AdventureTaco - turbodb's build and adventures

Aluminum Rotopax Tailgate Plate Mount
June 18, 2017.

As our excursions have been getting longer and more remote, I’ve started paying more attention to things like the amount of extra fuel and water we carry. It’s still nothing too extreme - 6 gallons of fuel (50-100 miles) and 6 gallons of water (several days).

And for convenience of packing, I’ve switched over to Rotopax from the cheapo red plastic gas cans and 1-gallon milk jugs. Of course, even finding deals on Craigslist means that I’ve spent a small fortune on the containers. But, they look great and are relatively compact when a trip gets started…

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Of course, after driving for a while - over the mountains and through the woods - they quickly rearrange themselves in the bed of the truck, especially now that so much of our sleeping gear is permanently stored on the rack above the bed in the new CVT.

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Keen to solve this problem, I quickly looked past the cheapest, easiest, and most obvious solution: build a 3-6” tall box out of ½” plywood that would contain the Rotopax and keep them from sliding around - or at least would have them slide around as a unit, much like the other storage bins in the back of the truck.

In fact, I looked past this solution so quickly that it never even occurred to me until Pops suggested it on the phone as I was describing the more elaborate solution I’d employed.

My first thought was to mount them to the bed rack, but the height of the rack precluded this solution (I kept it purposefully low so that the CVT is in the wind-shadow of the cab).

My next thought was “new rear bumper with swing-out” but I knew that’d be months in the manufacturing and delivery. (This is still my favorite long-term solution.)

So in the end, the solution I choose was to mount everything to the inside of the tailgate - which would keep it from sliding around, and would utilize materials I mostly had on hand (I’d acquired two Rotopax mounts for free as part of one of my Craigslist finds).

My idea was to mount a steel plate (though I ended up with aluminum) to the inside of the tailgate, and then bolt the “extended mounts” to that in the appropriate position, holding the Rotopax in tension against the tailgate. I’d make the “extended mounts” by using an appropriate length of ½” threaded rod between two standard Rotopax mounts.

I got started by drilling out and tapping the center hole of the two Rotopax mounts to accept the threaded rod. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that they were made of aluminum, which made the whole process a piece of cake (and easier on the tools!).

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With the mounts prepped, it was time to remove the existing plastic clips in the tailgate and weld in some ¼” stainless steel nuts that would accept screws from the front of the aluminum plate. Again, this went relatively smoothly (so much so that I forgot to take a picture of the welded-in nuts…but they are in those square holes).

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With the tailgate prepped and the plastic liner back on, I marked for and drilled the necessary holes in the 3/8” aluminum plate I’d picked up at the salvage yard - 4 holes to hold the plate to the tailgate, and two 3/8” threaded holes to mount one Rotopax mount to the plate. I also made some wood blocks to keep the Rotopax aligned.

By removing those two bolts, I get “normal” usage of the tailgate as well - a nice plus for hauling situations!

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And with that, all that was left was to stack the Rotopax, test out the “clamp,” and see how it was opening and closing the tailgate. The clamp worked great, and the tailgate seems reasonable (with the packs full). I have to be careful opening and closing due to the extra weight, but it’s totally workable.

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And with that, the packs are sure to stay well organized in their corner of the bed.

 

Mr. Turbodb - so great to find this and read it. Reminds me of my time living in the PNW eager to get out and trying to go backcountry before the weather was ready to cooperate.

I ran the entire OBDR in August of 2000 with a friend on our motos. What a great trip... and I'm heading up to NE Oregon this fall and was thinking i might take an extra couple of days and drive out to the Malheur Ford and do that Seneca-Unity section again. Couldn't ask for a better trip report! I will keep my fingers crossed that snow/trees/and the river levels have given way to a mostly open route. But I will bring a chainsaw just in case.

 

Sounds like fun! We're considering a second attempt later this summer as well . Post up a trip report if you make the run.

 

Will do... I'll be out there aug 23-25 I think.

 

Great Write up, Scenery, Story. Doh on Ms. Turbo Db not closing the gate.

 

Aweseome. I just got @mrs.turbodb to agree (actually, she suggested!!! ) to try running it again at the beginning of August, so I'm going to have to call down and figure out if the river crossings are fordable as we get closer. I'd hate to head down again just to get stymied by the same things. Will definitely have a chainsaw this time too.

Thanks! It was a doh! but it's turned into a great story. Even she loves telling it now, LOL.

 

Fantastic! I look forward to the report!!!

 

Bring extra Chains & a sharpener too

 

What the hell is wrong with Cacique making chorizo out of BEEF!?

By the ways, Cacique is the WORST chorizo out there.

I'm sorry to say, no chorizo imported to the States or made in the States is good.

 

*steals idea*

 

Cool story

 

Go for it. I'm not sure it's my favorite idea though - it does make getting stuff in and out of the truck a bit harder b/c that side of the tailgate is effectively blocked. I'm going to give it a few more trips before making a final call.

Thanks!

Welcome. Some day in the not-too-distant future, I'm hoping to hook up with your gang for a trip, given we're all in about the same area!

 

I'm in Seattle, but Idaho's not all that far, and we often find ourselves in eastern WA/OR as I know you've found yourself in western WA . Just got back from Alberta and eastern BC (Banff, Yoho, and Jasper). Biggest issue for me is getting away from work.

 

Canada Adventure to Glacier, Yoho, Banff, and Jasper
June 30 - July 7, 2017.

June 29, 11pm: we finally decided to head to Canada for a week of camping. We’d leave the next morning at 7am sharp. It was going to be awesome!

But let’s rewind… We’ve been wanting to go to some of Canada’s National Parks for a while. So, in late 2016 when we discovered that Canada was celebrating their 150th anniversary by giving away free access to their national parks for 2017, we jumped on the opportunity to get a pass, and we started working out plans to hit Banff and Jasper during the summer. Little did we know that not only would we nearly scrap the trip, but that we’d then end up seeing two additional Parks Canada.

Early June rolled around and I started planning, and we got a great itinerary. But as we reached the two-weeks-until-departure date, it looked like the weather was going to be cloudy and rainy the entire week - not a recipe for success, when the goal is amazing views and a (good) time to remember for your nearly-7-year-old.

So in mid-June, I quickly also planned a trip to our own Glacier National Park in Montana. It’s a similar distance from our home base, we’d always wanted to go, and weather there was going to be 80 degrees and sunny all week!

But we kept an eye on the weather and slowly but surely the forecast for Canada got nicer and nicer. Just a day or two of clouds with a small chance of rain. And with that, we made the call to head north, with 8 hours to spare!

Day 1: Driving to Glacier National Park, British Columbia

Our daughter generally enjoys camping. What she doesn’t enjoy so much is the driving to get where we’re going. And this time, there was a lot of driving. Ten hours or so, assuming we didn’t hit traffic, stayed on-route, etc. As she’s started to read more and more things have gotten better, but once we get into the “how much longer?” line of questioning, it becomes unrelenting. But @mrs.turbodb had a plan: books on tape. (More accurately, on memory stick.) About an hour into the drive, we broke out the first book, and when it ended 8 hours later, we were almost to our destination: Glacier National Park, British Columbia.

And then we arrived at Loop Brook campground, to clearing skies.

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It was time to start exploring (that’s an old train trestle piling that’s being climbed), and then setup camp and BBQ a pizza.

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Day 2: Yoho National Park

With the big day of driving behind us, we drove another couple hours to Yoho National Park, where we had three destinations: Tekakkaw Falls, Natural Bridges, and Emerald Lake.

When we got to Tekakkaw Falls, the clouds were back and it was a bit drizzly. @mrs.turbodb and I looked at each other, hoping we’d made the right decision. Oblivious to it all, @mini.turbodb ran up the trail to the falls.

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We also stumbled upon two red Adirondack chairs - a treasure hunt of chairs celebrating Canada 150, sprinkled throughout the Parks Canada system.

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And with that, we were off. As we drove away, we could still see the falls and the sun was starting to peak through the clouds as we drove through a 25’ snow drift that had been cleared from the road just one week before.

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Natural Bridges is an amazing rock formation where the water from an entire river goes into a hole in the rock, and comes out the bottom - think of it like a tunnel. And this is no small river. We took some pictures, ate lunch, and had our first rock-skipping opportunity (which would become a trend everywhere we went) of the trip.

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Ready to move on, our next stop was Emerald Lake, where the recommendation was to rent a canoe. At $60 an hour we passed on that, but we did make the 4-mile trek around the lake - our first of many hikes on the trip. And, not the best showing for the small one. There were I think three timeouts as we made our way around.

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Emerald Lake really did live up to it’s name. Of course, it turns out that all the lakes we saw were this awesome emerald green color, since they are all fed by glaciers in the Canadian Rockies.

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It’s Canada Day (July 1)! I’ve never seen such a patriotic crowd as Canadian’s on Canada Day (way more so than American’s on the 4th of July). Almost everyone was wearing a Canada shirt, or had a flag on their car. It was great to see, and some of us couldn’t resist joining in!

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Being Canada Day, all of the campgrounds were full and that suited us just fine. We headed just west of the Yoho Park boundary and found ourselves a nice little forest service road where we setup camp, ate tacos and roasted marshmallows for dinner, did some exploring, and enjoyed an amazing sunset.

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Day 3: Banff National Park

We did a little sleeping in the next morning, and some more exploring around camp before packing up our things and heading out on our adventures for the day. We had what turned out to be our major hike of the trip to Lake Agnes planned for the afternoon, along with a morning of exploring Lake Louise.

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Lake Louise rock skipping complete, it was time for lunch and re-application of sunscreen (there was no more rain in our future, as it’d get progressively hotter the rest of the trip). Then, set out for our second big hike of the day - a 1500 foot climb over two miles to Lake Agnes and the Tea House.

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In an attempt to improve overall enjoyment, I bet @mini.turbodb that if she didn’t have a tantrum all day, that I’d make her mac and cheese for lunch for a week when we got home; and if she did have a tantrum, she would buy me some of my favorite french fries. Being that she loves pasta, the bet was on.

To help her out, the entire trip up to Lake Agnes, I made up a story that kept her attention focused on something besides her legs, and by the time we’d gotten back down, we still hadn’t had a tantrum.

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After Lake Agnes, we headed to Banff by way of the Bow Lake Parkway. Knowing that Banff was the most crowded place we’d be, this was the only night I’d reserved a camp site. That made us happy, because campgrounds are smoky, loud, and full of other people (and in Canada there are no tents, just Canadream and AdventureCanada RVs).

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We hit the sack early, with plans to get up very early the next morning for one of the highlights of the trip - a drive on Icefields Parkway - the road that connects Banff and Jasper.

Day 4: Icefields Parkway

We’re used to long days in Seattle during summer, but it turns out that driving 9 hours north, and moving one time zone east, they days get really long - withsunrise around 4:30am, and sunset close to 11pm. By 6am, we were awake, packed up, and heading out of Banff with two goals: exploring a cool “trail” in Johnson Canyon, and then a drive to Jasper along Icefields Parkway.

Exiting Banff at sunrise couldn’t have been more beautiful.

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Not long after, we arrived at Johnson Canyon to an empty parking lot - a good sign given the traffic jam we’d seen there as we’d driven by the day before. Johnson Canyon is a cool hike, almost entirely on boardwalks anchored to the sides of the canyon, giving a whole different feel to the whole experience.

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And then, it was time for breakfast (as the parking lot was filling up) and getting out of town for the main attraction for the day, Icefields Parkway.

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The way I like to describe Icefields parkway is that you’re driving between peak after glacier covered peak, next to aqua blue lakes as far as the eye can see. To the point where - by the end - your reaction is “oh look, another one.”

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And then, just as we were arriving in Jasper, we saw our first bear - a relatively small black bear. @mini.turbodb loved it (she was scared so it was exciting), and immediately jotted it down in her journal.

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Campgrounds were full, so we headed to overflow (which was nicer). Setup camp, explored, skipped some rocks at a nearby pond, and ate dinner before hitting the sack. Another full day!

Day 5 and 6: Jasper National Park

As soon as we arrived in Jasper we could tell that it was more our speed. Half the number (or fewer) of tourists and just a much slower pace. We hiked around, visited an Old Fort, drove up to Lake Malign, relaxed in the park downtown, saw more wildlife, swam in glacial lakes, napped, and ate ice cream. And of course, we camped outside campgrounds (in a beautiful spot with way too many mosquitoes). This was our kind of vacation.

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And then, it was time to start our trek home. We decided that we’d head out of Jasper to Mt. Robson Provincial Park to find a forest service road where we could setup camp. We were not disappointed, finding our best site in Canada!

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@mini.turbodb also made her first fire (with a little help), which she was pretty jazzed about.

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It was a fire that lit up the sky.

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Day 7 and 8: Homeward Bound

Knowing that we had a long drive in front of us, we got up early again to break camp. Sun rising in a forest of dandelions, we ate breakfast and packed our things.

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Then, it was out of Mt. Robson Provincial Park and down the backroads of Canadian highways (which were amazingly beautiful) to Leavenworth, WA for a special dinner at the Sleeping Lady and a final night camping in our favorite spot up Icicle Creek Road.

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A lazy morning the next day, we watched the river, skipped some more rocks, and of course caught this frog before heading home around lunch time; ready for showers.

 

Awesome trip report.....seeing pics of the motherland brings a tear to my eye

 

Great adventure. I loved the icefields highway.

 

Thanks. It was super beautiful, and it was extra special to be there on Canada Day, I think.

Welcome! Definitely the highlight of the trip for me. Would be an amazing place to have a multi-day back route with camping along the way.

 

Glad you had a great time up here, you should definitely come back in the winter. If you think the Icefield Parkway is beautiful in the summer you should see the magic of the place on a cold winter day.

And a fun note you can walk down and stand inside Natural Bridge in the winter, which is pretty cool.

 

Fixing the Stance - New Alcan Leaf Pack for the Rear
July 15, 2017.

The truck has always had a bit of rake, with the rear being ~2-3” higher than the front. And I like it that way - it looks good.

Until the constant weight of the bed rack and CVT, the combination of stock leafs, Deaver AALs, and air shocks that I installed as part of the suspension overhaul were working reasonably OK. “OK” because I’ve never been able to get the air shocks to hold pressure - they lose about 10lbs a day, so I’m constantly filling them (which is easier with the ARB compressor installed). But with all the weight, the truck generally took on a more level stance.

With more and more trips, I decided it was time to fix the problem once and for all. I wanted that leaned-forward stance, and I want it all the time - not just when I got off my lazy butt and filled up the shocks.

So I started looking at new leaf packs. I initially thought I’d end up with OME Dakars with an extra leaf (which I could have gotten as part of my Toytec kit, so I was going to kick myself if I could have saved money) or the All-Pro Expedition Pack, since both had additional load capacity. But then I did a bit of reading around on TW and it seemed like a lot of the guys who have a bunch of gear and do a bunch of off-road driving tended to go for Alcan’s.

And, I liked the fact that Alcan is sort-of-local and custom built to my specs. So, I gave them a call and ordered up a set of springs with 600lbs extra carrying capacity and 3” of lift. Oh, and new, larger U-bolts.

Communication wasn’t their strong suit, but a few weeks later (a totally reasonable timeframe IMO), the springs arrived. And they were heavy. At 68lbs each, they weigh about twice as much as the stock leafs, but have a similar unsprung profile, which is good - I don’t want the stance to be too crazy.

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When the weekend rolled around, I got started with the install. Given my work-time-prediction history, I hoped that I’d be done in a couple hours, but I allocated a full day.

It took 6 hours. Including some unforeseen problem solving. I’m getting better.

The overall process was mostly straight forward.

1. Jack up the truck and gain access to the leaf springs.
2. Remove the old leaf spring on one side.
3. Install the new leaf spring on the same side.
4. Repeat 2 and 3 on the other side.

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When removing the bolts on the front of the leaf springs, and the pins on the back, I was worried that they'd be seized. Not even close - while tight and requiring a breaker bar, they were in great shape and totally reusable. They torqued right back on at 116 ft-lbs in the front, and 67 ft-lbs on the shackle.

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And then, with a little convincing, the Alcan's were installed. New, larger U-bolts were part of the deal as well - these are 9/16" diameter, torqued to 90 ft-lbs.

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After installing the passenger side, I knew there was going to be a problem with the exhaust, but I hoped that it would "fix itself" when I installed the other side. It didn't (of course) and so further action was necessary.

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I was about as comfortable with this "further action" as I was when the good folks at Relentless chopped my frame and front wheel well liners when installing the bumper (which is to say I cringed the whole time). Because, as much as I like to make my truck more capable…I do really like it being as stock as possible.

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And with that, I'd successfully stumbled through another bit of maintenance. The stance, even loaded with gear, is now perfect.

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Man, I'd love to come back in the winter!

Thanks, glad you're enjoying it. Tons of fun doing it all, and then writing it up