Alee891's Radiant Red Build & BS

This.

287 coming into Louisville and Lafayette is horrible this way. Like @mountainmonkey said, it's most likely the spacing of expansion joints exciting the natural resonance of the truck at that speed based on its wheelbase. I know that when I drive that stretch in my truck, if I hit that speed, it rocks like crazy. I've looked over at full size trucks next to me going the same speed and nothing...

 

Also, the discussion about 1st Gen frame issues and having a full size spare is what pushed me away from doing a bumper mounted spare. With all of the other crap that I carry, it's just too much damn weight cantilevered out there.

As for the shocks, I've read in multiple places on TW and other sites that the rear frame needs to be as rigid as possible BEFORE one attempts to properly dial in the rear shocks. Otherwise, one fights the frame flex (hard to define and thus tune for) as well as the leaf springs, geometry, loads, etc. In general, I think the goal is for the rear suspension to match or even outperform the front in order to avoid bucking and the associated control issues that come with it. So it makes sense to me to beef up the frame first.

 

I would hope the rear outperforms the front simply on the fact that it's a solid axle vs. IFS. Even in it's current state my rear is far superior to the front.

*Edit: Also, let's get the plate welding party going sooner than later. Do you have any on hand right now, or still need to order? If you want to checkout the ones I purchased prior to install we can try and get together this week some night.

 

What Josh said. Rotopax mount. A little crooked but gets the job done.

 

I'm asking if you ever have frame flex to the point that the bumper presses into the cut bedsides - if that is an issue or not. Must not be though.

 

Fawk yeah! Nice recap, it looks killer! (I'm not gonna read the next 25 posts because lazy)

 

Well, when I got to Alex's place this weekend I noticed my tcase was still leaking... fawk. I narrowed it down to the gasket beneath the shift lever (I hope). Anyway, rather than going to Toyota, I went to Orielly's and picked up some gasket material and made my own. Took it for a cruise tonight to wash off most of the oil and still haven't found any evidence of a leak. I hope this pain in the ass is finally fixed.
Anyway:

 

I guess it wasn't leaking as bad as it was before if it took this long to notice again?

What thickness are those frame plates? If I get some metal for a skid hopefully I'll have enough to cut some frame plates too. It's pretty easy to flex my truck enough that I can't open the tailgate.

 

Idk, I think I just failed to notice it for a while. The rear axle is covered in oil.

Plates are 1/8 steel.

 

Gasket project held up. No leaks after driving to UPS/work this morning

 

Austin, sorry if I already asked this and then spaced it.

Can you tell me what else you went with here besides the uc82hp? I'm ready to throw down on a very similar setup. Thanks, bud!

 

Alright, I finally made it back to a comp after a shit-show at work this morning. Trying to explain environmental compliance to construction crew is like trying to polish a turd...

So the UV-82HP was actually given to me by @WillT - I'll be keeping this one as a handheld that can be used outside the rig until I get a nicer setup inside. I would eventually like to pass the radio on to someone new, once I get myself established, and keep the gifting of the radio alive.

My HAM coms inside consists of UV5R V2+ with the mag mount antenna and the battery eliminator. I also purchased the adapters (mentioned in the CO HAM thread) in order to connect the mag mount to the radio. Relatively cheap, probably in the neighborhood of ~$80 for everything. I purchased the radio without really knowing what I was getting into, then bought the other items based on the CO HAM thread. Eric sent me a link for the adapters I need (which appear to the the exact ones I already have) so I'm either an idiot and didn't look at everything properly when trying to install, or I received the wrong adapters. I'll look into it more tonight once I'm home - best case scenario is I have everything setup, worst case is I continue to drive around with an antenna for aesthetics and #EAF points.

If the HAM thing really takes off I'll likely be buying a Yaesu or ICOM and installing that. I've been doing a bit of research on APRS after talking with Monte a bit, so I may have a far more intricate setup than I envision right now. Baby steps.

 

Ah yis. Huge thank you to @aero3685 for providing the adapter tonight. Need to reroute the antenna wire so that it sits flush, but the rig finally has HAM!

 

HAM is so much better

 

Ohhh i guess i should reply to your pm

 

Whats your CS? could try echolinking to you tomorrow.

 

No call sign yet - hoping to take the test at the beginning of April.

 

Are the tests only on Saturday's? I need to do it but on a Sunday

 

they have tests pretty much any day, just depends on who hosts them...