I decided that my '97 LX450 was too slow and overbuilt for my purposes, so I sold it and bought something a bit newer and more comfortable (with a lot more power). I'm going to use this for shorter-ish trips (likely max of about two weeks) but it'll also serve as a daily until it becomes impractical.
Pardon the structure - this is a few days worth of posts from another forum.
It seems I don't have any pictures of it stock, but it wasn't that exciting. Step one was tires - 265/65R17 street tires aren't the greatest for rock squashing, so that was fixed with a set of 255/75R17 Goodyear Wrangler Duratracs.
Next up was a Pioneer Platform roofrack, which is much more useful than the stock bars. Unfortunately it added some wind noise, but it's still quieter on the highway than an econobox, so there's that. I bought this from Seth at Adventure Driven (great guy, if you're ever looking for a Baja or Grand Canyon tour, hit him up!).
MetalTech 4x4 had a group buy on their OPOR rock sliders, so I snagged a set. Unfortunately they were damaged in shipping, but since a perfect fit/finish isn't necessary, I squashed the dent out as best as I could.
Primed (2 coats), scuffed, and cleaned with wax/grease remover, ready for paint:
Painted - now 5-9 hours to dry to handle, so they'll sit here for a while:
Once again, Seth was upgrading so I had an opportunity to pick up a set of ARB storage drawers, as well as as some Budbuilt skid plates (four skids, from engine to fuel tank). Since I have quite a while before I can do anything with the sliders, I'm getting the ARB drawers installed.
Test fitting before I drill into the floor:
Seat clearance:
Test fit for my 63 quart Edgestar fridge/freezer, before I commit to drilling:
Looks good!
Drilling - can't see too well with all the crap under the truck, and I ended up finding it with my finger. It's not bad at all, but linked if you're a little squeamish. Anyway, it's in the right spot but the bolts I bought were too short (35mm) - I underestimated how much carpet/sound deadening was in the floor of this thing. Ace Hardware (my bolt source) closes at 7 minutes and it's 9 minutes away, so I suppose I shall resume in the morning.
I was at Ace Hardware before dawn, swapping out bolts for longer ones and also picking up hardware to mount the fridge. One drawer is done. It was a pain in the ass - the drawer frame has some flex to it, and since the front bracket crossed over a hard seat mount and the rear bracket was just on carpet, I ended up with a twisted frame. Less than ideal, so I put a standoff in between the frame and the carpet to make some more space. It's tolerable now.
It's a little bit warped, but the drawer and lid is a little flexible so it works fine:
Done:
Pardon the structure - this is a few days worth of posts from another forum.
It seems I don't have any pictures of it stock, but it wasn't that exciting. Step one was tires - 265/65R17 street tires aren't the greatest for rock squashing, so that was fixed with a set of 255/75R17 Goodyear Wrangler Duratracs.
Next up was a Pioneer Platform roofrack, which is much more useful than the stock bars. Unfortunately it added some wind noise, but it's still quieter on the highway than an econobox, so there's that. I bought this from Seth at Adventure Driven (great guy, if you're ever looking for a Baja or Grand Canyon tour, hit him up!).
MetalTech 4x4 had a group buy on their OPOR rock sliders, so I snagged a set. Unfortunately they were damaged in shipping, but since a perfect fit/finish isn't necessary, I squashed the dent out as best as I could.
Primed (2 coats), scuffed, and cleaned with wax/grease remover, ready for paint:
Painted - now 5-9 hours to dry to handle, so they'll sit here for a while:
Once again, Seth was upgrading so I had an opportunity to pick up a set of ARB storage drawers, as well as as some Budbuilt skid plates (four skids, from engine to fuel tank). Since I have quite a while before I can do anything with the sliders, I'm getting the ARB drawers installed.
Test fitting before I drill into the floor:
Seat clearance:
Test fit for my 63 quart Edgestar fridge/freezer, before I commit to drilling:
Looks good!
Drilling - can't see too well with all the crap under the truck, and I ended up finding it with my finger. It's not bad at all, but linked if you're a little squeamish. Anyway, it's in the right spot but the bolts I bought were too short (35mm) - I underestimated how much carpet/sound deadening was in the floor of this thing. Ace Hardware (my bolt source) closes at 7 minutes and it's 9 minutes away, so I suppose I shall resume in the morning.
I was at Ace Hardware before dawn, swapping out bolts for longer ones and also picking up hardware to mount the fridge. One drawer is done. It was a pain in the ass - the drawer frame has some flex to it, and since the front bracket crossed over a hard seat mount and the rear bracket was just on carpet, I ended up with a twisted frame. Less than ideal, so I put a standoff in between the frame and the carpet to make some more space. It's tolerable now.
It's a little bit warped, but the drawer and lid is a little flexible so it works fine:
Done:
