2020 Power Wagon JUXI Build and Trip Thread

jupp0r

Active member
Stars aligned and my Thuren kit was delivered earlier. It’s really quite a difference in handling. Less bump steer, much more firm ride on the highway. I haven’t taken it offroad yet (just a fire road), but it seems to swallow potholes quite well.

febdec85b9a2cd3e3e428eac8a85f46e.jpg

88d89f69d0113302c1c44157c0875191.jpg

bf05908189768ce26b08b0e4a32c6611.jpg

0f2548a8f4944e78af4881e38207e9e1.jpg

e4611d5dd6e09b4d2904e99f81376245.jpg


All the King parts (2.5 shocks and steering stabilizer) are backordered and I’m lucky if they arrive by the end of the year.

Next projects are installing a third cross bar without taking the tent off the roof tomorrow and extending the diff breathers with an ARB kit that I bought sometime later.

Super happy to test all of these mods out on a trip to Coyote Flats in 2 weeks with some good friends.
 

Tex68w

Beach Bum
Looks good! I installed the same kit with reservoirs on my 3500 yesterday. We had hell getting the passenger side front coil spring isolator pad realigned up top. I feel like I notice more vibration through the front end with the heim joint on the track bar, checked all of the hardware and everything is torqued properly so who knows. I've got an alignment on Monday so maybe that'll go away with proper alignment and steering. I ordered the King's as well but like you I doubt we see them delivered in 2021 lol. Let us know how it does on your trip in a few weeks.
 

jupp0r

Active member
Just a little mod I did over the weekend was to install a third cross bar under the roof top tent. The Rhino Rack Vortex bars I’ve been using are rated for 220lbs per pair. The tent weighs 160lbs, so why install a third bar?

Two reasons:

First, Rhino Rack says their rating is for in-road use only and you should subtract one third if the rated weight from that for off road use, which would be 145lbs.

The second reason is that I’d like to install an awning which weighs 60lbs which would definitely push the load over the rating.

So I ordered various parts, which took several weeks to arrive. Roofnest was really quite fast to ship me two pairs of aluminum slot bolts and I also got a pair of the amazing security brackets by WheelEveryWeekend. While the RoofNest has been generally great, the mounting hardware the ship with is pretty low quality. When I took the OEM bolts off I broke 3 because the threads had stretched when tightening. The aftermarket brackets come with proper 10.9 grade bolts that were so much better and came off without problems.

Now the damn awning just has to be delivered in time for our Colorado trip end of June.

In the meantime, we’ll head out to Coyote Flats next weekend, I’m pretty psyched to see how the suspension performs in the rocks up there.

5d2691038affc1a783756170752b0038.jpg

1406509fcff000c254dffac3ef281728.jpg

7babd917fd56b8f1593ea11a23d1a893.jpg

e9bcd3cd9914aafc0410cb8c07c4b185.jpg
 

jupp0r

Active member
One small mod that I did last weekend was to extend the front diff breather into the engine bay. I used the ARB diff breather kit but didn’t use their tubing and fittings but bought barb fitting adapters that thread into the filter end and used some oil resistant tubing.

I found a suitable existing bolt hole next to the washer fluid filler so I didn’t even have to drill.

I forgot to take pictures of the final install but you get the idea. The nice thing about the ARB breather is that it has 4 ports so I can do the transfer case, transmission and rear diff later. These have much higher factory breather ends than the front diff so it’s not that important to me.

3480eb37ed44474b8f0bed2e493d0b1d.jpg

c8ee444436c03e95c990e759e9854478.jpg

27625fcdbdd2b00be6fc81eed86f4f7a.jpg

9c79a52487370f5ca4ca74c109e446f3.jpg

dcbe4878891150c2ccf7077ee36f0d8d.jpg

b7c0b25b76baf0b5a9466acb09c36986.jpg
 

NateC

New member
Awesome build thread; thanks for taking the time to document it!

If you don’t mind sharing, what are you thoughts after having the Chassis Unlimited bumper for several months? Thinking of getting a rear one for my truck and interested in real-world feedback. Thank you!
 
Last edited:

jupp0r

Active member
If you don’t mind sharing, what are you thoughts after having the Chassis Unlimited bumper for several months? Thinking of getting a rear one for my truck and interested in real-world feedback. Thank you!


Works great so far, no complaints. I haven't really used it much but the clearance makes a huge difference.
 

jupp0r

Active member
So we got back from our road trip to Colorado. The truck performed really well (more on that later).

Here are some truck pics!
dd1409273b339a90bcd6529975cf66c0.jpg

Waiting for one way traffic in front of the Zion Carmel tunnel

3ccb7242611526a09ea438bda37e0fe1.jpg

North Rim Campground, Grand Canyon National Park

605c5741b47abb78fb09644f55708706.jpg

We drove to Point Sublime and camped there for 2 nights (permits required). We met two other parties while we were there and had the point for ourselves!

ba2929ab80d4e63da848b84e74e7f093.jpg


9a3be3c642c8a31ca3bda75ec3bc217e.jpg


56d2f78bee2d5bb347ce979bc0502218.jpg


aa74f0093b26b6ff112bbc7a82f39309.jpg


8545a73c2a485ac2bf16ef42a5c53bc6.jpg


Next stop from there was Alstrom Point overlooking lake Powell. There was flash flooding the day before and we had to drive through some nasty mud. Almost got stuck one time, lockers saved me ;)

5acc81ee531a792142af4b6a6e141e95.jpg

A lot of that mud is still under the truck 4 weeks later.


80e192cc16f819bbf0551ef7b6e3e905.jpg

Nobody but us at Alstrom Point, probably because of the mud.

27f7cafac05251585ab2479bd9626535.jpg

Pretty awesome views of Lake Powell right from the campsite.

460a78c68e401558a4d8b902cf78727b.jpg

We headed on via Smoky Mountain Road towards Escalante.

8c3bf3a078042a90a8b71f191729d4b1.jpg

Smoky Mountain Road was easy but really cool and varied.

I wanted to hike into Buckskin Gulch, but the weather forecast was sketchy (my second time at the trailhead without good weather to go in).

c6abb929ea18bdeaf5ed1108e555ce92.jpg

We camped at Goblin Valley State Park, awesome campground.


b64a68dba4866974f32cc511b537d94f.jpg

Next day we hiked little wild horse canyon.

aee30249172051753e7b0c1ff3ca913e.jpg


From there we drive to Moab and started the White Rim Trail.

b878724b13554010a8881339a48bd99a.jpg

Colorado River Overlook

36e41fcbd9f4e1dd8c4e3ced622e2d41.jpg

First camp was Airport

95696f1ba2cfd64cae89587bc1fc37cd.jpg

Lots of driving along cliffs with amazing photo opportunities. There was always plenty of room though.
 

jupp0r

Active member
71c84d49968faecfbb7446feaa68023a.jpg


5156105132a4a152a6e55c31f8f5790d.jpg

Next camp on the White Rim for us was Murphy Hogback. On the way up there was a somewhat steep rocky hill, easy for us.

60ad6a665f498d320571e2425b497522.jpg

Quite a view from the campsite if you walk 3 minutes to the canton edge.

5f613763475dc6c8bf867cd91ca6b7ba.jpg

We parked along the trail the next day and explored Hohman Slot Canyon

562afa889eb7f463ca2612539f66c7da.jpg


a1957267d5bb4b64584d32d151e3f3c0.jpg

The next camp was at Potato Bottom. It was 110 that day but thankfully there was a trail to the river so we could cool off.

375d431040082ed882df8a4741e9307e.jpg


edfb8ac84c530d457545fde57d3b14e0.jpg


0e6cea3da1108d0437d39602cc50ff37.jpg


888901e2422569cb702a645d0f2d2a82.jpg

One part was quite narrow for the Power Wagon (but nothing compared to the Colorado shelf roads a few days later ;))

4a48064b1d0bc0f8c1df94c75b259e3d.jpg

Not much room

3c0bf143c645edbc2d2ebbd2cc9329ef.jpg

After completing the trail, we did a nice hike on r tree he island in the sky where you could see the trail and the rim below.

b5ce1e20e7fcc1fb057d86acc1ac20ee.jpg

After a night in a nice condo we continued on to Devils Garden Campground in Arches National Park

99534b91df19fa76c9de32764f52fc6e.jpg

Burgers!

7ddb5613c1a34a094f356b01a7e29571.jpg

After that, we met up with our friend Dave and started the Rim Rocker trail to Colorado.

b11ca824dbd41e1bb98e0f9b32b0f1c4.jpg

The first part of the Rim Rocker from Moab to the Colorado birder was quite rough, narrow and pinstripey.

bfb110c3603641471ca366ddb57deaf0.jpg

The trail winds around the La Sal mountains, a great change of scenery after a week in the desert!

08b83d960016d0c7005f5edc1178169a.jpg

We camped at a dispersed site at Buckeye Reservoir. From here on it was all bear country for the rest of the trip.

4cf971110f6fb4a229a5ffc41d897048.jpg


46f0785bf1316066272e88aa4dcda2c2.jpg

The Rim Rocker was much easier than expected.
 

jupp0r

Active member
d70f3f2933ba9aa772edb0f3aa593437.jpg

Last campsite in the Rim Rocker. We tried to stick to the high elevations as much as possible and enjoyed the mild temperatures.

a6874bdf22c4be68847eaca437b695c3.jpg

After exiting the trail in Montrose, we aired up and drive to Telluride, had some really good food there and continued on to Immogene Pass.

34ef8ef8530a126ee6682d8788e86b60.jpg

That’s the “social tunnel” where miners used to meet the girls down from the valley…

192cfabe7232e165a6a49c58024f8032.jpg

There was lots of traffic on Immogene, but everybody was super friendly.

d0cd42f831b104a9be352782ca0a04bb.jpg

Half way up, just above the tree line, a gigantic abandoned mine invited us to take a look and explore.

62cd91423441d2632eaf097bc07fb592.jpg

Old mill

8632247248f31eb69da7036c4742d7fd.jpg

Dave’s Jeep had some overheating problems

60af346552b04f60b475be693d8b4384.jpg

The kids loved playing in the snow the whole Colorado part of the trip.


fd393466f1eb6c8ea64a6b66a8bb1670.jpg

Up at the pass

216fcae3b52d64fa9cddc42efc63ab80.jpg

Marmot

c6eaa6ed03456614dab92ec67fe7ad71.jpg

On the way down. There was one tippy spot and a rock step where we scraped the rear bumper slightly.

fcd4d134bff9def426ce2968ef61890d.jpg

These shelf roads were everywhere on Colorado trails.

f3afed7a3a1c89b8371fa301c94ad5a3.jpg

We found a really nice camp site right next to a river with a waterfall and some abandoned mining ruins

89c8743a6dbfe1518f0d9891f97c3859.jpg


658e1cf3eddd37f38fda02ab1329852c.jpg

While exploring I found this grave of Michael Hastes who apparently loved to drive his Jeep in these mountains

c6b258fa3bec147a8b5f0124762f07b9.jpg

Camp Bird has some old houses that once used to be administration buildings for the mining complex

969b7d44116ef8df015644a097531788.jpg

We continued on to Engineer Pass via Mineral Creek trail

05ba29525d7cc942aee1fe0923b50ad9.jpg

Mining ruins everywhere

681b76815f870239cabd357117f562c2.jpg

Up on Engineer Pass

7f389cca9e9787fd0feb037b29e5c052.jpg
 

jupp0r

Active member
0429b18cb276fdf1439a4570b527bf1a.jpg

Campsite on the other side if Engineer Pass

c89134378c5d209dcb38ec89357d25ae.jpg

There might have been some fancy cooking cooking on that evening

532e45df44824f69c8d397f2bddfc49f.jpg

Close to camp we found this old mining cabin

670a5effcc0d482b4913b5ffa276db5a.jpg

Broken dam on the way down. In general Engineer Pass had tons of interesting mining artifacts to explore.


e690292a6d17829999cb324fea57418e.jpg

We took a guided tour into the Hard Tack Mine on the way down.

90e6cc90709d350030bb9004ac68bc5b.jpg


After that we said good ye to Dave who had to head home and made our way towards Cinnamon Pass where we camped for the night.

d532a964ff8d65105719f7050b8a2ee1.jpg


The next day we drove over the pass to the lovely Ghost Town of Animas Forks.

0c84dd83b845c1d3776502253198a9b0.jpg


There are a couple of really well preserved and restored buildings that can be explored.

a8ea0d80406856c1e91f3f04301f1b98.jpg


46f466fa068499a4566700f47d43660e.jpg


eb89df7f0f2b989bfd13b4f79f421fb7.jpg


1b958420bac547cecb67103b0b1c9435.jpg


7e2e724eb7aa48a8134c7dba4e5c09b9.jpg


This mill was super cool.


Next up were three more passes, all easy, before we would get back to pavement:

California Pass
Hurricane Pass
Corkscrew Pass

d4299a899ce99ecb6933d42d12da3231.jpg

f6c0ab06bd1fb046428c8a0662ce9458.jpg


Heading down form California Pass

65c8b25dfcb98e9db931d3cbd447d73a.jpg


Corkscrew Pass, the colors of the mountains were gorgeous, but we didn’t linger long as a thunderstorm was clearly approaching.

8fbd17d31695cdb9e9185ce9c30c0ecc.jpg


Completing the Alpine Loop (almost, we chose a few harder trails like Mineral Creek were we could), we soon hit pavement, aired up and headed towards Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park where we stayed in the lovely South Rim Campground.

7d94459d550c567525d704b0152bad6a.jpg


e3ad2f52d0ba84ad04613d117ce938e1.jpg
 

jupp0r

Active member
5bb77cf7931bc894efa5dffe21fb1ada.jpg

German Bratkartoffeln

1956978c343fcbfc6ccf57e9ecd34765.jpg

Steak

953591df1eedb6de6bed1397c0817c16.jpg

Oak Flats Loop hike was pretty good, no need to take down the roof top tent, you could hike there directly from the campground.

eca21f698a0291380c021f17a367c3eb.jpg

As always, almost no people once you’re a mile from the trailhead.

7c0df62f9a104ed723d298de7e8f7a96.jpg

Pretty spectacular canyon.

After Black Canyon, we drove highways to Leadville, where we stayed in a hotel for the night (yay showers) and headed up Mosquito Pass the next day.

c8a548d5ef79bf2c78145a695dfcc718.jpg


94f16bb760701a7057667e6097822de9.jpg


The photo looks much less steep than it actually was.

5b496734287c912c4bce2a7e12436ab9.jpg


c6ded73791c5ee8a003aa72837e1fed8.jpg

Some cool mining ruins in the way down

0f6ae19c9fa5b9f8d9f1cad259ce3d99.jpg

Kids loved playing with this tram motor

c086f6eb873b61df681c65fd3ba1bbdb.jpg

Abandoned ore loading dock

f507e63ef50ea090e5c4a280e122fcc2.jpg

Pyrite

After coming down from Mosquito Pass, we had food in the lovely but hopelessly tourist overrun town of Breckenridge. After that we drove the Middle fork of the Swan River trail up into the mountains.

0c4d556833fff14f4fadbdf9f4800366.jpg

Abandoned cabin on the trail was destroyed in an avalanche just a few years ago.

a8840a68cebfd6d266fbfb5915507732.jpg

Up on the ridge

bb7d3154d6305c5131b7bf5b5a473c85.jpg


We took Deer Creek trail down and camped along the way

b968e6618f97366ad71bebf6fd2b2078.jpg


From there we drove to Rocky Mountain National Park where we camped in the Moraine Park Campground for two nights.

c37066ee4b8ec5fa4c98e595b436be4c.jpg


96959f7baf2640f79ee885938a1c1915.jpg

Dream Lake

60009c76e3f15fd6fdd81e9d4677f2b5.jpg

Emerald Lake

2d8001f65f011d3810411d47f8e4fe72.jpg
 

jupp0r

Active member
We drove to the White Mountain Wilderness area and started a couple more days of overlanding. The general area of Blair Mountain was pretty awesome obstacle wise, completely empty and very pretty. We chose the Transfer Trail as a gateway into the general area over some of the easier options.

e10ed6243b63202a5bd4fac9abf5d75c.jpg


Some nice valley views along the way

49234bf457abb0286e2df6fcf00b7e36.jpg


Along the way, we encountered this stranded ZJ that was partially blocking the trail. A nite on the windshield said its steering broke and the owner will be back for a recovery attempt.

9c14d9d2d74ee58ef347c88f2a10e0f9.jpg


There were lots of sheep along the trail

bacb092476bd659ec46aa04f3b31ebfd.jpg


The hardest part of the Blair Mountain Trail was this off camber obstacle. We needed three attempts to find the right line.

7c161aab0a84da8fde578cf4822bcbf4.jpg


Campsite

b9c6bfc5e8fa820eee7a759c467983d3.jpg




2bdee967973054ab569ca68a4966d960.jpg

Steak and potatoes again


d476fa59c0521f15064a58060f0f5152.jpg

Airing up

Next we went to see Dinosaur National Monument on the Utah Colorado border

73a5ee3320f69ddc6b6b1bdb227fd590.jpg

Quarry


419bcf7bac9b566e74c8af185531862f.jpg


f33573f0f15a23a849d8f32a6551137f.jpg

You can touch real dinosaur bones!

3768f16727cb7d2d31a5e208af68401e.jpg


Afterwards, we started our long way back to California with a stop in Bryce Canyon National Park.

377fce2610660ce3217474a52c91359e.jpg


Pretty cool that the truck displays flash flood warnings
 

jupp0r

Active member
14f46c38c82cc7fdf4d9863c4be1dcf2.jpg

Sunset Campground in Bryce

57852cee13c03d3e9585d706e1800a21.jpg

Mushrooms we collected near Blair Mountain

9aed868af02afb1889e460704bba996c.jpg

And steak of course

2a59600786c9637cccdb6b332fe57312.jpg

Bryce Canyon is always unreal

549872a2e83ab1e26748e30bcceb9ec6.jpg

We did the Navajo Loop hime with Wall Street at the end, which we hadn’t done in any of our previous visits.

04f634b5197a88909d8d284dbb6917e0.jpg


7ff595ccf677d418b45c355609363ba3.jpg


0141e01d2e937a4ec329138c1a7ccfd8.jpg


It started raining in the evening so we decided to drive on towards Vegas. The last night we just camped a mile from the freeway on some unnamed dirt road in the Mojave.

That’s it, we got home the next day.
 

jupp0r

Active member
What worked well

1. The truck generally performed great for the trails we did with some caveats mentioned below. Also highway ride was great even fully loaded. The sway problems we had before were almost gone. Thuren upgrades really helped here, I don't think I'll need airbags. There is some slight sag in the rear but I can live with that. I suspect everything will get even better once the King Shocks I ordered in April will be installed whenever they finally ship.

2. After having slept in the Roofnest Condor XL for more than a month now, I'm really happy with it. I had to tighten one side of the ladder mount and loosen the other along the way, that was the only thing needing attention. We had some condensation under the mattress on the colder nights though.

3. My packing system of how to arrange cargo in the back of the truck seemed to work great. It was really nice to have some wiggle room in how to arrange things, for example put the porta potty towards the gate when I know I'll empty it that day.

4. The trails offroad app is awesome for these Colorado trails where there is a mine every mile or so; it's almost like having a tour guide along.

5. The Overland Vehicle Systems Nomadic 270 awning was a life saver in the desert and proved really sturdy. I'm still reluctant to leave it out overnight even when tied down. It's 130sqft of area that the wind can grab.

6. The Decked drawers and SnugTop cap combo keep being a super practical storage system. It's just great to have all the storage space in the drawers being accessible always, even when the rest of the bed is crammed full with gear.

Improvements

1. There was a slight popping sensation in the steering wheel and gas pedal when turning passenger and going slow. I tightened the Thuren front track bar bolts and it got better, but didn't go away completely. I later learned (from the awesome Thuren Facebook Group) that I hadn't tightened the bolts enough and that my torque wrench is probably completely broken. At home I tightened it a lot more (you really need to hang on a breaker bar as hard as you can) and all problems went away. I think the bolts had never been properly tightened to spec by the installer. They probably only used an impact on them.

2. After almost getting stuck in mud in the middle of nowhere on the trail to Alstrom Point with no trees or rocks anywhere to winch off of, I decided to order a Pull Pal land anchor and keep it in the truck for peace of mind in these situations. Sure you can bury the spare tire but that takes hours, which is not great when you're stuck in deep mud that's drying up around you. I went for the 12k lbs Pull Pal model to match the winch capacity.

3. Departure angle is not great. I hit the bumper and tail pipe a couple of times and bent it down towards the wheel pretty badly when backing up once. I think a high clearance rear bumper and some exhaust modifications are in the future of the build. A swing out model would also solve the problem that the spare is taking up a significant chunk of bed space.

4. The roto-molded cooler that I bought just before the trip worked great, but was really heavy to lift up to shoulder height multiple times per day (bear country forced us to put almost everything in the bed overnight). I'm looking into a 12V fridge with a drop down slide, but that's a bigger project because it involves a second battery, tons of wiring etc. Definitely very expensive luxury.

5. The (super reliable) portable Vair 400p compressor takes forever to air up the 37x13.5R17 tires (10 minutes per tire). We spent a good chunk of time on this trip waiting that we'd probably have preferred to spend otherwise. Also we had to idle the engine while airing up, which is not great on the 6.4 Hemi with its lifter problems. I'll probably buy a compressor with more CFM that I'll hook up to an aux battery eventually (see point 4 above).

6. Gearing wasn't great on some of the steeper hills at high altitude. I had to limit gears to 2 because the transmission was hunting for gears even when giving it lots of gas in 4L uphills. I think it's a combination of big tires and high altitude and the transmission shift point assuming I'm still running stock 33s. The best remedy for this would be to regear, but as of today there aren't any aftermarket gears higher than 4.44. If I regeared I'd probably go to 5.13s. Hopefully somebody will make aftermarket gears in the next year or so, I hear that AEV Prospector XL buyers aren't happy either, although the 8 speed makes up for a lot of that in less extreme driving.

7. I need to play around with air pressures more. I went down to 18 on this trip and was afraid to loose a bead. Beadlocks would be really nice to have more flexibility there. I'm still dreaming of 40s on Hutchinsons some day.

8. The rear lockers had some trouble engaging sometimes. I'll replace the rear diff fluids soon and will clean the magnets, hope that helps.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
185,539
Messages
2,875,662
Members
224,922
Latest member
Randy Towles

Members online

Top