The wife's new shoes

[gerfunken]

Parts List

c4fabrication Lo Pro Winch Bumper (ordered)
Smittybilt XRC 9.5 Gen 2 Winch (ordered)
Skyjacker 3-inch Lift Kit (ordered)
Rancho Performance UCA Upgrade (ordered)
Sleekster Rock Sliders (debating)

 

[SATSTRAIL]

Parts List

c4fabrication Lo Pro Winch Bumper (ordered)
Smittybilt XRC 9.5 Gen 2 Winch (ordered)
Skyjacker 3-inch Lift Kit (ordered)
Rancho Performance UCA Upgrade (ordered)
Sleekster Rock Sliders (debating)

How much are those Rancho control arms running? Didn't see it posted on the website. Thanks!
For sliders have you checked out C4 Fab? For the money that's the route I would go.. They are on my list.

 

[gerfunken]

How much are those Rancho control arms running? Didn't see it posted on the website. Thanks!
For sliders have you checked out C4 Fab? For the money that's the route I would go.. They are on my list.

I found them listed for just under $600 at 4WheelParts.com

 

[gerfunken]

So, my wife and I decided to go for a little ride yesterday. I wanted to get her comfortable with the capabilities of the truck, and figured that we'd explore an area close to us that I've wanted to spend more time looking around.

I had her drive the little loop that I'd originally taken the truck on, so we had to stop for another shot.. it's not quite an action shot...

She did well behind the wheel, and she was happy that I let her drive her truck off-road.

After that, we did a little bit of exploring, and found our way up to a really cool mine. I would have gotten a better picture, but the entry had a bees hive in it, and they didn't like it when we got about 15' from the entry.

And, a view back from the mine trailings, out west, across the desert.

After that, we did a little more cruising, on the way to find pavement again. The trail was pretty much old 4x4 trail, but based on the width of the trail now, and the tire tracks, it's pretty much turned to a side-by-side trail.

Eventually we made our way to civilization, where we toasted the success of the day.

 

[gerfunken]

So, I'm currently looking up information on tires, and figure that with the 3" lift I'll be able to run 33's under the car. I'm trying to stay with the stock rim, which is going to force me down the 255/80R17 path (commonly referred to as "pizza cutters" in the forum.) In the legacy of sizes, I've also found tires in the 33x10.5R17 range that should work as it's the same basic size.

It would seem that this isn't a lot of choice, but here's what I've been able to track down.


Interco Tire
M16-45 runs a 33x10.5R17LT 33.5” diameter, 10.9” cross section, 7-9” wheel width.

Cooper Tire
Discoverer S/T MAXX LT255/80R17 32.8” diameter, 10.2” cross section, 6.5-8.5” wheel width. (58lbs.)

Mastercraft Tire (Cooper)
Courser CXT 255/80R17 33.15” diameter, 10.4” cross section, 6.5-8.5” wheel width. (56lbs.)

Toyo Tire
Open Country R/T LT255/80R17 33.1” diameter, 10” cross section, 6.5-8.5” wheel width. (56lbs.)
Open Country A/T II LT255/80R17 33.1” diameter, 10” cross section, 6.5-8.5” wheel width. (50lbs.)

BFGoodrich Tire
Mud-Terrain T/A KM2 LT255/80R17 33.3” diameter, 10” cross section, 6.5-8.5” wheel width. (57lbs.)

 

[rtinniste]

Congrats on the build. I got a lot of help with mine over on 67-72chevytrucks.com, they've got a bunch of great guys in their diesel conversion section. If you haven't stumbled across it, take a little bit of time and look through some of the builds.

lol lot of good people on that forum I never venture out of the 47-59 section tho, alot of help when I swapped my frame out for a s10 frame. But welcome to T4R

 

[gm350reratliff]

The BFG KO2 comes in a 34/10.50/17 variety that is basically a 255/80.

I run the 255/80 ST Maxx on my 4th gen and I'm pretty happy with them both on and especially off road. The only downside to them is they are prone to make some vehicles pull to the right. My 4th gen was no exception but with some extra time on the alignment rack and a healthy caster split, the pull is gone.

Really, you should be able to run 285's as well on the OEM wheels, which opens up a lot more options.

 

[gerfunken]

Parts List - Current Status

c4fabrication Lo Pro Winch Bumper (ordered)
Smittybilt XRC 9.5 Gen 2 Winch (pending bumper)
Skyjacker 3-inch Lift Kit (awaiting delivery)
Rancho Performance UCA Upgrade (pending install)
Sleekster Rock Sliders (still debating)

 

[gerfunken]

Parts List - Status as of 12/16/17

c4fabrication Lo Pro Winch Bumper (Number 49, still waiting on delivery)
Smittybilt XRC 9.5 Gen 2 Winch (Sitting in the garage)
Skyjacker 3-inch Lift Kit (Sitting in the garage)
Rancho Performance UCA Upgrade (Sitting in the garage)
Southern Style Offroad Sliders (Waiting on delivery)

 

[Rob71]

Welcome AZ Guy!! where is this trail...looks like fun?

 

[Bumbo]

I like this guy... buys new off-road SUV, immediately starts using it as an off-road SUV.

Sweet 72 Chevy. Also +1 on @4FL comments haha. I was thinking the same thing.

 

[gerfunken]

Welcome AZ Guy!! where is this trail...looks like fun?

I live out in Surprise, so this is a little trail out on the back side of the White Tanks where we go shooting.

 

[gerfunken]

I like this guy... buys new off-road SUV, immediately starts using it as an off-road SUV.

Sweet 72 Chevy. Also +1 on @4FL comments haha. I was thinking the same thing.

Thanks. If you buy a SUV, you should use it as such... otherwise she would have a sedan or a station wagon.

Also, thanks for the compliments on the truck.

 

[gerfunken]

So, first, I forgot to wish everyone a Merry Christmas.

I got a bit of a surprise when my sliders came in before Christmas. I didn't quite do a full test fit of them, but put them on the jack, bolted up the front bolt, and then raised them up to height. Since I didn't want to disconnect my emergency brake just for the test, I sized them up.

I've been weighing the options on a finish for them. The three choices in my mind were rattle-can; powder coat, and line-x. The quote for line-x came in at >$300 for the pair, which ruled that one out as an option very quickly.

I found a place on the Surprise, El Mirage border that does powder coating, and their estimate was $80 for the pair. That was roughly the cost of 8-10 cans of Krylon.

The SSO sliders look great, and are solid pieces. When I was looking at them, I also realized that construction of the arms between the frame mounts & slider wouldn't be easy to get paint for that area, and that cinched the decision to go with the powder coat.

So, with that, here's some pictures.

Shop stated that they probably wouldn't be ready this week, but they should be done early next week, in the new year.

 

[gerfunken]

Busy Weekend, Status as of 12/31/17

c4fabrication Lo Pro Winch Bumper (Delivery is scheduled for Jan 3, 2018)
Smittybilt XRC 9.5 Gen 2 Winch (Sitting in the garage)
Skyjacker 3-inch Lift Kit (INSTALLED)
Rancho Performance UCA Upgrade (Sitting in the garage, pending the results of the alignment.)
Southern Style Offroad Sliders (Currently at powder coaters)

So, the install of the lift kit went fairly well. I didn't get many pictures, but I did manage to get a couple.

The one problem that I really ran in to was that I sheared one of the studs on the back tire. I had my torque wrench set to 100ft.lbs., and it just sheared off. I've read in other posts that you need to go to 85ft.lbs. when you use the spacers, but I've never had a stud sheer at 100...

It has to go in for it's 5k check-up at the dealership, so we'll see what they have to say about it. As it couldn't stand to 100, I'll just call it a defect and see what the dealership has to say about it. Fingers crossed.

And, the parting shot of my happy wife as she drives it away.

The C4 Fab bumper should show up about the same time we get the call from the powder coater, so it'll be dropping one item off, picking up the sliders, and seeing if I can get some time next weekend to put those on.

 

[mrblah]

not sure if its just Toyota these days, but the lugs are sensitive to overtorquing.

 

[NorthwoodsRunner]

The one problem that I really ran in to was that I sheared one of the studs on the back tire. I had my torque wrench set to 100ft.lbs., and it just sheared off. I've read in other posts that you need to go to 85ft.lbs. when you use the spacers, but I've never had a stud sheer at 100...
It has to go in for it's 5k check-up at the dealership, so we'll see what they have to say about it. As it couldn't stand to 100, I'll just call it a defect and see what the dealership has to say about it.

For some reason I had to deal with sheared wheel studs on Camry (Toyota) after tire installs but nothing on Accord (Honda). Luckily replacing a front or rear wheel stud on Toyota is fairly easy compared to Honda. This is a good reminder and just have to be extra careful. Hopefully your dealership covers the repair but it could be a tough one.

 

[gerfunken]

Another busy weekend this weekend. Summary: got the sliders & bumper back from powder coating, installed the sliders, and added the accessories to the front bumper for install.

But, let's break that down.

Friday we picked up the sliders and bumper from powdercoatingaz.com. I haven't used them before, but they are in the area, so I figured that I'd give them a try. The company is a family company, and the staff was thorough and polite. The end result was as good quality that I've gotten at other places. The prices were reasonable, $80 for the 2 sliders, and $120 for the bumper.

The install of the SSO sliders was fairly straight forward. Ran in to a slight alignment issue on the drivers side where I had to unbolt the front 4 bolts, to allow the middle ones to come down to get the bolts in. Then I used the jack on the front part to finesse the slider up high enough to get the bolt holes to line up. It took a little bit longer, but I'm not going to complain about the fitment at all.

No issues at all on the passenger side.

The nice thing is that my wife no longer needs to lower the seat to get in & raise the seat to drive.

Then I moved on to the C4 Bumper. I've had the parts sitting around for a little bit, so I decided to go ahead and install them ahead of the bumper install. Hopefully, I'll be able to do that next weekend, but I will have to wait and see.

 

[gerfunken]

Options for factory roof rails

Note: this is for me (although, I’m posting it here so you can use it as well.)
After poking around the forums for a while, I’ve decided to make entries of things that I don’t want to search for again…

Brackets for the factory rails. While this was in a thread for awnings on factory rails, it opens up a number of possibilities for mounting things to the top of the vehicle.

• This one looks to be the most solid. It looks like it’s been constructed from 3/16 steel plate, but the simplicity of this opens it up to a lot of different possibilities.
  
  
• The next two appear to be options, but only for lighter weight components. They don’t look quite as stable for heavier items, but could be used for a shovel, axe, or something lighter. I’m not certain that I’d use it for an awning unless I put about 4 of them up.
  
  
• The last one… workable, but not quite as elegant as the two above. This seems to be more of a “need to come up with something quickly” solution than anything else, and it also looks like any weight, or cranking to get it tight would really damage the factory rails.
  
  

 

[brian0128]

Note: this is for me (although, I’m posting it here so you can use it as well.)

After poking around the forums for a while, I’ve decided to make entries of things that I don’t want to search for again…



Brackets for the factory rails. While this was in a thread for awnings on factory rails, it opens up a number of possibilities for mounting things to the top of the vehicle.

• This one looks to be the most solid. It looks like it’s been constructed from 3/16 steel plate, but the simplicity of this opens it up to a lot of different possibilities.
  
  
  
• The next two appear to be options, but only for lighter weight components. They don’t look quite as stable for heavier items, but could be used for a shovel, axe, or something lighter. I’m not certain that I’d use it for an awning unless I put about 4 of them up.
  
  
  
• The last one… workable, but not quite as elegant as the two above. This seems to be more of a “need to come up with something quickly” solution than anything else, and it also looks like any weight, or cranking to get it tight would really damage the factory rails.
  
  
  

I like those awning mounts in the first picture. Does anyone sell these or are they custom made?