Land Rover ideas for Jeeps

Vinman

Observer
I often thought about replacing the rad in my manual tranny equipped Jeep with one from an auto equipped model and use the new rad’s auto tranny cooler as a heat exchanger to warm up water for showering or heating up water for other uses.
A couple of hoses and a cheap 12 volt RV water pump should work great.
 

oldnslow

Observer
When I replaced a radiator in a 1987 Chevy truck a few years back, I was told the replacement was for an auto or manual, the tranny cooler was there to use or not. It was cheaper to put the cooler in all units than to make 2 separate parts. Your idea sounds like a good one, and easy to source the radiator.
 

jscherb

Expedition Leader
I did some searching to see if I could find anyone who uses the transmission cooler section of a radiator to heat water and I only found one reference to someone actually doing it.

A friend in our Club tried this route with his Explorer. It didn't even come close enough to getting tap water warm enough, let alone icy mountain water. He got a heat exchange coil and ran it that way. It wasn't quite enough. So he did both. He has a brief writeup on our site:

http://xsorbit27.com/users5/lethbrid...hp?topic=544.0

Definitely a mod I WANT!!

Icy cold water to borderline too hot.

The quoted post (on another forum) was from 2006 and unfortunately the link above no longer works so we don't know the details. But it seems to indicate that the transmission cooler section of the radiator wasn't successful in heating water.

If anyone has a successful example of using the transmission cooler section of a radiator to heat water please post it.
 

jscherb

Expedition Leader

This was the other version I was going to do had I not found the synergy version
That one has a nice looking heat exchanger and it looks like they have options for higher capacity ones as well.

Exchangers like the one in the kit in my original post on this subject are reasonably priced on eBay.

eBayHeatExchangers.jpg
 

jscherb

Expedition Leader
While we're on the subject of heating water, how about where the water is stored? For the Defender there are several custom-fit water tanks on the market, here's one from Safari Equip Co. (https://www.safari-equip.co.uk/shop...ater-tank-1/defender-110-lhs-rear-water-tank/). I believe Front Runner makes a similar one in plastic.

DefenderWaterTank.jpg


I'm not aware of any custom-fit water tanks for the Wrangler (other than the AEV bumper tanks) - does anyone know of a Wrangler-specific tank on the market?
 
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bitbckt

Member
How much water exactly would you want to carry for this luxo-barge shower system?

There are secondary fuel tanks that might offer some ideas for mounting location and capacity.
 

jscherb

Expedition Leader
How much water exactly would you want to carry for this luxo-barge shower system?

There are secondary fuel tanks that might offer some ideas for mounting location and capacity.
I posted the Land Rover water tank to see if anyone knows if there's something similar for the Wrangler, but I don't personally need one - I'm happy with a 20 L Swiss military surplus water bladder. The sun heats it up when it's on the roof rack and it's got a thermometer so I can tell when it's hot enough.

Thermometer.jpg


Works great with my Power Shower...

PowerShowerTest1b.jpg


PowerShowerTest1c.jpg


I can carry lots of extra water in Rotopax on various mounts around the Jeep, and my Trail Kitchen sink draws water from the Rotopax, so between the Swiss bladder and a number of Rotopax I'm all set.

BTW Dan Grec did an outstanding writeup on installing an on-board water system in (and under) a Wrangler, anyone thinking of on-board water should study it: http://theroadchoseme.com/diy-4x4-water-tank-pump-filtration-and-treatment. He had to source a tank to fit in the space he had, so I'll put my question out there again - is anyone aware of a tank specifically designed for the Wrangler?
 

bitbckt

Member
Yes, i'm familiar with your setup - I think anyone reading this thread would be - that was a rather pedantic interpretation of "you". I presume you're asking for product development purposes, not your own use, hence my question.
 

jscherb

Expedition Leader
Yes, i'm familiar with your setup - I think anyone reading this thread would be - that was a rather pedantic interpretation of "you". I presume you're asking for product development purposes, not your own use, hence my question.
No, not planning any product development around water systems, just curious to see if there's anything in the Wrangler space and if so, where it would mount and how.
 

jscherb

Expedition Leader
Fourby, the company that sells the water kit I mentioned the other day, also lists these folding steps on their web site. They show them bolted to the side of a Defender for accessing the roof rack:

FoldingStep1.jpg


FoldingStep2.jpg


FoldingStep3.jpg


They list them for 39.99 GBP, which is about $53: https://fourby.co.uk/epages/950004277.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/950004277/Products/STEP001

It would be risky to try to bolt these to the thin fiberglass of a Wrangler factory hardtop to place them as shown on the Defender above, but I use this type of step bolted to the door hinges and the tailgate hinges of my JKU. I posted about it earlier in this thread: https://expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/land-rover-ideas-for-jeeps.218029/page-23#post-2850345

These steps are available from many sources. I got mine at Iowa 80; they sell both black ones ($14.99) and stainless ($36.99):

Stainless: https://www.iowa80.com/pd/stainless-steel-folding-step/12800/

Black: https://www.iowa80.com/pd/black-folding-step/00977/
 

shays4me

Willing Wanderer
I'm not aware of any custom-fit water tanks for the Wrangler (other than the AEV bumper tanks) - does anyone know of a Wrangler-specific tank on the market?
While it isn't made for the Wrangler, this gent built a nice setup on his JKU!
I am planning on doing something similar to this in the spring depending on some life changes that may be happening next month and wherever that leaves me. I would like to fill the tank from my AEV rear bumper instead of cutting a hole in the Jeep.
 

jscherb

Expedition Leader
Some ideas for Gladiators? The Winter 2022 issue of Land Rover Monthly features this HiCap pickup on the cover:

Kingsmen1.jpg


It's outfitted for shooting, and has two drawers in the bed with a nice wooden floor above the drawers.

Kingsmen2.jpg


The right side drawer is for guns and the other is for drinks. I never thought guns and alcohol really went together but maybe in the U.K. they do :)

Kingsmen4.jpg


Kingsmen5.jpg


A couple of interesting things...

On either side of the drawers are power outlets - on the left 240vac outlets (the standard in the U.K, bottom photo) and on the right side (top left photo) are 12v outlets and a battery monitor.

Kingsmen3.jpg


The top left photo above shows a repurposed fuel filler bezel with air and water connections. It's also visible in the first photo in this post.

The drawers/power outlets could be done in a Gladiator; and what about repurposing a fuel filler bezel the same way on a Wrangler? I took a quick photo of my dirty JKU and did a little photo editing - driver's side on the left, edited passenger side on the right... I didn't put any connections in the edited bezel, I'll leave those to your imagination:

GasFillerRepurpose.jpg


Wouldn't be hard to mod a fuel filler bezel like this and for protection an aftermarket fuel filler door could be added. Would be an OEM-looking way to add outside connections to a Wrangler.
 

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