Lord Humongous Gigahorse Tow-coma Build

I hope yall can take the Gigahorse build seriously with out the bed sides decals. Honestly I was having a hard time taking myself seriously with them on there. Even though Mad Max Fury Road was the greatest cinematic masterpiece ever created the film is a few years old now and it was time to move on.

After I retire from the Fire Department Im contemplating becoming a part time Cryptozoologist

 

I added the Bird Dawg mirror riser with ram finger grip cradle to hold my phone or what ever. My portable scanner is in there right now.

 

Which scanner is that and do you find it picks up the local emergency/police bands?

 

It's a uniden BC75xlt. It does very well and will tune into the following frequencies. ( I just copied paste, some of the band labels are a little off).

• 25- 28 Citizens Band
• 28- 30 Amateur Band 10 Meters
• 30- 50 VHF Low Band
• 50- 54 Ham Band 6 Meters
• 108-137 Aircraft Band
• 137-144 Federal Government
• 144-148 Amateur Band 2 Meters
• 148-174 VHF High Band
• 400-420 Federal Government
• 420-450 Amateur Band 70 Cm
• 450-470 UHF Band
• 470-512 UHF "T" Band

I can listen to most of the local emergency stuff here but allot of cities are going to trunked and encrypted systems which will require an upgraded scanner.

 

So the riser works on third gens?

 

Thank you very much for the info. Very helpful. Ya often forget they are going with trucked systems. Kinda of a bummer but I understand why they do it. Awesome build btw. I model a lot of what I do on my build after you and @JerryTaco!

 

nice build, I don't usually follow third gen builds but it's tasteful

 

Good call. I think I'm gonna make the same antenna move when warmer weather comes back.

 

Yes it went on easily with no modding required.

 

Definitely! I have a feeling in a year or so SDR (Software Defined Radio) will make it possible to buy or mod an old android with the right software/coax ports and be able to listening to anything affordably. Maybe even transmit too on the appropriate channels of course!?!?
Ill definitely take that as compliment!! JerryTacos truck is so BAD ASS!!! Probably my favorite 3rd gen on here!

 

Yeah I thought I understood what 8.5 feet looked like until it showed up from Amazon and I mounted it on the back of the truck. Holy F*&$ thats big!!! The 4' firefly antenna is very nice!! No spring needed and great performance! The guy I had tune it custom orders them from firestik with extra wire wraps and no tunable tip. I watched him peel the casing back and clip off little bits of wire until SWR was at 1.05. It was very affordable too.

Lately in the morning Ive been picking up some skip on channel 6 from some dude in South Carolina (at least I think from what I can make out LOL) He's probably pushing a 1000 watts. Transmit also seems very good. I haven't had a chance to truly test it but I asked for a mic check when I got home and had to turn the squelch all the way down to hear "loud and clear"

 

Well after hearing about how awesome the Powertank JerryTaco has been using is I've decided to see if I can come up with a bargain bin model that will get the job done. I do have the onboard air system already which I'll continue to use for the airbags and X jack (when ever I pull the trigger on that....) but this would take over as a primary for filling tires and open up the potential for running pneumatic air tools.
So what's the big advantage of Co2 over an air compressor? EFFICIENCY!! Last October when I was cruising the beaches in Oregon I was frequently air my tires up and down from 12 to 32 psi. This took considerable time with the little ARB compressor since it only puts out 2.3cfm. Im hoping the new gas system will be pushing 35-40cfm so much much faster for filling tires! It's also worth noting that arb compressor was getting exretemly hot with all the use. The gas system has no moving parts thus no friction and no heat or parts to burn up!

So here we go, after scrounging the kegerator and making a phone call I was able to come up with two co2 tanks to choose from. I have both 5lb and 20lb tanks to work with both for the low low price of $Free.99!!!

I cant pass up free so will definatly be using one of these 2. The larger tank is my first choice since it'll need less fills and give more versatility with tool use. It is however in need of hydrostatic testing wich I'll try to get done this week. I'd imagine it's fine but I will re-evaluate the keg tank if it fails.

I'm thinking I can get it mounted here with a 20lb fire extinguisher strap bracket.


Just a picture of my home-made chain saw motor tap handle. I can be a dirty hippie creative type too


To be continued.....

 

Atta boy! Excited to see what you come up with. I mounted mine to the same location and it works out extremely well. I did add some rubber isolators between the bottle mount and bed side as well as some large 2 inch fender washers behind the bedside to help distribute the load. Anyhow, if you wanna take a look at it, just let me know. We'll be working on a few trucks at my house on Saturday so you're more than welcome to swing by if you're in the area

 

Dude I appreciate the invite! I'll definately be in the area but I'll be at work riding on the big white truck. If we're in the hood though I'll definatly see if we can pull over for a minute.

If you don't mind can you post a link of the "rubber isolaters" or tell me where you got them? Im not sure if I know what exactly they are but I imagine they reduce vibrations to protect the fiberglass bed? What side of the bed did you put the rubber isolaters on?

 

Bingo, hit the nail on the head. I sandwiched them between the back of the mounting bracket and the bed as an added precaution to reduce vibration and protect the fiberglass bed. I bought them at Ace Hardware on McDonald in their nut and bolt Isle. That place is my go to for any spur of the moment mounting hardware or accessories I may need.

With the weight of the tank, I wanted to mount it as rock solid as possible, so everything is grade 8 hardware. In order... 6 bolts, 6 flat washers,6 rubber isolators, 6 2 inch fender washers, 6 lock washers and 6 nyloc nuts... perhaps a little overkill?? Ha ha

 

By the way, the isolator is basically a thick rubber washer.

 

No loctite 263? JK no such thing as overkill! I might run over to that ACE when I get off on Monday morning see if I can find some isolators. Any problems with over tightening and smashing the fiberglass?

 

I wish I could do a good job describing where in the bins they are. I'm working from home tomorrow so maybe I'll swing by and take a pic of the exact bin and where in the Isle it is. But I agree, so such thing as overkill. I'm of the mentality that I'd rather have it and not need it, than need it and not have it.

 

Thanks!! But no big deal if you can't. I can always just ask the retired dude that works at every ACE . I just thought of one more question about the tank. Have you looked into having it refilled anywhere in particular? I'd imagine your not wanting to do an exchange since that power tank looks so nice. I have a couple ideas I'm throwing around for painting my tank and would prefer to not exchange it either.
Also just a heads from the guy I got the free tank from. He told me liquor/keg stores will fill them but almost all of these places use a cascade setup (big tank to smaller tank) and are notorious for shorting you on gas.

 

So both sdhq and Sierra expeditions in tempe do refills so I'll be going to either of those. Have you been to Sierra yet? Cool place and Will, the owner is a mega cool guy with a super awesome landcruiser