Chili's 2012 JKU Sport - Rock Crawler to Overland Rig

[Craig M]

Thanks Jeff! It's from Rampage but I bought it on Amazon. It's a low install, vs some of the other shelves that sit much higher, but it works for me. I use milk crates for most of the gear underneath the shelf and they fit well.

Quality isn't the greatest, be aware, but it's not terrible either. Overall I'm happy with it.

 

[Craig M]

Well, I ended up getting that platform painted and installed, and then removed it the next day. It made a ridiculous amount of wind noise above about 40mph.. Looks like I may be buying the floor slats after all. Oh well, it was worth a shot.

 

[Craig M]

Pictures to go with the last post..

Here is the (failed) plywood platform installed:


Since that wasn't going to work my wife bought me the 'floor kit' for Father's Day. There is a little wind noise, but nothing compared to the wood platform. In fact, the noise from the tires is louder than anything I am getting from the roof. We'll see how that changes once loaded.:

 

[Craig M]

After installing the roof rack, I knew that I wasn't going to be happy using Action Packers up there as they just sit a little too tall for my taste. Also, they have kept water and dust out in my truck bed trailer, but they stay under the lip of the bed, so they aren't taking any direct wind. On the roof, the very shallow depth of the lid channel probably won't keep contents dry.

I went ahead and picked up some inexpensive trunks from Wally World to try out. The are shorter, but wider than the Action Packers, and have a pretty good lip on the lid. I'm sure they may still let some in, but the contents can withstand a little, and nothing will be ruined.

They also have a single lock point, rather than the double locks of the Action Packers. Hope these work out!

I know the old saying "buy once, cry once" but I really don't think I will be using these more than a couple times a year, so don't really want to commit a bunch of money to the roof rack set-up.

 

[Craig M]

My wife and I are heading up to the Alpine Loop, Colorado area soon (7/8 - 7/15), so last night I started confirming that my ideas for loadout were actually going to work.

Laid out load plans for my rack then weighed contents to make sure I'm ok:


Adventure Abby gave her approval!



In the second row I have the food and drink coolers, and a little seat I made for Abby. She likes to sit high enough to see out of the windsheild, and she's a little big to be comfortable on our laps for long drives. I threw this together with some pvc I had, and some newly acquired fittings. No glue needed.

That leaves one spot open in the rear seat, but we won't have any additional passengers so that will will probably end up with loose stuff for the day. I put a net up in the headliner area too (hard to see) that will carry the down jackets, gloves and toboggans, when not needed.



It uses a generic bed that is supported with some netting. The bed portion can be removed and used in camp, and for her sleeping bed as well.

Trying it out before I painted it:


We still get to use the armrest and can access the center console. We can also stuff stuff under Abby's 'seat'.