Hey there Y'all,
I hope everyone is doing well and making it through these wild times.. It's been about a year since I chimed in and gave an update on the "Jack Wagon" and thought it was about time we checked in again! 2020 put a dagger in some of our trip plans - we wanted to make sure all of the places we went to were open when we went and have tried to be mindful of the COVID situation as well. Looking like things may finally be on their way back to “normal” so I am hopeful that we might be able to get out a little more in the next few months.
I've been fortunate to have the privilege of talking with more G owners and helping guide some of their builds through this time. I can't thank y'all enough for all of the kind words and compliments I've gotten through the process. There's a constant learning opportunity with the G for me and with each person I talk with, there is another chance to expand my knowledge and try to push the limits of the G. I really enjoy the comradery of the G community and it's an honor to be someone who gets to welcome new members to it at times.
As I mentioned above, no major trips to report on but we did stumble down into the Texas Hill Country for a few days last year to do a little trail ride and chow down on some barbeque, German cuisine, and good ol' Texas home cooking. This trip centered around Fredericksburg and we branched out to Mason, Llano, Pflugerville, Bandera, and Luckenbach. More of a laid back get away, we enjoyed some country music on the radio, simpler times, and some friendly encounters along the way.
The trail we took on this trip was one documented on Expedition Portal, you can find it here:
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in Overland Journal, Winter 2017. Prayer is the best way to meet the Lord, but trespassing on this property is faster. Folks in Texas are known for many things, but taking kindly to trespassers ain’t one of ’em. Don’t get me wrong, most would...
expeditionportal.com
We started from the South in Fredericksburg and made a big loop back. Mainly just dirt roads, nothing really challenging about it but just nice to explore the wilderness and get our minds off of everything for a little while. There is a river crossing at the NW corner of the trail and we had another group watch as we crossed through it. Again, not difficult by any means but sure was fun! It's a limestone bottom so there's not any risk of sinking or getting stuck. Do be cautious if you're going during the rainy season though - river crossings and currents can get dangerous but that wasn't the case when we went. If you make this journey, there are also a couple little creek crossings before you get to it. As we would go over a creek crossing, I would think.. "where is this big crossing everyone tells me about?".. You'll know it when you see it. There won't be any question.
Now down to some G Wagon stuff! We've made a few additions over the past year and I also wanted to share a full current build list of the Jack Wagon as we get asked a lot.
First with the new stuff, we are now running the Rigid Adapt 40” Light Bar on the roof and a pair of Baja Designs LP9 Pros on the bull bar as well as the MBRP 3” High Clearance Catback Exhaust. All three of the additions are not only pleasing aesthetically but are also very beneficial in given situations.
The Rigid Adapt gets its name for having the ability to "adapt" to the speed of your driving and vary its pattern as you speed up and slow down. It comes with a GPS module that detects your speed and as you speed up, the light pattern shines more forward and down the road. As you slow down, it widens out so you can see more of what is on the sides of you. You can adjust the speed sensitivity of this sequence and you can also toggle through the options manually or just leave it on the pattern that works best for you. Pretty cool to watch it cycle through. The other cool thing about this light bar is it has a full RBG color spectrum backlighting option. You can set the backlight to any color you want and it has two preset options so you can go to your two favorite backlight colors and beam pattern on the fly.
https://jackwagonoverlanding.com/co...gid-industries-adapt-led-light-bar-10-50-inch
The Baja Designs LP9 Pros are orange backlit (so we typically run the Rigid backlight in orange as well - except around Halloween we made that purple) and they have a high and low beam option. On the low setting, only 6 of the 9 main lights are on as well as the 6 peripheral lights and this gives a nice full view of everything in front and around you. Because of their design that utilizes peripheral lights, the LP9s actually have a visible range of 200 degrees. This really helps when you're watching out for wildlife on the side of the roads and trying to see everything around you. When you flip them to the high setting, the 3 remaining main lights come on as well and send a more direct spot down the road on top of the original low setting's pattern. Unique to the Baja lights is they shine a more natural white from typical light bars. Rather than being a blue-white, they are a little warmer burning at 5000K rather than the ~6000K that seems to be more standard with LEDs. This makes the light a little less straining on your eyes and more comfortable to use for long periods of time.
https://jackwagonoverlanding.com/collections/light-bars/products/baja-designs-lp9-pro-led
Besides light bars, we also added the MBRP 3 Inch High Clearance Catback Exhaust System. Personally, an exhaust system was never part of the build plan but when MBRP reached out and told us about the ability to RAISE the exhaust, I had to give it a try. Making the “Jack Wagon” into a race car was the last thing I had in mind. Pushing a little over 6000 lbs and having a high CoG do not make it the most fun thing to push the speedometer in. However, when I put this on, the exhaust note gave me that feeling I get when I sit in sports cars. The best way I can describe the sound compared to stock is “more full”. I always loved the stock sound as it was but now the sound seems to be even broader as the pipes can push air even easier. A little louder, a little more full, but not obnoxious and over bearing. It’s nice! What’s better though? THE CLEARANCE. After install, it raised the muffler/resonator 2 inches and the tips of the exhaust by 4 inches. It now is tucked perfectly above our sliders and is out of harms way. For anyone that is serious about off roading the G, this really is a game changer. Keep in mind, the Jack Wagon is a 2014 G550 and there are a few different stock exhaust setups on the G so another way to get an idea of this is that the new muffler/resonator has its lowest point one inch above the bottom of the flange that connects the system behind the cats and the exhaust tips are 2 inches above the flange. Now most G55, G63, and G550 owners may be getting an idea but for folks with older models you may still be scratching your head because you don’t know which flange I’m talking about.. Here’s the current situation: as of today, this only bolts on to models that have a driver and passenger exhaust dump. We are speaking with MBRP in the upcoming week to make a few modifications of the original design to allow for fitment onto older models that have either a single exhaust line on one side of the vehicle or have exhaust lines on both sides but only the dump out of one. It is most likely that vehicles that have the full system that has the muffler around the rear axle and dumps out the one side will need to cut out everything behind the cats and mount this on but at least you will be able to bolt this on after taking that out. It has been done in the past but takes sourcing some extra pieces and we want owners to be able to have everything necessary all in one package. We will see what we come up with and I will try to give an update as soon as we finalize. As for putting it onto the 2012-2018 models and the G55, the only thing we did was cut off an inch of the tailpipe section and extend the 4 slits used to couple this piece over the muffler assembly the same length. From there, we clamped the segments together, bolted it on, and got rolling! Here’s our link to it and there is a before and after video about halfway down:
https://jackwagonoverlanding.com/co.../mbrp-3-high-clearance-catback-exhaust-system
Here is how the Jack Wagon currently stands
Current Build List:
ORC Standard Springs
Koni Raid Shocks
Fox 2.0 Steering Stabilizer
Front Adjustable Panhard Bar
H&R 30mm Wheel Spacers
Hutchinson 2059 Wheels
BFG KM3 275/70/18 Tires
911 Reverse Spare Mount
JWO Skid Steps
MBRP High Clearance Exhaust
Gobi Stealth Rack
Rigid Adapt 40" Light Bar
Baja LP9 Pro (Clear)/Pair
G-Raid Front and Transfer Case Skid Plates
The setup has worked great for us. In the last few months, we have heard a few people with bigger V8 models wanting to level the truck a little better. Because we load the G down, I like that the ORC Standard Front Springs give the truck a little bit of a rake lift (about an inch difference from front wheel well to rear wheel well – similar to factory setup) because then it doesn’t have the appearance of sagging in the rear when it’s weighted down. But for folks that aren’t loading down the G as much and want it to sit more level, we have found that the HD Front Springs also work well on 2008+ models to level the truck out when unloaded. Both the Standard and HD options work on all 463 models but if you are wanting to fine tune front ride height, having the two options gives you some flexibility.
Thank you guys again for all of the support on the Jack Wagon. This is a passion of mine and I love spending my time talking G Wagons, mods, and trips with y’all.
