The Getaway...Crom's build and adventures

Awesomeness.

 

Crom,
With your solar panel are you running any type of solar charge control? I know you said you're running the CTEK. I'm looking at charge controls for the 100W panel I got and am unsure which type I need. There are negative ground controllers and positive ground controllers. Any words of wisdom?

 

The relocation of the wiring harness looks like it came from the factory. Do you prime the sliders before adding the Krylon coat or just jump straight to it?

 

Negative ground. Your choice will come down to PWM or MPPT type controller. The difference is cost. Some controllers have a low voltage cut off switch, which can be desirable. Take a look over at www.solarblvd.com. The morningstar controllers do well so I've heard.

Thanks! No primer necessary. I just quick wipe them down with a little acetone and paint.

 

Rear suspension is done. Truck drives amazing. Zero unwanted vibrations 0-70 mph.







EDIT: 2016, August. I swapped to longer brake lines and Bilstein B110 shocks in the rear in December 2015 which gave me 3" more axle droop at full flex, with no reduction in shock uptravel. The Nitrocharger shocks suck, because they are stock length, and I do not recommend them.

See this post for more info about the current rear setup: Bilstein RCD/BE5-B110-T5 Shock

 

Thanks for the info gents! Really helped out. That rear suspension is looking good!

 

Went to local trails to test suspension. (turns out the a-arms had a bad design and were contacting the coil buckets under compression!)





Flexing the rear.




Compressed side:


Compressed side:


lol - one of the leaf spring silencer pads I put in the pack was already coming lose. Haha.


There was lots of Mars lunar dust in this location. It stuck to all the previous invisible handprints. Lol

 

What do you do if someone steals your rig, or tows it away?

My answer for that is SPOT Trace. I did this mod about a year ago, and I love it. I receive a txt message that movement has been detected after the vehicle has been sitting for more than 30 minutes. I can track the movement from my mobile phone or the internet. I like that it's purely a satellite comm device and not in anyway dependent on cellular service.

At the time, I had a rebate which made the device cost free with 1-year of service.

Super small device. It's powered by lithium batteries, or +5v USB wired power. It is concealed inside the vehicle and fed from +5v USB constant power and backed up by said batteries. It even sends me email each day telling me it's working correctly. This is useful for when the truck is sitting for a period of time.

Some pics of me "product testing." while driving to work last year. I put it on the roof rack for testing.




Ready for the drive!



Data from one of our family trips.

 

would it still work if mounted inside/hidden behind some interior panel?

 

I would think so. I would recommend emailing their tech support. It operates at 1610-1620 MHz L-band frequency. The product user guide says that it should be mounted so that a particular side (with printed satellite logo) facing the sky. This is because it has a directional antenna.

 

Great build. Subd

 

Just wandering around your thread...

 

I recently found time to take a picture of my tire care kit I put together.

When I poke holes in tires, I find the holes and I plug them right on the wheel. No need to swap to a spare for a simple puncture. Plug it and keep going.

-Wheel chocks
-Spare valve
-Valve cores
-Valve Caps
-Valve puller tool
-Reamer
-Plug applicator
-40 tire strings / plugs
-rubber cement
-pliers
-Perm Marker
-Tire iron

All of it, sans chocks and tire iron, fit into an old plastic shotgun cleaning kit and stay in the truck permanently with my air compressor.

 

I also carry a tool kit I put together to service all known types of threaded fastener on the Truck.

Here is most of it laid out.



All of it goes into this hard-sided EXFO case, and strapped down to bed of truck.

 

...dang made me go dig up the one big socket I have to see what it is, a 1 and 7/16, roughly 36mm. a three-quarter inch drive, has a dedicated breaker bar. used it on the hub nut of a VW transporter. also in this forgotten tool stash is a 17mm allen wrench, opened the transfer case fill plug.
what is the socket size for the ball joints?

 

Yes. I do. The hub nut is the largest, and the next largest on the Taco is 30mm for the rear diff flange, AFAIK.

When you say socket for the ball joints are you talking about the castle nut? The Toyota factory castle nut on the UCA is 19mm. I have the JBA UCA with the big ass moog ball joint. The castle nut on that is 26mm.

EDIT: You must be talking to the nut on the top of the ball joint for the LR UCA? That is unique to LR, so doesn't apply here.

I don't carry any special tools for the ball joints, I do have a hammer , although I may pick up one of those $15 puller tools when the chance presents itself.

 

In-Ko-Pah Mountains and Desert View Tower. The last two days of May, two thousand fifteen. Our family of four, visited the caves and tower, and then retreated on a lovely rough 4x4 road into the mountains for family solitude and nature enjoyment. One night camp.

What was special about this adventure was that it was unplanned. I made the decision to do the trip late Friday night. Did not pack anything until Saturday morning. We were ready to go in (2) hours. Awesome trip. We returned home Sunday and I had the truck unpacked and stuff put away ten minutes before noon. It was excellent.

 

On May 24th it was unseasonably cool. I took my youngest daughter out to the desert region. First stop was Jacumba, CA where we played sand castle in the sand, then on to Desert View Tower, then down the hill to some BLM land at the foot of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. We found some massive Mesquite trees that offered plenty of shade, and took shelter there and had a very nice extended picnic. I was prepared to camp, but I was fighting a nasty germ. Late in the day we returned home. Nevertheless, we had a great day together. Before I left the house I grabbed a tarp and my awning poles from the Kodiak. I wanted to see if I could make an awning. It worked superbly.

Building a sand castle in the soft sand

Building a sand castle in the soft sand

Eat lunch at the tower. The tower is an excellent place for travelers to stop and take a break from their travels. The owner is super nice and has some light refreshments and many souvenir options. It's $4.50 (adult) for a ticket to climb up 5-leveles of the tower, and also gets you a self-guided tour of the caves. It's worth it! My daughter was intrigued by the owners dogs and loved playing with them. Than you Ben (Tower Owner).

Looking North from the top of the tower

And a photo of one of the carvings at the caves as pictured from the top of the tower.

And finally our site in the lower desert where it was 10* hotter than at the tower.

My zero dollar awning.


I pack a 4' center-folding table which is perfect for kids. We love the desert.

As a side effect of the new Dakar springs, my camping totes fit under the rear end of the truck just fine.

 

The Duratracs. I have them in LT265/75/R16 load range C. They went on the truck in summer 2011 with 20K miles on the odometer. I loved the meaty lugs, and the excellent traction. I believe that my truck can go almost anywhere with them.









In (4) years I have put 40K on them and I have 5/32" of tread left. The tires are still okay but they are getting quite beat and I worry about them. I'm currently saving for new tires.

I've poked numerous holes in them since owning them.

Shard of aluminum through the shoulder lug after (1) year of ownership, hole plugged and tire still ran fine. Shard was from the street.




Mangled fence staple from first trip with new tires, into Death Valley in summer of 2011. Hole plugged and runs great to this day.


In December 2014 while in Death Valley I poked two holes in the same tire. Full write up on the event is here. Once found, I plugged both holes and continued on my way.







I found a sidewall slice a while back. Not sure what did it? Sharp rock?

I probed the slice with a screwdriver and although it looks bad, it appears okay for the time being.

 

works fine for me, on a PC