Hardly_Hangin
Well-Known Member
TLDR, how to hit the "nondestructivley modifying JX3" easy button for improved load carrying comfort. Insert generic saftey disclosure about modifying gear.
From the outstart, ill give full inspirational credit to @kyler1945 and his meat hauling JX3 modifications, thanks for all your work promoting the JX3 and educating. I wanted to do kyler's mods years ago, but was hesitant to buy nice stuff to cut up and couldnt fully wrap my head around it anyway, so i abandoned it (and saddle/treestand hunting altogether tbh, hunted from the ground exclusively last year) Fast forward 2 seasons to now and recently I had a flash of inspiration to revisit the idea. Mine is a gen 2 for reference.
@jbogg @splatek @Owl74
This project became exponentially less daunting when I realized the JX3 is built on a standardish molle rucksack frame, and would accept a standard molle harness. I picked up a molle ii rucksack on ebay for $50ish (even found one in woodland camo!), and proceeded to FrankenFrame this bad boy.
1) remove mesh backing from JX3. This can be done without cutting the mesh, but its really tight and took me a while to remove it with pliers (grab it and growl). You could do it much faster if you cut it but i wanted to preserve the mesh in case i drop back to punt. Remove the screws holding it onto the frame and shimmy it up bit by bit all the way to the top and off. This is the hardest part about the mod, and honestly im not certain i could get the mesh back on if i wanted to.
2) remove JX3 waist belt by unscrewing from frame and the shoulder straps by unthreading the buckles out of the molle holes. This is obvious how to do when youre looking at it, i didnt get a good picture of these steps. Easy.
3) swap molle ii frame harness over to JX3. There are a bajillion youtube videos on assembling molle ii rucksack frames/harnesses so i wont detail that part. Easy.
4) attach load lifter straps to bunny ears on JX3 and any other meat sack sincher straps on the back of the frame. I sewed mine from spare webbing i had laying around and robbed some kifaru buckles from a replacement kit, but JX3 sells these and im sure you could find it or a substitute on ebay or an army surplus store. Easy, after i relearned how to use my sewing machine.
Pros:
-it was SO EASY cant beleive i didnt think if this sooner, its a no brainer.
-I could have just bought the harness ala carte, but it was actually cheaper to buy an entire rucksack assembled and now i have a spare molle ii frame and a ruck bag i can repurpose.
-I walked a half mile loop around the neighborhood with the 20lb sack of birdseed and BUDDY this is nice. Not as nice as my kifaru but leaps and bounds better than a stock JX3. Need to fine tune my harness height but over all I'm well pleased.
-I can feel the kidney belt doing its job and transferring weight to my hips. I can feel the shoulder harness not cutting into my collar bone. I can feel the stock JX3 frame bunny ear load lifters pulling the load closer to my back.
-I can repurpose the old JX3 waist belt and leg loops for an ultralight minimalist high speed low drag preset hanging harness.
-additional load lifters can be added in the future if needed, but im going to wait a while.
Cons:
-Ive yet to sit in a tree but i did a vertical hang in my basement. Removing the mesh did reduce the sitting comfort level by ~10-20٪ ish givertake. Still unequivocally better than a soft saddle, and seemingly worth the increased hauling comfort.
-when sitting, the shoulder straps are not as easy to take off and fold behind you.
-i might be able to utilize dano's battle belt lineman loops, but otherwise i dont have lineman loops any more. Nonissue for me, but some might call it a con.
-no more leg loops (pro?) Nonissue for me, but some might call it a con.
-my rucksack was bought used so the harness kinda smells funny and the buckles are sticky (not sticky icky just not smooth to operate)
The JX3 is on the left, and my molle ii ebay frame on the right.
Before
After
Pic of bag of 20lb bag of bird seed lashed stashed and sandwiched
Pic of just birdseed lashed with the seat down
Pic of lashing straps without load
Overall front close up
From the outstart, ill give full inspirational credit to @kyler1945 and his meat hauling JX3 modifications, thanks for all your work promoting the JX3 and educating. I wanted to do kyler's mods years ago, but was hesitant to buy nice stuff to cut up and couldnt fully wrap my head around it anyway, so i abandoned it (and saddle/treestand hunting altogether tbh, hunted from the ground exclusively last year) Fast forward 2 seasons to now and recently I had a flash of inspiration to revisit the idea. Mine is a gen 2 for reference.
@jbogg @splatek @Owl74
This project became exponentially less daunting when I realized the JX3 is built on a standardish molle rucksack frame, and would accept a standard molle harness. I picked up a molle ii rucksack on ebay for $50ish (even found one in woodland camo!), and proceeded to FrankenFrame this bad boy.
1) remove mesh backing from JX3. This can be done without cutting the mesh, but its really tight and took me a while to remove it with pliers (grab it and growl). You could do it much faster if you cut it but i wanted to preserve the mesh in case i drop back to punt. Remove the screws holding it onto the frame and shimmy it up bit by bit all the way to the top and off. This is the hardest part about the mod, and honestly im not certain i could get the mesh back on if i wanted to.
2) remove JX3 waist belt by unscrewing from frame and the shoulder straps by unthreading the buckles out of the molle holes. This is obvious how to do when youre looking at it, i didnt get a good picture of these steps. Easy.
3) swap molle ii frame harness over to JX3. There are a bajillion youtube videos on assembling molle ii rucksack frames/harnesses so i wont detail that part. Easy.
4) attach load lifter straps to bunny ears on JX3 and any other meat sack sincher straps on the back of the frame. I sewed mine from spare webbing i had laying around and robbed some kifaru buckles from a replacement kit, but JX3 sells these and im sure you could find it or a substitute on ebay or an army surplus store. Easy, after i relearned how to use my sewing machine.
Pros:
-it was SO EASY cant beleive i didnt think if this sooner, its a no brainer.
-I could have just bought the harness ala carte, but it was actually cheaper to buy an entire rucksack assembled and now i have a spare molle ii frame and a ruck bag i can repurpose.
-I walked a half mile loop around the neighborhood with the 20lb sack of birdseed and BUDDY this is nice. Not as nice as my kifaru but leaps and bounds better than a stock JX3. Need to fine tune my harness height but over all I'm well pleased.
-I can feel the kidney belt doing its job and transferring weight to my hips. I can feel the shoulder harness not cutting into my collar bone. I can feel the stock JX3 frame bunny ear load lifters pulling the load closer to my back.
-I can repurpose the old JX3 waist belt and leg loops for an ultralight minimalist high speed low drag preset hanging harness.
-additional load lifters can be added in the future if needed, but im going to wait a while.
Cons:
-Ive yet to sit in a tree but i did a vertical hang in my basement. Removing the mesh did reduce the sitting comfort level by ~10-20٪ ish givertake. Still unequivocally better than a soft saddle, and seemingly worth the increased hauling comfort.
-when sitting, the shoulder straps are not as easy to take off and fold behind you.
-i might be able to utilize dano's battle belt lineman loops, but otherwise i dont have lineman loops any more. Nonissue for me, but some might call it a con.
-no more leg loops (pro?) Nonissue for me, but some might call it a con.
-my rucksack was bought used so the harness kinda smells funny and the buckles are sticky (not sticky icky just not smooth to operate)
The JX3 is on the left, and my molle ii ebay frame on the right.
Before
After
Pic of bag of 20lb bag of bird seed lashed stashed and sandwiched
Pic of just birdseed lashed with the seat down
Pic of lashing straps without load
Overall front close up
