Builds One World, One LX Build Thread (1 Viewer)

[TeCKis300]

The griddle top inverts over the base and fits in this carrying bag, in my vehicle.

Amazon product ASIN B000H86BQ2
It's not the smallest piece of kit, but is nice and square, and earns its space as there's no pots and pans beyond it. There's a smaller 17" model that is still plenty accommodating for a family of 4, but I tend to camp with larger groups so worth the slightly larger dimensions. Definitely smaller and cleaner than a similar portable Weber BBQ I also have. I have a bag for that but I'm always scared of BBQ drippings leaking from it even after cleaning, so it gets puts on a hitch carrier just like you do if I absolutely want it.

 

[grinchy]

I’m digging that 17” griddle @TeCKis300 . But the accessories all cost more than the griddle. It’s like buying a shaver handle. . .

 

[1world1love]

Maybe I missed it, but do they have disposable catch inserts? How does that whole setup work?

This looks like a great option and certainly at least as portable as a regular two burner stove with a cast iron griddle. I definitely prefer a solid surface.

Sadly we abandoned carrying the cast iron long ago. We have reduced our cookware and service to the GSI Pinnacle Camper set which is great when most of your cooking involves heating pots of water or water based meals. It's not so good for searing/frying/sautéing, etc. Of course anything teflon is pretty much useless for browning at all. I do like the compactness of it though, and usually where we go, nobody is complaining about a lack of sear on the salmon. You just need to be more creative with meal planning. And it cleans up with a paper towel. Can't beat that.

 

[1world1love]

After Prewitt Ridge, our next trip was to Yosemite. We go to Yosemite relatively often, which is amazingly fortunate. I actually have been lucky enough to live close to what I consider the two most amazing parks in the NPS; Yosemite and the Great Smoky Mountains. I grew up with the Smokies as my backyard, and now I have Yosemite, which for anybody first emerging out from tunnel view will immediately know, is beyond superlatives.

In this trip, I didn’t get much in he way of truck pics so I apologize. If I had, it would have been in a parking lot, which I am not necessarily opposed to, but on this trip we took an ill advised hike up to Sentinel Dome and got caught in some nasty weather. Fortunately, we were fully prepared because had we retreated we would have missed out on this:

And then this:

 

[TeCKis300]

Awesome color on those shots.

Yeah, the blackstones have a grease catch. The 22 has a removable catch at the rear center of the griddle. 17 uses a tray within. Line with foil and easy peasy.

 

[1world1love]

WARNING: This post contains blasphemous content
------------------------------------------------------------

So my wonderful wife put together an amazing trip for our anniversary. We spent a few days in Monterey and Carmel by the Sea, and then there was this:

I know, I know. I warned you.

Seriously though, it was totally unexpected, but my goodness, what a day. For those who don't know, Land Rover runs 2 (now 3) off-road driving courses in the US. One of them is near Asheville, NC and one is in Carmel Valley, CA (and they have a new one in Vermont apparently). For a small fortune, you can choose a vehicle from a stable of LR/RRs and spend a day (or half day) having your way with it in what amounts to a private OHV park. The available vehicles are mostly new models, though each site has a few legacy vehicles available with advanced request.

Now while I can certainly appreciate many aspects of these vehicles, I would never own one. But I was quite happy to have the chance to spend the day driving a fully loaded RR (~100k$ sticker) on a very nice course, with a very nice and competent instructor. The driving course is on 180 acres of private property near Quail Ridge Golf Resort in Carmel Valley. There are a number different trails covering all manner of terrain (forest, rock, water, sand, etc). Of course it is all deliberately contrived, but impressive nonetheless. The instructor goes through the vehicle with you and asks some questions to assess your skill level. There is then a "test" course which is akin to a rutted out FS road. Based on the results of all of this (and your own goals and preferences), she maps out a route. Our instructor was pretty great. She saw us pull up in the LX and so she had a lot of questions about that. We got on so well with her that she took us all over the place, much more than we initially discussed. We were supposed to be out for 3 hours, but ended up being out for 5. It was really a lot of fun.

The thing is, I know that this is essentially setup to sell LRs, and I'd say it works. It was hard not to be impressed. I wonder why Toyota doesn't do this sort of marketing for the LC/LX. How hard would it be to buy a couple hundred acres somewhere and have @Eric Sarjeant take people out in one of his builds?

 

[1world1love]

After a long winter where our time was filled with work and our travel involved airplanes rather than the truck, we emerged in the spring and took a relaxing trip up to Mendocino National Forest. The plan was to setup a basecamp and then get out and explore the trails around Lake Pillsbury.

Mendocino NF is another one of those gems in Northern California that is a veritable wonderland for off-roading/overlanding. There are no paved roads that traverse the park. This area is pretty remote and especially so in the northern parts of the park. If Bigfoot exists, they are likely to be hanging out with the Tule Elk in MNF.

Our primary objective was to take the M1 road up to the top of Hull Mountain. Seeing as this was early spring, it was a crapshoot at best.

And as expected, things were a bit difficult near the top. We ended up in a traffic jam. Despite the weird looks from the guys ahead of us, I think the LX could have made it to the top. Unfortunately, there was a Chevy Tahoe that had gotten stuck, which was causing the backlog. It didn't look like they were getting out anytime soon so we just made our way back to camp for dinner.

 

[1world1love]

Shortly after the MNF trip, we made our way to Overland Expo West. It was our first time attending, and it was pretty damn cool seeing all the builds.

It also provided further inspiration for how we wanted to proceed for the truck. We had already been in discussion with Ben/Dissent Offroad about bumpers and sliders, but after seeing some of the trucks, we were fully committed.

My wife was particularly amused by the variety of builds. We had a Subaru Crosstrek Hybrid on order for her and she was happy to see this:

 

[1world1love]

By this time, we had a plan with Ben to drop off the truck so that he could spend some time on fitment for the Dissent Offroad 200 series front and rear aluminum bumpers. The timing worked out well for both of us because he had never test fitment for an LX and needed some time with the vehicle, meanwhile I was committed to flying the friendly skies for the following two months.

So we planned a trip where we would spend a few days playing in the Tahoe area and then drop the truck off with Ben on our way back to the bay.

We had a great weekend and there was fresh snow the first day in Tahoe which the kids enjoyed.

The next day we decided to try to make it up to Sardine Peak in the Tahoe National Forest. There is a great old fire tower up there.

Looking all clear:

We eventually had to walk the final 1/4 mile due to the snow drifts on the north facing side of the mountain:

The fire tower is really great. Apparently you can rent it out. There is probably room for four people in the tower. Propane heat, a fire pit and picnic table outside, and a pit toilet. Pretty cool. It became cloudy pretty quickly after we summited and spoiled the views so we didn't linger.

We explored a little more, but eventually called it a day. The next morning, we dropped the old girl off at Ben's. This is the last time I would see her for a couple of months and she would have a facelift the next time we were together:

Sorry it was so muddy when I dropped it off Ben

 

[Chewbacca]

Thanks. As you know, its constant evolution. You find some things that work and stick with them, but more often than not, every trip is a chance to try different things....or maybe try things differently.



Interesting. How do you transport it?

Blue IKEA bag.

 

[1world1love]

Sooooo.....after a long summer where I was traveling so much I probably got to sleep in my own bed 3 times, the time came for us to pick up the truck from Dissent Off-road. We had my in-laws with us and so decided to spend a few days in Tahoe after picking up the truck. I knew that I would be able to find some time to get on a trail to check everything out. I was insanely stoked to have the truck back.

This round of mods involved replacing the front and rear bumpers with Dissent aluminum/hybrid bumpers. Mine was the first LX to have these bumpers installed and it was mostly a straight fitment with a few minor tweaks which I will get to. First though, why did I choose Dissent bumpers? My goal with my truck is to maximize utility while also minimizing weight. I don’t do enough rough stuff to warrant lots of excess steel hanging off the ends of the truck.

An equal priority, and the main reason to replace the bumpers in the first place is to improve clearance. While I’m sure that most after-market bumpers can provide improved clearance from stock, Ben’s front bumper is hard to beat for approach angles. Yes, the trade off is that it looks very minimalistic. I happen to like that more than a beefy bumper. I’m not mad max and don’t plan on driving through any roadblocks anytime soon.

Finally, I wanted a winch, and I wanted to move the spare out to the rear. Pretty much any bumpers would have filled these needs though.

For the record, the truck was spotless clean when I picked it up from Ben.

 

[1world1love]

The trail is Mt Watson Road in Tahoe NF. It starts at the back of a neighborhood in Truckee and travels about 30 miles where it lets out right behind Tahoe City golf course. This is not the paved Mt Watson Road, though the routes do intersect briefly near the peak of Mt Watson.

I immediately loved the bumpers. There was no difference in handling or fuel efficiency that I could detect. AHC worked just as quickly raising and lowering as before as well.

 

[radman]

This round of mods involved replacing the front and rear bumpers with Dissent aluminum/hybrid bumpers.

I've been waiting for this post

 

[Ratchey]

I do wish that front bumper had a bit more meat over the front tires but otherwise it is by far my favorite so far. I too do not like the fat lip look of the bull bar bumpers.

 

[1world1love]

I've been waiting for this post

Ha, yeah. I took the easy way out. All I did was drop mine off and pick it up. I’d say we are all waiting for your install posts. If I blazed a trail, you are paving it

 

[1world1love]

Just a quick followup on my earlier post. The bumpers fit with no additional challenges, with two exceptions. First, and most significant, the AHC pump had to be relocated. Ben mounted it to the bumper and created a cutout for access. The other issue is that the backup lamps on the LX tailgate hit the latch plates for the swing out arms when the tailgate is lowered. Ben solved this by removing the lights and fabricating insert plates.

One other mod we did was to relocate the backup camera.

 

[1world1love]

Although I normally spend a disproportionate amount of my time traveling, not nearly enough of that travel involves driving through mud and rock to find a place where I can breathe, chill, and drink a cold beer next to a remote alpine lake. Last year, I had precious few chances to do just that, but I did get to sneak in a nice solo trip up to one of my favorite places - Bowman Lake in the Tahoe NF - where I got to exercise the truck, and also some new gear that we added to the inventory. Specifically, two of my favorite pieces of gear that I will touch on in a bit.

But first, let me quickly discuss the area around Bowman Lake. This area is classic Sierra Nevada. There are vast swaths of pine forests, broken only by rocky granite peaks, and dotted with frigid lakes. All of these features are connected by lonely FS roads, 4x4 routes, and the Pacific Crest Trail. Some of the lakes are natural, clawed out of the rock by glaciers, and some are man made impoundments. Bowman Lake is one of the latter versions. I'm always intrigued by the existence of man-made features in places as remote as this.

As an example, there is a FS campground south of Bowman Lake called Canyon Creek. In order to get there you have to first make it to Jackson Meadow, which, while not overly difficult, is quite a haul from anywhere. Once there, it is another couple of miles up a very rough trail. It is mostly not technical, but is non-stop rock that will loosen your fillings, and certainly high-clearance with at least some protection underneath. Yet, when you arrive at the campground, the entire loop is nicely paved. Who paved it? And how? And why? It's not like somebody who made it that far would be disappointed that it was dirt.

Anyhoo, it is a great area and a person could spend a summer exploring the area and never get bored.

Lindsey Lakes Campground:

 

[1world1love]

 

[1world1love]

As I mentioned, on the Bowman Lake trip I got to try out some new gear that we picked up. Two things in particular have been well worth the investment. One is the Gazelle Gazebo:

It is kind of bulky and not particularly lightweight, but it sets up in a hot second and is really high quality. When we arrive at camp, we just throw it up and it provides instant shelter. We have panels that you can attach to each side for inclement weather.

If the bugs are bad, or its raining, or just chilly out, we can eat and hangout in there. On cold mornings I will get up and turn on a small propane heater, and it's a great place for hot chocolate and coffee.

If you don't want an awning with full sides, this is a great alternative.

The other piece of gear that has turned out to be better than expected is this Outland Firebowl:

It's ~25 lbs, has it's own carrying case, and has a substantial flame to it. In this pic it is set a little less than medium. It is approved for use when there are fire restrictions in place (still need a fire permit though), so we have sometimes been the only ones with a fire (which makes us popular in campgrounds).

It seems like extra weight and bulk, but it is almost exactly the same size as a "standard" bundle of firewood, and what an amazing thing it is to be able to setup camp and sit down with an instant fire - no fuss. And no smelling like campfire.

Call me spoiled - I aint apologizing.

 

[ThomasGS4]

Quite the transformation. Loving your build thus far and the story attached to it.