JK 4-door to 2-door long wheelbase conversion.....

[justcuz]

Have you given any thought to using an older Willys wagon? Or possibly a 2 door Cherokee wide or standard track. If you are looking for a low center of gravity the 2 door Cherokee would make a very cool build. Newer Jeeps track width are probably close to a standard width Wagoneer/Cherokee track and you should be able to locate a cost effective Cherokee fairly easily.

With your skills you could easily open the wheelwells to accomodate 37" tires. Maybe narrow a set of 1 ton axles, lockers, 4 cyl Cummins, 5 spd trans, t-case of choice, set up your rear accomodations...done. No major fabrication needed.

 

[Clutch]

Have you given any thought to using an older Willys wagon? Or possibly a 2 door Cherokee wide or standard track. If you are looking for a low center of gravity the 2 door Cherokee would make a very cool build. Newer Jeeps track width are probably close to a standard width Wagoneer/Cherokee track and you should be able to locate a cost effective Cherokee fairly easily.

With your skills you could easily open the wheelwells to accomodate 37" tires. Maybe narrow a set of 1 ton axles, lockers, 4 cyl Cummins, 5 spd trans, t-case of choice, set up your rear accomodations...done. No major fabrication needed.

http://www.fourwheeler.com/featuredvehicles/129_0908_mopar_custom_jeeps_dodge_ram_moab/index.html

Darn near same track width as a JKU, 6 inch shorter wheelbase...

 

[Mbogo]

That Cherokee is too sweet. The only problem it is that it was built by Mopar engineers with a sky-high budget and limitless access to new parts off the shelf. However, more pedestrian examples can be had for fairly cheap. People have put all manner of diesels in them, 6.2, 6.5, 4bt, even a 6bt can be made to fit. If you could somehow score an ultra rare two-door panel wagon with ambulance doors, that would be the hot ticket. A wheelbase of 109" or so looks to be about ideal for expedition work; at least the Landy 109/Defender 110 guys seem to think so. If that's not enough, then all you have to do is flip the rear springs around. They are offset with the "center" pin forward of the center of the spring-eye-to-spring-eye measurement by 5". Moving/fabricating wheel tubs and longer brake/drive lines is something that I doubt would scare a guy with your skills very much. Furthermore, FSJs have a cool factor that can't be calculated with a tape measure.

 

[drgnhrt1979]

any time the factory builds a concept we want, it never goes into production.

Then Stop wanting the concept vehicles and they will start producing them... Problem solved

 

[Redrock]

In the end I basically want a single vehicle to do everything.....and that is ALWAYS hard to pull off.

After years of bouncing from vehicle to vehicle trying to make it do everything...all I can tell you is that it's usually not just hard, but dang near impossible, to pull off, and you always feel that you've compromised heavily in some way.

 

[Metcalf]

I am back from EJS, lots of new ideas....

I do think that a do everything vehicle is possible, but yes, there will always be a compromise of some kind. I guess you just have to feel comfortable with what direction you made the compromise in....

I think the FSJ thing is a decent idea, but with this idea I was trying to get away from older iron. It's not that I don't love it, but after my last few builds the idea of using something more modern isn't looking like a bad idea.

I'll try to get some more thoughts together once I get caught up with some other stuff....work and what not.

 

[Clutch]

Then Stop wanting the concept vehicles and they will start producing them... Problem solved

Very true....they are cool until everyone has one...:elkgrin:

However, it has been a loooong time since I have seen a concept that I really like. We used to have a Wagoneer...

 

[Metcalf]

I'm honestly surprised that more of the jeep concept ideas are not 'stolen' by the aftermarket. I kinda wish they where.

The front end on the J12 and Nukizer are very similar. They are basically just a new front end clip that bolts to the stock jeep mounting points. Something similar could be made out of fiberglass fairly easy if you wanted. The Nukizer is great, 38s with basically just a front end leveling kit ( on a J8 frame ).

 

[Clutch]

I'm honestly surprised that more of the jeep concept ideas are not 'stolen' by the aftermarket. I kinda wish they where.

The front end on the J12 and Nukizer are very similar. They are basically just a new front end clip that bolts to the stock jeep mounting points. Something similar could be made out of fiberglass fairly easy if you wanted. The Nukizer is great, 38s with basically just a front end leveling kit ( on a J8 frame ).

That front clip, with the crew cab conversion AEV is doing...would be awesome.

 

[Metcalf]

Yeah, that vehicle is BIG....like fullsize truck big! I'm not saying it wouldn't be cool, but I think the overall length and possibly the departure angle would be a hindering for the kinda stuff I want to do.

I did have a nice long chat with AEV about a few ideas, specifically my longing for a J8 style '3-door' vehicle. I got some interesting information.

-The J8 chassis is basically the same as a 4 door with beefier brackets over the junctions of the frame. I guess the JK line of frames is made in multi-part units and welded together to form the different wheelbase vehicles. The civy version gets a fairly lame welded joint, the J8 gets a super strong junction with a very heavy overlay bracket.

-The JK8 body kit can be used to make a 'real' 3-door J8 style body if you leave out all the Mopar truck parts. AEV was very confident in the overall build quality of the J8 parts used in the kit and the style of the conversion. If done properly there would be no long term effect on the life of the vehicle. This is one of my main concerns about the JK8 kit.

-The easiest way to make a top ( with a true J8 style '3-door' body ) would be to take a 2-door top and the original 4-door top and splice them together to form a longer top. The 2-door version has the right B-pillar connection for the J8 body. The 4-door JK top has the right rear shape. Basically all you would need is a custom length glue in window....or to wall off the window. There is no factory 3-door J8 hard top. Bestop made a few soft tops for the longer wheelbase version but it isn't a production item.

-I guess the J8 program is just about dead at Jeep. They have only made a few hundred cars over the last few years total. While the concept is great, Jeep will just not follow through with it. I got the feeling that Jeep left AEV hanging a bit on the program....

 

[Clutch]

Is the reason for the death of the J8 program, simply not enough demand?

Heck, I would speculate that most Jeeps sold "today" don't even see dirt, let alone see any hardcore trails. I see an awful lot of street queens running around. A 3 door would be a hard sell to the general public...not that it isn't cool.

Almost blasphemy that a JKU is available in 2WD...

 

[Metcalf]

Is the reason for the death of the J8 program, simply not enough demand?

Heck, I would speculate that most Jeeps sold "today" don't even see dirt, let alone see any hardcore trails. I see an awful lot of street queens running around. A 3 door would be a hard sell to the general public...not that it isn't cool.

Almost blasphemy that a JKU is available in 2WD...

The J8 program is trying to fill a niche in a market that doesn't really exist I guess. Most military vehicles are going the way of complete huge overkill....and everyone else just buys a 70 series land cruiser

I think if they offered a utilitarian version of the long wheelbase J8 '3-door' it would sell well. You would just need to be able to order it from the factory with a hard top, pickup top, or whatever top. If you could change the tops at the dealer all the better.

 

[Clutch]

I think if they offered a utilitarian version of the long wheelbase J8 '3-door' it would sell well. You would just need to be able to order it from the factory with a hard top, pickup top, or whatever top. If you could change the tops at the dealer all the better.

That would be great....I do love your idea BTW, I just don't know if I could justify the work in building it....now if it were available from the factory...doubt it if it will ever will be, too small of a market.

Which makes me wonder if you simply started with a Tacoma and a topper, and simply cut a walk-thru access from the cab to the bed, might be a better option, since there is less fabwork. "Hi-cab" shells already exist with rear door entries.

Or are you a hardcore Jeep guy?



Glass fenders already exist....I see no problem fitting a set of 40" tires..

 

[Piet]

I would look at the JK Habitat from Adventure Trailers

or the Action Camper also sold by Adventure Trailers

 

[Clutch]

That action camper, while cool...would be cumbersome on the harder trails, that is a hell of a lot weight....