Review: Auxbeam slim switch panel systems

[TRevs]

I was planning to do Colorado the last week of July/first week of August, including the Alpine Loop, Imogene and more, but a family medical situation has caused me to put that trip off. I'm sure the Grenadier will have no problems with any of those trails. By the time the medical situation has been resolved, there will likely be snow on those trails, so my new plan is to drive the Grenadier to Las Vegas for the SEMA Show and spend a few days offroad/camping in Death Valley after the show. I'm anxious to get some trail time in the Grenadier but unfortunately Death Valley after SEMA is probably my first chance.

I have been busy outfitting the Grenadier for expedition use, I adapted my Garvin rack to it, including the slide-out solar panel under the front of the rack:

View attachment 631959

The necessary wiring and solar controller has been installed and works great:

View attachment 631963

I also added a circuit (off the solar controller) for the Trail Kitchen/fridge and adapted the kitchen to the L-track in the floor of the Grenadier (very easy):

View attachment 631961

And I've been working on a few new Grenadier-specfic product designs for Overland Outfitters:

View attachment 631962

So lots going on with the Grenadier, unfortunately trail time won't happen until November now.

Are you at all concerned about the reliability of the turbo engine? And costs of parts/repairs? Relative to the LJ 4.0 of course.

 

[Hackyman]

Does anyone have suggestions on mounting locations for the slim panels? Is it simple enough to mount to the windshield header on a later model TJ?

 

[jscherb]

Are you at all concerned about the reliability of the turbo engine? And costs of parts/repairs? Relative to the LJ 4.0 of course.

Relative to the LJ 4.0, everything about the Grenadier is much more expensive. The price of a well-equipped Grenadier like mine is maybe 50% more than a JL Wrangler Rubicon; service cost is basically at BMW levels and parts aren't available at your average auto store, most things so far are dealer only and even many of the parts you might think you could get at a BMW dealer have changes specific to the Grenadier.

I believe the mechanical design of the Grenadier is very robust and I'm not worried about basic reliability. The BMW B58 engine has an excellent reputation, as does the ZF transmission and the Carraro axles. What worries me a bit is the software; it's a little quirky although software updates have made that less of a concern.

Having driven it about 10,000 miles so far, I'm pretty confident it's not going to let me down in the wild, but I'll feel better after I've done some off-road miles.

Am I sorry I bought it, instead of a JL or a Bronco or even a Toyota? No regrets, I think mechanically it's superior to the Jeep and the Bronco and arguably better than the new Toyota Land Cruiser. To me at least, it's much better looking than all of those and it's basic design enables easier outfitting for expedition use.

Does anyone have suggestions on mounting locations for the slim panels? Is it simple enough to mount to the windshield header on a later model TJ?

The slim panels are very light weight and should mount easily to the plastic trim on the inside top of the windshield.

 

[Hackyman]

Relative to the LJ 4.0, everything about the Grenadier is much more expensive. The price of a well-equipped Grenadier like mine is maybe 50% more than a JL Wrangler Rubicon; service cost is basically at BMW levels and parts aren't available at your average auto store, most things so far are dealer only and even many of the parts you might think you could get at a BMW dealer have changes specific to the Grenadier.

I believe the mechanical design of the Grenadier is very robust and I'm not worried about basic reliability. The BMW B58 engine has an excellent reputation, as does the ZF transmission and the Carraro axles. What worries me a bit is the software; it's a little quirky although software updates have made that less of a concern.

Having driven it about 10,000 miles so far, I'm pretty confident it's not going to let me down in the wild, but I'll feel better after I've done some off-road miles.

Am I sorry I bought it, instead of a JL or a Bronco or even a Toyota? No regrets, I think mechanically it's superior to the Jeep and the Bronco and arguably better than the new Toyota Land Cruiser. To me at least, it's much better looking than all of those and it's basic design enables easier outfitting for expedition use.




The slim panels are very light weight and should mount easily to the plastic trim on the inside top of the windshield.

Anyone have any photos of this setup?