Jeep My Overland Project, the RME JKU

[Hickey]

I had my E rated 35's at 11 psi for a few hundred miles in and around Moab last week. I could feel a lot more drag at highway speeds, but I could definitely drop more pressure for dirt.

Next time I hit a serious trail I'll try 8 psi. I need to get a compressor to add air first. I was worried about excessive heat on the highway at 11 psi.

 

[Greg]

Great job Greg. I was in your neck of the woods last week. We made our annual trip to Ouray, CO and I was surprised at how warm it was. It was near 100 when we stopped in Green River, UT to grab some melons and didn't cool down much by the time we reached Montrose or Ouray. Definitely the warmest trip to Ouray we have taken. Usually this time of year we are running the furnace in the coach and wearing long pants all week. I was running the A/C in the coach for almost half the week and in shorts. Definitely a strange trip this year temperature wise.

I too like the new BFG KO2's. I have about 4k miles driving on mine and another 2k~ish being towed behind our coach so far this summer. I am very happy thus far with them. I was aired down to around 14 PSI all week and they handled the terrain great.

I think I may copy your insulation installation before I put my hard top back on for the winter.

Mike.

The San Juans have been crazy this year, hardly and snow during winter, then lots of snow late in the season and warm weather in the summer. Even this summer has been odd, hot the first week of July, then thunderstorms and cool weather up until 2 weeks ago. I think we're going to have an epic year of snow this winter!

I'm thinking for E rated KO2's 14-15 PSI is good if there will be roads involved.

If your hardtop is off, now is a great time to install some insulation! I'm hoping the benefit will be just as good when it's cold out.

I remember one time coming out from WW to retrieve a spare tire for someone. I was aired down to 11 or 12. I was in full Baja mode driving behind a SXS. When I got back to the highway he asked me how I kept up with him. We probably hit 60 MPH a few times. Really surprised him.

For sure play with the lower pressures. The heavy pig on load range E will like it. Obviously needing to hit some pavement every now and then will play a role too. I've been known to drive the hour plus from 5MP back to Clearfield aired down to 11. Probably not the safest move I ever made and I never really liked it but also never had any issues.

I think you're totally right about driving in the rocky, rough trails. With the heavy sidewall of an E rated tire on a JKU, running low teens probably works great... especially if you're haulin ass! Next time I'm airing down I'm going to go lower than 15 PSI and see how it works.

I had my E rated 35's at 11 psi for a few hundred miles in and around Moab last week. I could feel a lot more drag at highway speeds, but I could definitely drop more pressure for dirt.

Next time I hit a serious trail I'll try 8 psi. I need to get a compressor to add air first. I was worried about excessive heat on the highway at 11 psi.

Good to know! Some way of airing up is smart when running that low and lots of pavement may be involved.

 

[Greg]

The build has progressed a little more and the Jeep has seen quite a bit more trail time the last few weekends. One of the trips had us slogging thru a 4x4 trail that was more ATV route, with a lot of slow going due to stream crossings, mud holes and way too many rocks. There were a few different moments where I thought we may have to winch out, but the KO2 tires fought for traction and we kept moving. This was on the Grand Mesa, above Grand Junction. With all the mud I was able to see how the addition of mud flaps and the Teraflex rock sliders kept mud/dirt off the sides of the JK and I'm happy to say that about 75% of dirt was kept off the Jeep!

Before moving forward with the roof rack install, I pulled the top off the Jeep for the first time... Not sure why I waited so long, it's a blast to cruise around topless in a Jeep! I almost forgot how much fun it was... next time I'll ditch the doors too.

A couple weeks ago I started a thread about JKU Roof Rack options and settled on the Front Runner Slimline II. The install took several hours, but in the end I was extremely impressed with the design quality of the rack. It's an amazing piece of gear that will easily carry anything I'll ever need. I decided to rig up a hoist to lift and lower the roof rack and hard top, to help with the install and make removing those items easier. My come-along ended up having a shorter cable than planned, eventually I'm going to use something like a small electric winch/hoist. Here's how the rack came together and the install went.

And pics of the rack from the trail, Black Bear Pass last weekend... they're not the best photo's of the rack itself, but it's what I've got for now. I had the Pull Pal on the roof rack, inside of a gun case. It was secure and nice to have outside the Jeep!

 

[sixstringsteve]

Looking good. How are you liking those tires? I'm torn between those and a set of Cooper ST Maxx tires (my current favorite tire).

 

[Greg]

Looking good. How are you liking those tires? I'm torn between those and a set of Cooper ST Maxx tires (my current favorite tire).

I'm very happy with the BFGoodrich KO2, there have been several times now that I expected them to slip or spinout and instead they manage to find traction and keep us moving forward. I don't know that I could find a better tire, they're smooth and quiet on the road and work great offroad.

 

[BlueWolfFab]

Drilling holes into the hard top has gotta get your nerves up

 

[Rock Taco]

It's looking good Greg. Drilling through the top would make me nervous.

 

[Greg]

Drilling holes into the hard top has gotta get your nerves up

It's looking good Greg. Drilling through the top would make me nervous.

Yeah... 16, 7/8" holes in the hardtop... I was pretty nervous.

 

[Bart]

Wow, that rig just gets better and better. Love it.

 

[nnnnnate]

Does the rack attach to the roll bars at all? I can't remember if this was the one that had that feature.

Looks great though Greg.

 

[Skylinerider]

Looking good. How are you liking those tires? I'm torn between those and a set of Cooper ST Maxx tires (my current favorite tire).

I'm very happy with the BFGoodrich KO2, there have been several times now that I expected them to slip or spinout and instead they manage to find traction and keep us moving forward. I don't know that I could find a better tire, they're smooth and quiet on the road and work great offroad.

I second Greg on this. I was torn between the Coopers and the KO2's also, I only have a few hundred miles on my KO2's, but I'm loving them. I think it was worth the extra little bit for the BFG's.

 

[sixstringsteve]

I loved my cooper MAXXs, best tire I've ever had. But I've heard lots of good stuff about these KO2s too. The coopers have an amazing tread compound that flat out works on snow and ice covered roads, yet they don't wear down super fast. I'll be excited to see how these new KO2s do in the snow once people get more experience with them. The coopers and BFGs are about the only A/Ts I can find with a true 3 ply sidewall. That's pretty important to me.

 

[Greg]

Wow, that rig just gets better and better. Love it.

Appreciate it Bart, it's really coming together now. There's a line between well built and overdone... and I'm trying to stay far away from overdone.

Does the rack attach to the roll bars at all? I can't remember if this was the one that had that feature.

Looks great though Greg.

Yeah, it does. It bolts to the roll bars at the back and above the 2nd row of seats. I'll try get some pics of the mounts, they're very well built and do a lot for load carrying capacity.

I second Greg on this. I was torn between the Coopers and the KO2's also, I only have a few hundred miles on my KO2's, but I'm loving them. I think it was worth the extra little bit for the BFG's.

:thumbs:

I loved my cooper MAXXs, best tire I've ever had. But I've heard lots of good stuff about these KO2s too. The coopers have an amazing tread compound that flat out works on snow and ice covered roads, yet they don't wear down super fast. I'll be excited to see how these new KO2s do in the snow once people get more experience with them. The coopers and BFGs are about the only A/Ts I can find with a true 3 ply sidewall. That's pretty important to me.

I've been loving the thick sidewall of the KO2, they seem so well built that I'm not worried about puncturing a sidewall at all. I'm sure that if you tried, you could... but normal offroad use shouldn't be a problem.

This thread need more pics!

I'll work on that... Moab trip coming up in a few weeks.

 

[Hickey]

Wonderbread Jeep Club 1st annual Red Rock Fall Social!

 

[Greg]

Over the weekend I added a bike carrier to the rack, really love how the slats in the FrontRunner Slimline II make it so easy to add items to the rack itself. All you do is drop in a bolt with the head down and the slats are built to hold the bolt head so you can put a nut on the threaded part, facing up. I used a simple bike axle clamp up front and fabbed up a rear tire tie down out of some shallow C-channel and a Yakima loop. I don't like how tight the loop is and didn't plan to use the valve stem as the tie down point, but it's easier than pulling that rubber Yakima loop tight. I'll change it, soon as I figure out a better version.

I bought some steel to build a kayak carrier too, I'll get to that one of these days.

And since we talked about the roof rack to roll bar mounts, here's some detailed pics of those. I had to cut the Hot Heads liners out around where those brackets needed to sit flat against the hard top... that was another unnerving operation!

 

[Skylinerider]

Lookin' good!

 

[Hickey]

Dig that rack!

 

[Greg]

Lookin' good!

Thanks Curt!

Dig that rack!

Me too, it adds a ton of storage space to the Jeep which is very needed for long camping trips (or a trip to the hardware store for some lumber!). I love how well engineered the roof slats are and how easy they've made it to add onto it.

 

[LT.]

And since we talked about the roof rack to roll bar mounts, here's some detailed pics of those. I had to cut the Hot Heads liners out around where those brackets needed to sit flat against the hard top... that was another unnerving operation!

Hey Greg,

Stupid question for ya. Would it have been possible to leave your hot heads liner intact and instead just drill the holes through it? This would have sandwiched the head liner between the bracket and the ceiling helping hold it up.

LT.

 

[Greg]

Hey Greg,

Stupid question for ya. Would it have been possible to leave your hot heads liner intact and instead just drill the holes through it? This would have sandwiched the head liner between the bracket and the ceiling helping hold it up.

LT.

I thought about that, but they are fairly thick (3/4"?) and they don't compress very well. My thought was that if I left the Hot Heads liners in place, the rack would have uneven distribution of weight on the middle mounts with all the load being set on the rear mounts. Also the hardtop would sit on the rear mounts, rather than the tub resulting in a poor seal. I also worried that drilling thru the liners would bunch up the material on the outside, pull it off the insulation and make it look like crap. It was easier (in my mind) to simply trim around the insulation and have the brackets sit against the hard top, as intended.