The Lair

She's been sickly for almost 5 years now. We stopped at the big park in Houston to sight see and it was really hot out and she just couldn't handle it at all, sick to her stomach, trouble breathing. All bad. I was on the verge of calling an ambulance, but I got her back to the truck and in the A/C and she felt better after a bit. She had her gallbladder removed almost 5 years ago and since has had never ending nausea and gastroparesis. No doctors have been able to figure out how to treat it or find the root cause.

 

Dang. Very sorry to hear about that. Hope you guys can figure something out sooner than later

 

It's been a struggle. Because of the gastroparesis (stomach doesn't empty like normal) she developed GERD (bad acid reflux) which slowly took her teeth. So now we're in the process of saving to cover one surgery she needs that might help her condition, since insurance won't cover half of it... and for 4 implant posts for snap in dentures. She feels like she holds back my goals and thus she lets me spend a little on the truck here and there. Would really like to get her taken care of so that we can start going on trips again. We still haven't had our honeymoon since all this began a few months before our wedding so we were never able to confidently say she could be away that long. Thanks for the thoughts. She's a trooper and is still able to smile and started her own stay at home business so she could feel like she was contributing. I am blessed to have her.

 

We’re cooking with gasoline now boys. I have the mounts tacked in and the rack is within 1/32” straight front to rear and side to side.

Added 1/4” engine mount shims and now I’m much more comfortable with the room.

 

Think longest for me was 15-16 hours in one day either going to or from Moab.

Ha I did similar runs (5 hours one way for both my bumper and rack on separate occasions) cause sometimes driving a long ass time is worth saving a few hundred.

for hard wheeling at AOAA. TBH I can't get too stupid since I have a big multi state trip 2 weeks after.

 

I'm alright with that. I still want to make a push to get this car trailer next week because it'll be much more comfortable. If you're alright with sticking to blues, then I'll invite another friend or two.

 

I mean I wasn’t saying that either hahahah there are only like 3 blacks, I ran M, wasn’t bad. Never been on SOB. I heard bee line isnt that crazy so not worried about that.

 

There’s one black in particular I wanna revisit, it ends at the base of Renee’s hill. I don’t remember what it’s called but it would be interesting to revisit it 3ish years later with a totally different build.

 

I think that's SOB, never ran it yet. What happened when you ran it last? Anything catastrophic?

 

At the time, I had a camper shell and a lot less experience. Tore a mirror off on a tree and then also got a little bedside damage on that same tree.

 

Ah sounds like typical AOAA bull shit. That can happen on blue's there cause fucking trees.

 

AOAA is the reason I decided against glass fenders and why I don’t have flares lol

 

Maybe I'll leave the soft top off for this trip. Haven't been there with a topper on yet.

 

Pic of the engine mount shims.

Now that the rack is fitted and tacked in, I put the intermediate steering shaft on to test clearance. These coils are a crumple zone but touch the frame ever so slightly. So I’m going to cut it out and replace with some tube.

Things left:

• fully weld rack mounts
• Modify steering shaft
• Modify skid plate.

I don’t know if I shared in here but the passenger side of the rack landed right where my skid plate mounts. So I’ll modify my skid to bolt up with the steering rack bolt.

 

Got the axles done. Now onto the chassis!

 

Are those lines coming out of the axles for selectable lockers? Very cool.

 

That looks much better. It was definitely worth your time to add the ahims.

My longest run was from Phoenix to Salt Lake City. It was 13-14 hours IIRC. I drove the entire way because I was afraid to let my wife (fiance at.the time) drive because she fell asleep while driving on the way down and drifted off the road. Scared the hell out of me!

 

I agree. Between making, painting and installing them it only took about 3 hours. Well worth it for my peace of mind.

 

I don't know if I mentioned it in this thread, but I'm buying a flatbed trailer for betty. 18' long, 8.5' wide. I just went and checked it out and took some measurements and it's perfect. With a spare tire, it'll be $5,998 OTD. Tundra gets delivered Monday afternoon and will pick up the trailer Tuesday morning.

 

Now you just need something to tow it with.....