Outfitting my Grenadier Trialmaster

[jscherb]

We spent the last few days in the Moab, Utah area. Yesterday we explored Arches National Park, we hadn't been there in about 16 years even though we've been back to Moab almost every year for either East Jeep Safari or for solo trails.



Today we did about 40 miles of trails. The Grenadier did just fine and went anywhere I pointed it. I did bottom out on a few high ledges; on one trail there was several hundred feet of deep mud so I took what appeared to be a bypass and it was, but there were a few tall ledges to go down to get back to the main trail. No apparent damage though. Didn't bother taking too many photos but here are two.





Currently in Glenwood Springs, Colorado enjoying the hot springs here, tomorrow begins the trek back east to Delaware.

 

[jscherb]

A friend sent me photos of window basket panels he installed on the rear doors of his Grenadier and I thought it was a good place to find some extra storage because you can't really see out of the bottom halves of the rear door windows anyway. But it seemed to me that with the combination of metal panels, plastic door panels and glass windows, anything you put in there would rattle unless is was in a cloth bag or some other soft wrap. And the metal panel installs with screws, which require making holes in the door panel:



Why not eliminate the metal panel and have bags that fit in the same location, so I designed bags that mount inside the recess around the windows and don't require screws, double-sided Velcro tape or any other fastening method that might damage the panel to secure them in place. To prove and test the design, I sewed one for the window in the small rear door. It mounts very securely without damaging the door panel and removes and leaves no trace that it was there. It's just a quick proof-of-concept prototype for testing; next I'll work on a bag for the wide rear door.

 

[jscherb]

Developing the pattern for the wide rear door window bag.

 

[Zeep]

So how do they attach?

 

[jscherb]

So how do they attach?

It looks like Overland Outfitters is going to put these in production so probably I shouldn't post those details until they're ready to release. Don't want anyone ripping off the idea before it gets into production.

 

[jscherb]

A quick and crude photo edit to show what this would look like in black...

 

[jscherb]

A lot of people install on board air in their offroad/expedition vehicles and it's a good idea. I considered that for the Grenadier but decided on a portable compressor instead. I did this for several reasons - at the SEMA Show a few weeks ago I was given a high-spec dual compressor by a compressor company I've helped with some design projects over the years - it's a great compressor but it's slightly too big to fit in the typical Grenadier OBA locations - under the back seat or under the front passenger seat. Second, I've always used a portable compressor with my three Jeeps and that made sense because I didn't need to have three compressors - I just put the compressor bag in whatever Jeep I was using at the time. So I'm using the new dual compressor as a portable and it will serve in my Grenadier and all of the Jeeps as needed. This is the new compressor, it's mounted to a base for installation in the compressor bag and I've added a disconnect fitting for the air hose:



I installed it in an Overland Outfitters compressor bag, this green one is actually the preproduction prototype that I sewed for them some years ago, the production bag they offer is the same but black instead of green. A key feature of this bag is that the compressor permanently mounts to the floor of the bag and the bag zips open diagonally to provide enough airflow to keep the compressor cool without removing it from the bag:



The 25' Flexzilla hose below is in the bag in the photo above but it's a tight fit with the larger compressor so I'll be looking for a slimmer air hose.



I added an Anderson 175 plug to the compressor's wiring harness. It's way overkill for the current the compressor draws, but all of my Jeeps and my Grenadier have these plugs in the engine compartment so to power the compressor I just have to plug it in to whatever vehicle I'm using.



Plugged into the Grenadier:



I use the Anderson connection in the Jeeps for powering my winch, which I also share between all three Jeeps on a receiver mount, and for jump starting. I added the same connection to the Grenadier for the same reasons. More on that installation is here: https://forum.expeditionportal.com/threads/outfitting-my-grenadier-trialmaster.247640/post-3217592