Rock Rat's Imperial Jade Mica "Next Adventure" Build

[Rock_Rat]

Storage System With FrontRunner Wolfpack Storage Containers

I had a very productive weekend thinking through and building my own storage solution well under budget. With just under two weeks to go before my next big trip, I wanted to make some changes to my storage system.

My Limitations Which I'm Sure Others Can Relate

• Money is a HUGE factor
• Unsure of what system I want to purchase until I see them
• I have very little time to fab up anything too extravagant
• I need to have my back seats available so I'm limited to the rear cargo area only
• Still need to use the "U" part of my SUV for other things so it must be removable

So as you can see, those were my thoughts going into this build. Now for the actual mental roadmap:

Designing Stages
It had to be lightweight and very strong but not too costly.
I ordered four Front Runner Wolfpack storage boxes to build the unit around.
I definitely wanted carpet no drawers for now.
Want to install an ARB fridge on top with sliding mount.

The Actual Build
Rather than use plywood, I decided to go with a decent hardwood for the skeliton and piece of Birch plywood for the top. I covered the box using a very lightweight indoor/outdoor grey carpet attached with 3M 90 spray glue.

To piece everything together I went with #10 biscuits and just a few deck screws. I have all the measurements at home.

Total cost was under 300 which includes the $200 plus, spent on the Wolfpack containers. Overall I'm very pleased with how it turned out.


The first thing I did was begin taking a few measurements and thinking through what I though was the best way to build the frame.


I needed to construct the frame pieces first. After measuring a few times, I made the cuts and attached the pieces with my biscuit joiner and liquid nails.


Once the frame pieces were made, I cut the piece of Birch to 38" wide, measured the width needed for tandem storage units running front to back and side-by-side. This left me some additional storage space in the center. Using clamps and long pieces of wood, I secured everything in place.



The carpet I picked up ( 6' x 6') from Home Depot was amazingly light and extremely inexpensive. Now began the painstakingly tedious process of cutting to size and gluing one section at a time.



At times it was a bit challenging. But I've learned a long time ago, to NEVER rush anything or you'll end up doing it over.

 

[Rock_Rat]

Storage System With FrontRunner Wolfpack Storage Containers - Part Two

Well, it was time to scrutinize my own work and see how it all fits together.

The true test will be in the next few weeks when I truly get to use it, but for now, for the amount I spent on it, both time and money, I like the way it turned out. It will more than suit my needs.

The good thing about the FrontRunner boxes, is they're universal. I can put whatever I want in them and move them around depending on the type of run I'm going on or even the type of vehicle I'm driving. Recovery gear could be put in the rear one. food and what not up front. If I ever needed more room, I could always put them on the roof.

Variations that could be made to this are unlimited but:

• Sliding drawers because I left the interior sides uncovered with carpet.
• I can still build a sliding stove/cutting board etc along with an ARB Fridge on the sliding mount
• Side panels/compartments are easily constructed and attached.
• An addition to the rear seats to turn it into a sleep platform or better yet, just use the Front runner containers as they're the same size minus 1/2 "

I still have a cpl of small things to finish up as follows:

• Securing it to the OEM tie-downs
• Adding additional anchor's so I can securely store things on top of the box

Here's a great look at the bottom. I decided to carpet everything except the sides should I ever choose to get creative and build myself some drawers.


Rather than just make a "box" I decided it was more beneficial to cut the angle out on top. This allows the Frontrunner boxes plenty of floor space and it capitalizes on the cargo area. I also like the idea of having a pass-through.


Here are the four Front Runner (Wolfpack) boxes. Notice how my storage box has a gap up front. Keep in mind I have two three layers of sound deadening AND 1/2" closed cell foam throughout my rig. A simple remedy would be a nice wedge when I strap it down.


All four boxes fit perfectly and I have room to access my compressor and use that space for for additional "immediate need" type items such as the winch control, ARB inflator etc...

 

[Road Bull]

Very nice Mike! If and when I decide to add rear storage options, I would like to do a modular approach similar to yours. I will have to look into those frontrunner boxes to. Looks nice.

 

[Rock_Rat]

Very nice Mike! If and when I decide to add rear storage options, I would like to do a modular approach similar to yours. I will have to look into those frontrunner boxes to. Looks nice.

Thanks. Yea it's not the fanciest but seriously, it's hard to go wrong with four cargo boxes, some wood, glue, screws, carpet, and day and half. I can see where you need all the room you can get for your Drums and still be able to "switch gears" and go off road and haul your necessary gear in the back. Perfect system.

So I'm taking two classes next Saturday at the Overland Expo; The first is "The Skinny on Weight: Building and packing an overland vehicle." and the second one is: "DIY Cargo Systems, Sleeping Platforms, and Interior Storage" I'll try and update my page or just PM you (or anyone else that's interested) with some good info before you begin your build.

The class I'm most excited about is the "Camel Trophy Skills: Rollover Prevention and Recovery" 2 hrs with your own vehicle. Pretty stoked!! A human sponge ready to absorb as much knowledge as I can!!

 

[theesotericone]

Thanks. Yea it's not the fanciest but seriously, it's hard to go wrong with four cargo boxes, some wood, glue, screws, carpet, and day and half. I can see where you need all the room you can get for your Drums and still be able to "switch gears" and go off road and haul your necessary gear in the back. Perfect system.

So I'm taking two classes next Saturday at the Overland Expo; The first is "The Skinny on Weight: Building and packing an overland vehicle." and the second one is: "DIY Cargo Systems, Sleeping Platforms, and Interior Storage" I'll try and update my page or just PM you (or anyone else that's interested) with some good info before you begin your build.

The class I'm most excited about is the "Camel Trophy Skills: Rollover Prevention and Recovery" 2 hrs with your own vehicle. Pretty stoked!! A human sponge ready to absorb as much knowledge as I can!!

Relate any useful info in this thread if you could. Those of us that aren't going can live vicariously through you.

As far as packing a rig goes, I'm betting it's a lot like packing a pack. Heavy stuff on the bottom and lighter stuff on the top. I'm gonna break that rule when I finally get a RTT though. lol

 

[Rock_Rat]

Relate any useful info in this thread if you could. Those of us that aren't going can live vicariously through you.

As far as packing a rig goes, I'm betting it's a lot like packing a pack. Heavy stuff on the bottom and lighter stuff on the top. I'm gonna break that rule when I finally get a RTT though. lol

Absolutely! Speaking of sleeping and RTT's...I'm still trying to figure out my sleeping arrangements the next cpl weeks. Ground tent but need to add a bit more cushion to the T-rest alpinist pad (no ridgerest or sleeping on a rope either). Getting whimpy, I know. haha

 

[theesotericone]

Absolutely! Speaking of sleeping and RTT's...I'm still trying to figure out my sleeping arrangements the next cpl weeks. Ground tent but need to add a bit more cushion to the T-rest alpinist pad (no ridgerest or sleeping on a rope either). Getting whimpy, I know. haha

I have 2" of memory foam that goes over the my exped pad and my wife's therma-rest. It's plush to say the least. Fast and light it is not, but car camping is car camping.

I'm sure there will be a lot of dealers there. I'd get in and try to cozy up to some reps. Then demo some mattresses for a few days. Reps are usually pretty good about letting you use there stuff for free. Air mattress from a big box store is also cheap. They double as a raft on hot days. lol

 

[Road Bull]

Thanks. Yea it's not the fanciest but seriously, it's hard to go wrong with four cargo boxes, some wood, glue, screws, carpet, and day and half. I can see where you need all the room you can get for your Drums and still be able to "switch gears" and go off road and haul your necessary gear in the back. Perfect system.

So I'm taking two classes next Saturday at the Overland Expo; The first is "The Skinny on Weight: Building and packing an overland vehicle." and the second one is: "DIY Cargo Systems, Sleeping Platforms, and Interior Storage" I'll try and update my page or just PM you (or anyone else that's interested) with some good info before you begin your build.

The class I'm most excited about is the "Camel Trophy Skills: Rollover Prevention and Recovery" 2 hrs with your own vehicle. Pretty stoked!! A human sponge ready to absorb as much knowledge as I can!!

I like it. Simple, modular, practical. That sounds like a a winner to me. I look at a lot of these great cargo builds and wonder about the convenience to weight factor that goes along with having these long sliding drawers. Now, everyone has and knows their own needs, so I am not dissing those builds at all. Dirtco has one of the coolest I have seen. His cargo looks like functional high end furniture that you might find inside a nice yacht. For me, I would be happy to come up with a sturdy platform, maybe not even wood, that I could cover some containers of some sort. That would make me happy.

Those classes at the expo sound great! And thanks for offering to share your experiences with us. I would be very interested to hear what they had to say. Can't wait to see some pics!

 

[Unner]

I know I pack heavy and my truck is heavy, but I'll listen to any pointers from that class and the rollover prevention one sounds interesting too! Especially for us with roof racks on the already tippy 3rd gen.

 

[Rock_Rat]

Off to Overland Expo and Utah

Well, I'm at a Starbucks taking a break from the long drive. Been busy as all get outs getting ready for this trip. I owe an awful lot to everyone on this site for all of their various builds, inputs, expertise, humor, sarcasm, etc. [MENTION=116387]Unner[/MENTION] for someone who just went out to Moab, you've been a tremendous amount of help. Thanks! :dancin:

 

[LittleCaesar]

We need some trip pics posted please.

Kudos to using a biscuit joiner. Most people don't even know what that tool looks like.

I am disappointed there isn't a UW logo somewhere.

 

[theesotericone]

We need some trip pics posted please.

Kudos to using a biscuit joiner. Most people don't even know what that tool looks like.

I second the pics motion.

Biscuits are good, box tails better, dovetail are a work of art. I would never bother to dovetail a storage platform though, unless you where paying me a shit ton of money. lol

 

[Kotrin]

Absolutely! Speaking of sleeping and RTT's...I'm still trying to figure out my sleeping arrangements the next cpl weeks. Ground tent but need to add a bit more cushion to the T-rest alpinist pad (no ridgerest or sleeping on a rope either). Getting whimpy, I know. haha

I passed on a 1/3 or 1/4 price RTT that was on Facebook page a month or so ago. I don't like the loss of space and climbing up doesn't work for me well. I have a turbo tent, cot and a air pad that goes on it. I've tested it out for a night and its as comfortable to to my conditions.

 

[Unner]

Well, I'm at a Starbucks taking a break from the long drive. Been busy as all get outs getting ready for this trip. I owe an awful lot to everyone on this site for all of their various builds, inputs, expertise, humor, sarcasm, etc. [MENTION=116387]Unner[/MENTION] for someone who just went out to Moab, you've been a tremendous amount of help. Thanks! :dancin:

No problem Mike, hope your trip goes smoothly! We'll all be waiting here for pictures once you get back!

 

[Road Bull]

Yup, I hope you are having a good time out there Mike! I can't wait to hear some reports back and see some cool pics. Be safe man.

 

[Rock_Rat]

Return Trip From Arizona and Utah - AWESOME Trip!

As you may well guess, I have about a thousand pics to sort through but I figured I would post a few just to give you small glimpse of this outstanding trip.

Ended up driving 3047 miles from Washington through Oregon, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, and Idaho. Left with 359,380 miles and pulled into my driveway at 362,422. The mileage alone says a lot for these awesome 4Runners!

The Overland Expo was OUTSTANDING! For me, the best part of the Expo were the classes I attended. Nothing beats expanding your knowledge - nothing.

Anyway, here's a few pics of the trip. I'll expand on the trip later on once I catch up with everything and sort through my pics. I also took some straight HD video and I have some drone footage.

The following are from my cell phone only in NO Particular order!

This was one of the best classes I attended. It was a 2hr Advanced Driving class called "Braking with the Wrong Foot." Anyone with open diffs MUST learn this. I was amazed at how well I was able to drive through this course without a rear locker. It was taught by one of the best Camel Trophy instructors in the group.


My wife was both my marshaller and my photographer. What an amazing woman! "More Driver!", "More Passenger!" she would yell while still trying to capture some cool footage. This was on Fins and Things.



Another cool pic from Fins and Things. Love my Bud Built skids!!



Ran into snow going up 89 North. I'm pretty sure this was from Bryce Canyon on our way to Canyonlands.


This was the beautiful drive from the Grand Canyon to Zion National Park.


My wife and I hiked down into Bryce Canyon on the Peek-a-Boo trail and I managed to get this natural photo of her. I wish it was on my DSLR but it still turned out great for cell phone pic.


Here's a picture of one the most dangerous roads in the world - the Shafer Trail. Awesome trail and a bucket list "must do" for all of you overland enthusiasts.


When I came across this part of the canyon I looked across and asked my wife if she would be willing to take a picture of my rig back across where we just came from. I knew this was a photo opportunity on the "arch" that just couldn't be passed up. After VERY carefully turning around I drove back and then managed to back my rig along the narrow stretch of dirt road until I was centered over the arch. One of my Favorites! Can't wait to see how this looks with my DSLR.

 

[LittleCaesar]

Love Bryce Canyon, though haven't been there in some time. The first time one sees such a vast open area, it is pretty breathtaking.

Any future mods to the 4runner learned from this experience?

 

[psraff]

As you may well guess, I have about a thousand pics to sort through but I figured I would post a few just to give you small glimpse of this outstanding trip.

Ended up driving 3047 miles from Washington through Oregon, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, and Idaho. Left with 359,380 miles and pulled into my driveway at 362,422. The mileage alone says a lot for these awesome 4Runners!

The Overland Expo was OUTSTANDING!

Amazing! !! Can't wait to see it all organized!


Sent from my SM-G920I using Tapatalk

 

[Rock_Rat]

Love Bryce Canyon, though haven't been there in some time. The first time one sees such a vast open area, it is pretty breathtaking.

Any future mods to the 4runner learned from this experience?

Bryce was awesome but Soooooo cold. We were up at 5 and there hoping for a gorgeous sunrise but it just wasn't happening. We opted to go hiking down into the canyon instead. We saw the storm moving in and by the time we finished our hike out it was snowing pretty good. We ran into that storm on our way up 89 north later in the afternoon as you could see.

As for mods and adjustments - Absolutely!! The SC and the 4.88's were fantastic. The engine ran flawlessly (almost - I'll expand on that later on). For a spare I ran a Brand New KO2 make believe from Les Schwab mounted on my old coke bottle rim. Even though I have 33's I figured a 31 is better than nothing at all. To run ANY of the trails away from home you cannot have a spare underneath. After multiple scrapes I ended up removing the spare and threw it in the rig. The receiver also took a beating. Turning the receiver upside down and cutting a notch in your factory bumper definitely has some merit other than pure aesthetics.

We bought five raffle tickets at the Expo and I won four 5100's. I spoke with the billy rep and he said I could exchange them in for two 5160's for the rear instead. Best $20 bucks I ever spent.

• Aftermarket bumper - Absolutely! (Black Friday)
• New rear shocks! (Yay! Won the raffle.)
• Taller springs.

I'll be looking at [MENTION=116387]Unner[/MENTION] build and might mirror his rear suspension setup minus the 5160's that I won.

Bottom line is, I need to pretty much dial in the rear suspension better. So thankful for the front gussets on the spindle. Again, a must if you plan on running more difficult trails. Gave me some good peace of mind.

I bought a 63 qt ARB fridge a while ago instead of the 50qt and if you don't have one - it's a must! I wired it directly to my battery through a 15amp fuse, turned it on and never once worried about ice or my battery. Food stayed cold ALL the time. I went with the 63 only because it has a lower profile than the 50 which allows you to see out your back window. The 50 has a much taller profile which restricts your view out the rear window. Personal opinion, spring for the 63qt fridge.

A drawer system is a must. The Frontrunner boxes worked out great but despite my "expert" organization, sliding them out and placing them on the ground and picking them back up and sliding them, back in only to take them back out again for salt and pepper can really wear you down on a very long trip. So I think that anyone considering a storage/sleep system of any kind should consider a sliding drawer system. Same with the fridge.

It's not a mod but, if anyone is considering folding down their back seats to travel here's something to consider. My wife and I took turns driving through the night to get home and you MUST have a reclining front seat if you ever plan on sleeping (napping) in your rig. You cannot restrict the front seats from reclining. Obviously, you can remove the seating portion of the rear seats permanently. Not an option for me since my son flew in from Seattle to Flagstaff to join us for part of our trip.

Another mod will be an "always hot" USB port for cell phones. It's a bit of a pain using your cell phone/iPad for video and pics throughout the day (easiest for FB posts) only to check to see what the current percentage is. I carried a portable lithium battery charger with plenty of USB ports but it would still be nice to have an always hot USB port. I also had my Phantom 4 with me. I needed to keep the three batteries and the controller charged all the time. I used the optional 12v charger which worked great while driving but having TWO "always on" 12v outlets is also a must - one for the fridge and the other for the drone (in my case).

I'll expand a bit more on this later on once I get my jungle of a lwan under control etc. My tractor broke the day that I was leaving. Go figure! BTW - I also took some pics of my setup. The front cockpit was setup perfectly. Much better than the way I had it when I did the WABDR.

 

[JB1KN]

Awesome build!