StormRunner Build & Adventure Thread

[jdtaylor42]

Not that you're asking for opinions (unless you are), but I vote don't paint the skids. I agree that they look really good as is...
:decision:

Agreed. I left my RCI aluminum raw as it looks good already and will "weather" better than paint that would get immediately trashed.

Yeah I am back and forth on painting. If I did paint, I would paint them a gloss white so they would look very similar to the raw aluminum but it would certainly be more upkeep to have them painted than to have them just raw.

Did you get the filler plate too?

I did not. I am currently using my stock plastic filler plate. When I looked at the filler plate online it was just 16ga. steel with two bends so I figured I could fab that myself for cheaper than $65. However, my local metal shop only sells 4'x4' sheets and that costs $70. I couldn't think of much else I would make with 16ga. steel so it didn't seem worth it to buy a half sheet. Now if I could get a 4'x4' sheet of aluminum then I would be all over that but not that excited for a steel filler

 

[jdtaylor42]

So with the extra time off for the holiday I tackled a few projects I have been wanting to get to. One was adding the grill lights now that I have the TRD Grill. I am sure most everyone has seen these lights installed on different rides but I wanted to install them a bit differently.

Most people place the lights on the outside of the grill and zip-tie them to the grill. I didn't like that they sat outside the grill because in the day it just looked funny to me. So I modified the lights by chopping off the side fins so they slid into the grill slots from behind. I have seen others do this but seems like everyone still zip-ties them on. I just couldn't bring myself to zip-tie lights to a $40k ride.

I ended up making some small tabs that would mount to the existing holes on the lights and then I could drill small holes in the slats of the grill to secure the tabs to the grill. I used small, black hardware so it's only visible if you come right up to the grill are looking for it. The lights are very secure now.

A few pics to show how I set it up:

Here is the light harness ready to slide into the grille with the tabs already attached. In this pic it had silver hardware for mocking it up

Here they are attached to the grill

And from behind the grill

The wire loom I zip-tied up under the radiator crossmember to head over towards the battery area

Just in front of the battery is where I installed a weather-proof connection so if I need to remove the light harness I can easily do so

I also wanted the light independently controlled rather than tapping into the headlights or fog lights or some other area. And because I love Batman I had to go with a Bat Signal button

The finished product from a short distance. I don't have a good picture of them lit up yet as I had a lot of other projects going on as well this weekend but soon I will grab one

 

[ahbot]

The "Bat" lights looks clean as hell.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

 

[007Tacoma]

Now that is what I am talking about. Excellent work!

 

[kcsaysngo]

So with the extra time off for the holiday I tackled a few projects I have been wanting to get to. One was adding the grill lights now that I have the TRD Grill. I am sure most everyone has seen these lights installed on different rides but I wanted to install them a bit differently.



Most people place the lights on the outside of the grill and zip-tie them to the grill. I didn't like that they sat outside the grill because in the day it just looked funny to me. So I modified the lights by chopping off the side fins so they slid into the grill slots from behind. I have seen others do this but seems like everyone still zip-ties them on. I just couldn't bring myself to zip-tie lights to a $40k ride.



I ended up making some small tabs that would mount to the existing holes on the lights and then I could drill small holes in the slats of the grill to secure the tabs to the grill. I used small, black hardware so it's only visible if you come right up to the grill are looking for it. The lights are very secure now.



A few pics to show how I set it up:



Here is the light harness ready to slide into the grille with the tabs already attached. In this pic it had silver hardware for mocking it up

Here they are attached to the grill

And from behind the grill

The wire loom I zip-tied up under the radiator crossmember to head over towards the battery area

Just in front of the battery is where I installed a weather-proof connection so if I need to remove the light harness I can easily do so

I also wanted the light independently controlled rather than tapping into the headlights or fog lights or some other area. And because I love Batman I had to go with a Bat Signal button

The finished product from a short distance. I don't have a good picture of them lit up yet as I had a lot of other projects going on as well this weekend but soon I will grab one

so sickkkkk man!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[jdtaylor42]

The "Bat" lights looks clean as hell.

Now that is what I am talking about. Excellent work!

so sickkkkk man!

Thanks everyone! I really like the way it turned out

 

[KAGE-RANNA]

Would you mind providing a brand and part number for those lights or even better a URL? The scale is perfect.

 

[jdtaylor42]

Would you mind providing a brand and part number for those lights or even better a URL? The scale is perfect.

Sorry I should have put that in the original post. Here is a link to buy them on Amazon

 

[sportsbriefcase]

What bag do you use for all this?

 

[jdtaylor42]

What bag do you use for all this?

Sorry I missed you question but not sure I know what you mean by bag? What bag do I use for what?

 

[jdtaylor42]

So I finally finished up my drawer system!

It has one full-extension drawer for gear and the right side is reserved for an ARB fridge with slide. I will probably wait until spring to get a fridge since I won't really need it in the winter but I wanted to be ready for it.

I used Baltic Birch ply so it is very strong. I then laminated all exposed surfaces and then finished the edges with aluminum edging just for style. I thought about building a mounting plate but decided I wanted to easily be able to go back to stock in case I want to use the full interior as a sleeper for a weekend trip so it is secured with turnbuckles to all four factory d-rings. I made it so the rear seats can still recline because I love that for long trips. I also lined the drawer with thin rubber matting to ensure I had no rattles with the packed gear. The only thing left is I plan to order some rubber diamond-plate mat to lay on top so gear on top of the drawer doesn't slide around. Really happy with how it turned out.

Here you can see the turnbuckle. Some of my gear I keep outside the drawer like blanket, towel, paper towels, ice scraper, etc but most is kept in the drawer.

The drawer fully extended and loaded up with my gear

And here is an updated picture of the gear I carry. Some things I carry are not pictured but most is shown here.

 

[Magnetic4R]

Looks legit!! Need to redo mine at some point.

 

[jdtaylor42]

Looks legit!! Need to redo mine at some point.

Thanks, I like how it turned out but it was a LOT of work. I didn't want it to look like I went to Home Depot and threw a bunch of stuff together though. If I can't do it myself and make it look like it belongs then I will just buy professional.

 

[bluemach1]

Just read thru your whole build to this point. Not bad to burn a day at work. Top notch! Can't wait to start mine. Enjoyed how your build started in regards to function/importance first.

 

[jdtaylor42]

Been busy snowboarding lately but I did get to head to Sedona and run Broken Arrow Trail this weekend. Was a different experience with it being muddy but since it's winter there was a lot less traffic so it allowed for a lot more photo's then normal. Had a blast as always

 

[tral]

your build keeps getting better and better. question as i am no an owner of a "new to me" K9 rack (1.6M). Did you find some of the eyelets at the hardware store or did you buy the ones from specifically online at ~$5. just looking for what my options are.

 

[Kevin W]

Great looking ride and I love seeing all the places you visit. Thanks for sharing.

Kev

 

[jdtaylor42]

your build keeps getting better and better. question as i am no an owner of a "new to me" K9 rack (1.6M). Did you find some of the eyelets at the hardware store or did you buy the ones from specifically online at ~$5. just looking for what my options are.

I bought the Front Runner eye-nuts because they were powder-coated black. You can get some for much cheaper than that but all I could find was chrome finish and I didn't want that on my rack. Kind of expensive but they will last forever so depending on what you want, just buy once and get what you want

 

[tral]

I bought the Front Runner eye-nuts because they were powder-coated black. You can get some for much cheaper than that but all I could find was chrome finish and I didn't want that on my rack. Kind of expensive but they will last forever so depending on what you want, just buy once and get what you want

Good call on the black. Just ordered some from my buddy at Apex Overland.

 

[jdtaylor42]

Got a good amount of snow in Flagstaff this weekend. At least a couple of feet on top of what we already had so I decided to head out and see if I could get stuck. Spoiler Alert: I couldn't

And then a throwback pic all the way to last weekend when I hit Taos Ski Valley and Wolf Creek for some boarding