EXO K3 bag on K4 frame

[TOLeary]

Has anyone made any alterations to get the k3 bag to fit in the k4 frame?

 

[Big Lew]

I'm curious about this as well.

 

[TOLeary]

I have a k3 bag coming in at the end of the week and I’m planning on modifying it to fit. I’ll keep it updated on here how it’s going

 

[Austindb95]

Interested as well, i love my OCP 4800, being able to just purchase a k4 frame would be fantastic.

 

[TOLeary]

Interested as well, i love my OCP 4800, being able to just purchase a k4 frame would be fantastic.

Frame is great. I’m wanting the larger bag with open sided pockets for late season so I’ll trying to modify a 6400 soon. I don’t see why it won’t work but I haven’t had hands on a K3 bag before. Will update when I have something

 

[Big Lew]

Frame is great. I’m wanting the larger bag with open sided pockets for late season so I’ll trying to modify a 6400 soon. I don’t see why it won’t work but I haven’t had hands on a K3 bag before. Will update when I have something

Excellent. I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

I love my K3 6400 bag and don't like the design of the K4 bags comparatively but am interested in the benefits of the K4 frame.

 

[ProAlpine]

Following...

 

[ztc92]

Would love to see you be successful with the 6400, if so I may buy one and do the same. I’ll be following this with much interest!

 

[BoilerBowHunter]

@TOLeary Had a chance to experiment with this yet? Interested to hear your thoughts.

 

[TOLeary]

@TOLeary Had a chance to experiment with this yet? Interested to hear your thoughts.

Not yet but soon. I was working on modifying thr K4 straps and wrapped that up so I’ll be moving onto thr K3 soon. I have the attachment pieces made up, I just need to take the bag apart now and get to sewing. I’ll hopefully have an update soon

 

[HighUintas]

Not yet but soon. I was working on modifying thr K4 straps and wrapped that up so I’ll be moving onto thr K3 soon. I have the attachment pieces made up, I just need to take the bag apart now and get to sewing. I’ll hopefully have an update soon

Any idea if this is looking to be an advanced sewing project?

 

[TOLeary]

Any idea if this is looking to be an advanced sewing project?

I don’t think so. I’ve only sewed one thing before and have a home machine. Seems straight forward

 

[HighUintas]

I don’t think so. I’ve only sewed one thing before and have a home machine. Seems straight forward

Any updates on this project?

 

[Legion5430]

I wish this worked as I like the multi-cam on my K3 better than the K4 options

 

[Marbles]

The Stone Glacier R3 wing pockets work well on the Exo if you pick up 6 triglids. The strap spacing is perfect, no sewing is needed.

 

[TOLeary]

Any updates on this project?

Sorry for the delay.. posts incoming

 

[TOLeary]

Finally finished this little project. Will be making some posts detailing it soon

 

[TOLeary]

Photos for now. Will give a little explanation with details tomorrow

 

[TOLeary]

Project was to make a K3 bag fully compatible on a K4 frame as a K4 bag would be. I love the K4 frame and bought a 3600 which will work the majority of time I’m hunting early season and backpacking over weekends at home. Winter hunting would be different. Last year I used a kifaru hoodlum during a winter hunt and didn’t like the zippered side pockets in the cold. After reading @Formidilosus post on packs in his big gear list it made sense to have the top access side pockets (still with stretch side pockets) of the K3 6400 and larger front stretch panel which prompted me to do this project. All links to products will be below.

I had zero experience sewing before this as a heads up. My mom’s profession has involved sewing and showed me the basics of using a machine. I did some googling of what types of thread and needle to use for heavier fabric, which is limited on a home machine. I bought a Singer 4411 and had been perfect even though I read it won’t work. Has sewn through 2 layers of webbing, 4 layers of cordura, 2 layers of grosgrain and 1 waterproof material at once. It’s done everything I needed it to and can’t imagine I’d do anything more.

First thing to do was swap the buckles to make them compatible with the K4 frame. Aside from the actual buckles being different, EXO changed their layout of male and female buckles. It’s pretty easy to find brown or black buckles but I wanted to match the grey so it looked as close to original as possible. I had to actually do some digging to find them. There were no gray, split bar, side release buckles so I had to do that on my own with plyers and a multitool.



I couldn’t find a single bar male buckle so I had to buy the regular and just cut the first section. Plenty of companies use split bar buckles and trust the strength so I figured this would work. If it doesn’t then it’d be a bigger project to sew them in to original webbing. To be honest, this would get you 95% of the way there with a K3 bag on a K4 frame. The top attachment would be goofy but it would still work.

 

[9.1]

Project was to make a K3 bag fully compatible on a K4 frame as a K4 bag would be. I love the K4 frame and bought a 3600 which will work the majority of time I’m hunting early season and backpacking over weekends at home. Winter hunting would be different. Last year I used a kifaru hoodlum during a winter hunt and didn’t like the zippered side pockets in the cold. After reading @Formidilosus post on packs in his big gear list it made sense to have the top access side pockets (still with stretch side pockets) of the K3 6400 and larger front stretch panel which prompted me to do this project. All links to products will be below.

I had zero experience sewing before this as a heads up. My mom’s profession has involved sewing and showed me the basics of using a machine. I did some googling of what types of thread and needle to use for heavier fabric, which is limited on a home machine. I bought a Singer 4411 and had been perfect even though I read it won’t work. Has sewn through 2 layers of webbing, 4 layers of cordura, 2 layers of grosgrain and 1 waterproof material at once. It’s done everything I needed it to and can’t imagine I’d do anything more.

First thing to do was swap the buckles to make them compatible with the K4 frame. Aside from the actual buckles being different, EXO changed their layout of male and female buckles. It’s pretty easy to find brown or black buckles but I wanted to match the grey so it looked as close to original as possible. I had to actually do some digging to find them. There were no gray, split bar, side release buckles so I had to do that on my own with plyers and a multitool.

View attachment 750196

I couldn’t find a single bar male buckle so I had to buy the regular and just cut the first section. Plenty of companies use split bar buckles and trust the strength so I figured this would work. If it doesn’t then it’d be a bigger project to sew them in to original webbing. To be honest, this would get you 95% of the way there with a K3 bag on a K4 frame. The top attachment would be goofy but it would still work.

I did something similar with black buckles to carry my K2 bags on a K4 frame. 5% of the work to get 95% of the functionality. I admire your dedication to get the details ironed out!