The never ending money pit

Well figured I have been lurking on here long enough it's time to post a bit. Truck build is mainly geared towards fishing/camping trips with some light trail runs in there
Dec 11,21 I picked up a new to me 18 DCLB sport after the third deer finally put down the old ranger. So here's the build story to now.

The day I picked it up. So clean and stock.

First batch of mods included.
Leer 100xl
Fuel kicker 17x9 +1
265/70R17 duratracs
Rokblok XL flaps
Knock off heritage grille
Trd skid
Baja designs squadron amber fogs




Next step was a big one at 1 year
Elka 2.0 2-3"
Spc uca's
OME med leafs
Rigid spots
Cali raised ditch light brackets

About a week after doing the lift the 265's just looked small so 285 duratracs went on. At the same time new lower control arms since the caster bolts had seized in place.
Lift was set at 3" up front which I would not do again but it was done intentionally for a future step.




Then came a couple mods I had always wanted to do. A winch and darker. Because what else says cool off road truck?
Greenlane aluminum stump bumper
Smitty x20 10k winch
Arb snorkel
Diode dynamics 30" amber combo
Few notes on this update.
Diodes stage series bars have awesome light output but this is more of a true amber and does not contrast well with the baja's. The stealth light bar brackets do not work with that bumper ended up building my own sketchy mounts. 20k later they are still solid.
The snorkel install was one of the hardest things I took on. Not due to difficulty but building up the nerve to chop up that fender to mount it. Other thing I want to note is the snorkel is more so for dust/splash protection aswell as some cheap insurance if I did manage to dip that intake below a waterline. (Did this with my second gen was not a fun experience) I went from killing 3 air filters in a summer to I'm still on the same one in a year.
I had the lift set to 3" to help compensate for the coil settle and the sag from this added weight as my target was around 2" of lift. 3" just constantly topped out on trail and was quite unpleasant.

After having the cap vandalized I sold it off as it really didn't work as I wanted for camping.
Bakflip mx4
Prinsu roof rack
Pelican v800 boxes
Ov tune
Diode 42" roof light bar spot pattern
Sketchy abs fishing rod holders
Mounting the diode light was easy with the supplied mounts, had to notch the deflector about 1/2" on each side to accommodate it being a touch wider that most.
That ov tune smartened that transmission right up didnt really change to much up to improve fuel economy but made it alot more drivable overall especially while towing.



After my spc's x axis joints died after 8k I made the move to much simpler uca after alot of local guys having the same failure. Also never liked the fitment of the trd skid to my bumper so that brought on a change.
Okx engine/trans aluminum skids
Dirt king uca's
Diode sae fog wide amber
At this point there was a few items showing some wear from trail use.
Bent drivers tie rod
Outer passenger cv boot tear
Clamshell bearing vibration
Everything but the clamshell bearing was replaced with oe. Took the time to install the ecgs bushing to replace that. And let me tell you that made a world of difference to smooth it out.


This brings us to the 2 year mark with this truck. And another big dollar update.
Cmc/pinchweld rear fender liner
Summit offroad apex 17x9 -25 bronze
295/70r17 yokohama G003 MT
Ark splash gaurds
Did I wear out my dura tracs? No. Did I have any complaints on my duratracs? No. Did I feel like trying a new tire after running them on my last 3 trucks? Yup. I had always wanted to change my wheel out due to them being quite heavy and when the opportunity popped up to score these at a good price and I was already doing a cmc to make the -25 fit hey why not cram a slightly bigger tire on there at the same time and cancel out all weight savings from the wheel change. Would I reccomend anyone do a cmc simply to fit a 295 over a 285? Nope.
Having said that the 295 does add just that bit extra to the appearance I found, or it's just those g003's.
The g003 has been a really suprising tire so far I have noticed no impact to drivability or fuel economy so far. Tire is very quite given how agressive it is. I barely notice it with the wind noise off the roof rack.
Only 600km on the set up so far but 10/10 I have no complaints. See how I feel after driving them in -20

April 23,23 update



Few new additions to help prep for the camping season.
Treeline 6.5x6.5 awning mounted directly to the side of the prinsu rack the misses and I are short enough Mounting it off the rack was high enough and I can still access my rack box with it pushed all the way out.
Baja designs s2 lights set up for reverse/chase lights. Had a fun time launching the boat in the dark last year really hoping these make it alot easier.
Lastly tossed on an auxbeam switch panel and cleaned up all the wiring in the engine bay.
so far happy with all the new goodies will update this again with some feedback on everything once i have some hours on everything.

Oct 19,23 update
Didn't want to run the G003 MT's over the winter so we t ahead and mounted up a studded set of 285/70r17 yoko G017's right curious to see how they do being a rather new release from yoko.


There will be much more to come with time as the finances allow.
Feb 3,24 update
Started dumping some money into improving the camp set up for this summer.
Added Ra motorsport element bed bars with brackets to work with the bakflip mx4 and kraves in house bed stiffeners to hold up the new to me cvt mt shasta hybrid tent. Also added prinsu's awning brackets and prinsu light bar brackets.


Next up will be a rear seat delete and mounting platform to hold the dometix

$840 cfx3 45 -liter portable refrigerator and freezer, powered by AC/DC or solar, black

cfx3 45 and ecoflo delta 2
Lastly scooped a set of falcon T8's to remount the G003's on for summer.

April 4,24 update
Got the G003's mounted up on the T8's and on the truck, have to say the look exceeded expectation. It's loud and that was the goal.
Added some baja designs squadron pro's to replace the Rigid's for ditch lights.
Dropped the OME mediums for Dobinsons 112's with timbren bumps and Ubolt flip kit.
Had another maintenance item to take care of being drums and shoes.
to top it off rear elka 2.0's have been swapped for 2.5's


Next step will be the back seat delete for the fridge and ecoflow. Only a month left till the first trip of the year.
May 4, 2024
A bit of a random batch in this update.

Fridge is mounted and ready for the summer trips.

Added the ufo snorkel upgrade pre filter to hopefully be another level of protection on the intake.

With all the towing this month I wanted to monitor the trans temps closer so I added a scan gauge 3 to keep an eye on everything now. Excellent unit so far highly recommend it.

This one happened on a wim but very happy with the results. The new baja designs fogs after my diodes started flickering and an s8 30" bar to replace the diode 30" stage series bars that I was just never happy with the colour tone of. And let me say that s8 blows the ss bar out of the water the output is incredible. Having matching colour toned fogs and bar is much easier to focus on. The diode fogs had a bigger spread but I think the baja will be a better true fog the cut off is very sharp compared to my ss3 pros.
I think this will be the last of my spending spree for awhile time to get out and use it.
May 31,24 update
Well the spending spree hasn't quite ended.


Added some elka 2.5 DC's up front after my 2.0s decided to drop all the oil out of them. Finger crossed these hold up much longer.
It really is never ending

 

Looks awesome

got the title right

 

It’s looks aight…

 

Might aswell start a post to show it off in the wild over the years.