2017 Jeep Renegade

[florida_trailhawk]

Do you have any pictures on how it blocks out the plug and filter for oil changes by chance? When we get them I may just modify them prior to install.

no pictures but it's pretty straightforward blocked. the skid covers the entire underside of the engine and transmission. I just got back from doing Georgia Traverse so once I catch up on life I'll perform and document creating an oil change hatch. I'll post in this thread when I do.

 

[Directive51]

This is great! I love seeing something like this instead of another Wrangler. Keep it up!

 

[florida_trailhawk]

This is great! I love seeing something like this instead of another Wrangler. Keep it up!

thank you!

 

[307 Expedition]

Alrighty, this should be fun. Before anyone asks, yes I thought about getting a Wrangler instead. There are tons of reasons why I chose the Renegade, but that's a story for another time/thread. I also thought about getting a Renegade Trailhawk, but did not. Also a story for another time/thread.

In September of '17 I picked up my new daily driver, my first off-road vehicle, and my designated adventure-mobile. 2017 Jeep Renegade Latitude 4x4 with what is called the "Altitude" package - basically a bunch of black where there is normally chrome, nicer seats, and more electronic gadgets. It matches my designated fun-mobile, and I like nice seats and electronic gadgets in a daily driver...it was a shoe-in purchase for me.

My mission is clear: build a vehicle that helps me quench my desire for exploration and adventure while remaining a sensible daily driver that won't make my clients and coworkers recoil in the parking garage and call an Uber. Also it needs to fit in as many parking garages as possible.

To that end, I made a generic build plan with three phases:

1. Camp Ready
2. Trail Ready
3. Overland Ready (just kidding. Camp Ready + Trail Ready = Overland Ready)

...and immediately got to work researching. This vehicle came to market not even 3 years ago, so the aftermarket community is really just beginning to pick up steam.

This will be a running thread, as I'm nowhere near completion of this build.

Here's what I've done so far (in a somewhat chronological order):

Camping Stuff

• Yakima "Load Warrior" roof basket - turns out this is going to be way more useful as a trail thing, because...
• Smittybilt "Overlander" RTT - I dig it
• WeatherTech floor and cargo mats - barely used, less than half-price
• A convenient subfloor compartment [thanks, Jeep] full of axes, machetes, shovels, ratchet tie-downs, and bungees
• Basic arrangement of one 18gal Rubbermaid and one Yeti 35 that all fits nicely in the rear - I will be building my own slide drawer for the cooler and drawers to replace the bin in the near future

Trail Stuff
2-way with CB-style remote mic/speaker - works for now, will definitely upgrade eventually
some Quick Fist mounts on the basket for shovel/axe, whatever I need to bring that day

Currently Taking Up Space in my House Awaiting this Weekend's Big Install Day

• BFG KO2 255/55/18 - about as big as it gets without major mods
• 1.25" Rugged Ridge spacers (yes, hubcentric) - needed to clear struts in the front and to rectify the fact that the Renegade looks like a kid wearing skinny jeans in the rear
• A laundry list of parts to convert to the Trailhawk front bumper, and Trailhawk front and rear recovery hooks. Generally, a bumper cover, three incredibly beefy recover hooks, front and rear impact bars, a bunch of brackets, a TON of bolts, some miscellaneous clips, and countless hours of sweat and tears pouring over some of the worst factory part diagrams I've ever seen in my life and then scouring the internet for new and used parts. I'm sure the blood will come during this weekend's installation.

Coming Soon to a Theatre Near You

• Underbody armor: ATP motor/trans skid and center carrier bearing/exhaust skid. Their rear diff skid is in prototyping right now, so that will come, as well.
• More recovery/trail gear: a hi-lift, an ARB snatch strap, some traction boards (brand TBD)
• Auxillary lighting: a 38-40" lightbar (brand TBD), probably single-row

Down the Line

• More armor: Rocky Road Outfitters makes some real nice sliders for the Renegade, but I have a fabricator on-board and willing to take a shot at building some, instead. TBD.
• More auxillary lighting: I have some ideas to build some cubes into the euro-only rear reflectors which have a clear center, which would be nice for late-night forest road maneuvers.
• Interior gear storage: build the aforementioned drawer and slider system. Really on the fence about this one, but will most likely end up doing it because I like building stuff.
• Exterior gear storage: at some point I'd like to come up with solutions to get one jerry can or rotopax mounted (you would not believe how small this thing's fuel tank is), and a hi-lift and shovel. This will likely require me to break out the calipers and computer and design mounts myself that I can send to a buddy's shop for manufacture. Far less exciting than it may sound.

Anyways, here are some pics. I'll update after the weekend installations.

View attachment 50123 View attachment 50124 View attachment 50125 View attachment 50126 View attachment 50127 View attachment 50128 View attachment 50129 View attachment 50130

Nice build. Have you thought of getting an ATP lift? We have a 2017 Compass and I really want to put on their 4” lift. ATP has a great video of a Renegade with their 4” lift. Renegade/Compass are some amazing 4wheelers.

 

[florida_trailhawk]

Nice build. Have you thought of getting an ATP lift? We have a 2017 Compass and I really want to put on their 4” lift. ATP has a great video of a Renegade with their 4” lift. Renegade/Compass are some amazing 4wheelers.

Thanks. I'm not sold on the quality of the ATP lift kits, but either way I'd have some clearance issues with my garage and the roof top tent so I won't be doing a lift. It gets me everywhere I want to go as-is!

 

[hamiltonj2w1]

Thanks. I'm not sold on the quality of the ATP lift kits, but either way I'd have some clearance issues with my garage and the roof top tent so I won't be doing a lift. It gets me everywhere I want to go as-is!

We have the Teraflex lift on ours and the shop that installed it for us said so far the Teraflex kit is the nicest one they have seen so far. That being said we had some issues with swaybar endlinks clunking so we just run them disconnected all the time.

I want ATP's front skid but after the run around they gave me for our A pillar light brackets I doubt I will be buying anything from them in the future.

 

[Loki_the_Renegade]

Nice build. Have you thought of getting an ATP lift? We have a 2017 Compass and I really want to put on their 4” lift. ATP has a great video of a Renegade with their 4” lift. Renegade/Compass are some amazing 4wheelers.

I have the 2" lift, full skid system, light brackets and limb risers. You do lose a "little" clearance but that rings true with any other skid plates. Renegades are great Jeeps, very versatile without a huge price tag.

 

[billiardspintail]

This thread kind of kicked my butt into gear. I have had to get rid of my FC, so the Renegade has become the shoe-in for my overland car. Keep us updated!

 

[Kutthroat_King]

I enjoy my '15 Trailhawk with the 2.0" AVID lift, Eibach springs, Atturo Trail Blade X/Ts @235/65R17, RRO Winch bumper and Smittybilt xrc winch. I still need to remove a skid plate screw that busted on me so I can put the RRO prerunner plate on below the winch. Taking it up to MI next month for KOAR to give it a workout.

 

[Densarc]

Nice builds all around any updates... someone posted a comment about replacing the whole front bumper with a metal one any ideas on where that can be purchased. Had a Jeep Cherokee classic 1998 had to let it go. thinking about replacing it with a renegade but they don't seem as customizable

 

[MtnManAlex]

Nice builds all around any updates... someone posted a comment about replacing the whole front bumper with a metal one any ideas on where that can be purchased. Had a Jeep Cherokee classic 1998 had to let it go. thinking about replacing it with a renegade but they don't seem as customizable

Avid makes full steel bumpers. Daystar makes a winch mount bumper too. The Renegade is nowhere near as customizable as an old xj Cherokee. The after market support seems to be growing but it is still not that big. In spite of that, I’d pick a renegade over an XJ for overlanding because of the fuel economy, creature comforts for hours/days of travel, and even though it’ll probably never have solid axles and 40s, it handles well in a lot of off-road situations.

 

[TD Bauer]

I leased a 2018 TH Renegade before I got into overlanding. Been thinking about buying out the lease now and modding it a little... or just ride it out and bump up to a Ranger in 2021. This thread caught my attention. Nice looking Renegades. I've taken my TH version all over upper Minnesota and Wisconsin and it does well on forest roads, fire trails, two tracks, snow, mud.. It's a fun little runner, I have to admit.

Thanks for the inspiration!

 

[CoffeeBeard]

Alrighty, this should be fun. Before anyone asks, yes I thought about getting a Wrangler instead. There are tons of reasons why I chose the Renegade, but that's a story for another time/thread. I also thought about getting a Renegade Trailhawk, but did not. Also a story for another time/thread.

In September of '17 I picked up my new daily driver, my first off-road vehicle, and my designated adventure-mobile. 2017 Jeep Renegade Latitude 4x4 with what is called the "Altitude" package - basically a bunch of black where there is normally chrome, nicer seats, and more electronic gadgets. It matches my designated fun-mobile, and I like nice seats and electronic gadgets in a daily driver...it was a shoe-in purchase for me.

My mission is clear: build a vehicle that helps me quench my desire for exploration and adventure while remaining a sensible daily driver that won't make my clients and coworkers recoil in the parking garage and call an Uber. Also it needs to fit in as many parking garages as possible.

To that end, I made a generic build plan with three phases:

1. Camp Ready
2. Trail Ready
3. Overland Ready (just kidding. Camp Ready + Trail Ready = Overland Ready)

...and immediately got to work researching. This vehicle came to market not even 3 years ago, so the aftermarket community is really just beginning to pick up steam.

This will be a running thread, as I'm nowhere near completion of this build.

Here's what I've done so far (in a somewhat chronological order):

Camping Stuff

• Yakima "Load Warrior" roof basket - turns out this is going to be way more useful as a trail thing, because...
• Smittybilt "Overlander" RTT - I dig it
• WeatherTech floor and cargo mats - barely used, less than half-price
• A convenient subfloor compartment [thanks, Jeep] full of axes, machetes, shovels, ratchet tie-downs, and bungees
• Basic arrangement of one 18gal Rubbermaid and one Yeti 35 that all fits nicely in the rear - I will be building my own slide drawer for the cooler and drawers to replace the bin in the near future

Trail Stuff
2-way with CB-style remote mic/speaker - works for now, will definitely upgrade eventually
some Quick Fist mounts on the basket for shovel/axe, whatever I need to bring that day

Currently Taking Up Space in my House Awaiting this Weekend's Big Install Day

• BFG KO2 255/55/18 - about as big as it gets without major mods
• 1.25" Rugged Ridge spacers (yes, hubcentric) - needed to clear struts in the front and to rectify the fact that the Renegade looks like a kid wearing skinny jeans in the rear
• A laundry list of parts to convert to the Trailhawk front bumper, and Trailhawk front and rear recovery hooks. Generally, a bumper cover, three incredibly beefy recover hooks, front and rear impact bars, a bunch of brackets, a TON of bolts, some miscellaneous clips, and countless hours of sweat and tears pouring over some of the worst factory part diagrams I've ever seen in my life and then scouring the internet for new and used parts. I'm sure the blood will come during this weekend's installation.

Coming Soon to a Theatre Near You

• Underbody armor: ATP motor/trans skid and center carrier bearing/exhaust skid. Their rear diff skid is in prototyping right now, so that will come, as well.
• More recovery/trail gear: a hi-lift, an ARB snatch strap, some traction boards (brand TBD)
• Auxillary lighting: a 38-40" lightbar (brand TBD), probably single-row

Down the Line

• More armor: Rocky Road Outfitters makes some real nice sliders for the Renegade, but I have a fabricator on-board and willing to take a shot at building some, instead. TBD.
• More auxillary lighting: I have some ideas to build some cubes into the euro-only rear reflectors which have a clear center, which would be nice for late-night forest road maneuvers.
• Interior gear storage: build the aforementioned drawer and slider system. Really on the fence about this one, but will most likely end up doing it because I like building stuff.
• Exterior gear storage: at some point I'd like to come up with solutions to get one jerry can or rotopax mounted (you would not believe how small this thing's fuel tank is), and a hi-lift and shovel. This will likely require me to break out the calipers and computer and design mounts myself that I can send to a buddy's shop for manufacture. Far less exciting than it may sound.

Anyways, here are some pics. I'll update after the weekend installations.

View attachment 50123 View attachment 50124 View attachment 50125 View attachment 50126 View attachment 50127 View attachment 50128 View attachment 50129 View attachment 50130

Excellent post! Some great looks at what I can do with my renegade

 

[florida_trailhawk]

Excellent post! Some great looks at what I can do with my renegade

Good luck with your Renegade! I thoroughly enjoyed mine but unfortunately was struck by another vehicle in a very awkward spot back in January and, due to frame damage, it ended up being a total loss. Still here if you have any questions about them, though!