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For the past dozen years I've been doing trails and expeditions with my 2006 Wrangler LJ and my 2013 Wrangler JKU, including doing the Alaska Highway and Dalton Highway up to the Arctic Ocean, thousands of trail miles exploring Colorado ghost towns and mining sites; camping in Death Valley and...

Auxbeam Slim Switch Panel Systems AS-400, AS-600 and AS-800 Auxbeam has been a major player in the switch panel market for quite a while and has a range of 6- 8- and 12-gang panels, some of which include Bluetooth and remote controls. They recently released a new series with slim-line panels...

I'm at the SEMA Show in Las Vegas and since I just committed to buying a Grenadier (haven't taken delivery yet), I checked out all of the Ineos vehicles at the show. First the Grenadiers... This one was outside the West Hall: This one was also outside the West Hall, near the...

Review: Auxbeam Rock/Underglow Lights I spent some time with my friends at Auxbeam last November at the SEMA Show and one of the new products they had on display was a set of rock/underglow lights. Lighting up the road below the Jeep with lots of colors and effects isn't really my style, but...

I've been using marine deep cycle lead-acid batteries to power the fridge and campsite accessories in my two expedition Jeeps for a number of years and they've served me very well. I buy them at Walmart, they're under $100 and all but the last one I had lasted until the end of the three year...

I wasn't going to post this review in this forum because these lights have DRL and turn signal halos - halo lights aren't how most people outfit serious expedition/overland rigs, but without those functions enabled, the projector design and high lumen output of these headlights may make them an...

Over the past dozen years or so I've done literally thousands of miles off-road, mostly in Colorado, Utah, Arizona and California. We make at least one and usually two trips out west each year to explore off-road because there's not much interesting off-road exploration possible in upstate NY...

Part 1 Recently Auxbeam upped the game in switch panels when they released their new 12-gang panel. It's got a Bluetooth interface to a smartphone app, a handheld remote control, and 100 amps total capacity. A few weeks ago they sent me one to test and review. The kit includes the switch...

Tomorrow the SEMA Show opens. I got here today and went over to the convention center to help MORryde set up. Background story: Last year At the show I gave MORryde some suggestions on ways they could improve their booth display. You may know that MORryde is one of the largest RV OEM...

If you've followed my threads over the years you've seen me design and build dozens of fiberglass, metal and fabric projects to enhance my Jeeps. Many of them have become commercial products but many of them were just one-offs for my own use. I'm running out of storage space so it's time to...

I spent last week at the SEMA Show. I posted most of what I saw in my threads in the Jeep section but I'll post some trailers here. I couldn't believe how many overland/trail camping trailers were at the show this year. In prior years, there might have been a few or maybe a half dozen but...

14 years this month I drove my Retro Wrangler pickup for the first time. On July 26, 2008 I parked my 2006 LJ in the garage and 18 days later I drove it out as a pickup. I had spent almost a year designing the project and building the necessary parts to that design and the result was a kit of...

I normally hang out in the Jeep section of this site. One of my hobbies is designing accessories for my Jeeps and I take a lot of inspiration from accessories from Land Rovers, for example my homemade hardtop for my JKU Wrangler has Disco Alpine windows in the roof. I have a thread over in the...

I've attended every SEMA Show since 2010 and I'm at the show again this year. In this thread I'll post things I find interesting. If anyone is interested in seeing who is exhibiting at the show, SEMA has an online interactive floorplan available: https://sema21.mapyourshow.com/8_0/floorplan/...

You may be familiar with Mahindra from their U.S. introduction of the Roxor several years ago: Or, if you live in heartland U.S.A., you may be familiar with Mahindra as a tractor manufacturer (they are the largest manufacturer of tractors in the world...

When I lived in London about 15 years ago I got in the habit of reading Land Rover magazines - Land Rover Owner and Land Rover Monthly. I've kept up the subscriptions since then because every issue has something interesting that can apply to Jeeps. Both magazines regularly feature...

From time to time companies contact me and ask me to test or review their products. Auxbeam recently sent me a switch panel to review; I'm pretty impressed with it so I decided to do a thorough writeup. Ths is one of their advertising images: Here's what's in the box: All of the...

Because my Jeep was in the show this year I didn't get as much time to explore the rest of the show as I usually do, but I'll post a few photos of things I found interesting this year. I've known Tony Quesada, the Director of Engineering at Cliffride, for several years. He's done some great...

Whenever I'm on any kind of expedition, I carry an extra spare. I don't want to have to worry about fixing a flat myself, or disrupting my plans and schedule to find a place to fix it for me. Most of the times I carry the extra spare on the roof... For many years carrying an extra spare...

Factory hardtops are awkward - being one piece (ignoring the freedom panels for the moment) they're big, bulky and very hard for one person to lift off or install safely or easily. They can also be very stuffy inside - the side windows are bonded in place and don't open. I think there's a...