The Getaway...Crom's build and adventures

@samiam lol which one, water or power?

 

I'm going solar to power a fridge. I've been checking out your setup over the past week.

 

But I haven't told the wife yet so we'll see how long it takes her to notice.

 

Ideally, the entire truck will last much longer if you keep it out of the sun in a cool, dry place, too.

 

Great Traveling Wilburys song:
https://www.google.com/search?q=keep it in a cool dry place&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b-1

 

Pfft. Amateurs.

http://carcapsule.com/

 

A tomb is a tomb.

 

Yeah I keep thinking of getting a car cover for the truck. Wish I had covered parking, but too much shit in the garage at the moment. Need a few weekends, or one long one to throw away, or donate everything in the way.

 

My CTEK MUS 4.3 battery charger in recondition mode took about 28 hours to bring the aux battery back! It worked, I was so happy. Even though it was only two years old I decided to replace with new, only $74 plus tax, no core charge, and I kept the old battery for projects around the house.

I repaired my solar panel and reinstalled array on roof rack. I installed battery and completed all electrical work.

Water tank went back into its place as well.

I also gave the truck a badly needed wash.

 

And can you link the Crom stuff so we can Crom-atize our stuff?

 

Yes. No picture can explain really, but what I did was I took the three conductors from the three solar panels and soldered them together and used a bit of heat shrink tubing, and used a 2-pole SAE connector to finish it off. Then I routed the power cable through the backside of the roof rack, and through a hole in the PVC mat that the panels rest on. All the wiring is in split wire loom. It's basically waterproof at this point, everything is concealed, and I'll never again have to worry or maintenance it.

I only spent $2.50 for the 2-pole SAE connector at Oriely, eveyrthing else was in my garage.

 

How dark is before the dawn!

 

I got to spend some time working on the truck this weekend.

I made the last and final bombproof mount for my ABS pipe.

• 36" x 1" x 1/8" Alum angle, quantity=2.
• Custom drilled
• Acid bath before rinsing & painting.
• Zinc plated carbon steel u bolts 1/4" for grabbing Yakima bars
• Custom 5/16-18 threadded rod bent up for holding down ABS pipe.
• All hex nuts glued in place with thread locker.
• Bombproof

 

I cut about 1" out of the Brute Force Hidden hitch. I cut a little bit more than the photo shows. This was done so I could put my 33" spare tire back under the truck and not have the tire interfere with the diff under compression. This was a success, spare fits now!



I fucked up with my angle gridner and nipped the air line. No big deal though. I cut out the damaged section, and rerouted out the driver side bumper. Only 10 minutes time to fix.

 

I bought a cargo box for the roof rack. Inno Ridge Rooftop Cargo Box - 8 cu ft - Gloss Black. I've always wanted to try one. I got the smallest and lightest one, 8 cubic feet @ 20 lbs, made in Japan. Good quality and really perfect for my needs.

Spare tire moved under truck, mounted Hi-Lift on swing gate. I'll detach spare tire mount from gate and put in garage. In it's place I'm going to make some custom mounts for a couple tables and chairs I think.



The ubiquitous roof top cargo box adds instant value to any vehicle in form of additional cargo space.

I bought mine last year and I choose the smallest model of Inno brand box. Made in Japan, very good quality. And complements the truck perfectly.

It was for the same use case as you described, essentially bedding, pillows, etc. Bottom line is that it saves me time. It's very aerodynamic.

Only one issue, and to be fair this probably goes for all boxes.

In my opinion, they all need some reinforcement to hold up to the punishment of off-road travel.

I got the box and quickly adapted some aluminum angle and u-bolts to make some custom-bomb-proof mounts that are rock solid and are precision fit to the Yakima bars.

I also drilled the alum angle for tie down points that run the length of the box.



Custom u-bolt / alum angle installed inside box


Custom mounts for cargo box, inside view


I am extremely pleased with it.

 

I've only gotten a few posts into this thread (very interesting & innovative - bye the bye), and was hoping someone could share what the fold out with the piston is for? I won't consider it a "spoiler alert" if it's explained later in the thread. thanks

 

Sure. That mod is called EZ Down tailgate assist (Custom), Oct 2016 The piston makes dropping the tailgate an easy affair

 

Yeah, the swing gate is nice, but it can be pain if you have to get back there frequently. Best thing I like about the swing gate is easy access to stuff in the basket and the fold down table. In my case I plan to make a mount for some camp chairs, awning poles and some mini tables. What's really great is that none of it requires permanence. It's all gonna stay modular. So I can always revert to any other configuration based on what the trip entails.

Yes. Double sheet metal in the corners. I actually have pics in this post: Astro Rivnut tool

 

thanks you. save to my ever growing list of "links to read".