Builds 2001 LX470 build LEGUSY (2 Viewers)

[Odyseuss]

With all the rocket launches going on lately, we wanted to get in on the action and launch one of our own. So we built a model and took it out for some test flights. Now I've had some places to explore in mind and I wanted to get out a ways to set this thing loose so we made a quick trip of it and took off. We made a quick stop at the monument at Fisher Pass to remember the Lincoln Highway as the first transcontinental highway completed in 1930 and this section was built just over 100 years ago.

Then we found a proving ground devoid of hazards and suitable for launch. The kids brought their own small rocket launchers too so we all got to take turns and get in on the fun.

Then we went over to White rocks and did a bunch of scrambling around some interesting cave features.

 

[Odyseuss]

I installed a Crosstour CR300 Car Recorder camera to try out as a dash cam. I figured that there are a variety of possible uses for this thing. The price was right around $30 which seemed like a deal for something with decent reviews.
I was thinking that I could use this as a dash cam when I am making a video and even to possibly pick up some of the crazy stuff on the road these days. I havent't been making many videos lately, but when I do, its nice to have different angles and this allows me to mount the Gopro elsewhere. This cam will automatically loop at preset intervals so its easier to manage the storage. It might also be effective as a theft deterrent and it does have a motion sensor video setting for monitoring a particular area. I'm sure there are other uses too, but thats a good start.
The battery is minimal and it doesnt run much unless its plugged in so it needs access to a 12 power supply like a cigarette lighter and one that turns on and off with the car is convenient though I have access to another that is always powered too for the motion sensing and surveillance use. The power cord also has a usb port, so it doesnt tie up a receptacle as much. I have it suction cupped to the windshield and though I was concerned about it staying put, it hasnt gone anywhere even on rough roads or hot/cold conditions so far. It has a screen to playback is available on the device and it uses a removable micro sd card so its easy to read the memory without moving the unit.

I made a quick video when we were out launching rockets so you can see how the image looks, and how well signs can be read etc. I dont think I added any stabilization, but the software might have automatically done so. I did edit the speed in a few clips and I added a few phone videos for perspective. This isnt a good video for entertainment purposed but rather for demonstration, so dont be too critical of the film quality. After the fact, I realized that the date and time stamp can also be removed or changed though its on in this video.

 

[Odyseuss]

I had noticed that the blower fan was making a bit of a sqeak noise. I thought it might be the motor going out. I removed the motor and fan assembly and cleaned out any fine debris and dust that had coated the blades and reinstalled the unit. I also replaced the cabin air filters. The noise seems to be gone for some miles now, so hopefully it stays that way.

We made a quick trip out to drive Rattlesnake in Sunshine canyon. We stopped up at the mine shafts for a look around above the inversion that is setting in. When we stopped at the trail end to air up we launched another couple of rockets.

 

[Odyseuss]

We took a trip out to freeze our tails off at the sun tunnels, an art project of tunnels that line up with the solstice sunrises (Sun Tunnels).
We took our own route there and met with some others that were also there to see the sunrise. It is a roll of the dice to see if there is a clear sunrise this time of year and it is a rite of passage to some extent with the low temperatures and potential inclement winter weather. We covered up and braved the cold with a few good friends and even though the sunrise was obscured by the clouds this time, it was still a nice sight to behold.

With a frigid breeze in the morning, we got moving for a long day of dirt travel as we cruised off once again on our own (me and my son) to explore the nearby sights on our way home. We explored some roads in the nearby Pilot range and drove out to Blue Lake near the Nevada border. This lake is fed by a hot spring and is consistently around 60 degrees. It is favored for scuba training and a haven for fish and waterfowl. Its been on my list of places to visit so we went to see what it was all about.

Then we left tracks in the fresh snow out towards the old Pony Express Route on our way home and spent most of the day driving with the vast scenery in sight. We passed through the Fish Spring National Wildlife Refuge along the way and eventually reached pavement at Sunset.

As a quick build note: I had noted that a few of the washer nozzles were a bit clogged and found a small pin was the perfect tool to clear them out.

 

[Kabanstva]

I love this thread so much!

 

[Odyseuss]

There are some very small cracks in wood looking portion of the steering wheel, and they have been there as long as I've had this truck. For the most part, I've just used various steering wheel covers. I like the added size and feel of some covers and use them on most of my vehicles. I also like to protect the steering wheel. The steering wheel is an important driver interface, and its hard for me to find a cover that I like let alone for very long. Fortunately they are cheap and easy to change. I can understand not liking a cover at all and just having a good steering wheel. The cracks on this wheel are small enough that they only bother me a little bit, but I wont tolerate a worn cover much. I thought about recovering the wheel with a stitched leather wrap, something that I might still do, and then I decided to try a paracord wrap for the portions of the wheel that I don't really like. I tried to find a cord color that was a camo mix of the various interior colors, maybe it stands out a bit too much, but I kinda like it. I tried 2 different weave methods to get a feel for the comparison and see how well they performed. The top is a combination of half hitches and is very tight. It will not twist or slide on the wheel. The bottom is a variation of a daisy chain and it fits pretty snug though its not quite as tight as the top it doesn't move, but I probably could twist it a bit if I tried. The top pattern is a bit more complicated and labor intensive, but I like how secure it is. The bottom pattern is secure enough though it can be easily removed if I get a free end and pull it like a daisy chain. Since I used a survival cord that might come in handy some time. I've put some miles of on and off road driving with this wrap and I really like it so far. It has a great tactile texture and the stitch lines up comfortably with the ends of my fingers or the crease under my knuckles depending on where I grip it.

I also made some zipper pulls to keep the zipper on the ARB awning from rattling. I just might make a few more paracord accessories while I'm at it.

I recently changed the oil and got another alignment done. I was pleasantly surprised to see that only the toe required slight adjustment after many hard miles.

 

[Odyseuss]

I'm trying out a few paracord soft shackles for various attachments I plan to post more on how that turns out later.

I'd also like to add a bit more about the stove fuels since I kinda geeked out on that. When we went to Freeze our tails off at the sun tunnels, I was boiling a lot of water to prepare meals and keep warm. I realized that I had several of the larger capacity canisters that were low on fuel and produced much less heat output. I realized that though I had a few canisters, the low ones would take a very long time to heat water and coupled with the low temps were struggling to perform. Fortunately, I try to keep a full spare bottle just in case. I was able to get a couple more adapters on amazon including the G007 that allows gravity transfer of fuel from low cylinders to others. This is similar to a procedure that some use to refill portable propane cylinders. Its good to weigh the canisters before and after filling to measure the amount of fuel and ensure that cylinders aren't overfilled. This process could be used to top off spare cans with the remaining fuel from low and mostly unusable remaining cylinders. It might be necessary to freeze the canister that needs to be filled in order for the fuel to transfer. This seems like a bit of a divergence from the build topic, but it seems like a useful way to utilize remaining fuel and maintain efficiency for a stove that works great as a regular accessory with this vehicle.

I also recently acquired a Butane stove for use as another burner that is more stable for larger pots and still compact enough to store well in the ARB drawers.

The G006 adapter allows the Jetboil to run on these same Butane canisters. I did a test to boil 2 cups of water and found that though the flame is very stable and the stove seems to work well on this fuel, it seems to take much longer to boil water at 4:53 using 6 grams of Butane. Something that will definitely work in a pinch if that is the fuel available but still doesn't perform as well as the Isobutane/propane. FWIW

 

[Odyseuss]

We made a trip down by Zions and ran the Barracks trail. I had been watching the temps, weather , and flow of the virgin river and though we had some snow, and ice the flows were still reasonable and the 3 100s in our group did well getting through this trail. We started from the south end near the Pink Coral Sand dunes and made our way north. the trail had lots of uneven washboard bumps and high side berms that definitely gave my suspension a lot of cycling and full flex. The sand was pretty firm and the loss of traction in the snow was still manageable on the steep sections. I had noticed over the past few months and several 100 miles of dirt travel that some things had been working loose and I have been trying to be vigilant to check various fasteners to make sure they were tight. I had some tools in a rear drawer shake to pieces after running the Pony Express last month. Since then, with the
alignment and a good once over, I thought I had things in order. Well, at one point on the trail I started to notice a fuel smell and stopped to check it out. As it turned out the drivers rear shock top nut had come off and the absorber had pulled completely out of its mount and punched back up closer to the center of the body knocking the fuel return line off. I was able to move the shock back into its proper place and reattach the fuel line, while one of the other vehicles was working its way up a steep slick hill. The shock nut, one washer, and one cushion were lost somewhere, but I had saved a set of spares and quickly had the shock reinstalled TIGHT with all the proper hardware. With no more leak we had stopped in a good place for lunch and were soon all ready to go again. I thought I had the fastener tight enough when I installed these shocks earlier last year, but somehow it worked loose, and maybe I didn't have it tight enough, though these can be a pain to get to if they won't come loose so its tricky. Either way we continued on and completed this awesome trail in great weather with only one Side by side for traffic. There was some ice flow in the Virgin river but the river was not frozen over and with flows around 50 CFS the water was not too deep. We returned the route from Mt. Carmel junction through Zion and encountered a lot of traffic there, but made it back in decent time overall. I have included most of the pictures in the video that was shot mostly from the dashcam, since I was busy spotting, leading and driving.

 

[Odyseuss]

I made a couple of repairs replacing some burned out fog light bulbs and fixing the reverse camera wire harness.

The UHF/VHF (HAM) radio finally got an upgrade. I have been using a handheld dual band transceiver with a battery eliminator, remote mic, and a mag mount antenna. This has worked for many years though it has been lacking in the features and performance of a true mobile install. I noticed that I could receive signals over great distance, though it seemed that I was limited by the power to transmit at that same range on simplex. I have also been getting annoyed with the mag mount antenna hitting trees and tipping over and I wanted a better solution. I have been watching some radios for years waiting for prices to come down or a better model to be released and eventually went in on the legendary Kenwood TM-D710G. This radio seems to have it all, including far more than I understand, but I am working on learning how to use its features. In addition to it being an excellent all around radio, It has a lot of really advanced features that seem to make the sky the limit. I know several people that run this radio and they all recommended it, in addition there is a lot of helpful info on Youtube about programming it. It has APRS Which allows position beacons or packets messages to be sent out and leave a track to follow online. I am going to try and utilize this in place of a locator beacon so that people can find or track me and I can get out a distress call if need be. That is in addition to all of the other communication uses that I can figure out. I still intend to keep a handheld around for spotting and coordinating a recovery or what not. The radio also allows for remote crossband repeat which should help me to explore on foot with a handheld and transmit via the radio in this truck to give me more range than the handheld radio would have.

This unit mounts a faceplate within access of the operator and the radio is located elsewhere, Since my rig is getting packed pretty full, I chose to mount this to the rear drawers behind the 2nd row seat. I used an extension cable for the mic and made a custom mounting plate that would bolt to the RAM tablet mount. I used aluminum for the mounting plate and welded a bracket to hang the mic. I used vinyl and felt tape to cover some of the aluminum so it doesn't rattle or reflect too much light. I also cut a piece for the hood so the mount would not rub on the paint.

 

[Odyseuss]

I recently changed the rear differential oil and once again noticed that the drain plug was stuck in place by metal that was bent into the drain plug protection ring. This is a common occurrence as this is one of the lowest spots in the rear and this ring that is welded to the housing protect the drain plug yet it often makes contact with offending rocks. In many cases the ring gets deformed or debris bend away and interfere with fitting a socket on the drain plug. In rare cases there is the potential that a rock can catch the drain plug and break it loose. More often, the drain pug gets stuck and quick work with a chisel can clear out the interfering debris. This time I opted to install an allen drain plug. These are a Toyota part and this is a common swap to reduce the profile of the drain plug while still leaving it accessible despite intrusion from the protective ring.

While I was at it, I took the time to adjust the E brake. I have recently though more about potential issues and how important it is to have a well functioning E-brake and I intend to utilize it more. This is considering that there is a known potential for significant and somewhat sudden brake failure in some of these vehicles. Also considering that even with a transmission in park all it takes is for the transfer case to be put in neutral and the vehicle could be free to roll. Those circumstances make me think a bit more about using the E-brake as an added safeguard. With the wheels off, I took a moment to clean up the wheel mating surface.

On some of the recent trips, we had a lot of fun playing nerf in between stops and such. The kids have been real excited about it and I had some thoughts to include it in another upcoming event so I bought a small arsenal off the local classifieds. Now we have a nice loadout for more fun.

 

[Odyseuss]

Initially I put off installing an additional speaker for the HAM radio because I couldn't figure out a good place to put one and wanted to see how well the included speaker would work. The location behind the seat and a combination of highway noise drowned it out too much so I installed this unit near the passenger rear corner window. It is working much better and I can still hear it with out having to locate it somewhere inconvenient. It can also be easily disconnected from the mount and extended to the back or outside the vehicle if I wanted to monitor from camp or something else though I think this would still work just fine.

We made a recent trip down south to visit family and friends and explore some more. Fortunately we lucked out and after driving through some rough weather reached some welcome sunshine. We explored some trails in Sand Hollow and the surrounding areas. We also did some fishing and shooting. There was an ever present Nerf battle too.

 

[Odyseuss]

I've been working with the local club Wasatch Cruisers to explore the Pony Express trail in Utah and update some documentation and photos for a report on another affiliated site Expedition Utah. Several of us made it out to explore the route and over a few days a small group of us stopped at all the relay stations from 5 mile pass to the Nevada border. Eventually I plan to follow the rest of the route to Wyoming though we'll need to wait for another season to pursue some of that portion of the route.

In any case, I brought the family along and we camped a couple of nights at the Simpson Springs Station campground and endured the snow and mud and all of the adventure along the way. It was good to see the other routes that people took and their perspectives of the various sites. Some of these sites have been preserved, restored, repaired, and even relocated so its nice to have some more recent photos of the monuments that mark the valuable although short lived history of the area. It has also been a lot of fun reading about the Pony Express and hearing the different details that others have to contribute. I really appreciate the shared experience with this trip. We covered about 300 miles of dirt, mud, snow, etc...

 

[Odyseuss]

On the recent Pony Express trip, I had been pushing the limits of my fuel range once again and had been watching the fuel gauge in comparison to the mileage traveled. The fuel gauge became less consistent and then unreliable before reading empty inaccurately. After returning home with a full tank of fuel and several thorough wash cycles, I proceeded with diagnosis at the fuel sender. I also removed and examined the sender and verified that it was not the issue. While I was in there, I replaced the original fuel pump with the new spare that I had been carrying. I followed the wiring to the next connector, after the harness passes through the body to the under carriage. Sure enough, there was a broken wire at the the exposed area between the wire loom protector and the connector. Previously, this area had been covered with mud and debris and as I travel dirt roads, areas like this are constantly bombarded with dirt and rocks and mud etc... I thought that since the fuel pump wires travel through the same connector they could be vulnerable too and that could lead to a more serious situation with the engine unable to start. Sure enough, on closer evaluation, one of the fuel pump wires was also damaged.

This appears to be a potential vulnerability that may occur on other vehicles. It is probably much less of an issue on a vehicle driven on the road and exposed to less debris. Even front mud flaps may help to alleviate or avoid this issue. In this case I have added protection to the wiring harness in this location.

I noticed that the connector was also damaged and was told that this is only available with the wire harness. Fortunately I had another connector on hand from parting out various harnesses in the past. I also had the wires that I needed with even some the same color combination. So I replaced the connector and damaged wires and used a portion of hose to protect the wiring.

 

[Odyseuss]

I'm probably going to go down the rabbit hole a bit with these next few posts and if this isn't already long winded it will likely get there, so consider yourself warned. At this point in the build I am in far enough to disclose the details even if they may be unnecessary or a bit humbling, for the sake of understanding the situations and potential benefit. Maybe we learn a bit from these builds about what to or not to do, or just a new idea, or even what we already new or should have known or done better. Maybe there's something constructive to add from hind sight, or maybe not and stuff just happens. I'm always trying to improve my methods and sometimes a good learning experience helps remind me to consider if there is a better way.

Regardless, the situation of continuously loading up the 20 year old 100 with as much as I can fit in and tie down to it, and taking it out to remote rough terrain can be taxing at times on the individual components and the sum of these parts, passengers and driver included. The rewards are multiplied by the time we have them, but at moments it seems like a precarious balance with chaos. Fortunately, I have been lucky and I hope that holds, as I try to be prepared and know that things wont always go as planned. Yet I still plan and this trip went much different.

We started planning on a group of usual suspects making a trip south to Arizona. Then things changed and a couple cruisers couldn't make it and another decided to meet up along the way. I did the usual pre trip inspection, fluid levels check, threw in a new air filter, loaded up the usual tools and went through the spare parts. I added a new brake booster accumulator to the loadout as I have been thinking about how a potential failure could leave a vehicle stranded, unsafe, and a replacement might be inconvenient to source. I usually travel with a few other 100's and though mine has been working well, somebody else might need it and though it isn't ideal to change on the trail or some town, with enough brake fluid its definitely possible.

I have noticed a bit of a fuel vapor smell on long drives on hot days and though it hasn't been an issue during the winter I expected some long warm days ahead and thought I might try another remedy to this situation. I know this isn't all that uncommon on a 100 series and mine isn't all that bad, but I'd like to get a better handle on this issue. It might be a saturated or degraded evap canister, but there is something about the current design that bugs me. It seems like there is a drain hose on the drivers front fender that eventually vents to open air. I suspect that is the source of some of this smell. I dont like the idea that it vents to open air, but I realize that excess pressure has to go somewhere. I prefer the idea of the purge vsv sending it back to the intake so it can be burned, so I thought I'd try to run it into the evap test T fitting. I figure it still has to go through a small filter and then only when the VSV is active will it get burned, so it wont introduce debris or cause a vacuum leak. I removed the Schrader from another T that I have and installed it with the evap drain hose going in to it. That way, if there is an issue or I get and evap DTC, then I can disconnect the hose and just cap the fitting.

Then I drove around for a few days and filled up with gas before leaving town. On the way down south, engine performance began to suffer along with fuel mileage. So we pulled off for fuel and I checked for any pending codes, none found, I returned the evap hose to the factory position and capped the fitting. Not seeing anything else unusual, we continued on. Gradually the condition got worse and as we finally made our exit near St. George, it was apparent that Legusy wasn't feeling well. We stopped off to visit some family and unloaded and I started to proceed with the suspicious case. Now I had a P0300 random misfire DTC with the light on and under hard accell the light was flashing, which did not seem uncommon for a rich misfire, though I know it can be hard on the catalyst. The catalyst can usually take a flashing check engine light for some time. I didnt have any other codes, so I proceeded to try and diagnose the misfire. The fuel trim was way off, and I checked the MAF sensor and it seemed dirty so I cleaned it with no improvement and eventually just replaced it to rule that out. I pulled the plugs and inspected the coils and found one outlier being the #4 plug a bit fouled. I put in a spare plug and a good spare coil. After each repair, I pulled and cleared codes and at this point I had a P0304. There was still no improvement, but I then found a P0302, P0306, P0308. So I wasnt convinced it wasnt a coil and tried swapping them again with another spare and similar results. At this point I wanted to rule out all the coils so I put in a new set of all 8. Still no improvement. No obvious air leaks, audible function of the injectors, and though the symptom was somewhat consistent, it was more so under load and the cylinders were firing at some point, I had ignition. So I did a compression test knowing that the valves had all been in spec a year ago when I did the an extensive timing belt service. Compression was good. I tested the fuel pressure too and it was good. Then I started thinking about the misfires common to the same bank and how much I doubted that the cam timing was off. But I had to rule it out, even so, all these issues began after filling up with gas, so I replaced the last bit of fuel with some ethanol free and no improvement. So I finally pulled the cam timing covers. But the timing was spot on.

So I though darn, I've spent most of a day chasing this issue and I probably should have known better. But yet I expected a catalyst inefficiency code before a failed catalytic converter and this one would have to be completely plugged. But yet it was probably getting more and more so with the misfire due to the engine not being able to move exhaust and the passenger side cats were still original despite the other ones being replaced before I owned the vehicle. Sure enough, after I pulled the pipe off, I couldn't get any air to flow through it, there were all sorts of pieces rattling around inside and fine metal bits poured out like sand though that didn't seem to make it less clogged. A leaf blower would not push air through the pipe. So I called around and expedited a replacement for a reasonable price and installed it the next day, with new bolts washers, lock washers nuts, gaskets etc..

Problem solved. so far. I wondered if the evap hose change has sent too much vapor into the engine to overload the catalyst. I know people say that cats don't usually go bed, something causes them to fail, but with the engine running well again and the other cat seemingly fine, I suspect 20 years of use caused this one to fail eventually breaking apart inside. sure the catalyst would still heat up, but it wouldn't flow air and of course the Exhaust shop says they see a lot of clogged cats. Of course, now I hear that. Anyway, I'm now set to go and my friend @Moody that has been camping around offering support and waiting to meet up for this trip is having issues with his 100 and makes a return trip home. I have been so eager to proceed with this trip and Legusy is ready to go so we load beck up and head out to the vast expanse of Arizona solo.

 

[Odyseuss]

We made good progress moving out along some fairly mellow dirt roads and exploring a couple spurs along the way. Reaching the remote Trumbull Mtn. school house, we stopped for a quick look around and to use the playground equipment before making our way south along the more rugged roads to the canyon.

After another couple hours of travel the bumpety bump seemed incessant and appeared to be accompanied by the sound of an exhaust leak. We had reached a spot with an awesome view, so we settled down for a bit. We resolved to spend a day in the same general area instead of the usual trips of long days on the trail exploring.

I looked over the exhaust and realized that one of the bolts at the rear joint had come loose and the gasket had dropped out onto the skid. I replaced the gasket with a new spare one that I carry and tightened it down with metal lock nuts, or nuts locked together instead of with a lock washer. It seems like a typical split lock washer looses its tendency to lock after it is exposed to heat. From now on, I think I'll stick with all metal locking nuts on exhaust. Fortunately, that issue was sorted out and the noise was gone.

 

[Odyseuss]

We set up the ARB awning and room with a floor so we would have a nice spot to sit in the shade and take it easy while enjoying the view.

I get concerned about the wind any time I set up an awning as they seem to act much like a sail, so I used a bunch of guy lines to help reduce the potential for issues and any worries. These ARB awnings use a channel that helps secure the room to the awning, and it seems like a common attachment for various awnings and rails. I made these additional attachments with some tubing and paracord that allows me to secure things to the rails. It can also work with tarps too.

It was very nice to take it easy and enjoy the day with some good quality family time and some hikes. Eventually we were stoked to hit the road out to Toroweap.

After a long day on the road, we were about to get back into town. My boy was a bit car sick and had probably had too many treats. No sooner had I given him an emesis bag to spew in than the battery light started to flash on. Sure enough, spew he did, but I was thankful to have something to contain the ejected content. within short order the battery light was on solid and there was no charging voltage on the dual battery controller display. I rolled the rest of the way into town and then isolated the batteries to test the charging system. The alternator fuse was good, but I only had battery voltage, so I pulled the skid plates again and tested the alternator directly, It also read battery voltage. So an alternator just died, and somewhere there is probably some magic smoke free in the wind. This alternator isn't that old, and it is a Sequoia 150A Duralast gold variety. I called around and was able to get one to swap out under warranty the next morning, and with that installed we were back in business. Now I understand that a Toyota alternator would likely have lasted better, though I have seen them fail too, but then I might not have had the same options and availability for a replacement. No lifetime warranty, and the added expense of the better quality Toyota part. Maybe I should have got the Toyota one. I do have a spare back at the shop, but I did not have room for it on this trip, though I do bring it on occasion if there is space.

We loaded up for the trip back home and had a reasonably smooth drive there. I couldn't help but think about what I could have done to be better prepared or to avoid these issues, though things worked in the end and we weren't stranded. I intend to give this thing a really thorough once over and get it back out on the trails. I would like some more trouble free trips to help improve the tarnished reputation for reliability. I know that frequent hard miles add up and it is a challenge to keep an older vehicle performing under those circumstances. Even so, some failures are the result of pushing things to their limits and that can be the nature of this pastime. We travel around in a couple other vehicles and maybe putting them to more use would lessen some of the strain on this one, however, there is still this temptation in me to keep seeing how far this will go.

 

[Odyseuss]

Since the charging voltage was still a bit low (13.4) after replacing this alternator, I installed a 1A diode to boost the charging voltage. I did file down the diode a bit to get it to fit better.

I came across this mod in this thread

Alternator Voltage Booster

Any of you boys with dual batts use something like this? I've never seen one before, just stumbled across on ebay. The concept makes sense... Prado, Hilux & LandCruiser Alternator Voltage Booster | eBay

forum.ih8mud.com

As long as I have owned this rig the charging voltage has been a bit low and now it is .5 volts higher right around 13.9/14 volts. I haven't been driving this rig as much lately though as it has been sitting more, the batteries seem to be holding a charge better than before.

 

[Odyseuss]

A bunch of fellas from the local club got in together on a 7/16 synthetic line Dyneema group buy. Then we had a tech night at Cruiser Outfitters on how to splice various ends. I decided to make a couple of soft shackles with the material and using some 1/4 dyneema I made some smaller versions as practice. Then I found a cool method for how to make a soft shackle from paracord too. I use these smaller shackles as various attachments for all sorts of stuff. Securing things to the roof rack, hanging items to grab handles, cargo net attachments, chest rigs for camelbaks, the options go on and on. There are numerous recovery situations where a soft shackle can have advantages as well. They can also be secured in different ways to make them easier to undo or more secure depending on the application.

 

[Odyseuss]

I'll admit that I have been very distracted lately. My love for mountain biking convinced me to purchase a class 1 pedal assist electric bike and I have been riding that as much as possible. Well over 1500 miles since I got it in March. It has been so much fun to explore on this Haibike Nduro 180. Its a very capable bike assisted by a Yamaha, and I look forward to some trips with the 100 and the bike. I think that the combination will be a lot of fun. However, lately it has taken me away from this rig as I find it more convenient to haul around the bike in the back of a truck. I don't really like dealing with a bike rack behind the swing out bumper and its a heavier expensive bike that I like to haul more securely. I had an old trailer sitting around that I have been using when I bring the bike with the 100. This has got me thinking even more about an offroad trailer/camper combination.

The wooden dock that the front tire is in has spaces for various tires and will fit quite a few bikes. It also works in a full size truck bed.

I had the skid plates off for inspection both of the truck and the plates themselves. I have found cracks in the welds of this front skid plate. It is a bit hard to get the aluminum cleaned up well enough to weld now, but I was able to make it work. If I get time, I'll probably try and weld more of the seams up and see If I can get what's left of these plates to hold together.

I'll try and take more time to clean the metal and get better welds. I sure could use the practice.

I had one of the bolts in the cross member pull through the threads, So I found a much longer bolt that fit all the way through the crossmember and was able to back it up with a nut on the other side. Of course, I had to drill and tap through the top of the crossmember to do this, but it was pretty easy with everything installed.

The rear brakes were wearing thin, so A new set of parking brake shoes, Toyota rotors and quality pads went on.

 

[civil offroad]

@Odyseuss nice work on the repair. I wish my welding skills were even close to yours! BTW I know the feeling about neglecting the LC. Except my reason is two kids under 2. I seen some cob webs form up on the wheels of my rig!