'OLE BLUE - 2016 Blue Onyx Mods and Adventures

[tabraha]

Sorry for dragging I know a good many mudders have asked for pics of the Blue Onyx Pearl, several have asked about the Ridge Grapplers and several have asked about the EvoCorse DakarZero wheels.

To start here's a few pics of delivery day of the 2016: As most of you know the blue is awesome looking but extremely hard to capture in photographs.

That last one is a stock photo of the interior. Didn't have any pics worth a rip of it!

 

[tabraha]

Saw a post on ExPo from Main Line Overland about the Evo Corse DakarZero wheels that they were bringing into country. I was planning to replace the 20" OEM wheels on the white LX570 with these but the LX refused to cooperate suddenly with immobilizer issues the week before we left to go on a ~6000mi trip so it got benched. The Blue 200 was next in the bullpen so here's what we ended up with. Ton of pics in this post because I've had a ton of requests for pics on the whee/tire combo!

17" Evo Corse DakarZero wheels, 40 offset.

They meet FIA T1 and T2 Technical Regs so in case I decide to enter that I'm covered.


Decided on the Nitto Ridge Grapplers even though there is relatively little feedback on them at this time. I have 3 vehicles with Super Swampers, Trail Graps or Toyo M/T's on them so another vehicle with a true M/T really was a tool with no purpose for me. The Ridge Grapplers seemed to offer a quieter than M/T ride but a more aggressive than average A/T pattern and a nice stout load range.

I went with 285/70R17 in Load Range E. No plans to do a big lift or regear on our 200's at this time. I'd have to part with the built 100 before I need to dip my toe in that water again but I wanted a Load Range E because I know how fat these things get loaded for big trips and an expo trailer in tow.

Wheel/Tire Combo:

 

[tabraha]

Inaugural Trip:

So it took me awhile to get this thread going because we did wheels/tires and split for 17 days to head out from South Carolina to NM/AZ/UT. We do big trips every summer and I'd guess the 100 has 30-something states under it's belt, my Denali HD has about the same and now the blue 200 has picked up 12.


Route
Below was the game plan which was adjusted on-the-fly and ended up being closer to 6k than 5k miles. (The pins don't always indicate nights. I had to add some in for routing purposes.) We added in a run to Vegas and Valley of Fire SP in Nevada also that I didn't add to the app at that time.

Elevation was close in the app. We were in excess of 9000 a few times and were indeed at zero as well. Temps ranged from ~44 to ~110 and humidity from single digits to 98%.

I kept receipts and mileage that I'll add at a later date also to give some fuel consumption numbers. Pretty much ended up at around 230-240mi per tank if I could run it out. Having a 8yo and 4yo typically prevented that from happening. Regardless, 12mpg ended up being a pretty reliable number to bank on.

The Setup:

Our faithful Turtleback Trailer was along for the ride this trip. Specs here. It has a Tepui Gran Sabana Ruggedized RTT on it, Alu-Cab Shadow Awn 270 on it. Inside were our supplies, 42gal of water and an ARB 63qt fridge.

I didn't have time to yank my dual battery setup off of the white LX and put it on the 200 but it was quick and easy to wire up a second Group 24 AGM on the Turtleback so the ARB 63QT went there. I had plenty (158!) of A-Hr's and an Overland Solar 90W kit for when we made camp with daylight. The 200 did pretty decent putting charge to the trailer also when the engine was running. I was worried about that as I had no time to test it and knew there would be long days on the road but it was never an issue. The fridge did indeed run a lot more than if in the vehicle due to it being in a "hot box" essentially. Again, no issues.

(Filling up with water)

(Installing Second Battery)

(Awesome Sunset before we left.)


Weight
The 200 never struggled and was a joy compared to our armored 100 on 35's. The Turtle obviously is on the lighter end of the trailer spectrum but you'd be surprised with it holding 42gal of water (350lbs), a couple marine batteries, 240lb RTT etc. We had clothes to be prepared for freezing temps and clothes for 115 (those don't really take up that much room!) Also had food for a good chunk of the trip for a family of 4.

That being said I hit the scales on the way back and here's what weighed out with a full tank of fuel & a 2/3 tank of water:
Steer Axle (Front): 3200
Drive Axle (Rear): 3940
Trailer Axle: 2120
Total: 9260

 

[Ali M]

Saw a post on ExPo from Main Line Overland about the Evo Corse DakarZero wheels that they were bringing into country. I was planning to replace the 20" OEM wheels on the white LX570 with these but the LX refused to cooperate suddenly with immobilizer issues the week before we left to go on a ~6000mi trip so it got benched. The Blue 200 was next in the bullpen so here's what we ended up with. Ton of pics in this post because I've had a ton of requests for pics on the whee/tire combo!

17" Evo Corse DakarZero wheels, 40 offset.

They meet FIA T1 and T2 Technical Regs so in case I decide to enter that I'm covered.


Decided on the Nitto Ridge Grapplers even though there is relatively little feedback on them at this time. I have 3 vehicles with Super Swampers, Trail Graps or Toyo M/T's on them so another vehicle with a true M/T really was a tool with no purpose for me. The Ridge Grapplers seemed to offer a quieter than M/T ride but a more aggressive than average A/T pattern and a nice stout load range.

I went with 285/70R17 in Load Range E. No plans to do a big lift or regear on our 200's at this time. I'd have to part with the built 100 before I need to dip my toe in that water again but I wanted a Load Range E because I know how fat these things get loaded for big trips and an expo trailer in tow.

Wheel/Tire Combo:

Love the rims/tires combo you have. It has a slight of a Baja look. You are giving me ideas. This is the best looking 17 rims I've seen after the rock warriors.

 

[tabraha]

Also forgot to mention I weighed the rims with me on a bathroom scale (highly scientific) and iirc they came in at 29.3lbs/ea.

 

[NLScooby]

Great looking wheel/tire set up! I'm in North Carolina - so hopefully our paths will cross on the trails (or even for a beer) at some point!

 

[tabraha]

Great looking wheel/tire set up! I'm in North Carolina - so hopefully our paths will cross on the trails (or even for a beer) at some point!

I've got to get up to an ONSC event sometime this year. We should coordinate to have 2 200's there!

Stinks being a paying member in Upstate Cruisers, ONSC and LCLC and hardly have time to make it to any functions at all!!!

 

[sPaulp]

Great looking rig. I have the Nittos as well, and absolutely love them.

 

[AeroAggie]

That interior color is gorgeous. The blue paint probably is too, but I can't actually see it. Try adjusting the exposure or saturation to make it pop.

 

[tabraha]

That interior color is gorgeous. The blue paint probably is too, but I can't actually see it. Try adjusting the exposure or saturation to make it pop.

I know!!! Those were with my phone and not my dSLR so there's room for improvement but check out Toyota's stock pics of it and you can see they have a hard time too. A couple people at my office thought it was black for the first 2 days after I bought it. (It is if it's overcast for sure.)

I'll be adding more pics from our recent trip and maybe a couple of those may catch the light a bit better too. But we got pretty dirty so probably not...

 

[NLScooby]

I've got to get up to an ONSC event sometime this year. We should coordinate to have 2 200's there!

Stinks being a paying member in Upstate Cruisers, ONSC and LCLC and hardly have time to make it to any functions at all!!!

I made it to one of the ONSC get togethers 2 years ago or so....I'll have to pay attention the next time and hope I'm not traveling!

 

[Brett19648]

Great color combo.

 

[fireball]

Thanks for sharing your info! Surprises the trailer is so heavy. 2120 plus tongue weight. Does that seem correct?

Our flatbed and FWC probably weighs 2500# plus which is why I'm hanging out in the 200 section plotting an upgrade!

 

[tabraha]

Thanks for sharing your info! Surprises the trailer is so heavy. 2120 plus tongue weight. Does that seem correct?

Yeah I can believe it now, but was skeptical at first. I learned early on with our first big 5th wheel RV to always hit the scales. For $13 you'd be hard pressed to get better information. That is a true wet weight, loaded for the trip with steak still in the fridge. The tongue weight was not much, maybe 200-220 if I had to guess as the 200 didn't squat much when I hooked it up and you know how easy stock LC rear springs squat. My wife and I were able to manipulate the trailer tongue by hand to tweak placement in camp a couple times.

Here's what I ran through for a sanity test and then stopped after it accumulated so quickly!
Water: 233 when weighed at ~2/3 capacity (42gal/350lb full)
Hot Water:48 (6gal)
Tent: 240
Batteries: 90
35" Dick Cepeks:140
RTIC65 Cooler with recovery gear, supplies etc.: 90 (conservative)
Awning: 53
ARB 63QT Fridge: 53

That put me at 950 and doesn't include brakes, frame, sheet metal, wheels, propane tank, water heater, pump, rack, food, clothing, drone, toilet and a bunch of other stuff I can't even think of. I think dry the turtle is around ~1400 with a stock 2 person RTT, not my monster Tepui which is bigger than a king sized bed when opened up and has a huge annex room also.

The 200 really shrugged the weight off most of the time; of course I found myself locking out 8th gear plenty of times which was expected. I had planned on using 6 but 7 was very usable most times. Other than that I was able to use the throttle to manipulate myself into 6th those time when 7th was lugging and 5th was rarely necessary. Usually when I found myself needing 5th, I was on a big grade and also needed 4th going up and 3rd going down the other side.

If I had one complaint it's that "PWR" for the ECT is really an antiquated concept. It's a big V8 with a large towing capacity for a Toyota. Give it a true "Tow/Haul" mode that changes shift points and trans/fluid pressures like it does now but more importantly allow the ECU to include some real engine braking. I did it manually but Toyota gives their transmissions zero intuitiveness on downshifting when braking heavily. I'm spoiled by the intuitiveness of the Allison in my Denali HD admittedly but dang a tow/haul mode that enables engine braking would be alot more useful than how they've implemented "PWR".

Those gripes aside I grounded myself knowing what a pleasure it was with the 5.7's power compared to the 4.7 (and the coolbox was icing on the cake ).

 

[fireball]

Great info, many thanks for sharing your impressions.

I need a lighter trailer setup or a 200!

Our 100s are very similar and sounds like our trailer probably weighs a few pounds more. The 100 does OK towing, but it isn't fun and the ~9mpg and sub 200 mile range is frustrating. The only question now is how much better does your 2016 tow than an 08-15?

 

[tabraha]

The only question now is how much better does your 2016 tow than an 08-15?

No problem. I have put the unloaded Turtle behind our '08 LX570 and it did great also. I don't have enough seat time in it yet but my initial impression was that the 6sp auto was a little easier to keep track of what was going on. Not as much fancy gear dancing because it had limited options. It felt like it pulled better in 6th than the 8sp does in 8, but that too makes sense with 8 being taller than the 6 in the 6sp. Now that being said when we were on the plains or along the coast etc it was nice to let the big 5.7 roll at 78mph in 8th gear with the revs still low.

The 200 being able to get 230-240 on a tank is frustrating considering I just pulled our 39' 5th wheel and could go 400mi on a tank with my Duramax. BUT, and its a big but, 230-240 is way better than our 100 would've done and again with a 4yo and 8yo it's a struggle to make it that long without needing to stop for bladders/food/sanity. The 200 also got that range doing ~75mph which my 100 on 4.88's and 35's would not have been comfortable at all doing for 6000mi.

 

[LALC]

Also forgot to mention I weighed the rims with me on a bathroom scale (highly scientific) and iirc they came in at 29.3lbs/ea.

Thanks for posting all this info. Would you happen to still have your stock wheels? I'm curious what the weight is on those. I haven't been able to find it.

 

[tabraha]

Thanks for posting all this info. Would you happen to still have your stock wheels? I'm curious what the weight is on those. I haven't been able to find it.

I do but the OEM tires are still mounted. I could weigh one and back out the manufacturer spec'd weight of the tire I suppose.

 

[tabraha]

Southwest Tour Pre-Trip:

We planned to leave by 4AM to skate through Atlanta before morning traffic got ugly. This pic is of the night before our departure. We wore the kids out, let them stay up late as we were in for along day 1 trying to make good miles out of the gates to set us up with some time in our pocket later on. My daughter is crying because we made her pick which stuffed animal got to go on the trip with us.
This is how you know they are tired enough!

Here's a drone shot with the tent and AluCab Shadow Awn deployed at the house. I try to setup and breakdown a couple times before we go on big trips if it's been awhile just to make sure a) I'm not forgetting to pack anything essential to setup and b)I can get back into the mindset of making the setup/breakdown look easy and go smoothly.

Day 1:
We beat our 4AM desired departure by 15min. Here's starting mileage:

Truck did great and I got a good feel for how long a fuel run I would be able to have. We hit Atlanta before morning traffic and also hit Birmingham, Memphis and Little Rock ALL at great times by getting that early start. We made camp on the Arkansas River at a Corps of Engineers campground with plenty of daylight. River was ROLLING and we were told later that our campsite had been underwater not all that long ago as the river had come out of it's banks.

Kids chillin' while dad gets the skottle rolling: (The veg in the river just right of center are actually the top 5' of some 30' tall trees. Current was dangerously swift.

782 smooth miles were gobbled up. That is a LONG day for 2 young kids. Generally we have found 4xx-500mi to be the sweet spot for our family on the road to cover, have time to make camp, relax and be ready to do that again the next day. Any more than that and some trip fatigue seems to creep in. High 400's daily has been a great formula for us for the last several years. The big push on day 1 works wonders though as it's the best opportunity to stretch a leg of a trip while fresh.

 

[tabraha]

Day 2 - Tejas! (Round 1)

Went from an Arkansas River that had just gotten back within it's banks 500mi later east of Amarillo, TX where this lake was 8' below even using the spillway!

Ended up with another paved(!!!!) campsite beside some water looking across at a mesa that was a solid 150-200' higher than we were. Didn't expect to see that on day 2 and wondered if I could access it on the way out tomorrow morning.

Day 3 - New Mexico (Round 1)

So we packed up on a foggy, cool Texas morning and I caught a glimpse of a rocky trail and we bounced along another half mile or so until we were on top of that landform looking back at our site! Woot! Day 2 and got to see some 4LO action!

After that we rolled out, everyone got tired of me singing Amarillo by Morning and we continued 425mi to New Mexico. Hit El Malpais National Monument while getting a good taste of kicking up serious dust on some washboard roads that afternoon. Called it a day and made camp on adjacent BLM land afterwards.

Was able to pull solid juice down on the solar panels still at 8pm while at the same time watched a storm crackling in the distance.

Storms moved on and made for a gorgeous evening. Knocked out some pizza rolls on the skottle, enjoyed the quickly dropping temps and crackle of a campfire.