Novak Conversions Jeep Wrangler JK radiators

Newbie wanting overland build advice

Great list, I would change two things. First, 40" instead of 37" tires. Second, keep the CB AND add a GMRS.

If cost is not an issue, maybe the third would be 44's or a pair of 60's instead of a 30 truss kit and cover.

I have 2 GMRS walkies in the Jeep with the CB. A 44 up front is on the wish list along with the 4.88's and 40's. Spent all that money on our 3 year old Golden Retriever and his emergency vet hospital visits, MRI, spinal tap and medicine for his seizures this year. $4,800 was MRI and Spinal Tap. 3 emergency vet visits totaled $ 3,482.46. Seizure medicine cost $1,150 every 3 weeks. I'm flat broke right now.
 
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I have 2 GMRS walkies in the Jeep with the CB. A 44 up front is on the wish list along with the 4.88's and 40's. Spent all that money on our 3 year old Golden Retriever and his emergency vet hospital visits, MRI, spinal tap and medicine for his seizures this year. $4,800 was MRI and Spinal Tap. 3 emergency vet visits totaled $ 3,482.46. Seizure medicine cost $1,150 every 3 weeks. I'm flat broke right now.

I remember this issue about a month or so ago. How is he doing? Hope there is some positive progress.
 
Thanks for the thoughts. We have a A-Frame camper we use for the typical camping.

I’m trying to decide what to do for one nighters. Our club will wheel in one day and wheel back out the next day. A good example is our club maintains Barrett Lake trail. They wheel in one day doing trail maintenance, camp overnight and then back out the next day. They plan overnight trips to Hell Hole Reservoir and back out. So do I do something like @JeepJeezy or simply get a two man tent and a cot, which I am leaning towards that route as some of the trips will be in the LJR instead of the wife’s JKU. The wife already said “I’m not taking my Jeep down Hell Hole, not for me!” She joins me in the LJ.

For 1-2 night trips, I wouldn't even bother with any sort of "overland" gear, especially if the trails you're hitting up are more obstacle-filled than not. Overland gear is often heavy, and in the most inconvenient of places (e.g. your roof!). Hit up REI or Bass Pro and get one of their premium tents (still 1/5th the cost of a RTT and usually with a lifetime warranty!), some nice folding cots, and enjoy the quick and painless setup.

The one exception would maybe be a ARB refrigerator or similar. They are often times more convenient than coolers, especially in really warm climates. Since you'll be doing a lot of driving and exploring, there's little worry about battery drain (though easy to work around if you're worried).
 
I remember this issue about a month or so ago. How is he doing? Hope there is some positive progress.

The new meds are 🤞 doin good. The MRI showed a marble sized spot in his brain. It's not cancerous, thank god. They think it's either a blood clot or his blood vessels are thin and open up when he gets over stimulated. We can opt for another MRI in 9 months to see it the spot shrank any. Not we'll have the funds to do another MRI by then. Time will tell. Thanks for asking though. We appreciate it.
 
The new meds are 🤞 doin good. The MRI showed a marble sized spot in his brain. It's not cancerous, thank god. They think it's either a blood clot or his blood vessels are thin and open up when he gets over stimulated. We can opt for another MRI in 9 months to see it the spot shrank any. Not we'll have the funds to do another MRI by then. Time will tell. Thanks for asking though. We appreciate it.

Pets are like our children. I completely understand! Are any of the meds for breaking up or shrinking the marble size spot (assuming it is a clot or blockage)?
 
I see the 12v fridge hits the top of the charts. I like mine, I found a dometic 45 with cover and slide out on offerup for $500 (IIRC). They keep stuff very cold (user settable) and no slush or soggy food.

Plus a 45qt 12v can fit more that 45qt rotomold cause there is no ice. I have 3 pelicans (2 rotomold) and one 20qt soft case, it is my favorite ice cooler. In use, I can pull a few cold drinks from the 12v fridge and put them in the soft case cooler for easy access on the trail, they stay cold for hours. Plus, I can refill the 12v fridge with ambient drinks as we take drinks out.
 
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I found a dometic 45 with cover and slide out on offerup for $500

Good deal! We have a 55 with the ice maker, although it's kind of gimmicky and we never use it for that. We liked the size vs the lower volume offerings that weren't much less $$.
 
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Pets are like our children. I completely understand! Are any of the meds for breaking up or shrinking the marble size spot (assuming it is a clot or blockage)?

Dr's said there's no meds to treat the clot. They did say that 90% of the time, most mammals bodies will start to absorb the clot and shrink it but because it's in the center of his brain it won't fully be absorbed. We'll take it.
 
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I see the 12v fridge hits the top of the charts. I like mine, I found a dometic 45 with cover and slide out on offerup for $500 (IIRC). They keep stuff very cold (user settable) and no slush or soggy food.

Plus a 45qt 12v can fit more that 45qt rotomold cause there is no ice. I have 3 pelicans (2 rotomold) and one 20qt soft case, it is my favorite ice cooler. In use, I can pull a few cold drinks from the 12v fridge and put them in the soft case cooler for easy access on the trail, they stay cold for hours. Plus, I can refill the 12v fridge with ambient drinks as we take drinks out.

I'm still on the fence about a 12v fridge. I carry my Yeti cooler when we go out. I guess if we went for an extended period of time I'd consider a 12v more 🤷‍♂️
 
For 1-2 night trips, I wouldn't even bother with any sort of "overland" gear, especially if the trails you're hitting up are more obstacle-filled than not. Overland gear is often heavy, and in the most inconvenient of places (e.g. your roof!). Hit up REI or Bass Pro and get one of their premium tents (still 1/5th the cost of a RTT and usually with a lifetime warranty!), some nice folding cots, and enjoy the quick and painless setup.

The one exception would maybe be a ARB refrigerator or similar. They are often times more convenient than coolers, especially in really warm climates. Since you'll be doing a lot of driving and exploring, there's little worry about battery drain (though easy to work around if you're worried).

I am not looking for any overland gear, was only interested in how @JeepJeezy did the support for his mattress.
 
I know this is an old thread but I'm sitting here in the waiting room while getting an alignment done and repairing some lug studs.

The best advice I can give is see if you can borrow or try a roof top tent before laying out the cash for one. You may love it and you're good to go or you may hate it. A trailer is another option, I'm not big on trailers or towing anything. My Dad used to say when I was little, "Extra set of axles equals an extra set of problems."

I forked out the money for a nice RTT and regretted it and wound up selling it for about 60% of my money. I have a 2.5" lift and it wouldn't fit in the parking garage of my office building or in my personal garage at home. Taking it on and off got on my nerves. Small peeve was I didn't like going up and down a ladder to pee in the middle of the night. I also don't like peeing in a bottle.

I prefer either a Gazelle style pop up type tent like a hunting ground blind or a Tipi. Both super fast to get up and down or leave set up at camp so I can go wheel some more. I actually went with the Tipi because I have a wood burning stove and it was easier finding a Tipi with a stove jack than what I wanted in a pop up style. If I only summer camped I'd take either or, but I prefer colder weather camping. Plus I go out west and hunt and the Tipi is only 4# and does double duty.

I'm not knocking a RTT, you may love it, everyone has different preferences. It's just a good one isn't cheap and if you don't like it you take a small loss selling it. You probably want to treat your camping set up like your Jeep mods. The best advice is wheel your Jeep stock and fix its limitations as you discover them. I'd camp as basic as I could close enough to home to bail if need be and upgrade/buy things as I saw fit.

I treated my Jeep mods that way and my Jeep camping setup that way and happy. The only thing I didn't follow that advice on was I got into backpack camping and went in whole hog with what the YouTubers said get and it gave me heartburn.
 
Novak Conversions Jeep Wrangler JK radiators