Bandit Runner's Build Thread

[cdrewferd]

That green looks really good. The light guards are very nice as well. Sucks about the wheel rings, but when you've done everything to the level you have it's worth the extra time to get it right.

 

[Bandit Runner]

That green looks really good. The light guards are very nice as well. Sucks about the wheel rings, but when you've done everything to the level you have it's worth the extra time to get it right.

Thanks Drew. Yeah I painted the wheels while they were still on the truck, and the paint ran because they were vertical. Next time I'll take them off the truck and lay them flat to paint them - no more runs. I guess that's what I get for trying to save time and not take them off. haha

 

[Bandit Runner]

So with all the LED lights I’ve been buying lately, I need more space for switches. So I designed a new switch housing to mount on the center dash to replace the one I made last year. This one will hold 12 switches, as opposed to 10 on the current one. The 2 new switches will be “Rock Lights” and “Ditch Lights”.

Here’s a few pics of the rapid prototype parts epoxied together. Still need to test fit and sand smooth.

 

[Bandit Runner]

A while back I posted about the small LED lights I bought to use for rock lights:

There are 25 of them total. I plan to use them for 3 different mods: Rock lights, Under hood lights, and Rear hatch lights. Well I got one of the mods done yesterday. I mounted 4 of the lights on the underside of the hood, and wired them to a switch in the engine compartment. The wires are all hidden under the insulation material. I zip tied the wires to the windshield washer tube that runs from the hood to the engine compartment. I made a little bracket for the switch and mounted it near the battery.

It turned out really well and I am extremely pleased with this mod. These lights are very bright, and I could have probably only used 3 or even 2 and still had plenty of light. Not only do they light up the engine compartment, but a large area around the front of the truck too. This will be great for doing anything under the hood at night.

Pics of lights on (The garage was completely dark, and the lights lit up most of the garage too.)

And the switch:

 

[cdrewferd]

Very nice. I just ordered some of those lights too.

 

[tyr0981]

Jeez, I have a real addiction. I just bought more LED lights. I got 2 pairs of the Rigid Industries SR-Q spot lights. I haven't even mounted my last lights I bought yet. I have a real problem.

BTW, If anyone is looking for Rigid lights, 4wheelonline.com has a great sale going on right now and free shipping.

Did you ever get these installed / hooked up? i'd love to hear / see what you think of them, i've been after some yellow fog lights on my rig for driving in fog, snow, & dust in eastern OR

:biggrin2:

 

[Bandit Runner]

Did you ever get these installed / hooked up? i'd love to hear / see what you think of them, i've been after some yellow fog lights on my rig for driving in fog, snow, & dust in eastern OR

:biggrin2:

Not installed yet, but getting real close. Hopefully this weekend. They are not the amber ones though, just white. I do have a pair of the Rigid dually in amber though, and they are real nice in the rain/fog.

 

[Bandit Runner]

I got my new 12 position switch panel all smoothed out and painted. Hope to install it this weekend.

 

[Bandit Runner]

I had a big progress weekend. First, I got my 12 position switch panel installed:

Then I installed my ditch lights. I had to make custom brackets to mount them to the fenders due to my snorkel. I aimed them at about 45 degrees outward toward the sides:

I also finally installed my 2 pairs of RI SR-Q spot lights on the top of my bumper. I aimed these slightly outward to fill in the light along the sides of the road. (You know, like when a deer is hiding there, ready to jump out in front of you. Not that that would ever happen!) You can see all 6 new lights in this pic:

Then I started mounting and wiring up my rock lights. I got 12 out of the 18 completed. No pics of those yet though.

 

[JWaldz]

Man, you're more of a light freak than I am!! lol

Great work.

 

[cdrewferd]

Nice work this weekend. Can't wait to see how the rock lights come out. Once those are done you'll have to do night shots again.

 

[Bandit Runner]

I finished getting my rock lights all installed and wired. I think they came out pretty nice. (The pics aren't the greatest because it was starting to get light out this morning when I took them, but you get the idea.)

I used 9 lights for each side of the truck located like this:
- 1 near the front body mount in front of the front tire.
- 2 in the front wheel well.
- 1 just behind the front tire.
- 1 midway between front and rear tires.
- 1 just in front of the rear tire.
- 2 in the rear wheel well.
- 1 near the rear body mount behind the rear tire.

As you can see, this gave me a fairly nice even distribution of light all around the truck.

 

[cdrewferd]

Those look really good. Gives me an idea of how to lay them out on my rig. Any chance you could show some pics of how you mounted the lights?

 

[Bandit Runner]

Those look really good. Gives me an idea of how to lay them out on my rig. Any chance you could show some pics of how you mounted the lights?

The mounting varied depending on what I was attaching them to. I bought a roll of metal strap with the holes in it. Its the stuff plumbers/electricians/hvac guys use to hang pipe/conduit/ducts from unistrut. I basically cut a short piece of the strap and bent it to fit where I needed to mount it (it bends really easy, but is stiff enough to hold its shape). I used a small bolt and nut to attach the rock light to one of the end holes in the strap. I used another bolt/nut in the other end hole of the strap to mount to the truck (where there was an existing hole in the truck to use). In some places where there was no hole (wheel wells) I used drill point screws to attach the strap to the truck.

Hope this helps. I'll try to snap a few pics later.

 

[Bandit Runner]

So after my under-hood lights and my rock lights, I still had 3 lights left over. I decided to mount them to the inside of the rear hatch to provide more light when the hatch is open. I wired them to the stock rear interior light, so they would come on when the hatch was opened.

This was in my garage which was completely dark except for the hatch lights.

I cut square openings in the plastic so that the lights would sit flush in the panel. All the wires are run behind the plastic panel for a clean install.

 

[Bandit Runner]

Recently returned from a week long camping trip. Did some 4wheeling, kayaking, hiking, mountain biking and fishing. Here are some of the wheeling pics. Nothing too impressive, mostly just forest roads and a little mud.

Most of the trails in the area are overgrown and look like this. My limb risers really came in handy and worked great.

More pics to come…

 

[Bandit Runner]

Miscellaneous camping pics:

Setting up camp, I used my ARB compressor to fill the air mattresses. It worked great.

Camp for the week:

Went out and got a weeks worth of firewood:

Dinner, hotdogs on the campfire:

Did a little fishing, without much luck. My son with his “big” catch (largemouth bass):

All loaded up for the ride home:

Sagging a little in the back with the heavy load:

More to come…

 

[Bandit Runner]

Apparently my roof rack is also a jungle gym. My son showing off:

 

[CenCalifoothill15]

I always enjoy checking out your build thread! Top notch work!

That's a lot of gear you hauled (3 kayaks, 3 bikes, firewood, etc.)

*Good times with the family is what it's all about- :nicethread:

 

[Bandit Runner]

Here are some kayaking pics from while we were camping. This is the first lake we kayaked in:

There was a family of swans, that we were able to get pretty close to.

The second lake was much smaller, but we were all alone on it, and it was very scenic.