Chenbro's Second Silver Taco Build

A couple weekends ago I went camping with a buddy on Half Moon Creek trail just outside of Leadville, CO. This was excuse enough for me to get a Trasharoo.



Parked at the campsite:



The area had gotten 3" of rain the night before, and the forecast predicted more rain in the evening. We got lucky with the weather staying clear and allowing us to get some great views of the sky. I wish I had brought my other camera with me.

At the end of the north fork of the trail is an old structure called the Champion Mill that was used at the turn of the 20th century in conjunction with a nearby mine.

The 4x4 trail ends just short of that, with a posted sign prohibiting motor vehicles and a locked gate, half of which fell down and needs to be repaired. Obviously these measures aren't enough as people have made their own trail around the gate, and when I was up there I saw a 4runner, older Lexus SUV, ATV, and Dodge Ram ignore all of that and drive right up to the mill. The Lexus got caught up on something and damaged a passenger running board. It was hard for me to drum up sympathy for the driver, who got out and looked helplessly at it.

Rant over, we parked outside the gate and hiked up to the mill.



At the bottom of the mill, an old truck and outhouse:





Pretty cool that you can see where the truck came from:



Not much privacy:



An old boiler?



Champion Mill in all its glory:



Inside the mill on the bottom level:



Dat structural engineering:





Looking from the top down into the valley:



Also at the top, some people decided to get their pew pew on but declined to take their brass and other trash with them. One more thing to go in the Trasharoo.



I didn't get any wheeling pics, but I did get a video of one of the water crossings on the trail:

 

Had a busy Saturday with @3378jakesr5 installing the brand new @ARCHIVE shock relocate and shackle flip kits. Overall the process went faster than expected, with the bulk of the time taken up removing the stock shackle hanger rivets and grinding the stock shock towers and axle mounts off. The instructions for the shock relocate and shackle flip were pretty clear on what needed to be done and we didn't have any issues fitting everything up.

@3378jakesr5 torching off a stock shackle hanger:




@ARCHIVE garage shock tower freshly burned in:




@ARCHIVE garage shackle flip mounted for a test fit:




I didn't realize the King smoothies didn't come with reservoir mounts, so for now the reservoir is zip-tied to the frame

 

looking good!

now go flex that shit!

 

I've been so busy this summer that I haven't time to hit any trails really

Going to be running a trail with some buddies next Friday. I'll try to remember to take pics

 

Did you get your front dialed in?

 

Yeah, but after this weekend I have quite a bit of rake. I don't want to add more preload to the front until I get new boots for my CVs. The inner boots look like they're going to tear any time now.

 

Didn't you read the handbook on safety shorts?

 

I got tired of the zip ties a couple of weekends ago and got some weld-on tabs for 2.5" reservoirs.





I also had some holes cut out in the rear bumper for new Rigid SR-Q2 backup lights. I've removed them in this pic to paint the exposed metal.



Even though it wasn't a problem with the old lights, I was a little concerned that the breather on the back of the pods would be susceptible to debris kicked up by the rear tires. Since the lights are flush mount but retain the mount from the non-flush-mount housing, I added a 1/2" spacer to make it a little more difficult for small rocks to hit that breather.

Before:


After:


Right now the lights come on when I put the truck in reverse, but I may need to rethink that decision. At 3000+ lumens, the new lights are much brighter than the old ones.

 

I recently (about 7 months ago ) got some Rigid Chase lights in amber that I thought would make for a good trail and utility light at the rear of the truck. Each pod has a low-power trail/dust light, high-power brake light, high-power strobe, backup light, and a cargo light (pointing down). The plan is to be able to control some of the lights manually, but also have some of them controlled automatically using existing truck wiring. For example, I want the high-power brake light to come on ONLY IF the dust light is also on, the strobe should turn on if my hazard lights are on, and the backup light should turn on if I throw the truck in reverse (there is another switch to control this automatic function as well to avoid blinding people at night).

All of this functionality means that the lights don't come with a wiring harness so it is a completely custom install. I used 6-pin Deutsch style plugs at the end of the pigtails.



My swingout had the perfect spot for these pods above the Rotopax.



For now, I only have the automatic functions wired up until I get my SwitchPro installed. The backup light comes on when the truck is in reverse, and the strobe turns on with my hazard lights (including when I lock/unlock the truck). The cargo light on the bottom of the pods will be pretty useless where they're installed now, but in the future if I decide to add a bedrack then I can relocate these pods to the upper corners of the rack and have the cargo lights illuminate the bed.

 

Teaser shot of the SwitchPro. The 4 buttons on the left side are the Rigid Chase pods. I have the rock lights waiting to be installed, and the remaining buttons are for some Baja Designs LP9's that I picked up recently.



Teaser of the BD LP9

 

Installed my SwitchPro button panel into the overhead sunglass holder.



The goal of this was to be able to continue using the sunglass holder because I usually have an extra pair of sunglasses in there. My SwitchPro 8100 is an older model with the "ears" so I didn't want to mount it to the outside surface of the door. The plastic is also a bit too thin to secure it with screws without them showing, so I designed and 3D-printed a bezel that will sandwich the sunglass holder and hide some of the slop from my work.




Test fitting the two together:



First I cut a SwitchPro-shaped hole into the sunglass door. This would serve as a reference for everything else.



This next photo is the inside of the sunglass holder. I've carved out some of the foam so the ears and wires can sit flush against the plastic. You can also see the extra cuts needed to accomodate the bezel's grips.



I cut some craft foam to go over everything to make it look nice. The mask is there so the spray adhesive doesn't get onto the SwitchPro or the wiring.



Test fit of the foam:



SwitchPro with bezel installed:



I drilled a 7/16" hole and fed the wires through

 

Can't wait to see the LP9s mounted! Let us know what you think once you use them at night

 

Bad ass! Nice job Davis!

 

When you install the slee arb fog lights let me know I'll come do mine at the same time......

 

I can't wait to see them at night either. Really pleased with the tight beam when I bench tested them, so I'm looking forward to seeing how much distance I can get out of these.

Thanks!

I just finished them up this afternoon, but I'm more than happy to offer moral support when you're ready to install yours!

 

How was drilling though the bumper? Seems like it could be easy to mess up

 

It’s not too bad but it will really mess up your day if you get it wrong. After taping the template to the bumper, double check the figment with the front metal pieces and use a punch to center the drill bit in the hole. The flare nuts can be hard to install in spots. I would recommend getting the top ones started, then sliding the insert in and tightening them down. For other holes you might find the edge of the flare nut sits right up against the insert. For these, have the nut against the insert and start the bolt at a slight angle and then straighten once the nut is threaded on.

 

So awesome you 3d printed your own bezel