0210 Crawls Starbucks

Yup. Never again for me, either.

Most folks here are pretty friendly, and strata does let me get away with some stuff, but popping the hood or doing actual mechanical work is out of the question. Dreaming of a garage!

 

I was going to say why are you building stuff in your kitchen but condo would make sense.

 

haha, ya, I use to have an oil sucker and would just park my tundra front into the wall. Our parking space bordered the corner so we actually had a larger parking space then most, and you couldn't see into that area easily. I would pop the hood, prop it up on a block, and suck the oil out through the dip stick. Then just take my time with changing the filter. all in took me about 30 mins and nobody even knew about it, then I would just toss it all in the back of the truck and go dispose of it immediately at the local Canadian tire. I'd also do the neighbours car for her as well as it I figured it bought me some good mojo. Our condo was full of old people with nothing better to do then report you to the condo board. We use to get in trouble for sitting on the balcony having a drink and chatting because the downstairs neighbour would go to bed at 8pm but then get up and 5am and start making a lot of noise. We were actually good tenants, but we both had enough of condo living after that one, I do miss the quick commutes for groceries/being able to walk everywhere/etc, but I like my space.

Liking the build by the way, going a very similar route with mine, thinking of rehearing and adding in an air locker eventually. First up is front bumper replacement, lights and a winch install.

Steve

 

Sounds good! I have a front hybrid bumper on the way, too. BTW, we have the same sliders from Cruisin' Off Road - solid stuff. I'll probably have them install my front bumper + winch, too.

 

I'm planning to semi-permanently mount my Viair 400P compressor in a yet-to-be-built box that will sit along the side of the bed; this will include "hard wiring" the compressor to one of the two aux fuse boxes I have in the bed. I figured that it would be nice to still keep the compressor portable and easily removable, so I added some

AURELIO TECH Universal 6-10 AWG 120A Battery Connect Quick Connector Plug for 12V Winch Trailer Driver Electrical Devices

quick-disconnect connectors inline of the original power cable (with alligator clips).



Any of the red connectors can connect to any of the other red connectors, so I'll normally have my compressor connected to the fuse-box cables (bottom right), but can always disconnect that and connect the compressor using the original alligator clips.

 

Subd. Great write-ups and great scenery. Also Great dog.

 

Nice, might have to look into doing this with my via air instead of getting an ARB compressor and hardwiring it into the engine compartment.

 

Beautiful Sheppard. Just like the one I grew up with as a kid. What's the name of that lake? Looked like either Merritt or caribou area? Looks like a trip i should be doing myself

 

Yup, that's Merritt area!

 

Got started on making the two storage containers that will sit on top of the wheel arches in the bed. I originally intended to make these with lids, but realized that lids would serve little to no purpose, occasionally get in the way, and restrict the height of items I can carry in these containers... not to mention the additional work and expenses of extra material, hinges, etc. So, open containers it is!

I've yet to decide on the finish, but I'm leaning towards getting them line-x'd. Will have to see how much that will run me...

These both fit great: I've sized them to not interfere with items on my bed slide, a good chuck of each container rests on existing horizontal surfaces in the bed, and they fit my Viair 400p compressor and 1000W inverter perfectly. Each of the containers will have a rings (u-bolts) on both ends that will be used to secure the container to the truck's original tie-down locations via turnbuckles. I'm also contemplating making a few metal brackets to secure the wall of each container to the bed rails.

I've drilled a large hole in each end-piece to run wiring.

From the quick test-fits, I'm super happy with both the idea and implementation. These things turn originally wasted space into easily accessible storage for much-needed items. I wish someone would offer an identical, but lighter, commercial version with thinner (aluminum/plastic) walls and even more interior space (hint hint, vendors).

 

what type of MPG are you getting with the 265s? C or E Rated?

 

(Yes, I know there's a typo. No, I won't re-do it.)

Running load C tires. I stopped paying attention to fuel economy a long, long time ago.... normal~ish driving that's mostly in the city, but includes some freeway~like sections, I usually get around 14.5L/100km. Highways I'm happy to get 12.5L/100km. Short, purely-city driving is sometimes as astronomical as 28L/100km.

 

I'm starting to consider the C rated cooper at3s just for the sake of MPG. cause the e rated st maxx in a 275 is probably going to hurt quite a bit, and from the sounds of it...the job I'm going to is not as close to home as usual, 89KM round trip. All highway mind you but driving home will be in rush hour so just crawling wasting fuel.

 

Load C all the way man. Keep in mind that the stiffer load E tires will not only weigh considerably more, but will also give you a stiffer ride.

I remember noticing a huge difference in ride comfort the second I drove on these KO2s (vs. my OEM Firestone Destination LE2 garbage).

 

Just about finished my chuck-box build. Started with the 24" long "grub box" from campingboxes.com, sourced plastic containers with dimensions that are just right, and went to town:

- shortened the width of the box by 4", for a 20" total width; other dimensions left as they were
- added two plywood "spacers" underneath the stove, inserted four t-nuts into the plywood spacers, drilled four matching holes in the stove's bottom and attached it with bolts
- made right column just wide enough to fit the 6"x16" plastic containers in the bottom two sections
- the left column has my 10" cast iron pan in the bottom-most section (and there's plenty of room left); I stapled 3mm-thick rubber to the bottom of this section because I expect that frying pan to do some damage; the rubber will keep it from flying around and protect the bottom floor
- trimmed the front door, mounted it on a hinge, and added "limb riser" supports to it

The only thing left to do is to add a latch of some sort to keep the lid closed. This is a little tricky given the layout and space constraints. I may add a pull-latch through the front door, but that seems a tad excessive. Another option is to move the stove back (deeper) by a couple inches and add a few hook-latches in the opened space... Will see!

I may also add some dedicated tie-down rings on both sides. As it stands, I'd have to use the handle openings as the tie-down locations, and that may not be all that convenient in the long run.

My changes resulted in a few workmanship imperfections here and there, and the shelves/dividers I added do not have the same laminate/veneer finish as the exterior of the box, but overall I'm quite happy with how this has turned out.

 

hmm, did you permanently mount the cook partner stove to the top of the chuck box?

 

Semi-permanently. Four bolts hold it in place, but can always be removed.

 

very interesting.

 

Yesterday I hooked up my solar panel's wiring and tidied everything up. Looks/works great now.

Today I started applying leftover Herculiner on the bed boxes I built. Will cover it with a few layers of PlastiDip on top of Herculiner for a smoother and softer finish.

My All Pro expedition leafs have arrived the other day. And I managed to drop all 100+lbs of them on one of my fingers -.- ... Not advisable!

Called All Pro to ask some stuff about u-bolt kits, found out I also need longer rear brake lines. So...

- ordered two rear brake lines from All Pro
- ordered u-bolt flip kit (w/ new u-bolts) from All Pro
- ordered bump-stop spacers from Wheeler's Off Road (need to limit my rear shock's travel so that it doesn't over-compress)
- ordered Front Runner awning brackets (picked up an ARB 1250 the other week) and Front Runner shower arm bracket thing
- ordered MaxTrax (orange)
- ordered Smittybilt X2O 10k synthetic rope winch
- ordered 12 rattle cans of Plasti Dip (about 3x cheaper than buying locally)
- ordered Staun Tire Deflators SCV5

An expensive Monday.

 

I'm considering ordering 700lb springs for the front coils.

I've got the LoPro bumper coming sometime soon, plus the winch, and have ordered Mobtown's steel skids (all three). The plates are about 120lbs, the bumper is 75lbs, and the winch is 67lbs. That's 262lbs over what I have now.

I'm going to need an alignment done after rear leaf install, so I figure I may as well get the new coilover springs in there at the same time and save myself the cost of another alignment down the road...

Any thoughts on this?