Inside the vehicle:
The standard sound system is Alpine and Jeep have put a sub-woofer in the rear floor in my model, whereas earlier models had them in the side taking up extra room in the cargo area. The sound system is quite impressive and the sub-woofer gives a nice rich sound to my music.
On one of my first camping trips I realised that I would need to have a separate power supply to run my car fridge, so I installed a second battery with a Redarc device to manage it. To enable me to keep my electronic devices charged I put in a double adapter; one for the fridge and the second, a 2 slot USB adapter. This also gives me a free adapter on the right side which I can use to either run my Travel Buddy or my camping lights.
Other:
With the heavier tyres installed I changed the stock rear tailgate hinge to a Teraflex heavy duty hinge, as the original hinge isn’t designed to carry anything heavier than stock tyres when the stress of off-roading is added.
I’ve installed a Cliffride Integrated Tyre Carrier Compressor System inside the tailgate wheel carrier which means I don’t have to remember to pack a compressor. It’s powered by the second battery, so I always have the ability to pump up my tyres as needed.
Things to watch out for in your vehicle:
In the diesel model there are two radiators in the front of the vehicle. There’s a small gap between the two and if dirt and mud gets between them it can cause the car to overheat. Even in the petrol models overheating can occur so people tend to upgrade them when this starts to happen.
The automatic transmission oil can also overheat so it pays to keep an eye on the temperature and make sure that if you’re doing hard hills or fast tracks then manually choose a gear rather than use automatic. This is especially important if you’re trying to keep up with Pajero Club president - move it out of 4-high and into 4-low to avoid overheating – what can I say other than this was a recent learning experience!
Future modifications:
I recently purchased an Engel fridge and I’ll be installing a fridge slide to make it easy to access the contents. I’m also getting a single drawer system put in as this will give me a place to store loose items and gives me room on top of the drawer to pack my tent and longer items that I have to carry in the vehicle given I won’t be installing a roof rack.
I’ve also purchased a Vector e-dock which will get mounted on top of the dashboard. It will hold the Ram Mounts with my navigation device and other electronic add-ons which will make it easy for me to read the devices while keeping them away from the top of the dashboard.
What I love about the vehicle:
I love how versatile the car is. I can run it with a hard top or a soft top. The soft top can also be retracted which makes it really fun to ‘drive with my top off’ (the top off the car that is!) This means I won’t have a roof rack, but honestly, I don’t really need one.
I also like how the doors can be removed making it more like a dune buggy than a car. The feeling of driving the car with no roof or doors on is exhilarating and makes driving the car so much fun.
Overall, I’m really happy with the modifications I’ve made and I absolutely love the Wrangler. It’s really changed my life and if you’d told me 12 months ago that a car could have such an impact on me I would have laughed!
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