For a trip like this, there are some preparations to do. A lot of paperwork has to be done concerning renting our home, insurance, visa and so on. Also the cars need some preparation. The Jeeps will be our homes for a long period and we will drive a lot, so the Jeeps have to be perfect when we leave. I like working on the Jeep better then the administrative stuff, so I started with that part. In my mind I had some ideas how to build the Jeep for this trip. To get a better impression how it should look when finished, I spend some hours behind my computer, using Photoshop to make an image of my Jeep in world tour setup.
This is the virtual world tour Jeep. The real work will take some more time than a few hours and then I'm only talking about the outside. Technical the cars have to be in perfect order also, for a trip like this. For example my jeep suffers bended axle housings and Herman's Jeep need a replacement engine. Everything on the Jeeps should be checked and repaired if necessary.
For a long trip like this, we thought a soft-top won't work. The simplest option is to put on the hardtops, but the possibility of open driving is gone then. Herman although decided to mount his hardtop, but he modifies it so above his head two panels can be removed. I have some more free time, so I started to build a removable short cabin on the Jeep. First I made the two roof panels at first I wanted to make them out of polyester, but working with polyester is requires some experience. Although I have two friends who know everything about it, I finally decided to make the panels out of stainless steel, a material I know how to work with. After a few days of measuring shaping and welding, the roof panels were finished.
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Some days later, the side panels are finished also.
In spite of the very low temperatures in the winter, the work have to go on. After a a few months the shape of the cabin is recognizable, only the doors are not finished. The cargo space need some silicone sealant and rubber to make it waterproof. There is still a lot of work to do, but still it is possible to finish it before the trip to Romania.
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Finally, just in time all is ready.
After the test drive to Romania, the stainless steel is covered with vinyl of my old soft-top. I also mounted 4 inch lift rear leaf springs and a airco compressor, to use as air compressor. The Jeep is now as good as ready for the trip.
The standard 60 liter fuel tank of a CJ7 is to small for a trip like this, so I had to find a way to carry more fuel. In the passed I used Jerry cans, but that didn't work very well, so I decided to use a part of the cargo space for an auxiliary fuel tank. There is already a LPG tank, which can be filled with petrol also. I made a stainless steel tank that fits behind the LPG tank with a capacity of 150 liter.
After welding the tank I tested it with water and it and mounted it. If I calculated right I can carry 270 liter of fuel when all the tanks are filled.
As already told, the axle housings of my Jeep are bend. To solve this problem, a few years ago I bought a set of used axles. These axles had 3.54 gears, the same as the axles under my Jeep,but I wanted to go to 4.10. For the rear axle I had 4.10 gears, but for the front axle I had to buy new ones.
The stock axles under a CJ7 are knows as one of the weakest parts of the Jeep. To change the gears |I had to empty the axles houses anyway, so I thought it was a good moment to make some modifications to make the axles stronger. I made a perfect fitting axle trusses out of rectangular steel tube and I welded it on to the axles. After welding the axle housings were still perfectly straight and I think they are at least two times stronger than the stock axle housings.
After installing the new gears and coating with black paint, the axles are mounted Under my Jeep. Everything fits right, only the rear end of the exhaust pipe had to be modified to create some space for the axle truss. After installing all new brake parts it was time for the road test. Everything worked fine, no strange noises or something and a much better performance as with the 3.54 gears.
Herman drives his Jeep for many years, and the engine needed a rebuild, but we had no time left to do that. It is not a good idea to start a world tour with a worn engine, so we were thinking how to solve this problem. In this case the solution was not far away. Somewhere in one of the corners of the barn, we had the engine of Herman's first J20 pickup. That engine was running very good when we took it out of the truck a few years ago, so the only thing we had to do is to put it in Herman's CJ.
In the last week before the trip to Romania, the engine and the axles were mounted on Herman's Jeep.
On a trip like this you need a good place to sleep. We heard about a company called Topsleeper, which sells roof top tents. On the first Sunday of 2005 we went there. The tents looked very good and we thought it was the ideal way to sleep in your car, so we both bought roof top tent that day.
This is what its look like when the tents are mounted on the Jeeps.
To end al the preparations and to say goodbye to all our friends, we organized a say goodbye party on Friday the 22th of April.
To all our Jeep friends, we say goodbye on the Jeep club meeting in Joinville, France. After that the Jeep CJ World Tour really starts.
