Barn Door for JK factory hardtops

[shays4me]

I read somewhere that not all JKs came from the factory with filters installed, although they all do have a place to install filters. Not sure if that's true, I read it somewhere on the 'net.

I can believe that. I bought a Ram 2500 tradesman brand new that didn't have a filter or a cover. I decided I wanted one and it was an easy mod. I could buy both for a minivan if I remember correctly and then I just had to cut the along the lines where it went in the box.

 

[michanmldr]

A box arrived yesterday from OO with a bunch of samples for me to verify and test. In this photo are all of the spare tire system components - Tactical Spare Cover, SpareHopper bag, 6" and 12" weather-resistant MOLLE bags, a SpareSide bag and a MOLLEWrap for the spare. Also at the right side middle is a Gladiator Bed Bag.

I haven't posted about the Gladiator Bed Bag idea yet so here are some concept images. There are factory bolt holes in the bed sides and front that these bags attach to.

They also sent me a sample MOLLE Cutlery Roll.

These next photos are of the design prototype I did some months ago, there are a few minor differences in the production version but these images show ways the Cutlery Roll could be used.

As soon as I get some time I'll install and photograph all of these.

Also waiting on the weather to improve, I've finished the DIY "Shelf Bracket" Changing Room, in this next photo it's rolled up in its storage bag. I need to drop the roof rack on a Jeep and take it out of the garage for some testing. And I've made a few improvements to the Power Shower, including a storage bag for it.

Lots of new things to try out.

Hello, jscherb, I may be the first to purchase your Tactical Spare Cover from Overland Outfitters. I actually had another one that was stolen off my Jeep out of my garage two days ago that I got from Retrofit Outdoors. They stopped selling it so I tracked you down via image searches which led me to OO. Called them and found out it'll be for sale in the next 2-3 weeks. Thanks for making such a great item for my Jeep!

 

[jscherb]

Hello, jscherb, I may be the first to purchase your Tactical Spare Cover from Overland Outfitters. I actually had another one that was stolen off my Jeep out of my garage two days ago that I got from Retrofit Outdoors. They stopped selling it so I tracked you down via image searches which led me to OO. Called them and found out it'll be for sale in the next 2-3 weeks. Thanks for making such a great item for my Jeep!

Glad you found the spare cover useful and so sorry it was stolen. Did they steal anything else or was the spare cover the only thing?

Since 2016 when I designed the spare cover and Retrofit picked it up, I've had either a spare cover or for the past few years a SpareHopper cargo bag on the spare and as far as I know, neither have ever been touched, let alone stolen. I've parked all over the country - dark parking lots at lonely interstate hotels, in the middle of Newark NY, in Manhattan, Philadelphia, Las Vegas and everywhere in between and I never give what's on the spare a second thought.

The back story about the new release - Retrofit has been out of most of the sizes of the spare cover for a long time, apparently the company that was sewing them for Retrofit decided a few years ago that they couldn't or wouldn't make them any more so Retrofit didn't have a source for the product anymore. OO asked me about the product when I was working on the other components of the "Storage on the Spare System" they're about to release and I suggested they contact Retrofit to see if they could pick up the manufacturing. That worked out and OO will be releasing them soon (made in an updated ripstop fabric). OO offered to sell them wholesale to Retrofit to sell on the Retrofit web site but I haven't heard if that's going to happen.

Anyway, when I was in India two weeks ago I worked with the craftsmen at the OO factory to make a few final tweaks and improvements to the new spare cover and related products such as the Spare Side bags and Weather Resistant MOLLE bags in this photo of the system on a Mahindra Thar...

I hope you like the new version and maybe you'll find some of the new system components useful too.

 

[jscherb]

Back in February Auxbeam asked me to review/edit the instructions for their upcoming dual panel switch system: https://expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/barn-door-for-jk-factory-hardtops.127687/post-3084144. I made some suggestions, which they were grateful for and accepted and the told me they would send me a unit as soon as they were released.

I got an email from them yesterday telling me that the product was just released and they were shipping one to me. I checked their web site and the product was on the site (https://auxbeam.com/products/qp009818):

I've tested several of their switch systems before and I like them a lot. This is the first one with dual switch panels, which could be very useful for an overland/camping vehicle - one panel within the driver's reach for things like driving lights and other accessories you might activate while driving, and a second panel in the back by the kitchen for things you might activate at the campsite. This illustration was in the instructions I edited for them:

I've got some ideas to put it to use, and some ideas to make the wiring of accessories out back pretty easy so I'm looking forward to this unit arriving so I can experiment with it. I'll post photos when it arrives and I'll do a detailed writeup about its installation and use. Stay tuned.

 

[ZONE ZERO]

Back in February Auxbeam asked me to review/edit the instructions for their upcoming dual panel switch system: https://expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/barn-door-for-jk-factory-hardtops.127687/post-3084144. I made some suggestions, which they were grateful for and accepted and the told me they would send me a unit as soon as they were released.

I got an email from them yesterday telling me that the product was just released and they were shipping one to me. I checked their web site and the product was on the site (https://auxbeam.com/products/qp009818):

I've tested several of their switch systems before and I like them a lot. This is the first one with dual switch panels, which could be very useful for an overland/camping vehicle - one panel within the driver's reach for things like driving lights and other accessories you might activate while driving, and a second panel in the back by the kitchen for things you might activate at the campsite. This illustration was in the instructions I edited for them:

I've got some ideas to put it to use, and some ideas to make the wiring of accessories out back pretty easy so I'm looking forward to this unit arriving so I can experiment with it. I'll post photos when it arrives and I'll do a detailed writeup about its installation and use. Stay tuned.

I’m going to have to order one of these. It would be a great option for car camping in the Jeep

 

[ZONE ZERO]

Glad you found the spare cover useful and so sorry it was stolen. Did they steal anything else or was the spare cover the only thing?

Since 2016 when I designed the spare cover and Retrofit picked it up, I've had either a spare cover or for the past few years a SpareHopper cargo bag on the spare and as far as I know, neither have ever been touched, let alone stolen. I've parked all over the country - dark parking lots at lonely interstate hotels, in the middle of Newark NY, in Manhattan, Philadelphia, Las Vegas and everywhere in between and I never give what's on the spare a second thought.

The back story about the new release - Retrofit has been out of most of the sizes of the spare cover for a long time, apparently the company that was sewing them for Retrofit decided a few years ago that they couldn't or wouldn't make them any more so Retrofit didn't have a source for the product anymore. OO asked me about the product when I was working on the other components of the "Storage on the Spare System" they're about to release and I suggested they contact Retrofit to see if they could pick up the manufacturing. That worked out and OO will be releasing them soon (made in an updated ripstop fabric). OO offered to sell them wholesale to Retrofit to sell on the Retrofit web site but I haven't heard if that's going to happen.

Anyway, when I was in India two weeks ago I worked with the craftsmen at the OO factory to make a few final tweaks and improvements to the new spare cover and related products such as the Spare Side bags and Weather Resistant MOLLE bags in this photo of the system on a Mahindra Thar...

I hope you like the new version and maybe you'll find some of the new system components useful too.

I hope this is all available soon!
I’d definitely like to go this route over another trash bag for the summer

 

[jscherb]

I hope this is all available soon!
I’d definitely like to go this route over another trash bag for the summer

I checked with OO and they told me:

- The factory is working overtime this week to produce the SOS (Storage on the Spare) products.
- They should be shipped and arriving in the U.S. by the end of next week/beginning of the following week so they can be introduced and sold at Overland West.
- They plan to add the products to their web site next week and enable sales then, they're just waiting on studio photography of the new products to be completed.

That's all I know.

 

[jscherb]

I’m going to have to order one of these. It would be a great option for car camping in the Jeep

I agree it should be a great option for Jeeps set up for camping. I'm looking forward to testing it in my JKU, I"ll install the second panel in the back at the Trail Kitchen and use it to power the sink pump as well as campsite lights mounted to the rack.

I've got a plan to make wiring the accessories in the back easy that I'm going to document in an article for Auxbeam and I'll post all about that here as I do it.

Hopefully the product will arrive soon, I don't know if it's coming to me from the U.S. or overseas.

 

[jscherb]

Traveling by air and back to India in the last month, I spend a good amount of time watching luggage go by on carousels and I noticed some bags have zipper locks like these:

Then I ran across this pouch in a shop:

The lock above is just a combination lock; the one in the first photo can be opened with a TSA key as well.

Which of course started me thinking - how could these be used to make gear in a Jeep more secure? These could be put on the zipper of a MOLLE bag, but that wouldn't do much because the bag could easily be stolen by undoing the straps and cutting the bag open later. But what if storage bags could be mounted in such a way that they would be secured to the Jeep and couldn't be removed unless the lock was opened? Then they'd be at least a little more secure than a soft top - if storage bags were secured to the Jeep so they couldn't be removed or opened without cutting them, they could be more secure than simple MOLLE bags inside a soft top. Of course an ill-intentioned person with a knife could take whatever is in the bag by cutting open the bag while it's still attached to the Jeep, but a more casual theft could be prevented.

I have some ideas for bags that could be attached securely to the Jeep and not subject to removal without cutting something and I'm thinking of sewing a prototype or two.

What do you think? Is this not worth the trouble because thieves are going to have a knife and will cut open a bag anyway or will this idea be a useful deterrent to casual theft?

 

[jscherb]

The new cabin filters arrived. About $9 per pair in eBay.

Quite a difference!

 

[shays4me]

The new cabin filters arrived. About $9 per pair in eBay.

Quite a difference!

I just changed mine out again at 60k. They were too far gone to blow out but luckily I had one in the cabinet already! I stocked up on a couple more on ebay as well since they had the best price.

 

[jscherb]

The Auxbeam Dual Switch Panel kit arrived today. Typical of their products, it's very nicely packaged. Most of the edits I suggested when reviewing their draft installation instructions seem to have made it into the document.

I hope to have time in the next two weeks to do a test install and a writeup.

 

[ZONE ZERO]

The Auxbeam Dual Switch Panel kit arrived today. Typical of their products, it's very nicely packaged. Most of the edits I suggested when reviewing their draft installation instructions seem to have made it into the document.

I hope to have time in the next two weeks to do a test install and a writeup.

this looks really good, I hope it’s a good system.

 

[jscherb]

this looks really good, I hope it’s a good system.

It's basically a two-panel version of their previous products, which are reliable, high quality and well engineered.

I'm working on a draft of the article now, I hope I'll have time to test it in the Jeep next week - a couple of other projects and preparation for the road trip out to Overland West unfortunately are higher priority than this project.

There are a few wiring and battery considerations if the second panel is to be installed in the back by the fridge/kitchen and used at a campsite and I'm working on documenting them now. The finer points of using the system in an overlanding vehicle aren't really covered in the instructions.

 

[jscherb]

I got some time this morning to play with the Auxbeam dual switch panels. The rear panel mounts very nicely on the roll bar using zip ties, it's shown in this photo with no switch labels installed yet.

I've done some electrical testing to understand the current draw of the system and since electrical power at a wilderness campsite is a limited resource, I worked out some wiring designs for connecting the system in a way to minimize battery drain at a campsite.

I've pretty much finished the first draft of the article I'm doing for Auxbeam, now I have to do all the photos. The article is entitled "Auxbeam’s Dual Panel Switch System in a Camping/Overland Vehicle" and includes installation information and tips but mostly focuses on the power management issues unique to a overland vehicle. I hope to have it ready for posting after the weekend.