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For the last several few years I’ve been using a military surplus ILBE pack for elk hunting and it has worked well but I’ve decided it’s time to start upgrading to the world of Kifaru. I recently bought a 26” Kifaru Duplex frame and I plan to buy a Kifaru pack bag sometime in the future but for now I adapted an ILBE pack to fit the Kifaru Frame.

I bought my original ILBE pack off of eBay for about $40 and last year I bought another ILBE pack without shoulder straps or hip belt for about $15 plus shipping.

Here are photos of the ILBE pack on the Kifaru Duplex frame.

My stripped down ILBE bag weighs in at about 4 lbs. 5 oz. So total weight of my Kifaru frame with stripped down ILBE bag is about 7 lbs. 10 oz. without a lid and my scale verified that.

So total weight of my pack with the Lid is about 8 lbs. 10 oz. compared to a Kifaru frame, pack and guide lid which is right about at 7 pounds.

I could probably trim another 1/2-1 lb. off of my ILBE if I removed some of the straps, PALS webbing panels, heavy zipper pulls and elastic pouches on the bottom sides, but having used the ILBE for several years I know that I like all of those features so I will put up with the extra weight.

I think it worked out really well and it will be a very functional pack at only a little more than 1 ½ pound heavier than an all Kifaru setup and at a substantial cost savings.

I took a lot of detailed photos of what I trimmed and modified to make it work so if anybody want's me to post additional detail just let me know...

The IBLE pack is no slouch as a pack. Especially since they are affordable. But, this was a great idea. I was looking at mine the other day, as I too just bought a Kifaru frame, wandering what I as going to do with it. NOW I KNOW. Good stuff. I would have never thought of this. I did rob the lid off of IBLE to use on the Kifaru Mountain rambler before reading this though :^)

My first pack was an ILBE. Very functional pack for sure.

Looks like it rides real nice too.

Good luck, Robb

Here you go Griz34, this one is sitting at $11.99 plus shipping. It doesn't matter that the padding is ripped if you're going to cut it off anyway.

I tried to add a link but it wouldn't let me so you can copy this link and paste it to your browser:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/USMC-ILBE-MARPAT-Main-Pack-Body-GEN-2-ArcTeryx-Pack-Body-Only-FC/172773732066?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIM.MBE%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D44759%26meid%3Da508bd1db2b64a7f97305bf033b7f848%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D5%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D401361382629

http://www.ebay.com/bhp/usmc-ilbe-main-pack

http://www.ebay.com/itm/USMC-ILBE-MARPAT-Main-Pack-Body-GEN-2-ArcTeryx-Pack-Body-Only-FC-/401141581500?hash=item5d65e6c6bc:g:V5kAAOSwzJ5Xa1CU

Now, you need to add a few pockets to the belt.

Yep elkstabber I've already researched some cheap belt pouches, this one is $14 on Amazon... :^)

The upper attachment point on each side of the pack was done by sliding the plastic buckle for the top strap through the top black loop on the frame.

It’s fairly difficult to slide the 3-bar sliders through the frame loops but they’ll go, you just have to work them through slowly. You also need to make sure that your straps are sewn short enough so the pack will be tight to the frame. I test fitted everything before sewing and I marked the straps with a pen after I test fit and had the right length so I could line up the pen marks again before sewing.

The straps are attached to the top of the pack and then tack stitched in a second location a little lower on the pack.

I cut the lower tack stitching to free up the load lifter strap and used a piece of excess strap to attach the load lifter slider buckle to the rectangular plastic loop on the top of the frame.

These straps will now help support the bottom of the pack and help keep it firmly attached to the frame.

First I had to free up the ILBE stabilizer strap which was tack stitched to the pack similar to how the load lifter strap was tack stitched.

Then I fed the buckle from the freed up stabilizer strap through the Kifaru hip belt webbing, fed the trimmed shoulder strap through the webbing and attached them to each other.

That's about all there is to it...

Thanks for the links Mike.

You're welcome. I don't know if the K clip kit and the guide lid would work, I don't have any experience with them.

The ILBE is 75L which converts to 4576 CI.

Sorry if I lost you LINK. I've never done a YouTube video so I don't really know how. I think if you have the pack and frame in your hands and look at my photos you'll be able to figure out what I did.

***SEE MY UPDATE BELOW***

Great job figuring all that out and posting it for everybody. Love those frames, but none of it cheap, they are pretty proud of their bags. I like the custom concept. Thanks.

Here's an update. After Buskill asked the question about hauling meat between the bag and the frame I started thinking about it so I messed around with it a little last night. I'm happy to report that by just disconnecting the two 3-bar slider attachments on each side and reconfiguring some of the existing ILBE straps I was able to pull the bag away from the frame and insert a meat bag.

In this photo I have a game bag stuffed with pillows for testing. I believe it will work well.

I have the ILBE version of a cargo panel which is known as the "ILBE Recon Tail". I also have the waterproof ILBE dry bag liner made by Sealine.

I experimented using the Recon Tail, dry bag and ILBE lid to come up with a lightweight pack option.

The Recon Tail cargo panel weighs 8 oz., the dry bag weighs 13 oz. and the ILBE lid weighs 1 lb. so total weight is 2 lb. 5 oz. plus the frame.

Where'd you get the hardware to use in the pals system like that? And, what are they called?

I have some open ended female buckles I'll send you if you need them for the loops along the length of the frame. It would allow you to plug the male buckle right in and cinch either the bag or the panel down tight. I couldn't tell by the pics but, it looks like you are threading the male buckle through them. If so, I can spare 6 of the open ended female buckles to make it work like a charm.

Here's the link for the PALS hardware. I tried to include the link but it gave me an error so you'll have to copy and paste to your browser.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-Pack-Multicam-Military-Tactical-T-ring-Molle-Tee-Mount-Adaptor-for-Pals-tring/221391627572?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D32474%26meid%3D9af1d011b22a4c4ba9e2a545bd75d159%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D6%26mehot%3Dpp%26sd%3D321186687733&rt=nc

***EDIT - DON'T ORDER THESE BUCKLES, THEY ARE 1 1/2 " RATHER THAN 1". SEE MY LINK BELOW FOR THE 1" BUCKLES. ***

I ordered the correct 1" buckles this morning. If anybody else is doing this, order the buckles at this link rather than the link I posted previously.

God Bless men

I got the correct buckles to attach the Recon Tail to the Kifaru frame but when I attach it it’s a little too long to lay flat against the frame. So I used some Blackhawk Speed Clips (which are normally used to attach accessories to the PALS webbing) to shorten the Recon Tail.

Now the Recon Tail lays flat against the Kifaru Frame.

This should be a versatile system allowing me to pack into my spike camp with the Kifaru frame and ILBE Main Pack and then remove the Main Pack from the frame and attach the Recon Tail, lid, 1 or 2 rear pouches and the Radio Pouch for use in day pack mode.

I picked up a Voodoo Tactical Hydration pack from Camofire. I removed the shoulder straps and attached it to the PALS webbing on the Recon Tail and it fits very nicely. This pouch will hold a hydration bladder as well as quite a bit of other gear. I think between this pouch, the ILBE lid, a couple small belt pouches and possibly one of the other larger pouches attached to the outside of the Hydration pouch I should have plenty of capacity for daypack needs with the ability to expand the Recon Tail to haul meat.