The Getaway...Crom's build and adventures

Love the attention to detail in your build @Crom. Truck looks great.

 

Nice. My sister lives in Vista, and I've been near a few of those places, but never in my truck. She just got married in Idyllwild.

My wife and I are so jonesing for a trip. We are trying to go soon with the newborn peanut. I think we are dismissing the much loved fall color 395 Bishop route because of altitude and distance/time, and opting for something more conservative and closer in the Redwoods.

 

I've actually never been there yet. We are thinking Hendy, which is less well known and farther from the Bay Area...both good things. The drive to and from is also less...frazzling. Or Butano. Damn, I've said too much.

 

So Jealous that you have access to something as amazing as that area!

 

Ah yes, I remember reading about that spot now.

 

Awesome build dude! Is that lake Murray? Looks amazing!

 

Thanks Colton!

I understand that. When ours were born, there was a big reduction in travel and we sought adventures much closer to home.

As I recall we did our first overnight family camping trip when my oldest was two years old, and the second was 3.5 months old. Some thought a lunacy commission should have been appointed. I recall setting up the tent and the oldest disappeared on us, she ran away! A nice senior couple captured her and returned her to us. She had a bad habit at that age of running away from us. Anyhow, it was a bit rough on my wife having to nurse the infant every 3 hours or so during the night, so we decided to wait four months until the summer, and by that time the baby was eating mush from a jar. That's when we went to Bass Lake, and two weeks later we camped in Yosemite. Awesome times!

Thanks,

This is Lake Murray, a few blocks away from our home, it's part of Mission Trails Regional Park, a drinking reservoir, and it's where we go in the summer time for outside dinners, after picking up our burritos at the taco shop.

 

I need a kick ass air compressor to work with the new 33" tires.

So today the kids and I yanked out this plastic bin behind the drivers side, rear passenger seat. Three (3) 10mm bolts, and then pull the bin straight out, a bunch of plastic clips holds it in and they pop loose.



What surprised me was the amount of lunar dust in the cab.

Micro dust!


There is a vent which I was unable to find because it's on the passenger side rear of the cab. I tried to get to it, but was blocked by the sub wofer plastic bin which was blocked by the rear seat back.



I was curious if I might be able to add some kind of filter. I was somewhat limited on time as this wasn't supposed to be a 'project'. I told the wife I was just going to look at something. Anyways this was just a distraction...

The reason for all this was because I want to put an air compressor behind this seat and taking the plastic bin out creates more space to operate with.

I made a little cardboard template that I can use to later transfer the hole pattern to a piece of aluminum sheet, which I can mount a compressor to.

Look familiar?


I got the idea from MrGrimm.

It's possible too to just bolt it to the floor like @CVYota did here:


As far as air compressors, at the top of my list is the ARB dual, and the Air-Zenith OB2. I'm not planning on running a tank at this time, but might in the future.

 

VIAIR makes great stuff, my current compressor is made by them. But all their product offerings in the same class are out performed by the two listed above.

I need fast performance for this, and I'm willing to pay for it. Wife thinks stopping for 25 minutes to put air back in tires is dumb... And happy wife, happy life, etc. etc. You know the story.

 

You do know you're not allowed to remove things from national parks.
Death Valley wants it's dust back. Let me know when you're gonna go return it. I'm sure I've got some of their dirt too.
Nice work on the compressor!

 

You're right! I'm hoping to make it happen in December. Will let you know.

 

I haven't decided on what I'm going to do for the compressor yet. However, after time spent driving around on stock gearing and the new 33" tires, I'm thinking of gears! I was hoping to avoid this but there is a noticeable loss of power and I don't want to overwork the trans. I have not even driven the truck loaded yet. I got an estimate for $1600 for Nitro Gears (4.56) and install labor from a highly reputable gear shop in San Diego who's been in the business for a long time. I will contemplate this carefully but I'm thinking it's going to happen.

 

Hmm. I just installed 33's, and I actually like the stock gearing... I do keep it in 4th gear (auto trans) when not on the hwy though.

 

I noticed the loss in power as well and thought about gears but gut used to it over time and don't mind it now. It has gotten me into good driving habits that save fuel.

I ultimately decided that when my wife gets a vehicle I will either make the jump to 35's or try and get the skinny 34 from BFG and do a regear then.

 

Very good looking and functional rig!!!

Can I offer a small piece of advice? I would try and mount the solar panels without the mat under it. It would help with keeping the temperature of the panels down and maximise efficiency (panels don't like being super hot).

Just a thought! (maybe rubber bushings and bolts at the corner would hold it down properly while keeping air flowing under?)

 

Nice truck, Crom. You've done a lot of interesting things to it.

 

Thanks. I've been doing that for a few weeks now that you have mentioned it and it does help.

Yes. I am going to wait too. No rush.

Thanks. I'm digging your build too. Great stuff coming from you!

Thank you so much.

 

New Maxx EverStart Battery

So I got 1,605 days (or 4 years, 4 months, 21 days) out of the stock Tacoma battery which was new to me in 2011 after a warranty replacement of the '09 battery. It completely gave up the ghost after work today, no advanced notice! I got partial crank and then nothing. I called my employer who dispatched someone with a booster pack and I was on the road in about 10 minutes. But my dash lights were flickering and the alternator was going nuts. I kept the engine going for 20 minutes and made it home 3 miles. After I shut the truck off I metered the battery voltage and it was 12.25. Dead! Replaced it with a new EverStart Maxx. The new battery weighs 43lbs. The old one was 50lb even.

Anyways, I'm so glad this happened to me in the city and not some far away place. I had a calendar event for May 2016 to proactively replace the battery at (5) years age, but death came sooner.

Before I called my employer I tried to self jump using my aux battery and some battery jumper cables. It turns out the cables I have are weak 10-gauge, for cars! I never really paid too much attention to them as I was always jumping other folks vehicles. Nevertheless, it did not work, so lesson learned. I'm going to get some 6-gauge or better jumper cables for the future.

 

I'd say you're lucky. And if I ever do a dual battery setup, I'll be sure to remember your story and do a test jump start from the second battery.