SeekingZero - Adventure Build

4th of July was such an awesome weekend! It was good to get out wheeling again with friends and get a chance to open up some trails for the season! Not to mention, test out the new chassis and modifications on the truck!

 

Everything went really well up until we were set to leave on Tuesday. Then I realized that the noise I had been looking for the whole trip had disappeared, but I found what had made it...much to my dismay.




Luckily my policy covered 24/7 roadside and we were close to Quincy where we got it repaired with some bolts from the hardware store that was surprisingly open and I was able to limp home.



I had the spindles swapped out with new bolts and she's good as new.

 

Since I got the truck back, I got her all cleaned up, adjusted a few things and got started on finishing a few mods and adding a few more before I go back out.

The SwitchPros SP8100 still hadn't been mounted since I installed it in February, so I took off what I needed to to drop the front of the headliner, punched the mounting bolts through and cut a slit for the cabling, then buttoned it back up.






It was also time to move the handheld HAM radios to backup and install the mobile unit. I got the Yaesu FT-7900R as it was the cheapest one with the removable faceplate and since the first gen cab is tiny, I need space efficient things.

I knew the unit would be tucked away in the space under the center console, so I took that out and got to drilling. Since my unit was almost perfectly sized for this space, I am waiting on elbows for the PL-259 antenna connector and the 3.5mm audio for the speaker which I will figure out where to mount this weekend.


I picked out a spot on the dash that was both out of the way, easily accessible, and slightly hidden from prying eyes. Turns out that it was a clean mounting spot to and I'm extremely happy with it.





And with everything in its place.

 

How does that super cap seal work? I seen it in the products discussed. I need to replace the crappy double sided tape as my camper still takes on water

 

Hey Ben, I'm wondering how close you were able to get the yakima tracks to the roof of your ext cab. I know the hump is rather extreme. Do you have any pictures from the side? Is there a gap?

I'm considering mounting a prinsu in the same way that you did. Did you cut off the original mounting tabs?

 

I'm not convinced it does. I feel like it absorbs water, but I would think it was closed cell foam. For the most part, the back is dry though, so I'm not complaining.

 

There is a gap. I didn't realize this before I put the tracks on, but PrinSu has designed the first gen rack to bolt directly to the roof, not to tracks. So I did all that for nothing. I left the feet on the rack, too lazy to cut them off.

 

Yeah I bought it, I don’t think it works very well. Sucks

 

Update time. I haven't been online much, cuz let's be honest here, I don't care much. But I appreciate the time that others take to provide information about their builds that sometimes helps me in a decision. So this is more of my way of paying it forward. But enough about me.

Truck additions:

• swingout
• winch
• airbox
• snorkel
• suspension work

Finally getting the truck dialed in to go faster more smoothly without breaking. The Fox setup is great, but I know from racing, that good suspension can be made better. So I sent my front shocks down to Accutune Offroad to give them what they needed. I also had them swap out the 600# springs for 700#. What a world of difference in feel now! I didn't adjust the preload before I put them back on, and was so busy, I just drove the next adventure with my front end jacked up a bit, BUT it rode smooth and I could finally go desert fast! Preload has since been adjusted right with about 1-2" of thread showing now. I'll send the rears down soon with the next downtime.



Working backwards on my list. I got tired of banging out all the dust in my air filter from being left in the dust. Time to change that. Pretty painless install, nothing new here. It would help to take the fender off. I ended up having to unbolt the lower fender to be able to get a hand up to tighten the upper inside nut. Otherwise, straightforward.





Before that, I replaced my airbox because the filter access tabs had rusted and one broke. Probably another reason for all the dust...



Winch time. It has been long overdue, but I've never put myself in a situation where I needed it and everyone I wheel with has one. Mostly they are used to move tress. So, hopefully I never have to use it. but better to have it and not need it...

Warn Zeon 10-S:



The stupidly stylish control box obviously wasn't designed for this bumper. Just a lot of empty space anyway...so I got rid of it. This little box is all you need.



Drilled some holes in the bumper and mounted it out of sight and away from harm. Then made the necessary jumper cables because why pay for a patch kit. Reinstalled the bumper, mounted the control connection next to the airbox under the hood and done. The new springs on the shocks took the weight like it wasn't there.




Onto the finale! I never wanted a swingout. But, I couldn't argue against the practicality anymore especially since I didn't want to put my tire on the roof anymore and I won't even have that option soon. I like my bumper, I didn't want to buy a new one. It was more cost effective to just build the swingout onto what I had. So, with the help of someone with a welder, I got the perfect solution and made sure it was beefy! Half the time spent was just fabricating the hinge assembly. It had to sit flush due to my original tolerance with the tailgate, but still be strong enough to take the weight.




Hard part done. Swing out itself was easy, just sticking metal together. Another design aspect I wanted to incorporate was a way to ensure the weight was stable and secure when offroad. Swing outs fully built with the tire and gas and whatever else you put on there end up adding a lot of weight that will make the whole arm sag, and cause them to not latch correctly or potentially break the latch if it ends up inadvertently becoming a load bearing point. So we used the receiver hitch as a load bearing point. If you notice in the next picture, we added a curved plate that will allow the arm to nicely slide its weight onto the center of the bumper and the latch will take zero load at that point.




We also added mount points for the hilift to sit behind the tire horizontally and in such a way that secures the hilift against the rubber of the tire so that it doesn't rattle or squeaky. That way I can listen for actual things that are breaking on the truck. Smooth it out and off to powder coating.






We added on the All-Pro gas can holder, but realized after the fact, that the dimension for it make it completely unusable for any application other than sticking a cooler in it. So, that's up for grabs if anyone wants to haul around their cooler in style for their family picnic...

I left a can of gas on top of the truck instead for the shakedown trip to Mojave.

 

So you are getting an RTT?

I'm going from an RTT to a camper shell with sleeping platform. Curious to hear anything you don't like about the setup.

 

Nope. I love the shell setup I have, it's great for me. I'm going to something a little more roomy so its easier for two.

 

Nice. Sounds like its gonna be good

 

Selling bits of my current setup. PM me if interested.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/prinsu-racks-and-camper-shell.566511/

 

What are you replacing it with?

 

A Drifter

 

That will be awesome.

 

That's a good looking truck.

Do you have any fuel mods like 7th injector, etc for the supercharger?

 

Thanks Mark. No, I thought about doing 7th injector but its not worth the effort to me. I have plenty of power with the S/C alone and I don't want to introduce another point of failure to the engine.

Edit: have since done the URD 7th injector kit since pinging is bad...

 

I've been considering going for an S/C just so my truck can get out of it's own way, especially at elevation. I have the same thoughts as you..why introduce another failure point and it'll have plenty of power on its own.

 

Highly recommend the S/C! I wouldn't drive my truck without it. Never driven a 3.4 without forced induction, but I can just image it's terrible.