2017 Jeep Wrangler JKU "Big Bear" Build

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USStrongman

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May I ask where you got the AEV snorkel prefilter? Cost?...AEV says they don't carry the prefilter anymore.
Make sure you know whether you have the 3" 1st generation intake or 4" current generation. This is where AEV sourced theirs from the beginning. They just dont stock them any longer.


Amazing photography. Gorgeous backgrounds, 3D effects in some of the portraits and a solid rig.
 
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RastaPasta

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UNREAL shots, Tom! I really enjoyed going through the thread. It gives me a lot to strive towards. Keep it up!
 

ttephotos

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Final Prep complete, I am off for a two month trip into Morocco/Baltics tomm evening!

The LP9s are bright... really bright btw

well, let me tell ya boys...COVID fucked that idea just a few days later! Updates coming, Ended up in Portugal/France/England for nearly 5months on the road as we got locked into Portugal and ferry to Morocco shut tight, the truck is certified as a bugout vehicle officially now as I would living in and out of it for a pretty damn long time. I am in Turkey now and can confirm this place is overland paradise. I have until July here so I'm going to put together some photo dumps of what's all happened as I just have not been on forums for nearly a year!

Basic wrap up
Spain
Portugal
France
England
Turkey

Also reviewed the Roofnest and now have an IKamper Mini on the rig. Additionally, MK3 of the drawer system is done and probably the final version, if you are in Europe I can provide a contact for build and installation.
 

ttephotos

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Alright so 2 days into that planned 2 month trip to Morocco and then Eastern Europe I ended up in the Picos De Europa in Spain. (Fuck that ferry by the way absolute gut turner). It was a gorgeous area and a fantastic start to the biggest trip yet, two months straight on the trail. Well, when I came out of the mountains I was bombarded both by command and by the other 7 trucks headed to Morocco with me.. Borders were rapidly closing, Morocco had locked up, and anyway for me back to my previous command had also locked tight. As the Captain at my prior assignment put it, proceed if possible to the next duty location, track expenses, and keep us updated if the situation worsens or changes...
basically.. no support - cowboy it haha.
Now for some folks, this is the worst nightmare come true, for me? All I saw was all the money I had spent on my truck being instantly validated as my inner bugout, prepper, Apocolypse madman came out in full force. It was like if a civil war kicked off and you happened to be that crazy asshole with hundreds of guns and thousands of rounds of ammo hahaha grateful to have been in a position to be more inconvenienced than actually in a bad way - more on our opertunist skills later though.


Second Night in Spain on the coast, I was debating between shooting hard for Turkey or going South to Portugal where another buddy with a truck that was going into Morocco was in Lisbon. Spent most of the evening on phone calls to friends with connections and with previous truck leads to make sure no one else was stuck out similar to me.
Eventually, the decision was made to go south to Lisbon absolutely on a whim as I set the GPS for Austria at first light. In the end some connections were warning that Germany was less than 12 hours from shutting borders and Austria would follow what Germany did. Looking back, the intel was good and I'm glad I went South.
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I hit the ground in Spain in the morning after a fucking absolute hammering on a ferry across the Bay of Biscay to Santander. This was my first view of the mountains and really set the stage for what was supposed to be an incredible two month trip. I got a great track into the mountains, even if it ended up snowed in and I had to come out the same way
and a stunning sunset that evening. Best of all no service, so all the bullshit that was unfolding around me I was left oblivious to until the following morning on my exit.
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Portugal Next...
 
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ttephotos

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My Arrival in Lisbon was quick but very weird, Portugal was ideal as we would find out later that Spain was locking down borders and internal travel for its citizens while Portugal was not doing that and more so just shutting hotels cities etc. Lisbon at least when I arrived was at the beginning of becoming a ghost town but we were able to grab some beers at a bar and chat up the owners about how we all thought we better drink up as it would be unlikely the bar could stay open into the following week without more steady business. Turned out Lisbon two days later become an official ghost town when the orders dropped to shut up and hold out the virus. We had already prepped the trucks and shot off into the woods for a few weeks to enjoy the countryside and keep our distance from folks in case things got ugly. Crazy to think while our friends across the world were having papers checked, being locked into their flats etc we were out hanging in hammocks and moving from camp to camp.

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These streets would become baren in less than 48hrs.. still glad I got to see it a little before we shot into the Portuguese countryside.

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Speaking of.. incase you are like most here and have never been across the pond Portugal has some fantastic tracks to run and until very very recently widely accepted the wild camping mentality!
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This is how we spent our days for the first bit of the pandemic.. not bad boys..
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Now while sitting at one of our camps we began to ponder how we could potentially upgrade out setup and live a little better while waiting for things to open and to better allow my buddy in the Land Rover to actually start his work up again (he was already working off a laptop before he packed up his flat in Lisbon for Morocco).
 

ttephotos

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Well, you see most AirBnBs run off tourism and during a newly establish worldwide pandemic.. well there is not to many of those folks around. Long story short we figured hey lets push out a bunch of offers to nice ass AirBnBs and see if they bite. Some income is good for them, at least better than none, and a place that could offer some privacy and security while providing increased comfort and.. amenities would be great for us.

Boys let me tell you what... we ended up at two separate AirBnBs leaving the first one only because we had secured an even more incredible one for less. Owners were happy to see us even if the rate was let's just say SUBSTANTIALLY lower than what they were used to making and we were more than happy to be staying in spots we could otherwise never afford in our lives.

This final stop we ended up staying for nearly 4 weeks right up the Douro Valley as well for fantastic views and a few acres of vineyard to hike around and enjoy when needing to stretch our legs or get out and about. Eventually, we both got fed up being stuck in one spot and decided after I had checked some borders that we were going to attempt a breakout.
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This place was incredible. Floor to ceiling windows, 4 bedrooms, maid, fresh orange juice from the property, wine and port made on the property and the finest bottles from across the valley stocked, jacuzzi, pool table, security walls, gates to avoid any unwanted attention.. we were well set up.
 

ttephotos

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We for sure got lucky with the Portugal-Spain border. Stopped and held up for nearly an hour as the Police tried to figure out what exactly to do with us. Eventually, it became more of a fuck it as long as your not staying in Spain your not our problem.. and that would basically continue at every border I would come to cross..
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A couple of images from the border scout. We did not stop at all in Spain as the police had supplied us with quite the ultimatum and special documents to show all the Spanish police we would be stopped by from there to France.. They had checkpoints set up even on 6 lane highways.. it was pretty wild. I would find out later that this was childs play compared to France but more on that later. For this stint, the Landy and I decided we would camp out at the dune of Pilat as it's a nice spot and is just across the border. From there we went our separate ways me to meet up with a buddy at his family home near the Swiss border and him back to try and get over at the chunnel into the UK.

Our camp at the dune was great, zero crowd as I think it was illegal to use the beach in France at the time. weird to see such a hotspot so dead and desolate.
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ttephotos

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Just had a full detail, paint correction, ceramic coating, and a protection film put on the sides. Goes in to have rust sanded down on the undercarriage next week then priming and re coating everything
 
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