Overland LJ

[piratenation90]

Rear bumper install cont






The tire is at the lowest of 4 heights in this picture but I have since had to raise it up one spot due to the carrier spacer plate where it makes contact with the tailgate bumper digging into the tire. All in all I am pretty happy with the quality of the bumper. Not seen in the pictures is the frame tie-in brackets that are included with the bumper. The brackets installed fairly easy, it did take a while to drill through the frame though. I am not set on the cb antenna mount location yet, in my new garage I have to take it off every time I put it in and it is not properly grounded either. I will more than likely move it to the tire carrier and run a grounding wire from the passenger tail light.

Old setup vs new setup

 

[en480c4]

1st khaki AEV highlined I have ever seen, so sweet!

Looks more like an AEV hood with a DIY highline. Awesome regardless... Something I'm considering down the road.

 

[piratenation90]

Jerry cans

So I ordered the LOD jerry can mounts and trail rack at the same time as the bumper. After my last multi-day trip I knew I at least needed to keep a spare 5 gallons of gas so I ordered a metal wavian NATO style jerry can. The reviews were good on it, I knew it would come with the CARB spout but hoped it would still work ok. Let me tell I was wrong, it is such a pain in the *** to use, you always have to put the extender on it or else gas spews everywhere. I will probably get different style (plastic) within the year and retire the metal can to the garage for lawn mower duty. For now it will work but would really like to find a pre-carb nozzle to make it work better.



I ordered a Front Runner 5gal water can with valve on it so I can have easy access to water for cooking, filling up the dog bowl, washing hands and the morning face wash for when the are no creeks nearby. I went ahead and ordered the brass valve. Very happy with the quality of this product and can't wait to use it on my trip at the end of this month.

 

[jgaz]

Bumper looks great. I love the floor jack on the Yeti cooler!

 

[jgaz]

I have the same can. Had the same experience with the #!* CARB spout. This is what I came up with.



I purchased a wedco water can spout from Expedition Exchange. Then I added the hose and a scrap piece of 3/4" OD tube. It works very well especially when filling my generator. I will probably swap the gasket for a fuel rated piece sometime but since I only use it for pouring there hasn't been any problem in the last year since I made it.

 

[piratenation90]

Bumper looks great. I love the floor jack on the Yeti cooler!

Thanks, it was so late at night and it had been a super long day. Didn't feel like man handling the tire every time since I had do a lot of adjustments for the spare tire mount.

I have the same can. Had the same experience with the #!* CARB spout. This is what I came up with.

View attachment 356151

I purchased a wedco water can spout from Expedition Exchange. Then I added the hose and a scrap piece of 3/4" OD tube. It works very well especially when filling my generator. I will probably swap the gasket for a fuel rated piece sometime but since I only use it for pouring there hasn't been any problem in the last year since I made it.

Thanks for the tip!!! I will definitely look into that.

 

[piratenation90]

Some profile pics





Some shots I took in front of my brothers house that my company is building. The garage is the entire bottom floor basically, (2) 18'x8' garage doors 35' deep can easily hold 6 cars.

 

[piratenation90]

New house

Moved to a new house back in May. I really liked my old house, especially the garage (24'x24' with an 18'x8' garage door) but it was in the same neighborhood that my company builds houses in and I would have homeowners knocking on my front door asking stupid questions on the weekends and after works hours, like 8pm on a Friday. The new garage is tiny compared to the old one plus I don't have my nice cabinets. The worst part is I don't have enough room to work on my truck though and working on it in the driveway is not possible (way to steep). Can't really store anything on the side walls due to needing to open the car doors, will probably do a single wall-mounted shelf above head height and put my gun safe and a floor shelves on the back wall.

Old garage


New garage, I used on concrete stain on the floor.



Just to show how tight of a fit it is for my truck, which will not be parked in the garage ever due to it not fitting.

 

[piratenation90]

Trail rack and jerry can mounts install

The trail rack and jerry can mounts arrive extremely well packaged just like the bumper and tire carrier did. They sent me an extra left and right arm so that I can fab up a mount for my new Tred Pro's recovery boards which should be arriving any day now.

They recently change the strap system used to keep the jerry cans in place. It used to be an actual ratchet strap but now it is this metal bracket, not sure how I like it but I guess we will see.

Install was super easy and only took 10 minutes for the jerry can mounts. I stopped by the hardware store to get locking nuts and used those instead of the LOD supplied ones.

 

[piratenation90]

The trail rack was a little harder to install. the holes in the tire carrier didn't line up with the holes in the rack bracket, uggg! So aggressive force was used, but in the end it got put together.





The brackets that hold the cans down aren't snug so for the time being I have just folded up some rags to put underneath the cans. The trail rack is at the 2nd highest setting and right now seems to be the best settings.


I test fitted my 65qt Engel cooler on the rack just to make sure it would fit. Front to back fight is perfect, I don't plane on putting it up there very often because it will basically be inaccessible and unloading a full cooler from there will be a major PITA. Will use the rack for firewood storage on most trips.

 

[piratenation90]

Went on a bachelor trip for my old roommate last month and took the LJ. We rented a cabin in Asheville NC which was great and had amazing views. Since I knew people would be riding around in the Jeep while I was on the trip I left the rear seat in and put the 65qt Engel filled to the top with beer and ice on the trail rack and filled the trasharoo to the brim with firewood. The rear of the jeep sagged about 3/4 of an inch from all the weight on the bumper so in the future the cooler will be kept inside the jeep and will most likely use the rack for firewood. I will however have to start cutting my firewood in smaller lengths, the trail rack dimensions are roughly 16" deep by 32" wide. I should be able to store enough firewood on the rack for 3 nights worth of fires if cut it in 16" and bundle it that way I can stack it above the top of the rail and not worry about it shifting.


The tire carrier opened and closed nice and smooth even with all the weight on it.





Made great use of my grand trunk hammock, took quite a few drunken naps in it over the week.


Although I didn't get to do any offroading we did drive the Blue Ridge Parkway from the Charlotte side all the way to Pisgah to the sliding rock, which was packed but still fun and really cold. Headed to Oscar Blues in Brevard after that to grab some brews and ended up helping them install their new umbrella which got us a free pitcher!!!



Since I was in Asheville I had to stop and get a biscuit at the original Biscuit Head's, so freaking good. If you are ever in the Asheville area and are in need of a good breakfast you have to stop in! They have 2 locations in Asheville and just opened a new one down here in Greenville SC.

 

[jscusmcvet]

Jeep looks great. Really well thought out.

 

[piratenation90]

Georgia Traverse

Back in April I did a quick 1 day 1 night trip on the Georgia Traverse. Started at the SC/GA line about 10am on a Saturday and almost made it to Helen by 10am the next day. Really liked it even though we didn't cover much ground do to us going a nice easy pace and just taking in the views. Thought I would share a few picks.




Had a great time, going to do the full trip next weekend, border to border.

 

[piratenation90]

Jeep looks great. Really well thought out.

Thanks, really appreciate it! Have you done anything to your LJR recently? Haven't seen a new post on it in awhile.

 

[piratenation90]

KC Gravity LED

So I have been meaning to replace a stock fog candles with something with a little more power. I wanted LED fog lights but wanted them to have the classic halogen looks. I came across KC's Pro Sport line of lights (halogen, hid and led) and really liked them. I have been going back and fourth between the KC gravity LED Pro Sports and the HID Pro Sports when I saw Quadratec was running a sale on driving beam Gravity Pro Sports for $320, $100 less than usual so I scooped a set of them up real quick. Really pleased with how they look, haven't been able to test them out yet due to waiting on a special part to get in more on that in the next post though...






Before and After



The lights fit perfectly, the passenger side light barely clears the control module on the SuperWinch.