Kifaru Hacks

[thegoosano]

Of all the packs I’ve owned, Kifaru packs are by far the most customizable. With all their pouches, attachment points, lids, and bag options I’m sure there are some guys that have created some pretty unique setups.

Let’s see what you’ve done to your Kifaru system to tailor it to your needs, or what you’ve done that you think improves upon the original!


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[couesbitten]

Added a center zipper to my Highcamp 7000 bag.

 

[thegoosano]

Nice just diy? I have a Gnargali I’ve been thinking about adding a zipper to


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[thegoosano]

My dumb little “hack” is for how I use my meat shelf.

I’ve never been a fan of how low the kifaru meat shelf attaches on the fame and don’t use it when I hunt. The center of gravity is just too low and makes you do the turtle. I much prefer the simplicity of loading the boned out meat bag into a heavy duty garbage bag and right into the pack with gear at the bottom to bring the center of gravity up high.

The meat shelf does come in handy though if you want to carry around bags of sand for training in the off season. Loading a bag of sand in and out of the main bag all the time is a pain in the ass.

My fix to bring up the center of gravity has been to add some 550 cord loops (these are the zipper pulls I took off my belt pouches) and tie them around the middle tab loop decently tight. The 3 bar slider from the meat shelf goes in perfect and supports all the load you could need it to. Nice and high where it should be.

Where the meat shelf is supposed to attach. Way too low.

550 cord tied to middle tab loops both sides.

Attach meat shelf from the underside of cord loops.

And magically the sand bag is no longer hanging down at your ass.


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[10ringer]

^^^^^ you could also use a k-clip and make that connection


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[Goodtimekiller]

My dumb little “hack” is for how I use my meat shelf.

I’ve never been a fan of how low the kifaru meat shelf attaches on the fame and don’t use it when I hunt. The center of gravity is just too low and makes you do the turtle. I much prefer the simplicity of loading the boned out meat bag into a heavy duty garbage bag and right into the pack with gear at the bottom to bring the center of gravity up high.

The meat shelf does come in handy though if you want to carry around bags of sand for training in the off season. Loading a bag of sand in and out of the main bag all the time is a pain in the ass.

My fix to bring up the center of gravity has been to add some 550 cord loops (these are the zipper pulls I took off my belt pouches) and tie them around the middle tab loop decently tight. The 3 bar slider from the meat shelf goes in perfect and supports all the load you could need it to. Nice and high where it should be.

Where the meat shelf is supposed to attach. Way too low.

550 cord tied to middle tab loops both sides.

Attach meat shelf from the underside of cord loops.

And magically the sand bag is no longer hanging down at your ass.


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Can you not put the 3 bar slider through the common loop?


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[thegoosano]

^^^^^ you could also use a k-clip and make that connection


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Ya I did that the first time but it made the connection too long if that makes sense. It’s a lot tighter with less slop this way


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[thegoosano]

Can you not put the 3 bar slider through the common loop?


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You could probably cut off one set of the common loops from the bottom of the frame with a dremmel tool and slide it onto the tab loops instead and it would work well


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[jAKe0711]

Not really a hack, but something I did was attache a FILBE bag to a 24in tactical frame. I haven't fully finished what I want to do with it yet, but my plans are to make a meat shelf that will attach where I've attached the bag.
I am still able to use the bottom and top load lifter adjustment with the bag. And the reason I went with the bag is because you can pick them up stupid cheap, huge, and bomb proof. I will post more pictures when I've completed it.

 

[thegoosano]

Not really a hack, but something I did was attache a FILBE bag to a 24in tactical frame. I haven't fully finished what I want to do with it yet, but my plans are to make a meat shelf that will attach where I've attached the bag.
I am still able to use the bottom and top load lifter adjustment with the bag. And the reason I went with the bag is because you can pick them up stupid cheap, huge, and bomb proof. I will post more pictures when I've completed it. View attachment 389835

Nice the first pack I ever had was an Arc’teryx ILBE pack. Packed out a whole coues in it my first season using it. Great pack and bag for the price.


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[Sherman]

Following

Would like to see some hacks for strap management.

 

[Jake Leibke]

Following

Would like to see some hacks for strap management.

Not really a hack but my buddy gets a lot of 6” x 1/4” Velcro straps that come with electronic cables like HDMI cords etc… basically use them like the Velcro that comes with the packs, roll the strap around and Velcro at needed length. Always seem to loose them so these come in handy are are a lot cheaper.


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[couesbitten]

Nice just diy? I have a Gnargali I’ve been thinking about adding a zipper to

Yep, I gave it some thought, got it all planned out in my head, bought all of the parts and pieces I needed and dove in.

 

[Sherman]

Not really a hack but my buddy gets a lot of 6” x 1/4” Velcro straps that come with electronic cables like HDMI cords etc… basically use them like the Velcro that comes with the packs, roll the strap around and Velcro at needed length. Always seem to loose them so these come in handy are are a lot cheaper.


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Never thought of that. I just found a 25 yard x 3/8” roll on Amazon for $14. Thanks.

 

[10ringer]

Following

Would like to see some hacks for strap management.

Following

Would like to see some hacks for strap management.

Look over your pack and find ways to simplify it. In the next few photos my reckoning which everyone complains about being too strapy is very streamlined if you double purpose the buckles. Use one of the horizontal compression straps to hold down the snow collar. All you have to do is add a corresponding male-female on the snow collar. My favorite hack is to use a k clip at the bottom of the bag on the webbing and suck up all the extra material. This really tightens the pack up and creates a wedge at the bottom so your items ride higher and closer to center of gravity. This also creates a channel to run all your straps through. My last strap hack is to eliminate the auto lock buckles on the sides of a pack. Replace them with the 4 slotted ladder locks that come in the buckle repair kit. This will take all of the flop out in day mode. Kifaru doesn’t have a published strength rating on this style of buckle but I find it to be bomb proof. I’ve routinely loaded 140+ pounds and trained year round for 3 years set up this way.

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[10ringer]

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[Ferrulewax]

Here’s one I did to cut a few grams and remove some possible failure points. I replaced the load lifter strap male and female buckle, as well as the small peice of webbing with a repair ladder lock straight to the tab. If you needed to drop your load lifters often (to replace the pack bag) this may take a little longer but doesn’t really effect function otherwise. It also slightly shortens the comically long load lifter straps. If I somehow broke the ladder lock in the field it can be replaced with a 1" G-hook which I use to secure my cinch straps to the frame.

This mod could also be done in the field if the existing buckle broke.

 

[thegoosano]

These are great tips. I’ve been trying to find a bulk set of the gatekeeper ladder locks that marsupial sells as part of their buckle delete kit to replace a bunch of the auto lock buckles on my pack. Would tighten up the pack in day mode a ton but I’m dragging my feet cuz I don’t wanna drop $60 on buckles. Maybe they will give a discount for a bulk purchase…

They would also work awesome for the load lifters like you pointed out. I’ve never loved the side release buckles on the load lifters and have swapped them out the same way before. I had to put them back on to use a lid though which I need to use for a makeshift stalking pack.

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[Ferrulewax]

These are great tips. I’ve been trying to find a bulk set of the gatekeeper ladder locks that marsupial sells as part of their buckle delete kit to replace a bunch of the auto lock buckles on my pack. Would tighten up the pack in day mode a ton but I’m dragging my feet cuz I don’t wanna drop $60 on buckles. Maybe they will give a discount for a bulk purchase…

They would also work awesome for the load lifters like you pointed out. I’ve never loved the side release buckles on the load lifters and have swapped them out the same way before. I had to put them back on to use a lid though which I need to use for a makeshift stalking pack.

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Not sure if they’re any cheaper but I got mine from Seek outside

 

[huckfin]

View attachment 390281View attachment 390280Here’s one I did to cut a few grams and remove some possible failure points. I replaced the load lifter strap male and female buckle, as well as the small peice of webbing with a repair ladder lock straight to the tab. If you needed to drop your load lifters often (to replace the pack bag) this may take a little longer but doesn’t really effect function otherwise. It also slightly shortens the comically long load lifter straps. If I somehow broke the ladder lock in the field it can be replaced with a 1" G-hook which I use to secure my cinch straps to the frame.

This mod could also be done in the field if the existing buckle broke.

Probably the best hack, I always felt there was a lot of unusable strap on that.