STravis Go Anywhere, Camp Anywhere Build

They did pretty good. No real traction issues except for steeper climbs in 2wd. But in 4wd they did well and I didn't have any issues with any climbs. It wasn't a ton of snow though.

 

I got a chance to get out and do some desert wheeling with my brother a couple weekends ago.



The tundra with 37's has nowhere near the clearance that my old Tacoma on 37's had. I dragged the rear bumper a few times, but nothing serious. I will be building a rear bumper soon and then hopefully before next summer I will be building a high clearance bumper that will require cutting the bedsides off. It's a whole new experience trying to get this truck through tight spots but the truck is more than capable.

 

I am anxious to see your high clearance bumper. There are a ton of options for Tacoma’s but I have not seen any for Tundra’s yet. High clearance with beefy double swing out would be my ideal solution.

 

Brute Force Fab makes a high clearance rear bumper, with dual swing outs. He made them for 2nd Gen Tundras for some time. When I approached him about my 2017, he used my truck for the 3rd Gen versions. You can see more photos of my truck on his IG page from Feb 2018-ish.

He did all my truck’s armor but for the skid plates.

The attached image is when the truck was still in his shop getting fitted out.

 

Love Big Agnes tents. Their customer service is phenomenal, and their gear is outstanding.

 

Love the photos. You guys have some really cool country to explore down there.

 

I had not idea Brute Fab made those for Tundras. Thanks for the tip!

 

Nice, that's about what I'm looking to build.

It will be similar to this one that I built for my old Tacoma.

 

Yeah there is a lot of stuff around here in NM. Lots of hidden little spots if you know where to look.

 

Nice work on that!

Your Tundra will be sharp!

 

My wife and I went out and watched the conjunction the other night. We set the camper up and fired up the heater and hung out for a while. My wife got some pretty good cell phone pictures while we were out.

 

My wife and brother nailed Christmas this year. I got a Dobinson snorkel, a Rago Fab dash plate and assorted parts to mount my phone and tablet, and a 4 hose InDeflate.

 

Also on my list for this spring is the camper/bed build. I got my diesel heater in last week and now I'm trying to decide on a water solution before I take out the current setup.

The heater is pretty cool, but I think I will be adding the afterburner controller to replace the current controller. The afterburner will have a lot more precise control of the unit and hopefully will prevent issues in the future.

 

I'm running the same heater so enlighten me on this afterburner controller. Haven't heard of it yet.

I ended up chopping the end off of the exhaust pipe where it slides on the heater and adding legs to the bottom of the heater so I am able to sit the heater directly down without having to elevate it every time to clear the exhaust. Also took a clamp and secured the intake hose to the unit so I am able to leave the intake mounted and not have to install every time. I'm just using my unit as a portable though.

 

Here is a link to the afterburner site. http://www.mrjones.id.au/afterburner/ It's a weird website but it has some information. If you really want to get into it you can Google it and look at some real world opinions.

I believe it allows better control over the burn chamber temps and fan speeds for a more efficient heater. It also keeps track of fuel used so you don't run the lines empty and have to reprime it. It seems to have a ton of convenience features that aren't available with the factory setup.

I'm thinking I will build a hard mounted setup for it, but that may change before I finish everything out.

 

Appreciate it! Ill have to research that.

 

Heat has been on my project list as well. Excited to hear how it works. We ran the buddy heater a few times last year, but they have obvious drawbacks.

 

The buddy heaters are nice in a pinch, but the drawbacks are definitely there. That, and the condensation is terrible from the combustion process. Just running the diesel heater in the garage messing with it makes me think it's a good solution. It was blowing some really dry, hot air.

 

I have the same heater and it's been great. Interested to hear how the afterburner works for you.

 

Have either one of you guys done any tuning to the fuel ratios on the heaters? Do you run CO detectors?

 

I adjust the min and max fuel on mine for the elevation I'm at. Someone on one of the facebook pages suggested leaning it out 4 percent per 1000', so I made this and just adjust it when I get to camp. I think it's P-min and P-max in the menu. Pretty easy to change. I read that the ones with the blue controllers like yours do that automatically, so you might not need to bother.

Elevation Min Max
default 1.2Hz 5.0Hz
1000 1.2 4.8
2000 1.1 4.6
3000 1.1 4.4
4000 1.0 4.2
5000 1.0 4.0
6000 0.9 3.8
7000 0.9 3.6
8000 0.8 3.4
9000 0.8 3.2
10000 0.7 3.0

I don't bother with a detector since the output from the heating duct is just air. Unless you're very close to the exhaust or you have the whole heater in an enclosed space, CO shouldn't be an issue. One of the main benefits of this type of heater IMHO.

 

Looking good buddy!!

 

For $30 I’m all in on a CO detector. Most people I’ve seen run them use CO detectors.

 

Thanks for the input on the settings. I had read that some correct for elevation and some don't. I'm going to keep an eye on that. Our camping elevations vary pretty widely all the way up to about 10,000 feet regularly.

I plan on running the exhaust out through the floor of the bed and shouldn't have any issues, but I will still add a detector just to be safe.

 

Thanks

 

I agree. I'll be adding a CO detector, smoke alarm and an extinguisher in the camper.

 

One other thing you can do is run it on high for a few minutes before you shut it off to help clean out the combustion chamber.

 

I'm sure my wife will be wanting to run it on high a lot anyways. Have you ever used kerosene to run yours instead of diesel?

 

Never tried it, but I have heard of people doing that. I think it requires adjusting the mixture, but that's about it. In theory it should run on diesel, kerosene, heating oil, Jet A, etc.

This thing puts out a ton of heat. It will keep my RTT at 70* all night in freezing temps and almost never move off the lowest fan speed.

 

Did you run a relay to switch the solar on only when there's no ignition power like redarc recommends? I don't see why running solar while driving would be bad, and solar top off of the starting battery is nice too but thier instructions make it look like its only one or the other. Maybe only with their integrated solar controller? What dc-dc do you have?