Jeep Wrangler - Survey Chariot

It helps to be shorter than six feet by a bit to be able to comfortably get into and out of nearly all Jeep vehicles. We have a Liberty and a Compass. Both are not comfortably entered or exited at six two. Co-worker is five ten and has complained also.

5'10"

Recommend renting one for a day of your common work. Find out whether or not this will be an issue when you get in and out about forty times.

Years ago I learned how to make my left arm hurt. I had a vehicle with a hard closing driver's door. Closing it about forty times in a day puts strain on muscles that aren't normally used that way.

I owned a wrangler for awhile, and seriously thought bout putting it to work. But I work in the boonies, and carry spares of everything (last time I weighed my truck, it scaled at 10, 010lbs), which means I need lots of room. And I can't drive a ATV into the back of a wrangler, and no, a jeep won't go everywhere. I have a Suzuki samurai at my disposal, and it is great for taking to the back country, if I am not looking at canyons where I have to use cow trails for access, or swamps. The best thing about the sammi is the removable doors! Much easier to work out of when making lots of stops, sucks on windy days! Nice to have 12v power easy to get to! The roll bars are good places to bungee poles, antennas, etc too.

Good idea, rent one and load all my crap in it. I would like to see how others have stored the gear...Pics anyone?

Have had at least one Wrangler continuously since 1995. Jeeps are a wonderful vehicle when it comes to off-road and mountain-goating around in rough terrain. For a 4 wheel drive, I think they are the best all around. But they have drawbacks. They get poor gas mileage. They are NOT aerodynamic. If you get a soft-top, don't bother getting a radio or even carrying a cell phone; the road noise on the highway gets loud. Get a hardtop.

Working out of a Wrangler is a trick. A collapsed tripod won't hardly fit sideways. You have to remove the rear seat to carry ANYTHING. A reflector rod or level rod will protrude into the front passenger area. And don't even think about carrying a supply of stakes. Lath are impossible.

Even though there is absolutely no room for equipment, I love them and still work out of one.

edit: in rough terrain everything in the back (equipment) spends half its time in the air...pack accordingly.

Sounds like fun! Did you build out a box or just through it all in? What about a safari style roof rack and run PVC tubes for pole, level rods, etc?

StLSurveyor, post: 388377, member: 7070 wrote: Sounds like fun! Did you build out a box or just through it all in? What about a safari style roof rack and run PVC tubes for pole, level rods, etc?

The best thing for small hand tools and misc. is one of the big tough HDPE tool-boxes with a latching lid and handles. Easy in and out. Instruments, tripod (1) and rods stay pretty well nestled by themselves. There's not even any room for them to roll around.

At the moment the one Wrangler I have is also my personal vehicle and I don't keep a 'box' in it. I did try and build a box for one a number of years ago but eventually worked without it. There is simply precious little cargo space in the back of a Wrangler when it comes to survey gear.

Edit: Something I have thought about but never tried was tubes on the top. The reason I never went that route is because the rear window on the hardtop (a necessity) is hinged on the top, making access to the tubes a little inconvenient.

Gather all of your essential equipment and add the tols you want to have every day and the stuff that you may need and ask yourself if it will fit.
Personally it takes the full bed of my Tacoma, the area of the extrnded. cab and a 5x10 trailer for tools & ATV & me & helper

You could add a receiver hitch rack for some xtras

Holy Cow, post: 388361, member: 50 wrote: It helps to be shorter than six feet by a bit to be able to comfortably get into and out of nearly all Jeep vehicles. We have a Liberty and a Compass. Both are not comfortably entered or exited at six two. Co-worker is five ten and has complained also.

7 or 8 years ago I had some cash burning a hole in my pocket and decided that I wanted to buy a older jeep. I'm 6'5" and all it took was a test drive to get rid of that idea.

Ryan,

I am in a 4-door wrangler. 4 door is probably a must. You can go everywhere in them...pretty much most of the same areas that an ATV can go. The back seat can be laid flat in 3 configurations: One seat down on the left, two seats down on the right or all of them down. I have mine setup with the single seat down on the left.

Safety is a concern. I have not taken the precaution of securing loose gear. In the photo, the back is more unorganized than usual. Two things that help in this setup are attention to cleanliness and organization. As far as extra stuff, I pack for the day each day. By that, I mean that I can't ride around with 50 hubs in the truck for 3 weeks.

I can generally fit about 30 lathe into the middle compartment where the bipods are now. (The bipods usually ride with the squealer and shovel.) If more lathe than that are required, I bungee them to the top rails of the box.

While I like the Jeep for maneuverability and compactness, I am transitioning into a Tacoma 4DR, 4x4 with an ARE CX Topper. I actually just got finished building the box for that this weekend.

Overall, it's great for a solo guy doing boundary work and smaller layout jobs. It might not be ideal for a crew on big layout jobs though.

I worked out of Toyota FJ-40s several times over the years (2-man crew, late 70s & again in the late 80s). It was back in the T-2/EDM and/or Total Station era, and in both cases, WAY OUT in the boondocks. Con-Fer Roof racks, and TIGHTLY packed. It was GREAT for getting in and out of the wilderness, not so great on I-15/1-80 for the 400-700 miles back and forth. We were primarily doing CONTROL, and/or Mineral Survey Retracement, so carrying Monuments was not a big deal on a daily basis.

I have worked out of my current Toyota FJ Cruiser numerous times over the last 10 years, and for MY WORK, it serves just fine (Control/Retracement). It is not quite as capable off-road (as an FJ-40), but a LOT nicer on the Freeway. If I were to get serious about using it on a regular basis, I would beef up the suspension somewhat, and get a roof rack for it.

The "hot setup" for me, is my F-350 Power Stroke, with large shell (that I can calculate/sleep in), pulling a small trailer w/ Suzuki King Quad in it (along with other misc. STUFF.

As always...IT DEPENDS.

I don't do urban, residential, or construction work, so I don't have the need for a bunch of wood, signs, cones, or other gear that many other folks NEED on a daily basis (in fact I don't even own such things). Back in the day, the 4x4 Suburban was the "weapon of choice" for most folks around these parts, but they became more of a Yuppie Grocery Getter decades ago (and too plush/light-duty/expensive) . IMO, it's impossible to buy the "perfect survey chariot," simply because WE are too diverse a group.

Loyal

JBrinkworth, post: 388417, member: 6179 wrote: Ryan,

I am in a 4-door wrangler. 4 door is probably a must. You can go everywhere in them...pretty much most of the same areas that an ATV can go. The back seat can be laid flat in 3 configurations: One seat down on the left, two seats down on the right or all of them down. I have mine setup with the single seat down on the left.

Safety is a concern. I have not taken the precaution of securing loose gear. In the photo, the back is more unorganized than usual. Two things that help in this setup are attention to cleanliness and organization. As far as extra stuff, I pack for the day each day. By that, I mean that I can't ride around with 50 hubs in the truck for 3 weeks.

I can generally fit about 30 lathe into the middle compartment where the bipods are now. (The bipods usually ride with the squealer and shovel.) If more lathe than that are required, I bungee them to the top rails of the box.

While I like the Jeep for maneuverability and compactness, I am transitioning into a Tacoma 4DR, 4x4 with an ARE CX Topper. I actually just got finished building the box for that this weekend.

Overall, it's great for a solo guy doing boundary work and smaller layout jobs. It might not be ideal for a crew on big layout jobs though.

"Safety is a concern. I have not taken the precaution of securing loose gear."

Death waiting to happen...

I am on my third Jeep Cherokee. All bought used, most recent hit 247,000 miles. I have the rear seat flat, had it up less than 4 weeks in 4 years. I have looked at Wranglers and on the next go round I doubt a good used Cherokee could be found anymore. Having a third open seat appeals to me as makes it a bit more useable for around town errands without unloading all my gear. I seldom have all my gear in it as that would consist of EDM, 4 tripods, tribrachs and targets, 4 GPS poles (3 legged bipods). Typically now, I carry EDM, 1 tripod, 3 bipods and mix in 3 GPS as needed. Depending on the job location 0, 4 or 8 traffic cones, my GO bag, toolbox and 5 gallon bucket with pouches for misc. survey supplies. A Wrangler for me would require a hard top and I may add a top liner to it. If I have a long through the woods traverse I might leave a tripod or two set up overnight in the woods for the next day. With mostly smaller projects now, I do much less tripod jumping.

Paul in PA