6G v2.0

[tobyw]

Thats so cool, when I clicked i figured it was a ratchet strap around the tire kind of affair

Nope... that's what the water jug is held on with though

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[tobyw]

I don't know why, but I just cannot shake the boy-racer side of me that has a soft spot for LED light bars I would actually really like to go with something more like the KC Gravity Pro-6 setup with it's round lights that seem a little more fitting with the softer lines of the 6G, but both VISA and Mastercard have suspended my sponsorships so I am relegated to the likes of Amazon special edition units... At any rate, I spent a little time fab'ing up some simple brackets and hung a 50" curved unit over the weekend:

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[tobyw]

Well... in a very disheartening turn of events, the LED light bar is no more After several attempts to mitigate the wind noise, I just could not live with it for a daily driver and it had to come back off:

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On the other end of things, literally, I spent a few minutes combing the online catalogs found a replacement swing gate cylinder that would prevent the gate from opening beyond 90*, avoiding the collision of my Rotopax with my taillight housing when I have it strapped to the spare tire:

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[tobyw]

Finally took the time to install a permanent brake controller... As I've mentioned before, I really like the wireless brake control setup as it works flawlessly and is brick simple to move between vehicles, but the trailer mounted control module is not handy for multiple trailers. Since the Donkey sees duty towing our camp trailer, flatbed, and dump trailer from time to time, having a dedicated brake controller just makes life easier. And I'm lazy, so I'm all about making life easier

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[tobyw]

After nearly a year since the last update, which has included countless wheeling trips and miles traveled off-road "BDR-style" towing the little camp trailer around, I finally got around to taking another crack at an LED light bar. Sort of... Version 1.0 was a terrific failure because of the unbelievable wind buffeting it caused with the soft top. I always had a hunch that something more like the KC Gravity Pro-6 light bar might work better by allowing some air to travel around and through the profile, but I wasn't about to drop $1,800 on an experiment like that. Plus, due to my drive-by-braille driving antics, having something that expensive be so exposed simply didn't seem like the right answer

Enter Amazon and their ever-present flash sales... I scored a grip of 4-1/4" round LED light pods for a song, and with the Prime membership benefit of free returns there was really no risk other than my time. I spent a few minutes tinkering with a new tube roller, which for the record is cool as heck, and glued on some tabs to mount the lights themselves. Believe it or not, I had to foresight to actually save the mounting brackets I had fab'd up for the original 50" LED bar last fall, and grafted them into the design of the new setup. Once the smoke cleared out, I stood back to see what happened:

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I am happy to report that it makes no appreciable difference in wind noise at speed Having just racked up nearly 1,000 miles through the Idaho BDR and not even noticing it up there except when it was switched on, I'm going to chalk this one up as a win

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[tobyw]

My disdain for having to constantly deal with straps to restrain my storage bins combined with my ever-present ADD led me down the rabbit hole of alternate storage solutions. Dryside showed me the light with the Milwaukee Packout system that he has incorporated into his JKU-R build, and it combines two of my favorite things: LEGOS and Tetris. I leaned into the system hard and picked up a variety of bins, boxes, and one soft-sided bag that may well be my favorite piece of the entire outfit. I used a large base plate for the lower deck, and modified my patented Harbor Freight upper deck storage rack to accommodate one of the smaller base plates:

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With that handled, it was time to address, uhhhhh, handles Another big miss on the 6G platform is A-pillar grab handles. I complained about it on 6G v1.0, and ended up fabricating two different versions of a grab handle to make my life just a little better. Why it took me nearly two-years to get there with the Donkey I cannot explain, but I'm very happy I finally got off the couch and did it. The process to get these fabricated and installed is gory, and it involves cutting platstic trim pieces and generally making irreversible changes to the interior bits, but the end result is totally worth it:

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[tobyw]

One of my other big gripes about the Bronco centers around the Sasquatch package wheels. I had already taken care of making them as visually appealing as I could by shooting the decorative trim ring a silver color, but the aforementioned trim ring was really the problem regardless of what color it was... You see, although it admittedly offered unparalleled protection for the valve stem, that protection came at the cost of access to the valve stem. My fat fingers simply could not reach in behind the trim ring to manipulate the valve stem cap, particularly when it was wet and/or cold. Plus, after nearly two years of constant abuse, they were just looking a little rough around the edges, literally:

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To finally fix the situation, I ordered up a new set of wheels and had them mounted up on the battle tested 37" BFG's:

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The wheels are 17x9 KMC GRS549's with -12mm offset. These are actually the same style of wheel I'm running on the LJ, and I really like the way they contrast the otherwise black-n-blue theme on the Donkey:

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[tobyw]

Via con dios mi amijo... It's been real...

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[Roman]

What? Another new wheeler?

[tobyw]

What? Another new wheeler?

Good, bad, or otherwise the answer to this is yes...

You and I have been friends long enough to appreciate that my vehicular ADD is clearly established and something like this should not come as a surprise. However, the reasoning behind this jump wasn't as simple as another case of just wanting something different. While I truly, and I do mean truly, enjoyed the 6G platform for everything it offers that a comparable Jeep doesn't, the flipside shortcomings were weighing heavily on me. For anyone that cares, or just needs something to read to fall asleep to, I'll explain...

The 6G was developed with a crystal clear objective, and that was to go head-to-head with the Jeep Wrangler. In my opinion and experience, FoMoCo did an admirable job in developing solutions that were superior on a number of fronts. In no particular order, these are things that I believe to be better done by FoMoCo than Fiat:

* Overall ride / drive (we'll come back to this...)
* Infotainment
* Seats
* Driver / passenger storage for wallets, phones, ham sammiches, etc.
* Engine / transmission
* Switch locations for windows / mirrors and locking differentials / sway bar
* Cargo access with an OEM soft top
* Cameras
* Exterior lighting

Looking at this list, it seems to pretty much encompass everything a vehicle is supposed to do... So what's the Jeep Wrangler platform got that the 6G doesn't? Well folks, it boils down to a very simple aspect of that first bullet point about ride / drive, and I can sum it up in one single word: articulation. Say it with me: arr-tik-yew-lay-shun. There is no refuting the fact that the 6G has a stunningly functional independent front suspension setup paired with an equally effective rear 5-link setup, and that combination of parts returns probably the best out-of-the-box ride quality of any wheeler out there. Add some larger squishy tires and that ride only improves when the going gets rougher, especially as you push the envelope in terms of speed. However, after 2-years of wheeling this platform in every environment imaginable from our local trails here in the PNW to the Rubicon and most recently Moab, the bottom line is that suspension technology cannot fully overcome physics. Gravity always, always, wins.

To get very specific about my rant here, the lack of front-end articulation combined with the lower mass associated with the IFS combine to make, in my experience, a very unstable chassis when extreme articulation, off-camber, or steep climbs are encountered. Now don't get me wrong, we aren't talking about issues when running the trails in Naches, any BDR trail, anything you might find in South-Western Colorado or even a decent smattering of the trails around Moab. What we are talking about here is the "real" wheeling in the places I mentioned like the Rubicon, Fordyce, Dusy-Ershim, or Moab. Yes there are people, myself included, that have taken their 6G through these gauntlets and survived just fine. But... we've all also used a screwdriver as a hammer Plain and simple, it's the wrong tool for the job.

The logical argument and point for discussion here would come down to one's specific use case, and a simple breakdown of how often one is using it in this manner versus "normal" use. For me, like most, the "real" wheeling is comparatively minimal, and to be blunt that is why the 6G platform lasted for 2-years in the stable. It works so much better everywhere else it's almost obscene. But... But, in those instances where articulation and overall stability are necessary, it's difficult to describe just how badly you might miss it when it's not there. Trust me, I've been there done that and got the t-shirt

So... all of that is basically to say yes, we are taking a step backwards in time and technology and have picked up yet another white Jeep Wrangler

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[Roman]

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[Jay W]

So what you're saying is..... SAS a Bronco? And no Bronco kids that doesn't mean Sasquatch

[Roman]

Just normal shock when you swap rigs... again