Cuda's Photography Overland Truck Build & Portfolio & BS

How's the sidewall strength compared to the E's. I'm going to be in Arizona and Utah (and likely New Mexico) later this year with a significant amount of off-road miles on gravel and who knows what else. The guy organizing the workshop recommended 2 cans of industrial sized Fix-a-Flat for those in rental SUV's, so I'm guessing he knows from experience that tires are going to be taking some abuse. This isn't going to be a hard-core wheeling rig any time soon, but I do drive it solo off the grid often enough that tire durability of the Rugged Fails has been the only thing giving me pause on a few trips thus far.

My auto-dimming mirror and ImMrYo bracket arrived last night, should have those installed by the end of the weekend at the latest. Still waiting for @#@$)(@%!@_)! Chase to send me a referral email for a new Chase Sapphire card before I start my big buying spree. Till then I'm still researching (ie: over thinking) things such as rear springs and tires and switches.

 

Well, the other tires you are looking at are barely AT tires. My 285/70/17 (more sidewall than yours) aren't bad. i haven't been offroad in them yet, but they don't sway much around turns. I can feel it a little bit when i get the truck just so, but they seem plenty strong. They are a little thicker with the side lugs too. also have a few more 16th of tread than the Nittos or the other tires you are looking at i think. I never had a problem with my Nittos (also p rated and the only issues i had was with nails and screws in the main part of the tread which were fixable), so i don't really anticipate any with the Falkens. They have really good reviews from multiple off road websites (they did use the E load ones, though)

 

i guess looking at the cooper ones, those are E load (just a lighter E load for the size you are looking at) so they do have deeper tread (17/16th vs 14/16ths on the Falkens) they are just a less agressive tread.

 

NEW MOD TIME!

Ordered the Rigid SRQ Diffused backup light kit to fit the bumper I have on order, unfortuntely the bumper still has a number of weeks till it's done, so those will sit lonely in the corner of the work room for a while yet.

I've got a message into @Yotamac for a Bussmann setup and mounting plate, also got the Blue Sea

$36 9003e e-Series Battery Switch, On/Off, Red

9003e battery disconnect switch for the winch, so that project is once again moving forward, switches will be my next purchase on that front.

JBA Upper Control Arms ordered, and will be ordering from Headstrong for my OME lift setup as well in short order. 885's up front, Dakar's in back, Nitrochargers all around. Will be pulling the 3rd leaf on the rear springs and hoping that's enough with the little extra weight of the new bumper in back to keep things with a mild rake.

 

Sweet photo man!! Truck looks good. Can't wait to see the bumper!

 

You'll have yours before mine, only diff I believe will be the light cutouts. I really wanted to buy the flood Rigid's instead of the Diffused because I liked the look of the non-diffused lens better, but damn if I don't have this whole 'function before form' thing I'm generally trying to stay with.

Photo was taken while waiting out a storm a couple weekends ago, big hail falling just to the north of us there, so was waiting it out while getting some sweet shots of the storm and the truck too.

 

They are going to be perfect in there!

Wow!!! I really like the orange!

 

@ChadsPride

Diffused:


Flood:

 

Yessir!!! The diffused will serve you well!

 

@ChadsPride, went with your recommendation and got the diffused lights, and in nearly a matching red to the Rigid packaging, the JBA UCA's also have arrived.


otrattw switches arrived. I have things to hook up to all but one of them (the Rock Lights), haven't decided if I'm putting rock lights in just yet, but since that was the highest chance possibility and the rocker is easy to swap, figured I'd just go with that for the moment vs a blank. Plan to start the wiring loom this weekend, TacomaPros should be sending me an updated invoice for the engine compartment side of the wiring soon.

Hasn't been all smooth sailing on the mod front, received my Dakar springs and found them to be mis-matched. Thankfully ARB was way easier to work with about getting another revised spring to me than I'd feared, so hopefully this is just a minor setback.

 

Putting together ideas for a custom bedside decal, I'm likely going to go with some variation of the design incorporating the compass rose that I've seen around with 'Expedition Edition' and such, but not sure 'Expedition' is the right term for the truck. My idea is to put a camera aperture icon in the center of the compass rose as a subtle hint at my photography without advertising 'hey, might be expensive shit in the truck to steal' My ideas thus far, and please chime in with any of your own are (in no particular order):

Adventurer
Wanderer
Expedition
Explorer (damn Ford for ruining that word)

 

"Life Capture Edition"​

 

Shamelessly stolen from @Geremy who got the shot right after we dropped the truck back down on the wheels. Dakars in a week (crossing fingers). I think it has settled a little from this shot on the drive back home, I didn't look at the UCA angle here compared to what it's at now.

 

That's some decent lift!!! What'd you put on?

 

885's and OME Nitrochargers, JBA Upper Control Arms. It's probably already settled a tad, I'll check the measurement in the morning. I'll be happy anywhere between 2-2.5", suspect with the little weight I've got in the front with the bumper/winch combo I'll be somewhere in the middle of that.

 

Looks good! You ordered the Dakars already?

 

See up the thread a little, I've got one of the revised springs, and one of the non-revised springs. Called ARB on Friday, they've sending a revised spring for me, hopefully have that by the end of the week so I can put the rear together next weekend and get things sitting right. Right now I'd feel like an ass driving at night with as high as those lights would be aimed!

 

Nice! I remember seeing that now. Going to be awesome once it's all in!!

 

Yeah, tomorrow I'll put the jack under the rear of the truck to determine how much lift I want back there and then break down the Dakars accordingly. I'll probably just pull the 3rd leaf, without plans for a cap and not a lot of extra weight from the rear bumper (I'm guessing 40# extra at most?) think that'll get me in the ballpark of a slight bit of rake without it being extreme.

 

Darkar's minus-the-3rd' leaf is in along with the rear Nitrochargers went in over the weekend thanks to a helping hand from a few local TW folks. Had to take a grinding wheel to the lower shock mounts to get the shock bodies to fit, need to figure out how to paint the now exposed metal back in there, it's still a fairly tight fit even how much I ground down. Hope to get a chance to get out and get some photos, but guessing right around 2.25" front and rear, maybe closer to 2" in back as the rake doesn't seem quite as strong as it was before.