Barn Door for JK factory hardtops

[d110pickup]

Jeff,
This guy had some good ideas for a home built RTT. It's a bit large but a good concept. Page 1 is all you need to look at.

Home-made rooftents.

Hi, I am wondering if any of you have ever made, or thought about making, you own rooftent? Living in the UK, there were very few rooftents (at incredible prices!) to choose from when I was preparing for a 6 month drive trans-Africa some 14 years ago..............so I decided to make my...

www.4x4community.co.za

Mike

 

[jscherb]

Jeff,
This guy had some good ideas for a home built RTT. It's a bit large but a good concept. Page 1 is all you need to look at.

Home-made rooftents.

Hi, I am wondering if any of you have ever made, or thought about making, you own rooftent? Living in the UK, there were very few rooftents (at incredible prices!) to choose from when I was preparing for a 6 month drive trans-Africa some 14 years ago..............so I decided to make my...

www.4x4community.co.za

Mike

Mike,
Thanks! Some good ideas in there. The design I'm working on is a little smaller than what he built, but definitely some ideas in there worth thinking about.
jeff

 

[jscherb]

Between other projects I've been working on a design I'm calling the Tailgate Cargo Receiver System. It's basically a set of receivers mounted on the tailgate (no drilling) into which various cargo-carrying accessories can be quickly mounted. I've built a few prototype cargo accessories so far. A bicycle carrier:

I've used the bike carrier several times and it's worked great. And unlike almost ever other bike carrier, it folds small enough to store under the back seat of the Jeep.

I've also made Rotopax/Jerry can carriers. It's one design that either a jerry can tray or a Rotopax mounting stud can bolt to, and it can be installed on either the right or left side - both sides in this photo are the same.

About 6 weeks ago I picked up a used YJ-era tailgate rack basket of unknown origin for $20 and today I made mounting arms for it. The basket is just clamped to the arms at the moment, I haven't bolted the basket to the arms yet.

The nice thing about the arms is that they can mount facing up as in the photo above or facing down:

I'll probably add mounting points for a HiLift behind the basket:

I have a few more ideas for accessories to carry various things but I the next thing I'm planning to make for this system is the receiver mount for a TJ/LJ. The basic design is the same as for the JK/JKU but the dimensions are slightly different to work with the factory holes in the TJ tailgate.

 

[jscherb]

I got an email yesterday from MORryde telling me that the Swing Down Overhead Molle Panel is in production and will be shipping within two weeks. Austin said they were taking preorders now for when the product ships - they're looking for early adopters who will send photos to MORryde of it installed in their JKU so any orders called in to MORryde for the next week will get a special early adopter offer of free shipping. Product price is $199.99, it's part # JP54-051 (Swing Down Overhead Molle Panel). Phone orders to 574-293-1581 and ask for Parts.

I've posted lots of photos of this as I was designing and developing it but here are two more, swung down and stowed. I've got a 2-gallon Rotopax, a large Molle pouch and a military shovel on the panel in my Jeep right now.

I put this document together for them a few weeks ago to help them write the instructions to go with it.

 

[jscherb]

MORryde sent me this photo of a production Swing Down Overhead Molle Panel this afternoon.

 

[jscherb]

Today I had to outfit the Jeep with all of the MORryde gear that I don't normally have installed for daily driving - on Thursday and Friday MORryde has asked me to join them at meetings with several key Jeep retailers so they'll use the Jeep to demo all of the gear for these retailers. I also put the Desert Camo cargo bag in the MORryde Overland Rack... I like how the Desert Camo looks with my hardtop.

 

[Presto88]

MORryde sent me this photo of a production Swing Down Overhead Molle Panel this afternoon.

That really looks nice! Do you think I could store a couple of MaxTrax on top of that thing? I know they would fit within the width of the Jeep, but I don't know if two of them stacked on top of each other would be too thick. Have you tried this? If not, would it be possible to measure how much clearance between the top of the rack and the roof?

 

[jscherb]

That really looks nice! Do you think I could store a couple of MaxTrax on top of that thing? I know they would fit within the width of the Jeep, but I don't know if two of them stacked on top of each other would be too thick. Have you tried this? If not, would it be possible to measure how much clearance between the top of the rack and the roof?

I haven't tested MaxTrax up there because I don't have any but I looked up the dimensions and MaxTrax seem to be 45 x 13 x 3.5. One will certainly fit, but do two stack at a height less than 2 x 3.5"? There's less than 7 inches clearance between the panel and the roof, although I can't measure because I don't have a factory hardtop on my Jeep - my hardtop is taller. If there isn't enough room for two on top, I think one could be mounted on on the bottom of the panel and the other on the top.

Edit: Just found this with a little more searching:

MAXTRAX is the perfect fit for every outing. Measuring just 1150mm long X 330mm wide x 85mm tall (45 inches long X 13 inches wide), each set of MAXTRAX stacks together at a height of just 85mm (3.5 inches).

So two should fit.

 

[Presto88]

I guess I could have done my own searching...sigh. Sorry to put you out, but thanks for the info! I've been thinking about building something like this for quite some time because it seems like a waste of valuable space up there. Glad someone already did the work for me! This is going on the wish list.

 

[jscherb]

I guess I could have done my own searching...sigh. Sorry to put you out, but thanks for the info! I've been thinking about building something like this for quite some time because it seems like a waste of valuable space up there. Glad someone already did the work for me! This is going on the wish list.

No problem. Even though you could know the space taken up by two MaxTrax, you couldn't necessarily know how much space would be available on the rack so I'm happy to help.

 

[jscherb]

This is a production version Molle panel from the startup company I've been helping. It works with standard Molle bags, but also with "Grab and Go" bags:

The Molle panel is just reaching retailers now. It's a no-drill installation, takes about 5 minutes.

Grab and Go bags in action:


I got these next photos from the company yesterday showing some final samples, they've got two extra pockets in the front. The company is planning two lines of bags - the Canvas + Leather bags (like the ones above) they're calling the "Sherpa" line, and the one pictured below is made from polyester with vinyl accents, intended to be less expensive, and these are called the "MILSPEC" line because they use military fabrics (well, except for the lining ). Another difference is that the Sherpa line bags have Grab and Go clips on the back and the MILSPEC bags have Molle straps on the back instead.

The Molle Panel has reached the first retailer, it's now available at Retrofit Offroad: http://www.retrofitoffroad.com/shop/overland-outfitters/jeep-jk-hd-molle-tailgate-panel/

The bags should be reaching retailers in a month or so.

 

[jscherb]

Someone asked me today if the Grab-and-Go bags will also work on metal Molle grids. Here's one on the grid that's part of the JKU ammo can carrier. There's a lot of variation in the spacing of the holes in the various metal grids on the market, so a larger bag with multiple Grab-and-Go clips on the back might not match the spacing of some grids, but in general the answer is yes, they work.

 

[jscherb]

Sneak preview of what's on my sewing table right now... playing with the Grab-and-Go bags over the past week it seems to me that a First Aid bag is a perfect application for Grab-and-Go - when you need first aid, you don't want to mess around with undoing Molle straps, you want the bag fast. On the table is heavy red duck canvas, a red zipper, a first aid patch and other various sewing supplies.

I'll sew a prototype and if I like it I'll send photos to the company so they can duplicate it if they want.

 

[jscherb]

Work-in-progress on the prototype Grab-and-Go first aid kit. Couldn't finish it yesterday because I ran out of red thread .

 

[deeve]

MORryde sent me this photo of a production Swing Down Overhead Molle Panel this afternoon.

I should know soon enough but any idea if this would work with a fastback Bestop NX style top?