What Have You Done To Your 3rd Gen Today?

I use my bed for bikes and they don't fit nicely with a tire in the bed so I needed to keep the spare under the truck. I have a friend that fabricates so we're going to see if we can design a crossbar that fits with the spare still under the truck. Likely won't be as effective as the Archive piece that mounts to the center cross brace, but should be better than not having one at all.

 

That seems like a missed opportunity for Archive Garage. I would have purchased that if it was available.

 

Got a cheap set of 4runner take-off wheels and put on some 255/80r17s Nitto Ridge Grapplers. Got a better price at Wally World, but sure did pay for it on the hack job they did to my wheels and the ridiculously placed/stacked balance weights. Put a number of gashes on several of my wheels. Looked like "bring your kid to work day"... will probably get a second opinion elsewhere to see if the weights need to be "adjusted".... but other than that- it looks kewl, and isnt that all that matters?!..

 

No, the progressive AAL is 3 leafs instead of just 1 for a regular AAL. The difference is the 3 are smaller and affect the ride much less unloaded and as you load it and add more weight it progressively gets stiffer to help compensate for the load. Having these I would never go with a standard AAL for my needs.

 

From what I understand progressive means a smaller pack of three leaves as opposed to just one leaf. I have a toytec progressive aal, it rides well. Boosted me up 1.5”ish. 200# or so in the bed and it hangs on the road nice.

 

Looks great!

 

Didn't even know this was a thing. Thanks for the link!

 

Nice...

 

We’ve only had one trip out of it so far but it did rain that one trip haha. It’s been good, on the smaller side which obviously is the compromise but the wife and I fit under it along with a small table so I’ll take the compromise for keeping the weight down. If we were consistently camping with friends during rough weather I think I’d just suck it up and get a bigger one.

This is the only photo I took, but to answer your question, it doesn’t flush up with the tent/tailgate perfectly, but I’d imagine that might change over time as it softens up and stretches more. Right now there’s about maybe a 3-4” gap at the widest point between the end of the awning and the tent/tailgate.

 

@Buggin112 @drizzoh @oostroma

Think I got it figured out. I was dumb and was putting it back in for a reading right after pulling the dipstick out to clean it off. Saw a note that once you pull it out, wait a few min to stick it back in for a reading so the oil has a chance to drain back down the dipstick tube. No wonder the dipstick was showing oil way above the full dot. After doing that (and starting the truck for 5 min then letting it sit for 5) the reading appeared to be about 3/4 between the low and high dot. That seems about right since full is 6.2 and I put in 6 qt. I also did a paper towel trick I saw on YouTube wheee you lay the dipstick on a paper towel and slide it downward. It leave a distinct wet line at your actual oil level and the residual oil on the stick doesn’t mess up my reading. It’s much easier for me to see on the paper towel than eyeballing the stick. Getting old sucks.

Thanks again for your tips and advice!

 

Nearly finished with my trailer. Today I lengthened the tongue from 2 feet to 6 feet, I still need to re-run my wiring, put on the tongue jack, and weld some support for the tongue to the front boards.

 

Great video.. Very detailed!

 

nice little mods!

 

Nooooo… get out of the loop. Not really a fan of the zip ties in that application, but the Fairbairn is nice.

 

How do they ride? They Look good

 

Nice job! Maybe a grab handle on top of the tongue for easy handling.

 

Not too much time on them yet, but so far I am liking it.

 

Thats a great idea! Ill add that to the list of add ons I want.

 

Did the DIY pet screen project on my shell that I got from another post.

Got the expanded metal from Lowe’s for about $17-$18 a piece, and the 3/8” one hole conduit straps from Home Depot. Took about as long as it did the paint to dry on the expanded metal. Painted the expanded metal and conduit straps black to match the ARE Overland topper. I was able to retain the bug screen with whatever style windows I had, so win/win there. Total cost was about $40.

 

Just a filler until I get actual mounts haha