Big Booty Judy - 2014 w OVRLND Camper and other goodies

You can see why the moniker is apropos...and the kids think its funny as hell, so why not.


After far too many years of SUVs, one divorce later and I have a truck that've been wanting for some time. No frills 2014 Tundra Double Cab, originally purchased w a camper shell, but now has a slightly better camper shell. This will be a slow documentation of everything I've done to it, with some travel pics thrown in because it does get used a good bit for outdoorsy stuff.


I threw together a very rough sleeping platform system and tossed the ol' Engel in for a Spring Break trip to Big Bend w the knuckleheads. The platform served its purpose, but was not well thought out, and was soon replaced.




Prior to the trip, I installed some RCI skids, which fit perfectly.




BBNP was absolutely amazing, and we were one of only a few folks in the backcountry, so it was nice and quite and we paddled the Rio Grande and visited a Santa Elena Canyon, among other spots.








Thats all for now...more to come.

 

This was the original design of the sleeping platform...I thought I was clever by having the center portion removable, with the platform high enough to fit the the Front Runner boxes, but the passage was too narrow...should have measured twice and cut once....oh well. It worked for what it was.






I installed some Yakima Tracks on the camper shell itself, and mounted my camping lab awning, which provided some much needed shade for me and my near-albino kids in the TX sun.



After Texas was our favorite area in southern UT.


We stop here for lunch on our way each time....always an easy drive from Flag, and the views to the north and south are decent.






And of course, a shot of the truck:






This was about 100 yards from the campsite, so the kids stripped to their skivvies and went swimming...hard to beat. I sat on the bank and drank a beer and read.




Then we did the dinner thing:




The next day we went to our fave ruin site:




Then explored the backcountry a bit:




For reference; this is all stock suspension and tire size...this is the flex you get. Not wonderful by any means, but still capable.






Finally, out to the main road, and on our way home.

 

The truck got naked for a bit....one trip down to a super secret swimming hole:











Because.....I did this....




I wanted to provide a comparison between the Flippac and Habitat.






The Hab, while similar in appearance, is a different beast entirely. The FP is not terribly well constructed and felt flimsy the times I had it out, also required a separate rainfly.


I'm very happy w the Hab.

For the first actual camping trip, I headed up to CO and tested the camper out in the high mountain and rain; not a single issue w it, and had some white-knuckle fun on Ophir Pass.

















And a short time-lapse of setting the camper up.

 

Thank so for sharing. Congrats on the new ride and the new journey. I'm sure you'll be making many memories with the truck for both you and the kids. Looking forward to seeing more. It's great so far!

 

I just randomly thought I'd check tundras.com, and your post caught my eye - funny coincidence, I'm heading up to that part of Utah bright and early in the morning! Looks like you had a good trip.

When I get back might pick your brain about Ophir Pass and the like. (Was that recent?? Is the snow already gone?) Anyhow, nice truck, glad you're using it to get out there!

 

Really nice pics; looks like a great vacation + kids making childhood memories!

What awning mounts did you use to mount the awning to the Yakima bars?

 

Ophir was back in August of 19 I believe. It had just recently opened, and some of the other passes were still closed due to snow.

That area of UT is one of my faves....have a few others that beat it, but they take longer to get to from Flag.

 

Thanks! The awning mounts are just some flat stock L brackets I made. Drilled some holes for u bolts to fit the bars, and matched the tracks on the awning itself. I bought the awning about 10 years ago and no one was making mounting brackets for them yet, so I rigged my own. I think there are several vendors out there that sell a much cleaner version that I made.

 

Sadly, there are not. I’m looking for something heavy duty that will fit around the bars, so I don’t have to drill through them. I found and absolutely love the BomberProducts Awn-Locks but after numerous attempts to reach them, I decided all the horrible internet reviews about their poor service must be true. So now I’m looking at making my own using U-bolts, but pics of what others did would help me plan. Please post yours if you have time or, so I don’t wreck your thread, I can delete this request and ask you to send via PM....

 

I'd be happy to post them; super simple(I made them after all). I'll get some pics tonight and will post them here for reference. I've used them on my TLC, an XJ, a Mitsubishi Montero, a 4Runner, and then the Tundra; never a problem.

 

Nice setup! Looks like good times with good peeps!

 

Here they are.



Hope that helps.

 

Next was a trip to central UT for some fly fishing and general good times w my kids and some old friends. Temps were in the 90s during the day, so it was nice to have a the water to cool down in, and the camper stayed nice and ventilated at night...perfect sleeping weather.



Of course, gotta have the classics while camping.




And this was one of the lakes we hiked to get some flies wet.



Some other random trips here and there, and then I took a solo trip to Bears Ears and Natural Bridges at New Years...coldest weather I've been camping in for a long time. I had a mummy bag tucked inside another bag, full long johns and a beanie, and two nalgenes of boiling water to stay warm. The hiking was good and no one else was dumb enough to be out in it.












Finally got around to some different up grades, like this Rago Compressor mount.

 

Dad of the year chit right there...great job.

Totally jealous that's your "back yard". I dragged the family on a 3-week road trip through CO and UT a couple of years ago and fell in love with the area.

Subscribed for more!

 

Back down to our favorite swimming hole and BBJ stretched her legs a bit. Very glad to have aired down ahead of time, and even more glad to have some skid plates.






Got to paddle a bit too, and the kids caught some creek shrimp.



Now I need to buff out some scratches

 

Some more progress posts as the kids are watching Hamilton...

Rago fab FTW...








And on the Rago Fab mount, I installed an ARB twin compressor, and then my brother from another mother made my dual battery charger:


And it went straight to some good use in MT...


More to follow...

 

And installed some more RCI love...

 

Ok...some more project and travel updates, in no particular order.


I spent about 3 weeks on the road in UT, OR, WA, ID, MT and a small jaunt in to far northern NV. This was camp the first night, in central UT at about 10k:




And coffee the next AM, definitely like the Mountain Hatch tailgate cover.




This was the spot my buddy and went fishing...caught a good one too...






Camp some where near the UT/WY border...woke up to snow, and these a-holes on the way out....thankfull I had my bucksaw and axe.






Next it was the Alvord Desert and Steens Mountain area in OR...must see area in my opinion. Camped at a hot springs for a few nights and enjoyed the hell out of it.






Stopped on the way out to fish for some cuts, but no luck:



Made my way north and west some, towards ID from OR, and had to gas up off-road once...fairly easy with a jiggle siphon and decent jerry cans.




These are the lantern I use for camping...gotta love Luminaids.

 

I then made my way in to MT and stopped as much as I could to paddle.




Then stopped at the amazing place call the Garden of 1000 Buddhas.




And hiked along the Lochsa and checked out a few more hot springs:




Then it was time to grab the vintage Merc my coworker had stored in Billings. My buddy flew in and we trailered it back down to Flagstaff. Stock suspension would have sucked, and I'l glad I had the airbags. For mine, I went w the daystar cradles, as you can see in the second pic...they flex off road.






When I got back home, I painted the White Knuckle Offroad sliders with some SteelIt and installed them:








Thats all for now.

 

very nice !
those sliders gonna be useful. any plans to beef up the suspension and go with bigger tires for clearance ?

 

Very nice and functional setup. Looks like a blast!

 

I've got an OME kit on order right now...should be here in another 1-2 weeks, and then it won't be like riding in a marshmallow all the time.

 

Oh, forgot that I added an Eezi-Awn K9 rack to the cab of the truck to haul some gas cans. The gas can holder is an OG Expedition Exchange unit from years and years ago that a buddy had laying around, but it still worked just fine.





And a better view of the gas cans on the rack.




I may get an actual rack to be able to haul my Husq and other stuff.

 

Truck looks great AT makes some awesome stuff too.

 

Looks great so far! This is exactly what I’m looking at doing. Covid has destroyed our travel plans and 2 kids & 2 big dogs in a Tacoma for more than a few hours is getting miserable.

 

Would love some more details on the rack. Install, price and more pics. Thanks!

 

Great thread OP!

 

I dont recall much from the parts orderd and what not, but Paul May, and his crew at equip1.com were the ones to answer the initial questions.

For the install aspect, BUY A DRILL COLLAR STOP!!!!

Seriously, spend the few extra $$$ or time for the stop to prevent over-penetration(heh heh)....

Also, have a good quality hand riveter, or a pneumatic one. Quite honestly, dont use the supplied rivets as the margin of error is too narrow.

Order from Copper State, or form Fastenal, or whatever local spot you have...Wide flange, closed end stainless steel rivets...if not, skip the SS part and get the wide flange closed ends, and if not that, at least get wide flange...and use copious amounts of RTV.

Past that, the install was relatively easy, but I need to use a 90* drill to fit as far back as I could due to the Habitat. I have pics somewhere...

The honest reason I purchased the rack, was to be able to mount a wind fairing...I dint get to that. The Hab acts as a big scoop and as has dropped MPG to 13 from a previous 16...not huge, but still...

If you need any other pics or info, I'm more than glad to answer.

 

Much appreciated! Hopefully someone else gets the bug to modify their vehicle!

 

I know i asked before,
How do those 2nd gen wheels work on our 3rd gen tundras? They much lighter compared to steel wheels, they clear rotors, do our lug nuts from steel wheels work on your wheels?