As such I wanted to start showing more of what I have done to the jeep in such a short time. I have covered it quite a bit in my Instagram stories but I realize that haven’t really talked about it much in detail elsewhere. This is #tinythejeep our 2014 Jeep Wrangler that I bought used (barley 42,000km on a 7 year old Vehicle) and completely stock. I looked like it had rolled off the show room floor. We traded the much loved Nissan Xterra in for this in January of 2021 and have been upgrading it with everything that I can think of since.
This is the iteration of it as it sits today but that changes on a regular basis. Starting from the front to the back we have a 42′ hi-Lift jack mounted on the bull bar of a Warn Stubby Crawler steel bumper with a Warn Zeon 10s winch with the synthetic rope and a Factor 55 Ultra Hook on the end of it.
Mounted on the underside of that bumper is the first of 4 trail cameras that let me see what is in front/beside/under me. This and the other cameras (Bumper, under the jeep, one from the passenger mirror facing the front tire, and lastly a rear camera) feed into A JVC KW Z1000 aftermarket stereo with android auto and a lovely/large 10′ screen. The neatest feature of this is that Gaia Maps will run on android auto so I can have the offline backroads maps that I use right on the head of my stereo. So no need for an ipad mounted on the dash!
Moving up from the bumper I have the Cascadia 4×4 VSS 100watt Solar Panel that is permanently affixed to the hood that feeds into a Renogy Li Rover 30 Amp MPPT Solar Controller to help keep the two Odyssey AGM batteries that are mounted under the hood in the regular battery spot using the Genesis Off-Road Jeep JK Dual battery mount with its Smart Isolator system. This system will help make sure that I can always start the Jeep by isolating the cranking battery from all my other accessories when it gets to low.
Now under under the hood we also have an ARB Twin High performance Compressor mounted on a Mountain Off Road steel bracket with an ARB Air Locker Manifold kit right behind it. This system runs the front and rear ARB Air lockers as well there is an ARB air chuck mounted on the front bumper to run air tools/air up tires. The Air compressors On/Off switch is controlled by an sPod Source LT Switch box/panel. This box is mounted under the hood in front of the Air Compressor and using the switch panel that is mounted above the rearview mirror I can control up to 6 different things either using the in cab manual switches or with my smart phone via Bluetooth. Also on the switch pod I have attached two LED backup lights, a pair of ‘ditch lights, some cheapo Amazon Rock lights, as well as the lights in the DV8 Off-road LED Mirror Housing with Turn Signals, a 48′ roof mounted light bar, A 300watt invertor, and lastly a DC Power Cigarette outlet in the back of the jeep. Although I might repurpose that last one for something else in the future. I also have rewired the existing rear DC Cigarette outlet to come directly from the smart isolator system on the batteries. as the one draw back of the Isolation system is that it can’t account for all the normal stock things that power draw when the key is on, or the things that will always draw power.
Popping back out from under the hood we have the AEV snorkel kit that I think was one of more nerve-wracking installs to date. The Idea of having to cut a big hole in the hood was the first thing that I did to the jeep that I wouldn’t be able to undo. I did also had the AEV Sy-Clone Pre-Filter on this snorkel but I bumped it on a tree and it shattered so I haven’t replaced it.
This Snorkel kit means that I can only have one of the MORryde Side Mount caddy’s on the drivers side as the passengers side one wont fit with the Snorkel. The MORryde Driver Side Mount is great to carry extra fuel or in this case recovery gear in this Rampage Trail Utility Can which is a can the shape of a NATO Jerry Can but it allows you to store things inside it. I also have a couple Wavain Nato Fuel Cans that I can put here instead. Also on the sides of the jeep I have mounted on the door hinges the Smittybilt door steps that are super handy to access the roof rack.
Speaking of the roof rack The current iteration of roof rack system that I am running is the Front Runner Slimline II rack but in the past I had a Garvin Adventure rack with the front runner base rigged to it. I moved away from the Garvin/Frontrunner setup mostly because by using the true frontrunner setup I can store my Stainless steel camp table between the rack and the jeep roof using Front Runners Under rack Table system.
Also attached to the rack I have the Front Runner traction board mount with two sets of Maxtrax Xtreme recovery boards Although I also have a home made rack that allows me to mount the Recovery boards on the Drivers side rear window area as well that I have used on my longer solo treks using the Trail Pak Rax Kit. That said when not on extended solo treks I do tend to pop these off when the jeep has it’s back seat in as the rear side windows are completely obscured with these on, and my kids actually like to see out the side window from time to time :)
TUCK Photo
On the passenger side I have a custom aluminum ladder that was made by the fine folks at KC Welding here in north Vancouver this is mounted on to the Frontrunner rack as well as though some back spaced bolts into the side of the jeep. This ladder allows me to access the roof rack or more importantly hop in and out of the Autohome Columbus Variant Roof Top Tent which I have spent about 50 nights in this last year and never once have I gotten wet :) On the top of the Autohome RTT I have another Renogy 100 Watt 12 Volt Flexible Monocrystalline Solar Panel that feeds into the same Renogy Li Rover 30 Amp MPPT Solar Controller as the hood panel. I also have a quick connect that allows me to quickly hook up a pair of my jackery 100 watt panels to the system as well. So when I get to camp I can add them to the system and
I also have the Wraptor 4k 270 awning on the other side of the rack. this awning is free a free standing (with the option of poles if needed) that will cover from the front of the jeep all the way around to the back hatch.