to everyone, thanks for all the great information & pictures.

I do some off road trips with a few friends, last year, SW Colorado and this year Big Bend, but In Sept I will be ordering a Jeep JKU and in March of 2014 I will retire. My first big trip will be the Alaska Highway and areas in NW Canada and Alaska. After that, who knows, but this thread has given me some great ideas and things to look forward to. My plan is to build a small trailer, but now it might be a rack or both.

 

I hope this I where to ask this question?

Reading the post here, I see that some people use a trailer, some use a roof rack and some just use the Jeep. I could see a JKU being large enough for 1-2 people on a long trip, but not for 3-4 or the JK. My plan is a JKU with a 4x5 trailer, with a aluminum box on it. Inside the Jeep will be people, cloths, sleeping bags and in the trailer will be a Yeti cooler, pop up, tent, cooking stuff, etc. Most of the time it will be me and maybe one other, but there will be trips, like Alaska with 3-4 people going.

So how any people are normally in your Jeep on trips, and do you use a roof rack or trailer and why?

 

Usually just me, occasionally my wife. We used to sleep in the back of the JKU, but anything longer than a night and it wouldn't work. I got the trailer because roof tents just won't work and my wife isn't much of a tent camper. However my trailer is basically a big tent, hahaha, but we have a queen sized bed frame inside and we don't have to sleep on the ground.

 

For me:

1. Diffy covers (which you should do anyway if you lift the vehicle in order to get the fill port higher up--but don't overfill by filling all the way to the port unless you have a really monster lift!).

2. Oil pan protection (a cover that literally glues right over the stock lower oil pan section).

3. Skids on the front LCA brackets (because they can be a pain to work with when they get bent up).

4. Skids on the rear shock brackets (ditto #3).

5. Relocated the evap canister.

6. Relocated the steering stabilizer (my rig is probably unique because I've actually moved it off the tie rod to the drag link because it was hitting the extra heavy duty rods I have under there--made necessary after bending a drag link playing on the rocks).

One caveat: There have been some changes in what stock Jeeps have in armor since I bought my 2007. I believe only the Rubi's come with the full set now. So, make sure you at least have the Rubi stock stuff on there--transfer case, gas tank (guess that's on all of them because it holds the bladder up, LOL), and auto tranny if you have one.

If you were to look under the bottom of my Jeep you'd see lots of bent sheetmetal. The Jeep runs fine after 115K miles, despite some pretty rough play out there. Most of that damage came because I went out with the rock crawlers. To be honest, most overlanding is done in 2WD. But, it is nice when you come to a rough stretch of trail that you're able to navigate it in 4WD, and with lockers if needed. But, as for armoring up like a hardcore rock crawler--really not necessary unless you decide to go play in the rocks.

 

One or two people on trips. I have a roof rack and sometimes use--depends on the trip. But, I carry a ton of camera gear, and like to eat well. So, often take a Dutch oven and a pan to use it in (to avoid ground fires), and charcoal for it (prefer using local wood, but often isn't allowed). So, I carry lots of gear most folks probably don't. I do use a backpacking tent, and usually carry a spare tent, spare stove (a small Altoids tin alcohol stove I made in addition to the Coleman two-burner), etc. Plus lots of water--seven gallons or more for really remote stuff in the desert in the summer. I also usually have two large stuff sacks of clothing since many of my trips are for a couple weeks or more. One large tote for the trail kitchen (the gray ones you see on top of my Jeep in some of my pictures), another one for miscellaneous supplies (dromedaries, propane bottles, bow saw, etc), and another black tote, sometimes, for very light stuff--a tent, sleeping bags, etc. That goes on the trail rack. I also carry a four drawer tool chest with enough tools to do some pretty serious trail work on the Jeep--up to pulling an axle. Then there are the MaxTrax, the refrigerator (which usually holds all of the food, even though some doesn't require refrigeration), the recovery bag (a very capacious crag bag because it's both large and extra heavy duty). When I'm traveling I remove most of the stuff from the storage cubby before the trip--or live to regret it when I need something in there and have to unload the Jeep to get at it, LOL. There's also a small roll up table, and a short ladder (for getting at stuff on the overhead rack, and also useful sometimes for photography). Then about three or four bags of camera gear, plus a tripod plus usually two cameras setting out where I can grab them quickly. You can see I get pretty full!

 

Since we all seem to be keeping the rubber down (knock on wood)

 

Hope you don't mind the questions, but this is where I see myself headed after retirement.

After retirement and my Alaska trip, My plan was to leave my apartment and head west, no interstates if i could avoid them, went there was no more road, turn right, head north, no more roads, turn right, etc, etc, just zig zag across the country. Find a place I like, stop for a week, month, ????

I have seen the pictures, anytime that it cause problems?


Mark, you travel with friends who have trailers, have you thought about using one? That is a lot of stuff and I would guess with a couple of passengers, it wouldn't fit?

 

The only problem I have is that my wife doesn't like camping. Haha.

She would consider it if we had a decked out RV, but unless I win the Powerball I don't see that happening.

I could drop off the grid for a bit... I don't watch TV anymore, Facebook has reached its end for me and all I use it for now is to post "check-ins" and pictures of life. You can do that anywhere.

But its still nice to have a home to go to.

 

You're right, it wouldn't fit with a couple passengers. We'd have to leave some things behind. That's always doable. But, I rarely have more than one passenger (driver, since I often let that person drive so I can hop out and do some photography work--it's not uncommon for me to jump from vehicle to vehicle so we can get different perspectives on the trip). But, as for a trailer, I used to think I wanted one. They do look way cool. But, after traveling with people who use them, I decided I really don't. For me, the cons outweigh the pros. But, I'll admit it is nice when someone on the trip has the trailer for us to use for cooking and such.

 

You should Google the "Trans-America Trail". An off-road single track, but dual track usable most of the way, trip across the lower 48.