We caught up with Canaan Hagin at the recent SEMA Show to get the lowdown on his Wrangler build and hear about his future plans for the rig. It started with a dream to move to the Rocky Mountains. Then, as Canaan Hagin’s lifestyle evolved, so did his Jeep Wrangler.
“My passion is adventure,” he says. “It’s trying to inspire people who are constantly working 9-5 to get out of the city and enjoy nature, feel what it’s like to enjoy fresh air, wind and snow. Everyone’s wrapped up in the modern lifestyle, with phones and technology. I like all that stuff too, but I also like to get away.”
Hagin is a videographer based in Salt Lake City, Utah. He bought his Jeep – a 2018.5, Granite Crystal metallic JL Unlimited Rubicon – in Florida in 2021. It had never seen the mountains or been in the dirt, but it did have a mild suspension lift, aftermarket wheels and tires, and some neat, Katzkin-style black leather upholstery with red diamond stitching. That wasn’t going to help in its new environment.
I’m also talking to a company that outfits the back of Wranglers with overland storage setups. It’s modular and it’s not affixed to the Jeep, so you can still pull the whole thing out. As I mentioned before. I don’t like putting anything into the Jeep that I can’t easily pull out again.
“I was pretty big into YouTube at that time,” says Hagin, who documents his adventures on his Instagram account, @jeepbruh_jlur. “I was watching a guy who was off-roading on trails out in BC. He inspired my wife Erica and I to move out to the Rocky Mountains from Port St. Lucie, Florida. Once we did, then my build started to change. It’s not always been easy because I have very long work weeks, but Erica’s support has been incredible.”
Related – SEMA 2023’s Off-Road Revolution: These 10 Overlanders Stole the Show
Wheels, Tires and Suspension
The Wrangler now had to handle much more inclement weather, especially on mountain trails in winter. Hagin needed larger, more aggressive tires, so the truck is currently fitted with 40×13.5 Toyo Open Country M/Ts. A planned future change – more of those later – involves reverting to 37-inch tires in place of the 40s, which have proved to be, “just a little too big”.
Dropping from 20-inch to 17-inch rims provided better airing-down capability, a move that was followed by a switch to Mopar 392 beadlock wheels. A Superchips FlashCal tuner takes care of recalibration for the larger tire size and provides other drivetrain adjustment options.
In the suspension, Teraflex control arms, sway bars links and other components are paired with Fabtech Dirt Logic shocks and a recent addition, AEV 3-inch HD springs. The springs were installed by the Burt Brothers shop in Salt Lake City to handle the extra weight added to the Jeep in the previous year. The suspension components are newly protected from mud and other debris by Combat inner fenders.
Related – The 22 Best & Badass Off-Road Adventure Vehicles of 2017
Equipment and Storage
Some of that weight came from a roof rack and a Zebra roof top tent from Hagin’s sponsor, Novsight. “Every time I got to the campsite, I would have to empty everything out of the Jeep just to make my bed, so the rooftop tent was a huge relief,” he says. “Now I can put more storage inside of the rig, and it only takes me 35 seconds to open up the tent, so if I really needed to, I could be in bed in a minute.”
When we checked out the Wrangler during its display at the 2024 SEMA Show, the number of tools stashed inside showed immediately that it’s built for go, not show.
“I keep most utilized tools handy,” says Hagin. “The biggest challenge is trying to find places to mount it all, because when you’re on a 30% decline, you don’t want stuff falling and hitting you. You have to make sure everything is in a specific spot.
“For gear storage in the back, I just use totes,” he continues. “I segregate everything into its own tote and stack them on top of each other. It’s simple and it’s very affordable. Lavish [storage] designs are cool, but sometimes I have other purposes for the Jeep. It’s not only for off-roading. I drive it every day, it doesn’t just sit at home, so it’s very purposefully built to accommodate my daily lifestyle and also for quickly setting it up to go off-road.”
Related – Here Are the Best Off-Road Vehicles & Adventure Machines We Discovered in 2019
Lighting and Radios
For Hagin, “Lighting and communication are everything.” As such, his comprehensive lighting and radio setup is there solely to help keep him safe in challenging conditions, such as when it’s pitch black in a canyon, or he loses sight of his trail companions in a blizzard.
Hagin again worked with partner Novsight on the lighting setup. There are Halo series LED pods in three different sizes: facing forward and sideways from the bumper, and mounted through the A-pillar cowl. A 50-inch Rock series light bar is on the front of the roof rack and 3-inch cubes from the Cyber series are deployed around the roof rack: two as side floods and two at the rear as chasers. The most recent addition is a set of rock lights.
The amber lighting is hard to miss. Hagin says he likes the aesthetic and, while they are switchable to white, the amber lenses are simply more practical. “I’m in snow a lot more than I am anything else the whole year,” he explains. “When it’s snowing or when you’re traveling in a big group and dust is getting kicked up at night, you can see through it with amber light way better than you can with white, which just reflects back and blinds you.”
The lighting is wired and controlled through a combination of an eight-bank switch panel mounted under the hood, the four blank, in-cabin auxiliary switches that come standard from the factory, an iPad that’s mounted in front of the normal centre touchscreen and a small control panel on the inside of the driver’s-side A-pillar.
Then there are the radios. “The importance of communication is the biggest thing I’ve learned out on the trail,” says Hagin. “Without it, someone could be seriously hurt.”
Midland radios work through the tall antenna mounted to the front bumper. He also uses a handheld Midland radio and onX for trail mapping.
“You’ve got to be able to communicate with the other guys on the trail with you,” he adds. “Unless you have something like Starlink, your phone’s not always going to work. Some people ask why I have such a big antenna on the rig but let’s be real, a lot of people don’t really go that far [into the back country]. For me, the Midland radio and that antenna turn into my phone when I’m off-road and my phone doesn’t work anymore.”
Future Plans
Like many builds, Hagin’s Wrangler is a work in progress, despite the transformation it has undergone in the past few years.
“In the future, I’m looking to add some Molle panels – exterior grid racks – so that I can add RotopaX mountable fuel containers,” he says. “I want to carry more fuel and go further without having to go back. I might then put a diesel heater on the other side so I can heat the tent, because I do a lot of winter camping. In Utah it’s a drier type of cold, but once it gets below zero, nothing’s warm!
“I’m also talking to a company that outfits the back of Wranglers with overland storage setups. It’s modular and it’s not affixed to the Jeep, so you can still pull the whole thing out. As I mentioned before. I don’t like putting anything into the Jeep that I can’t easily pull out again.”
Solar panels feeding a generator setup are another way in which Hagin would like to increase his self-sufficiency on the trail, along with adding Starlink for mobile internet.
“There’s always something,” he laughs. “I could keep going, but for the most part, I don’t want to change everything on the Jeep. I still want it to look clean and I don’t want to take away the everyday practicality.”
