The Wanderer - My Build and (mis)Adventures.

Made some progress on the switches yesterday and added some interior color while the dash was apart.

 

So the electrical hit a roadblock. More precisely, a full firewall on the drivers side and that's where I planned on going through, so the wire harness is long enough for that route. A plan "B" may have been found. If it works, I won't have to double the length of the harness and go our the passenger side.

Better news, KDMAX engine tune for MT's is on board. What a difference! I did that last week after getting another sidewall flat on the trail:


Turns out the tires I thought were trail tires were not. Fixed that with 265/70/17 KO2's 10 ply Kevlar tires.

 

It's finally here! Summit bumper with full hoops, Relentless Fabrication.

 

Slow progress is still progress, right.

Bumper is coated with two coats of a roll-on bedliner from Monstaliner. It's been curing for a week, and should go on next week if the winch gets here on time.



And the sliders arrived! Time to go to work.

 

Getting closer!

 

Well, this happened a few weeks ago, and I finally have some time to update this. The bumper and winch are on! This took a bit longer than we had planned, but not because it was a difficult job. Installation of the bumper was pretty straight forward. The cut, I procrastinated on, because, it's a big step. The difficulty came in the winch control box mount. I thought I would have enough room to lay it flat on the passenger side of the winch, but there wasn't enough room. My work friend who was helping me wound up fabricating a mount out of two 1/4 inch aluminum L brackets. (Unfortunately, no pics of the process.) We then spooled the winch the next day.

The weight of the bumper settled down the front of the truck rather nicely with the heavy springs up there.

The license plate has been mounted using the Cascadia 4x4 mount.

 

A lot has happened in the last few weeks with the truck. All leading up to this:

 

So, time to catch this thing up a bit. A lot has happened since the bumper post, including a 5308 mile trip to the Grand Canyon area and back.

Upfitter switch woes. After getting the switches wired up, the Blue Sea panel installed, and lights hooked up, the switches appeared to be bypassed. Thanks to some help from @ilubtimmyhos, we figured out I made a novice mistake at the very start of this process, right about here:

When I laid out the switch and the wires, I didn't realize that I had the switch upside down, so the pins were wired in reverse. We were able to rewire the switch in the cab, saving a ton of work.

I really enjoy the switches where they are as it is much easier to reach up than it is to reach toward the lower console and around my knees and gear shift (MT). I have plans for side lighting and cargo lights, possibly some amber warning strobes as well for when the stupidity around here results in sudden stops and wrecks. (I'm considering investing in the supplier of guard rails.)




The ditch lights and the fogs mounted in the bumper are controlled by the upfitter switches. The DD SS3's, mounted on top of the bumper are on the factory fog switch.

 

Lots good stuff in this thread! Nice work Tim!

 

Thank you sir. I have a vision and lot's inspiration from the work you and others have done. More to come.

 

I actually replaced them with some 2nd gen door badges. They are a little smaller / shorter. I just removed the tailgate badges. A trail mod removed part of the passenger side one, so I just removed both.

 

The 2nd gen badges are available in Black?

 

Yes. I found them on Ebay or Etsy or something. It didn't say they were 2nd gen, and I didn't notice it until they got here. Quick google search found these: https://www.ebay.com/itm/234105008544

OEM's are out there as well, but they are $125+ for a set

 

A few pics from the last trail ride in the George Washington National Forest (GWNF) before old man winter set in and froze up and covered the trails in just enough snow to make them unsafe. Something about sliding down or falling off a mountain just doesn't have much appeal.

 

Last summer I put together a little tool box for the truck, mostly for making a tire change easier. Especially on the trail. The Harbor Frieght box works well, but the little foam squares were falling apart. Time for an upgrade.

Ordered the foam on Amazon for this and a tool chest project. Two layers, the top lifts out, and has room for additional tools down the road.

 

The "Tessa Transformation"

For Christmas this year, my wife relented on the desire for to have a version of "Mans Best Friend." We needed a cat friendly, or at least cat ignoring breed, low or no shedding (cats do enough) and hypoallergenic. So a poodle or poodle something seemed the best course of action. After a thorough search of shelters up to 100 miles away, a very short list, and some ridiculous requirements (home "inspections", fences, electronic monitoring, up to $750 adoption fees, and all of those at one). I understand they are trying to recover some costs, and weed out people who may not be thinking through the actions, but it seems that some of these shelters were just not being realistic with some of their expectations, or only wanted a certain clientele. So I started looking at breeders in the area and found what we were looking for. Enter Tessa, a female black and white Mini Bernadoodle.

12 weeks old at adoption. I originally planned on putting a deposit down and coming back to get her when I would be on a work from home rotation for two weeks. When I saw where she was, and how she was being kept, I wasn't really happy. It felt a step above a puppy mill. No socialization, training, nothing. I also knew that waiting another two weeks would make training a bit more difficult. So unprepared, I went and found an ATM, and farm store for a collar and leash, and a towel for the seat. Home we went.


Tessa at about four months old.





Now about six months old. First haircut is growing back out.


Playing our neighbors dog Theo at doggie day care.

 

Well, this took longer to do than anticipated. And a few things happened along the way. The end result is this:


Among the changes, the RTT was sold as well as the batwing awning. I now have a cargo rack and a Harbor Freight rifle case for a tool box. The tool box holds recovery gear that used to be behind the back seat. Now it's easier to access that gear when / if needed. The cargo rack worked well on the ca,ping trip. I have two large duffels, one for all the ground tent gear, and one for my cot, sleeping bag, etc. (I'm not a ground sleeper, too hard to get up.) That leaves the bed open for other gear, like Tessa's crate and misc. gear.



Also was (finally!) American Racing Baja wheels in matt black. They're wrapped in Dueler Revo 3 tires (265/70/17). I now have a road set of tires and an off road set of KO2's on the stock rims. Gained some mpg's back with the lighter and narrower tires (narrower footprint) and wheels.

Since the faded orange tracks stood out like a sore thumb, my first Plasti Dip project was turning those matt black.

 

As usual, Meso didn't disappoint. The only shiny stuff left on the side of the truck was the chrome in the turn signal. That had to go now with the stock rims no longer being the daily's. I went with the switchback in amber for an additional DRL. Very happy with the outcome, and the install wasn't too bad for a novice. We had a Family Day event work and they put a car show in this year. Since I have a lot of people ask about the truck, I entered. This is the photo from there. Nope, second place to a C8 Corvette. A little disappointing that money won over the effort that has gone into this build. Oh well...

 

This is a bit out of sequence, but it isn't completely done yet either. Cargo lights. Harbor Freight rock lights for $30. I had the RTT on at the time, and made a mistake on the routing, so that was corrected before the cargo basket went on. They are also centered now as I had them off set before. The light dispersion is better this way. I plan on adding two more to the rear bar of the roof rack to give some overhead light for the tool box and cargo rack. These are controlled by the upfitter switches in the cab.