Builds Jade Overland build

[r2m]

TOO FUNNY!!!
Had NO idea!
Well... I fully support all of you! All peace officers!
Enough said on that topic... Don't need to open that door right now.
Changing gears, what awning is that and what are the coverage dimensions?

 

[prerunner221]

TOO FUNNY!!!
Had NO idea!
Well... I fully support all of you! All peace officers!
Enough said on that topic... Don't need to open that door right now.
Changing gears, what awning is that and what are the coverage dimensions?

ARB 2000 awning. I believe it's 6x8. They make a 2500 that's 8x8 if you want bigger but it's long and gets will get caught on branches on the trail because of how far it sticks out. I recently got a shade piece for it that extends from the end to the ground and it's great to keep the sun and wind off of you.

 

[r2m]

I've looked at a lot of awnings, but found that an Amazon 6' x 9' ($70.00) rectangle umbrella attached to my roof rack has worked great! Easy to set up, I can mount it on any side of my rig OR even stand alone if I can't set up near my vehicle.
Here's what I did: Builds - R2M 2013 GX460 Overland Build
starting on post #82.
I didn't have it on my vehicle at the time of those photos, but I keep it in a PVC tube on the side of my rack next to my RTT.

 

[prerunner221]

Finally upgraded my tent. I've been holding out for the single side opening tent from Tepui /Thule but was told it won't be available for shipment until mid November and I have a trip next month. It's a Tepui Hybox.

I got it on the truck and drove around a bit and I think I need to get the FrontRunner hardshell supports because it's bouncing a little at speed and I can see that cracking the base eventually.

Aside from that I dig it. 1 minute set up and maybe 3 to break down. Plenty of room inside, comfy mattress and lots of storage inside. I think I'm going to like it.

It was pretty heavy though and took a few guys to get up on the rack. I'll have to figure out how to get it on and off since it won't fit in the garage with it on.

On to the important part...

 

[r2m]

We love our RTT. They're so fast and easy to setup after a long drive to a camp site!

 

[prerunner221]

It's been a little while since my last update. After seeing the MTS was on sale through an Instagram post I decided to pull the trigger.

I tested it out in some nice deep, dry sand and it performed as advertised. Total time spent was a couple hours between install and testing. Switching from normal driving to Sand mode was like having an easy button.

I have some bigger tires (285/70r18 Toyo R/T's) on order but who knows when they'll get here. Toyo is saying it can be as much as a month. I'm also on the email list for a set of @sleeoffroad sliders which look awesome. Really excited about getting those ordered as it's usually one of my first installs on a build but no one was making anything that checked all my boxes until now. Hopefully they can get some back in stock and I can get them ordered before the other 100 people looking for a set.

 

[r2m]

Do you have a link to the MTS site that was on sale?

 

[prerunner221]

Do you have a link to the MTS site that was on sale?

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GXORFIFTYOFF for 50% off “Shipping”

Easy half hour install.

 

[Tex68w]

That's the normal price, was the shipping the only thing discounted? You can get 50% off of shipping at all times with the code GXORFIFTYOFF.

 

[prerunner221]

That's the normal price, was the shipping the only thing discounted? You can get 50% off of shipping at all times with the code GXORFIFTYOFF.

I saw the $300 reduced to $200 and thought it was on sale. Whoops. Either way it seems worth it. Look forward to seeing it work hard during my next trip.

 

[prerunner221]

I've been trying to get a set of tires and a new awning for the last couple months but with everything backordered I haven't been able to get a hold of them, so other odds and ends have been ordered.

One of my issues at camp has been keeping the fridge running when I'm parked. My yellow top won't keep it running for more than an hour, so I started looking at power banks and really started looking on Youtube to see what everyone was running. I chose a Bluetti (Mazoak) AC50s. Ive run it a couple times just to see how long it will last and it works pretty well for what I need. I had it running the fridge for a few hours, wirelessly charging my cell phone and charging a GoPro and it wasn't a huge draw. According to Youtube it should run the fridge for a few nights in a row without needing a recharge, but I can plug it in while driving and charge it up all day.

 

[prerunner221]

I also installed an Ironman snorkel. One of the trips I'm planning for next year is a week long Ozarks romp. After watching Ozark Overland Adventures trips it looks like there is a ton of water crossings, and some are deep. I still have to do the breathers, so if someone knows of a good kit available please let me know. The snorkel went on easy enough. It's made and molded for the Prado so it isn't an exact fit, but it's good enough and you really can't tell it's off a little. It does seal up nice and tight, so that's what really matters.

Before:

And after:

 

[r2m]

A couple of quick comments:
First comment/question: what brand and model of fridge do you have that's running down your battery so quickly?
I have two fridges:

• Alpicool c20, we love it and take it everywhere: Amazon product ASIN B075R1LH8D
• Whynter FM-85G, for our week+ long camping: Amazon product ASIN B002W8GV8S

The smaller one I can run a couple of days off my second (house) battery (both my batteries are Odyssey PC1200) along with charging phones.
I haven't used the large Whynter enough to get a feel for it. But I also have a Harbor Freight 100 Watt solar panel kit that I run sometimes.
And just in case I do run my batteries down, this has saved my bacon (and others) more than once!

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I can't say enough about how small, compact, powerful and easy to use it is! The best part is if you do run it down after starting your car, just plug it in while you drive and charge it up again!
Please let us know how that power supply works for you!

My other comment is, personally I love the look of snorkels, but will sometimes have people asking me here in CA (the land of drought) why have it when there's really not anything to ford?
Answer, especially which most people don't realize is that a snorkel is "ram air" pushing more air into your intake. Also, gulping air from near the top of your roof line, you're getting much cooler air than the air coming in just off the road and through the hot grill and engine bay. Cool air will provides a better combustion, thus better fuel efficiency, economy and power.
Okay, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying a snorkel is going let you beat Corvettes in street light races, no it won't. The gains are probably low single digits if that high, but it does help. I was thinking about how my rig is built and I was getting over 18 MPG on our road trip to Maine running through some very hot states. Most people only think of snorkels for stream/water fording, but in reality, we really can't go much deeper than stock because of all our electrical under the hood. So, in short, please be careful with just how deep you wind up crossing. Walk it first with a long stick.

 

[prerunner221]

A couple of quick comments:
First comment/question: what brand and model of fridge do you have that's running down your battery so quickly?

To answer the questions...I have a Dometic CFX50qt. The fridge is great, but I have the battery saver set to the highest setting as to not run the battery down. The fridge automatically shuts off when it senses the battery drop below the threshold I have set. With the Bluetti it will be good for a couple days just on that, so it should be perfect for just running the fridge at night for a few days. I'll report back with what I find.

My other comment is, personally I love the look of snorkels, but will sometimes have people asking me here in CA (the land of drought) why have it when there's really not anything to ford?

This is a few part answer. I did the same mod on my FJ and have done several on 4runners. Living in Florida and doing a lot of my off roading here, GA and TN, the snorkel ends up being used a lot more for getting clean air into the intake versus sandy, dusty air in from the passenger side wheel well. I found in the FJ there wasn't any gain in power or fuel economy, but after trips in summer months I had far cleaner air filters when I returned.

I also don't plan on going through anything terribly deep for the reason you describe. Electronics are susceptible any higher than mid door, but it will happen for short periods some times. Just don't carry too much speed into the water and create a nice bow wave and it shouldn't be an issue as long as you don't get stopped.

The issue I've seen is that people charge into water holes and the fender gets slammed with water and they lock the motor. Mine is there more for dust than water, but the water crossings in the Ozarks are a everywhere so I want to be as prepared as possible.

 

[r2m]

Thanks for bringing that up, that was one of the points I forgot to mention was when you're on a trail behind a bunch of other rigs, you're going to be getting a lot cleaner air up high than all the dust being sucked in down by the fender. A agree, a lot of people will just charge into a water crossing rather than going slow for the reasons you mentioned:

• Not drowning your engine and hydro-locking
• ruin your electrical or best case able to wait for it to dry out
• most of all when you crawl into a crossing, you want to make sure you don't drop off a shelf and submerge your entire front vehicle or start to semi-float and lose traction.
• And never, ever stop your engine with the exhaust submerged!

 

[prerunner221]

This weekend I installed the Slee sliders. These seem very sturdy and are mounted by bolting into every tapped hole on the side of the frame available lol. so many bolts. I also got their LED courtesy light kit. Everything went smooth on the install but it did take awhile. On to the pictures.

 

[r2m]

Coming along very nicely!

 

[stapletron]

Every time I see these slee sliders installed, I think they're the ones for me. Nice build.

 

[prerunner221]

Picture taken from a show two weeks ago where the truck was displayed in the Rays booth (Volk)

I've had my Tepui (now Thule) Hybox now for about a year. In that time it was a big step up from my previous Smittybilt soft tent, but it had it's issues. One of them was the bottom of the tent was extremely flexible and while driving the rails would stay stationary but the tent had at least an inch of up/down play. I ended uo switching from the FrontRunner tent mounts to the FrontRunner / Thule crossbar combo to negate this issue, which worked, kind of. There was still a fair amounnt of movement from the tent though. In comes Thule as the new owners of Tepui and they must have seen the same issue and put out an immediate recall on the unit. Mine was picked up by the junk removal company on Saturday and I was told I should see my check for the total refund some time this week. We'll see what happens with that.

In the mean time I ordered a CVT Mt Hood (medium, grey side panels) which was delivered yesterday. I ordered it last Monday and it showed up the following Tuesday which I thought was pretty darn good since it was going from Vegas to central Florida. I got it put together in a couple hours and am extremely impressed so far. This thing is very solid. Literally one minute to set up and just a shade longer to close. This will save me an hour a day of set up and break down over my old soft tent. The seals look to be very beefy too. I was also surprised that the roof racks were included with the tent and I was able to use my old tent mounts in the rack to mount my Maxtrax.

Installing it on the truck is definitely a 3 person job. We tried it with 2 people but it proved to be a little too awkward and heavy and had to recruit a third. This makes it a real pain for me to take on and off since I have to go grab neighbors every time, and to be honest I don't know if either will help with it next time lol. I have to figure out a better way. I can't pull the truck into the garage to hoist it off, it won't fit. no trees either. Anyone have any ideas?


Anyway, onto the pictures of the new set up. It's super hot a rainy in Florida right now so I don't know when I'll be able ot get out and test this thing out, but I'm hoping to get out soon. I definitely need a new tent fan before going out to try to move as much air as possible.

 

[r2m]

That's one thing I REALLY wish my iKamper RTT had, a rack on top for surfboards, solar panels, etc. Not even heavy stuff.