A newb and his runner

B

BOVADS

New member
Figured start a build thread here on my '15 trail.
The summer of '15 I'm going to drive this from southern AZ to Deadhorse AK, I work in prudhoe bay and always wanted to drive up here. I plan on taking 8-10 days per trip (up and down) .
Pretty much gonna be a "cookie cutter " compared to other runners on here.
Icon coil overs , 2.5"
Uniball upper arms
Metal tech rear long travel
CBI rear bumper with tire carrier and fuel carriers
Demello front bumper, 9.5 winch
Vision X 20" xmitter extreme on bumper
2 4" vision x cannons in bumper
Drabbits full size roof rack
RCI skids
4:88 gears
Gonna change Y pipe and reroute it for better clearance and improved flow
Haven't decided on tires. Probably doing 305-70-17 Goodyear mtr's
Haven't decided on wheels. Would like to keep stock ones
Closer to due date I think I'll pull rear seats out, build some storage compartments and a sleeping platform


Anything else I'm missing ?
 
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Cool trip planned for sure. May want to search and see what width wheel you need for 305s. I reckon they may be a bit wide for stock wheels.
 
You should outfit your truck to whatever extreme you find aesthetically pleasing and capable for anything you think you might get into.

That being said, I agree with Biggcrisp - you shouldn't need near that level of modification to make that drive unless you plan on significant off-highway excursions along the way. You'll pay a penalty in mpg and driving comfort with those big tires (even with the re-gearing). But if it's what you want, go for it.

I like that you have front end protection and lighting covered. That's something you always hear recommended for travel up there. While not necessarily vehicle mods, I would also suggest carrying things like:
A tire repair kit (Viking Offroad and ARB make good ones - they come with plugs, tools, etc)
A good first aid kit
A water purifier
A good sleeping bag
An assortment of personal clothing/gear to handle the elements (gloves, hats, jackets, pants, etc)
A bit of recovery gear - recovery strap, bow shackles, etc.

What about sliders? You mentioned everything but sliders. Good mud flaps and rocker protection would probably come in handy.
 
Didn't mention sliders, my fault. I already grabbed a set of the sleekster ones from Randy Ellis design. I'm not totally sold on them but they are local and in stock so I got them.
I agree with first aid kit and stuff just haven't got that far.
I just bought the runner before I came back to work. I work a month on and the have 3 weeks off so build May be slow but hopefully it's like Christmas every time I get back home :party:
I was debating having OMF put bead locks on my stock wheels.
I have a ton of stuff ordered and on the way.

I was a little vague on trip plans but I want to hit as much dirt road and back roads as possible thru the lower 48. May even stay a day or two in good wheelin spots.

All work but the alignment will be done by me .

As far as pics go , it's all stock with a temp tag on it , so here's a better pic of my last wheeler
 

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BOVADS said:
All work but the alignment will be done by me .

As far as pics go , it's all stock with a temp tag on it , so here's a better pic of my last wheeler
Click to expand...

Nice! In that case, I say go for the SAS now! You can beat [MENTION=89562]bimrunner[/MENTION] to it.
 
Ducmonsta said:
Nice! In that case, I say go for the SAS now! You can beat [MENTION=89562]bimrunner[/MENTION] to it.
Click to expand...

Ha!!
I've actually thought about sas'ing it already but it would take forever with my schedule and the fact that I don't have a garage yet (new house) , hence all the bolt on stuff. I talked to Randy about it when I was grabbing my sliders, it would be expensive :faint:
 
BOVADS said:
Ha!!
I've actually thought about sas'ing it already but it would take forever with my schedule and the fact that I don't have a garage yet (new house) , hence all the bolt on stuff. I talked to Randy about it when I was grabbing my sliders, it would be expensive :faint:
Click to expand...

SAS it! I'm working on a SAS as well but it's going to cost some coin! I want to do it right the first time so spending quite a bit of time researching exactly how I want it. It is like a dominos falling... One thing leads to the next... Oh and a dude is working on a 6.2 LS swap for the fzj80 (my other trail rig) so competition for $ is hitting me!

Where do you plan to get 4.88 gears? Nitro only makes 4.56. Didn't hear that anybody was offering the 4.88 yet.
 
Yukon is working on a set of 4:88's. If they aren't out soon I'll go 4:56.

I hear you on the domino effect. That red runner was pristine rig when I bought it.
 
So pretty much all my traveling plans went down the drain due to my wife's job or mine this summer. I've also started building/gathering pieces of a FJ crawler I'm going to build.
So I couldn't stand having it stock anymore and did the cheapy lift cause I had to run up to Colo again. I called toy tec and did the 5100's , their springs, tops etc and rear 5100's and 2" springs.
I re-did the exhaust while I was at it, added a dynomax 2into 1 muff and rerouted it , so it wouldn't get crushed under t-case and got rid of restrictive collector. Nothing new or rocket science.
I threw on lift real quick , did a alignment and headed north. 1200miles in 3days and I'm back home. Didn't have a chance to play in any snow, mostly cause there wasn't any :( did go play on my property a little playing with all the "trail" gadgets.
 

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good luck on the long haul. i am also planning on making the trip to Prudhoe, although starting from Anchorage. Part of my long term goal of completing the trip from Prudhoe to Tierra del Fuego.

Aside from your list of mods, I would recommend 2 spare tires and a patch kit and tire inflation/deflation equipment. The Dalton is notorious for eating tires, especially tires that are not E rated. Funny enough the first thing everyone does on a long road trip is make sure tires are fully inflated. It would do you some good to let out 10 to 15 psi once the pavement ends. A little softness on the tread will go a long way to keeping you from blowing out the sidewalls.
 
Well I kind of abandoned this whole build due to work, and crawler build.
Well me and wife were tired of the heat and decided to bail up the the mountains for the weekend. We slept in the back of the runner on a air mattress and soon realized we were out of room for storage.
So... I'm gonna build a roof rack similar to the Drabbits rack. My question to all of you is..:
1. If you bought a prebuilt rack, what do like, dislike or wish it had?
2. Did you notice a lot more wind noise ? Sunroof or no sunroof ?
3. Have you ran into any disadvantages of having it on at all times?
 
Figured I'd update this s little. Haven't done much due work and other projects but I am going on a week long trip in Colo soon. I figured with the whole famn damily and the dog I needed some more storage room. So I started a roof rack.
Bottom frame and cross bars are .095" X 1" and the rest is all .065 x 1". I couldn't come up with a better idea to get around the shark fin so I copied the Drabbits style rack. For the floor I used 16 gauge perforated steel plate only due to the fact that absolutely hate expanded steel. I dimple died a few sections to make the rack floor more rigid and stronger and it's amazing how much rigidity it adds with no added weight!! It is all tig welded except for a few spots on the floor.
 

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