Industry Spotlight: DirtBox Gear

I’m Greg Whitworth, cofounder of DirtBox. I’m an I.T. guy that enjoys off-road exploring and camping. And I’ve been known to have good ideas sometimes, too. Rod McGalliard is my cofounder, business partner and manufacturing expert. He takes good ideas and then turns them into great ideas. Better still, he helps them become reality.

DirtBox Gear has been a long time coming. Not the name, but what we plan to deliver.

Twenty years ago, I moved my family from Michigan to Arizona. Soon thereafter, we found a passion for off-road exploration.

Our first vehicle was the fabled Suzuki Samurai. We rock-crawled and explored our way across scenic desert trails all over the southwest. As the years went by, by the time kids grew older and bigger, our vehicle choices changed. However, one thing stayed constant: camping.

Two difficulties prevailed while camping: 1.) not having a good storage system for our gear and 2.) powering our electronics.

We cobbled a few things together over the years, but always felt something was needed in the marketplace. We notice in recent years that storage solutions have become available. However, we felt the price point was just a bit out of reach for the average family.

On a run with friends, I mentioned that I felt there was a gap in off-road storage availability. This prompted a response from Rod: “Come by my shop next week. Let’s work on this.”

I knew Rod was in the home cabinet manufacturing business. But I was not entirely sure how that would align with the ideas in my head. As it turned out, not only did he have the equipment and expertise needed to manufacture, but he also had a great idea for the name.

While our stories are quite different, there are many similarities as well. Rod wanted to remove the rear seats from his Jeep JKU and install a flat platform. He needed to do this for the family’s German Shepherd, Jersey. After all, it is important that Jersey be able to put her head out the window on Jeep runs. When Rod realized that there weren’t any budget-friendly options in the marketplace, he decided to manufacture one himself.

Rod has over 14 years of experience in CNC manufacturing as well as 11 previous years of automotive dealership experience with a manufacturing facility complete with CNC routers, boring and cutting machinery, and CNC flat-line finishing equipment.

It was in that facility that our ideas came together, and DirtBox Gear was born.

DirtBox Gear is veteran-owned and we manufacture products here in America. Our products are of the utmost quality. We design affordable storage solutions for Jeep JKUs and JLUs. Our Series One Storage solutions are designed to be easily installed into the cargo area using a vehicle specific mounting plate. We are currently developing mounting plates for additional vehicles.

We offer four different height modules accommodating single, double, and triple drawer units to neatly stow your off-road essentials. We also provide a double slide out module for your refrigerator and cooktop.

Our flagship product, Juice Box, is a power module that has two drawers for storage, a 170-amphour battery for power storage, and a 2000-Watt Pure Sine Wave Inverter to power 110-volt devices. Additionally, there are enough USB ports for everyone’s gadgets. This translates into no longer sacrificing creature comforts when you are off the grid.

Juice Box has changed the way we camp. After spending many nights camping in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in California with winds blowing hard, I knew I wanted to get away from cooking over an open flame. Juice Box provides the power to cook using an induction cooktop no matter how tough the conditions.

Where propane can have issues in the cold, or wind, or at high elevation, those become non-issues when using an induction cooktop. If it runs on 110v in your kitchen at home, Juice Box can run it from the back of your vehicle anywhere. And, of course, we now brew our camp coffee the same way we do at the house.

We’re proud to bring DirtBox Gear to our fellow off roaders for more affordable and accessible ways to camp with comfort.

• Off-road Storage and Power Solutions

• One, two and three Drawer Modules

• Refrigerator and Cooktop Storage/Slides 

• Juice Box supports Solar Charging

• Easy Access to USB Charge ports and 110v outlet for Rear Seat Passengers

• Bluetooth Battery Monitoring App

• Four 110v power outlets

• Six USB-A ports and 3 USB-C ports

• Three 12v power point plugs

• If you can run it on 110v in your kitchen at home, Juice Box can power it: coffee makers, skillets, Griddles, induction cooktops, blenders, microwaves, etc.

• Cargo Mounting Plates for JKU and JLU – Currently

• 14+ years in Manufacturing Business

• 20+ years off-road and camping

• Color match storage panels to vehicle paint code

Header image: DirtBox Gear

Disclaimer: This paid story was produced in partnership with DirtBox Gear