MaineFarmer's Expo Camping Build

Just put a little order in for some bits and pieces.
I now have bilstein 5100 front shocks on the way for the front.
Four Nilight flush mount 18w flood pattern for reverse lights. And one set of 18w flush mounts for fogs.
A Cobra 75 WX ST and JVC head unit to make room for a few switches on the dash. I also picked up a nice new relay mount and fuse box to help keep everything neat.
Now it's time to get to wiring up a nice little set of lights, a bunch of which I've had for a while. I have a 21" led bar for extra backup lights and four 4" round lights to mount across the roof rack.
And best for last, I got myself a snorkel!

 

great build MF!

 

nice built, have you figure out the mounts for the shocks ? I've been debating on how to mount mine.

 

Thanks. I've been enjoying it a lot and I'm impatiently waiting on a chance to go camping and wheeling again!

I am still unsure about how I'm going to go about this. I have been thinking more about running outboard of the frame. Either hoops or a plate setup like @Croth51 built. But that means I'll have to run spacers, at least on the back, and I don't know if I want to poke the tires anymore than necessary.
The other option I'm looking into is a welded in bar to mount them up but that has its own pros and cons.
If you ever figure something out let me know how you managed.

 

Are you using shielding gas? I am using .035 flux core and the spatter is becoming a nuissance

 

I sure am. I haven't even tried to run flux core. I haven't enjoyed dealing with splatter from stick welding and figured why deal with it from my mig?

 

A package arrived from China late yesterday! When I got back from work this afternoon I couldn't help but run out and see how this new toy looked...


I think that will do just fine. Time to go get the correct sized hole saw and get to it.

 

Recently life, read full time job, baby, and building a house, has impacted my available time and money for my truck. But I ended up with a belt that was driving me crazy and a few too many parts lying around so I decided to send my truck to the mechanics for some love.
I have the 5100's installed on the middle setting ~1-1/8", had all the belts replaced and had a good portion of the steering rack rebuilt wit new inner and outer tie rods installed while it was all apart.
I always hate having to trust another person to do work the right way but this time it worked out really well.
Right now I have a couple small projects I'm working on during welding class (6 hours a week that I'm not sure where the time comes from) that should take care of a few minor things. I have needed a new rear bumper since the ball I had in bent the bumper up towing someone out. Since in building a replacement anyway it's time to deal with that pesky tire floating around the bed of my truck, add in one swing out kit from AtoZ Fab (should hopefully arrive the day of my last welding class)!

 

A little update on the bumper.




Got the swingout started as I wait for the parts to arrive for the pivot and latch.
Working on cleaning my beads up a bit.

 

I made a little more progress then hit a bit of a snag.

I figured a 10* from vertical would make the spare look nice back there.

Started getting the spindle mounted up.


Plasma cutting makes notching tube a breeze. So I got the mount tacked up on the swing out. Then burned everything together.
It took over an hour after burning in the spindle for the heat to dissipate! But I think it came out decently.
Finally I added the tire mount that came with the builders kit. And promptly forgot to take any more pictures...
So that's it for today.

 

My wife, 10 mo old baby girl and I went up to NH for some off road fun and some backwoods fishing over the very nice weekend.

Turns out everything is gated till at least May 1st...
We stayed at one of the campgrounds on RT 112 owned by the national park service. So scrapped the idea of staying in the White Mountains for a long weekend and made a dawn drive across the Kangamangus which turned out to be very pretty.




Up at the top of the pass. Always a good time on the Kangamangus and plenty of great views across the White Mountains.

From Conway we headed across the back roads from NH to Maine up to the NMW. Once we had cleared Milo and we're getting close to the Jo-Mary Rd you could feel the tension leaving everyone.


Every brook was high and moving fast. No luck with the brookie fishing but we did scope out a few new streams and a new pond or two.




Hunter (our 2 yo Lab) decided that it might be a little too early in the year for much swimming. Even so he couldn't help himself when he saw an island. Then he didn't really want to swim back across the river. It took almost a half hour to convince him to make the swim.


There was a ton of snow on the ground in the North Maine Woods. Most was well packed but where it had started to melt traction got a little tricky.




The roads were ok, if you have AT or MT tires, but you could see where others hadn't been careful and sank to the frame. Thank the lord for active logging road that rarely get gated! It was a great time!


After snacks we started to find some roads had warmed up and we're getting a touch soft.




Our RTT makes family camping a breeze, and is warm enough that a 30* sleeping bag was sufficient for temps that fell into the high 20's on Saturday night.



More than once we found our way blocked by downed trees and other obstacles.




We only saw two moose, a couple deer, and a grouse. But one of the moose sightings was quite the moment, we came around a corner and must has surprised the little guy who hopped around and took off down over a very steep cliff. Which was right about when Hunter noticed the moose taking off. It took Hunter a good half hour to calm down. We think he has never seen anything quite like it before.

We did see many tracks from moose and must have been chasing them around a bit!




While looking for ponds and brooks to go get our line wet we found a handful of the canoes that live up north, tucked into little nooks and often unattended. It is courteous to leave them alone but it sure is tempting when the fish are rising (which didn't happen this trip) and there's a boat handy.


All in all a great weekend, and made me glad I called in sick on Monday We have another trip planned for the first week in May and the whole family can't wait!