Diet Taco... trying to keep things light

As many others have said, this is an amazing build thread, Ken! Definitely one of the best out there...

As you can tell, I'm a bit of a newb; this is actually probably my first post. I've long had a few questions for you, so I thought I'd put them all in one place. Thanks in advance for sharing your wisdom!

1. Did you ever end up with issues with your CV boots after your 2.5" front lift, or did you finally upgrade to long-travel boots? Just curious, as I'm going to be doing something similar.
2. When you moved to a five-tire rotation pattern (incorporating your spare), how did you handle TPMS since only four codes can be read by the computer at any one time? Does your tire shop swap out one of the sensors each time or do you have five sensors and they reprogram the computer each time?
3. When you did Crom's ABS disable mod with the Air-On-Board switch, did you only connect two of the AOB wires (ground to ground, and tapped wire to trigger), leaving the other two terminated, or did you splice either of those others in somehow? Since no relay is used and the switch is unlighted, I'm a bit confused about how to proceed.

 

Welcome to TW and welcome to the thread!

I haven't had any issues so far with the stock boots. But I'm also a relatively low mileage truck (only just over 30K despite being a 2015) so it is quite possible they could go still!

I don't do anything, nor do I think most people, which just means four times out of five the spare without a TPMS is actually spinning on a hub while a wheel with a TPMS is under the bed. The truck has no idea where the tires actually are location wise, so it doesn't care.

Sadly it has been so long since I did the mod that I have no recollection of how the AOB switch is actually internally wired, but from the description in my write-up it sounds like I just figured out which two pins connected to the SPST switch and left the others unconnected since I wasn't going to fuss with trying to illuminate the LED.

If you post a photo of your switch and any wiring diagram that came with it I can hopefully help you figure it out.

 

Much appreciated, Ken! I'm going to get extended-travel CV boots, but I thought I'd see what your experience was with your stock boots... As for the TPMS issue, I'm hoping to figure out a fairly easy way where I'm always monitoring the four tires on the ground (and not the current spare), but I'll have to check around to see how best to do that.

Below is the Air On Board wiring diagram that came with my switch (unfortunately, I've already placed the switch into my center console, so I don't have a picture of the switch harness). I'm assuming I can just connect the red wire from the switch to the tapped wire, and connect black to ground, while capping the green and blue wires. Do I have that wrong?

 

@tacowhip12 best I can tell from the instructions what is actually going on is that the red/green wires are what are connected to the switch contacts. Blue is the 12V connection for the switch LEDs and black is the ground connection for the LEDs. So you want to connect red to the tap and green to ground. Leave blue and black capped if you don’t want to illuminate the LEDs. Connect blue and black as shown in the instructions if you do want them to illuminate.

I’m pretty sure this wiring is different from when I did my install. They have this setup more intelligently than in the past so it can now have the LEDs function properly regardless of what you are connecting the switch to. In the version I had they tried to be too clever about minimizing connections and made the LEDs useless in a number of configurations.

 

Thanks for your clear and concise explanation, Ken. I think I now understand what's going on a bit better... I have another AOB switch that I'm able to light up only when it's pressed (nothing is lit when dashboard lights are on), and I should be able to accomplish the same thing by connecting red and blue to the tap and green and black to ground.

Here's hoping you're able to get back to the Mojave again very soon! I know I'll be eagerly watching for any new photos in your thread.

 

Great build thread with a lot of inspiration. With the addition of our first kid, my wife convinced me to ditch the ol' first gen and get a low mileage 2nd gen with flippac that a friend was selling. We're loving the setup thus far and our 5 month old is becoming a seasoned camper already. Wondering if you have any pictures/information of the awning installation. Seems like the consensus is to use riv nuts into the 1x material along the top edge. Other threads on the topic seem to be lacking with photos but I'm hoping you have a decent photos of the installation. Thanks!

 

Unfortunately I don’t have any photos of the installation because I ended up doing it in a bit of a hurry right before our first family camping trip. Some text descriptions from earlier in this thread here:

Fiamma Installation

I used rivets instead of rivnuts on mine, either would work of course.

Sorry I don’t have any pictures for you!

 

Death Valley
December 2022

I usually do a DV trip in early December, but for a variety of reasons I ended up in MNP instead during that trip slot. That said, I was going to be in CA for Christmas anyway so my daughter and I still manged to get a few days in Death Valley around the middle of the month instead. This was also within days of the 25th anniversary of my first visit to DV, so it was fun to share with my daughter. My daughter was excited as well since she hadn't been to her favorite DV spots since before COVID!

This will be a short report since it was just revisiting places and I often didn't bother taking photos.

We left Vegas in the late morning and so were in the park with time to hike. We went straight to my daughter's favorite canyon (one of mine too, and one I visited on my very first visit as well).

Narrows


An oft repeated photo
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The second photo is one I've taken of her multiple times as she's grown up. The late afternoon light was particularly nice this time.

We tried out the new permit campsites along Echo Canyon for the first time. Worked smoothly and I like that they are well separated from each other.

Echo Wash Camp
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It was a rather cold night, despite being near the valley floor! We were both happy when the sun finally hit the tent. We spent our second day doing mostly a lot of sights along the road with only short hikes. I hadn't been up to Dante's View in ages and so the displays and stone walls up there were new to me (appears the renovation was done in 2018). We poked around Twenty Mule Team Road, Hole in the Wall Road and some other spots along the way.

We were both a little tired from flying across the country not but a couple of days ago and not looking forward to a cold night. In the interests of making sure my daughter continued to look forward to these trips I decided we'd splurge on a night at Stovepipe Wells. My daughter of course looked forward especially to the WiFi. We had some tasty burgers there as well and loaded up on some trail candy for the next day.

The morning of the third day we decided to let it warm up a little bit before heading out. I had told my daughter earlier in the trip that there was a cool slot canyon to visit but that it was a bit of a "boring" hike to get to. Initially she was not interested and we had planned to visit some other familiar hikes that get interesting faster for our third day.

To my surprise and delight as we headed out of Stovepipe she suddenly declared she'd rather try out the new hike even if it was mostly a "boring" open desert hike. She was a good trooper, through she did decide she needed to ham it up for the camera with some melodrama as to how much it was killing her.

Desert Pavement Casualty
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This is a fun hike, however, in which it really appears you are going no place really until you are in the slot. She quickly declared this was definitely worth the hike in and we spent a good amount of time climbing up and down the length of the fanglomerate canyon. The upper parts definitely require some twisting, stooping, and crawling for adults that were more navigable for her.

Close Quarters
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As is always the case the trip back was much easier going downhill, even though the slope is quite moderate. Nonetheless, it was necessary to stop for sugary snacks on the way down.

Exposed Rest Stop
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And that was mostly it for our short trip. We needed to head down to So Cal to collect my wife from the airport and spend Christmas with some family. Given how slim this season ended up being for me as far as trips went, I am really glad we squeezed this one in!

 

Fantastic as always. My two favorite bits, as I recognize them well:

I don't love the WiFi bit (though I suppose it's nearly impossible to avoid these days with the kiddos) but I do enjoy the hamming it up; I hope it never stops.

Also, that's a great spot to have taken your daughter, and while still a trek, a much shorter one than the s-tree slots I thought you were going to make her suffer through as I started into the story!

 

Very nice shot.

 

Ken- Any DV trips planned for 2024?

Hoping for more trip envy reports!!

Would be interested in also reading your thoughts on what truck modifications have worked well and what has not.

 

Thanks for the build list…its great for someone like me who is lazy that wants to copy a tried and true build out…just copied your bolt list

 

Free Book
First come first served...

EDIT: CLAIMED

I've updated both my home and truck copies of Digonnet's Hiking Western Death Valley National Park: Panamint, Saline, and Eureka Valleys to the newest edition. That leaves me at present with one slightly worn copy of the earlier 2013 edition available to whomever might want it. The old edition is still eminently useful with only a few additional hikes having been added in the newer edition.

I'll pick up the shipping anywhere continental US. Post or PM if you are interested.

P.S. Very sucky season for me so far. All my fall trips but one were cancelled due to workload and my only trip in 2024 so far was mostly me holed up with a head cold (I got out for just one hike).

 

Death Valley
March 2023

No spring 2023 solo trips at all for me, weather and schedule conflicts. The family got in a few days during our spring break trip to California, though the weather almost spoiled that as well. This was all revisiting sites I had been before, mostly dictated by my daughter deciding what she wanted my wife (who has been MIA on a number of recent trips) to see. So this is a short report!

They are almost the same height!


Our favorite canyon has some scrambles...


Daughter stole my shade umbrella on the second hike, decided she'd rather be cool and uncool rather than hot and cool.


But we were all nice and cool in here
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We tried to do a third hike on the way out but it was not to be. Driving down Badwater Road the Panamints were shrouded in rain and hiking up an alluvial fan near Ashford Mill we saw another cell racing up Harry Wade Road towards us. Aborted our last hike and then drove through continuous rain all the way to LA. That afternoon the NPS closed Cottonwood Road where we had just left camp in the morning due to flooding. We were glad to have snuck a few days in!

 

This is an awesome thread. I appreciate your high level of detail and comprehensive right-ups. I am curious about your long-term use of the aluminum armor. Would you do it again, or go with steel?

 

For my usage I would definitely go with aluminum armor again. It is very rare that it contacts anything on the kind of trails I go on and the weight savings is significant. Plus not worrying about painting or rust is nice as well. The cost is higher though.

For someone that expects to use their armor sliding on an obstacle because they frequently do rock crawling I’d recommend steel instead. Also if not too worried about weight and looking to save some money then steel is a good choice. And as far as weight goes, at least it is below the CG of the vehicle, so other than wear on suspension components it isn’t particularly “bad” weight being added.

 

It’s good seeing a short trip report from you Ken. I’ve been missing the writing and photography. Hope you get out there more this year.

Your daughter is getting big, it’s amazing how fast they grow up on us now. ​

 

Thanks. Yeah, I've got aluminum front skid and had the same thought. I don't do gnarly enough stuff to justify the weight of steel plates... yet, at least. Plus, raw aluminum looks cool in my opinion.

 

When I read this: "mostly dictated by my daughter deciding what she wanted my wife (who has been MIA on a number of recent trips) to see."

I wondered if you'd end up at the location above, and I love that you did. Naturally, however, it begs the question: IS IT STILL THERE after all the rains?

Edit: March 2023... for some reason I read "November 2023" originally. I suppose we don't know then, for sure, do we?

 

I think that area was more impacted by the August 2022 monsoon flooding than it was by the August 2023 Hillary flooding, but still we don’t really know!