Building KJ for long trips

MojaveKJ · **Posted:** Tue Mar 23, 2010 2:25 am

JL Rockies wrote:

There are may multi-day journey's to be had in UT; there are many miles and miles between miles and miles. UT is life elevated.

CO is cool for mall crawling though. :goink:

Yeah, Utah is top shelf. I have friends in Sandy and we rode a GSs through Utah in '04 and will never forget the place. I want my soul to rest in the desert when I die. :dead:

Utah is for sure on the list for "the big trip" whenever that can happen. But I'm not jealous of you JL, really.

CRD Joe wrote:

Ya at first you gotta start with a CRD. Ive gotten as much as 750+miles on a tank. Add a couple five gallon cans on a rear bumper and youre at 1000 miles. Get an adventure trailer that has a couple more cans and youre well into the 1200+ mile range. That range gives you power to do and go where you want.

Yeah, I have been schooled in the ways of CRD and am tempted by them. Maybe Jeep will listen and build a CRD KK or JK (or is JK on the way already?). Then I might jump into one and build the KJ for another purpose.

dieselenthusiast · **Posted:** Wed Feb 16, 2011 10:51 pm

MojaveKJ, do you have any updates on your KJ build?

Ryn7 · **Posted:** Thu Feb 17, 2011 7:16 am

Back in 1987 two friends and myself took 7 weeks and toured the U.S.A. and drove 15,685.3 miles.
That is a long trip!
I too am building up our KJ for such journeys as my wife and I want to take 4-5 weeks and head
North up to Alaska and visit family.

MojaveKJ · **Posted:** Sun Feb 20, 2011 2:12 pm

dieselenthusiast wrote:

MojaveKJ, do you have any updates on your KJ build?

Not like I had planned. As life sometimes does, mine has taken an unforeseen turn and as a result the cost and logistics of Jeep work are more difficult to accommodate. The plan remains in place, just the time-line is modified.

I did have the good folks at All J add an ARB bumper and WARN8000 in November and I put a Defender roof rack on it last month. I am collecting part numbers and costs for upgrading the drive-train with better parts. John has a really good point about the valve-train and I have added head work to my list of things to do.

I should have started this 5 years ago when the Jeep was 2 years old, now it's going on 8 years and over 125k miles and the cost/benefit ratio gets worse every time I examine it.

Thanks for the interest! :JEEPIN:

dieselenthusiast · **Posted:** Sun Feb 20, 2011 3:28 pm

MojaveKJ wrote:

Not like I had planned. As life sometimes does, mine has taken an unforeseen turn and as a result the cost and logistics of Jeep work are more difficult to accommodate. The plan remains in place, just the time-line is modified.

I did have the good folks at All J add an ARB bumper and WARN8000 in November and I put a Defender roof rack on it last month. I am collecting part numbers and costs for upgrading the drive-train with better parts. John has a really good point about the valve-train and I have added head work to my list of things to do.

I should have started this 5 years ago when the Jeep was 2 years old, now it's going on 8 years and over 125k miles and the cost/benefit ratio gets worse every time I examine it.

Thanks for the interest! :JEEPIN:

Regardless of the speed in which you're working towards accomplishing goals, it still sounds like you’re making progress. If it makes you feel any better, I've put my vehicles on a 2 year plan to completely finish them. At this rate, my goal is to have both Jeeps completed by December 2012. I'm building the KJ and XJ simultaneously which is taking me longer. Once finished, they’ll be ready for most trails, camping trips, and other outings that we like to do. Any additional costs will be a matter of keeping up on general maintenance.

What are you going to do for a rear bumper? Rock Lizard is NOW taking orders for his rear bumper. He’s even offering payment plans. If you’re interested, then you might send him a PM. I think there are a few spots open if you want one. This will be the last time he makes them for a long time, or at least until he has another group of people who want them.

MojaveKJ · **Posted:** Sun Feb 20, 2011 3:31 pm

dieselenthusiast wrote:

MojaveKJ wrote:

Not like I had planned. As life sometimes does, mine has taken an unforeseen turn and as a result the cost and logistics of Jeep work are more difficult to accommodate. The plan remains in place, just the time-line is modified.

I did have the good folks at All J add an ARB bumper and WARN8000 in November and I put a Defender roof rack on it last month. I am collecting part numbers and costs for upgrading the drive-train with better parts. John has a really good point about the valve-train and I have added head work to my list of things to do.

I should have started this 5 years ago when the Jeep was 2 years old, now it's going on 8 years and over 125k miles and the cost/benefit ratio gets worse every time I examine it.

Thanks for the interest! :JEEPIN:

Regardless of the speed in which you're working towards accomplishing goals, it still sounds like you’re making progress. If it makes you feel any better, I've put my vehicles on a 2 year plan to completely finish them. At this rate, my goal is to have both Jeeps completed by December 2012. I'm building the KJ and XJ simultaneously which is taking me longer. Once finished, they’ll be ready for most trails, camping trips, and other outings that we like to do. Any additional costs will be a matter of keeping up on general maintenance.

What are you going to do for a rear bumper?

I've been PM'ing Boiler about an aluminum rear bumper and plan to go with his design when he's ready to make them.

dieselenthusiast · **Posted:** Sat Nov 12, 2011 2:07 am

MojaveKJ, how do you like your Defender roof rack? I’m looking at buying one for my XJ. Is there a way to run the light wires through the tubes, or do wires need to be ziptied?

MojaveKJ · **Posted:** Sat Nov 12, 2011 3:45 pm

dieselenthusiast wrote:

MojaveKJ, how do you like your Defender roof rack? I’m looking at buying one for my XJ. Is there a way to run the light wires through the tubes, or do wires need to be ziptied?

I love the Defender, it is the most well constructed rack for the money that I found anywhere. I got the one piece 4x5 foot and had Off Road Unlimited in Burbank, CA (makers of Defender) weld seat tabs onto my Rocky Road Outfitter steel roof bars as mounting points for the defender and it is super SOLID when bolted in place. By luck, I live one mile from ORU...! :BANANA:

I don't yet have my PIAA lights and will probably put them on the bumper instead of the roof rack (I'll reserve those mounting holes for antennas) but there are no holes pre-drilled to run wires. I'm sure you could drill holes, add grommets and run wire if that's of your skill level but zip ties to the outside would work too though they may get caught up on gear loading and unloading depending on the wire paths. :?:

I highly recommend the Defender and the 4x5 foot size; holds more Rotopax gas cans and stuff and looks better with the Jeep's shape IMO. If you happen to talk to Kenny when you call ORU to order yours tell him Tony with the silver Liberty said Hello. He's a really good guy to deal with.

Good luck,
Tony :JEEPIN:

Building KJ for long trips

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