The Frankenstein Build! LT/Expo/Trail rig..and BS

I probably figured the clutch was fine, I don't need these. lol Il ask Trail Gear when they email me back

 

Yea let me know what you figure out.

 

Will do, thanks for the help

 

Monte,

I went back and looked at about 20 -30 pages of post, but I don't remember seeing pics of how you mounted your c02 tank. care to share?

 

When I saw it, it wasn't permanently mounted. Just wedged into the passenger front of the bed, amongst all his gear. It probably made it much easier to pull out and use, especially with other vehicles.

 

Trying to figure out the best way to mount mine. Searching TW didn't show any easy to find pics of people mounting theres. I do have a track system in mine, so I am trying to incorporate that into it, that way I don't have to drill into the bed side. maybe a few threaded rivets through the bottom and some angle iron or strap up to the track system. Not sure, Open to any suggestions and pics.

 

Actually it had a bolt. I had 3 in the bracket actuall. Two on the bed rail and one in the base. But the trails rattled out the top two bolts as they were too short and couldn't get em tight enough.

Idk if I have pics or not. Ill will get some next time I'm HO,e as I need to get new bolts anyways.

 

This is how I mounted it in my truck after I stole it.



Two carriage bolts into the rail. Sitting on a piece of wood.

 

Monte, another question, i'd like to make a bed rail for the front of my bed so i have more options for tiedowns, and a place to mount my CB antenna.
Should i build one of just shorten a 2nd gen rail?

 

You mean like the bed tie down rails?

i just put in 4 2' sections in mine. 2 on each side from US cargo for my tie downs. Works great.

But if you can get a 2nd gen rail setup for cheap i bet you could make it fit pretty easily.

 

Yeah, I'll look into the US cargo ones.

 

Have fun shopping

http://www.uscargocontrol.com/Ratchet-Straps-Tie-Downs/Airline-Straps-Hardware

 

Are you using something like this on Frank?

http://www.otrattw.net/BATTERY-SELECTOR-SWITCH.html

 

ehhh...sorta...

I just have a big ass 500amp relay that disconnects or connects the positives of the two batteries. Then i just have a normal switch. I just flip it on and off as im driving to charge both batteries. Leave it off naturally when its parked.

 

Is there an advantage to the way you did yours? Cost? Function? I suppost a switch inside the cab might take up less space.

Does the ortattw one look descent for the money?

 

Say Doc rolleyes... what all would be needed to re-gear for 4.58 or 4.88?

Keep in mind I really don't wheel much (yet), but I now have my canopy/tool box that together weigh around 200 pounds at the most in the rear. I will be getting an Elite Front Bumper in a few months, most likely a WARN m8000 winch in the (near) future & potentially a rear plate bumper down the road.

This all is gonna make my power dismal so I'm looking to upgrade.

My parents said they'd buy me something for my bday (November)/Christmas combined since I will be at boot camp in San Diego from December-March sooo I figured that's as good as anything.

 

Also, now that I'm perusing the Eibach/5100 Gallery thread... what's the benefit from getting new UCAs/LCAs aside from a better alignment? Will stock UCAs/LCAs do for what I need it to? No wheeling, at the worst- very shitty forest roads.




When we gonna see that LT?

 

That one would take up a lot of room You also would not mount it in the cab. It would have to be in the bay by the batteries.

The way i have it is its in the cab and i can change on the fly when i need too.

The down side to really both ways is that it's manual. YOU have to constantly alternate the switch. Remember how in CO mine wouldn't start off the starter battery? It was cause i was leaving the solenoid on the whole day meaning both batteries where linked. So the secondary was getting all the charge as it had the most load on it. So i had to jump myself three mornings.

In other words, through out the day, you have to switch solenoid on and off every so often. Once i started doing that more regularly, about every hour or so leaving it on the starter for 15-30 mins, i was totally fine.

Thats where the Nat. Lumina kit or something fancy like those is nice. It monitors the starter battery for when it dips below 10.1v and switches the solenoid off to let the starter charger for 15mins. Then goes back to the secondary battery till the starter falls below 10.1 again.

So that said..i think you'd want a setup like mine if your gonna go the homemade "cheaper" route like me with the switch in the cab.

Or cough up the huge bucks for the auto setups. Which all usually only have a 200amp solenoid..not a HORRIBLE thing..but considering winches peak up to 450amps some times..i like have a 500amp constant draw one....but thats just me over building.

You have 33s yes?

If your an auto, get 4.88s

if your a manual, go 4.56s

for the installs you'll need the Ring and Pinon gears for both diffs. A reverse cut 7.5'' front set and either a 8.4'' if your rear is an open diff or an 8'' ring for the elocker.

You'll also need the master install kits for both diffs.

Idk if you know how to do them but setting the up is VERY important and on toyota diffs, or so im told, is a bit tricker then most diffs. If you planning on doing them yourself do lots and lots of research on them.

Silas(Slogetto) did his own gears and would be more then happy to offer insight to setting the backlash.

otherwise, most shops charge about 6-800 for labor i have read i think...not 100% sure on that.

UCAs with the Billies and Eibachs will just help your alignment. New LCAs wont do anything..unless your LCA bushings are shot then its usually much much easier to just replace the full LCA.

UCAs DO give you benefits if you ever decide to get a nice coil over like Kings, Foxes, or Icons. Just make sure you get Extended Travel ones. In combination with the UCAs, you'll gain about 1'' more down travel or more and a bit more up travel. Giving you basically Mid travel which is a great setup! i Saw Jerry's Mid travel in Moab before he hacked up his truck and the front flex was VERY impressive.

LT?? idk what your talking about...

 

Thanks. Yeah, a manual system makes a lot of economic sense. And that big honking roto-dialer thingie doesn't. Especially if it has to live under the hood. Makes way more sense to have a simple switch inside the cab.

I saw National Luna and IBS systems at Sierra Expeditions, each were around $400.

I'll probably just start with the bigger alt and see what that gets me. Adding a 2nd bat add quite a few layers of complexity.