geekhouse23's "LIFE'S WAITING TO BEGIN" Overland & Home build and all the Adventures in between!

I saw a pic on Instagram last week of a cool design. I guess is depends on how crazy you want to get. Aside from the fabricators capabilities and how deep your pockets are. Looking forward to see what you come up with though! I have to do some restoration on mine, and I might just hold off to get some bash protection designed and fabbed before I repaint it.

Btw, we gotta get you over to my home state for that map

 

There are a few designs out there, I plan on keeping it simple. Similar to brute force but got my own ideas on it. Pelfrey doesn’t have room on the top plate to mount it so I’m going on the side at a very sharp angle to make them come straight up. Then gonna keep it low, right under the TRD sticker.

Kinda like this




And you better hurry up with the bumper restoring.. saw this looking up the bedside protection and made me cringe..






What’s your home state?

 

I like simple for sure. Clean and functional. I feel like that is a TW member's truck. Maybe @Unchained 5150

The Big IL brotha!

 

I thought so..couldn't find his build thread to verify though...

 

Haha didn't see that one coming

 

I can't imagine the clusterfuck in there..

 

Yup that's my Mall Crawler

 

Any reason you decided not to weld tabs on like I'm thinking and like @G.T. ?

Said pic:


I feel like with my pocket flares, the above would look weird..

Hi Rick!!

 

Curious bout said pocket flares, what’s the width of the rear flares from bed side to outside flare?


And yea those full body sliders are serious, def more involved than I’m looking for.

 

I can definitely measure later after work. I'll get as many measurements as I can. It's easily double the stock width and I can DEFINITELY notice when checking the side view mirrors. She THICC..

I first saw the full body sliders, at least the fronts, on the XO crew's 2012/3 Tacoma in the first Alaskan series. Definitely overkill I feel unless you are out West on tight, tight rocky trails. Pretty sure it was overkill for them and they were removed when they got back from that trip..

 

Haha just the one measurement of width be good. I’ve been thinking bout getting them but not a priority. I just wanna have an idea if I weld the bed protection before hand that I could still fit the pocket flares if I go that route.

I’ve seen the full body sliders a lot on Australian rigs.. I watch a lot of there YouTube series and follow some Aussie pages. It does seem over kill like you said unless the terrain calls for that type of protection. And they do look good on some land cruisers





And forgot you asked bout my limb risers. I looked them around the bull bar cuz I wasn’t sure if I’d want them 100%. Didn’t wanna weld a tab and wanna switch it up down the road.. saw the method I did on an overland bound video years ago, so I referenced it before I did mine recently

 

I will take the measurement at the top of the fender flare arch. That would seem to be the widest point and with a HC bumper, even though you have to cut the rear most part of the flare up, the part that would be universal to everyone with a HC bumper.

I agree. They do look good. Bit overkill for anywhere in the states though..even Alaska and the Yukon; which, I feel, has some of the harshest terrain IMHO..

I am thinking I will use your limb riser method. I won't run them all the time and not every time I hit the trails. I just don't see a use or a point to have a fixed mount for them. I don't see a use for the mounts when I am not running them. And, I can see that, comparing them to a fixed bumper bracket system, the setup and take down time between the two would be, at most, 15 seconds (?) that is to wrap/unwrap the eye loop around the bumper hoop on itself..

 

Also, did anyone see these? Functional or an overpriced piece of aluminum?

http://factor55.com/product/ultrahook-rope-guard-new/

They should send me one to test here in the Midwest..

 

Here’s that video I mentioned https://youtu.be/dVXDuarZkKw

And I dig it. Bash plate and keeps the sun off the only part of the line left showing. I’m just waiting for a colorway selection to get one.

 

I remember that video from back in the day..been a while haha. I messaged Factor55 to see when color options might be available. No replies yet. I would like a black one.

Some pics from Toys for Tots today! Thanks for all that showed up, donated and represented ChiTown Yotas! It was a great time to see old friends, meet new ones and crack some Jeep jokes! Especially when one broke down right in front of us! The Jeep recovery team was ready to jump in..

 

@Chux

"Thanks for contacting us.

They won’t. The reason is the Rope Guard is designed to take scrapes and hits from rocks and road and trail debris. The clear anodized finish will make scratches hard to see on the guards. However the Rope Guards come with an extra sticker so once you receive your guard you can have it painted or powder coated any color you like and place the sticker on the guard to give it an OEM look.

Please let us know if we can help with anything else.

Thanks!

Justin"

That being said, I just ordered a rope guard and I'm curious to see how well it protects the line etc.

 

They worried bout scratches...



Thanx for the info!

 

My rope guard was delivered to the house last night. I guess I will install it plain and not waste time or money to powder coat it. I'll try to install it this weekend if I have time.

Currently, I am looking at next steps of the mods after the rear Pelfreybilt from Peter. Here is what I am thinking:

Option #1: Gears and Lockers.

I will have to decide on what gear ratio I would like to have. I am almost 95% certain that I will be keeping 285's as my go-to but would not be opposed to jumping to 35's. In order to keep it a daily and in an overland style build, I am certain that I will not go bigger than 35's. The 3 sizes at most would be from are 285's, 255's or 315's. According to what I am seeing on the tire size calculator, the gear ratio chart is as followed:

285's: 4.56 are factory ratios, for increased power, minimal is 4.88+
255's: 4.56 and 4.88 are for increased power.
315's: 4.56 and 4.88 are within the factory ratios. For increased power, minimal is 5.13+

Because I am less than 5% certain that I would ever go up to 315's and would hate to have to swap gears again, I think that the safe bet would be to get 4.88 gears. Again, in keeping this a daily/overland rig, I don't see a need to go with anything bigger (315's) unless we are talking about a pissing contest. And if I were to make the jump, 4.88 gears are still within the factory ratios. I can safely say that 4.88's are a safe bet. This includes front and rear ARB air lockers too. Thoughts??

I would work with the local 4x4 shop in trying to get a deal on them and installation. I would opt for a complete, front and rear, third member swap and exchange program. When the swap is complete, I would ship the stock third members back to ARB.

Option #2: Finally addressing the front suspension and going with a coilover setup with mid travel numbers.

The plan is OME BP-51's if they are available in the numbers I am looking for to counter the ignorant amount of flex in the rear. I would hope that I could go through Headstrong Off-road, but I am not seeing this option on their site at this time. I would have to call Marie. I would also remove the front swaybar finally and I know that a ton of you are stoked for that! I guess I should get some opinions on other options should the new OME coilovers are not an option in the mid travel numbers.

Fox or Icon? Kings are not an option unless they cost the same or close to the same as Fox or Icons. What are your thoughts?

What are your thoughts? Opinions?

These are major "final" mods that I would like to do to call the truck "done".

I also need to remember that I have to see how bad the used Pelfreybilt bumper is and decide finishing options; powder coat, bedside protection etc. I hope the finish is not too terrible and I can hold off on modifying the bumper, but would prefer to get everything done prior to installation. I would hate to have to remove it and wait for powder coating. I guess I will wait to see what @Chux comes up with and go from there. No pressure buddy!

Oh yes, and I should probably get those headlight hoops figured out, huh? I am seeing the brother-in-law tonight and I will work on getting his buddy's contact information. I am giving him until the end of January to get back to me with a cost and a date. Otherwise, I will be moving on and looking into other recommendations I gathered.

Merry "Christmas Eve" Eve everyone!

 

Does anyone here have experience with the 3rd member exchange process?