The Adventures of Trusty Dusty | Camping Rig

Awesome pictures!!
I'm digging your topper! I got a little bit shorter one. How did you mount the awnings ?also did you glue the insulation or it just fit in there, why didn't you do the ceiling?

 

I had that same code on my 2004 Toyota Sienna. There are some tricks you can Google to try to stave it off but ultimately I had to get the cat replaced to clear the code and pass smog. Cost about $600 at an exhaust shop.

The kicker was a few weeks later had to do the same damn thing for the second cat. Ouch!

 

Thanks Chris! I love the topper, I got it with the aluminum ladder rack, which knowing what I know now, probably wasnt the best start, but I've made it work. I hung some unistrut (I wish the whole rack was that stuff) and used that to mount the side awning. Since I had such a tight window to fit the back one above the taillight and below the box, I pretty much clamped it with bolts to the vertical portions of the ladder rack, seems to be holding solid! I've been trying to shy away from drilling into the rack, so finding work arounds to turning it to swiss cheese.

I didn't glue the insulation, It has a thin layer of carpet beneath it, and we found that when we drew out the shapes on the insulation, as long as we cut on the outter edge of our sharpie marks to make it a little too big, we could squeeze each piece into its spot and it would be solid without any adhesive. Some are a little loose, but the shitty RV paneling on top holds it all in. It also holds moisture in....but thats another story. Didn't do the ceiling for a few reasons, 1- I'm 6-3 and I had the topper built so I can sit up inside it perfectly. PERFECTLY. that extra inch would have me hunching while playing cards and drinking whiskey. 2- we literally used every last scrap of the one 4*8 sheet of insulation on everything else, and didn't feel like we needed another! The canopy is super warm as is.

 

Yeah, it's been a slight annoyance. it pops up every once and a while, but since I wired in an ultra gauge, I can just shut it up whenever it pops up! Where I live, we don't have a smog check, so I haven't had to worry about that bit yet!

 

I have OME springs and Leaf packs also on my rig and they are awesome. Love the ride and support.

 

Looks like maybe an 81-83, I used to have one of those, the early ones ate 5th gear bearings due to material and operator failures. Nice truck though, mine had a header and a Weber carburetor, pretty angry for a 20R 4 banger...

 

OCTOBER 2020

WERE GOING BACK IN TIME!! Originally I said that October didn't include much, but that was a little lie. There were exactly 31 days of fall fun, and I guess I hadn't looked through my pictures enough, because there was some fun truck (and other car) stuff too. When the weather gets bad, it seems like I would rather work on the truck than use it, and lately, the lady is so busy with work and grad school that she doesn't have free time, which means I can either adventure alone or work on the rig and stay home. Both happen. THis early weekend in october though, I started my Lights Kick. I'm still in a lights kick, but more on that later.

One day at the auto parts store I noticed the book of light part numbers and started looking through, having read threads about folks putting LEDs in all their cab lights and other things like that, I wondered if they had those cheap LEDs that would fit here? They did! New LED cab light, and amber marker lights installed quick and easy. The cab light makes a major difference, like you can actually see at night! I still need to do the little map lights by the mirror, but those aren't on as often anyway. I also like the idea of the amber marker, becasue without amber the markers are white from the front and orange from the side. This looks cooler I think, and most of the time when driving during the day I keep the markers on for being safe AND cool.

While on this lights kick, I also ordered and installed my new best friend, this single row LED light bar. I considered putting it behind my plate in the slot there, but figured it easier on top of the bumper. Looks great, and works greater! Came with harness and switch. around $150 if I remember correctly. In the winter, my drive home is dark and rainy, and the amber floods light up the deer on the side of the road very nicely!



Here are some light on pictures for your curiosity...Deer Detectors


and Bunny burners


Since we all like cars and car things...heres another fun thing that happened in October! The lot next door to us has been getting cleared and built on these last few months, exposing some trees to wind that have previously been sheltered. That plus a nice windy day equals some new swag on the ladies Subaru...what are the odds of that?!?!?

OUCH


Now I kinda wish it was the truck, would give me an excuse to replace the already cracked glass...probably would be cheaper too!

And finally to prove that we really did spend time outside, mostly picking mushrooms....

There was plenty of gold out there this fall! Still working on using that nose for good...

 

Nice roof rack! I just got the same kind of Yakima Q towers roof rack and extension kit. It took lots of ordering used parts off of ebay and digging through used gear stores since they are discontinued. What did you make the custom struts that are in the middle out of? I want to replicate that on mine.

 

Great stuff!

 

Rad Dude! Good on you for finding all that, I got lucky and found them all together on Craiglist. I have and answer for you, then i have a warning.

The Struts I used are called "super strut" or "uni strut'. Depending on where you are at your local hardware store may carry them. I like the low profile version because they are...low profile. Usually paint mine black, however the last time I bought longer lengths i went through McMaster Carr and found that they have a few colors powder coated, as well as a bunch of different types and other useful brackets. https://www.mcmaster.com/struts/

I used some U Bolts, spacers and creativity to attach them at the same height as the extender on the yakima rack, (I wanted that all to be flush across the rack). But I bet you could find a style of bracket on that website to help. Look at the twist lock strut channel nuts when you want to bolt stuff on there!

OK now for my warning...not sure if you have put those Q towers on your truck yet, but compared to newer roof racks that grab under the door gasket, these SUCK. They go over the gasket, which no matter what we tell ourselves, ruins the seal on the door. I don't know about you but I live in literally the wettest place in the country soooo they probably have something to do with the puddle soaked into the carpet under my passenger seat for 6 months of the year.

Just sharing my experience...maybe I need to find someone who lives in the desert to take it off my hands.

 

Thanks for the info and advice DustyT22!
I went and purchased a steel strut to cut down to size, and some u-bolts from a hardware store. What did you use as spacers on yours? I made a wind fairing out of black 1/8" PVC foam board and attached it with yakima's wind fairing parts kit.
I have only test fit the Q-Tower setup on my truck, and haven't had it on in the rain. I see that you live up in Shelton, I used to live in Olympia and love the South Puget Sound. I live down in Eugene now so I am concerned about the PNW rain leaking past that door seal after hearing your experience. I think I'll put it on and see if it leaks for me too. Thanks!

 

No problemo! For spacers I just used some pieces of rubber that I had lying around, worked well to get the strut down to the same level as the Yakima extenders. Nice! South sound and Olympic Peninsula are the bees knees! I notice the water accumulating behind my passenger seat, who knows it could be from somewhere else, the truck is 22yrs old after all. Im doing a pretty big rebuild on some things, and am considering redoing the rack on my camper to include a cabover section, then getting rid of the cab rack, pictures of it all to come...when time and motivation line up of course! Hope yours doesn't leak too much!