Text and photos by Sven and Magdalena Schlögl

Some of you might have read an article or two of our Down Under XXXpedition which featured our Cherokee (XJ). Unfortunately we had to retire the truck after that awesome trip. Not so much because it was done with its almost 400.000km on the clock, but because we could not have gotten it road worthy in Europe, were we planned on living.

After settling in southern Germany we purchased a 2007 Wrangler Unlimited CRD six-speed with a hard top package. First off we removed the back seat and built storage compartments similar to the ones we had in the XJ. They proved perfect for our need and create a nice platform for a matress. After all we hadn't been out camping for a while (anything longer than a month is long in our opinion :-)), so that was the most urgent modification.
Then we got in contact with companies we worked with before. First we approached ARB and their European distributor Taubenreuther. They fitted our Jeep with front and rear bumper, side rails and, of course, ARB air lockers in both differentials with diff covers to keep the inside protected. Taubenreuther also works with another company, Asfir, that builds skid plates for JKs. Because they only developed plates for the petrol model, they wanted to know if they could also be fitted under Diesel vehicles. The engine and exhaust skid do fit, but the oil pan skid is off quite a bit. So they only fitted the first two.
Since the stock gearing (4.10) required me to shift into 6th gear with only 60km/h I decided that would be perfect with bigger tires. Otherwise highway travel turns out painful with very high RPM. To help keep the bigger rubbers turning I had the computer of the rig reprogrammed by Tec Power. This way the truck has a power increase of about 20% with 215 horse power and just short of 500 Nm torque - plenty to move the tank.

Also copied from the XJ were the Air Visors. This allows us to open the windows about 10cm even when it rains. And of course we added insect screens to keep out critters. Than we were about to lift the truck 4 inches with a Skyjacker suspension. Unfortunately TÜV (technical inspection) made it very hard, painful and time consuming to get the rig to where we wanted it. I was not able to install the suspension myself, but had to find a shop with good connections to TÜV that would do it for me. Still, I had to provide pages of prove that Skyjacker develops quality suspension and a prove that 4 inch lifts had been approved for JKs by TÜV somewhere in Germany before. After all that the rig was finally sitting higher. The next step was bigger tires. With bigger tires we needed new rims with more offset. To find rims that I liked AND could get through TÜV was another challenge. Generally, having tires more than 5% taller than the original ones is almost impossible. But I found yet another shop four hours away that could get rims and tires approved.

If you sleep inside the vehicle you definately need additional storage. We could not find a roofrack we liked. I don't want it to be bolted into the sheet metal (not strong enough) or to be bolted through the hard top (will crack the top at one point) or sit on the bumper and windshield frame (hit the bumper and the rack moves). So, to cut a long story short, I built my own with a friend in my own design. I planned on resting it on the body the entire length under the hard top to distribute the wait. Because the JK is not as straight lined as the previous Wranglers that didn't quite work out. So we built two support angles on each side to rest the two hoops on. Then we spanned from the windshield frame to those hoops. I also added light frames for protection as I had them on the XJ. I mounted Hella Celis (high beam) fog (wide) and ralley (rear) lights in those frames. The lights are wired to a trailer plug that can be connected to the socket in front of the windshield to make roofrack easier removal. The rack carries a second spare tire, storage boxes, an Extreme Hi-Lift jack, Diesel and water cans and every once in a while a white water kayak.

As with every Project, there will never be an end to it, but for now we are happy with it. We have been to Morocco in it when it was by far not that far along and went to the Greek mountains, but we are still waiting for our next big trip in this setup. As for now we are going to take a small break as our 1,5 year old daugther is not quite ready for long vehicle trips. However, we will continue the shorter trips as usual...