DCLB Overland/Long-Term living build

If anyone is in the area and ever wants to fish (recently completed a certificate of professional fly fishing guide program at Colorado Mtn College) or just explore old mining areas im out every day im not in class, should be back up there late july as im currently in texas at my parents house.

Im not a hard core wheeler and stick to moderate trails, im in it for the scenery.

 

So it's not all text: More photos.
did a trip out to Moab in May, Fins N Things.






More of the old setup: (Anyone in colorado, i will give you the carpeted plywood for the price of a high five, the passenger side board is cut back about 1 foot as i wanted an easy access to the water jug to fill my nalgenes) - The boards are in summit county


Places ive either made camp or have taken naps at








Exploring Leadville, the Arkansas River and some trout

 

Needed a handle for the 4ft drawer but it needed to be low profile. found a roadie box handle that is spring loaded to keep it down. started to chisel out the pocket... ended up making a jig to get the router in there without blowing out the pocket. a little over 3/8" deep, fits like a glove.


The bed is now secured to the headboard. My Dad and I will be modifying the drawers tomorrow to install a hidden latch so they stay closed while driving and offroad in the mountains.

The Dual battery parts have shown up today so i may be bolting up the isolator and getting the wiring in the engine bay done tomorrow as well. I already have 0/1GA going into the truck and is at the back wall so it should go fairly quick.

Water pump and filter shipped today as well so more projects coming up.

A friend of mine is also helping out the build and sending me a KC Highlights 20" LED bar which ill flush mount in the grill or lower bumper, i want to play with light output at different heights as i have Baja Design Squadron Pro Wide/Cornering lights in the factory fog light location.

the whole project should be wrapped up by July 22nd provided the slides for the fridge do not take long to arrive

 

Front 5100's ordered and will be here tomorrow, those will get installed when i end up doing my brakes before heading back to colorado.
Just going with the 1.75" lift amount to avoid issues with alignment and CV angles even though i know i wouldnt have issues at 2.5"

Rear will get an AAL courtesy of TacoDriver08, and i will cycle the rear end to measure exactly what shock i need and with the help of my shock guru friends decide what valving would give me the best results.

Since i am selling the rear firestone airbag kit, i will need to add bump stops but not sure what route ill go with. would love to do a ubolt flip and bumps but the retail price on those kits is just way too much when im able to make most of the parts.

 

Make them. I went to my local fastener chain store and ordered ubolts, then cut and drilled the flip plates out of 3/8. I say make as much stuff as possible. Anybody can buy crap of the Internet. Keep up the good work on your Taco, it's looking good.

 

Absolutely, it also helps to have access to plasma tables and CNC press brakes as well ha. Would love to setup the rear with air bumps but i doubt ill hit the bumps hard enough to warrant them

 

Figuring out my onboard water setup, ended up with a 6 gallon jug, it should be enough for a few showers in the boonies when im not around a public shower or just bathe in the river.
The water pump and strainer will fit in the little storage cubby with less than 1" sticking out which is fine.







Picked up the front 5100s which will be set at 1.75"


and the memory foam mattress in the sheet my mom sewed up fits nicely

 

Just got back from a quick vacation in Cabo, and tackling more on the build out.
Picked up a Duralast Group 24 AGM for the second battery


Got the isolator mounted up and the 0/1ga cut and routed to fit neatly. just need to attach it to ground and an ignition source now.


My friends come by to watch me work and shoot the shit since ive been workin on it a while now.


Got curtains mounted... Never judge the thickness of the shell when screwing into the fiberglass... poked through the outside with the very tip top of the screws. Shit happens, worse things could happen, ill build low profile fiberglass pods and mount some flood lights in there and bolt it down to cover the holes and provide some area lighting when camped.




My Mom tackled another project for me while my dad and i worked on the truck today, dryer lent+sawdust+gulf wax and a hemp wick= water proof fire starters. we tested one of them in the backyard... once the wick burns down into the saw dust and lent, it takes off in a nice fire.


Water jug/pots & pans storage, and a spice rack/cutting board knife storage box over the wheel well.


My Grandpa gave me this US Army hatchet when i was 8 yrs old.The hatchet head is stamped with the year 1945 and the location it was made, that part is now fadded. It was painted olive drab but i wanted a cleaner look and needed to clean the blade edge anyways. I then sanded all the paint off, took the blade to belt sander to reshape the blade and get a nice beveled edge. Then stained the handle and finished it off with a sharpening stone, it is Extremely sharp now. Mounted on the side of the bed with quick grips


Also mounted an ABC Fire Extinguisher for safety.


The "wood floors" are 3/8" foam with bamboo print, just enough cushion to them

 

Very nice set up man!!!!! Love all the work your doing your self. Sub'd for future pics

 

Thanks, it has been a blast working on it with my dad even though we butt heads on design aspects at times but we always find a way that works well.

It is also much more rewarding to show it off and say "i built that"

 

I agree, building something that you have pride in is completely different than buying something offline and bolting it on.

 

So much awesome. Subd

 

Finished the build out in the bed today, Only need to connect the wires to the fuse block in the cab once it gets mounted.
A little plumbing to do from the water jug to the pump and find some sort of nozzle sprayer and the shower setup is done too.

I wired up two 4ft sections of white and red LED strips for each side of the camper shell, gluing them to strips of velcro and sticking them to the roof for an easy attactment.









Its a tight fit but the battery and sub box fit against the back wall, the wood will be covered with black carpet and the blue sea fuse block, fuse for the dual battery setup, and distribution block for the larger power cables

 

Now we're cookin!

The edgestar that i got for free because it wasnt cooling that i added leak sealer coolant to it and had it working bit the dust (Anyone in Houston, if you want to try to fix a non cooling 63qt edgestar, its yours for FREE just need to pick it up by this friday the 22nd).
Luckily PPL RV/Motorhomes had a Dometic 52qt in stock so i shot down there and picked one up.


Went to the fabric store with my mom and picked up some black felt.


yes i know the one fuse block is crooked, i fixed it a bit but i am not going to fuss over a few degrees.


My dad measuring the spacing for the base platform which the slides mount to


0/1ga negative battery cable that bolts down to the frame just outside the cab.



Mattress installed and looking a bit more like home. there is my very first blue foam egg crate bed roll from when i first started camping with my dad with Indian Guides( father son "tribes" that go camping together... this was before Boy Scouts) underneath the memory foam and my short backpacking bed roll under that. it is very comfortable.


^The curtains have reflectix inbetween the fabric to help control temperature change, they are working great in this texas heat.

Only waiting on switches to finish up the wiring and the shower parts show up tomorrow.

 

This is so great. If my wife ever leaves me I'm totally selling the house and doing this!

 

haha aww c'mon, it shouldn't be too hard to talk her in to downsizing to 27.5sq ft haha

 

LOL yeah right

 

Have the fridge slide base platform painted and bolted in, got the one slide installed, thought we had all the screws but were 12 screws short to finish the whole slide platform and the hardware store was closed when we realized it.

The top part where the fridge sits got wrapped in black felt as well for a nice clean look.

 

really cool build, definitely going to follow. It's a sleeper in more ways than one. I like that it looks inconspicuous and stock from the outside.

Don't know if you're finished with your LED lighting in the canopy, but i did something very similar. two strips along the inside with velcro as you have, but then, on a separate switch, i also put a strip along the lower inside edge of the rear canopy door. That way, with it opened up, you can switch it on, and it illuminates the tailgate perfectly for cooking or working on stuff or whatever. Just a thought anyway! my wife loves it!

also, if you hadn't thought of it already, you can cut small slits in the canopy carpeting, and fish the wires through it to clean up the look.

 

I may have to re splice some wires to get it under the shell carpteting, much better idea than i had planned ha