AdventureTaco - turbodb's build and adventures

Wow ! Wow ! Wow !
Great write up , this is the most useful help I have ever recieved.
I feel indebted that you were willing to spend the time on the write up.
Thank You so Much !!

This will get me going and keep me busy learning for awhile now. Definitely going to have to absorb and implement, as I've always been an iOS user .

In Debt-full Gratitude , John

 

"Lastly a bit of soap box"

In reference to the soap or the box ? this was a very Helpful side note.
Iam by no means looking for Expo points , at my age I have plenty
I started out with Garmin InReach for safety reasons , but , anyone I could send messages to can't help me. I've always been interested in Ham but with a career, kids , etc. I never got around to it. I retired a couple years ago and now have time. Monte , Mike , m3bassman and the crew picked my interest again. I got my license , partipate in nets now and then , learned the basics figured out problems etc. Ham is a bit boring ...IMO...except for when I have others using it on the trail. I also see it helping me by having the ability to call out for help in non life threatening situations and just the interest of learning something new.
That little soap box was as much a help as the rest of the post !
The whole write up gives me a clearer direction in which to move forward.
My brain is defiantly much more clear as you have put the carts , horses and supply's in proper order for me

 

No problem, I enjoyed writing it!

Sounds great, glad this part was helpful too! Good luck with the APRS - I've still got a lot to explore in the space (like SMSLTE), but it's a fun rathole when you have the time!

 

Nice use of diagrams to visually represent the various configurations for APRS.

 

Thanks! I originally made just the first diagram, and then wrote everything else. It was a lucky happenstance that I realized at some point that a couple more boxes would really help to "draw the picture" as it were.

 

Curious to why anyone you send messages to can't help you with the inReach? The inReach lets you send messages and coordinates to anyone you need in a non life threatening situation and SOS let's you get SARS in life threatening emergencies.

 

^^^
Say I'm a 1000 miles from home , camping in the back country .
Sometime in the middle of the night an angry critter chews my gas line apart to get a drink .... I wake up and smell gasoline.... I'm out of fuel !
I can text my wife or my buddy Moe back home using the InReach for sure , but a comforting return text from them wishing me good luck is not going to be helpful. Ham , aprs can put me in touch with other hams in the area.

 

Here is something interesting I found with the TM-D710G. I purchased the echo-link cable

$20 Wirenest Echolink Cable for Kenwood TM-D710 and TM-V71 6ft

PG-5G to see if I could get the APRS waypoint data to the Ipad using APRS Pro and it worked. You need the cable above and a

ENVEL Headset Y Adapter 2 Female to 1 Male 3.5mm Jack Cable with Separate Mic and Audio Headphone Connector Mutual Convertors for Gaming Headset, PS4, Xbox One, Notebook, Mobile Phone and Tablet

y splitter like this to connect to the tablets. The cable is connected to the data terminal. Then go into radio menu, select AUX #930 Int Data Band and change it to the same band you are using for APRS TCN. Don't change anything else. Then I just selected RX via audio in/Mic in APRS Pro. Turned everything else off; Cel and wifi so the only thing going to the Ipad was the radio connection and the waypoints are updated and displayed on the Ipad in APRS Pro.

I do not have APRSDROID and would like to know if this works on it. APRS Pro doesn't support off line maps and I would like to see if this works prior to buying a droid tablet. I have an extra cable as they come as 2 each. Anyone want to try this and I will send them the cable?

 

More like I really want to learn what this post all means. Once I get closer to it, you'll be hearing from me. Probably my winter project.

 

Happy to (try to) help!

 

I’ve got some reading to do. But I’ll touch base. Basically everything I’ve heard about HAM and it’s capabilites that got me interested in the format was encapsulated by your post.

 

The Day After Thanksgiving…Must be Christmas Tree Time
November 24, 2017.

Last year's hunt for a Christmas tree hunt went nothing like we planned it, so this year we were itching to get out and see what the adventure would bring. It turns out, everything went exactly as planned, perhaps making up for last year.

We headed out around 10am, with three goals in mind:

1. Test out the APRS setup.
2. Check the clearance of the new tires as the rear of the truck flexed.
3. Get a Christmas tree.

Of course, there was a fourth goal as well - try to do all the above without @mini.turbodb asking "are we there yet?" a million times.

The drive out I-90 and FS-9020 went completely uneventfully; perhaps the only notable thing being the terrible gas mileage (as a result of the bigger tires). I can almost watch the gas gauge drop now - fun times.

As we turned onto FS-9021, we found a nice hill to check rear tire clearance. I backed the passenger rear slightly up the hill while keeping the other three wheels low, and then checked out the situation.

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I'm not totally flexed here, but it's clear that in a situation where the rear gets stuffed another couple inches into the wheel well, I'll be in trouble - the mud flap will likely be trail-deleted, and I'd get a bunch of rubbing.

Lucky for me, I have a new top leaf that moves my center pin forward ¾-inch, which I'll be installing soon; that should completely eliminate the problem, and there's plenty of clearance in front of the tire.

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From there, we were looking for our tree - always a hemlock, and generally from the edge of a scree field a few miles up the road. As we headed out, we hoped the weather - overcast but not raining - would hold.

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Soon, we hit Mine Creek, where a 4-foot culvert that used to take the creek under the road now sits useless, just above the Ford. At least it makes a good "perch" for the poser shots!

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As we pulled out of the creek, a Subaru showed up behind us and kindly asked if we were stuck. "Nope," I said, chuckling - adding, "Are you guys coming across?"

"No way," was their response, as they started their 9 point turn around.

We continued on, pretty sure that we weren't going to be seeing anyone else for the rest of the day.

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And then we arrived at a scree field we've scouted in the past but haven't ever gotten a tree from. These scree fields are ideal because they allow the trees to grow more slowly (there's less competition), and there are often trees growing out of old stumps - good because they get light on all sides, making for a reasonably "full" and "balanced" tree.

@mini.turbodb was still in good spirits as we got out and ate lunch before picking our tree.

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After eating, we made our way up the slope to check out a few nice specimens - ultimately deciding on one that was ~9 feet tall. While I proceeded to cut it down and drag it to the truck, @mrs.turbodb headed up the road looking for some cedar, fir, and pine boughs that we could use as greenery for a wreath and mantle-piece.

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And with that, we packed ourselves back in the truck and headed out for what would become our daughter's favorite part of the adventure - and probably the only part she'll remember a year from now.

It was her turn to "drive."

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Each year she's driven she's gone a bit further, and this year was no different - she steered, mostly by herself, for about a mile before getting too scared to continue (as we crossed a shelf road).

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Through all of this, the APRS performed flawlessly - we tracked several other folks out on the roads, and our beacons were successfully registered on aprs.fi.

So that was us - three-for-three this year; a huge success!

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What suspension setup are you running in the rear?

 

I have to say this is one of the most well laid out and well constructed build threads Ive seen. Seriously nicely done, and everything on your truck is so cleanly done, love it. Subbed

 

I'm running a custom Alcan leaf pack and some Monroe air shocks, with the goal of lots of extra weight support back there - both for adventuring as well as a lot of building/construction/renovation I do.

I installed the Monroe's first and while they work well for say a trip to Lowe's Depot or the Dump, I just can't get them to hold air for extended (multi-day) periods of time, which is unfortunate. Eventually, I decided that I wanted a better leaf pack to always hold several hundred pounds with a 3" lift, and that's when I installed the Alcan's. They've been great, until I got bigger tires, which is why I now need to move the axle forward ~3/4-inch (which I'm doing by replacing the top leaf with an Alcan that has the center hole moved forward).

 

Thanks! It's been fun!

 

I see. it looks great, im swapping my AP standards to Expos and i hope to achieve a similar look with similar capabilities. I like the Rack stance.

 

wait..

Why are you moving only the top leaft? that won't work.

The 2nd leaf has a warp around it..so it can move at all. Plus moving all the other leafs will make the main leaf off 3/4'' which can't be good for the pack.

Why don't you just use relocation plates?

Also..checking clearances will be pointless as you will definetly rub with the aggressive offset of the SCS wheels up front.

Not to be the bearer of bad news or anything.....




wuvvvv youuuuuu

 

I like a stance too, though part of the reason for it is that my front is a bit too low. It's a couple inches higher than when I was running OEM springs on the front, but they'd sagged, and so I'm really just barely above stock height there right now. I'm going to push it up maybe 1 1/2 - 2-inches, which will still give me a forward leaning stance, but not quite as much as today.

^^^ This here is the problem with someone knowing everything having to do with first gens. I wasn't quite specific enough, and then that means you can pick apart the details! So, here are some more details, and why I think I'm OK...



The Alcan pack I got has a top/main leaf and "torque leaf" that wraps around it in the front. I actually got "updated" versions of both of those from Alcan with the center pin moved forward. The rest of the pack is "normal" below those leafs. Pics below show the front and rear of the pack on the driver side.

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So, to your point - yeah, I'm not just replacing the top leaf, but it was easier to explain that way given Alcan's slightly irregular pack construction with the torque leaf.

As for moving the rest of the pack in relation to the top - I talked to Alcan quite a bit about this because I was concerned as well, and they assured me that it shouldn't be a problem at all. I don't actually know if that's right or not, but I do know that franken-packs exist all over the place - in fact, just adding an AAL to a pack changes the geometry of an existing pack, so I think it's probably OK, esp given that they've built the new top+torque with the knowledge that the rest of the pack will sit differently under it.

I did consider a relocation plate, but probably won't go that route. What I might do once I get the packs off however is look at the existing spring plate on the rear axle and see if I can drill a new hole, 3/4-inch rearward of the existing hole, thereby moving the axle forward in relation to the leafs, essentially what a relocation plate would do, without the extra spacing of the plate. Would be interested to hear your thoughts on those 3 options (new top/torque, relocation plate, drill new hole).

For the clearancing - I was only checking out the clearance in the back, and there the new wheels are only going to push the tires out in the wheel wells - they aren't going to move them forward or back at all, so I don't think I'm doing anything "out of order" at this point.

I know that on the front I sort of have to wait to get the new wheels on. I mean, everything I've done so far there will be necessary, it's just a matter of whether I'll need to do more. That's the main reason I haven't purchased new KM2s yet - they are just so much larger than other 33's that I'm wondering if I should go with something else that's really 32.8 or 33.1 instead of 33.4.

So there.

 

ah okay.

that makes sense.

Seems your 2nd full leaf down will be damn close to rubbing the mil wrap. Nothing an angle grinder can't fix.

As for which is best. I went for the relocation plate. Was simple to do and was only like 3/8'' thick. Hardly anything really when it comes down to it. Plus i know of other that have been running one for years. It is a simpler install vs taking apart an entire leaf pack. But not totally pain free, i had to grind down the center bolt heads a bit.

Drilling a hole i don't think will work. I don't think you'll have the room on the perch. But might be able to do that.

Either way, you paid for new leafs. So just do that haha Though if you hadn't bought them, Id say go for the 30 dollar relocation plates. Easier to install, cheaper, and have .5 and .75'' holes.

255s are tall. But the KM2s run smaller. Most tires do after all. In a 16, your really only other option is 285/75. Which will be wider and rub more haha

You shouldn't have issues making the 255s fit. Just gotta be ready to do some hammering and cutting.

Yeaaaaahhh...i like to haha










so do you though