Red Rock Challenge

[Zeero]

Hey everyone,

I made a post here: http://www.cntc.ca/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=3340

....and got a request for some shots and stories from some of our trips, so I decided to talk a little bit about our Red Rock Challenge.

In 2005, myself and travel buddy created the "Overland Expedition Group Inc." a non-profit adventure travel group dedicated to personal challenge and global exploration in support of charitable groups.



The two years following start up we advertised, marketed, trained trained trained and trained some more and undertook a number of short term journeys to prove we could undertake a large scale operation, and finally in 2007 we negotiated some support, and a magazine article and launched our "G1 - Red Rock Challenge". A 9,000 km round trip, %40 off-highway, of central North America, with a focus on spending a week in the hottest place in North America at the hottest period of the year, Moab, Utah in July.

Now, you guys, being a Nissan family on here, take it easy on us, we used Jeeps and in this case, two 2006 Jeep Libertys. EXTREMEly capable trucks, and surprisingly verile and stout. The only weakness we discovered during testing was the suspension and its incapability to hold a good heavy load, and no one out there made a rigid high load spring for the Liberty, so we had to get creative.

Here's our Libertys as loaded for this trip:

[Zeero]

This trip was exceptionally hot, exact numbers I can't remember, but as an example I can tell you at 2:00 PM a bottle of water set on the ground for 10 minutes became as warm as a cup of tea, and yes, we literally cooked an egg on a rock, no kidding.

This trip took us across Canada to Lethbridge Alberta, down through Montana and the Continental Divide, Moab Utah, Colorado etc, back to Ontario. It was quite an adventure, and our supporters recognized it as such. Here's some more shots:

A seemingly never ending dirt road in Saskatchewan that we followed almost clear across the Province:



The view of the highway, we chose NOT to take for about 30 miles, which we later regretted after losing our AC pump:



Taking a break from our oven on wheels:

[Zeero]

Here's some more shots:

Crossing an avalanche plain in the LaSalle Mountains....pucker factor was high as rocks were still falling...



We were losing light FAST and when it got dark....holy s-word, you couldn't see your hand in front of your face



On our way to the peak of the LaSalles, yep, we nearly summited, crazy.

[Zeero]

Now for all you Moab junkies, here's some of our "offroading" we had to do to get where wanted to go...

[Zeero]

Some more action shots:

[Zeero]

So the time came soon following our "G1 - Red Rock Challenge" that we started thinking seriously about our next challenge, and along came the "G2 - Northern Challenge". A trip that will take us across the Arctic Circle and through the Northwest Territories.



To do this, we figured we would need some serious trucks to make the trip, so we started test driving and comparing, and we came across the new (at the time) 2007 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited, Rubicon, and decided to pit it against our Expedition tested Liberty:



And more testing:

[Zeero]

And so it was, the Wrangler became our center piece platform, and it has served us well up to this point. Although our G2 Northern Challenge hasn't happened yet, the Jeep still carries on and waits for the next challenge.



While in "Expedition Limbo", Overland Expeditions attends events, trail guides, and assists with vehicle design and preparation for others interested in getting started in the adventure.

[Zeero]

Our Red Rock Challenge was also a feature article in "JPFreek Magazine", read it here:

http://online.jpfreek.com/2010/03/25/re ... -kj-style/

Here's some videos to:

Red Rock Challenge

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7NGRzTtlgg

Our drive through Glacier National Park in Montana on our way to the Continental Divide

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRko7U6zErY

Wrangler fitness testing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZELveCRHtZs

An event we sponsored and trail guided for:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xk0v6jOOW9I

[Zeero]

All in all it's been one heck of an adventure being a part of Overland Expeditions, and after our slow down last year where we lost all our supporters due to the economic crash, we are now making a come back and hope to relaunch two of our planned expeditions in the future:

1. The G2-Northern Challenge, supporting Sick Kids Foundation

2. The G3 - Elements Geographic Challenge, Supporting the Nature Conservancy of Canada

Currently the JK Wrangler "Overland 01" enjoys the support of a few companies in making it ready for the next journey including suspension, tires, wheel spacers, lighting and front bumpers.

Thanks for your interest, I love Xterras by the way, thats why I'm on here and hope to use them in one of our journeys sometime.

[Bow_Tied]

Cool.

[JAS]

Cool writeup - I was actually following your stuff on line a few years back and was wondering what happened to the G2 Challenge. Now that I see your pictures and your user name here it clicked into place for me. You guys were located in Oakville if memory serves me correctly.

[Pezzy]

Great pics, very jealous of your trip.

[Zeero]

Yepper, we were located in Oakville JAS...

Our photography studio got shifted to St. Catharines a couple of years ago, so that moved us here, but Overland Expeditions suffered quite a bit during the economic down turn, and we couldn't do much more than weekend travel under our own power, which there is nothing wrong with, and it was fun definitely, but certainly not what Overland was about entirely.

We're slowly making a come back, testing the waters, and hopefully have our challenge schedule back up and running.

For now we'll be soliciting support for our chosen charitable group and preparing for the spring and summer events that will creep up and hopefully get out with local clubs on weekend trips and get ourselves back in the game. Definitely hope to get out with you guys to sometime.

[262 Chevy]

cool write up!! looks like you guys had one heck of a road trip and for a good cause too! best of luck with G2 and G3

[SkinnyPedal]

Currently the JK Wrangler "Overland 01" enjoys the support of a few companies in making it ready for the next journey including suspension, tires, wheel spacers, lighting and front bumpers.

Great report!

Not sure if the mods will mind, but I'd love to hear more about which companies are supporting you (and which ones aren't - if you'd care to share that as well ), what you feel is important in prepping the JK, what parts specifically you are using.

Also, wheel spacers? Is that just so you can use your stock wheels? Looks like you're running 35's on there? How is that working, any concerns with running spacers etc?

[Zeero]

Well, the JK Rubicon, out of the box is pretty well almost the perfect expedition platform, and a great starting point as it is.

In stock form the Rubicon JK can handle just about anything in an expedition environment, and you really don't need to change a single thing.

With front and rear D44 axles, front and rear axle locks, sway bar disonnector, 4.10 gears, bilstein shocks and BF Goodrich Baja Champion MT tires all stock from factory, the Rubicon JK is a performer.

The few changes that were made were more specifically geared towards the northern terrain we were planning on having it used on, but foresight achieved us an opportunity, and the changes we made were in fact perfect for our weekend and event schedules as well.

We originally had two Jeep Green JK Unlimited Rubicons with the exact same setup, however "Overland 02" got retired (yes already) as that was our Guinea Pig and it got pretty used up, and has since been replaced with a Land Rover Discovery.

For our purposes though, we did the following changes to the JK's

Suspension:

2.5" Rough Country spacer kit. The stock springs and shocks on the JK are fantastic and we didn't want to lose them, but we wanted a bit more ground clearance, so with the this kit, we got a bit of lift, and kept the original ride, and over the last 3 years of the kit being on board, its been great. Absolutely no complaints, and we fully recommend it.

Tires:

Because we had a little more clearance we were looking to add a bit more. We got 34.5" Maxxis Bighorn MT's all around. They clear really nicely, and come with siping to help on the wet roads. In their age they are getting very noisey, but they are a hard wearing tire that I have pulled 70,000 km's out of so far.


Wheel Spacers:

Now this is where everyone cringes, and you know, I did to, but with a minimal spacer size, installed and torqued correctly, they are totally safe. We used the Teraflex .25" wheel spacer. They pushed the wheels out far enough for good frame rail clearance, and not so much that it made the Jeeps look like RC cars or toys. The other big bonus, is that we increased our roll-over resistance, especially when carrying loads on a rack on off-camber terrain, you need a little help keeping upright!!

Front bumpers:

We got Jeep (Mopar) front steel bumpers installed (no winch, to save weight). The bumpers opened up our approach angle and also protect from large mammal road strikes. Even though we drive carefully, we did not want to be stranded in the middle of literally nowhere with a broken radiator from a wandering reindeer during the migration period in the NWT.

We also installed a skid plate the EVAP box, which for some reason it appeared Jeep did not think kabout protecting. If you look under a JK Rubicon, you'll notice three things, skid plates everywhere, big beefy parts, and everything is tucked away above the frame rails. The EVAP box, although tucked up, wasn't covered, and is plastic, so we found a skid plate, and threw it on.

Lights, I could explain, but everyone knows why need light.....so we can seeeeeeee But we used IPF windshield mounted lights that are turnable, good stuff.

Future stuff? Roof racks, although the storage is great IN a JK Unlimited, we need external storage for fuels and tires, so we're not heaving away on the various stinks!!

5.13 gearing for the transmission will also be on the list, as we feel under load, the JK's gearing on the road is a little short, and could be a little stronger.

I hope I answered most of your questions, I can always add ALOT more!!

[Zeero]

A little side note about the V6 motor in the JK.

Yes, you are all correct, it did come from the Dodge Caravan, but, be clear, only the basic motor, the rest of the plumbing is spec to the JK alone.

The V6 in unison with the JK's transmission (4.10 gearing for the Rubicon), makes it a great pairing.

There is absolutely NOTHING underpowered about the V6 in the JK. There are clans of guys out there swaping out Hemi motors in their JKs, for what, I have no idea, so they can get WORSE fuel mileage maybe....

The one big upgrade on a JK that will make you LOVE it, is a gearing change. Drop the 4.10's (although they are FANTASTIC off road) and go with something a little beefier, like 5.13's. You'll notice immediate on road performance improvements and even more improvement off road.

Now, diesel....thats a whole other bag of worms for me. Given the opportunity, I would gladly swap out to a VM Motori 2.8L diesel, simply because of the strength and the mileage capability....and further in remote areas, diesel will be the one thing you'll find at gas stations over regular fuel, so it makes global travel ALOT easier, especially way up North, and SOuth America and Africa.

[petespath]

Why did you choose the Jeep Liberty?

[Zeero]

Why did you choose the Jeep Liberty?

We wanted to use something, that although had a historical background and name, it APPEARED unconventional.

We came across a group in the US "LOST KJ's" that seemed to use them and were comparing their capabilities in a modified state to that of a stock Wrangler Rubicon, so we had to try them out.

We really liked the IFS suspension on road, and offroad, the IFS kept us from rolling over to, so you ask why the JK then?

Because, the JK UNLIMITED has a longer wheelbase. So that in itself keeps the off camber a little cooler.

As I mentioned before, the Liberty is an incredibly surprising truck. It is extremely strong, very stout, and has a "no quit" attitude about it, that most people just don't seem to understand.

Regular comments would be "I can't believe that Liberty made it through there".

The reality is, driving a Liberty offorad, made you a better offroad driver. With IFS, you all know being Nissan drivers, your flex on your suspension can be a little challenging when clearing larger obstacles, so it forces you to rely on your skills as a technical driver, over just letting the equipment do the work, and we really appreciated that about the Liberty.

The 2006 Liberty Renegade model also came with a full skid plate covering (front differential, transmission and fuel tank) and rock rails, so that was two purchases we didn't need to worry about!

I will always recommend and hold up the Liberty as a recreational and long term travel vehicle to anyone.

[PiDGE]

wow nice scenery sounds and looks like a blast. Note to self get a passport.