- City
- Dexter
- State
- MI
Turns out that Rugged Ridge/Omix-Ada, who supplied a number of suspension parts and the LED lighting/rock lights for both the trailer and the Postal, has invited me to display the pair at SEMA 2018 
I plan to put the World Cab back on for that and have a couple other ideas for fun things to add along with that. The setup will be right outside the South hall lobby that's one of the main entrances and is the entrance that everyone going to the Offroad hall uses, so it looks like a really great spot. I'll have the tent popped open and everything set up, so it will be an imposing and eye-catching display between the tent and the World Cab 
In a sea of chromed-out pickups on neon 24" wheels and JLs with every possible bolt-on gizmo, I hope it manages to draw some attention.
If you've not seen any of the build articles to this point, they started in the Winter 2018 issue and I had the basic build start in the Spring issue: http://currentissue.jpfreek.com
This was camping in the northern lower peninsula of Michigan last week:
So ultimately this is one of those great news/bad news deals in that it means I now have a crap ton of work to do on the Jeep to make it some version of "SEMA worthy."
The fun part (anyone who knows me won't be surprised) is that I am planning on making a trip out of it since I'll be driving it out there, staying in the tent along the way.
A little background here: since I bought the Postal in AK and drove it back to NC, I realized I'd driven through a big swath of the US states and western Canada. So I set out to drive "to and through" all of the US and Canada, meaning I had to drive (not trailer/unload/reload) to each state from home. I currently have the majority of the US knocked out, with only the western coast states, Nevada and Idaho left out west, then the very southeast and the very northeast. So going to Vegas will give me the chance to finish the west.
My current thinking is to break the trip out (~25 hours per Google) into maybe three days rather than trying to knock it out in two really long days (also gives me a little cushion in case of issues) and then leave Vegas heading NW to drive over to the very north end of the Pacific Coast Highway (something I always wanted to do when I checked off CA) and then loop up through OR and WA, picking up my uncle at his place in the Cascades, and then coming back home across, ID, MT and the upper midwest and down through the upper peninsula of Michigan. All of that is speculative, but I can't resist the chance to take care of hitting the western states knowing I'll have the tent to stay in.
For the work on the Postal, I don't have a formal list yet and this is subject to significant change:
Regear: the 4.56 gears aren't great anymore now that I'm on 35s anyway and towing means a lot of 3rd gear at highway speeds on any kind of grade. Ok in Michigan, but not for any real elevation.
AeroTank 33 gal fuel tank: If I want any reasonable distance between gas stations, I have to do something with this. Towing definitely magnifies the issue.
Lots of stripping/painting: there's no way I can get into rust fixing, so all the armor I used to cover the rust will at least need to look better along with the old school Runck bumpers. New armor isn't out of the question
Front bumper/winch: I'll swap on a RR winch and front bumper for the show.
Springs: With the World Cab, full cage, armor and towing, the BDS springs just aren't up to the task in the rear. They ride great, but have already flattened out too much with all the add-a-leafs I can manage, so I either need to get custom springs or get a couple more BDS rear springs and try to build my own rear packs.
Roof rack w/lights: many folks will laugh at this, but ever since I saw one on a World Cab years back, I've wanted to do some sort of rack setup on the World Cab and this is the perfect excuse. It's SEMA, so there will probably have to be a 50" LED bar on it in order for them to let me on the grounds
Hoping to hide it well though in the front of the rack.
Road Shower install: this was already planned and is the last item on the current trailer build plan. A neat gravity/air pressure shower unit you mount on a rack/trailer to have solar-heated water for rinsing things or showering.
All sorts of small stuff: this is what got me when prepping the LJ for SEMA, there end up being lots of little things that take enough time to be a PITA
Time to get to work...
I plan to put the World Cab back on for that and have a couple other ideas for fun things to add along with that. The setup will be right outside the South hall lobby that's one of the main entrances and is the entrance that everyone going to the Offroad hall uses, so it looks like a really great spot. I'll have the tent popped open and everything set up, so it will be an imposing and eye-catching display between the tent and the World Cab In a sea of chromed-out pickups on neon 24" wheels and JLs with every possible bolt-on gizmo, I hope it manages to draw some attention.If you've not seen any of the build articles to this point, they started in the Winter 2018 issue and I had the basic build start in the Spring issue: http://currentissue.jpfreek.com
This was camping in the northern lower peninsula of Michigan last week:
So ultimately this is one of those great news/bad news deals in that it means I now have a crap ton of work to do on the Jeep to make it some version of "SEMA worthy."
The fun part (anyone who knows me won't be surprised) is that I am planning on making a trip out of it since I'll be driving it out there, staying in the tent along the way.
A little background here: since I bought the Postal in AK and drove it back to NC, I realized I'd driven through a big swath of the US states and western Canada. So I set out to drive "to and through" all of the US and Canada, meaning I had to drive (not trailer/unload/reload) to each state from home. I currently have the majority of the US knocked out, with only the western coast states, Nevada and Idaho left out west, then the very southeast and the very northeast. So going to Vegas will give me the chance to finish the west.
My current thinking is to break the trip out (~25 hours per Google) into maybe three days rather than trying to knock it out in two really long days (also gives me a little cushion in case of issues) and then leave Vegas heading NW to drive over to the very north end of the Pacific Coast Highway (something I always wanted to do when I checked off CA) and then loop up through OR and WA, picking up my uncle at his place in the Cascades, and then coming back home across, ID, MT and the upper midwest and down through the upper peninsula of Michigan. All of that is speculative, but I can't resist the chance to take care of hitting the western states knowing I'll have the tent to stay in.
For the work on the Postal, I don't have a formal list yet and this is subject to significant change:
Regear: the 4.56 gears aren't great anymore now that I'm on 35s anyway and towing means a lot of 3rd gear at highway speeds on any kind of grade. Ok in Michigan, but not for any real elevation.
AeroTank 33 gal fuel tank: If I want any reasonable distance between gas stations, I have to do something with this. Towing definitely magnifies the issue.
Lots of stripping/painting: there's no way I can get into rust fixing, so all the armor I used to cover the rust will at least need to look better along with the old school Runck bumpers. New armor isn't out of the question
Front bumper/winch: I'll swap on a RR winch and front bumper for the show.
Springs: With the World Cab, full cage, armor and towing, the BDS springs just aren't up to the task in the rear. They ride great, but have already flattened out too much with all the add-a-leafs I can manage, so I either need to get custom springs or get a couple more BDS rear springs and try to build my own rear packs.
Roof rack w/lights: many folks will laugh at this, but ever since I saw one on a World Cab years back, I've wanted to do some sort of rack setup on the World Cab and this is the perfect excuse. It's SEMA, so there will probably have to be a 50" LED bar on it in order for them to let me on the grounds
Hoping to hide it well though in the front of the rack.Road Shower install: this was already planned and is the last item on the current trailer build plan. A neat gravity/air pressure shower unit you mount on a rack/trailer to have solar-heated water for rinsing things or showering.
All sorts of small stuff: this is what got me when prepping the LJ for SEMA, there end up being lots of little things that take enough time to be a PITA
Time to get to work...
