StormRunner Build & Adventure Thread

[kwill]

How is the wind noise with that rack?

 

[Titanpat57]

Thanks I bench 275

lol...so does my wife....

just a little levity to break the tension..:dancin:


I love your build so far, I have a white TEP on order. I've admired the K-9's from afar, and think I like them...anyway to get them lower to the roof?

Outside of that, I think I like them much more than the Gobi or Baja

Keep up the good work!

 

[phx4rnr]

So after quite a bit of research I decided on the Eezi-Awn K9 2.2M Flat Roof Rack. I think it looks great, can hold a ton of weight, has a competitive price, and most importantly from the time I ordered to me having it in my garage was like five days. Fantastic and looking forward to loading it up for our trip to Death Valley.

Got to head out for a bit more off-roading this weekend. Here are a few shots my wife and I took while out:

are these all on the same trail? looks awesome! I am headed up there thursday night to do some wheeling friday. can you google map where this is for me?

 

[jdtaylor42]

How is the wind noise with that rack?

You know I don't hear it at all around town but I have yet to take it on the interstate to see how it is at those speeds. I will let you know once I do.

lol...so does my wife....

just a little levity to break the tension..:dancin:

I love your build so far, I have a white TEP on order. I've admired the K-9's from afar, and think I like them...anyway to get them lower to the roof?

Outside of that, I think I like them much more than the Gobi or Baja

Keep up the good work!

Yeah but I doubt her rack looks as good as mine :laser: :rofl:

In order to drop the rack lower I think you would have to chop the mounts down. You could definitely do it but it would take some serious work.

As it is, it only sits about an inch higher than the sharkfin so you don't have too much room to drop it anyways but it is possible to an extent.

are these all on the same trail? looks awesome! I am headed up there thursday night to do some wheeling friday. can you google map where this is for me?

They are not the same trail. The last pictures were from two separate locations but to be honest for the first location I am not sure I could map it. I was just out exploring various dirt roads and came upon that trail.

For the last pictures that is the area around O'Leary peak. If you head out Hwy-89 east and north of Flagstaff you will come upon both the Cinders OHV area and O'Leary on your right side. I would think that would give you the most bang for your buck while here.

I can't post pictures due to firewalls at work but if I have time after work I can try to google map it and post a screenshot. Since you live in AZ though I would highly suggest you order this book from Amazon which details trails all over AZ and covers both the Cinders OHV and O'Leary. Two day Prime shipping, order it today and you could have it Thursday! :bigok:

 

[Range]

Seeing as how your tires are new what caused your tire blow out?

 

[jdtaylor42]

Seeing as how your tires are new what caused your tire blow out?

I didn't have a blow out. I air down for off-road and with the flex it just compressed that tire down. It was fine as I cleared that spot

 

[Range]

Headed out to do some mountain biking. Unfortunately I ended up blowing out my rear tire so I called it quits for the evening a little earlier than I hoped.

I'm guessing your BIKE tire blew out? My bad.

 

[jdtaylor42]

I'm guessing your BIKE tire blew out? My bad.

Ohhhhh didn't realize you were talking about the bike.

It was actually the valve stem that malfunctioned. The tire was a little low so I went to fill it up and unscrewing the presta valve the whole stem came out and of course the tire went completely flat. Since it was set up tubeless and I didn't have a spare valve on me I had to call it a day. I have since gone back to tubes since they are quick and easy to change out on the trail.

 

[Range]

Ohhhhh didn't realize you were talking about the bike.

It was actually the valve stem that malfunctioned. The tire was a little low so I went to fill it up and unscrewing the presta valve the whole stem came out and of course the tire went completely flat. Since it was set up tubeless and I didn't have a spare valve on me I had to call it a day. I have since gone back to tubes since they are quick and easy to change out on the trail.

LOL, no I was actually talking about your Duratracs. I thought one of the rears blew out. But then I realized it was your bike tire that blew out. LOL. Freaked me out because I'm in the market for tires and hearing your "rear tire blew out" when I have it narrowed down to Duratracs and Coopers made me rethink my decision.

 

[ubergoober3]

What was your experience with the on road/off road ride before and after your toytec lift?

 

[eliminator]

Looks great. Surprising how much different the wheels looks with the centre caps removed.

 

[jdtaylor42]

LOL, no I was actually talking about your Duratracs. I thought one of the rears blew out. But then I realized it was your bike tire that blew out. LOL. Freaked me out because I'm in the market for tires and hearing your "rear tire blew out" when I have it narrowed down to Duratracs and Coopers made me rethink my decision.

Ah I see. No I have run Duratracs for thousands upon thousands of miles on multiple vehicles over very rough terrain and have never had any issues. They are the best tire I have ever run.

Some of the guys at work run Cooper Discoverers on their 3/4 ton trucks and while I would say they are a slight bit quieter on the road, they definitely don't seem to clean themselves as well off-road. I work for a natural gas pipeline so we all spend a lot of time on barely maintained right of way roads and I would say the Duratrac is the better compromise between off-road and on-road performance.

However I cannot speak to the price difference if there is one because I have never purchased Coopers myself.

What was your experience with the on road/off road ride before and after your toytec lift?

I did not have a ton of time time pre-lift for comparison as I installed the lift with only like 500 miles on the truck but to be honest I actually felt like it slightly improved the on road ride quality. And off-road it obviously gave a much better articulation and approach/departure angle.

If you can't afford/don't see the need for the ICON system, I definitely feel like the Toytec is the way to go. Awesome performance for the money.

 

[HOJeepster]

Man, I miss living in Flagstaff. Went to NAU, best time ever. Love the truck.

 

[jdtaylor42]

Man, I miss living in Flagstaff. Went to NAU, best time ever. Love the truck.

Thanks! I have been in Flagstaff for just over four years now and I do love how close outdoor activities are! Within a couple hours you can be at limitless awesome places. It's just the cost of living that sucks

 

[blkhwk]

Great build start. :thumb:

White with black trail rims look awesome.

 

[HOJeepster]

Ever been out to Red Mountain? That was one of my favorite lowkey spots:

Flagstaff RD - Red Mountain Trail 23159

 

[C4 Fabrication]

4runner looks great! They look so good in white.

 

[jdtaylor42]

Great build start. :thumb:

White with black trail rims look awesome.

Thanks! Appreciate it

Ever been out to Red Mountain? That was one of my favorite lowkey spots:

Flagstaff RD - Red Mountain Trail 23159

I have not been out there; will have to check it out for sure! We have explored quite a few areas but hadn't heard of that one. Thanks for the suggestion!

4runner looks great! They look so good in white.

Thanks! I agree they look awesome in white but really I like 4R's so much I think they look good in all colors

 

[jdtaylor42]

So unfortunately I cancelled my Death Valley trip since they flooded so bad and 2/3 of the park roads are closed. I was really looking forward to that trip so to offset the depression I went and wheeled a few trails in Sedona today and I will be going camping tomorrow locally.

Here are a few pics from wheeling in Sedona today:

And this is my solution for accessing my K9 rack. I bought a telescoping aluminum ladder which is actually very sturdy and well built. Makes getting on the rack for packing/unpacking and taking some photo's nice and easy

 

[jdtaylor42]

Another weekend adventure. This time I took a back road over Mingus mountain from Cottonwood over to Prescott Valley. Some beautiful colors with the changing trees and I got my first body damage although I didn't get to snap a picture of it yet. Just a little dent in the rear bumper.