping gear palletized and sent on Alaska Airlines flight to Seatle. Get this, $359 to have it send down. Can't beat that!!! Now I can do absolutely everything at one time, play around with it then head home via the Alaska Highway and be self sufficient.
The pallet:
26 Feb - Fly to Seattle
27 Feb - Pick up the Jeep from the Dealership and get palletized boxes from Alaska Airlines
28 Feb - Do some road trip prep with Jeep
1-7 Mar - See some friends, drive to Colorado via Las Vegas
8-14 Mar (Today) - Build the Jeep.
The Rubi is fully loaded to include:
Off-Road Camera
Engine Block Heater
Black 3-Piece Hard Top
Remote Proximity Keyless Entry
All-Weather Floor Mats
Cargo Group w/ Trail Rail System (ended up totally removing this)
Hardtop Headliner
Perforated Leather Black
Steel Bumper Group (removed the rear)
SafetyAdvanced Safety Group
Safety Group
8.4" Radio and Premium Audio Group
LED Lighting Group
Trailer Tow and HD Electrical Group
Cold Weather Group
All packages except smoke & half doors
Here's an overall list of what's going onto the Jeep:
Mopar bumper plates and stuff for the winch
Warn Zeon 10k Platinum Winch
Factor 55 Prolink for the winch
AEV Rear Bumper, tire carrier with Fuel Caddy (YES I DID GET ONE!! in their first lottery)
Mopar 7" LED aux lights and their bumper light bar
Rhino Rack Backbone rack system (3 HD Bars instead of the platform)
Trailgate tailgate table
Goose Gear Platform system
Goose Gear Camp Kitchen 2.3 (I already have a Engle 45l fridge/freezer)
Partner Steel 22" stove
American Adventure Labs Dual ARB Compressor mount and Odyssey battery tray (for the rear cubby)
Amercian Adventure Labs Dual ARB Compressor Remote Kit
REDARC BCDC 1225D - In-Vehicle DC-DC Battery Charger for the remote battery
1500 watt inverter with remote 110 plugs in the rear of the JL.
Trailrax and Rotopax setup
Eezi-Awn Series 3 1800 Roof Top Tent
Eezi-Awn 270 Manta Awning
Rocksliding Engineering Slider Steps
Metal Cloak Hing steps
Motorola MXT275 Radio
I'm sure I'm forgetting something....
The first week of the build was from wake up to bed time. More runs to the hardward/auto part stores than I count and very cut up and bruised hands has got it done. And done RIGHT!
So here you go.....
The new JLURD the night before I picked it up.
I picked up my wife's bike that was in storage in Vegas and towed it to Colorado. (550lbs or so in the back and the trailer tongue has it squatting a bit).
The completed inside (what in there is listed above):
What so many may be interested in is the AEV rear bumper and Tire carrier. I also added their 10.2 gal aux tank.
The front end:
Roof rack and Trailpax:
Motorola GMRS Radio installed now too. Used their "Ghost" antenna and added a magnetic mic mount.
Under the passenger side of the dash, where the LED floor light wire is attached, that screw and hold is used to the mount the radio bracket. Worked like an absolute charm. The radio has to go in an angle which worked perfectly for the antenna wire to come out the rear of the radio and the speaker is facing down so it can be heard perfectly.
What I have waiting to go on are AEV Borah wheels and AEV 2.5" lift. Am doing the lift due to the weight of the Jeep (their lift is made for rigs just like this). It's heavy and I don't have the tent or Awning mounted yet. Only going to 35's as I plan to Overland with this Jeep and 37's are really a waste for my purposes.
I've had the Jeep for two weeks now and drove it 2215 miles the first week. All of it was with about 800lbs loaded and the last half was also pulling 2,000 lbs. Mostly highway. I averaged 24 mpg without towing and 18 mpg towing. Love the diesel!!!
I will post up pics when the lift/tires/tent/awning have been installed. Then when I drive it back to Alaska, I'll take some pics and report back how it does when it's fully loaded and how it works out camping and all that.
EDIT 3/26: AEV 2.5" for the diesel installed. Took all of 5 hours. 37's few days.
As AEV's fuel caddy is/was designed for GASOLINE (Diesel's were not around when they designed them)...I had a friend who does graphics for a living make me a new sticker to cover up AEV's GASOLINE sticker. She's NAILED IT!!
Tires mounted on the Borah’s. They go on tonight after we get the roof top tent mounted.
I've added a few more things before I finalized the rig and headed back to Alaska.
I added Rock Sliding Engineering Slider Steps and a set of Metal Cloak hinge steps.
I've since driven back to Alaska. I decided on putting the 4 stock 33's on for the drive. Had the 37's and all the original parts as well as a motorcycle in the trailer in tow.
The Jeep did WONDERFUL.
Since getting back to Alaska I've put the 37's on, did some camping and some wheeling. This thing is a beast. I don't regret anything any this point. Less than 2 months old at this time of edit, 7400 miles!
Nothing else to do to it really.
Oh yeah, one more thing....I'm a hug fan of Smart Garage. I have 16 of their motors on my ceiling lifting 2 sets of tires and rims, the hard top, 3 bikes, a motorcycle trailer, and now the roof rack with the tent and awning attached. Takes seconds to remove and even less to attach it again.
Sponsored
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