mhiscox
Expedition Leader
And now, additional news . . .
Ok, so we've got a new plan to create, more or less, a brand-new 2015 Red Cannon-issue XV-JP to go off on adventures large and small. New cabin with new paint and interior and a new chassis with all the goodies . . . it promises to be the ultimate representation of the vastly-underrepresented Jeep Wrangler self-contained motorhome.
But what of the faithful 2007 chassis left behind in all this flurry of newness? Lots of good times in that chassis, and lots of money, too, since amongst the auxiliary fuel tank, engine-driven on-board air, Paul's afromosia wood headliner and about sixty other add-ons, it's been tweaked to within an inch of its life. And after sorting tires, suspension, engine settings, and even the audio system, it was about as comfy and pleasant as first-gen JKs get, plus it hasn't yet hit 30,000 miles. Obviously, too good to part out or put to some humdrum use.
And, as it turned out, humdrum use would be more difficult than expected anyway. The obvious plan would be to use the black hardtop and the rear doors from the '15, along with its rear seat, seat belts and other leftover parts, to turn the '07 back into a regular JK Unlimited. It turns out, however, that Murphy had a say in this and it wasn't as good a plan as you might first think. EarthRoamer, when modifying the off-the-rack JKURs they bought for making XV-JPs, cut out a lot of the stock rear structure. That makes perfect sense, in that they build their own safety cage for the ER cabins and the factory stuff is in the way. But it also means that it's not possible to just replace the ER cabin with the hardtop, doors and seat and be back to a stock-functioning truck.
Fortunately, there is a alternative. (And a better alternative than most of my alternatives, I might add.)
As some of you know, Thaler and Teraflex have combined to build and market a pickup truck conversion for the JK Unlimiteds:
and this is going to be the fate of my '07 ex-XV-JP chassis. It'll be a pretty slick solution, I do believe. All of the good mods are already in place on this chassis, and replacing the camping cabin and significant contents with the pickup bed is going to lop off a bunch of weight, enough so that performance of the drivetrain will be improved. I probably will run it on the 35s mud-terrains from the new one--I've got new 35 inch KO2s set aside for the camper's long-term use--and it should end up a pretty nifty general-purpose go-anywhere truck.
Plus, the pickup stuff will go onto the chassis in a pretty straightforward way, and thus get around issues caused by the missing parts that vanished eight years ago at the ER shop. There is, in fact, a video showing every step of the process linked in this ExPo thread about the conversion:
http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/145945
so you can see how it will be pretty easy to pull off. (Easier than most, in fact, because all of the rear stuff that it shows has to be removed from a stock JK is already gone.)
Red Cannon will do the pickup conversion after SEMA, including painting the fill-in door panels and the cab back to match the Jeep's silver color. The '07 is giving up its nth Degree (AEV) heavy duty rear suspension for the 2015 camper chassis, which is actually a good thing, as the more weight-appropriate 3.5 inch components from the 2015 rear can go in its place. And they'll even be getting someone to take a shot at modifying the Jeep's cool graphic to cover the new panels. All in all, it should be a pretty trick setup, and I am particularly happy that virtually all of the work put into the '07s chassis and cab over the years will live on.
It's been a busy two weeks getting all of this sorted, but things are looking good. Both the new Red Cannon camper and the new-from-old pickup should be nice trucks and a lot of fun.
And if you're thinking, "That's a pretty nice plan, but now you've got money invested in an extra truck and you can't drive two Jeeps at the same time," well, welcome to the club. (Founded by my wife, I might add.) Short of adopting a fellow overlander to drive the other one, it's pretty certain something will have to be moved on some point. For the moment, though, I'm content being enthusiastic that Dion and I have figured out how to get two pretty useful vehicles out of our collaboration.
Ok, so we've got a new plan to create, more or less, a brand-new 2015 Red Cannon-issue XV-JP to go off on adventures large and small. New cabin with new paint and interior and a new chassis with all the goodies . . . it promises to be the ultimate representation of the vastly-underrepresented Jeep Wrangler self-contained motorhome.
But what of the faithful 2007 chassis left behind in all this flurry of newness? Lots of good times in that chassis, and lots of money, too, since amongst the auxiliary fuel tank, engine-driven on-board air, Paul's afromosia wood headliner and about sixty other add-ons, it's been tweaked to within an inch of its life. And after sorting tires, suspension, engine settings, and even the audio system, it was about as comfy and pleasant as first-gen JKs get, plus it hasn't yet hit 30,000 miles. Obviously, too good to part out or put to some humdrum use.
And, as it turned out, humdrum use would be more difficult than expected anyway. The obvious plan would be to use the black hardtop and the rear doors from the '15, along with its rear seat, seat belts and other leftover parts, to turn the '07 back into a regular JK Unlimited. It turns out, however, that Murphy had a say in this and it wasn't as good a plan as you might first think. EarthRoamer, when modifying the off-the-rack JKURs they bought for making XV-JPs, cut out a lot of the stock rear structure. That makes perfect sense, in that they build their own safety cage for the ER cabins and the factory stuff is in the way. But it also means that it's not possible to just replace the ER cabin with the hardtop, doors and seat and be back to a stock-functioning truck.
Fortunately, there is a alternative. (And a better alternative than most of my alternatives, I might add.)
As some of you know, Thaler and Teraflex have combined to build and market a pickup truck conversion for the JK Unlimiteds:
and this is going to be the fate of my '07 ex-XV-JP chassis. It'll be a pretty slick solution, I do believe. All of the good mods are already in place on this chassis, and replacing the camping cabin and significant contents with the pickup bed is going to lop off a bunch of weight, enough so that performance of the drivetrain will be improved. I probably will run it on the 35s mud-terrains from the new one--I've got new 35 inch KO2s set aside for the camper's long-term use--and it should end up a pretty nifty general-purpose go-anywhere truck.
Plus, the pickup stuff will go onto the chassis in a pretty straightforward way, and thus get around issues caused by the missing parts that vanished eight years ago at the ER shop. There is, in fact, a video showing every step of the process linked in this ExPo thread about the conversion:
http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/145945
so you can see how it will be pretty easy to pull off. (Easier than most, in fact, because all of the rear stuff that it shows has to be removed from a stock JK is already gone.)
Red Cannon will do the pickup conversion after SEMA, including painting the fill-in door panels and the cab back to match the Jeep's silver color. The '07 is giving up its nth Degree (AEV) heavy duty rear suspension for the 2015 camper chassis, which is actually a good thing, as the more weight-appropriate 3.5 inch components from the 2015 rear can go in its place. And they'll even be getting someone to take a shot at modifying the Jeep's cool graphic to cover the new panels. All in all, it should be a pretty trick setup, and I am particularly happy that virtually all of the work put into the '07s chassis and cab over the years will live on.
It's been a busy two weeks getting all of this sorted, but things are looking good. Both the new Red Cannon camper and the new-from-old pickup should be nice trucks and a lot of fun.
And if you're thinking, "That's a pretty nice plan, but now you've got money invested in an extra truck and you can't drive two Jeeps at the same time," well, welcome to the club. (Founded by my wife, I might add.) Short of adopting a fellow overlander to drive the other one, it's pretty certain something will have to be moved on some point. For the moment, though, I'm content being enthusiastic that Dion and I have figured out how to get two pretty useful vehicles out of our collaboration.
Last edited:
