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Traveler I

Hello everyone!
Rig: Ripley, my 2013 Jeep JK 2 door

I’m a student and backpacking enthusiast, soon moving to Bend, OR to complete a BS in biology. Last year, I discovered the vlogger IAmJake and was deeply impressed by his unconventional CJ build. When I discovered the high cost of renting a moving trailer, I decided to reduce my belongings to the contents of 4 Plano sports bins +clothing and instead invest in my own 2 door camper.

I have a relatively shoe-string budget, so new tires, expensive racks, sweet lifts and dope bumpers are definitely out of my budget. My humble mods include:

-Barricade roof rack with a custom fabricated extension
-Garvin wind deflector
-Barricade locking fuel door
-Redrock stubby antenna
-Rugged Ridge hitch kit Bestop back rack
-TeraFlex 1” leveling kit
-5x5 1.5” wheel spacers
-Bushwacker rocker panel and sill plate
-Airshock suspension for the rear
-Opar grab handles
-Tuffy-made glovebox, hood lock and trunk box.

For sleeping, I push the passenger seat forward and string an Eno doublenest from the passenger side grab handle to the opposite back roll bar. The center console sits too high, but removing the lid is an easy fix.

My cooking setup, as of now, includes a Coleman double burner propane stove, propane lantern, cooler and a water container (yet to be purchased). Water filtration will be achieved with a Burkey water filter for over night filtration, and an OR ceramic filter for water on the go.

While some of my choices were definitely aesthetic, I tried to achieve maximum benefit as cheaply as possible. My mods will allow me to save on lodging and food, as long as I choose my camp sites carefully. I have a soft top, so security will always be a concern. My rig is definitely not trail worthy yet and I have almost no advanced tools for recovery, but with careful driving it can overland me across the country. My top weight is currently about 200 lbs.

In the future, when I’ve reached my destination, I plan on retooling this lady with more trail-worthy upgrades.

I am currently workshopping the build and correcting problems, if any overlanding vets have any advice, I am open to suggestions (within budget, of course!)
 

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ToplessSpyders

Rank I
Launch Member

Traveler I

233
New Jersey
Member #

1521

nice, where have you found to roam around here?
I haven't been around here at all except to the parks, Rausch and AOAA. I go up to Vermont a lot and there is so SO much up there at varying levels of difficulty. I just got back from Arizona and Utah and already getting jittery. I want to plan another trip if possible.

Daniel
 

SubeeBen

Rank V

Advocate I

2,309
Alpine, CA
First Name
Ben
Last Name
Jacques
Member #

10566

Thanks dude! I see you installed a winch on your stock bumper, I didn't know that was possible
Yea it’s a lot more work than pulling stocck bumper off & slapping a steel aftermarket bumper on but I wanted to keep the weight down as most bumpers are in the 100 to 130lbs weight range. Any questions let me know. Also looks like you have stock rear bumper ? If interested you can hold up to 8 gallons of water in stock rear bumper, add a 12 diaphragm pump, & you can have running water on your rig.which I’m in the process of doing. Any questions on that let me know or plenty of YouTube videos on that.