Jeep Rover 110 7 passenger vehicle (JKUR+)

[gavan]

Yeah so it’s the Jeep Africa concept vehicle.

New kid on the way, always loved my Heeps, and I need more room.

So I bought a JK. With a slightly shortened rear.



And sure, I “fixed” it. With a tree and a tow strap and it’s great. Super cheap, don’t care about beating it up, takes the trash out like a champ.



Its now the family favorite and gets more use than any of the other fleet assets.

 

[gavan]

But i have issues. Deep seeded issues. A sever case of cant leave it well enough alone-itis.

Started with a CJ for the trails and ended up with this



Wanted a regular cab diesel 4x4 compact pickup and no one made one I liked, so I improvised.



so not my first vehicular modification challenge.

 

[gavan]

Years ago in SEMA there was a company putting 2 door jk rears on 4 door JKs and I liked the look. And now that I had a wrecked JK in need of a rear repair it made sense. I can’t find that conversion anywhere. But it got my mind working.

As all (most?) of you know the 2 door JK hard top is about 14 inches longer than the JKU hard top. Here’s the opposite arrangement:



And trying to get the door sills to work just seems like a mess. Thats when I came across the Jeep Africa concept



And I realized it looks the same, kinda, as one of my favorite Rovers:



…so I was sold. And the wife is sold on a 7 passenger vehicle. And the kids don’t care as long as the doors come off.

 

[gavan]

Extending the back of the JK is easy.

Its the hard top that will be a slight problem. Or at least more custom-er.

i have the freedom panels and the jku hard top. I know I can dice the front of the jku hard top off, glass it into a jk hardtop, and roll with it.

but I fear it wont look “right”. It will be a lot of same height roof, and both the disco and the Africa have a bump up over the back, and I think that really helps sell the look.

jscherb made the great LJ top, but it won’t work on the JK. He’s tempted us for years with an expo top for JKs, and that might be the Smittybilt design. I know he just prototypes and taunts us



But of course too short. And no freedom panels, which I actually think are a pretty awesome thing Jeep did.

but they have a 2 door top




and I am kinda thinking I can slice the front of my jku top, glass it into the front of the 2 door top, and have a rise for the back and the freedom panels up front.

it is similar to the GaZell camper, but that slides in like a truck camper and won’t work for my application


so that’s where I am.

 

[gavan]

Thoughts? Upgrades? What have I missed?

Its a rubicon, or a rub on now



So 4.10s, lockers, 4-1 xfer case, it will do all the 4x4 stuff I need.

I will do the “Jk special” and throw 35s, 3 inch lift, etc at it because I’m too lazy to air down for beach trips and 35s will get it across the sand at road pressure here.

but that hard top. Am I missing anything? Anyone have a better hard top idea?

 

[jscherb]

Parts from a 4dr hardtop + parts from a 2dr hardtop should get you where you want to be:

 

[jscherb]

For the full Africa experience, it would be nice to add a barn door too...

 

[gavan]

Oh as much as I love a barn door, and it’s a lot, it’s a Jeep and it needs a tailgate. I am a CJ guy at heart. An I know and understand that a barn door is “better” but it’s not a tailgate!

Hey, we all have our vices.

I “fixed” it with a poison spyder tailgate and I’m good with it.

 

[gavan]

Extending the frame means I can put the spare under the body with a regular pickup spare winch. It’s not ideal, but it will be good enough for what I want and make the tailgate much more feasible.

Ive measured and looked and figured and I think I have the hard top deal down but do you think it would be visually appealing without the extra height bump of the safari type top?

 

[sylgeist]

I’m sold on the idea. Do it!

 

[jscherb]

I've measured and looked and figured and I think I have the hard top deal down but do you think it would be visually appealing without the extra height bump of the safari type top?

I don't really like the "flat top" look even at stock length, and as you can see from my hardtops I much prefer the raised roof profile.

A couple of Gazell photo edits for you...

1. Flat top. What the result could be from splicing some 4dr and 2dr hardtop parts together:

2. "Safari" roof profile with one alpine window:

 

[gavan]

If you are feeling charitable on the photo shops can you try one approximately with the flat freedom panels and the single alpine window, with the bump coming up somewhere at the beginning of the rear doors?

I am not a photo artist:/

 

[jscherb]

If you are feeling charitable on the photo shops can you try one approximately with the flat freedom panels and the single alpine window, with the bump coming up somewhere at the beginning of the rear doors?

I am not a photo artist:/

Happy to help.

The design challenge is the distance the center of the Freedom panels go back past the front doors - the raised section can't really start until the back of the panels.

In my opinion, that results in an awkward look for the raised section, it's seems out of balance to me.

You could extend the sides of the raised section to the front of the rear doors and the center of the raised section could go back to the back of the panels, so the side view would be better but other views would probably look strange when the center of the raised section being pushed back is visible.

 

[zgfiredude]

So much fun! I'll be following this one for sure!

I agree that this last "design" looks a bit odd, but when you understand what's going on up there.....somehow it makes it ok. I don't mind it all that much for the combo of the two features.

 

[locrwln]

Great concept I’ll be following. I was totally in love with the Africa concept and really wanted Jeep to build it.

Jack