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New World Cabs?

A photo/drawing mockup of the Safari Cab camper top for the trailer:

CamperMockup1-1.jpg
 
Jurassic...

Bad Karma said:
black and red camo....
Click to expand...

uh...like this?
yikes!

I think I agree with the Safari pulling it with a shell on it. Outfit both for extreme Expedition and hit the events. Family friendly, off the beaten path explorer RV that doesn't cost arms and legs...SOLD!
 
I've been thinking maybe I won't do red or black on the trailer - maybe I'll do something completely different. If I had finished the Gaucho project instead of selling it, I was planning to paint it chrome yellow, maybe I'll ressurect that color for the trailer:

ChromeYellow-1.jpg
 
As of this morning, the metal fabrication phase of the trailer project is complete. Next up is the wiring, followed by paint prep and paint.

TrailerFabDone-1.jpg
 
Hey Jeff, I noticed you left the spare tire carrier holes/bolts in the last picture. Are you planning on running a rear spare? Might look sorta cool...

Edit: OK, in the last post it looks like there are bolt heads for a sparer carrier, and one of your previous drawings did show a rear spare. But in one of your prior pics it looks like the carrier holes are welded up. Now I'm curious...
 
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Randyzzz said:
Hey Jeff, I noticed you left the spare tire carrier holes/bolts in the last picture. Are you planning on running a rear spare? Might look sorta cool...

Edit: OK, in the last post it looks like there are bolt heads for a sparer carrier, and one of your previous drawings did show a rear spare. But in one of your prior pics it looks like the carrier holes are welded up. Now I'm curious...
Click to expand...

I think you're looking at the holes for the hinges.., one of these tubs was a YJ, the other was an LJ. I've left the hinge holes there so I can switch over to Wrangler swinging tailgates for the Safari Cab camper top. For cargo usage I flike the CJ tailgates better, for the camper I'd probably use Wrangler swinging tailgates with the Safari Cab barn door.

No need to run a spare on the trailer, it takes the same wheels/tires as the Wrangler.
 
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Awesome!

Guess I better start saving my change...
 
GR8TOPS...who didn't see that coming! :woot:
I cant wait...I'm shopping for my LJ now.
Congratulations Jeff - :thumbsup:
And now we wait for the price tag....:popcorn:
 
thats awesome! now when is the Scrambler version coming out??? :D
 
Back to the trailer project for a moment: to protect cargo in the trailer from the elements, and also to keep the elements out of the trailer when it's not being used, I've added a tonneau cover:

TrailerTonneau1-1.jpg


I met one of the major manufacturers of pickup tonneaus at the SEMA show in Las Vegas last fall, and got them interested in making tonneaus for Jeeps with half cabs. In the process of making prototype half cab tonneaus, I had them make me this one for the trailer project.

TrailerTonneau2-1.jpg
 
Nice. That looks like it's on a removable frame...
 
Randyzzz said:
Nice. That looks like it's on a removable frame...
Click to expand...

Yes the frame is removable. Here's a shot showing the frame mounted to the top of the tub. Normally the frame would mount with clamps like most other pickup tonneaus, but I decided to mount the frame using the factory hardtop holes in the tub, so I milled/drilled holes in the frame - I haven't touched them up yet, you can see the bright aluminum where I made holes. Also the trailer tub isn't painted yet, so the top edge of the tub is red in this photo and it's got a TJ soft top rail on it which is still in black e-coat primer. The tonneau frame is also black, just wanted to point out that the frame is only one of the black parts in the photo, Scrambler people who don't have the soft top rail might think the soft top rail was also part of the tonneau frame but it's not :).

The side rails are attached to the tub with Allen-head screws and factory rectangular hardtop "nuts" in my case, and the end rails attach to the side rails and slide out when needed for full access to the tailgate (two tailgates in the case of my trailer). The end rails also include a weatherstrip underneath to seal the top of the tailgate. What's also nice is the snaps can snap anywhere in the channel in the frame, making it easy to install and adjust the canvas.

TrailerTonneau3-1.jpg


It's a great tonneau, and BTW Gr8Tops now offers the half cab Jeep version of this tonneau, it's on the Gr8Tops website now:

Texas_tonneau1.png


This tonneau really puts the the finishing touch on the trailer and I highly recommend it to half cab Jeep owners.
 
the tonneau looks great, but why not make a tonneau that uses the factory style attachment like the soft top? is it too much of a pain in the *** to secure it the factory way (stretchyness)??
 
Bad Karma said:
the tonneau looks great, but why not make a tonneau that uses the factory style attachment like the soft top? is it too much of a pain in the *** to secure it the factory way (stretchyness)??
Click to expand...

Only TJ/LJ Wranglers are guaranteed to have the factory soft top rail. Many YJ's don't - the YJ one is removable, and would only come from the factory with a YJ that had a factory soft top, and CJ's won't because that attachment method wasn't invented until the YJ. So in order to have a product that can be used with all models, the rail makes sense.

Also, if only the factory soft top rail were used, some type of tailgate bar would have to be devised to secure and seal the cover across the tailgate. The factory soft top tailgate bar couldn't be used, because it relies on brackets which stick up above the tub rail.

And yes, to get the proper tension on the cover, and given the horizontal orientation of the cover, it would be a pain to secure the cover.
 
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framed, frameless etc..

diddo to what jeff said about the tailgate bar. On the installation with the GR8TOPS half hardtops, if you went with no frame at all, you will still need a bar to either drill/attach to the back of the halfcab or to the bulkhead so the cover has something to fasten to as well. So, you're almost half the way (full length bar on front of cover, and a bar across the tailgate.

Its pretty slick. easy to install and SHIP too.

Matt
 
I'm at a soft top shop with the LJ Safari having a prototype set of roll-up side curtains made for the Hard Bikini configuration.

Here are a couple of photos snapped during the work today. There are a few wrinkles yet, which is normal at this stage of the development, but by pulling out the wrinkles by hand we can see that with a few more tweaks we should be where we want to be. The basic design of the curtains and the retainer hardware is turning out to be sound, which is great news.

PrototypeSideCurtain2-1.jpg


We also tested rolling them up, and they roll up tight enough so that they don't hang below the side roll bars, which means when you're sitting in the back seat with the side curtains rolled up you can't even see them because they're on the other side of the roll bars from you.

And I tested fit against the soft barn door, so we're in good shape for the same rear panel serving in both a roll-up configuration and a soft barn door configuration.

There are probably two more days of work before we get a set of side curtains that will fit the way I want them to, but we're already pretty close. The engineer they've assigned to this project drives a soft top TJ, so she fully "gets" what we're looking for in fit and function.
 
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