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For easy things, add a fairing to smooth the air transition from the windshield up over the body. A deflector on the front of the hood might help with this depending on the shape of everything. Smooth out anything you easily can on the undercarriage and make sure the rear bumper doesn't act...

If the suspension is too stiff, there's a good chance the bounce is actually from the tires doing most of the squishing and not the suspension. Are you running the tires at sidewall max? If not, crank the pressure up a bit and see what happens. It'll likely ride stiffer but with less bounce...

Personally, being that I have an inverter big enough to run a small 120v compressor, I just carry one of the $100-ish pancake compressors on trips. It's fast for filling up tires, is usually enough to re-seat a bead if needed and can handle light use with an impact if necessary.

The WJ isn't much heavier than a ZJ FWIW. Excluding some of the early base model ZJs, most similarly optioned ZJs and WJs are within 100 lbs of each other, often a smaller difference than that. Both are around 1000 lbs heavier than a XJ though. The D44a isn't a bad axle, but it needs a skid...

In terms of offroad capability, the 3 are pretty equal (XJ is a little smaller, but ZJs and WJs have a little more tire clearance and are more likely to have at least a rear limited slip from the factory). Transfer case wise, either the 231 (command-trac) or 242 (selec-trac) is fine (XJs came...

I'd consider a 96 - 98 V8 ZJ to be the best of any of those rigs. Engine-wise, they're as durable as the early (95 and older) 4.0s but with more power. The 96+ 4.0s aren't great IMO (they periodically break pistons and the 99+ ones crack heads). 96+ V8 ZJs and WJs have the D44a instead of the...

I'd tend to say use lighter equipment where it's practical, strip out any weight / stuff you don't need (factory parts or otherwise), etc. Figuring on 600 lbs of people as a worst-case, that leaves you 700 lbs for stuff and added vehicle equipment. I'd expect it's quite possible to stay within...

I'm generally a big fan of the side of hood mounts like that. Easy enough to keep the antenna away from vertical metal (provided it's not too close to the windshield), usually decent ground plane (but not as good as the middle of a metal roof), gets the antenna up fairly high (but not as high...

That antenna is mounted way too low. It's too close to all of the metal in the front end, which is likely reflecting back and causing poor SWR. I'd move it up higher on the Jeep (like on one of the front fenders) and it'll likely work much better.

I'd say generally the usable (safe) lifespan of a tire before risk of failure goes up significantly or grip has degraded excessively will be somewhere in the 6 - 10 year range, depending on environmental conditions, usage patterns, etc. If performance / grip is a prime concern, even 6 years may...

"Bullet proof 4.0". No such thing since 1995... After that they all have the pistons that sometimes just randomly break the skirts off for no reason and the later years have the 0331 head issues. In a WJ, the V8s aren't perfect either, so it's down to preference. In a ZJ, get the V8 hands...

I'd say anything not ignition switched goes to the house battery. And even the ACC circuit of the ignition switch (not the ON circuit) should be on the house too.

How many miles per year do you put on the truck? What kind of environment do you normally drive it in (as far as on vs off road, hot vs cold, snow or not, etc.)?

On the X2Power ones, I don't think there's likely to be too much corner cutting if they're willing to offer a longer warranty than Northstar does (3 vs 4 year, both full replacement, no pro-rating). There's no significant price difference either from what I've seen. The big thing that led me...

In the group 34 version, the X2Power dimensions are a hair different than the Northstar. It's also rated at 68Ah (like an Odyssey G34) instead of 65. Both are 880 CCA (Odyssey is 850). Weight is listed as 50.6 for the X2, 51 for the Northstar, so no meaningful difference there. FWIW, the...

I wouldn't say East Penn makes bad AGMs by any means. I've seen plenty of them work well and live good lives. The X2 Power isn't East Penn though, it's a re-badged Northstar AGM. I've had a Group 34 version of it in my Jeep for about 2 years. I don't cycle it down very far on a regular basis...

It really depends on where you're going. If you've got tires with a beefy enough casing and you're not playing around in rocks, etc. it's unlikely that you'll end up with an unfixable flat, or at least one you can't fix enough limp it somewhere. If you're rock crawling, you have a much higher...

I'd say the 8000 series Shurflos are pretty durable. I've got the 8000-543-250 (viton valves, santoprene diaphram) running as a high pressure / flow washer fluid pump in my Jeep. It's survived pumping washer fluid (water / methanol mix) and being somewhat exposed to the elements and baked in...

If you want a fancy AGM, it's Odyssey or Northstar (sold as X2 Power at Batteries Plus). Otherwise, try to find any AGM made by East Penn (they're usually better than Exide or Johnson Controls produced batteries). Last I knew, the Duracell brand AGMs are East Penn, as are the West Marine house...

Personally, for stove use, I don't bother with the 1lb green propane bottles. I carry one of the small 5lb propane tanks instead. The tank is a lot more stable than the cans when standing and it's still pretty small / light / easy to carry around. Plus, any propane place can refill it.