Builds indycole's 2016 200 Series Build and Retrospective (2 Viewers)

[Taco2Cruiser]

@indycole have fun and let me know how that experimental finish works for the front skid. I’m hoping that it replaces powder coating one day.

Slee swill also be out soon and I will be replacing my ARB Skids with those. They designed for heat dissipation and I like the access door for changing oil filters

Romer just to clarify because I’ve seen it in the forum regularly. Bud designed the width of his skids with 12 temperature sensors during trips from North Carolina to Texas low range wheeling. That’s what determined the width of the transmission skid. It exposes a little over half of the catalytic converters for heat. The front was easy, Toyota gave us a heat dissipating front diff so they didn’t have to put cooling vent in the front skid. I remember watching a 4xOverland episode where the 200 has vents in his front skid, and it let in enough grass seeds to block the radiator and begin overheating the motor.

Edit: here it is at 9:40


So the BB skids and no skids at all retain the same heat. Or as Bud says, “you can’t beat thermal dynamics, heat rises.”

That way the BB skids don’t retain heat, but they also don’t have holes in them to prevent the skids turning into a cheese grater and shoving dirt, mud, and junk up into the trans tunnel.

 

[Romer]

From all I have read the Bud products are awesome. No ding intended. Slee also has quality products, is local and a friend which are the key reasons I do business with him. He has been building my vehicles since 2004 and I always leave happy

 

[Taco2Cruiser]

From all I have read the Bud products are awesome. No ding intended. Slee also has quality products, is local and a friend which are the key reasons I do business with him. He has been building my vehicles since 2004 and I always leave happy

It's always good to have options, and finding someone who you can trust is the best, then when local, it's a no brainer. There are a lot of people out having a good time in their reliable cruises because of @sleeoffroad, and that is awesome in my book.

I just simply have been seeing and hearing the whole "heat dissipating" thing a bit more and wanted to address it. It's a solution that never had a problem, and I just want everyone to have a better understanding of what we are seeing during testing. This came up during a conversation with Cole, and I figured since I talked about it with Cole, then he mentioned the skids in his thread, thought this was a good place to mention it. If I'm out of line, please correct me.

 

[Romer]

You are not out of line. It is always good to describe what each product offers so folks better understand their options

Likely my fault for the dirt road

 

[indycole]

Work's been busy but getting out when we can. The photos below were just a couple weeks ago on some private land near Hollister.

The truck is just about to hit 60k and I knocked out some PM over the weekend. Nothing terribly exciting
* Greased driveshafts
* Engine and Driveline (front, center, rear, transmission drain and fill only) fluid change
* Rotated tires
* Cleaned up electrical wiring in the engine bay... it got pretty messed up during the engine swap and I needed to tidy it up
* etc.

All that said, I actually did discover a transfer case leak on the transmission side. It was enough to notice that the oil had been a little low. I ended up taking the truck to the local Toyota dealer to replace the front oil seal. They didn't do a full tear-down or anything and weren't concerned about other damage. I set a sample of the transfer case oil away for analysis so maybe that will provide more info.

 

[indycole]

I took some inspiration from some recent @Eric Sarjeant builds and cleaned up my driver side electrical. There were a few objectives:

• Remove heavy gauge cable zip tied to things that may eventually cause a problem
• Ability to open the fuse box without it being a major undertaking
• Be able to quickly disconnect all accessories (mainly the winch)
• Make it easier to remove the battery

I moved most of the electrical to the compressor mount and modified a bunch of cables. It definitely took some coercion to fit everything under the compressor mount.

On a different subject, I’m thinking of selling our XV3 trailer.

 

[civil offroad]

Going for a Patriot Camper instead?

 

[grinchy]

On a different subject, I’m thinking of selling our XV3 trailer.

big roof box and sleeping inside The Rig?

 

[indycole]

Going for a Patriot Camper instead?

big roof box and sleeping inside The Rig?

A combination a few things. First, @TrekboxX redesigned my middle row situation to facilitate sleeping in the truck for solo trips. I don't think I'll need a roof box, though, as there's plenty of storage within and I'm also loving the peace of mind of 160W of solar on the roof. Second, we've been using a ground tent (a fabulous Hilleberg) more often as our dog is just large enough to make it tough to sleep in the RTT on the trailer. We've actually really liked having the trailer but see a camper with more features in our future for those types of trips (something like the Bruder EXP-6, which we had the opportunity to check out in-depth last spring).

The conflict is that we really only have room for a trailer/camper or a third vehicle and we're weighing options between a second LC and a camper. It's a good problem to have for sure but also aren't exactly in a hurry either way.

I put out a feeler on Expedition Portal for the trailer — For Sale: 2019 Schutt X-Venture XV3 Deluxe Plus w/ Galley Box — SF Bay Area.

 

[wiseinvestor]

The exp 6 is sick! Good luck with the big decisions.

 

[indycole]

The stars aligned on Saturday and I was able to drop by the @TrekboxX worldwide headquarters to fit the new middle row. It's a customized version of the standard middle row to accommodate my water tank. I think it required some one-off brackets for the front and some adjustments to fit the front panels in front of the brackets instead of behind. It came together very well and I'm thrilled with it.

I decided to go with this taller middle row to enable the option of sleeping in the truck on some trips. So far I've added a couple mounting points for strapping stuff down and I also mounted my first aid kit to one side.

I like it well enough that I'd let the old middle row go. I'm probably not going to post it in the classifieds or anything... just shoot me a PM if interested.

 

[DRCocaCola]

Cole,

I assume you talked with David about a half barrier to facilitate sleeping in the rig? It requires more work to secure loads but I've found it much more comfortable than having to slide under the full gear screen.

Doug

 

[indycole]

@DRCocaCola Yes! I forgot to mention that! I have ordered a half-barrier as well... I just don't have it yet.

 

[Oakleyguy]

Looks good Cole, estimate on weight?

 

[indycole]

Looks good Cole, estimate on weight?

Thanks! The plywood, Line-X, bracketry, etc. is probably in the 50-75 lb range. The very cool aspect is that the new middle row designs breaks down completely flat. It's essentially two front walls, two top pieces, and then up to 3 optional side walls / barriers.

 

[04UZJ100]

Crazy build and thread.

Since when does SF cover mechanical break downs???

 

[fireball]

Hi Cole - bumping your thread because I am considering airbags on my 2016. Our trailer has 375# tongue weight.

Could you kindly take a few minutes and provide some feedback now that you’ve had them for awhile? Many thanks!!!

 

[linuxgod]

Hi Cole - bumping your thread because I am considering airbags on my 2016. Our trailer has 375# tongue weight.

Could you kindly take a few minutes and provide some feedback now that you’ve had them for awhile? Many thanks!!!

If your TW is 375# you probably don't need airbags unless you still have the stock rear coils. Most of the lift kits bump the 170in/# coils up to 240-270#. The airbags might give you back 1/2" of lift but IMO aren't really worth the hassle for a light load

 

[Sandroad]

If your TW is 375# you probably don't need airbags unless you still have the stock rear coils. Most of the lift kits bump the 170in/# coils up to 240-270#. The airbags might give you back 1/2" of lift but IMO aren't really worth the hassle for a light load

Hmmmm........ I see a lot of weight already in the @fireball build (see sig). Airbags could help with even an extra 375lbs.

 

[fireball]

It’s got some weight in the back. Rear bumper 34” spare trasharoo. Storage drawer 63qt fridge and a 5 yr old.

This is all loaded down for a long weekend trip.