POSSIBLE

straight off to Sarn Helen the day his Patrol arrived and it took some expert waffle work to keep him from fetching off the back bumper on one of the rock steps, etc…)

No, anyway. David didn’t do any of that in his new Jeep. Instead, he had it undersealed. The best time to protect your investment is before you’ve even made it, right enough.

Being a Rubicon, the Wrangler came out of the factory on Dana 44 axles with electrically locking diffs. These are good things, but David’s dad had his mind on bigger – such as a set of 1-tonne Teraflex HD units to accommodate the larger wheel and tyre combo. Thus the front axle is now a Tera

Left: Heavy metal comes from Smittybilt, whose XRC front and Atlas rear bumpers will shrug off more or less anything. The front one is home to a premium winch in the shape of Warn’s Zeon 10S, which is wound with Spydura rope, while the rear supports a swing-away spare wheel carrier – no small feat, considering the wheel in question is shod with a 40” tyre

Above: Axles are 1-ton Teraflex units – a Tera60 up front and a CRD60 at the back. Both run 4.88:1 diff gears and ARB Air-Lockers

Right: Another sure sign of a vehicle that’s been built not just to get there but to get home again afterwards. We couldn’t very much show you a picture of the Atlas 4-speed transfer case, so instead here are the two levers used to control it, one for forward and the other for reverse

60 with locking hubs, a 4.88:1 ring and pinion and an ARB Super 60 Air-Locker, while that at the back is a CRD60 with fully floating 8x6.5” hubs and the same internals. David says that buying and shipping these from the USA, then having them fitted over here, owes his dad more than £20,000 on its own.

The axles run 13.5” brake discs, which is nicely in proportion to the size of the tyres, and in keeping with the whole make-everything-bigger approach they’re turned by solid CV Adams props. These in turn are bolted up to the output flanges on that most businesslike of off-road accessories, an Atlas 4-speed transfer case.

Any fool can spend money on the sort of stuff everyone looks at and goes ‘wow’: it’s when you know how to spend it on the sort of kit nobody will ever notice but anybody in the know will respect, that’s the sign of a properly planned build. And since you’re only going to notice those axles and props, and certainly that transfer case, if someone’s had it over or mown you down (both unlikely) or you’re crawling underneath it in mouth-open-and-drooling admiration (very likely, indeed bordering on the inevitable), this is a proper build indeed.

The bumpers are easier to admire without getting your knees dirty, but these two are as proper as proper can be. They’re both made by Smittybilt: up front is the company’s XRC unit, complete with an AEV winch mount and Warn Zeon 10S, while at the back is more of Basil’s best in the shape of an Atlas unit with a swing-away spare wheel carrier.

That’s some proper metal there, and there’s more up top. As we mentioned, this is an adventure truck first and foremost, so to carry the stuff you need it’s wearing a roof rack from Front Runner. This is equipped with sand ladder brackets and the obligatory LED bar; we can definitely picture it with a second spare, a tool box and a bank of jerries strapped on board, or indeed a fullhouse tent and awning, but it actually looks pretty cool just as it is. Not that we do these things for show, obviously…

Inside, the larger side from the 60:40 rear seats has been removed and put in storage to make way for a luggage platform. It’s all about vehicle dependency back here, where an ARB fridge slide is mounted on one of the same company’s drawer units. There’s a second battery in there too, as you’d expect with all those extra drains in the circuit.

There’s obviously a good bit of additional stowage available from that little lot, and the top of the drawer unit is ready to be loaded to the roof too. One side’s full of fridge when the vehicle’s all set up for expeditions, of course, but even then a fullheight dog guard makes it possible to just chuck stuff in there without worrying about it jumping up in a drop-anchor situation and trying to bite you. The rear half-door is fitted with webbing, too, as well as utility bags for the sort of kit you need to be able to get your hands on instantly while you’re away overlanding.

And talking of overlanding, the Jeep has an impressive array of stamps on its passport. Having done the build in 2016, David’s dad has explored the Baltics and Italy as well as returning to Spain time after time. Well, it’s a big place and more to the point, the trails there are as glorious as they are plentiful.

You could describe this Wrangler that way, too. There sure is a whole lot of it – and it’s certainly glorious. Magnificent, in fact. And also cool in a way only a Jeep can be. But most of all, it’s the world on four wheels. It may have cost more than a hundred grand to put together, but look at it that was and it was cheap at twice the price.

David’s dad’s Wrangler is currently for sale. It’s a 2016 JKU Rubicon with the 3.6 Pentastar engine, it had 18,338 miles under its sizeable wheels at the last MOT and it’s been built with some of the best kit on the market. He’s looking for £52,995, which is 15% less than you’d do on a new one and just look at all the extras you get. Tempting? We would. To get there in time to stop us from selling a kidney, contact David on davelopez659@gmail.com.

Our 4x4s

Vehicle: Isuzu D-Max GO2

Year: 2018

Run by: Alan Kidd

Last update: June 2021

On the fleet since: January 2020