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Modifications to First Gen JX3 Hybrid

kyler1945

Well-Known Member
SH Member
Joined
Dec 4, 2016
Messages
6,877
Location
Willis, TX
I've been wanting to tinker with upgrading the shoulder straps on my hybrid. I'll start by saying two things: If you don't carry a bunch of weight, it's not necessary in any way; and if you don't want to hack things up, I am hopeful John will be looking at offering a "packout" upgrade type of system.

But, I'm tall, and the height of the straps is a big issue for me. And ever since the first time I carried a friend's EXO pack, I was jealous. I immediately got online and purchased one of their older style harnesses for a project that never happened. Well all this Hybrid talk lately got me frisky.

Disclaimer - If you modify gear, you accept liability for your own safety. As always, use discretion, and if you're not sure, don't be stupid. I do not recommend you modify your gear.


I started by splitting the Exo harness down the middle so it would fit without having to take rivets loose on the top of the hybrid mesh.

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Next, I had to figure out how to attach to the Molle Frame. This was the hardest part...

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Once I split this, I could open up the back and access the frame. I then just sewed one horizontal piece of webbing on each shoulder strap, with a loop on one side. I threaded this through the frame, and stuck a G hook on the other side and cinched tight. Then the EXO harness has loops already sewn in for adjusting on their frame packs. I added a short piece of webbing and Ghook to that loop, and weaved vertically on the frame and back through a triglide. You can also see the load lifters too. They're just flat bar aluminum, with a webbing loop riveted on top, and some little nubs on bottom to catch frame. Heat shrink the whole thing. Insert in frame, wing bolt. Simple.

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Once I finished up the harness and attachments, I sewed loops and loose webbing on the back of the mesh that I cut. This part sucked, as I had the hybrid jammed up against my machine, and punching through two layers of mesh, two layers of microsuede, and two layers of webbing. But it wasn't too bad. Once I was done, add Ghooks, and cinch back tight to get tension on the mesh again.

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Next up will be figuring out a lightweight, compact, simple way to pad the belt a little. But this is already a huge improvement for me at my height. It fits right! I will put some weight in it this weekend to see if I even need to mess with the belt. Will probably have it in a tree for the first time tomorrow eve.

Pretty happy with the turnout. 50.00 for the harness, maybe 10.00 in other pieces parts. There was about 2 hours of thinking, and about two hours of workin... Shout out to @Squirrels for convincing me to take a route I wasn't sold on.
 
Great job! Load lifters are the bomb when carrying heavy weight. You keep doing stuff like this and I’m going to have to sell my Guidos and buy a JX3.

Any thoughts of making the load lifters extendable (somewhat like MR pop ups are? Maybe an extended position and a retracted position.
 
Great job! Load lifters are the bomb when carrying heavy weight. You keep doing stuff like this and I’m going to have to sell my Guidos and buy a JX3.

Any thoughts of making the load lifters extendable (somewhat like MR pop ups are? Maybe an extended position and a retracted position.

im sure you could do something like that. But these come completely off to leave at home or throw in the space between mesh andframe. Takes about 20 seconds to bolt em up.
 
Is that a MOLLE harness? I replaced the straps on my summit with a MOLLE system and its absolutely awesome

it’s an exo brand shoulder harness. You could possibly do this with the molle system, as that’s what is designed to be used with the pack frame. You’d be adding about 2lbs, and I’m not sure how it would interact with the mesh though.
 
Great work! My exact thoughts were man, this thing needs some load lifters the other day when I was just playing around with carrying different things. I think of John came up with “pack out” straps and belt, that would be a home run addition. I have one of the older style JX and technically you can pack out meat with it. It wouldn’t be pleasant. Mine don’t have the meat haul cinch straps??? And the shoulder pads are a little small for me. I’m 6’4. Also the belt is not ideal IMO for packing weight. One issue I have with that is the way it is designed it doesn’t really “wrap” snug to my hips on the pack. I’m basing this off how a traditional pack frame belt I have snugs up all around my hips and lower kidney area. Maybe this is just how a ALICE pack fits. Regardless, count get the JX3 to tighten all the way down on hips to relieve shoulder straps as much as I would like too. 2nd issue with belt is I can’t see to be able to tighten under any kid of tension. I have to unclick and then adjust the strap. Now, I said more than what I thought I was when I started typing this. BY NO MEANS do I want anyone to think I am bashing the hybrid. The concept is genius, comfort is already known about, and I love mine. By far my favorite hunting platform I’ve ever used. The way you can customize and add on is unlimited. But for packing out a deer, IDK.....I could be wrong but it would be pretty maxed out I think with the current belt and harness system. I think a few tweaks here and there and John will have a pretty dialed in product.
 
Great work! My exact thoughts were man, this thing needs some load lifters the other day when I was just playing around with carrying different things. I think of John came up with “pack out” straps and belt, that would be a home run addition. I have one of the older style JX and technically you can pack out meat with it. It wouldn’t be pleasant. Mine don’t have the meat haul cinch straps??? And the shoulder pads are a little small for me. I’m 6’4. Also the belt is not ideal IMO for packing weight. One issue I have with that is the way it is designed it doesn’t really “wrap” snug to my hips on the pack. I’m basing this off how a traditional pack frame belt I have snugs up all around my hips and lower kidney area. Maybe this is just how a ALICE pack fits. Regardless, count get the JX3 to tighten all the way down on hips to relieve shoulder straps as much as I would like too. 2nd issue with belt is I can’t see to be able to tighten under any kid of tension. I have to unclick and then adjust the strap. Now, I said more than what I thought I was when I started typing this. BY NO MEANS do I want anyone to think I am bashing the hybrid. The concept is genius, comfort is already known about, and I love mine. By far my favorite hunting platform I’ve ever used. The way you can customize and add on is unlimited. But for packing out a deer, IDK.....I could be wrong but it would be pretty maxed out I think with the current belt and harness system. I think a few tweaks here and there and John will have a pretty dialed in product.

I carried 110lbs in it as is, almost two miles. Obviously it wasn’t fun but I got it done.

I’ve carried 40-80lbs several times on similar marches.

it most definitely can be done. But it could be better, hence the modification. The biggest reason I did it is because of my height.
 
I carried 110lbs in it as is, almost two miles. Obviously it wasn’t fun but I got it done.

I’ve carried 40-80lbs several times on similar marches.

it most definitely can be done. But it could be better, hence the modification. The biggest reason I did it is because of my height.


That’s good to know. I hope I get to test it out soon enough! Appreciate your ideas on the Hybrid
 
Next up will be figuring out a lightweight, compact, simple way to pad the belt a little. But this is already a huge improvement for me at my height. It fits right! I will put some weight in it this weekend to see if I even need to mess with the belt. Will probably have it in a tree for the first time tomorrow eve.

Pretty happy with the turnout. 50.00 for the harness, maybe 10.00 in other pieces parts. There was about 2 hours of thinking, and about two hours of workin... Shout out to @Squirrels for convincing me to take a route I wasn't sold on.

Love it. High end packs like Exo are just awesome. With a similar padded belt and lumbar pad to make that weight transfer really comfortable, a home run. Really slick, thanks for showing how you did it.

Looking forward to hearing how it runs, and any future mods. Also, cool to hear of a pack out option in the works as well. I think that would garner such a good reputation with folks who hike in any real distance.
 
Fantastic mod. I have the newer version (gen 2?) on the way, and John's including some surprise prototype accessories. Not sure if he's included load lifters or not, but this is slick as snot!
 
Updated title of the thread, as I think I'll keep all the modifications I'm doing in one place.

Next up is the belt situation. Same disclaimer as the shoulder harness situation - This is a luxury. 90% of people who use this thing won't be packing lots of weight, or long distances. I'm dumb, so I do both of those things. Don't take this modification as any slight towards the Hybrid. It's great. It's awesome. Buy one!

The MOLLE frame is designed with intention of having the belt on the inside. But because of the mesh, and the way the hybrid is designed, the belt ends up on the back of it. For normal width people, carrying normal amounts of weight, it's probably fine. But as mentioned, I'm dumb, and have a narrow frame. It creates some pretty uncomfortable packing for me.

First step, I took the screws out of the belt/mesh along the bottom of the frame to gain access, and see what I'm working with.

DISCLAIMER *** - if you take these screws out, the belt will come off of the hybrid. This is what keeps you in the hybrid. I do not recommend you make any modifications to your climbing gear without consulting the manufacturer and or a certified climbing instructor. Remember - I'm dumb.


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It took a few mornings of coffee and thought to figure out the next problem. Normally the MOLLE hip belt is attached to the bottom of the frame at the height desired. When it is cinched down on the waist, it pulls the frame around the back of the user. Because of the mesh, if you were to tighten down a standard belt, you wouldn't get proper tension.

After considering cutting off the bottom 2-3" of mesh, I think I figured it out. I'm glad I took my time to think it through, and didn't do that. Really short users interested in this type of modification may have to take a different path though. For me, the very bottom of the frame is the ideal height to locate my hip belt. I won't bore you guys with the mockup pictures and belts and webbing and whiskey and sharpies and zip ties. But it led me to being very lucky and locating the belt along the bottom edge. I took two 12" long pieces of webbing and weaved them around the stock hybrid belt, and the bottom edge of the frame. I then took a little longer piece of webbing and added a ladder lock. I went straight up the middle, splitting the leg loops, and attached at a slot about 4" up in the center of the frame. Between these three, it really locks the frame and belt vertically.


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Just this modification allowed the belt to contour to my waist much better and was a big improvement. A side effect of making this modification is it pulled my lineman's loops toward the front of me a fair amount which is nice.

Next, I have three issues to address, each in different phases:

- Lumbar Padding
- Hip Padding
- Horizontal Sway Mitigation

On the lumbar, the mesh does a pretty good job of padding your back, but it leaves a little to be desired in comfort and ability to tension properly. I had some knee pads laying around, and a little extra closed cel foam. I played with thickness until I got it right. Looks to be something like 2-3" is right. I will be experimenting with this and will post once I have a finished product. But this is what I mocked up, and honestly, I could just shove these kneepads in there and hunt.

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For Hip padding, I think I'm going to be just fine with some removable pads. I think I've settled on something like 4" wide, 1/2" thick, and 10.5" long. They'll have some way to cinch them onto each side of the hip belt without having to remove buckles or interfere with LB Loops or leg buckles. I've got it figured out, no pictures really necessary until I sew these up. Will post when I have them done.

For sway control, there's slots at each lower corner of the frame. I don't have the hardware I need. But I'm going to do ladder locks from each corner to one of the molle loops on the stock belt. Once you're loaded up, just cinch until proper tension on the load to keep it from swaying. You can see the gap between my narrah arse, and the corner of the frame. Once I've got these done I'll test and post photos.

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I mocked up the sway control with zip ties, shoved the kneepad blob in there, cut some 1/2" foam to stick under the belt on my hips, and cinched it all down. It's a huge improvement. I don't want to get too fired up before I finish everything, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to be able to carry 70-80lbs just as comfortably as my frame packs.

There are some trade offs here:

I'm modifying stock gear, which I prefer not to do typically.

Adding lumbar and hip pads is probably going to add about a pound to the system. In addition to a couple ounces on top with the new harness versus the old.

Lumbar pad is gonna cause some sweat. Might look to make it removable, because it will carry pretty well as is with 10-30lbs loaded up.

I won't have the storage space inside the frame that I had gotten accustomed to. Some space still there, but the mesh now doesn't close off the bottom.

In exchange for that, I get:

I reused the stock belt, so that's nice. And as far as I can tell, it does not affect the integrity of the system at all. Potentially improved.

Lineman's loops moved further forward, and actually keep them open better at the angle they are now.

More comfortable heavy load carrying, and all day carrying. I'm stupid and walk around for hours with the hybrid on my back.

Will come back with updates as they hit.
 
All that work modifying... it’s fun for sure. Won’t be necessary for me when my hybrid arrives because I kill little deer. I usually just tie their legs up with some boot laces and carry them out over my shoulder. Like a small purse.
Work smarter, not harder, Kyle.
 
Well, I came full circle on the lumbar. And landed back on my prototype. I decided I want to retain storage in the back of the hybrid. I was drawing up a way to make a compartment that just had a 1/2” foam pad on it. Fast forward 10 minutes, and lightbulb went off.

I like things that have dual purpose. So I grabbed a small zipper pouch, dropped knife, blades, game bags, zip ties, tags, lighter, and have room for a fair amount of other small things I don’t need on every Hunt. And, if for some reason I need knee pads, they’re there. Just need to come up with the quick way to lash it to belt to keep it in place. The velcro on knee pad strapsworked ok, but I don’t know if it’ll hold up on atv or bike ride or long crazy hikes. Will try that first. I think this box is checked.

now if I can just convince @Squirrels to sew me up some hip pads........

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