Off Road Build with DIY and Production Mods on 37’s

Loomed air lines

 

Crater Lake National Park is gorgeous. Looking into the lake is like staring into a blue pool to infinity

Saw 2 other 3G tundras there

 

So I am moving out of CA to North Idaho and had my truck loaded up with off road gear and pulling a car carrier. My right bag leaked for the second time, after already replacing it, and then the left one blew out from the weight. So I pulled the trigger on OME 2864 springs and they go on tomorrow. We shall see how they do.

I am dealing first with the sag then I’ll change out the shocks. Got these from Desert Rat in AZ, no tax.



Pre-airbag meltdown

 

Stopped off to see family first in Montana. Montana is on another level

 

Good luck out there, Idaho is nice and cheaper.

Who’s going to lead the OB meetings in your stead?

 

Armin is taking over, there’s a great core group of people so it should chug along nicely. Armin is @Trailhawkguy on the OLB forum

 

The 2864 Old Man Emu springs are installed and it handles the weight like a champ! It’s a long ways off from being ideal but as I’m in the middle of a trip it will do. I will need to see the ride unloaded.

Just a tad bit of 1” forward rake loaded with about 525-550lbs.


Before my fist was almost touching the fender flare

 

Picked up a vanity pro grille and @Diode Dynamics front amber light bar. Hopefully I can get them installed if it ever stops snowing up in North Idaho!

If anyone is up in this area shoot me a DM, I’m starting an Overland Bound regional meet up in January.

 

I have the same radio and you have given me some ideas for mounting. I’m still looking at your build thread. Hope to find what you did for your antenna mount and feedline run

John
N2JWC

 

For the antenna I put the main box under the passenger seat and I use a door lip mount for my antenna. I put it on the driver side rear door as it’s the least used. Works well mount mid-truck.

 

I saw the trunk mount on the door, I've considered that in the past myself. I plan on putting the transceiver under the passenger seat as well, the only place with space. I am sure I will not hear the internal speaker well from there so planning on the speaker install as well. I was considering a lip mount on the back of the passenger side of the hood, still investigating all my options.

 

I took time today and installed my Heritage grille which I won’t detail the install here as there are so many resources for that. I will say go slow as there are so many clips to be careful of. I bought the @Diode Dynamics amber light bar and it turned out well. I prepped my build to signal the relay via the high beams fuse under the hood but alas THERE ISN’T A HIGH BEAM FUSE UNDER THE HOOD.

Our tundras have gone fancy to a CANBUS system so I had to order a canbus interface trigger system which will take a couple days. https://www.ncs-systems.com/canm8-highbeam.html
I like it



CANM8 System which detects signals and is minimally invasive

 

What don’t you like about the rear ARB 2864 springs that make them less than ideal?

 

The 2864’s can carry an amazing amount of weight. Fully loaded, and my weight is a lot for not having a slide in camper, barely moves the rear end. They just are so stiff and the stock shocks can’t handle them well. At this point I haven’t changed them out because at my new house I cannot takeoff my rack and tent easily so I’ve been driving around with it on. If I were to takeoff the tent and rack like I normally do then it would be even worse. In the long run I need to go to a little bit softer spring but fully loaded it does really ride really nice

 

So this is more of a camping mod. I am working on adding a 270 awning to my rack that has an iKamper. The challenge is that an iKamper shell HEAVES out to the drivers side on its hinges as it opens to the passenger side. So one can’t place the awning too close to the tent (on the drivers side) or they will interfere with each other. So I’m mocking up telescoping mounts. The idea is to be able to tuck the awning up tight next to the tent in transport, then slide it out 7” away from the tent to deploy the awning and open the tent. I am going to use square tubes that nests inside of each other to function as the telescoping mechanism, simple and durable. I used this method for my privacy tent on a prior build and it worked well.

I didn’t want a 90” awning hanging out 7-8” away from the tent all the time which I why this project was born.

My progress so far

 

Design is done and I’m working on a quote from a fab shop as I don’t weld.

 

Got my CBI Stealth Winch Bumper delivered today! I’m excited to get this installed, off roading without a winch feels a little too vulnerable to me.

 

Do you have any videos demonstrating how you take off the rack and tent as a whole unit?

 

I’ve got video footage that’s all separate and not edited together. But it’s a 4 point hoist using ceiling mount pulleys to route the cables laterally then down vertically down to the rack. I’ve got a cheap Harbour Freight winch that pulls all 4 cables at the same time

 

Long day but installed CBI’s Covert bumper with air dam electronic bypass unit, @Diode Dynamics fog lights, and a new winch. The fairlead is CBI’s and a Factor55 hook with rope protector.

The cut is pretty easy, I didn’t document much of it as there’s plenty of how-to videos out there. But so glad to have a winch back on the truck!

 

This is awesome @PapaDave418 I'm wondering how you routed the antenna RF cable through the weather strip seal. And if the cable and/or weather strip is getting damaged by repeated door closing? thanks.

 

The weather strip simply forms around the wire as it’s thinner in diameter at the top. No damage at all opening and closing.

 

Awesome truck. Do you run a heater for cold weather camping?

 

This is a great build! Subcribed.

 

I will now that I moved up north. My plan is to utilize the dead space between the rack and the rear of the cab with a DIY box that slides out laterally. Diesel heaters are cheap but more fuss than I care for so I’m going to go with a propane heater. Propex makes a good heater but its fan is all on or all off and I hear it can wake people up a lot. So I’m looking at a Truma heater called VarioHeat which has 3 fan speed levels. AT Overland use it for their builds and it comes in many new RV’s as the OEM heater.

Rough cardboard mock up


Little less rough mock up for a heater box, 5lb propane mount on the end with QuickPitch privacy tent on the back. Inside will be the heater and all the hose to go to the tent, quick easy and self contained.


Heater

 

Bad ass, no nonsense build!!!
Question, are you using Rive nuts to attach the slides to the bed? if so, is the bed material too thick for regular rive nuts or do the regular length ones work?
Do you have a link for the rive nuts you use?

 

I used these 5/16” large flange rivnuts. They work great as they spread out nicely.

https://www.mcmaster.com/97217A427/

 

Thanks! It’s coming along and the camping season is about to get busy up here!