You don’t need to spend $500:
Let me start by saying that I sleep cold. At 20 degrees, I’m comfortable in a -20 degree bag. I’ve tested way too many sleeping bags over the years. I currently own a warm large heavy and inexpensive Kelty. A -30 degree Slumberjack Big Timber, A 0 degree rated Qualofil mummy bag, A 0 degree rated Coleman, A Summer rated North Face a Wiggy’s Ultima Thule a Wiggy’s FTRSS Overbag, as well as a couple of other bags that I’ve collected over the years. I’ve always known that I can spend over $500 on a bag and get a great product; lured by promises of extreme cold temp ratings, Iv’e typically gone the cheap route. I’m writing to share what I’ve learned and hopefully help you avoid making the same mistakes.

Jeeps don’t have much storage space:
All but my Qualofil and Wiggy’s bags do not compress well. They’re all warm, but when I pack for more than a two day trip, the space that two of these bags takes, is too much. Thus, my quest for the perfect bag continued.

Not down with down:
Down has some problems. If it gets wet, it does not work, does not like to be compressed for long periods of time and is expensive. These are deal killers for me, unless I’m hiking.

Does your bag make packing complicated?:
I do what I can to minimize the amount of work required to pack and unpack my gear. Unpacking and uncompressing a bag for storage is unnecessary work.

For cold weather, go for a fitted bag;
When it comes to warmth size matters more than you might think. My first Wiggy’s bag was a Super Light with a hood, rated at 0 degrees. Iv’e used this bag in 30 degree weather and did not sleep warm. What this bag taught me was how important bag size is. The Super Light is a large rectangular shaped bag. A low volume bag is much warmer than a large volume bag. In the summer time, go for a larger volume bag and for winter camping, go for a fitted bag.

After all of my testing, I’ve ended up with a Wiggy’s FTRSS sleep system. The most popular Wiggy’s FTRSS is the “Super Light FTRSS”. A true 4 season, two bag set, that covers ratings at 40 degrees, 0 degrees and -40 degrees. MSRP is $408 and JeepSWAG sells it for under $290 shipped. The Overbag is a large warm bag that gets me through over half the year. If you’re a fair weather camper, the Overbag cannot be beat. It’s a 2 lb. bag that compresses very well. Wiggy’s have what I’d call a cult type following. Those that use them love them. As far as I know they are the only sleeping bags manufactured in the U.S.A. They can be stored compressed and compress down to a very small size.

Heater Tip:
I use a four season tent for winter camping and a great tip that I have is to purchase a Mr. Heater Buddy heater. This little heater will heat my tent from 20 degrees to 70 degrees, in about five minutes. I pre-heat my tent, then roll the bags to remove all of the cold air from them. In the morning, I’ll fire up the heater a few minutes before climbing out of my bag. You won’t believe how much more comfortable this is.

LINK TO THE JEEPSWAG SLEEPING BAG PAGE

Here you can see why my “big bag” took too much room in the Jeep:

Compared to another warm sleeping bag

Video Review of how the Wiggy’s FTRSS System works:
Wiggy\'s Sleeping Bag Review

Good review that I found on Youtube:
Cold Weather Sleeping

Another vid with some extreme camping (sleeping details start at min. 3:30:
Snow Camping

I’m a certifiable “flashlight nerd”. Among some others, I currently own:
Underwater Kinetics C4 with NiMH batteries and a high output Xenon bulb (Pricey but nicey)
Underwater Kinetics 4AA Twist Bezel (great when it works)
Underwater Kinetics 2AAA Mini Pocket Light (great value compact light)
Stanley HID (A big giant monster in every way)
3 Cell LED Maglite (great value)
2 Cell LED Maglite (great value)
2 AA Cell Xenon Maglite (crap)
Surefire 2DE Executive (Expensive at $110)
Nebo Redline (Best Value at about $30)

Super bright, VERY Smooth adjustable beam. Runs on inexpensive AAA batteries. Compact and light. I’ve read and watch many youtube reviews of flash lights. I’ve not seen any lights of this quality and performance for anywhere near this price.

Specifications
Settings – 220 lumens / 110 lumens / 22 lumens / S.O.S. / Defensive Strobe
Runtime
- 100% – 4 hours of continuous illumination
- 50% – 8 hours of continuous illumination
- 10% – 15 hours of continuous illumination
- S.O.S. – 72 hours of continuous illumination
- Strobe – 72 hours of continuous illumination
Length – 4.5”
Diameter – 1.5”
Weight – 0.428 lbs.
Batteries – 3 AAA batteries (included)

I’m going to be posting reviews about gear that I use. Equipment that I believe offer exceptional value. This gear is not necessarily Jeep specific, but rather gear that Jeepers commonly use. When it makes sense, I’ll be offering these products at JeepSWAG.com.

If you are interested in learning about the products that I use, please subscribe.

If you have a piece of equipment that you’d like to tell me about, please email me.

There’s a lot of garbage out there these days and I’m hoping this thread will help you find products that are affordable, work well and will last the test of time.

Up coming gear reviews:
- Sleeping Bags
- Axes & Hatchets
- Heater
- Fire Starter
- Lantern
- Gear Storage
- Shackles
- Tire Plug Kits
- Tents
- Camping Toilet
- Chuck Box and Cooler
- And More

Here are some product categories that I have not found a brand/model that I am yet willing to endorse, because I haven’t found any that offer exceptional value:

- Windproof lighter. I own a Brunton Firestorm. It’s an exceptional lighter, however because of the high price I don’t consider it to be an exceptional value.

- Folding Table. I own a Alps Mountaineering table. It works fine, but is not going to last a lifetime.

Products that I will not endorse, because either each user will have their own preferences or there are just too many of the same type on the market
- Stoves. I use a Century for deluxe camping and a Coleman Single Burner for a compact.
- Pots and pans. I’m happy with my MSR set and I’m sure there are many other great sets out there.
- Silveware. I use standard table ware.
- Knives. Don’t get me started.
- Pack Towel.
- Water Jugs. I recommend a soft sided one, for packablity. I am happy with my Reliance Collapsible, but have read a lot of bad reviews, where they leak.

JeepSWAG Tailgate Holder Product Page: LINK

Summary Vid:

Install detail vid, part one:

Install detail vid, part two:

Much to my surprise we had good weather. We pulled in at 7:30 on Friday night. There was supposed to be storm weather. It was clear, slight breeze and a temp of 55 at 7:00. I’d guess about 3 a.m. it started to rain and blow a bit. Good tent and bags took care of the whole family. By morning, the rain slowed and by 9:00 it was clear skies. The rest of the day was cooler as the breeze came in.

Great views and fun trails as usual.

The rain has CHANGED AC a bunch. We talked with some other local campers and around the beginning of the year, you could hardly get to the old mill/mine at the end of basin road. This because the river had washed all the access out of many of the usual off-shoot entrances. The following have been highly effected by the rains this year:

- The entrance to the road that runs East on the South side of the train tracks (Road that heads toward T-Bone Albright’s Grave)

- Entrance to the South Spooky Canyon.

I’m sure there are more, but we ran all this at night and didn’t get to watch for others.

The trail to Spooky Canyon is completely changed. The bottom part of the trail is now all smooth wash. The top part is all boulder rock and much more difficult than I’ve ever seen it.

The steel posts and wire rope barrier that keeps traffic out of the protected area, just West of Spooky Canyon, is all washed out. We accidentally ended up a couple hundred yards past where the barriers used to be. Too bad these are down. We respected that this are is closed to traffic, but I’m certain that others won’t.

The water crossing, right next to the bridge has changed completely. It used to be more of a road and is now all Volkwagen sized hills.

The large water crossing, simply isn’t. It’s about 25% of its usual length and not so much as a road. The posts/barriers on each side (usually about three feet tall) are anywhere from 6″ tall to completely buried. It’s not a smooth road and the water was only about a foot deep. Didn’t really make much sense. We thought for sure it would be really deep.

We started Friday exploring some of the washes on the North side of Afton Canyon. We ended up at the bottom of the wash that flows into the Mojave river, at the first train bridge. This area is fenced off from the Mojave Road side. As soon as we got within view of the bridge, we turned around and head up another wash. There is a cool old mine tunnel, toward the bottom of this first wash. It goes back maybe 100 feet and has one other 20 foot offshoot and a small pit at the end. Plenty of bat guano and rat remnants. One of the better mine tunnels that I’ve seen. Deeper and more to see than the one at Gate-keeper in Calico.

We then head up to try to find our way over a pass that would get us to the bottom top of Afton Canyon (where the big train bridge is). While crawling slowly up a wash, I suddenly had no steering. Broke the tapered bolt on the drag link. Wasn’t going anywhere, until I had it fixed. Definitely brought the right guy with me. Jack had a spare drag link at his home in Fullerton. I made some calls to get it picked up. Oleg stepped up and was planning to meet Jack’s son at his house in Fullerton, then would drive it out to meet us at Peggy Sue’s for the hand off. Jack’s son decided to let Oleg off the hook and ended up driving the drag link all the way out. He’s a good guy who pits for the team Red Bull KOH buggy. He knows what’s up and seemed happy to pay it forward. Giant thanks out to AJ (Cal). Oleg too for offering to help and of course Jack. We set camp at this spot. It was a cold one. Not sure how cold, but it was supposed to be a low of 16 degrees in Yermo. All of our water froze over night. We slept warm in our Wiggy’s sleeping bags. The next morning, we replaced the drag link and got on the trail about 9:30. We changed direction and headed for more of a well known trail. This trail turns to sandy rocky and up a pass, that would drop us in at the big train bridge. Hadn’t run it before, but it sure did make for some good views and some fun wheelin too. Hundy, you’ll remember the sand hill that we tried to climb a couple years ago, but couldn’t make it to the top. This trail started us at the top and we had an exciting ride down the sand hill. From there we checked out T-Bone Albright’s grave. We decided that we better head out for some gas. Lunch was good at the Mad Greek in Baker. Next we headed to the trail that runs along the Southern rim of Afton Canyon. Great views from up there. We ended up making camp in the same spot that we camped with Hundy and Michelle last March. We also made it up the hairy little trail past camp. We had camp set and finished roasting hot dogs and Chile by 6:30. How about a night run next? So we headed out and checked out some good wheelin spots on the South Side. We got back to camp and lit a great fire about 9:00. As we went to bed the wind started to pick up a little. Soon after hitting the sack, the wind really kicked in. Then rain. Sleeping was tough with our tent blowing all over the place. Finally at 2:30, Julie woke me up after she heard Jack yelling my name. Jack’s tent had collapsed and they had packed up for home. Jack asked if we wanted to head back with them. We got up and broke camp in the middle of the night. We finally rolled into home at 6:30 this morning. Traffic sure was great though.

[View with PicLens]

Check back for updates.

LINK to JeepSWAG High Steer page

Some testing details:
We tested a couple of compressors. Our goal was to try to overheat the 400H and get some times on tire fills. We aired down 8 tires to 7 PSI, then aired them up to 35 PSI. The compressor ran for 50 minutes with one short change over break with no problems.

We have also come up with a way that (we think) allows for faster fills with any compressor. I’m not going into any details, but here are some times for different fills.

Four 37″X13.5″ tires
5 PSI to 35 PSI;
450H = 34 minutes
400H = 21 minutes

10 PSI to 27 PSI (SDMF’s trail and road pressures)
400H = 16 minutes.

The 450 series is a 100% duty cycle at 100 PSI compressor. The 400 is 33%. We don’t often pump at 100 PSI, so my though was that the 400 might work for us. Sure enough it worked great. It has a 2.54 CFM output compared to 1.66 CFM of the 450. The 400 draws 30 amps and the 450 draws 22. So the 400 is much faster. I’m going to do some more testing and see if I can get the 400 to overheat.

The 400H and 450H are the same as the 400C and 450C respectively, with the H model including an integrated power switch.

Less money, better performance.

Link to great prices on Viair at JeepSWAG.com

More to come.

This run is a little different than most, with scheduled activities throughout the day and lots of SWAG.

1. Poker Run
The first run is a two card Poker Run. The Poker Run is sure to test your GPS skills. One card will be picked up at what is known to be the best Train Spotting area in the U.S. The other is a secret tunnel run that leads to a really strange compound of sorts. The Poker Run winner will receive an extra entry for drawings. After the Poker Run we are meeting in the Mormon Rocks area. We have found a spot that has a small Sand Dune to “play” on. The star attraction is a short trail that we have dubbed “Train Hammer”. Train Hammer is a fairly advanced short trail with two venerable obstacles. This advanced area will be limited to rigs with 35”+ tires and lockers. Ride-a-longs for lesser experienced drivers will be offered and we are looking for a limited number of volunteers to give the rides. We hope to offer a taste of advance rock crawling for those who usually would not have such an opportunity.

2. Rock Crawling Guest Speaker

W.E. Rock driver John James, will be attending with his Forumla Toy, just one week after racing in the King Of the Hammers. John will be doing a walk and talk through Train Hammer (the trail is only 350 yards long), shedding some light on what a pro rock crawler looks for on the trail.

3. OffRoad Driver Training
Also in the works is a presentation by a professional 4X4 trainer. The presentation will be a slice of a course topic that the trainer offers and a general overview of all courses that are offered. Topics being considered are, Tread Lightly, Hi-Lift jack safety and a winching demonstration including how to winch in reverse.
4. SWAG aka Giveaways
The day will end with JK-Forum sponsor SWAG. We are contacting many JK-Forum sponsors and asking if they want to provide SWAG type give-aways, for a drawing. And of course, I’ll have plenty of my infamous JK Hood Hold Down Kits. You don’t have to be present to win. Just check in with us ,at Train Hammer, at some point during the day.

Some pics:

[View with PicLens]

Bronco Peak Connector Jan 2010 from troy tertany on Vimeo.

We finished so fast, that we decided to do Cleghorn backwards.  Cleghorn is in great shape right now (read as lots of rutted trails and Cleghammer is great. I think that the V-notch mid way on Cleghammer is doable, but it would take way more cajones than I’ve got.  Lower CH is way fun right now.  Amazing how that trail changes after a good rain.

Hammer Down track in Google Earth LINK

Bullfrog track in Google Earth LINK

Some pics:

[View with PicLens]

And a link to more: LINK

Video:

The prices look great, with JeepSWAG’s low factory direct pricing.  Here’s a direct LINK

Dominion OffRoad Technora Winch Line Assemblies

Jeep JK AEM Brute Force Air Intake System

Why I picked AEM – Are all air intake systems created equal? I don’t know. What I do know is that you’re more likely to get Courtney Hansen’s phone number than get accurate test data from auto accessory manufacturer.

The two things that I do know about Air Intake Systems.

1. The worst clean filter is better than the best dirty filter.

2. I’m lazy.

This given, if I buy a system with a filter that easy to clean, I’ll have the best system for me.  Hands down, I bought an AEM Air Intake System in April of 07 because I don’t have to oil the filter.  I dunk it in a couple of buckets of water after each run, let it dry and stick it back on.

Undeniable proof that these Rock Rails – ROCK!

Crown Industrial makes the highest grade Jeep JK Extended Brake Lines that I’ve found.  From Crown, “Suspension lifts reduce the necessary slack in stock brake lines. Stretched lines can risk vehicle safety and possibly tear, leak or even burst.  Proper lengths are needed for many suspension lift systems.  These lines are simply the most advanced brake lines available.  These hoses have virtually no volumetric expansion and provide more immediate brake pedal response over standard soft expanding rubber hoses.  Hose assemblies comply with Federal DOT Regulations and are legal in all 50 states.  Non-aging Teflon inner core is chemically inert to all DOT approved brakes fluids including silicone. Stainless steel outer braid provides added protection to Kevlar and rubberized layers.  Colorful translucent outer protection layer provides good looks and UV protection. One-piece crimp design end fittings are super strong and utilize standard brake fitting hardware. Kits come complete with front hoses, rear hoses and mounting hardware”

Jeep JK Brake Lines by Crown Industrial - Available at JeepSWAG.com

Baja proven, Dirt Bagz is the premier offroad storage and tool bag used by most all of the top Baja racing teams.
Just about to hit production. These will start to ship by the end of the month.
These things are awesome. I won’t wheel without.
Buy them for $125 a pair, plus shipping. You get what you pay for – these things are SWEET!
Pre-order now.
More details here: www.JeepSWAG.com/dirtbagz

Dirt Bagz Jeep JK Wheel Well Saddle Bags

Check back for details.

Dominion OffRoad MultiRack sneek peak

Sunday morning we rolled up the hill to meet group for Mottino Wash.  Mottino is great, but it was a larger group and the wheelin was slow.

Couple of pics from Bullfrog;

Bullfrog Day

Bullfrog Night

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