Leppz Overland Build and Trip Reports

Ya, I have a package sitting at the border too. This one got shipped to my door but it was too high value for them to leave it there. My CTEK D250s Dual DC-DC charger and solar regulator for my auxiliary battery. My parents were down in SoCal with their travel trailer for the last two weeks. I'll get them to pick it for me on the way back. No duty or taxes that way.

I love the Pelfrey bumpers. I really like their rear bumpers. I think they make the nicest looking rear bumpers out of all the manufacturers. What model did you go with? High-clearance? Swing out?

 

That's so sick. I really want to get a dual battery and solar set up eventually. your whole build is looking mint. the fridge slide is rad. I ended up building a quick platform behind the driver seat instead of where you did yours, and i think i might copy that other guy from the GB, and mod the fridge to open sideways. Really wanted to make the platform like yours, but have 4 people too often.

I got the aluminum plate front, and the high clearance rear, but no swing out. Really wanted the swing out but eventually decided against it because i always have a canopy on, and need to get into it a lot, but don't want to have to swing the gate out every time first. That, and i mountain bike, and hang the bikes over the tailgate pretty often, and that wouldn't be possible with the gate, and finally, the dclb doesn't need to be any longer! haha

 

Nice. You'll have to post up some pictures of your truck once you get all those goodies installed. I hear ya about the swing out and the DCLB being long enough already. 33" tire fits in the spare location anyways with a little modification. I don't plan on going any larger than 33"s with this truck myself. I'm still debating if I want a swing out myself. Honestly the one thing I like about them is the option of a fold down camp table and the Expo points.

Are you a member of BC Toyota 4WD? I've only been to a few of their meets but there were tons of local built up Tacoma's. Wondering if I saw your truck at one without knowing it?

 

I have the bctacomas sticker on my windshield, but I don't have facebook, so can't be part of the group haha. My friend is though and has a wicked build going on. I've never been to a meet, but the next one they have I want to try and get to. Are you a member?

Now that I think about it, I'm not sure if the BC Tacoma's and bc Toyotas groups are the same thing actually...

The camp table was definitely a huge pro on the side of getting a swing out, really wanted that feature. Contemplating some sort of slide out and fold down option mounted to the side of the bed, but don't think it would work. In the end I'm not going larger than 33 either, so no swingout should be okay I hope!

Edit: the expo points definitely almost converted me! Hahaha

 

I'm member of BC Tacomas and BC Toyota 4WD on Facebook. They are two separate pages/groups. Tons of activity on the BC Toyota 4WD page, too much to even keep up with, but the BC Tacomas page is pretty much dead.

I have a white BC Toyota 4WD sticker on the back of my truck. I haven't been able to track down a white BC Tacoma sticker. Seems like whoever was getting them made hasn't made a new batch in a long time.

 

Nothing quite like putting your truck together late into the night on the night before you are suppose to leave for a camping trip.

Everything's back as it should be, with a few changes. It's far from perfect and still needs a bit of work but it'll get me through this weekend and that's all that matters!

Just some pics for now, I'll do a better write up once I'm back in town as well as adding some pics from our trip.

 

Very nice build. You have put a ton of planning and thought in to it. Also, putting the fridge in the cab like you did is one of the most unique and probably one of my most favorite mods I have ever seen someone do!

 

Looking sharp Ryan! I like that battery install. Have a great weekend!

 

That's a killer looking bed set up! Have a great trip!

 

Chehalis Lake, Easter Long Weekend 2016



Access is via Harrison West FSR. A portion of the drive along Harrison West FSR near the Wood Lake Rec Site has been devastated by a forest fire that happened near the end of the summer. The fire was first discovered Sunday, August 02, 2015 and burned an estimated 1,386 hectares until it was declared 100% contained in early September. I drove this FSR in December of 2015 but the damage done to the area wasn't fully appreciated because the area was blanketed in snowfall. It is pretty eerie driving through the area now and looks nothing like it once did.



Once past the forest fire damage there is a couple of switchbacks that offer a great view of Harrison Lake. I stopped to snag a photo of the truck.




Near the bottom of these switchbacks there is a turnoff. Look for theMystery Creek Forest Service Road sign. This is the road that leads to the north end of Chehalis Lake. Continue along this road and eventually you'll hit a small logging camp, keep right. You'll go across a bridge and then shortly after you'll come to a Y junction. Going right up the hill will take you up a nice lookout and up towards Statlu Lake. Going left will take you down towards the north end of Chehalis Lake along the upper Chehalis River.

A little history on Chehalis Lake.

Source: Google Maps and Impacts of the 2007 Chehalis Lake Landslide

The evidence of this slide are still evident today. There is tons of driftwood lining the beaches and you can clearly see where the Tsunami wave took out the shoreline. But it is still none the less a beautiful spot. The wave took out 3 campgrounds but luckily no one was killed or injured in the slide/tsunami as it happened in the off season. The only way to access the lake currently is through the north end via Mystery Creek FSR as the south side has been gated off and the slide debris took out the FSR along the lakeside that connected the North and South access.

Mystery Creek FSR is fairly decent for the most part. There are a few areas that require attention closer to the lake. There is one washed out section that a Ford F350 driver decided was too much for him. He turned around in front of us and we kept going without an issue.


The road does get a little narrow leading onto the River Delta draining into the lake and there are a few deactivation ditches along the way but if you are okay with some possible new BC pin stripping its ultimately nothing a stock Tacoma can't handle.



Here is a photo of the lake that I took upon our arrival


The weather was warm and sunny but we knew the nights were going to be cold. Check out the snowline!

We quickly set up camp to make claim to our new campsite.



This area is still really undeveloped. There are no outhouses or fire rings. There is also tons of driftwood along the beach that makes it difficult to gain access to the water. Not wanting to hurt ourselves tripping over driftwood we decided to clear a path down to the water.



I wish I had taken a before photo of this, but you get the idea.

Enjoyed the sun while it lasted and then cooked some food over the fire and sat and admired the twilight.



Woke up Saturday morning, made some breakfast and admired our campsite.
There were two waterfalls visible from our campsite.



After breakfast we did some exploring.

Found a long forgotten van that had driven off the now closed FSR.



Found a couple old growth trees. I found this pretty awesome considering how extensively this area has been logged.




Setup the solar panel and charge controller to top off my auxiliary battery. We were charging tons of devices off of it so I set up the panel to help it keep up with the load.



Fridge slide worked amazing! Definitely one of the best mods I've done to my truck to date.

I froze a few water bottles and used the small blue cooler to keep some water and drinks cold.


Explored along the river...




...and found lots of Jeeps having fun...



...and some Toyota's too.



Went back to camp and took a few more photos, made dinner and started a fire.



Spent the night around the fire having a few drinks and sharing stories. It started to rain on us just as we were packing it in for the night.

Woke up sunday morning to some mild rain. Packed everything up wet which is always fun and headed out for home.

One the way out, back through the washed out section. My buddy in his 4Runner.


and some more eerie scenery on the way out along Harrison Lake through the forest fire damaged area.

 

awesome trip man! looks really great! i havent been to Chehalis yet. May have to head out there soon and take advantage of that trail you worked so hard on! haha. how was the water? pretty cold?

really like the write ups you do of your trips as well as mods. really easy to follow

 

Thanks, it was my first time going to Chehalis as well. Really neat spot and pretty close to home. I tried convincing some of my other friends to come with us but in the end could only convince one other buddy and my GF brought her step sister with us who is visiting from Winnipeg. I think after the rest of them see the photos from this trip we'll end up doing another trip up there this summer.

The water is about as cold as you could imagine this time of year. Me and my buddy did go for swim after a little liquid courage and by swim I mean running into the water screaming, dunking our heads and then running out of the water just as fast still screaming. It was painfully cold, still lots of snow melt coming off the mountains draining into the lake. You're camped right where the cold river water is draining into the lake so that definitely doesn't help the water temps.

The short trail we built actually didn't take too long to build. I mentioned to the rest of our group that we should clear a trail to the water. They all looked at me like I was nuts. I shrugged it off, grabbed my cordless Makita 18V sawzall with wood blade, shovel and axe and within 5 minutes had 5-10ft cleared. After they saw how fast I was making progress they all stepped in to help and we had the path cleared in about 20 mins. I'm not sure how much the water level of this lake fluctuates. Its quite possible with the snow melt that our beach and a portion of the trail end up going under water during the spring melt before going back down during the summer.

 

Gorgeous.

 

Sweet build

 

CTEK D250s Dual



Got my CTEK DC-DC Smart Charger and Solar Regulator installed and up and running today. This is a huge step forward in my build and my dual/auxiliary battery system. With this unit I now have a truly maintenance free auxiliary battery system. No longer do I need to worry about setting up solar for recharging or removing my heavy as fuck 105ah deep cycle AGM battery from the truck and putting it on my bench charger.

For those that are unfamiliar with the product here are its features

• Multi-step 20A DC-DC smart charger (hooked up to starting battery/alternator)
• Battery separator that eliminates diodes, VSR's, and allows charging between two dissimilar battery types (wet cell starting battery and a AGM deep cycle auxiliary battery)
• Two power source inputs (alternator and solar panel).
• Solar panel regulator with Maximum Power Point Tracking, which can be hooked up for synchronised charging with the alternator input.
• Maintenance charge of starter battery from solar panel once auxillary battery is fully charged.

I plan on eventually hard mounting solar to my truck but until then this unit will make sure my battery is always fully charged once I reach my destination. This unit will also more efficiently charge my battery from my solar panel as it is a MPPT (Maximum Power Point Tracking) solar regulator versus the cheap PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) solar regulator that I was previously using.

I've been watching eBay for a while now and I was able to score this unit for $120 USD. They normally retail in the $250-$300 USD range.

The wiring instructions from CTEK can be a little confusing. There are also many different variations of wiring diagrams that can be found online. The install for my application is pretty straight forward. This is the wiring diagram the I went off for my install.



CTEK recommends using a 30A inline fuse on the positive wire ran from the starting battery/alternator and using #10 AWG wire. I used a 30A fuse and bumped the wire size up to #8 AWG.

While #10 wire would have been just fine I used #8 because I found it on sale at a local store for less than what they had #10 wire going for. I also needed some #8 wire for wiring my 900w inverter that requires a 40A fuse. I also prefer the non insulated cable lugs that are commonly available for #8 and larger wire compared to the cheap insulated lugs that you find everywhere that get used with #10 and smaller wiring. I realize they make non-insulated connectors and lugs smaller than #8 but I've yet to find a local store that sells any.

I started my install by drilling a hole through my sleeping platform straight through into my box.



I cried a little inside at this point because I hate drilling holes into my truck and try to use existing holes whenever possible but I did what needed to be done. I drilled a 1 1/2" hole and the hole in the box will get sealed with some "duct seal" which is a basically a moldable clay like putty that will seal the hole against water and dust. It's easy to remove and run more wires later. My solar wire cables will find there way through this hole eventually so that is why I went with such a large hole.

After drilling the holes I ran the positive wire to the starter battery. This can be ran along the frame rail with the stock harness all the way up until underneath the drivers seat. Because of the front suspension, exhaust, motor, tranny, etc, the only way to get the wire up to the battery is to run it with the stock harness through tbe floor, into the door sill, under the dash and up and through the firewall.

Here is some photos of that process.







Starter battery w/ Inline waterproof 30A fuse installed.

I ran the ground wire from the CTEK in #8 as well. This was put underneath a threaded/taped bolt that screws into the frame that holds the parking brake cable. No photo of this, hard angle to get a good photo and I had about enough crawling around under my truck at this point.

Once the ground and positive wires were ran, the install was pretty easy. Here's some pics of it complete, minus the solar leads.



My 900w inverter has been mounted for now. I'll wire it later once I decide what I'm going to do with an outlet and a remote start button. I had this inverter previously mounted underneath the platform by the left drivers side cubby hole at the very back of the truck so that I could reach it with the tailgate down. I didn't like this location as it interfered with gear storage. This is why I built the battery/electrical box at the front left of the box to keep everything contained and out of the way.

After everything was hooked up I did a quick test with the truck running to confirm the Chargers working.



13.5v, yup it's working!

 

Finally did something to lock my fridge slide in the closed position. I've just been throwing a rolled up towel next to the door to prevent it from sliding.

I tried sourcing a locking t handle pin for it with receptacle. Something along the lines of this.



After trying to source these parts locally and failing I tried ordering online through a US distributor. They refused to ship to Canada and even refused to ship to my US PO box. Dunno what they have against Canadian consumers but they can go fuck themselves.

So rather than spend more time trying to source these parts I just ended up DIY'ing it with some parts I already had at hand. I honestly should have just done this from the beginning.

Total cost $0.00, simple and effective just the way I like it.



Cut and bent a peice of 3/8 rod. Used a torch to heat it up before bending.



Heat shrinked the lower portion and wrapped some good 'ole Canadian made hockey tape around the handle portion to be easy on the hands.



Screwed on a 3/8" ceiling flange with the hole and threads reamed out. I didn't want the rod chewing up the wood so I used this plate as a guide for it. I also don't have to unscrew the entire portion just the bottom plate by doing this.


And then screwed another plate with the thread intact at the bottom.



Fridge in place, and slide officially secured

@ChamYota you might find this useful for your DIY slide.

 

Packing the truck up tonight, headed out on 1 night overnight trip tomorrow morning, stay tuned for another trip report/photos.

 

Nice pictures of your camp and Chehalis Lake. Electrical and fridge slide lock looks good.

 

Hey, awesome write-ups and a great truck. I'm curious, are you keeping track of the weight gain from stock to now? How much is the truck fully loaded with passengers and cargo?

 

I haven't tracked the weight from stock. I really do need to weigh the truck dry and fully loaded. I'm usually way heavier heading out on a trip than returning because I usually carry as much firewood as I can and at least 40L of water. Most of my offroading is done fully loaded with all of my camping gear so I really need to do something about the stock suspension to gain back and add some much needed ground clearance.