As our Jeep sneaks up on 50,000 miles we felt it was time to start hitting those items that tend to have wear issues. The intention is to change out the factory items and replace them with upgraded, aftermarket, items to reduce the possibility of breakage in the middle of nowhere and provide more durability. The first round involved replacing the weak drag link that came with our lift kit years ago, replacing the front lower control arms with upgraded adjustable arms to fix some alignment issues and bump steer issues, and replacing the worn sway bar links. All the parts were supplied by Teraflex (they have been great at getting us what we needed). At the same time we replaced the front driveshaft with a 1310 shaft from Adams Driveshafts. We knew the shaft would need replacing due to us running a 3-inch lift but were surprised the rear CV had gone with only 45,000 on it. Shortly we will be contacting Teraflex again to address the tie rod and tie rod ends as well as ball joints.
After testing and experimenting with different setups and gear over the years, we set our minds on the direction we want to go with overlanding and the gear we want to run. To accomplish this we have a separate phase of our overhaul and that is centered on gearing out the Jeep. The first mod was to get with Kargo Master Safari for a Congo Pro rack, cat walk, door hing steps on the front doors, and a Stealth platform. We then picked up an ARB Simpson III roof top tent. While outfitting the outside of the Jeep we picked up an Engel 35l fridge and tested it on a couple trips. Why we waited so long to get one was beyond me.
The main focus of our overhaul, and the main focus of this thread, is in the cargo area of our Jeep. The intention of the overhaul is to get things organized and user-friendly, and to reduce weight or try to move it around. Weight has become a big issue since adding the rack and RTT. All of our modifications are limited to the cargo area since we need the back seat to stay usable for day-to-day use and since the dog goes with us on trips (she stretches out on the back seat and sleeps while we are driving).
The first step started yesterday with removal of everything in the back of the Jeep leaving a massive pile of stuff on the garage floor. We then started pulling interior panels from the cargo area before the rain started ending our day. The interior panels are coming out to make room for the kitchen modifications we want to make. The kitchen we have in the Jeep I made myself and we have gone through several versions over the last couple years to figure out what works and what doesn’t before building the final version. Replacing the panels with panels I am making will allow us to include drawers to store gear we presently have in molle bags hanging from the cargo net.
I will be posting as much information as I can remember so others can see what we are doing and how we go about it.
View attachment 37954
After testing and experimenting with different setups and gear over the years, we set our minds on the direction we want to go with overlanding and the gear we want to run. To accomplish this we have a separate phase of our overhaul and that is centered on gearing out the Jeep. The first mod was to get with Kargo Master Safari for a Congo Pro rack, cat walk, door hing steps on the front doors, and a Stealth platform. We then picked up an ARB Simpson III roof top tent. While outfitting the outside of the Jeep we picked up an Engel 35l fridge and tested it on a couple trips. Why we waited so long to get one was beyond me.
The main focus of our overhaul, and the main focus of this thread, is in the cargo area of our Jeep. The intention of the overhaul is to get things organized and user-friendly, and to reduce weight or try to move it around. Weight has become a big issue since adding the rack and RTT. All of our modifications are limited to the cargo area since we need the back seat to stay usable for day-to-day use and since the dog goes with us on trips (she stretches out on the back seat and sleeps while we are driving).
The first step started yesterday with removal of everything in the back of the Jeep leaving a massive pile of stuff on the garage floor. We then started pulling interior panels from the cargo area before the rain started ending our day. The interior panels are coming out to make room for the kitchen modifications we want to make. The kitchen we have in the Jeep I made myself and we have gone through several versions over the last couple years to figure out what works and what doesn’t before building the final version. Replacing the panels with panels I am making will allow us to include drawers to store gear we presently have in molle bags hanging from the cargo net.
I will be posting as much information as I can remember so others can see what we are doing and how we go about it.
View attachment 37954
