[rrclimber]

Sorry in advance for the length of this ramble...
So my girlfriend and I are breaking up after 5+ years of being together. We had a house together etc. so it's not pretty (but I least I wasn't married! ) Anyway I am going to me moving out of my house in June and I am packing up my stuff to stay with my brother and his wife in sunny California. (San Clemente) Unfortunately my only vehicle is my 95 wrangler so I am going to have to drive it out to Cali from MA. My question is about storage solutions. I am going to try and liquidate jsut about everything that I own but I still need to take my computer, my laptop and my xbox 360. I need a way to keep everything locked up for the trip so that I don't donate all my stuff to some fine gentleman in Kansas or some place. I was thinking that I would remove my rear seat and ship it out to my brother in advance. Then I would try and make some kind of a box out of plywood to lay flat in the area where the seat would be. The problem is that I have to raise the box up a bit because I have amp and a 6 disk changer under my seat. Has anyone ever built something like this before or does anyone know of any (inexpensive) solutions? I need as much storage space as I can get.
As a side note I was thinking of installing a trailer hitch and just trailing one of those uhual trailers behind the Jeep. After checking the uhaul site however, I found out that I need to have my hardtop on the jeep or they won't rent the trailer to me. I was going to sell the hardtop to help fund my move since I figured that a hardtop would pretty much be useless in California.
Anyone ever done this trip and have any suggestions?
(trailing the jeep behind a rental truck is not an option. Over 1700 bucks for the truck + gas)

[pyro9862]

Why not mail the computer, laptop, and X-box? Or just take it with you into wherever you're staying at night?

[drexelsteve]

http://www.pods.com/ I think this would be your best alternative. pack it up and they'll ship everything for u.

[rrclimber]

Originally Posted by drexelsteve

http://www.pods.com/ I think this would be your best alternative. pack it up and they'll ship everything for u.

Cost of renting a Pods and having them ship it for me: $6,774.00
This is not really a cost effective solution for me. I could put the stuff on my front seat and have it stolen every night. Replace it in the morning and have it stolen again the next day all the way out to california and not even come close to that cost.

I have thought about the shipping thing too by the way. At the very least I would want to bring my laptop and my ipod and few other gadets with me. these would need to be secure. The way I figure it, why spend the money to ship all these other items when I will need to secure the laptop and stuff anyway? Why not make a storage solution and then use the xtra dough for the gas on the drive out?

I could take everythig out at night when I stay in a motel but I am more concerned about brief stops at diners etc. where I wouldn't be able to watch the stuff.

Thanks for the suggestions!

[SimonTuffGuy]

Tuffy security boxes? I think they make a large one that fits in the rear.

[catdieselpowa]

rrclimber, I am saddened to see a fellow m******* jeeper driven out by a woman, but good luck. Have you looked into one of these? http://www.quadratec.com/products/product_search.php?cn=Bestop+InstaTrunk+for+Wrangl ers&c=9&pn=14047+01%2C14147+03&h=&spg=t
I do not have one, but it looks like a fairly good way to go about locking up some valuables. There is also a more expensive one made by tuffy that can hold quite a bit more, with the rear seat removed, is this out of your budget or no?
http://www.quadratec.com/products/product_search.php?cn=Tuffy+Jeep+Consoles,+Securit y+and+Storage&c=9&mn=tuffy
Well, thats about all the suggestions I have, good luck, sad to see one less Jeep cruising the hills of Worcester.
-Joe

[rrclimber]

Originally Posted by catdieselpowa

rrclimber, I am saddened to see a fellow m******* jeeper driven out by a woman, but good luck. Have you looked into one of these? http://www.quadratec.com/products/product_search.php?cn=Bestop+InstaTrunk+for+Wrangl ers&c=9&pn=14047+01%2C14147+03&h=&spg=t
I do not have one, but it looks like a fairly good way to go about locking up some valuables. There is also a more expensive one made by tuffy that can hold quite a bit more, with the rear seat removed, is this out of your budget or no?
http://www.quadratec.com/products/product_search.php?cn=Tuffy+Jeep+Consoles,+Securit y+and+Storage&c=9&mn=tuffy
Well, thats about all the suggestions I have, good luck, sad to see one less Jeep cruising the hills of Worcester.
-Joe

Thanks for the sympathy I appreciate it.
I can't do the insta trunk thing because I have a subwoofer behind my rear seat. It could be removed but that would me crappy sounding barely audible music for 3000 miles of driving.
I looked into the quadratec jumbo storage thing but again my sub is in the way and I have an amp and a 6 disk changer under my seat. The quadratec jumbo would need to sit flat on the floor and I need something a little bit elevated. I guess I am going to have to custom fab something to use. Thanks for the suggestions!

[rejeep]

Uhaul trailer... locakable and one way service

[LandRover]

Do you have full steel doors and a hardtop now? Save the money you're talking about spending on safe transport and just keep the hardtop and lock the jeep. If you don't have full steel doors, you could buy a set of those for less than the cost of renting a trailer. You won't regret having the hardtop and full doors when it starts raining in SoCal. Plus, the road trip will be WWAAAAAYYY more comfortable without the soft top flapping the whole way.

And when you get to Cali, spend 50 bucks on a bikini top and you're set (and ready for the joke they call 'winter' down there)

[rrclimber]

Originally Posted by rejeep

Uhaul trailer... locakable and one way service

Yeah, Like I said in the original post I looked in to the uhaul trailer thing. I though it was a great idea, and the prices were reasonable to rent one. The problem is they claim that I can't trail one of there trailers behind my jeep without a hardtop on it. I was planning on selling my hardtop so that I can use the money for gas, and I figured who needs a hardtop in southern Cali? I am thinking now that I might throw the hardtop on, rent the trailer and then take it back off again. I try to abide by the letter of the law though so I am having moral issues with that move.

[bokey]

Hey man, I hear what your saying. Its better to leave the b.s. then put up with it

Anyways...since your only transporting a very little amount I would say box the computer up w/ all the extras and keep the laptop and xbox out (so you can use it whenever ). When you crash for the night somewhere just bring it in with you. Or what you could do is lay your stuff in boxes between your rear seat and passenger/driver seats then sling a towel over it. If somebody walks by the will see a cloth and think nothing of it. Or they will see the cloth, pick it up, and see a box...and by that time somebody will probally have seen them poking around. Keep in mind that jeeps were never designed to be secure.

Or you could just UPS everything over to Cali?

[rrclimber]

Originally Posted by LandRover

Do you have full steel doors and a hardtop now? Save the money you're talking about spending on safe transport and just keep the hardtop and lock the jeep. If you don't have full steel doors, you could buy a set of those for less than the cost of renting a trailer. You won't regret having the hardtop and full doors when it starts raining in SoCal. Plus, the road trip will be WWAAAAAYYY more comfortable without the soft top flapping the whole way.

And when you get to Cali, spend 50 bucks on a bikini top and you're set (and ready for the joke they call 'winter' down there)

I have full steel doors and I have two tops. I have a flip-top on my jeep right now. I took the hard top off in the begining of april. You make a good point though. But if I do that then I have to ship the soft top out to cali anyway. This blows. I hate my life.

[bokey]

whats a ups or fedex quote to ship it out. I know it is way less then 6k

[GermantownJeep]

Originally Posted by rrclimber

Yeah, Like I said in the original post I looked in to the uhaul trailer thing. I though it was a great idea, and the prices were reasonable to rent one. The problem is they claim that I can't trail one of there trailers behind my jeep without a hardtop on it. I was planning on selling my hardtop so that I can use the money for gas, and I figured who needs a hardtop in southern Cali? I am thinking now that I might throw the hardtop on, rent the trailer and then take it back off again. I try to abide by the letter of the law though so I am having moral issues with that move.

I've rented a UHaul several times with a softop. One time they guy acted like he couldn't, but he ended up doing without much arm-twisting.

[sc1972]

I'd keep the hardtop.

I grew up in the O.C., just north of San Clemente, and during the winter, I was damned glad to have the hardtop. Yes, the winter is nothing compared to the East Coast, but being that close to the beach during the winter, it can still get pretty chilly. Lots of coastal fog and drizzly days.

As for a "safety" type box, there's a couple of ways to do it. You could head over to home depot and buy some pieces of Fiber-Board and fab up a simple box (bolted together), and line it up with the existing holes in the rear of your jeep where the seat bolted in. You could even stuff your amp and subwoofer in there by drilling out wiring holes in the side.

Or you could spend the dough on one of those steal lock boxes you see behind the cabs of trucks. Find one that fits and bolt it to the same holes that the rear seat bolts to.

Building a box is much cheaper, and most home depot's already have cut pieces of 1/4" fiberboard that are 4'x3'. Just use a bunch of bolts and a couple of 2x4's to reinforce it.