I'm in between trips and the aluminium storage boxes for the gullwing windows have come in. I haven't got stuts for the system yet but the boxes should allow me to store my recovery gear and whatever else I choose in the back window compartment, saving more space inside. I made the boxes by taking out the original window, tracing the shape of them, the adding four 100mm deep sides to each side much like a cardboard box. The local fabricators cut and bent them and that was basically it. If your going to do something like this it would probabaly be easier to get these boxes made in 3mm aluminium and bolting the hinges directly to the inside of the box rather then having them as sperate pieces. See you on the next camp out and thanks for watching. Mike
Something my dads friend did to his was for storage was tear out the back of the tophalf of the back seat and made an aluminum box that filled it and put a few layers of foam padding onto the aluminum and made it so when the back seats fold down that top part can hold things and when they were up he had a 2 part aluminum door that would keep everything inside it but allow you to open half of the storage compartment incase there was stuff in the way and the backseats were still as comfy as an xj backseat can be 😂. He used it as storage for spare parts.
Speaking of weight and fuel prices, I have the 4.0L XJ, which is a bit of a gas hog, so I put a 300lb motorcycle on the rear hitch and it surprisingly didn't hurt the mileage much at all. Now I can make camp with the Jeep and do all my driving to town for groceries/laundry on something that gets 70MPG 👍
That's a clever Idea. I sometimes have a mountain bike on mine for that very reason but mostly I hike because of where I am. 70mpg sounds like alien tech when I think about my Jeep! Thanks for watching.
yay Mike's back in the workshop , lol .... but those boxes are really neat , when i ( eventually ) make them for my Freelander the passenger side one will be for emergency Tea Breaks
G'day Mike, they came out sleeker than I had envisioned but make perfect sense that way. Depends on your MO, personally I'd go with extra rope/cordage and a tarp for the kitchen area. However it looks like that vacant side would end up enclosed by your awning set up, so, assuming it's still accessible; internal lighting, torches, maybe charging ports which would still be handy on the side of the road too. Alternatively, if not accessible, put the recovery gear on that side, since a recovery operation with the awning up is less than unlikely, lol. Cheers Duke.
You hit the nail on the head and we discovered it when we camped. I looked at the Jeep and thought "so I cant access the right window with the awning out, but i can get my recovery gear out of the left one when camping and not needing it"..... Meg suggested a hygiene and washing station in there. So a towel, wet wipes, toilet roll and mirror and tooth brushes as well as the baby stuff. Its not a bad idea and it makes accessing it super convienet. My only problem with it is it wont be used when we are not camping and I feel like that space is better suited for permanent items that are a part of the Jeep.
@@WorkshoptoWilderness Yep Meg's idea is a good one for when you are out camping, right next to the water supply, though the water and its tap will end up above you when the wing is up. I was think'n fire extinguisher and med kit but you'd probably want those within reach inside the cab. I am aware 4 x 4 ers do need to mess around with tire pressure to suit the terrain, so, pump and hose/power cord perhaps, also a few basic tools like a hatchet, saw, pliers, shifter, screwdrivers for immediate access without dragging out the whole tool box just for a simple task.
Mike my 2001 4.0 Cherokee with 33” all terrains and 4.5” of lift. And other mods similar to your own. gets 12mpg in the city and 15 on the highway! After my re gear I hope to get 15 city and 18 highway lol. So yeah. Please be happy with 30mpg lol. I joke with people I couldn’t be an overlander even I wanted to be. I simply can’t carry enough gas to get that far lol 😂
Mike, do actually need all your shelves to be fully solid? If you’re not putting loose items there you can halve the weight by using a hole saw to remove half the board whilst maintaining its integrity. If you do need to solid weld in a steel or ally mesh to take weight and then use a much thinner 3-6mm ply on top.
No not at all and that's a good point. I guess I could take a hole saw to various things that i've put together and make them lighter. The shelf platform will just be some 5mm plastic sheet with holes cut in it. Should be light and strong. Perhaps these gullwing boxes can be lightened the same way.
You could get totally off in the weeds trying to shave weight on the jeep and spend lots of money replacing steering and suspension links with 7075 aluminum and go to alloy wheels and aluminum bumpers but its probably easier to re evaluate some of the gear you bring along and look to shave pounds there, rarely needed spares and tools could be left behind for lower risk trips and some camping luxuries could be replaced with lighter weight versions or removed totally
I can imagine that's a road of mega money that won't happen. We travel as light as possible with camp gear and don't bring anything more than needed. I'm sure I can shave off some weight with tools and spares though. The main weight element is the Jeep itself lol.....obviously. The tire carrier and bumper together make up 110kg and are two separate things. I think I will build a new one and try and keep it at about 55kg max. I will have to see but your right.
@@WorkshoptoWilderness one thing that comes to mind is in one video you mentioned that the little guy doesn't sleep well in the awning tent so you could look into the weight savings of removing the awning tent for just a simple awning and leaving the other tent behind in favor of those newer style quick setup pod tents with the reflective outer layer. leaving a spare at home and instead bringing a tube and patch kit when appropriate would save weight. but at the end of the day your vehicle weight isn't bad for what it is and how much luxury it provides
Yay! I've been waiting for the culmination of the window delete project! That's fair dinkum (watching too much Ozzy Man...) a useful hack, mate! Not too big, where gear gets lost amongst the other gear. Just the stuff you need quickly, ready to hand. Well done. I've been watching a lot of Matt's Off Road Recovery channel. They are big on 'kinetic' ropes for recoveries. Not good if you are self recovering with your winch, but a Major boon if you are getting a tug from a mate. Wait That didn't sound right... The kinetic rope gives a serious advantage if someone is using their vehicle to help with your recovery. I don't know the actual numbers but it looks like a 25% or more advantage over a static tow strap. Bloody expensive though...
Getting a tug from mates often hurts my pride a the time but its a relief when its over and you laughing about it around the fire at the end of the day. Getting recovered I mean. I've seen Mat use them and I've often wondered if I need one. Seems like a good idea to have just in case though.
Only problem with the kinetic ropes is price. Yankum's ain't cheap. I guess there is another company that makes them, at a substantially lower price. Can't remember the company name...Casey at Casey's Off Road Recovery uses them.
if weight is starting to become a problem, i could recommend this diet i... just kidding. Those alu boxes seem quite heavy for what they are ment to do, you could always cut out "lightening holes" in it and if its needed line the inside with some thin plastic plate. So small stuff dosnt pass through.
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I'm in between trips and the aluminium storage boxes for the gullwing windows have come in. I haven't got stuts for the system yet but the boxes should allow me to store my recovery gear and whatever else I choose in the back window compartment, saving more space inside.
I made the boxes by taking out the original window, tracing the shape of them, the adding four 100mm deep sides to each side much like a cardboard box. The local fabricators cut and bent them and that was basically it. If your going to do something like this it would probabaly be easier to get these boxes made in 3mm aluminium and bolting the hinges directly to the inside of the box rather then having them as sperate pieces.
See you on the next camp out and thanks for watching.
Mike
Something my dads friend did to his was for storage was tear out the back of the tophalf of the back seat and made an aluminum box that filled it and put a few layers of foam padding onto the aluminum and made it so when the back seats fold down that top part can hold things and when they were up he had a 2 part aluminum door that would keep everything inside it but allow you to open half of the storage compartment incase there was stuff in the way and the backseats were still as comfy as an xj backseat can be 😂. He used it as storage for spare parts.
Excellent product! Good job! Big greetings from Russia!
Very good. Space allocation from relativley dead space.
Perfect upgrade. Keeping tools at hand and organized is not easy. Love this solution.
You may find a web net from the bottom going halfway up helps keep things in place when you open the hatch.
Fantastic idea! Thank you
Looking forward the the camping video!!!
Speaking of weight and fuel prices, I have the 4.0L XJ, which is a bit of a gas hog, so I put a 300lb motorcycle on the rear hitch and it surprisingly didn't hurt the mileage much at all. Now I can make camp with the Jeep and do all my driving to town for groceries/laundry on something that gets 70MPG 👍
That's a clever Idea. I sometimes have a mountain bike on mine for that very reason but mostly I hike because of where I am. 70mpg sounds like alien tech when I think about my Jeep! Thanks for watching.
Love the updates on the jeep and the step by step. Hoping to get another 4Runner one day to do this type of thing
Cool little boxes to keep much needed items safe and easy to access…and quite a funny commentary as well, thanks for the upload dude..:)
Those are really nice!
yay Mike's back in the workshop , lol .... but those boxes are really neat , when i ( eventually ) make them for my Freelander the passenger side one will be for emergency Tea Breaks
Lovely upgrade
'got to do whatever it takes'!!🤣
As he looks at the camera all serious like with a touch of shame in his eye... 🤣 next it'll be village people, assless chaps and finger snaps.
So now yoúre in to making it a hybrid.... 😂👍🏻👌
I really like you shop videos they are truly informative
Very cool mate 👍 🏴
G'day Mike, they came out sleeker than I had envisioned but make perfect sense that way. Depends on your MO, personally I'd go with extra rope/cordage and a tarp for the kitchen area. However it looks like that vacant side would end up enclosed by your awning set up, so, assuming it's still accessible; internal lighting, torches, maybe charging ports which would still be handy on the side of the road too. Alternatively, if not accessible, put the recovery gear on that side, since a recovery operation with the awning up is less than unlikely, lol. Cheers Duke.
You hit the nail on the head and we discovered it when we camped. I looked at the Jeep and thought "so I cant access the right window with the awning out, but i can get my recovery gear out of the left one when camping and not needing it".....
Meg suggested a hygiene and washing station in there. So a towel, wet wipes, toilet roll and mirror and tooth brushes as well as the baby stuff. Its not a bad idea and it makes accessing it super convienet. My only problem with it is it wont be used when we are not camping and I feel like that space is better suited for permanent items that are a part of the Jeep.
@@WorkshoptoWilderness Yep Meg's idea is a good one for when you are out camping, right next to the water supply, though the water and its tap will end up above you when the wing is up. I was think'n fire extinguisher and med kit but you'd probably want those within reach inside the cab. I am aware 4 x 4 ers do need to mess around with tire pressure to suit the terrain, so, pump and hose/power cord perhaps, also a few basic tools like a hatchet, saw, pliers, shifter, screwdrivers for immediate access without dragging out the whole tool box just for a simple task.
30mpg!!!! Jesus that’s great!!
My 3 series bmw doesn’t get much more on the highway
Its not bad for this lump but it would be nice to get more out of it.
Mike my 2001 4.0 Cherokee with 33” all terrains and 4.5” of lift. And other mods similar to your own. gets 12mpg in the city and 15 on the highway! After my re gear I hope to get 15 city and 18 highway lol. So yeah. Please be happy with 30mpg lol.
I joke with people I couldn’t be an overlander even I wanted to be. I simply can’t carry enough gas to get that far lol 😂
Mike, do actually need all your shelves to be fully solid? If you’re not putting loose items there you can halve the weight by using a hole saw to remove half the board whilst maintaining its integrity. If you do need to solid weld in a steel or ally mesh to take weight and then use a much thinner 3-6mm ply on top.
No not at all and that's a good point. I guess I could take a hole saw to various things that i've put together and make them lighter. The shelf platform will just be some 5mm plastic sheet with holes cut in it. Should be light and strong. Perhaps these gullwing boxes can be lightened the same way.
You could get totally off in the weeds trying to shave weight on the jeep and spend lots of money replacing steering and suspension links with 7075 aluminum and go to alloy wheels and aluminum bumpers but its probably easier to re evaluate some of the gear you bring along and look to shave pounds there, rarely needed spares and tools could be left behind for lower risk trips and some camping luxuries could be replaced with lighter weight versions or removed totally
I can imagine that's a road of mega money that won't happen. We travel as light as possible with camp gear and don't bring anything more than needed. I'm sure I can shave off some weight with tools and spares though. The main weight element is the Jeep itself lol.....obviously. The tire carrier and bumper together make up 110kg and are two separate things. I think I will build a new one and try and keep it at about 55kg max. I will have to see but your right.
@@WorkshoptoWilderness one thing that comes to mind is in one video you mentioned that the little guy doesn't sleep well in the awning tent so you could look into the weight savings of removing the awning tent for just a simple awning and leaving the other tent behind in favor of those newer style quick setup pod tents with the reflective outer layer. leaving a spare at home and instead bringing a tube and patch kit when appropriate would save weight. but at the end of the day your vehicle weight isn't bad for what it is and how much luxury it provides
They look great my friend! I hope you didn't have to "compromise" or "sacrifice" something you can never get back...😳
Yay! I've been waiting for the culmination of the window delete project! That's fair dinkum (watching too much Ozzy Man...) a useful hack, mate! Not too big, where gear gets lost amongst the other gear. Just the stuff you need quickly, ready to hand.
Well done.
I've been watching a lot of Matt's Off Road Recovery channel. They are big on 'kinetic' ropes for recoveries. Not good if you are self recovering with your winch, but a Major boon if you are getting a tug from a mate.
Wait
That didn't sound right...
The kinetic rope gives a serious advantage if someone is using their vehicle to help with your recovery. I don't know the actual numbers but it looks like a 25% or more advantage over a static tow strap.
Bloody expensive though...
Getting a tug from mates often hurts my pride a the time but its a relief when its over and you laughing about it around the fire at the end of the day. Getting recovered I mean. I've seen Mat use them and I've often wondered if I need one. Seems like a good idea to have just in case though.
Only problem with the kinetic ropes is price. Yankum's ain't cheap. I guess there is another company that makes them, at a substantially lower price. Can't remember the company name...Casey at Casey's Off Road Recovery uses them.
Ran over to Casey's to look it up. Factor 55 Ropes....
You need 20 lb strut to lift the side windows.
if weight is starting to become a problem, i could recommend this diet i... just kidding. Those alu boxes seem quite heavy for what they are ment to do, you could always cut out "lightening holes" in it and if its needed line the inside with some thin plastic plate. So small stuff dosnt pass through.
Crocs.