The Jack Wagon

vectorsc

Adventurer
I bought the G wagon after wheeling with Jeep guys.

The guy I wheeled with did a great job - and he had to put a transfer case, two factory axles, and three aftermarket axles in his JK.

I have wheeled the same trails, and all that broke was my face when it cracked into a smile.
 

JACWAGN

Member
Hey there folks!

Been a while since our last update. Hope everyone is off to a Happy New Year!
We enjoyed another great year with the Jack Wagon getting to go out to Moab and travel around the southern states.

Since our last post, we are proud to announce that Jack Wagon Overlanding has a few new partners!
We are now a full supplier of ORC, Hutchinson, Fox, Koni, ARB/OME, 463 Industries, Front Runner Outfitters, Gobi Racks, H&R, 911 Motorsports, and a few smaller one off venders.
You can check out our website: jackwagonoverlanding.com to view some of our latest products. We have lift kits, roof racks, underbody protection/skid plates, rock sliders/side steps, bumpers, wheels, and more!
As our catalog continues to grow, our website does not always include everything we have available. If there's something you're looking for and don't see it on our website, email us at jacwagn@gmail.com and we'll be happy to help you locate exactly what you're looking for. To see more of what we do, you can check out our instagram: @JACWAGN

We have been running the Koni Raid Shocks and ORC/Bilstein Blue Springs with the H&R 30mm wheel spacers for some time now and have been extremely satisfied with the setup.

The Koni Raids are extremely beefy and sturdy. They provide a slightly stiffer ride from the stock G550 suspension which is beneficial on road because you don't feel like you're swaying around turns and has not had any negative effects off road as far as being "too stiff".

*For those of you not familiar with the AMG vs non-AMG stock suspensions, the non-AMG (500/550) is known to be looser while the AMG (55/63/65) is known to have a stiffer suspension to accommodate the bigger engine and give it a more "sporty" stance and feel. The ORC/Koni setup sits right in the middle of the non-AMG and AMG stock suspension on the stiffness scale.*

The ORC springs have settled very well also. They have added right at 2 inches of lift with the truck unloaded and we've experienced minimum sagging with the truck carrying over 2000 lbs in the trunk and also while hauling a flat bed trailer.

Because we added two inches to an already top heavy vehicle, we decided to add on the H&R wheel spacers to widen the stance and give an additional bit of stability both on and off road. Before the spacers, the truck drove good at high speeds but this gives some security when making tight corners or facing uneven surfaces. The look is also very nice and the tires sit just outside the non-AMG fender flares.

Before installing the lift, the BFG KM3s (275/70/18) did show some rubbing on the fender liner. We only had slight rubbing at full articulation with the previous BFG KO2s in the same size. Now with the 2" lift, we have no rubbing at all and haven't had any issues post install.

Here's some pictures from our latest adventure out to the mountains of Arkansas showing off the lift and new stance!
Cheers!

Arkansas foggy front.JPG

Arkansas forest.JPG

Arkansas side splash.JPG

Arkansas lake wheel spacer stance2.jpg
 

RideMTB

New member
Great thread thanks for all the great info. I hope someday I too can have a G wagon to thrash off road. For now my extremely boring land cruiser 100 will have to keep me entertained.
 

JACWAGN

Member
Hey all,
A quick update. We have changed our email and Instagram to be more in line with our name. You will now be able to find us on Instagram at @JackWagonOverlanding and email us at jackwagonoverlanding@gmail.com. Any messages sent to our old email will now redirect to our new one so no messages will be lost. The short hand we used before was not clear to everyone and we want communication to be as straight forward as possible.
Thank you!
 

rhyno

New member
I just ordered two of your air vent cup holders, they are pretty expensive but much needed for the wife!
 

JACWAGN

Member
I just ordered two of your air vent cup holders, they are pretty expensive but much needed for the wife!
I hear ya! Wish there was more we could do on our end to get the price down but 463 Industries makes a quality part! Definitely serve their purpose in the G. Thank you for your order and the opportunity to serve you!
 

JACWAGN

Member
The ALL NEW Hutchinson Rock Monster 2059 18" Two Piece Beadlock Wheels are in! This is a military grade, cast aluminum, DOT compliant, street legal, double beadlock wheel.
Jack Wagon Overlanding is honored to be the first in the world to both run these wheels and offer them to the public!
They are now available on our website https://jackwagonoverlanding.com/collections/wheels/products/hutchinson-2059-beadlock-wheels and are ready to get shipped out! Available in a variety of wheel and lug cap colors (pictured below is the Matte Black Wheels w/ Sparkle Silver Caps), check out the link to get yours!
We've been running them for a little over two weeks so far. Because of the Corona Virus, getting out to off road has been difficult but we've driven them around town for a few hundred miles already and are very satisfied with their capability and appearance.
They are a +63 mm offset which is a little more positive than the factory wheels (tucks more into the wheel well) so we recommend adding the 30 mm H&R Wheel Spacers to widen the stance to slightly wider than the factory stance. This combination would give you the equivalent of a +33 mm offset or the 50 mm Spacers for a +13 mm offset equivalent.
Side note: The 911 Reverse Spare Tire Mount is capable of holding these even with the additional weight compared to the factory wheels with no issues.
If you have any prior knowledge of Hutchinson, you are aware that they are a global leader in military beadlock wheels seen on HMMWVs/HUMVEEs, G Wagons, and more. Their name alone speaks to their reputation and this is yet another great product they have unveiled.
In the coming weeks, as COVID restrictions are lifted, we look to post more pictures and provide more insight of them being tested off road but for now, here is a quick shot of them installed onto the Jack Wagon. They've been a real head turner.
We also now offer the 0492 and 1873 16" Hutchinson models which can be found under the wheel section of our site as well.
*Unfortunately, none of the Hutchinson wheels will fit models that have Brembo/AMG larger brakes installed.. You will need to consider a 19"+ wheel. For AMG models and Gs with bigger brakes, we suggest another of our partners - 463 Industries. Their wheels are also listed under our wheel section and are a great option to consider.*
For any questions on these wheels or any other products, you can email us at JackWagonOverlanding@gmail.com
Enjoy!
Hutchinson 2059 18 inch beadlock wheels G Wagon.jpeg
Pictured here is the Hutchinson 2059 Wheels w/ BFGoodrich KM3s (275/70/18)
 

JACWAGN

Member
Got to go on a little cruise this week, here's a couple more shots of the Hutchinson 2059 18" Beadlocks. Already made some sales on them and looking to add more G owners to the list!
They ride very smooth and surprisingly, the added weight hasn't had any impact on fuel economy.. Got 11.6 mpg over the last 500 miles. The Jack Wagon ranges from 9-12 mpg usually. Definitely enjoying these cheap gas prices. lol

Hutchinson 18 inch beadlock g wagen all black.JPG
Hutchinson Rock Monster 2059 18" Beadlock Wheels for Mercedes G Wagon

Hutchinson Rock Monster 18 inch beadlock wheel for mercedes benz g wagon rear.JPG
Hutchinson 18 inch Beadlock Wheel G Wagon


See them at https://jackwagonoverlanding.com/col...eadlock-wheels and feel free to email us with questions jackwagonoverlanding@gmail.com
 

nomada1

Member
Jackwagon, great looking truck! I’ve read all your info about the 275/70/18 mud terrains as far as clearance but I never read if you had any esp issues. Is that true or did you have to do something to fix it? I would like to install 275/70/18’s on my 2013 g550
 

Yarjammer

Wellreadneck
FWIW, I have 285/70/18 M/Ts on my '08 and have only dealt with ESP once coming down a mountain pass in Oregon last summer pulling a trailer. It is definitely obtrusive when it happens but I was also pushing it a tad at the time too. I have no evidence it wouldn't have triggered with stock tires. On other passes I have not had it trigger at all.
 

JACWAGN

Member
Jackwagon, great looking truck! I’ve read all your info about the 275/70/18 mud terrains as far as clearance but I never read if you had any esp issues. Is that true or did you have to do something to fix it? I would like to install 275/70/18’s on my 2013 g550

Hey there Nomada!
Haven’t had any issues with the ESP with those tires or with the lift. We have heard from some owners/clients we’ve worked with that report some ESP triggering right after install. Normally, this is just due to adapting to the new ride of the truck. After a week or two, it’s seemed to go away in just about every case we’ve heard of. I’m not sure if the ESP adapts to the way we’re driving or if we’re the ones adapting to the new boundaries but haven’t had any problems with ESP long term. Like Yarjammer said - if you’re going to push it hard, they will do their job and pop on but nothing out of the ordinary in any of our experience.
 

nomada1

Member
Hey there Nomada!
Haven’t had any issues with the ESP with those tires or with the lift. We have heard from some owners/clients we’ve worked with that report some ESP triggering right after install. Normally, this is just due to adapting to the new ride of the truck. After a week or two, it’s seemed to go away in just about every case we’ve heard of. I’m not sure if the ESP adapts to the way we’re driving or if we’re the ones adapting to the new boundaries but haven’t had any problems with ESP long term. Like Yarjammer said - if you’re going to push it hard, they will do their job and pop on but nothing out of the ordinary in any of our experience.

Thats good to hear!
 

JACWAGN

Member
Hey there Y'all,

I hope everyone is doing well and making it through these wild times.. It's been about a year since I chimed in and gave an update on the "Jack Wagon" and thought it was about time we checked in again! 2020 put a dagger in some of our trip plans - we wanted to make sure all of the places we went to were open when we went and have tried to be mindful of the COVID situation as well. Looking like things may finally be on their way back to “normal” so I am hopeful that we might be able to get out a little more in the next few months.

I've been fortunate to have the privilege of talking with more G owners and helping guide some of their builds through this time. I can't thank y'all enough for all of the kind words and compliments I've gotten through the process. There's a constant learning opportunity with the G for me and with each person I talk with, there is another chance to expand my knowledge and try to push the limits of the G. I really enjoy the comradery of the G community and it's an honor to be someone who gets to welcome new members to it at times.

As I mentioned above, no major trips to report on but we did stumble down into the Texas Hill Country for a few days last year to do a little trail ride and chow down on some barbeque, German cuisine, and good ol' Texas home cooking. This trip centered around Fredericksburg and we branched out to Mason, Llano, Pflugerville, Bandera, and Luckenbach. More of a laid back get away, we enjoyed some country music on the radio, simpler times, and some friendly encounters along the way.

The trail we took on this trip was one documented on Expedition Portal, you can find it here:


We started from the South in Fredericksburg and made a big loop back. Mainly just dirt roads, nothing really challenging about it but just nice to explore the wilderness and get our minds off of everything for a little while. There is a river crossing at the NW corner of the trail and we had another group watch as we crossed through it. Again, not difficult by any means but sure was fun! It's a limestone bottom so there's not any risk of sinking or getting stuck. Do be cautious if you're going during the rainy season though - river crossings and currents can get dangerous but that wasn't the case when we went. If you make this journey, there are also a couple little creek crossings before you get to it. As we would go over a creek crossing, I would think.. "where is this big crossing everyone tells me about?".. You'll know it when you see it. There won't be any question.

Now down to some G Wagon stuff! We've made a few additions over the past year and I also wanted to share a full current build list of the Jack Wagon as we get asked a lot.
First with the new stuff, we are now running the Rigid Adapt 40” Light Bar on the roof and a pair of Baja Designs LP9 Pros on the bull bar as well as the MBRP 3” High Clearance Catback Exhaust. All three of the additions are not only pleasing aesthetically but are also very beneficial in given situations.

The Rigid Adapt gets its name for having the ability to "adapt" to the speed of your driving and vary its pattern as you speed up and slow down. It comes with a GPS module that detects your speed and as you speed up, the light pattern shines more forward and down the road. As you slow down, it widens out so you can see more of what is on the sides of you. You can adjust the speed sensitivity of this sequence and you can also toggle through the options manually or just leave it on the pattern that works best for you. Pretty cool to watch it cycle through. The other cool thing about this light bar is it has a full RBG color spectrum backlighting option. You can set the backlight to any color you want and it has two preset options so you can go to your two favorite backlight colors and beam pattern on the fly.

https://jackwagonoverlanding.com/co...gid-industries-adapt-led-light-bar-10-50-inch

The Baja Designs LP9 Pros are orange backlit (so we typically run the Rigid backlight in orange as well - except around Halloween we made that purple) and they have a high and low beam option. On the low setting, only 6 of the 9 main lights are on as well as the 6 peripheral lights and this gives a nice full view of everything in front and around you. Because of their design that utilizes peripheral lights, the LP9s actually have a visible range of 200 degrees. This really helps when you're watching out for wildlife on the side of the roads and trying to see everything around you. When you flip them to the high setting, the 3 remaining main lights come on as well and send a more direct spot down the road on top of the original low setting's pattern. Unique to the Baja lights is they shine a more natural white from typical light bars. Rather than being a blue-white, they are a little warmer burning at 5000K rather than the ~6000K that seems to be more standard with LEDs. This makes the light a little less straining on your eyes and more comfortable to use for long periods of time.

https://jackwagonoverlanding.com/collections/light-bars/products/baja-designs-lp9-pro-led

Besides light bars, we also added the MBRP 3 Inch High Clearance Catback Exhaust System. Personally, an exhaust system was never part of the build plan but when MBRP reached out and told us about the ability to RAISE the exhaust, I had to give it a try. Making the “Jack Wagon” into a race car was the last thing I had in mind. Pushing a little over 6000 lbs and having a high CoG do not make it the most fun thing to push the speedometer in. However, when I put this on, the exhaust note gave me that feeling I get when I sit in sports cars. The best way I can describe the sound compared to stock is “more full”. I always loved the stock sound as it was but now the sound seems to be even broader as the pipes can push air even easier. A little louder, a little more full, but not obnoxious and over bearing. It’s nice! What’s better though? THE CLEARANCE. After install, it raised the muffler/resonator 2 inches and the tips of the exhaust by 4 inches. It now is tucked perfectly above our sliders and is out of harms way. For anyone that is serious about off roading the G, this really is a game changer. Keep in mind, the Jack Wagon is a 2014 G550 and there are a few different stock exhaust setups on the G so another way to get an idea of this is that the new muffler/resonator has its lowest point one inch above the bottom of the flange that connects the system behind the cats and the exhaust tips are 2 inches above the flange. Now most G55, G63, and G550 owners may be getting an idea but for folks with older models you may still be scratching your head because you don’t know which flange I’m talking about.. Here’s the current situation: as of today, this only bolts on to models that have a driver and passenger exhaust dump. We are speaking with MBRP in the upcoming week to make a few modifications of the original design to allow for fitment onto older models that have either a single exhaust line on one side of the vehicle or have exhaust lines on both sides but only the dump out of one. It is most likely that vehicles that have the full system that has the muffler around the rear axle and dumps out the one side will need to cut out everything behind the cats and mount this on but at least you will be able to bolt this on after taking that out. It has been done in the past but takes sourcing some extra pieces and we want owners to be able to have everything necessary all in one package. We will see what we come up with and I will try to give an update as soon as we finalize. As for putting it onto the 2012-2018 models and the G55, the only thing we did was cut off an inch of the tailpipe section and extend the 4 slits used to couple this piece over the muffler assembly the same length. From there, we clamped the segments together, bolted it on, and got rolling! Here’s our link to it and there is a before and after video about halfway down:

https://jackwagonoverlanding.com/co.../mbrp-3-high-clearance-catback-exhaust-system

Here is how the Jack Wagon currently stands
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IMG_3863.JPG

Current Build List:

ORC Standard Springs
Koni Raid Shocks
Fox 2.0 Steering Stabilizer
Front Adjustable Panhard Bar
H&R 30mm Wheel Spacers
Hutchinson 2059 Wheels
BFG KM3 275/70/18 Tires
911 Reverse Spare Mount
JWO Skid Steps
MBRP High Clearance Exhaust
Gobi Stealth Rack
Rigid Adapt 40" Light Bar
Baja LP9 Pro (Clear)/Pair
G-Raid Front and Transfer Case Skid Plates

The setup has worked great for us. In the last few months, we have heard a few people with bigger V8 models wanting to level the truck a little better. Because we load the G down, I like that the ORC Standard Front Springs give the truck a little bit of a rake lift (about an inch difference from front wheel well to rear wheel well – similar to factory setup) because then it doesn’t have the appearance of sagging in the rear when it’s weighted down. But for folks that aren’t loading down the G as much and want it to sit more level, we have found that the HD Front Springs also work well on 2008+ models to level the truck out when unloaded. Both the Standard and HD options work on all 463 models but if you are wanting to fine tune front ride height, having the two options gives you some flexibility.

Thank you guys again for all of the support on the Jack Wagon. This is a passion of mine and I love spending my time talking G Wagons, mods, and trips with y’all.
 

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