The Autism Family Travels updated vehicle build. Take two! 2015 Jeep Patriot altitude.

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Enthusiast III

1,212
Grand Falls-Windsor, NL, Canada
First Name
Steve
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Adams
Well,

I was all set to start building the Jk Unlimited for our travel rig, but life gets in the way sometimes. I let "annie" go to a new owner last week. While it hurt letting my second JK leave the driveway, It opened a new era for the Autism Family Travels family. We are now free of the loan we were paying on it, plus insurance etc. We are now focusing on our 2015 Patriot as our rig. We have owned this little gem since new when i traded the worst purchase of my life on it. My 2001 Harley Davidson Road Glide CVO. Harleys....VOMIT!

Anyways. We are gearing up for this year's adventures, so I need to get cracking on the build of the Pat in the next month. We will be adding the front runner roof platform for extra carrying capacity, a travall cargo divider inside to keep us safe from flying gear, the rocky road winch mount and light mount with a 5000lb winch. I am keeping it lightweight on this build. Underneath will be new Moog springs, daystar 1.5" lift, new AT3W falkens and bilstien shocks. For lighting we are going to get some great LED headlight bulbs with correct harnesses, 2 hella 450 LED on the front light mount bar, and two hella 350 lightbars in pencil beams for the underside of the roof rack. In the fog light housings, I am going to get the LED blubs that you can switch from white to selective yellow by cycling them on and off. I may go with a set of LP adventure wheels too. Although the wheel spacers and stock wheels look pretty good on it now. We also need a trailer hitch and wiring so reese to the rescue with that and their class 3 and full plug and play harness.

Inside I am getting ready to mount the tablet in the "cubby" in the dash, so we have all our nav/entertainment apps available and ready to use, as well I am getting some mini CB installed as well. We need to have extended LTE service so A weboost booster will be installed with it's antenna in the headliner so all our devices receive the boost signals from it.

Underneath, we will be installing the skids on the engine and gas tank from the FDII Patriot, as well as the tow hooks. The added protection and pluckability of the tow hooks will be welcome additions. Also a new high capacity battery will be installed for the fridge in the rear.

All in all it will be a well rounded adventure rig made to do some light backcountry adventures. No rock crawling but it will mosey up trails decently without too much trouble.

A shot of our pat with it's wheel spacers and 235/65/17 Kumho AT51 installed. These tires are good, but had an odd handling trait where they were very "flighty" at center and slightly off center on the highway.

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Enthusiast III

1,212
Grand Falls-Windsor, NL, Canada
First Name
Steve
Last Name
Adams
Next up is new rolling stock as the AT51s are now done. that's since 2017 on them. We got our money's worth for sure. I am not sure what we are going with, but it's not going to be the AT's. I can't get past that flighty feeling on center. We have lots planned for this year and our little pat. I have been in contact with King Springs and we are going with their springs and Bilstiens for spring/damping duties. I think we will be going with the front runner roof platform. and Rocky Road for their front light mount and winch mount. Might as well go whole hog on this one, it's going to be our off road rig for quite a while now. I am starting my new job in the next month or so and I am getting a nice fuel efficient car for on the road!
 

Enthusiast III

1,212
Grand Falls-Windsor, NL, Canada
First Name
Steve
Last Name
Adams
Bringing back this one. Updates galore! We now have our suspension ordered and will be delivered in 4 weeks. We have our tires ordered, ETA TBD! ha ha. I am in the process of getting the trailer hitch thats in the shop installed but I am sidelined by Covid at the moment. There is a bunch more stuff I will be ordering ASAP. We made our last payment on the Patriot this week so it's paid off. That money will be funneling into getting it completely done over the next month. The ordered parts list is as follows.

- rough country full 2" lift with shocks/springs/LCAs
- Falken AT3W 235/65/17
- Front LCAs
- Moog rear UCAs with adjustability to get alignment correct
- Rocky Road front light bar
- Hella 450 Driving lights with 55w 4300K HID installed for moose spotting duties (4 on the roof rack is our preferred setup but we will see how it goes, This may have to change to FF75s if there is not enough space, but I can return the lights).
- Hella 450 Fog lights with 35w 3000 HID and selective yellow housings for pea soup fog we get in Newfoundland
- stock roof rack cross bars
- roof rack platform

We will be getting other things after this first round of parts, but this needs to be done asap so it's all back to good for travel this spring!
 
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Enthusiast III

1,212
Grand Falls-Windsor, NL, Canada
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Steve
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Adams
Some updates on our little pat. The Rough Country lift with four shocks and springs should be here in 2 weeks. They (my local dealer) had to order it direct so we are waiting on this all to arrive. The falkens will be here by May 24. The LCA for the front are a little over a week out. After we get pat driving great again, I will be installing the exterior accessories then! Pictures to come As soon as stuff arrives!
 

Enthusiast III

1,212
Grand Falls-Windsor, NL, Canada
First Name
Steve
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Adams
2015 is MUCH improved via the 2010 FDII I owned. The CVT is pure sewage in the patriot. Our 6sp has very close to the low gear ratio of the FDII plus a way higher top end gear ratio. Best of both worlds with none of the reliability issues that plague the CVT from Jatco.
 

Enthusiast III

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Grand Falls-Windsor, NL, Canada
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Steve
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The tires are here!!!!!!!. Bringing the wheels to the tire shop for mount and balance this morning. I will take pictures of all the new gear today. We are installing them tomorrow with a big wrench day. We also have to install a new track bar on my friends LJ. It broke up in the woods. He drove it home. Needless to say it was friggin sketchy on the way back.
 
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I am sure you are busy with all this, but just a friendly reminder that we are out here waiting on pics! LOL
 
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OTH Overland

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Steve, was just telling my wife about you guys, as she has worked with autistic and diferent abilitied kids and adults, turns out she has been following your facebook for a long time....and found you from somewhere outside of OB. proves again how small the world is. Love that you are building a Patriot, always enjoy when someone selects a vehicle platform not in the limelight. (also she did mention you could post a bit more on facebook ... and we are senior aged grasshopers so our patients is limited...lol) Keep up the good work.
 

Enthusiast III

1,212
Grand Falls-Windsor, NL, Canada
First Name
Steve
Last Name
Adams
Steve, was just telling my wife about you guys, as she has worked with autistic and diferent abilitied kids and adults, turns out she has been following your facebook for a long time....and found you from somewhere outside of OB. proves again how small the world is. Love that you are building a Patriot, always enjoy when someone selects a vehicle platform not in the limelight. (also she did mention you could post a bit more on facebook ... and we are senior aged grasshopers so our patients is limited...lol) Keep up the good work.
We have not travelled anywhere besides visiting our other son who lives in St. John's. We have been basically sheltering in place. I will tell you and everyone here, our platforms will be much "busier" this season. The weather has just started to break here, it's only 42 deg here today and I have to crawl under the pat for a few hours replacing the parts. NOT going to be nice. We should be on the move in 2 weekends when I get my next weekend off from work. Stay tuned. Lots of fun stuff coming up! Tell your wife to spread the word about our website and FB page etc. :smiley:
 
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