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

Thanks man!

Yes. I am looking to put this molding on the bedsides after I cut and paint them for the HC rear bumper.

 

At Wolf-Fab today...

 

Measure where the spare tire carrier is from the rear of the frame and how wide it is as mine was chopped out years ago.

 

Do you need the number from the inner width of the tire carrier bracket on the frame or the outer width?

The inner width being shown in red below:

 

I’d call or text him with that question.

 

Looking good

Here is an item for your toolbox

I use it to jump the fork lifts at work. Don’t need jumper cables and another fork lift. 1000A, LED lights with 3 modes (bright, dim and flashing) can charge it by USB and can charge phones and tablets. Picked it up at the Interstate Battery distributor in Plainfield. This was around $100. Smaller and larger capacities are available.

 

I already have this one gents

 

I’ve used it for 4 months at work and the only time it didn’t work was the time it was at 25% charge

 

I actually had to use the jump pack last night. Wife and I went out and I went to start the truck from the house and it would not start. Went out to try to old school method and nothing, just clicked. Mind you I do not drive on any weekdays, usually, as I use public transportation for work. I drove around Saturday morning, fired it up Sunday to make sure she was good before the cold front came in this week and then ran it once on Tuesday.

The problem is a mix of not driving, yet, I still let it run each day usually and the fact that it went from sunny and 50* for 2-3 days in a row to freezing cold, snow and 25* and blisteringly cold.

 

So a last weekend I noticed this:



I reached out to black oak LED and they're sending me a new, direct replacement light for free. Going to try salvaging this one, however, it gets VERY dim when intially turning on and you have to tap it a few times and then it turns on at full brightness. Might try taking this one apart today, drying it out and resealing it. They told me that they don't need this one back. I might be a candidate for a new product light and I'm waiting to hear more from them (being sponsored has its benefits ).

Also, I ordered some replacement corner lights for the headlights and they came in yesterday and I decided to replace them last night. A neighbor was leaving and stopped me to tell me a story:

So, SUPPOSEDLY, some night idk if it was this week or last week, SUPPOSEDLY, it was super fucking late at night, 2/3/4am, and APPARENTLY a tow truck came and these two guys tried stealing Caitlyn. A neighbor on my side of the street saw and called the cops and they stopped the guys and arrested them. The neighbor, according to the wife, is a former detective/city cop.

I am not sure how true this is as it is all hearsay, but is super fucking fucked up.

Weather permitting, I am going to my brother's house in the morning for his Pelfreybilt HC bumper install. Hope to learn a lot based off this install and I'm looking forward to seeing his bumper installed.

 

Holy shit dude! Possible sponsorship, Caitlyn having to hunker down to keep from getting taken away and new hc goin on! Life turns fast sometimes! Congrats

 

Haha hell yea man!

New ADS front coilovers this summer (hopefully) and possibly getting my brother's gently used 12" Kings in the rear to replace the Bilsteins.

 

@geekhouse23 Nice! And the hits keep comin

 

Updates from the weekend:

Started by reorganizing my supplies and first aid items behind the rear passenger seat and clearing out the bed. I put all the recovery gear, trailer ball hitch (old one until the new one takes its place), and the air up kit all behind the rear seat. Thinking about taking out the plastic bins in anticipation for a molle panel setup I will be doing in the future. To help the process I removed my old first aid kit/survival items bin (14-16" by 6" hard plastic bin and traded that space for these:



Next up was removing the Sasquatch light on the rack and clear out the moisture:



Got all of it out and good to go. I will keep the replacement they are sending as a back up, but for now, this works and the issue I had where they would be dim initially is now fixed.

Shout out to @MikeCB600F; look what I saw on Velocity on Saturday morning:



I finally addressed something that I had been putting off for a while. I needed more storage at my bench and did not really want to build another bench and take up more real estate while keeping the cost as low as possible. Here is what I came up with by upcycling all the materials from previous projects:

BEFORE:


Some during photos:





Testing out the weight and organization of items I wanted to place there. Also testing the mini fridge fitment. Everything fits!!



My old dog gate I built with some friends when we first moved in was where most of the wood came from. It was big and clunky, hardly used anymore and the wife wants the lattice for the deck. So I just dismantled it. Some leftover supplies from the deck and plywood from an old bags set were also used.

Final product:



VERY happy with the outcome and everything used was just laying around taking up space so zero cost and upcycling for the win!

Perhaps stupid and not really "postworthy" but when people would come over and would have a jacket or sweatshirt that they would remove, they would lay it on the bike or anywhere else they could. Now that the workbench is more permanent and no longer needed to be folded up and out of the way, I took the eye hooks that I used to secure the table to the wall, cut them and made a coat hanger for the garage:



Conveniently places near the bike so people look (think) twice before tossing it on the bike.

Sunday morning I went to my brother's house to help him install his rear bumper. I learned a lot and I think the installation for mine will go a lot quicker and smoother. It took about 3 hours from getting the stock stuff out of the way and the bumper, swingout, and spare mounted. I left after the heavy stuff was done and left him to install his plate, plate lights, trailer harness, rotopax etc.

Here are some pics:









He went by the instructions Pelfreybilt sent with his bumper. They recommend the cut be 1/2" lower than than the taillight. I think the fitment came out great.

Can't wait to get my bumper back and install it. For those counting, it's been a month since I dropped it off and they told me it would be done in one week. So frustrated and anxious to get it back and installed.

Battery update (last item, I promise) :

Had to use the jump pack Friday to start it and I let it run for 20 minutes while talking to my other neighbor about the theft story. Saturday morning I did my gym routine and the truck fired right up off the remote start from the house. Sunday morning, I had to jump the truck again to go to my brother's house. When I left, the truck fired up no problem and I went home. Truck sat the rest of the day since the wife offered to drive to the mall and then the gym because she had to get gas. I get home from work today, and try to fire it up and nothing. I was so fed up that it wouldn't start. I grabbed the multimeter and started diagnosing. I popped the hood, set the multimeter to 20 DC and flipped the headlights on to give the battery a load. Multimeter read 8.6. 8.6!? Are you fucking joking?! I'm so done with Diehard batteries forever. They're such shit. Unfortunately, Sears stores are closing in the area and the warranty on this one would not be honored.

I called my brother and he graciously offered to take me to AutoZone. They had no 31M's on stock and I needed a battery. I ended up with another 27F but this time I got one with a higher rated cold crank (750 IIRC). I walked out with a Duralast Gold with a 5 year warranty and a core exchange for $160. Optima 27F was $300 for a 2 year warranty. Fuck that. I'll use this warranty to its full potential, promise that, and then finally get a 31M optima when this one's warranty is over.

Should be good now and the warranty gives the added peace of mind. Excited to be done with Diehard and I'm curious to see how this Duralast holds up.

 

Looks good! I like your drill holders too. Lol. Any word on your rear bumper?

 

Thanks! Haha

It's the same thing. 2 weeks ago, they said last Tuesday they would get it back from the blaster then it would be a day or two to paint and cure; implying pick up for Saturday (two days ago). Followed up last week Friday to see if I could pick it up the next day and they said it was not ready yet.

I'll follow up and demand to know what is going on. I've been mistreated already because they changed the pricing on me twice now. I just want my bumper back. This is ridiculous. They also said it would take 1 week when I dropped it off.

 

That's crazy! If anything they should give you a discount for dicking you around.

 

I have a plan up my sleeve for sure. I'm waiting until it's done and I'm there to pick it up/have it loaded up and then "drop the hammer". So pissed about this. After Sunday and installing my brother's bumper, I just want mine done!!