Featured 100 - Dieselbigot

[dieselbigot]

Sheialh’s 99 100 series

Yep, this is my wife’s truck…honest. Convincing her that she needed any mods at all for her treacherous 4 mile commute down El Dorado Hills Blvd was really not that hard. Not because she’s into the wheeling thing, because she’s not at all….nope, just because she knows it makes me happy and she’s that kind of girl. (We actually sold her POS Mercedes to buy this rig)…ok, that took a little convincing. We started off with a very clean, well-maintained 1-owner rig with 50k on the clock that I bought sight unseen from a guy in LA. The original plan was to just use it as her commute wagon, pick up family at the airport, long trips, that kind of thing.

At first I promised her I’d keep this one bone stock…that lasted exactly 1 week. It seemed to me like those wimpy stock running boards just had to go, they were downright dangerous trying to get in and out of the truck! I could just see them buckling under the stress of her 112lb frame…so a call to Slee and 800 beans later, problem solved. At the same time it also needed tires (well kinda), so I really saw no point in replacing them with the stock size so I might as well upgrade to 33’s…right?

[dieselbigot]

Now that those 33’s are on I’m really losing sleep over whatever will happen next time Sheilah hits one of those nasty speed bumps at the mall….like who wants tires rubbing on your fenders at the mall? So I’m thinking, OME suspension is really a must have item here. I went with the standard OME kit with the 863 heavies and Slee’s diff drop to alleviate the CV angles…Done.

So now I have sliders, 33’s & OME susp (no L shocks though, that’s way too extreme). Well this thing is really set up for some mild wheeling & camping now….maybe I should try it out just once?


After the first trip, it really became apparent that a cargo box was a must have item. I hit up a wood working friend of mine & we got together on a Thursday night over a few beers and knocked out a simple storage cabinet. We used ½” Russian ply with biscuits, glue & pin-nails for the main shell and the drawer (no screws were used). For strength we used ¾” RP for the top along with a piece of 1” C channel (which also acts as a strike point for the latch). A 9301 Accuride 500lb drawer slide was used in the drawer making it a breeze to open & shut when fully loaded. I then added 4 cargo tie-downs on top and 4 on the sides (for mounting with turn-buckles at the stock cargo tie points). Some flex form carpet and a little paint on the drawer front topped it all off and helped it match the interior. I later mounted a fridge slide for the 33qt ARB & a hot triple 12v outlet for various electrical gear.

[dieselbigot]

So by now I figure…ok, I’m starting to wheel this thing a little, I really should get some bumpers so I don’t end up scratching the plastic ones (other mall dwellers frown on anything scratched). I started with the TJM T3 up front. After mounting it I noticed it looked funny with no lights in the middle… so I HAD to get a set if IPF lights to fill it in.


Later I decided I hated the cheesy chrome hoop (heard somewhere that “chrome don’t get you home”) so I ripped it off, painted the bumper to match the trim & sliders and added a set of fogs to cover the holes where the chrome used to reside. There, Done.

[dieselbigot]

The next spring I took it Moab, did a few trails, got a small ding, and chewed the crap out of the rear bumper….well now NOT getting a new rear bumper would be just plain insane! Luke at 4x4Labs had wanted to use my truck for his first 100 series bumper for quite some time…I took it up there, measurements were taken and we were on our way. Once Luke figured out the shell, the rest was a no-brainer. He wanted it to be a modular design like his 80 bumpers (modular in that all the options are bolt-on to the swing-outs). I chose to get all the options (tire carrier, ladder, hi-lift & triple jerry can holder. The results were awesome….the bumper absolutely makes the truck. I wheeled it at Moab this year and really beat the heck out of the bumper on all those ledges and it worked flawlessly…I highly recommend Luke & his work.

Pretty much at this point I’m well on my way to a full-fledged expedition rig so I did a few more things. First was the OA ½ rack on the AO roof rails….much more functional than the OEM POS and just plain cool looking. (Don’t forget to move the rubber strips from underneath the main floor to the top rail or it’ll whistle like crazy…don’t ask how I know this).

[dieselbigot]

For piece of mind in the middle of nowhere, Dual Batteries were added using an Odyssey PC1700 as the main battery with some killer spacers that DMX84 made out of delrin for me (Thx Dean!)….this way you can maintain the OEM tie downs, have a secure mount and keep a clean stock look.

I used the Slee aux battery tray and a new Optima red for the 2nd battery. After much debate, I decided to go with the Power-Gate 82 from Mobi-Arc to charge the aux battery. This is a great little device and very easy to install. I wanted everything to look as clean as possible so I really took my time & made all my wiring looms to look like OEM making sure I had solid watertight connections. I also ran a 6 gang fuse block right beside the battery fed by a 4g wire so I could wire up my 2M Yaesu as close to the battery as possible then added all other accessories to the fuse gang.

Other electrical do-dads were the Yaesu 2M radio, XM receiver (which I mounted in the center console), a Cobra 75WXST CB mount, Lowrance Baja GPS and Georges LED’s all around.

[dieselbigot]

Keeping the seats looking new is a full set of tan SOR seat covers…they fit great, look good are durable as hell.

Last but not least, I have a 24gal Long Range Aux fuel tank sitting in my garage awaiting install….now just to find the time.

The only other thing I can see myself doing on this truck is the ARB front locker upgrade…I just know way too many people who have grenaded the stock open front diffs in these things.

Well that’s it. Isn’t it amazing how “I promise not to do anything to this one honey” never lasts that long?

[e9999]

Very nice!

[FirstToy]

all I have to say is poor Sheialh! Where is the cookie storage compartment??

all this great buildup reminds me of a song... Brett's favorite

Near, far, whereever you are.....



great buildup there!

[spressomon]

Looks great! Hopefully sometime soon we can get out on an excursion together!

But that engine bay is WAY TO FREAK'N CLEAN. What...no job but to keep that thing spit shined?

And I agree on the TJM T3 aluminum POS hoop...mine came off about a month ago...major improvement! I knew I did the right thing when the said she really liked it better on .

[KathmanduCruiser]

Very very nice mods.......

How much of a lift do you have?

I really like the rear bumper and all that is mounted on it. And yes, everything else you have done to the truck.

[Snook]

Well done job!

BTW: You beat me by few hours on this 24 Long Rang tank order, the last one in stock, that's what Steve Hayes said .

Cheers,

[ckkone]

Wow......

[dclee]

Nice build-up, Brett!

[lt403]

i like it...

[SALEH]

nice LC just need to lift it more from the fronts

[ChuckB]

Originally Posted by spressomon

Looks great! Hopefully sometime soon we can get out on an excursion together!

But that engine bay is WAY TO FREAK'N CLEAN. What...no job but to keep that thing spit shined?

And I agree on the TJM T3 aluminum POS hoop...mine came off about a month ago...major improvement! I knew I did the right thing when the said she really liked it better on .

Even my LX engine bay isn't that clean.

Just installed the ARB Sahara with no chrome on mine, way better looking. Need some lights to cover the holes too.

Wife keeps telling me she likes the way the rear tire carrier bumpers look... I think I'll keep her around a while!! And this is going to be her rig too. I'll have to show her this thread

[CrusrDug]

Sheilah has a nice ride! Nice tires (I should have gotten those) and rack too. Did I say rack?- Anyway, these ROTW threads are gonna cost me some money. Great job. I need to send my wife up the hill and hang out with yours for a day so she can appreciate these mods.

[BMWSTOY]

Very nice indeed. I love this new thread idea. Any regrets or do overs not shown here?

I am going to copy your drawer system some day - very well done - I hope to come close to how good yours looks.

The other stuff may take a while - still having difficulties with the running boards with my

Agian, Great looking 100

[e9999]

did you match the drawer height to the folded middle seat or do you need some spacer when sleeping? I guess I'm destined to do a drawer system too sooner or later...

nice wheels too...

[bluecruiser]

awesome looking rig...

[Morty]

Very nice rig. I love your wife's rack. Very well proportioned.

The rear bumper is a great design--high clearence and I like the gas can rack.

[dieselbigot]

Sorry for taking so long to get back to this. Between work and my FJ62 SOA project I find myself with little computer time.

spressomon Looks great! Hopefully sometime soon we can get out on an excursion together!
But that engine bay is WAY TO FREAK'N CLEAN. What...no job but to keep that thing spit shined?

Dan...would love to hook up for a little NV wheeling...I'd really like to explore that area around Austin / Ely off 50. Lets make a 100 run out of it! As for the cleanliness of my engine, I really don't do that much with it...I stay away from mud and squirt it w/ the pressure washer once in a while. I do have a feeling though that the last guy had this thing spit shined on a pretty regular basis

BMWSTOY Very nice indeed. I love this new thread idea. Any regrets or do overs not shown here?

To be honest, no...I learned from the bulid on my BJ70 not to do stuff then decide you hate it and do it over again. I pissed away way too much money on that thing with do-overs. This time I just decided to research the hell out of whatever I wanted & do it right the first time. Any 100 is not a really tough build (there is only so much out there you can do unless your name ends in SLEE ). Everything on this rig was just done for camping convenience, protection and comfort. The only thing I really wished was available for these is an extended A arm kit w/ coilovers. As far as i'm concerned, these things are WAY too much of a whale to wheel seriously so there's no point in trying to make them a serious wheeler. For that, go buy a cheap minitruck, beat the crap out of it and get out and laugh when you lay it over on it's side. But as a desert / Death valley / expedition / Moab rig they are perfect. I can't think of another rig I'd rather take when you have to drive 12 hrs of pavement to and from wherever you are wheeling! A few extra inches lift & travel would be nice though

e9999 did you match the drawer height to the folded middle seat or do you need some spacer when sleeping?

Yes..matched to folded seat height for a level platform

[dieselbigot]

[quote=Morty;2169382]I love your wife's rackQUOTE]

Thanks Morty, I like her rack too. Although I do like the full sized ones as well...they are especially nice to look at but really, what do you end up doing with all that?

[spressomon]

Originally Posted by dieselbigot

Dan...would love to hook up for a little NV wheeling...I'd really like to explore that area around Austin / Ely off 50. Lets make a 100 run out of it!

We just got back, 2-weeks ago tomorrow, from a 5-day excursion that was just 3-rigs and a 10 trip!

http://forum.ih8mud.com/nv-battle-born-cruisers-northern-nevada/147340-central-nevada-ghost-mining-town-exploration-april-28-into-first-part-may-2.html


Also FYI we are doing the High Rock Canyon run this coming weekend (a few are leaving on Friday to camp at Smoke Creek...then hook up with the rest in Gerlach Saturday morning) if you are interested.


I apologize for the hijack!!!

[dieselbigot]

That trip you did looks awesome! I'd love to joint you this weekend but I'm actually skipping the NorCal Wentworth run so I can slave away on the 62...trying to get it ready for Rubithon. It's on stilts right now and we're just starting all the work on the housings so i have LOTS to do before it's done. I love wheeling but I hate staying home from wheeling to work on my junk