Laxtoy’s making of the pig

Looks great man! Love what you did with the diagonal latches like that. Great use of space overall

 

Thanks man, it is very stout, but sometimes I overthink stuff. The latch catch hits the tailgate when you’re pulling it up to clear the catch hole unless you’re really careful which I tend not to be, so plan to Monstaliner the tailgate so hopefully won’t be an issue.

I also addressed the front resi’s using some 3/8” aluminum bar bent to an angle that hides them behind the skid

Tapped a couple holes per side with countersunk stainless bolts for the bar

A little tweaking of the steering lines
Fit with about 1/4”-3/8” clearance in all directions, the bar has a little wiggle but very slight so even when I’m reefing on them they’re not contacting the skid or radiator. The adjusters are still easily accessed too, plus I feel like they’re a bit more out of harms way.

When I first tested flexing it a lock the tire hit the hose so put a beefy zip tie on there which fixed the issue

 

Nice build.

 

Thanks homie!

 

I’m going to make a summary of the add-ons and accessories I’ve made.

Some of these things aren’t some peoples cup of tea I get, but in many cases they’re things I thought were cool or useful that I wasn’t going to shell out a lot of money for when I could make it myself. Some don’t make sense for those who use their truck strictly to off road because they add a lot of weight, but in my case we often go to a spot and set up shop for 4 or 5 days at a time and go out on a day trip to wheel or shoot, so it’s about creating creature comforts for my wife and I who are now in our 40’s and want our lives in the woods to be a little pampered.A current pic after returning home- loaded and heavy. Not my preferable way to travel, but in reality, not me making all the decisions! The most important aspect is that everything works as it should, no glitches, just adding to the convenience of a lot of time in the dust and heat.

Dual Jerry can mount
Admittedly the design borrows heavily from CBI, but a lot of the designs I fabricate borrow from the good ideas of others. It’s about saving money ($100 vs $240) and doing things myself because I like putting together the puzzle. Shoutout to my test subject group, honest opinions appreciated.

Fridge slideIt got old fast pulling the fridge in and out of the truck. We eventually put on a fridge cover and that got trashed on the bottom as we kept dragging the fridge onto the tailgate and pushing it back. The fridge itself is a luxury, but I’m not dragging around a $300 cooler that’s close to as heavy when full of $30 of ice and still trashes food with ice water. Still gotta buy ice, but it’s just to keep beers and drinks cold.I referenced this several posts back. Raw materials for the slide and a too large pullout cutting board.

When I started gathering parts- heavy duty drawer slides the most pricey at a $100 a pair for locking 28” 500lb, the only fridge slides on the market were north of $400. Now there’s any number of them on Amazon, some as low as $150. That doesn’t mean they’re worth a shit.

I wanted aluminum for the weight savings (Tembo Tusk with cutting board is over 60lbs) which means for strength I wanted to weld it. Welding aluminum sucks, or I suck at it. Oh well. I also understand by the time I bought a spool gun, a bottle of argon, and the spool gun switch, I could’ve bought a $400 slide. Oh well.

I sized the tray to fit the Edgestar FP430 we have since it’s wider than most fridges Depth 18.125in Height 20.5in Width 24.625in. I then started looking around for an eventual replacement and the only thing I found that was wider/shorter and the length of the Edgestar was a Dometic CFX3 55IM Depth 17.91in Height 18.90in Width 28.35in (25.98in without handles).

We have been fairly impressed with the Edgestar. We bought it about 6 years ago for $330 scratch and sent, and it arrived perfect. We’ll use it until it dies and we’ll see if we replace it with- another $530 Whytner/Edgestar or a $1200 Dometic that frankly doesn’t have that stellar of reviews.

 

SolarI researched for years and knew I’d do this at some point. I was convinced I needed to go MPPT and was going to go Victron who has a great reputation, but the issue presented is having to find a space in the cab and since it isn’t suitable for the environments it’d be in since it’s not water/dust proof.

I believe it was someone on here or another forum who recommended this little Go Power PWM controller that is potted IP68 and smaller than a deck of cards. It works especially well with a single 100w panel, which using an MPPT controller with is apparently overkill. Space being a premium, that worked out great to keep it under the hood and close to the second battery. I added a piece of UMHW to clear the panel so I could carry the canoe. It also helped with some wind noise and drag the panel created.

I turned the remainder of the cable into extension cords so the panel could be moved into direct sunlight as the shade shifted throughout the day. (Thank you again product demo crew)

It has really exceeded expectations. We ended up being everyone’s charging station for Bluetooth speakers, dog collars, headlamps, lanterns, air pumps, you name it, and every night when the sun went down and the temps dropped below 80° the second battery was at 12.6v. I force isolated the second battery to not waste time charging the starter but it works so well that having the ML-ACR switch in the the center position it latches and charges both batteries pretty consistently unless the fridge is running a lot.

This was a game we played for many years since we had the fridge. At first it was a single Odyssey PC1200 that lasted about 24hrs before going dead and needing a jump. It got to be a hectic aspect, worrying about 3 more days of food going bad, and usually the only solution was to spend the day driving around which got exhausting taking down the tent and setting it back up. We then added the second battery and the ML-ACR which allowed us to stay stationary maybe 60 hours and that depended a lot on temperature, but that meant I’ve were forcing the starter battery to link up and draining both batteries. This seems like a solution that will solve our long term issues.

Ax/shovel mount
Not really like anything I’ve seen, and possibly functionally over the top for what others see useful.

It has a lot to do with security for me: tri-groove bolts into threaded bumpers to mount it to the rack, flanges around a trailer tongue lock to make it tough to get a grinder or sawzall in between.
I’ve had 2 Hi-Lifts walk away when not locked up so at that point, stuff getting stolen is really the fault of the person who doesn’t deter the thief. Half the time fabricating was making a jig to heat the curved parts of the mount. Lil bit.

Hand wash station
Thank you Lola for the product shot.

For about $50 in random parts I made something that again just makes life easier. Dry, dusty environments cause me painful cracked hands so this was a bit of a novelty, but it’s been awesome, especially when cooking/cleaning/eating. Again, a bit borrowed in terms of design, but at a fraction of the cost. $145??

Shower kit
A good hose (~$75, almost the most expensive piece, goddamn have garden hoses turned to absolute shit), a Shurflo 3.0 gallon per minute water pump (~$100) and a Duda Diesel 20 plate heat exchanger (~$75). It takes up some space in the engine bay, but it’s easily removed on the trail if need be. Again, a luxury item, but the 5 people who used it several times (including myself) didn’t complain. It takes about 10 minutes to heat 6 gallons of water and you really only need 4 if you are conservative. We often carry 2 buckets with us, one 5 gallon and one 6. Space is tight, but everything gets used and all of the sanitary stuff stashes in the buckets. On shorter trips or when we want to run light we don’t drag so much along so we leave things like the shower kit at home.

 

Installed Diode Dynamics SSC2 floods in rear bumperBacklight comes on with parking lightsTurn on with switch Switched to turn on with reverse lights.

Also installed OVS 180 awning Nice coverage, easy to deploy and good quality, but…50 lbs, just keep piling on the weight.Had to get a little creative since I wanted to avoid the heavy mounting brackets Welded 3/8-16 coupler nuts Countersunk stainless bolts into 1/4” aluminum plateAlso started tearing into this guy. Previous owner left it out in the weather for 3 years so the exterior needs to be refinished, but the rotors and the inside of the case are in excellent condition. Plan to media blast it with glass bead and repaint in.

Current engine has 340,000 miles. I feel like it might be a death sentence for the engine if I start running it. Time to start cleaning up the 2000 engine. Previous owner said both the engine and supercharger only have about 90,000 miles on them (as well as the transmission and tcase), I figure new fuel pump, injectors (have both ready to go in), new crank, O2, maf, and TPS sensors.

Been reading the supercharger thread (at page 160, 60 pages to go), great info there.

 

In my opinion, it's not that big of a deal to supercharge a motor with that many miles. These generation Toyota motors are pretty stout. I've had great success on my SC setup which is a high mileage 3rz.
But sounds like you already have another motor for it which should be good peace of mind in the end.

 

Appreciate the input, I’m tempted to put it on, only concern is the engine has low compression on cylinder 3. I haven’t performed a leak down but I did the compression test (dry, cold) like 8 years ago, it doesn’t seem to be getting worse. I think it may be an issue with the head, possibly a crack between the valve passages that seals when the engine warms up/things expand, or possibly a head gasket starting to go. No oil/dark discoloration in the coolant, no coolant in the oil, but a bit of white smoke at startup and coolant that disappears really slowly without explanation, think maybe burning off when cold.

I wouldn’t mind doing the head gaskets if I were to blow one, but the hope was to put the green truck’s body and engine/drivetrain on the red truck’s frame/suspension and sell it, so if I don’t have to tear it down I’d prefer it.

Best case scenario my wife lets me keep both and the green truck body/engine on the red truck’s frame gets turned into a crawler that I keep as light as possible.

 

Gotcha.
If you're keeping The bigger pulley on it, I would think it'd be okay with the condition of that motor. Although a leaked on test is a good idea considering the symptoms you described.

 

You’re the devil on my shoulder at this point! I’ve gone back and forth thinking about it, I’ll probably say screw it, if I kill the engine I have in it now, however unlikely, I still have a backup engine. As long as I let it warm up before getting my foot in it it’s probably going to be fine.

I wasn’t planning to add any fuel or tuning to it at least early on, planned to run stock pulley and see how it does since I’m at like 1000ft and hit high elevation pretty infrequently. Figure if it has issues running lean I’ll go meth and get a tune.

 

Running it with the stock pulley, you should have no problems I would think. Most people that struggle with the fueling are running a smaller pulley.
Would be good preventative maintenance to maybe do the fuel pump and fuel filter though. Especially if you choose to go hire boost down the line.

 

Dig the build thread and watching all your projects come together, definitely inspirational from the ‘built not bought’ angle.

Always better to invest in tools and build your own, even if it costs the same or more the first time, lol.

keep up the great work!

 

Thank you! I admit, some is a bit over the top, but my wife loves it, that’s (mostly) all that matters.

I scored a lightly used ARB Zero 43 qt at a very good price a while ago which is about 2” narrower than the Edgestar, so had to design a new fridge slide. Ended up ditching the UMHW cutting board for bamboo, not so ridiculously huge and better supported with the slides on the sides instead of under.

Tried some new techniques welding aluminum, not threatening taking anyone’s job, but considerably better welds. Overall a good use of space.

 

Those welds look great for a spool gun!

 

Thanks man! Yup, tried something new, instead of little e’s, the best advice I could find was a sort of stop-go back-go forward motion. Basically move forward about 1/2”, stop for a half second, go back 1/4” and then immediately pull the puddle forward. I was going between 1/8” and 1/4” material, so travel speed, etc, but with the spray transfer, main thing was trying to keep the puddle going, definitely noticed where I went too fast, it wasn’t pulling the base material into the puddle

 

So it’s been a while, some things have changed. I at one point was eager to jump on the Vagabond Drifter bandwagon, and apparently a kind and merciful God spared us that agony.

What we ended up with makes me so happy, for so many reasons.Enter Lone Peak campers in Wenatchee WA. The day I picked the camper up, November 2024.

It was a long ordering process, but I feel like the company had several reasons to deserve some patience.

We ordered in December 2023, and the website has always had a stated expected install posted, ours being September 2024 when we ordered.

It was a long time to wait, and yes we waited longer, but so worth it on the long run.

First and foremost was the price. At the time we ordered, $6000 before tax would get you a basic camper, from there you could customize, and they have grown the options to an impressive list, all well described on the website.
-Rack bars
-Solar panels
-DC-DC charger
-inverter
-lithium battery
-roof installed fan*
-drop down sliding front glass window*
-diesel heater port
-bed ladder*
-exterior ladder
-awning brackets*
-additional mounting pucks (6 vs 4 standard)*
-choice of fabric color, tan or gray
-now they have choice of body color, white vs black
-gear storage solutions
-exterior lighting such as a wide spot beam front light bar, led side floods and flush pod backup lights
-interior switch box (they call it Juicebox) that can connect to your phone, and has multiple control features such as 3 switches that toggle between 2 colors and 3 dimmers settings, and includes (2) interior lights with those features installed*

*what I purchased/had installed

Has folding rear hatch and side hatches, all locking, single handle, very stout. Build quality is excellent.

The coolest thing is the ability to use the t-slot track and connectors to mount things without having to drill holes.
I’m in the process of building mine out on the outside.

So far have the 200 watt panel mounted and the lumber rack I fabbed from 1/4” aluminum plate and 1530 aluminum extrusion.

Future plans include a camp table slide in mount under the overhang/above the cab and a Hi-Lift mount. I love the fact I don’t have to drill any holes, just use t-slot nuts.


The inside of the camper is just as clean/well thought out. “Juicebox” with the tailgate led strip on in whiteUpper led strip light on in amber, as well as fan.

Smart design everywhere, the bed platform pushes up out of the way to give you full access to the back, only AT Overland offers that, and their wedge camper base prices at over $13k.

Also like the fact the struts that hold the top up are concealed when the camper is folded. Who knows if it’d ever be an issue on a trail, but I don’t like the idea of them being exposed like other manufacturers.

So talked about cost, talked about features, talked about build quality, I think lastly, the biggest consideration was locale.

The fact they’re located 3 hours away, and that we’re supporting a local company, no brainer.

Lastly, I’ll talk about support and the fact I feel like they take pride in their product and continue to strive to make it better. Throughout the process of waiting there were a few delays, so I got our camper a couple months later than expected. Oh well, could care less at this point. Their staff released video updates regularly explaining about supply chain issues or R&D finding issues. I was very pleased by the communication, and more so by the fact they seemed like they cared if their customers were happy.

Everyone I have found who has had an issue has had it taken care of promptly by Lone Peak. Not only that, but they continually improve on things and implement them regularly.

Even their product testing, they take every camper and leave it in a rain simulator for like an hour to test for leaks, pretty awesome.

They were using a generic dc-dc charger and inverter, but I noticed they switched to Victron Energy recently, and Victron has a long held reputation for quality.

No I’m not paid by Lone Peak, no I haven’t received anything for what I’ve said.

When you consider there are only a handful of companies making wedges for first gens, and the prices range widely and I frankly don’t feel like price is an indicator of quality by comparison, very glad we didn’t look elsewhere.

 

Looks awesome. Love seeing 1st gens with wedge campers

 

Thanks man, yeah, pickings are pretty slim too compared to 2nd gen on, we’re getting left behind! Figure the support some manufacturers still give to first gens in still pretty impressive, testament to the longevity and brand popularity

 

Upon day of camper install I decided I’d remove the swing out arms for the installers, and glad I did. I know the installers appreciated it as well, trying to shoehorn a large object with a forklift around a bunch of crap while the customer waits in a room 50 ft away, that’s some unnecessary stress, respect.

When I got home I found out quick I’d have to do some fine tuning, unfortunately the rear hatch hit the driver side Jerry can swing out.

Spare tire carrier/passenger swing out cleared by about an inch so got lucky there

Took yesterday to cut the things apart and adjust the position. I added some attachment points, I have another cockamamie idea to mount a propane bottle above the jerry cans. More about that in a while.

Unfortunately, like many experiences I’ve had in 30 years of construction and not nearly as many of diy metal fab, taking something apart that was built cleanly the first time and trying to augment it and reinstall it, too often it comes out disappointing finish quality wise compared to the original, and no exception here.

I left the main bar, 1-3/4” square x .120 wall welded to the 4x innovations mount, because I didn’t want to drop another $135 (gone up a bit since I first purchased many years ago) on the mount or go to the trouble of redoing the square tube.

Going as far reverse engineering things as necessary when redoing something, the concern happens all the time, if you just would’ve gone a little deeper, maybe you get the results you want when reassembling and get there easier.

In this case the main bar was not perfect, trying to flap disc out welds, hitting it with a belt sander, neurotic mind fully engaged.

Then the pressure to get the project done took over.

Did a good job of fabbing everything up, took my time on the lower triangle gussets, but unfortunately, I rushed welding everything back together and ended up warping it so the main tube arches up from the spindle side, creates a 1/16”ish dip in the middle. I’ll probably be the only one who ever notices and even if something fails in 2 years, whatever, I’ll address it then.