Sterling_vH111's Supercharged & Long Travel Build Thread

Had a super cool dude named Nick Valentine (NV Fab) build me some tube inner fenders, along with straightening the core support as best he could. Remounted all components in Oem location.

Very pleased with the work, price, and responsiveness of his shop, would 100% recommend him to anyone in SLO county.

Damaged pictures from Pismo 10/9/18:


Rebuilt photos:
With Oem stuff, the UCA’s were slamming into the sheet metal inner fenders, now there is PLENTY of room for those and larger tires...


Next up on the list is getting some thermoplastic and moulding some sheets to protect the fuse boxes and VSC module. And going to bedline the bottoms 1/2 of the washer fluid reservoir.

 

Cruised up Cuesta grade / TV tower road today, some killer views and a sunset provided for some cool pictures.
This is how she will look for some time.

 

Got some caliraised bed supports a couple weeks ago, and finally got a moment to install them. Easy install, great fit, and only had to trip the bed mat a hair.
Always good to have more tie down points, straightened up my bed a tad bit, and now I actually have a decent mount for my quick release flag mount (passenger) and pending CB antenna (driver).


Also finished the passenger side protective cover for the vsc module. Thermo-moulded from 0.118” thick ABS plastic, and trimmed to size.
Peace of mind in case of rocks.


Also the driver side:

 

3,400 miles, 14 days, and countless memories later... The GF and I made a trip out to Texas where I stayed with family friends for 1.5 weeks and then made a couple stops on the way home to CA.


Loaded down with a 4000lb uHaul, and close to another 500lbs of moto and moto equipment in the bed. Two 13 hour days of driving with an overnight stop in Las Crises, NM.


Filled up the tank for under $30




On the trip home (without trailer thankfully) stayed overnight in Albuquerque, NM. Then did a shorter drive to Flagstaff, AZ, got lunch with a buddy, and continued on to the Grand Canyon.
Funny thing, maps told me to go up the 89 to a road that crossed over to the 180 highway... and for better or worse I listened.


Ended up driving down a dirt road that got muddier and snowier the closer I got to the 180 !
But I didn’t complain


All in all, a great trip that we’ll remember for a long time.

A chronological story of the trip is on my Instagram as well, @Sterling_vH111. Look on my profile under a saved story highlight titled “Texas”.

 

Finally got to explore Death Valley this past week, did not have my truck, but was on a Geological field trip with my college.
Boy is this place awesome.

Camped in the calico for the first night and visited some geologic sites that day.

Piscah Crater, inside of a lava tube:


Charles Brown Road Cut:
Band of pure Obsidian !


Finally to DVNP:


Titus Canyon:
Ancient slate from pre-Pangea underwater continental shelf!


Upside down sand dune cross bedding!


Breccia and gouging from a previous 30-40ft raging flood:


And the beautiful views.


I can’t wait to go back again, spend some more time and explore with my truck !

Instagram link to a short slideshow:
https://www.instagram.com/s/aGlnaGx...g_story_highlights_share&igshid=183qzqos8gbdu

 

While I used to just see this as a mountain, I now know that it is in fact a super cool structure and the history of the Earth.
The bedding (layers) of the crust have actually been deformed into a gigantic “U” and turned almost completely upside down, meaning that as you travel leftward, the age of rock gets older.
Some pieces further down the canyon, dating from 750 million years ago when Rodinia broke apart.

Sunrise from the last morning:

 

Some really cool pics and info! Enjoyed looking at them a lot!

 

Thanks dude! I’ve found a whole new world with geology, it’s made offroad trips even better!

 

That's awesome! I always had interest in it but never did anything about it.

Props to ya! ​

 

Pismo rip a couple days ago !

 

Also a video !

https://youtu.be/5_uwL1J4tow

 

Yeah buddy!!! ​

 

Birthday weekend fun consisted of camping on the beach for a couple days with my girl and native 805 friends!

Temperatures down to low 40 degrees at night were a little cold, but being a professional BROverlander, I whipped out a heated blanket that I convienently had to pick up from my old place of residentce in SLO (sister still lives there) and stayed nice and warm.

Simply relaxed all weekend, going back and fourth between hanging by the beach and watching a show of whales breach, wave, and surface while feeding (I think), and of course, letting the Tacoma eat in the dunes !
Forgot to bring the Gopro charger, so there isnt too much footage, but got some clips of the front and rear suspension going through whoops at about 30-40mph just below pole 6.

GF grabbed a couple iphone photos while filming some stuff with Mobarmor; enjoy! :




Also, I’ve been slowly finding the very few things the bed outlet can actually power:
• heated blanket overnight (kills battery of course)
• mini waffle maker from target:

Don’t I get an Overland Bound patch for this?

 

A couple youtube clips:

https://youtu.be/QfqiUqi-RIc

https://youtu.be/Ior_CBOWHHA

 

Forgot about this for a couple months !

Installed some heated seats from Clazzio, kit number 1.


Clazzio switches Drilled into oem blanks, ideally I’d like to find oem or oem-like switches like these rav4 ones:


And a pair of ADV Fiberglass bedsides from Black Friday sales.

Pants-less:


One side done...


Making the poor 33’s look small


Almost done, just bolting everything back up.


And lastly a couple nighttime shots after work.

My ocd is calmer once again after the unevenness of only front glass is gone.

 

New jack setup; finally able to actually get the truck off the ground away on a trail or even just driving about.

• Harbor Freight 1.5t Racing Jack
• DMZ aluminum skid
• DMZ front and rear pin mount
• & the handle quick-fisted to the other side of the bed


A Pro Eagle jack pad has been swapped onto the HF jack, along with their 13” extension that is kept in the cab where the oem screw jack was kept.

 

02/22/2020:

Awesome weekend camping in Johnson Valley for @dzrtspar7 on Instagram Birthday!



Took the truck through some whoops, chased linked and caged rangers and an OBS F150 all day.

Also met the Baker Hot Rod Works guys and got to check out their Death Cart — a Crown Vic that has been gutted, body chopped off, and a built motor stuffed in it !

https://www.instagram.com/p/B9DV3AjHVtL/?igshid=8ft3a4f25ne0

 

Finally Bedlined the inside of the rear ADV bedsides like the fronts, looks much better!



Also made a little bedside support for them that doubles as a mudflap mount as well.

 

Decided that links will have to wait for another year or two, so in the meantime I decided to go for a budget midtravel setup.

Bought some lightly used 2nd gen Ford Raptor bypass shocks, they cycle 12". I also had a pair of Locked Offroad 2.0 x 2" pin bumpstops laying around, so a buddy and I threw those on as well !

Old Toyota mounts grinded off and the springs set at bump.


Simple shock hoop and a beefy bump mound - everything clears and it in its final place!


Drooped out. The shocks still have more shaft left to extend, as wasn't able to get as much bump travel out of the springs as I was hoping for.


A few more pretty shots after everything was painted and bolted back up.


Next this warrants a set of new rear shackles and hangars to get the last few inches of droop out of the shocks.

Archive Garage, BAMF, TopFab ?

I don't care as much for strength, as I won't be rock crawling or slamming these on boulders. Mostly looking for increased droop.

Anyone have thoughts as to a shackle flip or keep the oem style?

 

Nice work!