Builds eatSleepWoof's '14 LX

[eatSleepWoof]

Dog containment box/crate is stained, finished, and installed.

The cargo-facing side is carpeted so that items don't get scratched up, nor scratch the crate.

On the floor of the crate is a 1/2" thick soft-foam tile, 4" thick dog bed, and it's all wrapped in a towel, since washing the towel is simpler than washing the cover from the dog's bed. Bed will last longer this way, too.

Also note the Lexan plastic at the front, which composes the upper half of the front wall. Keeps the dog contained, fur mostly at bay, and doesn't obstruct rear-view visibility. Similar (small) window in the driver's side wall, so that the dog can see outside without having to sit/stand (I want the dog laying down as much as possible).

Floor is bolted down to the tracks in four spots. The foam tile is mostly in place to absorb any friction/damage from this hardware, so that the bed doesn't get torn up.

Another view of the bed.

Front window.

I also left the hammock-style seat cover installed. Makes for a good place to carry groceries without having to strap them down in the rear. I think I'll permanently leave this in place, as it'll protect the rear seats nicely.

Also installed some edge trim on the rear passenger door as an experiment. I have a workbench next to the passenger side, and have already clipped it a few times with the doors. If this trim stays on (as I expect it will), I'll get more and cover all four doors. No issues closing the doors at all - like it's not even there.

 

[Itsky]

Very sweet kennel and drawer design

 

[TeCKis300]

Also installed some edge trim on the rear passenger door as an experiment. I have a workbench next to the passenger side, and have already clipped it a few times with the doors. If this trim stays on (as I expect it will), I'll get more and cover all four doors. No issues closing the doors at all - like it's not even there.

The rear bed organization turned out pretty nice. Good work.

On the edge trim. Sorry, but I can't get behind that. My opinion - tacky. If your goal is to play down the Lexus chic, and give her a more rough and tough look, maybe? Functionally, as dirt and debris get into the edge, with movement over time, it's going to destroy the paint underneath. Much like how people remove factory fender flares/door trim and the paint behind those more solidly fixed items are sandblasted.

I have the same situation in my garage where I have a steel post of my hydraulic lift close to the rear door. I opted to pad the lift column instead with baby safety foam edge guards.

 

[eatSleepWoof]

The rear bed organization turned out pretty nice. Good work.

On the edge trim. Sorry, but I can't get behind that. My opinion - tacky. If your goal is to play down the Lexus chic, and give her a more rough and tough look, maybe? Functionally, as dirt and debris get into the edge, with movement over time, it's going to destroy the paint underneath. Much like how people remove factory fender flares/door trim and the paint behind those more solidly fixed items are sandblasted.

I have the same situation in my garage where I have a steel post of my hydraulic lift close to the rear door. I opted to pad the lift column instead with baby safety foam edge guards.
View attachment 1900159

No concerns about the look - just don't want the doors getting chipped from being smacked into things. Dirt getting in and movement is something I hadn't thought about much, and that can be a problem. I suppose it's possible. Padding the workbench may be the better option, yeah.

 

[eatSleepWoof]

Last July I bought a Baja Designs S8 lightbar (in addition to the Squadron Sports which I'm already running), and last night I finally got around to installing it. Made some mounts out of aluminum angle iron, drilled a few holes in the aluminum crash bar behind the bumper, installed some stainless rivnuts in there, and mounted it up. Made a custom wiring harness to get power from my Bussman relay block.

Everything seemed great, tested fine, and I went for a drive to see real-world performance. Not even five minutes later, half the light bar stopped working. Got off the phone w/ Baja Designs earlier today and will be sending this in for warranty work. Bummed out, but I'm sure they'll take care of the problem. Perhaps there's a broken connection inside, or some moisture got in (it was snowing when I drove last night).

 

[gaijin]

Baja Designs, as a brand, is officially off my list of potential vendors. Too many reported issues. Taking care of a problem is one thing - never having the problem in the first place is the important thing.

Just my $0.02.

 

[mcgaskins]

Baja Designs, as a brand, is officially off my list of potential vendors. Too many reported issues. Taking care of a problem is one thing - never having the problem in the first place is the important thing.

Just my $0.02.

I was going to post this exact thing. Years ago everyone raved about Baja Designs, but after a lot of reading on my different forums I've heard a large proportion of people having problems. They must have switched suppliers because their reputation is completely shot IMO. I keep hearing "my lights died but they were great with sending me a replacement" which is ridiculous in its complacency. I want my stuff to work, period, so the effectiveness of a warranty isn't something I ever need to test. If I'm going to roll the dice on quality, I'll just go ahead and buy the legitimately cheap LEDs that proliferate the market. @Dan Higgins I know you've been looking at BD lighting, but proceed with caution if that's the route you want to go.

 

[eatSleepWoof]

Surprised to hear that about BD lighting, as I've never read anything negative about their lights. But as with anything, when production moves off shore, quality goes down the drain.

 

[Tex68w]

I have never experienced any issues whatsoever with their products and I have run A LOT of their lights in previous vehicles, SxS's, and dirt bikes. This is the second or third report of an issue like this that I have seen on this forum alone. Like another poster already said, my guess is that they recently changed suppliers to further reduce cost and/or increase margins. Sad to see, looks like I might start looking into LightForce or moving back to VisionX. Has anyone run any of the newer KC stuff with the square pods?

 

[eatSleepWoof]

Finally wrapped up the second drawer. Just need to put the latch/strike plate in (later today).

Earlier I complained about this Varathane "Dark Walnut" stain (which I used for the small drawer) being much lighter than the Minwax "Dark Walnut" stain that I used for the frame and everything else. Well, it looks like I must have not stirred the Varathane stain enough when using it initially, as the dog enclosure and the second drawer came out much, much darker and are very close in colour to the (original) Minwax stain.

All in all, I'm happy that it's done. With that said, this is the last time I'm building something like this. The amount of time & effort that goes into a project like this is simply ridiculous, and unless one values their own time at $10/hr, it's just not worth it.

Then there are the actual costs involved (prices in CAD):

• roughly 3 sheets of 3/4" and 1/2" plywood (at $65/sheet) was $195
• around $120 worth of carpet
• the two southco latches were bought a while ago (for another project), but I recall them being around $60
• the three tie-down tracks were very expensive, roughly $300 (still have a fourth unused)
• HDPE sheet was around $70
• turnbuckles, countless screws, staples, other misc hardware: $20
• stain: $20

All in, around $785. Given the time I spent, I could have easily bought two or three sets of ARB drawers and come out ahead. Ah well.

Also ordered an RTIC 65 cooler (with basket & divider) yesterday; they're 20% off on both the main RTIC website and Amazon.com. Should do the trick (now that I've gotten rid of the ARB fridge & slide).

 

[Markuson]

Nice work on the drawers!
Those look way more space-efficient than my ARBs.
Lots of space taken up by rollers, etc.

 

[eatSleepWoof]

Finally received the Baja Designs S8 lightbar back (nearly a full month later). They told me by email that they were able to reproduce the issue.

Re-installed the lightbar, connected it, and guess what? Half of it still doesn't work. Waiting for a callback from BD - will be asking for a full refund.

 

[eatSleepWoof]

So BD rep called back as promised, apologized profusely, and offered a new replacement + reimbursement of both shipping costs to them. I pushed for a refund instead of replacement, and they agreed. Definitely good customer service, I'll give them that!

Apparently the initial problem was a bolt on the motherboard coming loose, and the fix was re-torquing that bolt. Perhaps it came loose again in the shipping to me? Who knows... don't want to be dealing with this.

 

[Tex68w]

Man this is a major bummer. I hate to hear this as I have been a big fan of their lights and I have never had issue with any of the ones that I have owned over the years. I hope that this is an isolated event and doesn't become common place, unfortunately it sounds like they lost a customer in you over this, that's understandable yet such a shame.

 

[LXinOBX]

Fascinating thread, thanks! One (really stupid) question re rivnuts (never heard of them until now). Is there a way to install them without out the special tools "youtube" tells me I need?

Edit: found this:

Also, search only brought up 100 series, where are you guys running your wiring through the firewall on the drivers side? Many thanks.

 

[eatSleepWoof]

Fascinating thread, thanks! One (really stupid) question re rivnuts (never heard of them until now). Is there a way to install them without out the special tools "youtube" tells me I need?

Edit: found this:

Also, search only brought up 100 series, where are you guys running your wiring through the firewall on the drivers side? Many thanks.

Not sure, I've only ever used the rivnut tool.

Theres a rubber grommet in the firewall on the driver's side - run wires through that!

 

[cc93cruiser]

Fascinating thread, thanks! One (really stupid) question re rivnuts (never heard of them until now). Is there a way to install them without out the special tools "youtube" tells me I need?

Edit: found this:

Also, search only brought up 100 series, where are you guys running your wiring through the firewall on the drivers side? Many thanks.

Simple effective way to install rivnuts, used this method like 15 years ago while installing the rivnuts on the a pillar of my 80 series while installing the snorkel (used rivnuts instead of the crappy plastic threaded inserts that ARB provided).

 

[eatSleepWoof]

I ended up ordering a Slee bracket to mount the ARB Twin under the hood, as I couldn't find a better spot anywhere else. The problem with this idea is that I already had my Bussman fuse/relay block already mounted in this exact spot. So today I set about relocating it.

I decided that the best spot to mount it would be in the open spot on the passenger side, near the power steering fluid reservoir.

I started by cutting off the vertical wall from my existing (Pelfreybilt) Bussman/circuit breaker mount, to end up with a flat surface:

I then drilled three holes (only two shown), covered the exposed metal with liquid tape, and inserted a stainless M5 rivnut into each hole.

The Bussman originally came with a pair of brackets that can be used to mount it, and also elevate it off the surface; these are what the Bussman sits on in this photo:

I spent a lot of time trying to decide how to run wiring to the battery. I ran the main 2gauge wire along the OEM wire bunch hidden right in front of the radiator, under the metal bracket, but with my every attempt to get it done cleanly, I couldn't be sure it would never come in contact with the radiator and melt. So I eventually gave up and ran it up front, where it is a good 4-5" away from the radiator, and is easily secured:

My existing accessory wires went into that red/black sleeving and I ran them along the main power wire. Everything then comes out by the battery:

With the accessory trigger/power wires ending up in this Y-shape, and running to their respective destinations.

All ready for the ARB Twin install, which will probably happen on Wednesday.

 

[eatSleepWoof]

Received the Slee bracket and installed the ARB Twin.

The bracket is nicely made & finished, although some of the pre-drilled holes on the bracket are off by 2-3mm from where they should be (and thus don't align properly). Luckily there are 8 holes in total, and only 4 are needed to secure the compressor, so I made do.

I have to say that Slee's instructions are utter garbage. No, they're worse than garbage. Horribly written, poorly organized, and absolutely useless photographs. I must have spent 30 minutes looking for what the instructions describe as a "bolt on the driver's side fender," while the bolt in question is actually a few inches away from the side of the engine. Whoever wrote this junk out needs to talk to a company like Decked to learn how instructions SHOULD be done.

The only saving grace is that the bracket has a spot to mount the compressor's on/off button - this was an unexpected, and very pleasant surprise!

I initially set everything up like this:

... only to find that closing the hood turns on the button. Dang!

I played around with various options, and eventually settled on just using the button location on the Slee bracket, and cutting half the driver's side engine cover off. This gives some fresh air to the compressor, gives me easy access to the button, and still retains the front part of the cover, which directs air to the radiator. Win-win in my books.

It should be noted that the quick-disconnect fitting comes in contact with the padding/insulation under the hood. Not enough to damage the hood itself, but still not ideal. I'll likely source an extension hose to relocate the fitting elsewhere.

Glad to have OBA again!

 

[TeCKis300]

I spent a lot of time trying to decide how to run wiring to the battery. I ran the main 2gauge wire along the OEM wire bunch hidden right in front of the radiator, under the metal bracket, but with my every attempt to get it done cleanly, I couldn't be sure it would never come in contact with the radiator and melt. So I eventually gave up and ran it up front, where it is a good 4-5" away from the radiator, and is easily secured:

My existing accessory wires went into that red/black sleeving and I ran them along the main power wire. Everything then comes out by the battery:

If I may make a suggestion.

It's generally good practice to have an inline fuse within close proximity of the positive terminal, but especially on a 2-gauge wire. In a frontal collision, it's highly likely that it'll be pinched and shorted with that routing, potentially resulting in a fire.