Builds Mrburlingame’s 200 Series Build - Garlic

[orangefj45]

Thanks guys. Yes, we get to work on some pretty cool vehicles and it's never a dull moment around here.

The other vehicle in the pic is an 84 HJ47 diesel pickup. Another shop had taken it all apart and then quit the project; it showed up here literally in boxes. Kinda like a giant lego kit but without instructions and everything just in boxes. Long project, lots of lost ( and very hard to find ) parts. But it's finished now and ready to go home.

 

[mrburlingame]

Second time taking the 200 on a trip, and what better way to do that than to experience LCDC with 70ish 200 Series owners and friends. Since I first heard about LCDC last winter, I knew this would be a great event. Every little detail was considered in advance, from the pre-trip communications, to the trail descriptions with detailed coordinates and GPX tracks, to the spacing of the groups on the trail. Major kudos to @indycole and @codyaustin5 for planning the event!

@benc thanks for helping me figure out the source of that squeak in the aux tank and popping in the washers!

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Driving through the aspen forest on Last Dollar trail on the @sleeoffroad Recovery Day. Learned a lot from Jackson and Amory about the basics for recovery including how to build a solid recovery kit, how to effectively use a Hi-Lift Jack (or the ARB Jack), using synthetic lines vs steel, and how to tow a stuck vehicle.

I couldn't believe how it was sunny for a moment, and then the sky opened up and it was raining cats and dogs! It felt like a monsoon and then someone said that there actually is a monsoon season in Colorado. Well, go figure! I was not surprised.

Loved staying in Ouray and hiking part of the Ouray Perimeter Trail before the day started. Epic views of the box canyon. Felt like a movie set.

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Today we did one of the most popular trails in the area, Imogene Pass. Saw some spectacular scenery. Apparently, the trail just opened three days ago because there was so much snow! Thanks to the trail crews who were hard at work with bulldozers opening the pass for folks to adventure through. Hard to imagine even this much snow in August, but hey, it's the Colorado high country. @linuxgod, thanks for leading the trail today, and nice to meet you, @mcgaskins.

At 13,000 feet, we were pretty up there!

 

[mrburlingame]

On the way up Imogene Pass (from Ouray)

At the top of Imogene Pass

Not been at this high elevation before, by like 5,000 feet, and it was a surreal experience. Thinner air for sure, but the 200 handled it with no issues. I was a little concerned about the steep grade on the downhill with there being snowmelt mixing with the dirt creating some mud, but with the combo of 4Lo and first gear a lot of the way down, I barely had to use the brakes. We did have some traffic with vehicles on the way up so had to move off to the side a few times for other groups to pass. Saw quite a few Wrangers including three of the new Jeep Gladiator pickups, and a number of Polaris Razors. For summiting a high mountain pass the weather was as perfect and sunny as it could get.

@mcgaskins earlier in the day

 

[codyaustin5]

So glad you could make it this year! Your rig is awesome and great pictures!

 

[mcgaskins]

Great meeting you and getting to see your build up close. It’s definitely one of the nicest 200s I’ve ever seen! I really liked the color match on the Trekboxx - great attention to detail.

 

[mrburlingame]

Fantastic last day of LCDC. We drove up towards the top of Black Bear Pass. Despite the pass itself being closed, I was excited to check out the first part of the trail which dead ended about 40 minutes in at an impassable snow drift. Some light off camber but otherwise just a beautiful, mildly technical drive. Weather was stellar - after the first day with the pouring rain I was so grateful for the sunshine as I imagine year round the weather can get pretty rough up there in avalanche country.

In terms of gear on the trip, everything overall worked well and I was pleased. Today I learned from @indycole that instead of squatting while airing up, you can buy a PowerTank hose extender and stand next to the tire. Simple, but genius. My other takeaway from the trip is for technical trails (vs flatter car camping trips on fire roads) to keep my recovery gear handy in the seat behind me, rather than buried in my trunk where it'd be hard if not impossible to access if the 200 was not in the right position. Will pick up an @AdventureToolCompany bag or two rather than storing in an AluBox in the Trekboxx area.

Great hanging on the trail today with @ethernectar, Cole and Bethany, Nathan, Cliff, Jarrad and Deanna, @DRCocaCola, @PhuckItImDone and Dennis.

One highlight was seeing native wildflowers everywhere. All different kinds and colors. I wish I knew what they were. We took care to stay only on the designated road. Being out on the wild tundra above the treeline felt like we were on the Lord of the Rings set.

Some of the snowmelt would collect in crystal clear ponds and then overflow into waterfalls which would cascade down the mountainside in a number of places.

Hard to see but check out the three 200s in the bottom right.

 

[fireball]

Awesome pics, thanks for sharing! We are just now getting home after being in the area with the 100 series gathering.

Regarding recovery gear, I really like the warn bag. It fits in my rear cargo system drawer. When I am on the trail and the family is not with me, I put it in the driver side rear seat and strap it in with the seatbelt. It’s a big heavy bag and not something you want bouncing around so best to strap it down if you have it in the main cabin.

 

[mrburlingame]

Awesome pics, thanks for sharing! We are just now getting home after being in the area with the 100 series gathering.

Regarding recovery gear, I really like the warn bag. It fits in my rear cargo system drawer. When I am on the trail and the family is not with me, I put it in the driver side rear seat and strap it in with the seatbelt. It’s a big heavy bag and not something you want bouncing around so best to strap it down if you have it in the main cabin.

Great idea about belting it in @fireball. @indycole on his vehicle added a d-ring to the bolt for the second row seat and looks like you could tie in there too and then it could be on the ground (but the bags would have to be smaller to fit there).

Thanks for the Warn suggestion; will check it out. At LCDC tonight one of the items in the vendor swag bag was a large storage bag so will see what that can be used for as well.

By the way, love your build! I happened to see it at Valley Hybrids when I first met @orangefj45 and it was on the rack with your new Dissent rear bumper. Looked clean!

 

[vomhorizon]

Thanks @mrburlingame for this inspirational build thread. The Treckboxx system for the LC200 looks really interesting. How did you secure it to the floor? I had been researching Lithium batteries and the Manager 30 for my 4Runner before I decided to sell it and jump into a 200 series so this is something that I will strongly consider down the road especially given the multiple roles the M30 can perform which sort of justifies its price tag (hope you post a long term review of the battery and M30 ) Would love to know the thought process that went into deciding to pick the battery (100 AH) and whether there is room on either side of the Treckboxx for an inverter upgrade down the road?

 

[mrburlingame]

Thanks @mrburlingame for this inspirational build thread. The Treckboxx system for the LC200 looks really interesting. How did you secure it to the floor? I had been researching Lithium batteries and the Manager 30 for my 4Runner before I decided to sell it and jump into a 200 series so this is something that I will strongly consider down the road especially given the multiple roles the M30 can perform which sort of justifies its price tag (hope you post a long term review of the battery and M30 ) Would love to know the thought process that went into deciding to pick the battery (100 AH) and whether there is room on either side of the Treckboxx for an inverter upgrade down the road?

Thanks @vomhorizon! Appreciate that though much of the credit is due to the forum and the education I received here. David at @TrekboxX can answer your question about securing the system as I am not sure.

Glad you’re considering the Manager 30 - I’ve only used on one camping trip so far (and LCDC but that was just day trips) but it seems to be working out quite well and I like the info it gives me. I chose the 100 ah battery size as it was the largest capacity one David could fit in the side wing of the Trekboxx, and it seemed like more than enough juice. For context, after a night and morning running the fridge and lights off the lithium battery, it was at 88% capacity, which seemed impressive to me.

You could run the Trekboxx setup with an inverter for sure. In my 80 I have an inverter on the front of the right wing, though I can’t recall a time I used it in the last few years, so I opted to pass on it in the 200. I initially I had a vision of bringing a blender out in the middle of nowhere and making margaritas via the inverter, but that never happened because a) I didn’t buy a blender and b) I don’t drink margaritas So now on shorter backcountry trips I’ll run one fridge and one freezer so we can have ice cream and ice.

 

[mrburlingame]

Earlier this week visited Bowman Lake in the Tahoe National Forest. Nice two night getaway. Camped right next to the stream feeding the lake...saw dozens of spawning salmon and bald eagles - thought you pretty much had to go Alaska to see that from your campsite!

Truck performed well. Struggling with an aux tank issue with the fuel tank gauge acting up and hopefully will figure it out shortly.

Will be applying a ceramic coat later next week through my awesome detail guy.

Also picked up a Thule Hyper XL roof box to get some extra space for some bulkier items. Thanks to @benc for fabricating a couple narrower load bars to support the Thule box. Very happy with how it turned out, and the box looks really clean.

 

[1world1love]

That’s crazy. I was up there this past weekend too. We are bound to cross paths eventually, if not on the peninsula, then somewhere in the mountains

 

[indycole]

There's a solid number of 200s in the Peninsula/South Bay/Santa Cruz... it'd be cool to get together at a brewery or something this fall.

 

[civil offroad]

Man, I want a 200 to be with the cool kids!

 

[mrburlingame]

There's a solid number of 200s in the Peninsula/South Bay/Santa Cruz... it'd be cool to get together at a brewery or something this fall.

That would be awesome. Maybe something central like Palo Alto?

 

[FerzLC]

That would be awesome. Maybe something central like Palo Alto?

I’m in Santa Rosa and would enjoy meeting up with other 200 owners. See a few around here but none that look like they leave the pavement.
I’m in for a meet up!!

 

[mrburlingame]

Fun two nighter last weekend to Mendocino National Forest. First time exploring there and it was beautiful. After being the only one with a ground tent (no biggie) but taking quite a bit longer to set up and take down than my friends with RTTs, I ordered an ikamper 2.0 with solar panel from Rhino Adventure Gear. Should plug in nicely to the Redarc Manager 30.

On another note, while I always travel with a satellite phone to be prepared, I ordered a Garmin Inreach Mini. The simple texting via a paired iPhone with other vehicles on the same trip, as well as the ability to share your location with family, is attractive.

Here’s a few photos from the trip taken by Ofer Morag and Paul Davis.

 

[mrburlingame]

The next shot by Ofer Morag and the last two shots below from Paul Davis are just stunning. Would be amazing to see them published somewhere.

 

[supercarrera]

I’m in Santa Rosa and would enjoy meeting up with other 200 owners. See a few around here but none that look like they leave the pavement.
I’m in for a meet up!!

I'm in Santa Clara and I'd be up for a meet up too sometime.

 

[1world1love]

View attachment 2330063


The next shot by Ofer Morag and the last two shots below from Paul Davis are just stunning. Would be amazing to see them published somewhere.

View attachment 2330066View attachment 2330064View attachment 2330065

Stunning!

How were the roads? We were going to go up to MNF this weekend but the FS said that there were still a lot of trail closures so we changed our plans.