Thads Cement Grey Long Bed Build

Yo! Just seeing your question. I have no idea when I’ll be in town in October. I’m hiking Whitney on the 14th and may go one one side of that trip but it’s super up in the air rn if Moab even happens. Just a lot of travel atm. We’ve talked about a Moab trip next march and that honestly seems more realistic for us but I’ll keep you posted.

 

9/14/24

July was super Smokey in town and we didn’t get out camping much. We were busy riding bikes, and wedding planning. Here’s a job site photo with my buddy’s TRD PRO



We went to the Tetons for 4 days the week before our wedding and camped which was great to relax before the storm. 10 nights in with the GFC and I still really love this tent.











This is a truck page, but I’ll throw a wedding photo in there as it basically terminates our trip. We did spend another night in the GFC-the night after our wedding. My moms house was full of people and our options were a futon so we chose the tent with poodle





We got out for a night over Labor Day at three creek lake. It was nice to camp and try our new propane fire pit but the camp spot was less than desirable-super noisy and crowded. Probably won’t go back. The fire pit was ok. Definitely not the same as a real fire but when we can’t have a real fire then it’s the next best thing. I ordered a TRD PRO skid plate on a Labor Day sale so I’ll post up some info on that when it arrives

 

9/19/24

I snagged a skid plate! One of those Toyota parts retailers was having a Labor Day sale on fake TRD pro skid plates so I scooped one up for like $250 shipped to my door. 1/4” aluminum plate weighs like 34lbs and protects the truck. It weighs 10lbs more than my stock 2 piece plate and it’s wayyy stronger. So far I’m glad I went this route over an RCI skid that would be stronger but also weigh 55 lbs.

I use a floor jack to get it in place then Loosely threaded the front bolts in and worked my way back. It was kind of a PITA to get the thing aligned right but eventually it straightened itself out.







It’s also been like 4000 miles since I last greased my controls arms and I’ve been trying to get on the 5000 mile oil change interval so I greased em again and should be right at the time to do it for next oil change next time. I did mushroom the bushings but I relieved pressure quickly so they should be all good. I disconnected the brake line on the frame to torque em down and that made it much easier this time. I also ripped another rubber washer to seal my ball joint cap but orileys gave me another… again.

truck build is up to date, need to clean it and figure out an air compressor before I head to California to hike Whitney and explore Death Valley next month

 

9/05/24

Went out the Mackenzie highway before the snow started to fly. Brief plan was to get lunch in sisters then go for a quick hike and find a spot to camp. We ran to the barn and grabbed a tasty pizza with some piss poor undercarriage. We went up the highway a little ways. We found a quick hike to benson lake which was good cause the colors were just starting to change and we got a late start.



We planned to climb cache mountain and camp on top but holy Toledo that road was narrow and un cleared. I made it 1/4 mile up the road and said screw this. My paint is fucked and the road just got more and more narrow as I walked up the road. Most of it will wash out but there are some pretty bad marks in the clear coat so back to the detail garage this fall at some point.



We turned around and went up to a spot that we’ve been to before. We’ve kinda struck out the last few times we camped. Labor Day was noisy, crowded, and just not a great experience. Last weekend we tried to camp at triangle hill and we had 30+ MPH winds so we bagged it. We planned to go to hood yesterday but it was too stormy and cold. We really wanted to make this work. It was easy getting up the mountain and we had a good evening but we woke up at 11:30 to the dog growling and we heard something moving around. It was odd and creepy and I didn’t have my gun. We almost hopped in the truck and headed home but decided to stick it out. Around 2am the wind picked up and it was blowing hard all night long with some pretty large gusts. Sadie didn’t sleep. We woke up at 5:30 to the dog growling again and two guys walking out of the woods to their trucks. They hopped in and headed down the mountain… they didn’t have any camping gear so it was unlikely they slept up there, but we didn’t hear or see them drive in. It was pretty strange and uncomfortable. It is hunting season so my guess is that they were out scouting. It was barely first light when they drove off.







I feel like every time I camp in an unestablished camp spot without my gun I regret it. I always hear something and I’d rather have it and not need it than vice versa. The Olight that’s on it is also very bright and powerful and at minimum being able to see what was making the noise and waking up the dog is would be comforting. When those two hunters left we also decided to pack it up quick and head home. We were only 45 min from the house and got home around 7:30. The dog was snuggled in lol

 

10/14/24

Back on the road! Last spring I scored a Mt. Whitney permit so a buddy and I hit the road. I left Bend on Friday morning and headed to Tahoe for the night with plans to meet my buddy, Ryan, on Saturday somewhere. The leaves were just starting to change and the drive south was really colorful. I couldnt have asked for better weather as I rolled into south lake. It was like 82 degrees. I grabbed a pretty easy site right on the lake shore. I hung out in the GFC for a while and watched a movie on the iPad and at around 11pm a black bear came wandering into my campsite. I didnt put my cooler in the bearbox so it was a bit deserved. I made some noise and he high tailed it. I climbed down and moved the cooler then went back to sleep.

The next morning I got up chatted with Ryan and slowly made breakfast then figured out a hike in south lake tahoe. I brought my bike with me but the Mr. Toad's climb trail was closed for logging! i didnt realize it until I got to the trail head. had to pivot and went for a steep, short hike just outside of Meyers. I was down and back to the truck around noon, grabbed a few sandwhiches from the cooler for lunch, then hit the road south to mammoth. I pulled into the shell station in at like 3, filled the tank then cruised around on some forest service roads to find an easy camp spot. Ryan left his house in SLC around 12 when I left Tahoe so he was going to roll in a little later. I scoped out a few spots but ultimately landed on a site like 2 miles from the highway. It was pretty quiet and the colors were changing. not the best site in the world, but I was happy with it. I cleaned up, made dinner, and watched a movie and Ryan rolled in around 10pm. We chatted for a few minuets has he got his zone setup in the dark but ultimately we both passed out. He had a long drive across rt.6.





The next morning we chilled at our campsite for a while before we broke things down. Ryan got up late and i kinda wandered around with my coffee. Our plan was to keep it low key given we had a 21 mile hike the next day. Ryan needed another cup of coffee so we headed into mammoth. He got what he needed so we found some dirt roads to explore and some hot springs. Both were a little short lived and we hit the road south to bishop and found a bar to watch football. I honestly had a pretty tight fantasy game and needed to see my guys play. We watched the Sunday day games and then continued south, again, to Lone Pine and cruised through the Alabama Hills as we made our way up the mountain. That road is super steep and super narrow. the temperature was 20 degrees colder at our camp site than at the Alabama hills. It was pretty chilly at our campsite. Im glad i packed my 0 degree bag. We got our stuff together for the next day and made dinner and got a fire going. Whitney portal faces east-the sun set early and it gets dark and cold quickly. We set our alarm for 3:30 and went to bed around 9.





We woke up at 3:30 the next morning. Rolled out of bed and quickly changed. Ryan made himself breakfast and a coffee, I shut the GFC and got ready to drive the 1/2 mile up the hill. We saw a raptor and an R1 heading up the hill as we were leaving our campsite. They beat us up there by a few minutes and we parked next to them. We were on the trial by 4:15 and about a mile in the raptor guy was puking. Not really sure why. we made really good time and had breakfast at 7am at mile 6, at 12,500'. Next came the switchbacks. There are 97 switchbacks on the trail that bring you up to 13,800'. We also made very good time up the switchbacks and were at the saddle, entering Sequoia NP, at 9am. We passed some folks that started at 1am and another guy that started at 2:30. I didnt feel like we were moving that quickly but apparently we were. at 13,000' I did start to get a bit light headed and it only got worse as we climbed in elevation. We had another 2.5 miles from the saddle to the summit. We descended a few hundred feet which felt better on my head. Ryan was pretty silent about how he was feeling throughout the day. We started to climb again as we traversed the ridge line and we made frequent stops-there is no air at 14,000'. We summited around 10:15, signed the log book and took a bunch of photos. It was pretty cool to be at the highest point in the continental US. Lone Pine is at 4000' and looked like nothing 10,000' higher up. We didnt spend more than 20 min up there. My head was definitely throbbing at this point and i took some advil as we turned around. We did most of our climb in the dark so i didnt take many photos. I took a bunch as we descended back to the trail head and our camp site. We made great time and had lunch at our same breakfast spot around 12:30. After lunch he told me his head was starting to hurt too but we were descending so we didn't think much of it. The last 2 miles were slow going for Ryan. I was eager for a burger at the bottom. We got down and Ryan really wasnt doing so well. We both ordered food and he barely touched it. About 20min, he started throwing up. He had altitude sickness. We quickly got back to our campsite and Ryan took a nap and drank a bunch of water. 7800' isnt great but should have been manageable. Ryan napped for 2ish hours then got up to clean up and drink more water. He still couldnt keep food down. We made another fire and chilled until about 8 where he went to bed and I stayed up for a little while longer. We both had long drives the next morning so we planned to get up around 6 and pack up and roll out. I guess ryan woke up at 10:30 to make himself dinner.













Next morning he was feeling much better and we both woke up around 5:30 packed up on GTFO. We rolled back through the Alabama Hills as the sun was coming up. We both needed fuel but ripped north to bishop to grab fuel and food before we parted ways and we both headed home-which was pretty uneventful. Til next time

 

Don't know how I never saw your build before. Looks like we made a lot of similar choices! Looking good!

 

Brotherrrr you’ve been on the road and off the internet. I’m not gonna lie, your truck really confirmed for me that SCS bronze would look great on cement

 

Been keeping an eye out for you all summer Thad, feel like I've seen you on the 97 at least once or twice

I'm up in Terrebonne but make my way all around

 

Bro I havent been up north at all all summer. I barely drive north of homedepot. I live and work on the west side of town.

 

Do you have a local twin build?? I swear there's another cement Taco with the same topper/tent set up I've seen around

Gotta get out here dude! The Grasslands as well as Skull Hollow have some really great spots for day trips or a quick overnight

 

I have a sorta twin that used to live down the street, but he has black wheels. He sold his smart cap and got a soft topper a while back. He also has smokey the bear license plates but he’s got the vanity plate “MOT” other than him I don’t know of anyone else who’s got a cement long box with bronze wheels and a SmartCap/GFC

 

We typically head out to sisters and santiam and the Cascade lakes highway for camping and day trips

 

11/09/24

Got out for a little snow wheeling day trip with my buddy Denny. He just spent like $6500 on mods, kings in the rear, dissent bumper and swing out, wheels, and he re-sprung the entire truck. So we wanted to see how it did. I also scooped up a viair 400p air compressor and wanted to see how well that unit worked. We met up the gas station in sun river at 8am and rolled up the mountain. We planned to go up to Irish/taylor lake, then up to the Taylor burn guard station then back out and all the way to Waldo lake. There was some snow on the ground. Like 6” at the trail head and as we climbed the snow increased. We were both dragging differentials and plowing snow as we climbed. Denny was at 6psi and I dropped to 10. The GYs eat in the snow and I climbed every obstacle easily. The trail is a green trail in the summer with 3 obstacles on it. A stock runner/taco could probably do it just fine. With 6-18” of snow it makes it quite a bit more challenging lol. I scoped out a few camp sites and the snow was deep closest to the lake shores. We crossed the PCT a few times and crossed through some big burn areas. The burned areas in the snow cool-total opposite of what they are like in the summer, kinda eery. We saw some car tires at the first obstacle as we returned and it was pretty clear that the (we assume) Subaru didn’t make it. We aired up and headed back to town and there was so much mud in my wheels I thought I was going to puke. My steering wheel was bouncing from 10 to 2 and shaking the entire truck so much that I got nauseous lol. Overall a great day out. No one got stuck, no one broke their shit, and no one slid into any trees. Here’s some pics












Here’s another photo at work. It just looked good

 

Damn, yea I'm sure I would have altitude sickness too if I had joined on that trip. You live at higher elevation than Ryan and I (he's in Socal right?), so I'm sure that helped.

 

Not anymore.. he moved back to SLC about a year ago. Hes at 4500'.0 I live just below 4k'

 

lol ya ok I would have been hosed then

 

take your time and monitor your nutrition and you woulda been ok probably.

 

Was Ryan not eating enough or something on the hike?

 

salt and water. im no doctor, but he didnt have any electrolytes and didnt take any advil as his headache started to kick in

 

12/01/24

Picked up some parts on Etsy to better utilize the molle panels on my smart cap. I ordered some hooks and backing plates for quick fists. No idea what I’ll use the hooks for but they looked useful online so I’m sure I’ll figure something out for em. I also moved the bed cleats around to secure my GFC ladder in there. The strangest part of the GFC is that there is no real good solution for a place to put the ladder. I just used some ski straps to secure it upright in the bed. The hardest part about having a truck bed is finding a way to use all of the dead space









The first set of backing plates I ordered ended up being the wrong size so I’ve got a set that may fit other size panels if anyone wants em



We also went to Kauai for thanksgiving. The truck scene is definitely different out there lol. Tons of brodozers on factory wheels. Pretty wild