Tundy, house and beetle build thread...and exploring.

Cool, is it work with a jet end and has some power? I want to get one for washing dog and mx bikes.

 

Yes, I have one of these: https://www.zoro.com/loc-line-hose-...UC3JGOzmpEsXNHNfu76X8aArjj8P8HAQ&gclsrc=aw.ds that I use as a faucet. Its nice since I can move it to whatever I am filling, water bottle, pans, washing hands out to the side of the truck... I originally had the smallest tip on this line, but it had waaaay too much pressure. It would shoot a stream of water a good 15+ feet. I put the larger one on and its perfect.

And then I just have one of those cheap plastic coiled air hoses with a nozzle tip on it for washing my bike and cleaning off stuff outside the truck.

 

i'm going to have to pick your brain one day about your setup. i'm still trying to figure out/plan how i'm going to do the wiring overhaul/piggyback harness

 

No problem. Currently this is how its setup:

Group 31 battery

Winch connected directly to the battery

Positive lead from the battery goes through an 80A/100A resettable breaker (cant remember which one), then lead goes to the front 12-fuse Blue Sea block.

Front fuse block

• Front LED bar - through a relay
• Rock lights
• Left/right side lights
• Indel-B Fridge

Rear 6-fuse Blue Sea block is connected on the same side of the breaker as the front one (so anything aftermarket is behind the breaker as well as an individual fuse... other than the winch.) Connected to the front through 4awg wires.

Rear block

• Air compressor (through a 100 or 150A relay)
• Bed lights
• Water pump
• Solar panel leads are connected to the rear block to feed back to the main battery

Everything has constant power, the only thing that doesn't now is the air compressor trigger wire to the relay which is only on when ignition is on due to that relay leeching power if I didn't do it that way.

 

Wow, awesome man, thanks!
really appreciate this, i'm going to try and finish the diagram this week(end) and start sourcing all the parts I need

 

Sub'd!

 

I guess I should post updates in here once in a while.

I've wanted to clear off one side of the rack for carrying misc stuff. Got it a bit more organized last night.



And after


It all started with me thinking I'd need to make new hi lift mounts to put the jack on the side of the rack, but it fit nicely with the box.

Next roof rack changes i want to see are two pegs with quick release for storing the maxtrax while on the trail for easy access instead of having to put them back inside the truck. It shouldn't be too hard to build a mount, just need to decide where.

I ordered new blank rotors and pads, I'll be swapping those out this weekend.

And the ole heifer might even get a real complete paint makeover... Maybe. I need to remember to grab a clay bar, i think i have everything else.

 

On Christmas Eve, I decided to reward the truck with a car wash. Unfortunately I saw it the next morning... and cleaning off the dirt/dust revealed the sad state of the paint from tree pin stripes. Being that it was going to be nice this weekend... I figured it was time to do something about the paint.

I used mostly Meguiars stuff, since thats what I had on hand and hit it with the RA buffer. Used Mothers Clay bar, compound, polish, and wax to get it looking better. The compound didn't take the scratches completely out of the paint, but made it look a lot better. 7 hours of work, and it was looking almost like new!

Unfortunately, both sides, front to back looked like this. Too many tight trails... In the sun, it looked 10x worse.


Before and after compounding


I think this was from exploring an area in Arches... tight squeeze between sandstone. Almost made it.



After compounding... it currently looks pretty darn good, only the deeper scratches are showing.


Looking better!

Also removed the TRD OR stickers from the back.

 

I also replaced the front rotors and pads using:

Bosch blank rotors
Hawk pads

The original rotors were a pain to get off, had to torque down pretty good on the two screw holes to get them to break off. I cleaned the hub surface and added some anti seize to hopefully not have that issue again. Bedded them in with a few nice stops while on the way to go snow wheeling yesterday.

 

I definitely recommend building a chuckbox. I put it off for a while and I'm happy it's now built. Just google it and eventually come up with your own design. The boy scouts build these things every year, so you can find a lot of their images on google. It makes life a lot easier. We have everything cooking/kitchen related in this. I just laid everything out on the floor and designed the inner compartments accordingly. I don't have great pics, but two are below. I put a list of everything we can cram into this below also. Now, we load this up, a black rubbermade with grill and random camping bits, and the cooler. Just load and go. You can design it to have removable legs if you want it to be self standing. I didn't care as much for that purpose, but I could always add it later.

• Top lid opens up with Stove and up to 4 propane bottles; lighters; and little extra things re: creating fire.
• Next Shelf down holds table cloth, spices, plates, and in the back a small broom/dust pan (you can really take advantage of the depth to store not often used things in the back.
• Next shelf is garbage bags, zip locks, handywrap, 2 green collapsible wash buckets;
• left compartment has two lanterns and paper towels;
• middle compartment is actually two. Both hold baskets that slide in and out and hold dishwashing stuff and utensils; dishtowels; etc. All the little things that need a place to live (beer coozy). When those baskets are slid in, the french press and coffee cups go in front of them.
• 3rd compartment to the right - holds pots and pans; cutting board; collapsible salad/mixing bowl. When slid back, coffer grounds go in front in the little white sealed Tupperware.
• Last compartment on the right; holds Tupperware for leftovers which all collapse into one another. Also, can't be seen, but the wife loves her wine, so there is actually a slot right above that where she gets her little plastic wine cups.

Last tip - use as much 1/4 as possible. These jokers get heavy quick, especially once loaded up. I can handle this entirely by myself, but she's not light.

 

Thanks for some inspiration! I've been saving pictures here and there. Just grabbed a bit of scrap wood, maybe I'll start playing with the ideas.

 

Sure thing. I'm overly organized in life and love having a place for everything. The best thing about this is knowing exactly where everything is/goes while you're camping. No digging around through different tubs/etc. Convincing myself to build it took forever; building it took an afternoon. Hardest part was organizing all my camping crap on the floor; then staining/sealing after it was built. Building it was insanely easy.

 

Yeah, I like to be organized as well, I use rubbermaid containers for most stuff, and I put little plastic dividers in there to help a little with the kitchen type stuff, but its just a step closer to having a great end result.

I realized when I built my first drawer slides that weight adds up quick. I think I used 1/2" plywood, two full slides in a tahoe. Wow they were heavy. I even cut large areas out of the bottom and sides to cut out some weight.

I saw a build maybe a year ago where the guy was building either a teardrop camper or something but was using thin wood and resin to join it instead of fasteners. Since its a pain to fasten thin pieces of wood. So I am still leaning towards trying something like that, the issue is that will be expensive, and need to be really planned out vs something easier to work with on the fly.

Slightly larger stuff could also be routed out for the shelves, along with a resin/glue/adhesive for fitting free. I wonder if my table saw will take a dado blade.

 

Awesome, sub'd!

 

Not sure that you need resin, a lot of headache for no more strength than elmer's wood glue. See this video for how strong that stuff is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yqvlnNqcvk.

I just used wood glue and a brad nailer. You have to be pretty accurate with the nail gun, but it's held up perfectly. I also used little scab blocks about 1/2" thick to rest the shelves on. They're easier to hit with the brads. Good luck man - hope you build it!

 

Wowza! Maybe it'll be a project to start tomorrow between painting.

 

@Mcdees84 thanks for the inspiration to start the build.

After getting ready to start the build, i figured i would get the main pieces made out of 7/16" to give it some rigidity. My plan is some shelves underneath, and to have two swinging doors on the front that are also shelves. I may have to mock up one side with 1/4" and see how much it'll hold. I plan to put light items on the doors so it shouldn't be too much of an issue.

Thankfully size wise I was stuck with that height so i can put it on top of the divider in the back. And i was very happy that a paper towel roll will stand up underneath.

The build will continue!

 

Awesome! Great start man. You're going to be so happy you went ahead and knocked this out. Tag me in the finished product; I'd love to see it.

 

I slacked off to do some house painting but i think I'm going to head into the garage shortly to get some work done on it.