WY/Moab/SW UT/Sedona ‘22 - and Off Road Camper Build ‘23, and EJS 23

[GATORB8]

Nice! I'm currently 2 hours from you over in Blanding. We just spent 3 days running Hole In The Rock Trail, freaking amazing and gorgeous and some nice rock crawling. Going home tomorrow, if I was going through Moab I'd say hi but we are taking a different route.

Nice, timed it just right for this cold front.

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[GATORB8]

Site turned out nice. Hit Chicken Corners with the guys from the Jeep Talk Show today.

 

[GATORB8]

Got invited to run Top of the World today with Wranglher. Tailgunned most of it. Sorry to @ORACLElights and @RanchoShocks for us slowing you guys down.

@Northridge4x4 rented out Sunset Grill, and made the mistake of inviting us lowly customers to prime rib and an open bar . Not that the company that offers us all an unbeatable forum discount and actually ships fast and when they say needs help, but you guys are awesome!

 

[GATORB8]

Some shots from Poison/Golden Spike last night.

My wife drove Fins and Hells today.

 

[BigMaCro]

Happy Easter Matt, I hope you're having a great time at EJS!

I just stumbled on your trailer build - I can't believe I missed it, but I see it kept you busy! It looks great.

I'm looking forward to an after-action report on the trailer and towing with the 4xe in general, but save it until you finish the long drive home!

It looks like you got the 1 ton long arm axles with 4" lift and brakes, correct?

What are your trailer weights, and do you think that is the right setup?

How about the dimensions, and would you make any adjustments there?

 

[GATORB8]

Happy Easter Matt, I hope you're having a great time at EJS!

I just stumbled on your trailer build - I can't believe I missed it, but I see it kept you busy! It looks great.

I'm looking forward to an after-action report on the trailer and towing with the 4xe in general, but save it until you finish the long drive home!

It looks like you got the 1 ton long arm axles with 4" lift and brakes, correct?

What are your trailer weights, and do you think that is the right setup?

How about the dimensions, and would you make any adjustments there?

Thanks Matt, we had a blast. Jammed out the trip back in 34 hours total (+2 hours for time changes) with stops. We only slept 2 hours on Sunday morning, and all we did was pull in a rest stop and jump in the trailer.

Towing went great, mpg's weren't great, as can be expected, but it's really the small tank that kills you. Ended up at 10.3 mpg on the way out (headwinds were killer), 11.6 mpg on the way back, just under 2k each direction. Power was good, even with 37s and 4.10s. No issues on the steep climbs over the Rockies.

Instead of screwing with a brake controller and installing the harness that Mopar says doesn't work, I used a product called autowbrake: https://getautowbrake.com/ . It worked great and allowed me to run the system with just a four pin (it triggers power from the running lights, so need to turn those on during the day to use them). To be honest, I didn't even turn them on during the day to allow the Jeep to use the trailer weight to regen. Abrupt stops aren't great without the trailer brakes and the physical brakes come on hard once regen gives up. I have it set at it's lowest power setting.

Yup, the 2200 (tonne) long arms with 4" lift. I haven't weighed, but I have to be around 2k loaded since I'm pretty close to the specified compression. Frame rides at a little over 25" from the ground. Brakes worked well. Ordered 5x5s, and I have just enough clearance with +18mm offset and the 12.50s. Only spacer I needed was for the spare mount on the trailer, otherwise all 8 tire/wheel combos are identical. Lugs on the trailer are the JK thread pitch. I am extremely impressed with the suspension, looked like a caddy in the rearview. No sway, no bounce.

I still need to mount up the water tank, but I think I'll be fat with full water, and probably right on 2,000-2,200 fully loaded up dry. Based on droop, I think I'm around 250-275 lb tongue weight.

Lock-n-Roll worked great and is super fast to hook and disco.

Really could use a little more storage, but I think that's one of the things you always want more of. The body overall is right over 4' tall from top of frame, total of 9' long. 2' is the galley and mechanical space in the wedge, 7' is the cab. 5' wide on the walls, about 58.5" usable inside. The tongue is about 60" IIRC, including the 18" or so for the tongue boxes. The remaining 40" is enough to fully open the tailgate when hooked (with the jack stowed).

Should be right around 78" to top of cab, excluding the fan. about 14' tip to tail. IIRC, I 60R/40R'd the axle on the 5x8 box of the frame. That puts my hitch to axle wheelbase around 118", same as the Jeep. It will follow the Jeep no problem at full lock u-turn, and I probably got close to an 80 degree jackknife without issue.

 

[BigMaCro]

Fantastic, I'm glad it's worked out well. I'd like to do something similar, if I could only find the time. That might lead me to buying instead

 

[GATORB8]

Fantastic, I'm glad it's worked out well. I'd like to do something similar, if I could only find the time. That might lead me to buying instead

Now that the lead times have chilled out, it’s hard to say I wouldn’t prefer to have someone build one.

I did a ton of research during the build, I’d be happy to jump on the phone with you to talk through pros and cons of the ones you are looking at if you decide to go that route.

 

[RanchoShocks]

I think one of our rigs ran up there with a friend and he proposed to her on the ledge.
She said yes

Got invited to run Top of the World today with Wranglher. Tailgunned most of it. Sorry to @ORACLElights and @RanchoShocks for us slowing you guys down.

@Northridge4x4 rented out Sunset Grill, and made the mistake of inviting us lowly customers to prime rib and an open bar . Not that the company that offers us all an unbeatable forum discount and actually ships fast and when they say needs help, but you guys are awesome!

 

[GATORB8]

Back at it, water heater install. I’m hesitant to install the shower head holder.

 

[mgroeger]

Back at it, water heater install. I’m hesitant to install the shower head holder.

Gay

 

[GATORB8]

Gay

I knew that would peak your interest.

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