A discussion on what to carry in your backcountry vehicle and a little about how you might set one up. Products mentioned: Rotopax, hi-lift, Bfgoodrich AT, Toyota TRD, Jeep Rubicon
I think along the same lines as you. When I was a kid I wanted a 10" Skyjacker lift on a Jeep TJ, and so on. Now I'm happy with my Old Man Emu 4Runner and keeping it simple. I love your thoughts on Posi, thanks for the video.
one thing about the super high lifts kits is it makes for a way more top heavy,tippy ride that greatly increases rollovers on and off roads.. Check out the Wyeth-Scott more power puller 3 ton come along. 35' of synthetic dyneema line with a 6000lb single line drag or 12,000lb double line pull they run over $300 but i'm sure are more reliable then a cheap winch and could be hidden in the rear till needed instead of up for grabs on the front bumper. Maxsa traction boards are a knockoff of maxtrax but run $100 on amazon for people that will rarely use them. great video with lots of good information
All very reasonable! Good sidewall tread is a biggie. I've experienced a sidewall blowout myself and seen others. Rocks/roots will do that. Another good use for the come-along is to pull a corner of your rig over laterally. The worst time I ever got stuck, I pulled my truck 90 degrees across the trail and drove it out and around through the woods. Funny, I tend to be driving the kind of vehicles you always seem to be pulling out.
I carry my hilift in a demon swag hilift mount that attaches to the rollcage on my Jk. Strap a shovel to that and good to go. I've also used my floor mats to get out of the soft sand many times. And another good Jeep lift is Zone Off-road. I put a 4" on mine with 3.73 gearing, and am quite pleased. 4.88 would be better, but eventually....I'm glad you posted up; I really do look forward to your videos. Thanks.
Great video, nice rig. I had a '96 Cherokee Sport a few years back. Yours is set up a lot like how I wanted to build mine. Like a fool I sold it to some college kid, and I have regretted it ever since.
Big thing to remember is vehicle maintenance. If you take care of you rig it will take care of you. Instead of an axe I carry a Pulaski as it offers extra versatility in a single tool. Also add a good plug kit and a way to air up tires.
Winchparts we used to make our livings with Pulaskis. Good tools. The all metal estwings get the nod in the rigs for us because they never require handle maintenance and double as sledges. Good point on vehicle maintenance. If something is near failure, it will fail under the extra stress of off pavement travel.
my driver is a 71 dodge W200 1 bucket seat, and a platform for my mutts with tools/ EDC survival underneath, and all the normal stuff. The truck came stock in 71 posi front and rear its the same suspension it rolled off the line with cept for shocks, its badly in need of body mounts haha but shes a good old girl.
What's the issue with roof top tents exactly? I have spent countless nights out in a ground tent and none of them have ever been anywhere near as comfortable, efficient or convenient as my GFC canopy camper rig. The set up and take down time is maybe 20% of time spent dealing with a ground tent set up/tear down. It's far superior in bad weather...warmer, roomier, stronger and way more water proof. You're +6' off the ground, well above the water/mud and annoying critters like ticks, scorpions, mice (and the bigger critters like nosy bears). So really not seeing a downside if (like most people most of the time) you typically find yourself camping adjacent your vehicle anyways.
Weight, high center of gravity, wind noise, reduced mileage and cruise range. Also stowing when wet and subsequent dry out. Depending on rig, stock suspension won't cut it. Some of these things can be mitigated in various ways. By far the best option is a rig that takes a bed setup in back. More weather and predator secure, more comfortable, and no setup or take down. You do have to do something about bugs if you're sleeping inside of a vehicle. Screens on magnets over the windows works well as in the Cherokee that is the subject of this video. Or a truck with a topper that has screened windows.
@@HillPeopleGear I hear what you're saying, but having spent a lot of nights in the back of a truck with just a standard canopy I still totally favor the pop up tent of my GFC. My canopy/camper weighs just 270lbs total, about the weight of one (chubby) person so it's not a huge addition and the weight doesn't feel top heavy. The tent portion of the GFC adds about 10" to the total height of the truck so clearance isn't much of a factor. There's a slight advantage to the solid tops of a typical canopy or SUV in terms of staying warmer but it equals out when it'prohibitively difficult but new school roof top tent set ups are lightweight, low profile and offer massive functionality benefits for efficiency and comfort in the backcountry.
No particular thoughts on tinting - those are clear because when I bought the very last XJ available in the PNW in 1999 that had manual everything, it came like that. I never would have chosen black for a color but lack of electronic gizmos was more important to me.
Awesome! I usually tint my windows to reduce heat in FL and always thought it would keep noisy passer bys from peeping in. It does reduce my visibility especially at night. Cant figure out what would be more useful in overlanding. Trade offs I guess!
Ironically, was considering the purchase of one last month. You hit the nail on the head with convenience being the key factor. It's way more convenient to sleep inside of your rig for a multitude of reasons. Right up until your vehicle isn't big enough to sleep the number of people you're transporting. Stepping back, it's been interesting to watch the evolution of "overlanding" over the last 5 years or so. Kitted out JKs used to be the vehicle of choice even though kitting them out even for 2 people to camp out of makes them grossly underpowered and you're already out of space. Then Tacomas and 4Runners became the thing because they're enough bigger to make everything easier. But as I've recently realized, you can't sleep 2 people inside of a 4Runner and have space for anything else. Hence the reason I was looking at rooftop tents. I already knew the ones with the covers and such were too much trouble, wind noise, and power robbers. The only ones that make an ounce of sense to me are the hard shells that presumably you can leave on all of the time and be reasonably aerodynamic. But you're still adding a lot of weight and raising your center of gravity quite a bit. All of a sudden, the 4runner would have needed to be re-geared to have enough power for a rooftop tent and the 33" tires that are on it. So I was looking at $6,500 between regearing and a rooftop tent if I couldn't find one used. Or, do what a lot of the "overlanding" community is doing and step up to a rig that's actually big and powerful enough to carry everything for 2 people to camp out of. That means a half ton or bigger truck. And by the way, for under $10k you can have a full on camp trailer that is going to beat out a roof top tent in every single way other than ease of parking it. Everything is a trade-off for sure. Right now, RTTs are the darling of the overlanding world. I don't think they pencil out nearly as well as the current fad would suggest.
@@HillPeopleGear I just bought a land cruiser and was thinking about a roof top tent, but I don't think I can justify the cost. Also if you're camping somewhere more than one night I wouldn't want to have to deal with taking it down and setting it up every day.
Yes. I got it from a guy who got it from a guy. Pretty nice little homebuild out of 1/4" steel. Not particularly heavy. In my case, it gave me front tow points which I didn't have before. Although you can just put tow hooks on the frame. Honestly, it's something I go back and forth on with every doggone rig I have in my care. It bugs me that vehicles mostly don't have real bumpers anymore. Not much point to one on back, but one on front sure would make me feel better about the world. If it's aluminum, you may not need to re-do your front suspension but then it's expensive. Steel ones cost less but are usually heavy enough to need better suspension and of course they rob you of power. One thing you might consider is a front receiver hitch. They're usually a lot less expensive and lighter than a full bumper, but give you a pretty serious piece of steel up front to work with. Hang a hi-lift off the front of it for extra front end protection.
@@HillPeopleGear Thanks for the quick reply, I appreciate your straight forward advice from someone whose vehicle use and off-road school of thought is very similar to mine. Thanks for the suggestions
I prefer static not dynamic. 20' is nicer for towing, 30' is nicer for bridging distance for a recovery. It's not so much the width as it is the weight rating of the strap. Go somewhere you can look at various straps (like tractor supply) and then you can choose the rating and length that you like while still being able to fit it in your vehicle. I think the strap I have right now is rated for 3x or 4x the gross vehicle weight. It's pretty big volume wise.
Not using hi-lift's package... The real key is having a properly load rated come along in in the mix to take up all of the tension of the rigging (vehicle / hi-lift / tow strap if necessary for length / come along / tree strap). Then you use wheel chocks or parking brake / having it in gear to keep the vehicle from rolling back where it came from while you're re-setting the rigging. It's a slow process, but it works.
Hill People Gear why would you not just winch with the come along? I guess what im getting at is im not a fan of chain and i come from a ems degree where we learned a lot of search and rescue. In my head i have an idea to be able to reset rope/hilift with prusiks but i cant find anyone who has done so
@@julianhaylock9843 If you can move the rig with the come along, then you don't have to mess with the hi-lift. However, the hi-lift has a LOT more mechanical advantage and might be the power you need to move your rig. So you do the setup with the come along and hi-lift both then when you tension the system with the come along if you can also move the vehicle you just keep going. You've probably figured this out, but the hi-lift chain setup is sort of like a double prusik setup. We don't use chains ourselves. As far as prusiking the weight of your rig along a fixed line is concerned, you're talking about some pretty heavy duty tackle to do it safely. Probably since this video was shot, we've acquired a Tirfor Type hand winch out of Australia. It is a big cam mechanism that attaches to your vehicle and walks a fixed cable line. We've tested it under forgiving circumstances and it did quite well. It's quite a bit bigger to carry around than the hi-lift you probably already have plus a come along.
![[DRIP] ‘Really Like You’ PREVIEW](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/6KYxQ-Udrj0/mqdefault.jpg)
The best, most normal “overlanding” video ive seen
I think along the same lines as you. When I was a kid I wanted a 10" Skyjacker lift on a Jeep TJ, and so on. Now I'm happy with my Old Man Emu 4Runner and keeping it simple. I love your thoughts on Posi, thanks for the video.
one thing about the super high lifts kits is it makes for a way more top heavy,tippy ride that greatly increases rollovers on and off roads.. Check out the Wyeth-Scott more power puller 3 ton come along. 35' of synthetic dyneema line with a 6000lb single line drag or 12,000lb double line pull they run over $300 but i'm sure are more reliable then a cheap winch and could be hidden in the rear till needed instead of up for grabs on the front bumper. Maxsa traction boards are a knockoff of maxtrax but run $100 on amazon for people that will rarely use them. great video with lots of good information
All very reasonable!
Good sidewall tread is a biggie. I've experienced a sidewall blowout myself and seen others. Rocks/roots will do that.
Another good use for the come-along is to pull a corner of your rig over laterally. The worst time I ever got stuck, I pulled my truck 90 degrees across the trail and drove it out and around through the woods.
Funny, I tend to be driving the kind of vehicles you always seem to be pulling out.
I carry my hilift in a demon swag hilift mount that attaches to the rollcage on my Jk. Strap a shovel to that and good to go. I've also used my floor mats to get out of the soft sand many times. And another good Jeep lift is Zone Off-road. I put a 4" on mine with 3.73 gearing, and am quite pleased. 4.88 would be better, but eventually....I'm glad you posted up; I really do look forward to your videos. Thanks.
Great video, nice rig. I had a '96 Cherokee Sport a few years back. Yours is set up a lot like how I wanted to build mine. Like a fool I sold it to some college kid, and I have regretted it ever since.
Big thing to remember is vehicle maintenance. If you take care of you rig it will take care of you. Instead of an axe I carry a Pulaski as it offers extra versatility in a single tool. Also add a good plug kit and a way to air up tires.
Winchparts we used to make our livings with Pulaskis. Good tools. The all metal estwings get the nod in the rigs for us because they never require handle maintenance and double as sledges. Good point on vehicle maintenance. If something is near failure, it will fail under the extra stress of off pavement travel.
Those Estwings are bombproof for sure.
I am right with you on your school of thought and priorities on modding a rig. Thanks for the info
Excellent well thought out car kit. Thanks for the ideas.Nate
As always thank you for the content and the advice.
Thank you for posting this.
my driver is a 71 dodge W200 1 bucket seat, and a platform for my mutts with tools/ EDC survival underneath, and all the normal stuff. The truck came stock in 71 posi front and rear its the same suspension it rolled off the line with cept for shocks, its badly in need of body mounts haha but shes a good old girl.
What's the issue with roof top tents exactly?
I have spent countless nights out in a ground tent and none of them have ever been anywhere near as comfortable, efficient or convenient as my GFC canopy camper rig. The set up and take down time is maybe 20% of time spent dealing with a ground tent set up/tear down. It's far superior in bad weather...warmer, roomier, stronger and way more water proof. You're +6' off the ground, well above the water/mud and annoying critters like ticks, scorpions, mice (and the bigger critters like nosy bears).
So really not seeing a downside if (like most people most of the time) you typically find yourself camping adjacent your vehicle anyways.
Weight, high center of gravity, wind noise, reduced mileage and cruise range. Also stowing when wet and subsequent dry out. Depending on rig, stock suspension won't cut it. Some of these things can be mitigated in various ways. By far the best option is a rig that takes a bed setup in back. More weather and predator secure, more comfortable, and no setup or take down. You do have to do something about bugs if you're sleeping inside of a vehicle. Screens on magnets over the windows works well as in the Cherokee that is the subject of this video. Or a truck with a topper that has screened windows.
@@HillPeopleGear
I hear what you're saying, but having spent a lot of nights in the back of a truck with just a standard canopy I still totally favor the pop up tent of my GFC. My canopy/camper weighs just 270lbs total, about the weight of one (chubby) person so it's not a huge addition and the weight doesn't feel top heavy. The tent portion of the GFC adds about 10" to the total height of the truck so clearance isn't much of a factor. There's a slight advantage to the solid tops of a typical canopy or SUV in terms of staying warmer but it equals out when it'prohibitively difficult but new school roof top tent set ups are lightweight, low profile and offer massive functionality benefits for efficiency and comfort in the backcountry.
@@h.caulfield4776 Hard shells like the GFC are certainly way ahead of the older styles and address a lot of the issues.
I enjoyed the video. Makes sense.
Very concise and informative! Any thoughts on tinted vs non-tinted windows? I see yours are clear - for better visibility?
No particular thoughts on tinting - those are clear because when I bought the very last XJ available in the PNW in 1999 that had manual everything, it came like that. I never would have chosen black for a color but lack of electronic gizmos was more important to me.
Awesome! I usually tint my windows to reduce heat in FL and always thought it would keep noisy passer bys from peeping in. It does reduce my visibility especially at night. Cant figure out what would be more useful in overlanding. Trade offs I guess!
Why don't you like rooftop tents? I haven't used one but they seem pretty convenient.
Ironically, was considering the purchase of one last month. You hit the nail on the head with convenience being the key factor. It's way more convenient to sleep inside of your rig for a multitude of reasons. Right up until your vehicle isn't big enough to sleep the number of people you're transporting. Stepping back, it's been interesting to watch the evolution of "overlanding" over the last 5 years or so. Kitted out JKs used to be the vehicle of choice even though kitting them out even for 2 people to camp out of makes them grossly underpowered and you're already out of space. Then Tacomas and 4Runners became the thing because they're enough bigger to make everything easier. But as I've recently realized, you can't sleep 2 people inside of a 4Runner and have space for anything else. Hence the reason I was looking at rooftop tents. I already knew the ones with the covers and such were too much trouble, wind noise, and power robbers. The only ones that make an ounce of sense to me are the hard shells that presumably you can leave on all of the time and be reasonably aerodynamic. But you're still adding a lot of weight and raising your center of gravity quite a bit. All of a sudden, the 4runner would have needed to be re-geared to have enough power for a rooftop tent and the 33" tires that are on it. So I was looking at $6,500 between regearing and a rooftop tent if I couldn't find one used. Or, do what a lot of the "overlanding" community is doing and step up to a rig that's actually big and powerful enough to carry everything for 2 people to camp out of. That means a half ton or bigger truck. And by the way, for under $10k you can have a full on camp trailer that is going to beat out a roof top tent in every single way other than ease of parking it. Everything is a trade-off for sure. Right now, RTTs are the darling of the overlanding world. I don't think they pencil out nearly as well as the current fad would suggest.
@@HillPeopleGear I just bought a land cruiser and was thinking about a roof top tent, but I don't think I can justify the cost. Also if you're camping somewhere more than one night I wouldn't want to have to deal with taking it down and setting it up every day.
do you have a custom steel bumper on your Jeep? I'm tryin to weigh pros/cons and decide whether to go that route or not on my 2000 Xterra. Thanks
Yes. I got it from a guy who got it from a guy. Pretty nice little homebuild out of 1/4" steel. Not particularly heavy. In my case, it gave me front tow points which I didn't have before. Although you can just put tow hooks on the frame. Honestly, it's something I go back and forth on with every doggone rig I have in my care. It bugs me that vehicles mostly don't have real bumpers anymore. Not much point to one on back, but one on front sure would make me feel better about the world. If it's aluminum, you may not need to re-do your front suspension but then it's expensive. Steel ones cost less but are usually heavy enough to need better suspension and of course they rob you of power. One thing you might consider is a front receiver hitch. They're usually a lot less expensive and lighter than a full bumper, but give you a pretty serious piece of steel up front to work with. Hang a hi-lift off the front of it for extra front end protection.
@@HillPeopleGear Thanks for the quick reply, I appreciate your straight forward advice from someone whose vehicle use and off-road school of thought is very similar to mine. Thanks for the suggestions
what size strap do you prefer ( width and length). Thanks
I prefer static not dynamic. 20' is nicer for towing, 30' is nicer for bridging distance for a recovery. It's not so much the width as it is the weight rating of the strap. Go somewhere you can look at various straps (like tractor supply) and then you can choose the rating and length that you like while still being able to fit it in your vehicle. I think the strap I have right now is rated for 3x or 4x the gross vehicle weight. It's pretty big volume wise.
Do you run those 33’s on stock gears? If so how is it on the highway?
No... 4.10 gearing
Bonjour !
Do you use hi lifts winching package or have you made your own?
Not using hi-lift's package... The real key is having a properly load rated come along in in the mix to take up all of the tension of the rigging (vehicle / hi-lift / tow strap if necessary for length / come along / tree strap). Then you use wheel chocks or parking brake / having it in gear to keep the vehicle from rolling back where it came from while you're re-setting the rigging. It's a slow process, but it works.
Hill People Gear why would you not just winch with the come along? I guess what im getting at is im not a fan of chain and i come from a ems degree where we learned a lot of search and rescue. In my head i have an idea to be able to reset rope/hilift with prusiks but i cant find anyone who has done so
@@julianhaylock9843 If you can move the rig with the come along, then you don't have to mess with the hi-lift. However, the hi-lift has a LOT more mechanical advantage and might be the power you need to move your rig. So you do the setup with the come along and hi-lift both then when you tension the system with the come along if you can also move the vehicle you just keep going. You've probably figured this out, but the hi-lift chain setup is sort of like a double prusik setup. We don't use chains ourselves. As far as prusiking the weight of your rig along a fixed line is concerned, you're talking about some pretty heavy duty tackle to do it safely. Probably since this video was shot, we've acquired a Tirfor Type hand winch out of Australia. It is a big cam mechanism that attaches to your vehicle and walks a fixed cable line. We've tested it under forgiving circumstances and it did quite well. It's quite a bit bigger to carry around than the hi-lift you probably already have plus a come along.