Tactical Overland Build

Hunter good looking truck and views. also thank you for your service.

 

Day trip on Murphy Dome.

 

Nice build so far. I really dig the setup on your seats. Ill be looking into that. Love the Fuel D551s as well

 

Nice tourniquets, motivator.

 

Pictures almost make me want to move there. Beautiful.

 

It really is beautiful here. I'm really glad that I've gotten the chance to live here for a few years. I'm also glad that I have a vehicle that allows me to explore it. I'm buying a 2015 KTM450SX-F FE in the spring to unlock even more areas to explore.

 

There's a great group of riders up that way.

 

Subd nice truck!

 

Hows that dash command app working out?

 

Thanks! It's working out great. It's interesting to watch what's going on with the truck while I drive.

 

Yeah looking into it, I had the torque app on a android I bought just for that with the obd2 BT reader. Do you need the obi reader for this app? Also what does it reads?

 

Yes, you need a OBD-II reader. I'd recommend a Bluetooth reader (as opposed to hard wired). You can connect it to the iPad, and everything works seamlessly. I use the GoPoint BT1, it was recommended on the Palmer Performance Engineering website. I think the Elm OBD-II reader would also work; its a lot cheaper than the GoPoint reader.

It reads a lot of stuff. I was most interested in the fuel economy stats and the ability to see if any error codes come up. The rest is just interesting. I'm sure you can find it on their website.

 

Great looking build so far you are going in a very similar direction as I hope too. Really love the pics as well cus I might pcs to ak here in the near future if available! Those rims are sweet! Love the Spartan tac seat backs! I was looking at the kryptek camo seat covers with molle backs to do something similar but really like that tan and I have a lot of those pouches too hmmmmm. How have you liked the ome lift? Safe travels definitely subd!

 

Thanks! I'm really pleased so far with it. I really like the MOLLE seat backs. I use them all the time. My only real complaint is that they take a lot of the leg room back there.

I love the OME lift. No complaints so far. It's stayed up above 3" since I put it on about a year ago.

 

iPad Mini 3 installed!

I chose the 128GB, WiFi version so that I wouldn't have to worry about filling it up anytime soon. I have all of my music on it, Garmin StreetPilot maps on it, and two versions of topographic maps for Fairbanks, Denali National Park, and Anchorage, all downloaded onto the iPad. This is important, because it means all I need to effectively use those apps is a GPS location - Internet not required. I can connect the iPad to my iPhone's hotspot if I need internet.

I bought the kit from Shane (link HERE) and it looks great - I really couldn't be happier. What pleased me the most what the plug and play that he set up with the wiring harness. As I took out my AVIC-Z140BH, I pulled up a cluster f*ck of wires; spliced a thousand different ways that made no sense. At that moment I wasn't sure if I was going to be capable of doing this myself. Then I calmed myself and started to think the problem through. After looking at the back of the Sony radio, and the harness Shane provided, I realized that I didn't need over half of what I pulled out (the Pioneer harness has a lot of extra stuff). I didn't see the full install of my old unit, but it must have been really complicated. After unplugging everything I could, I then had to cut a few wires to remove the old harness. This didn't worry me too much, as they went to plugs that I didn't have with he new system. With the old harness out, I plugged in the new harness. This was straight forward as none of the plug pairs were the same, so I couldn't get confused. I turned the key and the radio started up! First time - I am a go at this station. I'm so glad that I didn't have to trouble shoot anything at this point, because my confidence to successfully do so was very low. I had no idea what I just hacked up to install what I did.

I installed the extra USB / AUX connection port that Shane provided. I couldn't figure out how to retain the factory one, so I installed the one provided right next to the factory one. I tested it, and it works. I wasn't using that blank anyways, and I can keep an eye on the factory one if I ever want to try and incorporate it / change systems up again. I did not find a way to retain the use of the iPod cable going into my console vault, nor could I even find that lead. I left that in place as well, in case someone more competent than I can make it work some day. But after evaluating this system, and with a 128GB iPad and a 64GB iPhone I can connect via Bluetooth or USB cable (previously mentioned), I won't have a need for a permanently plugged in iPod. All of my music is already on my iPad and iPhone.

The biggest problem came with actually mounting the radio (Sony GS-610bt) so there was enough room for the iPad. This took me about two hours to figure out, but I was trouble shooting "mechanical" problems that I understood, so I was happy. I ended up modifying my old radio mounting bracket to fit the radio in how I wanted it.



The only issue I'd had to go back and fix was the steering wheel controls didn't work at first. I want to take a second and thank Shane for helping me through this problem. He was very professional and patient. He was trying to help an electrically challenged person over the phone - this couldn't have been easy, but he made it seem so. The problem was the wires that were cut and spliced by the previous installer. Had they not tampered with the original plug, it would have been easy plug and play as intended. Shane walked me through what to cut and where to connect it. It was easy enough and he gave me the confidence that it was being done correctly. We got it all wired up and then realized that we had to manually program the buttons - for some reason the auto detect scrambled what the buttons did. This was easy enough with the manual (HERE). The best part of manually programming the buttons was that I could change my seek up/down buttons under my volume buttons to "next programmed" buttons. Essentially, instead of seeking to the next radio station, I can toggle between my saved radio stations. It seems small, but I've wanted this for a long time! It also works as a next for songs in iTunes, etc, so it all worked out.

I had previously had my Garmin GLO hard wired into the power of the truck for navigation, and it works flawlessly. My GoPoint BT1 OBD-II reader also connects via Bluetooth automatically, and seamlessly works with the DashCommand App - which is really cool by the way.



This is such a great product! I'm really pleased with how it turned out. I already know I'm not going to like taking it out of the vehicle at night because of the cold Alaskan winters, but I'll get over it. The increased capability is awesome.

Here are some pictures!

iPad home screen


Sony App Remote


Playing a Radio Station


StreetPilot by Garmin



Gaia GPS



Topo Maps


iTunes


TacomaWorld!


DashCommand

 

sweet

 

That is nice man!

 

That's awesome!

 

Nice build !!!

Love the organization in the cab

 

Subbed.. Liking the direction this one is going