Builds One World, One LX Build Thread (2 Viewers)

[1world1love]

Well, winter rolled around again, as it is prone to do once a year, but this year I vowed to get out more. And so we took the opportunity when the kids were out for MLK Jr Day to head up to El Dorado NF. The kids wanted to play in the snow and while I was keen for some winter camping, the wife had some work to do, so we found a great cabin that was inside the FS boundaries and had electricity. Everybody was happy.

We spent the days exploring around Stumpy Meadows and Wentworth Springs Road. We planned on going all the way to Loon Lake (starting point for the Rubicon), but there was too much snow going over the higher ridges.

Overall though, the KO2s did really well. The snow was loosely packed, but there were a few mud bogs. I only had to lock the center diff once. The rest was handled pretty well by the ATRAC and the tires.

Nevertheless, this would be the last trip with the 285/55/20s. The Bowman Lake trip had validated the need for me to address the 20" wheels and the running boards. I had a plan, but for the moment, the mountains were calling:

 

[1world1love]

Way way back in the time of creation....




....of this thread, I mentioned how the very first day we had the truck, we took it to have the 285/55/20 KO2s installed. This was always going to be a temporary solution, but was necessitated by the fact that we intended to actually use the truck. The tires that were on it were possibly the worst tires I have ever seen. Although the dealer said they were new, and they certainly looked new, they were clearly not intended for a vehicle of the size and weight of the LX. As a result, the handling bordered on dangerous. Additionally they were incredibly loud and uncomfortable. The brand was one I had never heard of, and the guys at America's Tire also had never heard of them. I normally wouldn't have cared about that since I am not a tire expert, but it was alarming when the mechanic at AT pointed out huge chunks of tread that were missing.

All that aside, I have learned my lesson the hard way that tires are the first, and most common, point of failure when you are in the middle of nowhere. Indeed, having a quality 10-ply is no guarantee of anything. All it takes is one rock or unnoticed branch hitting the sidewall just so. Any tire can fail. But luck favors the prepared, and having a 10 ply is better than having a 2 ply ("ply" doesn't really mean anything anymore, but you take my meaning). So we needed better tires and given that we had just bought the truck mere hours prior, we weren't ready to commit to a full swap of rims. This along with the fact that I convinced CarMax to contribute half the cost of the new tires to replace the junk they installed, made it seem reasonable to roll with the KO2s on 20s for a while.

And it was totally reasonable. We did some fun trips and never sweated the tires. We got our money's worth and after 15k miles, they still look brand new.

And now for the but....

but they weighed a ton and required 43 PSI which meant a less than pleasant ride. It's all relative and they were miles better than the original tires, but they transferred every bump and didn't track particularly well. They were great on dirt roads; rocky stuff, not so much.

Also, they just weren't in the long term plans.

I had been shopping for wheels pretty much since we bought the truck. Many times I was on the verge of buying RWs or Tundra TRDs. I looked at tons of aftermarket options. My problem was that my criteria was - affordable, 17s, under 30 lbs, and no fake bead locks - turns out there aren't many options that fit the bill. That is until ICON released the new Vector 5s. 17 inches, 27 pounds, 5x150 hub centric, +25 offset.

And who happens to be an authorized dealer for ICON? Dissent Offroad, who also just happened to be in possession of a brand new set of Slee LX sliders with my name all over them (well actually Slee's name but whatever).

Sign me up!

 

[1world1love]

The Stumpy Meadow trip was near the end of January and I had to be in Europe for most of February, so the plan was for Ben to order the wheels from ICON and I would make a decision about tires. I would bring the truck up early March. He would install the sliders, wheels, tires, tweak a few things on the bumpers, and I would come back to pick it up at the end of March in time for a trip we had planned for April and then a long trip we had planned for Overland Expo in Flagstaff in May.

Waiting sucks....

But I did manage to install the new wind fairing from FrontRunner:

Man, what a difference it makes. It is like night and day with the default "fairing". Damn is it expensive though.

I like FR as a company, but they absolutely should include this fairing with every rack. There is no excuse for it.

Still, I am much happier with the noise level and the fact that we can actually use the moon roof now.

 

[Tadem]

Its been great, I cant wait for your next post! thank you for doing this.

 

[1world1love]

February flew by (quite literally for me) and at the beginning of March it was time, once again, to make the drive up to Ben's shop. Ben had moved to a much, much larger place in much more convenient location (for me anyways). Also, by this time, he not only had the sliders, but also the new ICON wheels in stock.

Excellent!

 

[1world1love]

Life is strange, and the world that existed when I dropped the truck off with Ben in early March is not the same one that existed when I returned to pick it up in late March. While the Bay Area was officially in a state of SIP, we couldn't just leave the truck at Ben's indefinitely, so we made the decision that we could drive up early on a Saturday morning, get the truck, and return without making any other stops.

We had rescheduled a family vacation to Europe, but we assumed that we would still be able to take our planned overlanding trips in late April and mid-May, so I was excited to get the truck back. When I arrived at Ben's shop, there were a couple of trucks parked out front. My wife pointed at a truck parked next to Ben's and remarked at how nice it was. She had not realized what she was looking at

 

[1world1love]

Amazing what some new wheels and bigger tires does.

One of the major questions I had pondered over the prior months was what size tire to go with. I really wanted 285/75/17 but of course this is not a common size for LX builds, and I was unaware of anybody that had this size on an LX without spring spacers or the sensor lift mod. It was a risk, but I decided that I would never be happy unless I tried it. The worst that could happen if there were fitment issues would be that I could exchange them for 285/70/17s or do a lift mod. Either way, no biggie.

The drive from Ben's shop to my place is a straight shot down Interstate 80 so I did not expect to experience any potential fitment issues until I was out on the trails, so it was quite alarming when I was traveling at 70 MPH over a squishy dip and heard a scraping sound from the front drivers side wheel well.

Ugh!

The whole way home, any bouncy bump which caused a deep compression cycle.....

It turned out that the very edge of the tire was kissing the very corner of a hard edge of the liner, right near the panel:

 

[1world1love]

After a little freaking out and consulting the fine people of mud, I settled down and pulled out the heat gun. Problem solved:

Pushing the corner in seemed to do the trick. No more scraping on the highway.

Although by this point I wasn't able to get it out on the trail to test under different articulation situations, everything seemed pretty good. In Normal, I have a little rubbing against the liner when backing up on an incline with full lock (maybe even a little before full lock), but nothing that bothers me.

In Low, I can pretty much only drive perfectly straight .

Here is high:

Normal:

And Low:

 

[1world1love]

With the fitment issues solved for now, I was pretty damn pleased. The wheels and tires turned out way better than I expected and the sliders are fantastic. The wife is happy that we still have a decent step with entry light too.

Probably the best part about the wheel/tire mod is the improvement in ride. It's just remarkable. It is exactly what I would expect and have wanted since I bought the truck, but has been elusive to this point. Combined with the new wind fairing, and it is like a new truck. Nice smooth ride, and a nice quiet cabin. The handling is much better as well in my opinion.

 

[1world1love]

What a project! And what a transformation. I love this platform.

 

[psnyman]

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:

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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:

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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.

There’s a saying I grew up with camping as a kid ... “any fool can be uncomfortable”

 

[radman]

Delete

 

[1world1love]

#demoday was a success.
Removed all the rest of the junk from the front/rear and did a little rust remediation.
I knew @grinchy was going to ask, so total removed from the front was 40lbs! (Subtract 2lbs for the orange bucket).
I'm going to make a separate install thread, so I won't much up this one with install steps.

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I think you are looking for the One World, Two LX build thread. This one is only big enough for one.

And you ought to get your pit crew out there and delete the resonator while you have it all open

 

[radman]

Wow! I obviously thought I was in my own build thread... sorry

 

[1world1love]

I knew someone was going to say something about that resonator, and already took care of it!


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Nice!

 

[1world1love]

Wow! I obviously thought I was in my own build thread... sorry

I appreciated the help actually. I'm running out of stuff to talk about in here

 

[radman]

I appreciated the help actually. I'm running out of stuff to talk about in here

Here's something easy for you to work on

 

[mrburlingame]

Awesome build and excited to see how it evolves.

Cool to see your LX with Dissent bumpers. Super clean look.

The fire pit looks awesome, not familiar with it. The Gazelle Gazebo is neat too. I have their tent and love it. So easily to set up.

Looking forward to connecting, neighbor.

 

[1world1love]

Here's something easy for you to work on

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I know, I know. I really need to do this. I am hesitant because the truck is dialed in really well right now as far as alignment and handling goes. I think at some point I'll do spring spacers in the front and then 1/2 inch sensor lift all the way around at the same time, then get it aligned and see.

I do worry about the extra heft I have going on now. The AHC seems to be handling it well and the service tech at the dealer said it would be fine as is, but I think the OEM spacers up front might help with a little preload.

I am not sure about the potential negative impacts with regards to AHC though.

 

[1world1love]

Speaking of extra heft, we finally broke down and bought a fridge. For whatever reason, I had been resistant to do this. I think mainly because it seemed like such an "appliance" and messed with my notion of simplicity. I think we can all agree, though, that I left simplicity sitting by the roadside long ago. There isn't any going back with this build and for some of the trips we have planned, a fridge is the only solution. Frankly, I was also really frustrated from one of our recent trips that all of our stuff was waterlogged in the cooler. Usually we take great care, but for whatever reason, we ended up having to throw out a lot of food. I know this is bound to happen sometimes, but it still sucks.

So after over-analyzing and over-researching, I realized that the major producers of overlanding-worthy fridges are a lot like the major producers of household appliances. There are only a few suppliers for the internal components with the compressor being the most important component, but otherwise, it all boils down to build, features, and price. There are a few considerations: Dual-zone? Side-opening or end-opening? Size? Power draw? Insulation? Bluetooth capable?

We decided that we did not need a dual-zone. While it might be nice to have on a few occasions, for most of how we travel, we don't need to keep things frozen. We wanted to focus on something that would support a 6-7 day trip for the four of us. Something well insulated and low power draw. We decided that something ~50L and mid-range would suit us rather than larger and high-end.

We had sort of settled between Dometic and ARB when we realized that REI is an authorized distributor of Dometic and the annual member's coupon was coming up, which would mean 20% off regular priced items. At REI, these sorts of deals are great, but only to a point. There are a lot of high-end items that get excluded, which isn't uncommon. Surprisingly though, the Dometic products were not excluded. ~$200 off? Done and done!

If you go this route, be aware that this is an "online order only" item.

My first impression was that this was a very well made piece of gear. Very high-quality build materials and clearly well engineered. This particular model has a tray with a lid that sits on a shelf that can make ice without any extra effort. It came with very cool little ice trays with spill-proof silicon lids. Honestly, we will never use this feature. Luckily, the whole setup is removable to recover the space.

I was very impressed with this fridge, but without any idea how it would perform in the wild, it was all cosmetic at this point.