Builds LEXpedition Overland Build Thread (1 Viewer)

[1world1love]

And I say this from experience because we lived in Nashville for a long time and I have made the drive a bunch. I'd do it tomorrow without hesitating.

 

[BigMF]

Yeah, at the moment you would need to bring it in to their shop. They will be shipping them at some point, so it might be worth dropping them an email to get your name on the list of interested buyers.

And I would challenge you on the idea that driving out to have a bumper installed is not worth it. The Dissent shop is surrounded by some of the best trails in the country. Aside from the Rubicon and Fordyce, there are hundreds of miles of amazing trails throughout the Sierra. In addition, on the drive out and back you would pass through the Rockies (WRNF), and some of the best parts of Utah, and Death Valley, and the Eastern Sierras. If you take the the I70 route through Denver->Grand Junction->St George->Vegas->Lone Pine->Tahoe, you would essentially hit the best that the US has to offer as far as scenery and overloading opportunities. It is the perfect road trip for an LX. Hell, just the section of I70 between Denver and Vegas would blow your mind.

No better way to break in your truck!

Thanks @1world1love! I've actually traveled all of those places you've mentioned, with the exception of any real time in the Sierras. One of my favorite places for sure is Death Valley and was lucky enough to make the drive from Denver to Vegas via Arches, Canyonlands, Escalante, Bryce, and Zion (see my pic from Zion below) last September.

My biggest challenge would be the time more than anything. I'd be looking at minimum of 3 days each way with 1 day for the install hopefully. There goes a week of vacation that I don't really want to spend. All that being said, it'll be awhile before I'm ready to actually get said bumper so they might be shipping at that point.

 

[BigMF]

And I say this from experience because we lived in Nashville for a long time and I have made the drive a bunch. I'd do it tomorrow without hesitating.

Any suggestions for places to ride around Middle Tennessee?

 

[1world1love]

Any suggestions for places to ride around Middle Tennessee?

That’s a good question. When I was in Nashville I was raising kids and starting my career so didn’t do much Overlanding. When I was growing up in East Tn, We would drive some trails in Big South fork that were pretty cool. I think they have mostly been converted to horse trails but there are still some Jeep trails in that area.

It’s not exactly middle, but over in Oliver Springs there is a place called Windrock. There are ones of trails with various difficulties. It’s worth a drive over.

Also, Land between the lakes has some trails and is also amazing.

There are many more options for longer distance travel over in the east though. I’d be interested in hearing about options from others as well. We still own a house on Watts Bar lake and are over there a few times a year and we love to get out and explore.

 

[Taco2Cruiser]

Any suggestions for places to ride around Middle Tennessee?

As @1world1love just mentioned, I’ll probably be at Windrock in April on a trail ride with another shop. You should come out, the park has something for everyone.

if your game enough, Shamrock Shakedown is this weekend, and two of us BB guy will be there running trail. Might want to check out if they have any walk on spots available.

Man... I should update the East Coast even tread...

 

[BigMF]

As @1world1love just mentioned, I’ll probably be a Windrock in April on a trail ride with another shop. You should come out, the park has something for everyone.

Thanks @Taco2Cruiser. I'm definitely planning on heading over to Windrock sometime in the near future. I'm just a little concerned as a newbie to be heading out without a "partner" to help with recovery if necessary. At a minimum, I'm hoping to have my 6' 200lb teenager along to put a strong back into it if necessary.

 

[BigMF]

As @1world1love just mentioned, I’ll probably be at Windrock in April on a trail ride with another shop. You should come out, the park has something for everyone.

if your game enough, Shamrock Shakedown is this weekend, and two of us BB guy will be there running trail. Might want to check out if they have any walk on spots available.

Man... I should update the East Coast even tread...

Somehow I missed the last part of your reply. I would love to get over there but not sure if it's going to work out. According to the Facebook page, they close registrations in Feb. Also, I'm literally getting my new big boy wheels and tires installed on Friday afternoon so I'm not entirely sure I want to jump on a trail less than 24 hours later.

Let me know when you are going to be at Windrock in April and I'll see if I can make it out there.

BTW, I've been checking out the BB goodies and can definitely see some of them ending up on my rig in the future once the family CFO loosens the purse strings.

 

[Taco2Cruiser]

Thanks @Taco2Cruiser. I'm definitely planning on heading over to Windrock sometime in the near future. I'm just a little concerned as a newbie to be heading out without a "partner" to help with recovery if necessary. At a minimum, I'm hoping to have my 6' 200lb teenager along to put a strong back into it if necessary.

You’re not concerned... you just have a healthy respect for potential issues. Honestly, we all were newbies at one time also. We’re here to help, and before you know it, you’ll be climbing trails with the best of ‘em.

For the trail ride, it sound like it was for the last meet up. The next one is in mid April and hasn’t opened up yet. That group is more Overlanders so it’s a great way to get your feet wet and not damage your truck.

Best is to wheel for a while then find out what you may need. BB make a lot of stuff, but money is best used for fuel and time off from work to have an adventure. So let’s go have an adventure!

 

[BigMF]

Alright, I had the new wheels and tires installed yesterday and I love them! I went with the 17" Icon Six Speed wheels and LT285/70R17 Cooper Discoverer AT3 XLT tires. I haven't had the chance to do a whole of driving around in them so I can't really speak to the road manners or noise yet. For anyone interested, the wheels weighed 25 pounds.

I removed the front mudflap and little square air-dam thing at the front. So far, no rubbing at all.

Also, for anyone on the Nashviller area, I used Freedom Tire Guys for everything. They were able to match the price I found online for the wheels and tires mounted and balanced plus TPMS and new spline lug nuts on 5 tires. The online folks included free shipping and no sales tax (9+% where I live) and the FTG's matched that including installation at my house. This also included resetting the TPMS system which I would have had to myself if I chose the online option. Additionally, one of the wheels came warped from the factory and they will be shipping it back and getting a new one and then coming back out to my house to swap it with the warped one that I'm using as a spare for now. I'm VERY happy now that I chose the local option instead of having it shipped to me. I would like to think the online guys would have noticed that the wheel was warped when they tried to balance it but you never know. I don't even want to think about the extra hassle it would have been. The FTG's even went so far as to fill out the paperwork and create a whole new "wholesaler" account so they could order the Icon wheels for me. VERY, VERY happy with them.

Below are the original tires and wheels compare with the new. No changes to the suspension and AHC was set to neutral. Amazing how much new tires and wheels can change the look.

 

[1world1love]

Alright, I had the new wheels and tires installed yesterday and I love them! I went with the 17" Icon Six Speed wheels and LT285/70R17 Cooper Discoverer AT3 XLT tires. I haven't had the chance to do a whole of driving around in them so I can't really speak to the road manners or noise yet. For anyone interested, the wheels weighed 25 pounds.

I removed the front mudflap and little square air-dam thing at the front. So far, no rubbing at all.

Also, for anyone on the Nashviller area, I used Freedom Tire Guys for everything. They were able to match the price I found online for the wheels and tires mounted and balanced plus TPMS and new spline lug nuts on 5 tires. The online folks included free shipping and no sales tax (9+% where I live) and the FTG's matched that including installation at my house. This also included resetting the TPMS system which I would have had to myself if I chose the online option. Additionally, one of the wheels came warped from the factory and they will be shipping it back and getting a new one and then coming back out to my house to swap it with the warped one that I'm using as a spare for now. I'm VERY happy now that I chose the local option instead of having it shipped to me. I would like to think the online guys would have noticed that the wheel was warped when they tried to balance it but you never know. I don't even want to think about the extra hassle it would have been. The FTG's even went so far as to fill out the paperwork and create a whole new "wholesaler" account so they could order the Icon wheels for me. VERY, VERY happy with them.

Below are the original tires and wheels compare with the new. No changes to the suspension and AHC was set to neutral. Amazing how much new tires and wheels can change the look.

View attachment 2243967

View attachment 2243968

View attachment 2243973

Nice! I like the silver on silver. That truck will take you pretty much anywhere you want to go now. Perhaps even to the mall

 

[grinchy]

25 lbs? For the six speeds? that is interesting indeed!

 

[1world1love]

25 lbs? For the six speeds? that is interesting indeed!

ICON told me last year at Overland Expo that they were 27 lbs. 27 is pretty good, but 25 is impressive.

 

[BigMF]

ICON told me last year at Overland Expo that they were 27 lbs. 27 is pretty good, but 25 is impressive.

Yeah, I did the whole weigh myself then weigh myself holding a wheel and it was exactly 25 pound. However, the scale is only accurate to. .5 pound so they could be off by close to a pound possibly. In other words, I could have weighed 181.6 (round up to 182) and the wheel 25.8 then the combined weight would be 207.4 and round down to 207 for a different of 25 pounds. However, I don't think the .8 pounds per a wheel is that much of a difference. If I laid off the burgers a little more I could lose that much weight in a few weeks to break even.

 

[1world1love]

Yeah, I did the whole weigh myself then weigh myself holding a wheel and it was exactly 25 pound. However, the scale is only accurate to. .5 pound so they could be off by close to a pound possibly. In other words, I could have weighed 181.6 (round up to 182) and the wheel 25.8 then the combined weight would be 207.4 and round down to 207 for a different of 25 pounds. However, I don't think the .8 pounds per a wheel is that much of a difference. If I laid off the burgers a little more I could lose that much weight in a few weeks to break even.

Yeah, even two pounds isn't a huge deal. If they are closer to 25 than 27, that's great. For the strength to weight ratio, it is pretty impressive.

 

[BigMF]

Just my luck but as of this afternoon I'm having issues with dash warning lights.

VSC/4Lo/ABS lights - C1268 code

All, I'm pretty bummed. I literally just got new tires and wheels on my rig yesterday and today I'm having issues. I confess that I may have done something incorrectly and broken something but I'm sure hoping not. Here's the scenario: Took the truck to try out the new tires a bit. It's is...

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[BigMF]

Just my luck but as of this afternoon I'm having issues with dash warning lights.

VSC/4Lo/ABS lights - C1268 code

All, I'm pretty bummed. I literally just got new tires and wheels on my rig yesterday and today I'm having issues. I confess that I may have done something incorrectly and broken something but I'm sure hoping not. Here's the scenario: Took the truck to try out the new tires a bit. It's is...

forum.ih8mud.com

This has been resolved! Yay!

 

[BigMF]

Just FYI, there IS some minor rubbing while cranked all the way over in either direction. I'm hoping to get some adjusting done tomorrow along with my first home oil change on the rig.

I've got all the equipment/supplies for doing the AHC flush as well but will probably push that off for another weekend. Excited to learn more about my rig and taking care of it myself.

 

[grinchy]

Where? Is the rubbing? Front wheel rear at mudflaps?

 

[BigMF]

No issues in the back of the front wheel well that I've noticed so far. I removed the mudflaps and no issues there at all.

If I crank it all the way to the right, the front left edge of the left tire is rubbing the bottom of the front fender liner and vice versa on the right side if I turn it all the way to the left. I'll try to get a picture of it tomorrow in daylight.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

The name of my build thread is a nod to the folks over at Expedition Overland. Watching their series on Amazon really re-ignited a burning desire for adventure that I'd long buried to raise kids and build a career...

I'm excited to watch your build and thanks for watching XO! If you've spent much time watching the show you'll know which XO vehicle I prefer to spend time in.