AlumEscape Expo Build

No worries

 

Have you experienced any foggyishness on your windows of your truck? Everyday I get in my truck my windows are foggy. No matter what it's like outside. I got my wife a new corolla the sametime I got my truck back in October and hers does the same.

 

Hmm.. haven't had that problem with mine but I know my old ranger did that when the heater core was leaking. I highly doubt that that's your issue since both are Toyota's and both are new. Is there any odor? Either way I suggest poking around the forums here and see if anyone else is having the same issue AND take it back to the dealer and see whats up.

 

Yeah I'm going to probably just take them to dealer.

 

Well the long weekend for me isn't including any of the projects I was hoping to work on including throwing on the EBC rotors and pads and mounting up the pelican case on my PrInSu rack.

Turns out the factory installed thule roof rails developed a leak over the last week and have been dumping water onto the bed drawers and generally making a mess of things - everything's dried out now and appears in order but some work was clearly needed to solve the problem.

After fussing with diss-assembly most of today LEER really did a poor job putting my cap together which is disappointing given the investment. shortly after getting the cap last year I added some silicone to the bolt heads in the thule rails as they seemed sparingly sealed; this seemed to do the trick for a long while but no more. After removing all the bolts it's clear LEER didn't actually seal the rails to the cap but relied on the compression of the rubber gasket alone. Further, the whole thing looks to have been put together when the paint was still soft and there is significant bubbling and wrinkling of the paint at the rails. LEER also snipped all the bolts off after installing the rails so the ends are too jacked to use again so now I'm in limbo until so #10-32 SS button heads arrive (hopefully this week). I think I can clean it up and get it put together properly but it's not a banner day for American quality for sure. Oh well, live and learn. With any luck I'll get this straightened out and my rack back on so I can come up with a awning setup for the next trip!

 

^ sucks man. It's crazy that things that expensive are mad a little cheap.

 

That's probably what irritated me most but it's for the best in the long run. Now that the rails are off and the cap area cleaned I can address the paint issue before it gets worse and put the whole thing back together with the proper materials.

In the meantime I'm thinking an awning may be the next piece of kit to get tossed on the rig; it's down to the ARB 2000 and the CVT 79". I prefer the CVT for the black bag but I'm not sure I can justify the extra cost plus shipping to go that route. It appears the ARB can be had for around $270 to the door and though they are essentially all the same I am quite pleased with ARB service when issues arise. Thoughts folks?

 

I've seen good reviews on the arbs.

 

How much is the cvt?

 

Unless I can find a deal on it the base price for the CVT 79" is $300. Shipping is and extra $65 it appears.

I think I'll be going ARB and living with the gray case haha

 

Haha arb is just as good I would say. IMHO

 

Fairly busy weekend on the build this weekend and I was able to get my topper sealed back up with some new hardware and get the PrInSu rack back on. I also installed my All-Pro U-Bolt flip kit and installed the EBC Stage 5 brake kit.

The All-Pro U-Bolt flip kit is a great upgrade and a quality product. The install is straight forward and didn't take long at all other than working out a bump stop solution. I didn't order my plates pre-taped or timbrens so I went ahead and taped the provided holes to 3/8"-16 and used some shortened stainless hardware to mount up the factory bump stops on the All-Pro plates.

Started by pulling wheels for easy access and getting some pre-install shots to show the clearance improvements.




The top plate is stout and about 1/2" thick with a quality yellow zinc finish.


All taped after some sweating and cussin'!


Stock bumpstops mounted up:


Driver side done and marked!


One less place to get hung up on:



The EBC kit was straight forward too and didn't take more than an afternoon to put on. Still going to need some miles to bed them in but I look forward to having some more stopping power when hauling the camper. Started with some purty new parts!


Disassembly is easy - pull the retaining clips of the pad slider pins and knock out the pins, pull the pads, and pull the caliper bolts off and hang it out of the way. The rotor pops off using the taped holes in the hat and some taps from a rubber mallet. Now was a good time to get some of the mud out!





Shiny parts stick out like a sore thumb!


Hoping to have some more additions on the rig in the next few weeks so stay tuned!

 

JESUS! Nice build. Love all the custom work in the bed with the OBA and OBW.

 

Nice!

 

Thanks guys, I'm really hoping to get some major milestone mods accomplished in the next few weeks including some shade to hang off the PrInSu rack and some armor for the the rear. The goal is to get these mods wrapped up before the 2nd Annual Mid-Atlantic Overland Festival but I'm at the mercy of parts availability haha

 

Made some more progress on the build this last weekend and got my ARB 2000 awning mounted up on my PrInSu rack. Shoutout to Wil at Sierra Expeditions for the top notch customer service as always!

I knew from the get go that I wanted to avoid drilling any hole in my rack to hang the awning because the awning may migrate between the Taco and my trailer based on future needs. That said, I wanted the awning to be secure and be as close as possible to the topper for the possible addition of walls to make a sort of ground tent/addition off the side windoor of my topper. After rummaging through my scrap bin I found some aluminum barstock that looked like it would work nicely.


I was really impressed with the quality of the product right out of the box and was surprised by the weight of the whole assembly; it definitely has a sturdy feel to it. With the Maxtrax out of the way I started measuring out for my mounts.




After some thinking I decided rather than using the M6 bolts from ARB I'd use some countersunk 1/4"-20 SS socket caps for security and thread them into the same t-slot nuts I use in my PrInSu rails which are a perfect fit!



These blocks are 3/4" thick and space the awning out from the PrInSu side rail and also raise the awning away from the roof of the topper and cab so the bag won't rub on the paint.


I went with a total of three mounts evenly spaced along the PrInSu rack.


After more mockup I drilled and taped the holes that will be used to secure the awning to the side rail of the rack.



Here you can see the backer plate and bolts installed. This will basically pinch the PrInSu side rail holding the awning good and secure.



All mounted up and Maxtrax back on!



Here you can see how the mounts pint the rack. The rubber should keep the PrInSu finish looking good when the awning is removed to run on my trailer


Added some heat shrink to the zipper pulls to save the paint where I can.


First setup!


Added some paracord limit straps on my side windoor to keep it from hitting the underside of the awning when it's deployed.


Also made some paracord loops for the tie down points and for the stakes at the leg feet since the ARB strings were a little light for my liking.


Also put some 3M paint protection on the cab because the bag is pretty close when everything is all packed up.

 

Amazing work as always!! Great job OP

 

Good stuff! I just ordered today the same rotors but with the green pads. And I love my 2000 awning, been using it all summer on island beach state park. I mounted mine on my safari basket on my thule bars on my cap, this ended up being ideal for me being over 6'. Pic of the setup

 

Thank you sir, I'll be putting the awning, camper and a new project/toy to good use this weekend so stay tuned for some trip pics coming next week!

 

I agree Chux, the awning has been a great addition so far!

I'm really pleased with the EBC kit so far and have a little over 1500 miles on them and did the break-in cycle a few hundred miles ago. The braking response has been vastly improved over stock and I feel significantly more comfortable with putting the whoa on the whole setup with the trailer attached.