Komodo - My Wife's Daily Driver and High Speed Overland Rig

Yea, all that extra wheel travel means it could perform better in any terrain because of the ability to keep tires on the ground but also to jump and not worry about it (depending on the jump I should say). How does maintenance work for you being LT? Do you take it to the dealer for service or you do it yourself? Im thinking the techs are scratching their heads looking at your ride…...

 

Well I mean I do take it for oil changes and shit, but they know me well for maintenance I do most my self, I have a alignment shop who deals w suspension related stuff if that needs attention. I mean obviously my truck is highly modified but even still toyota service guys take it in stride. The only maintenance required is greasing the zerk fittings and then 40-50k replacing the uniballs which I do myself. Outside of that she goes to toyota for regular stuff

 

Mkay thanks, Ive been reading LT threads on multiple forums and some say there will be noise but some say its probably from a shitty install job, what say you? I even read the "Thinking about LT?, read this first" a few times and kinda scared me away as one important factor is the tundra is too big and wide but then again it all depends on the driver and where you're going off road. I see you're running methods which I think are not hub-centric and if you have been driving hard with those off road with no problems then I guess you just helped me with a wheel choice as I was trying to stay hub-centric.

 

Well I say this about that.... I’ve wheeled and yes it’s wider than stock but not that limiting! As far as wheels some guys were just talking about hubcentric and my methods have not failed me yet! As long as proper torque is applied to the lug nuts it really doesn’t matter. Hubcentric argument is dumb in my personal opinion. And the lug nuts self center the wheel . The hubcentric ring doesn’t support the weight of the truck the lugs do regardless. So argument is invalid. And btw I love my methods

 

Cool thanks, i tend to look into stuff too much at times but just trying to get info from those that have experience while i rack up the savings moneys and setup my LT build in the future right. thanks for all the info

 

Interested in seeing the setup Bruce. Will have a few different setups to compare.

 

Exactly. I’ll let all u guys do ur thing for the rear and I’ll just go ahead and copy the best (except Roy... can’t afford his build).

 

@Spolar i am interested in seeing how the 3.0 and 3.5 do. And by 3.0 I mean shocks and leafs. BTW how did the test go?

 

Interview. There was a test as part of it though... anyways went okay. I got selected as 1/4 alternates, so if someone who did get in decides they don’t wanna go for whatever reason I still might have a spot. So I didn’t get in but I didn’t get flat out denied

 

Originally installed December 2016

Onboard Fridge - AKA: The Game Changer

As much as the RTT changed the way we camp, the fridge is probably the one item that has enabled our adventures more than any other thing. We don’t have to keep worrying about and stopping for ice. And we’re not destroying beers offroad anymore. And we saved a shitload of weight.

Think about how much ice you need for a five day trip. Now make that five day trip in the summer in the desert and think about how much ice you need to get while you’re out. Even a ‘five day’ cooler only lasts about 3 days in the desert with actual use.

We started looking into the high end coolers - you guys all know the brands in play here. To have enough room for the food, drinks and ice, we were looking at 2 65 quart coolers, or about $800 worth of plastic. Shit, a refrigerator only cost about $1000. We’d have about half the capacity of two coolers, but half the cooler space is taken up by ice anyway, so really, a $1000 fridge could hold the same amount of food and drinks as $800 worth of two coolers - and we’d never have to buy ice again.

Buying ice isn’t so much an expense problem, but a logistical one. You have to plan where and when you can get ice which probably coincides with where you can get gas, so not really a big deal. But I’m also super fuckin lazy and got tired of moving coolers around and emptying water and filling with ice and repacking so the food doesn’t get wet, but stays cold and fuckitty fuck fuck all.... and so much weight in the ice and water.

Screw it, we got a fridge.

Our particular use case means we don’t need the back seats, so we could put the fridge in there. We have the two dogs and wanted to make a platform for them to stand and lay on at about the height of the arm rests. Our dimensions dictated what size fridge we would look for.

Two different fridges would fit our space - the ARB 63 qt at $1100 or the Dometic 85 qt at $1050. One of the contributing factors was also compressor choice. The Danfoss is the only one you want in your fridge - it’s the most efficient one out there. Both fridges had the right outside dimensions and the Danfoss compressor, but the Dometic had the capacity advantage over the ARB. We were able to find it for $700 and it became a no-brainer.

Install was pretty straightforward and just involved a couple of straps to hold it down, some Velcro on the bottom to keep it from sliding, and a rug Velcroed on top to keep the dogs comfy and planted in high speed corners.

*edit* added the electrical requirements calculations in a later post
https://www.tundras.com/threads/kom...h-speed-overland-rig.16989/page-4#post-520987

 

With your technical expertise, I think it would be great to hear from you how to figure out tire pressures for bigger tires besides stock size for on road driving. I don’t think there’s an easy “formula” to figure out a tire pressure, I’m too lazy to do a chalk test. Off-road I think it’s easier just let air out, drive and go from there, maybe on road can be like that too but it’s too much of a hassle, you think there’s an easier way to figure it out?!

 

I wish there was a simple formula to follow, but there are just too many variables in play. For us, we started with them too firm and the ride was uncomfortable, the tires seemed a tad vibrationy and we began to get wear down the center of the tread. I let a little air out until the harshness of the ride went away and then the wear evened out.

I’ve used the chalk method on street bikes and track cars, but never the truck. We just did it by feel. I can tell you our sweet spot on the street on the 37s is about 37 psi.

This is a great idea. I never knew they offer that. I may call and see what they think.

 

@Watt maker, @KevinK, thank you

 

How come you didn't go into power draw in your write-up of the fridge?

 

Oh shit - hahhahaha!

Good catch @Danimal86 , I totally left off a huge part of the fridge write up.

The fridge is our most important low-draw item that we need to last the longest. The fridge is rated at 7 amps, so it would draw 7 Ah if it ran continuously. I measured the actual compressor on-time in the truck in 120* Phoenix heat while the fridge was empty, and it ran about 20 minutes per hour to keep the fridge at 35* F. So now my 7 Ah draw is actually 1/3rd of that since the fridge is only really "ON" 1/3rd of the time. After some drunken math and rounding, I decided to use 2Ah as my basis for consumption calculation because we'll never have the fridge running on empty in 120*F. To keep the fridge running for a day, I need about 48 Ah. But, we never stay in one spot for a full 24 hours - we typically drive for about 8 hours a day, so realistically we need 32 Ah to keep the fridge on for 16 hours.


All of the above math is complete and utter bullshit.




In reality, in the past year we've gone on about 8-10 trips longer than three days, and of those, 3 have been five days or more, and one was 13 days on the trail. On the trips, we have never had the battery disconnect itself due to low voltage, and have had the ACR isolate the batteries twice due to me overloading the fridge with warm beer after a night of drinking all the cold ones.

There have been times I forgot to turn the fridge off after a trip and it's stayed on for 3 days, in 80 degree weather, in the driveway, empty, with no charge, and the dual battery didn't even disconnect from the main due to low voltage.

Basically I don't even worry about it anymore, other than to load warm beers into the fridge as I drink the cold ones, instead of getting shitfaced and forgetting to put any in until the morning.

 

I need a damn fridge/freezer and a hard shell RTT.....











and 37s

 

You got the front glass now. Dooooo it! TRON will thank you.

 

@DecalsByDesign
This dude not only has skills but he’s a fucking psycho too

 

Where are the rest of your personalities?

 

Hiding



Or drunk




Or both

 

Some data I compiled for reference as we choose our next set of tires.

37" tires. 12.5 and 13.5 widths on 17" rims

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1YJT_cU61X5Ei0mQn_N6rhuMZXdJnutuFrUhstCv1oa8/edit?usp=sharing

 

I've been wandering all over the internets posting about Tundras to Sedona and I found our original build thread for the 2007 Tundra. It looks like we were trying to decide between Long Travel or mid travel even back in 2011 with @sdhq_offroad ...

http://tundrageeks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5172&p=62649&viewfull=1#post62649

I guess we finally decided. MT2 for us!

 

Your a lucky man, keep that one around! Truck looks awesome...

 

Thanks man!

Every time I see your username I think you’re my buddy 2ndgenjohnny from tacomaworld.

 

Shit that’s almost I rip off! Haha. Your truck is killer dude. I can’t wait to get my truck cool enough for people to remember my name with my truck instead of my name with that guys name haha

 

Originally installed January 2017

2 Way Air - Central Tire Inflation and Air Down

We had seen this cool idea to plumb an air chuck directly to the truck so we could just plug an air hose to the chuck and have it ready to air up the tires. I was going to put it near the nitrogen bottle at the tailgate to make it easy to reach.

Then I found this kit that is meant to allow you to air up all 4 tires at the same time. This pleases me - more time for drinking beer and watching other people bent over to air up their tires.

And I'm so fuckin tired of spending time on my knees.

Go ahead, laugh, I'll wait.

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So, this thing is called 2 Way Air, and they are out of business. I did find a kit locally and decided to grab it, if for no other reason than to base my system on the pieces included in the kit. Turns out I didn't really need to add anything other than a pressure gauge to the kit, and ended up with a bunch of leftover pieces, and it inspired the water system plumbing so it was a win all around.



All the stuff in the kit is basically PEX plumbing stuff with press connect fittings. Probably the coolest part of the kit is the 8 schrader valve quick connects. They let you connect to schrader valves with just a press-on and pull-off - no screwing, twisting or clipping. These are on either end of each of the whips you use to plug the tire to the schrader valve under each wheel well.

It took me about 2 months to install this whole thing. Well, it took me about 2 months to figure out how I wanted to install this whole thing.

(behind the scenes at Drunk Engineering)


The physical install took about 47 minutes.I managed to install the whole thing without drilling a single hole in the truck. I used existing holes everywhere.

I did want the controls reachable from the tailgate, so the 'manifold' (a few Ts and bits of pex, a valve and an air hose quick disconnect) are located right next to the N2 bottle. I originally used it a few times without a pressure gauge hard plumbed, and then decided to be ultimately lazy and added a dial so I can read the pressure of all 4 tires at once instead of having to press a handheld tire gauge to the schrader at the tailgate (where you can also air up all the tires from a gas station compressor or someone else' onboard air if you have friends).

Here's the early version of the 'manifold'




and each wheel well has a schrader valve under it.




These instructions are self explanatory. Don't check out it's ass.




And here's video with the final manifold solution and even more detail than you wanted to hear. I can actually air up all 4 37s in about 5 minutes from the time we stop the truck to the time we're rolling again.

https://youtu.be/IOOpyP76UOY

 

There must be a reason they went out of business. Hmmmm

 

All those parts and just one Kevin to buy e'm.

So this is connected to your N2? I've thought about something like this but I don't think my ARB single would like trying to pump up 4 tires at once.
BTW your stick guy has an ass like a snake..... I peeked.