UTAH (and Surrounding Areas) BS Thread

When we were coming down we ran into a guy who was about to go up in a full sized stock Silverado.... told him we weren't quite sure he'd make it and he said he'd be fine... hahah

 

16's or 17's?

 

I have witnessed him use it more than once.

 

I have been contemplating building a flatbed for my taco. I have been watching way too much 4wd action on youtube.

This is far from me cranking out some fab drawings but I may ditch my bed and build this one day. Still lots of details to figure out but having a flatbed with my shocks poking through still offers more usable room in the bed area. I could even fit gas cans outside the shock towers. I still need to check how far my tires suck up into the wheel wells at full bump. That will really be the determining factor. Right now, the deck is about 7" above the floor from the stock bed. I am not sure if that is enough room for my tires to not eat the bottom of the deck.

Here is an overlay of my current bed with my flatbed concept. So far, this weighs 300 lbs without weld made out of mainly 1/8" steel plate and angle stiffeners for the deck. I think the stock composite bed weighs ~200 lbs? If I could get away with only adding 100-150lbs over stock, I think it would be an awesome addition. I would also like to add a drawer on the back that pulls out from the center. I could stick tools and recovery gear in it.

 

17x8.5 -10 offset

 

Wanna practice making one on my 99?

 

An LT Ute is a hilarious visual. Mainly because I picture a farm truck 30 feet in the air like in Glamis.

 

Haha! Honestly, for me flat beds are two fold. Some look really good, and others look like . Here is one that I think looks good. I think this guy has 35's. I have another concept that has some wheel wells that slightly protrude out of the deck. I really need to go flex the truck somewhere and see where my tires would be at full bump.

The other issue that I forsee is the fact that I have 1.5" wheel spacers so I can clear my bypasses. My glass fenders cover the wheels pretty well. In order to have the flatbed cover the tires, I would have to make it pretty wide (~78") this will stick out from the cab and would look funny. If I didn't want to poke through the bed, I was thinking of maybe going with a cantilever setup and running shorter bypasses under the tray. For my current setup, it opens an entire can of worms by switching to a flatbed.

 

Totally agree. I wanted to buy that tray and canopy so bad when he sold it, but I just couldn't put the pieces together at the time.

Those bypasses def add a challenge. Maybe just make a regular deck and then +6 bulge the wheel wells TT bedside style.

 

I also think I could run shorter bypasses (14") under the tray. I would just have to buy shorter limit straps and maybe look how my bumpstops are setup. I have many of these side projects that really go nowhere. I usually run into one or two hurdles that I can't get past..

 

Alright, so I already posted this in the RTT forum, but over the weekend I lost the plastic piece that holds down the rainfly on my Tepui.... I'm pretty stumped on what to do. Safety pin is the best I've got so far. Any ideas? I emailed Tepui about getting another one but as another user said, It's unlikely they'll have one. Any ideas? Is there a RTT Pick n' pull?

 

3d print your own? you could use something like shapeways.com

 

Does anyone in the Salt Lake area have a Vagabond Drifter? I'm thinking about putting money down on one and would love to have a look around one.

Also, as someone who is pretty mechanically uninclined(trying to fix that but space/tool/knowledge combination is hard to get over), my first gen has some work that needs to be done and I usually take it to a dealership where I have some hookups, but I'm going to start thinking about taking it to smaller local shops to save some coin, and also starting to work on my own.

My steering rack may be leaking and if so probably needs to be replaced, and the dealership cost was a lot of money so I'm trying to find an alternative. Does anyone in the area have any experience with that replacement and be willing to help? Can get OEM parts on discount, so I'm just trying to save on labor and learn something. Same thing with carrier bearing and need to troubleshoot the AC that stopped working despite a recharge(that shit can wait til june though now haha)

 

@cwhet10 might be generous enough to give you a tour if she is around.

 

@cwhet10 that'd sure be cool

I just spent the last 7 weeks driving around OR, WA, BC and hot damn I got so sick if setting up a bed in my truck every night. Finally on the camper wedge camper train now that I can work remote and roadtrip more. So many GFCs out in the northwest but didn't come across any Drifters.

 

The real issue is that they are loop sewn after they are attached. I may have just the thing to fix it though. ITW tac-toggles. You'd have to drill out between the 2 holes and then make a slit for the tent tether to go through, but it's darn near the same size. I'd be willing to pillage the one off my web gear at the house if you wanna give it a go this weekend. Or you ould mail order one from milspec monkey and it'd get to you in like a week or week and a half.

 

I lost the entire piece, ripped out of the sewn-crease on the actual tent canvas, so I dont even have the strings. But I'd be more than happy if you're willing to help me jerry rig something.


appreciate it!

 

Thats even easier. Piece of paracord and a toggle should get you g2g

 

Sounds like you have an idea, genuis. I just really don't want to use a safety pin...

toggle as in

??