Sadly, no; I never had one. My last writing class was AP Literature and Composition in my senior year of high school, which qualified for my required credit hours in writing; I took several other
literature classes that I much enjoyed -
Feminist Deconstruction of British Literature notwithstanding - but I never had an actual writing/composition class in college. In retrospect, this was a mistake; my writing skills would likely be much better had I allowed myself some professional instruction at a more advanced level. This being said, I do appreciate the compliment; I try my best to keep things interesting for everyone while still conveying information in my own, individual voice...except, of course, for literally every time I use the phrase "Dear Reader." That's nothing more than a pathetically-transparent love letter to Charlotte Brontë, because I am completely in love with every sentence that woman ever penned.
First of all: wise decision. From
the pics you posted in your thread the other day, I can categorically state that you're already pushing that rig
far more than most rooftop tent owners; in the third image you're around 35
° on that side slope - possibly more - and that's approximately 34
° more tilt than most rooftop-tent-equipped rigs actually see on the rare occasions that they actually get used...but that's a different topic entirely. The point is this: if I'm purposefully taking a rig into obstacle-ridden terrain for the purpose of pushing through sidehills, ledges, climbs, descents, sluices, and - in the immortal words of Loc Dog - "all kinds of ill s***" - I have
zero desire to place the 80+ pounds of a rooftop tent on the vehicle; it's a pointless amount of weight being carried in the worst possible place. Thanks, but no thanks.
Now, if I was going to do long trips on mostly-flat ground and I had a very good reason to not
sleep on said ground - like, if I was crossing Australia or sub-Saharan Africa, or another place that's filled with things that have Sneak Attack as a class feature - then I would absolutely grab a rooftop tent and happily snore the night away...but I'd also have a set of traction ladders, extra winch lines, some ground tackle, a few extra liters of fuel and water, and -
again - all kinds of ill s*** that I don't need when I'm out playing around at the local park. You build for the task at hand, as I'm sure you know.
As far as the Cruiser being more tipsy than a D90 is concerned: aside from that statement being malicious propaganda* of the highest order, there's more than just lift and tire height involved, as I'm sure you know. In this case, I don't think it's even a question of dimensionality being somewhat opposed to mass distribution: I would start looking at how your suspension is being loaded. When I hear "unstable" or "high centered" or "F***, dude, this thing is about to go over" I start thinking about whether or not the shocks, springs and antisway bars are doing what they're supposed to be doing when the rig is leaning/tilting in any given direction. If we had control arms on these rigs I would be looking at those, as well...but even with basic leaves, dynamic stability comes first and foremost from the suspension; that being said, I would also start thinking about tire pressures and loading, and how masses shift when the vehicle tilts, and whether or not the vehicle just
feels a bit more wobbly, as opposed to actually
being less-stable. Perception is a powerful force; hell, you can shift sideways in a seat and think the rig is going to go over, when in reality there's no danger at all. Been there and done that more than a few times; only rolled one once from my weight shifting, though.
Oh, speaking of seats:
Picture: Why, hello there, you lovely things...
View attachment 3484157
I'm rarely happy with things because I always see room for improvement, or because I find where the corners were cut, or because someone just phoned it in and said "yeah, that'll work"...but I'm happy with these results. I'd like to give Mike Witecki at Deschutes Upholstery in Olympia, Washington some well-deserved credit for doing a fantastic job at realizing the goal that I set: a modified factory seat that would wear, function and look better than the factory cloth-covered options. I think he delivered in spades; he rebuilt the parts that needed attention, replaced and modified the lower bolsters to make them a bit more comfortable for me, installed full-size seat heaters and trimmed up everything to reduce and simplify the number of seams while keeping the factory Toyota look, and he did it all within the budget that he originally quoted. I'm my opinion, they look
very good; good stitching, sensible layout, and the vinyl match is almost dead-on for the door material. Not only that, but I have a couple of yards of vinyl left over for additional projects. That's a win-win-win, in my book; the only problem is that they definitely don't match the parking brake boot.
Pictured: Because of course they don't.
View attachment 3484171
Serious Question: what the hell is it, with Toyota and their use of fifty different shades of grey in the same interior? That concept not only makes for a horrible hodgepodge of value and execution in books, but also in automotive colorways: it's just...busy. It's overly busy. Thankfully, I need to replace that shifter boot anyway, so Mike is just going to build one for me that matches, because two grey vinyls that are
this different being right next to each other is how I loose sleep at nights. I also lose sleep at nights over loose, broken, missing bushings that make my seats rattle a bit through their non-presence.
Pictured: So, I fixed that.
View attachment 3484189
Terrible photo, but that's my Mk I solution; a bronze flanged sleeve bearing machined to fit the 12.5mm seat hinge pin, fitted through a 16mm hole in the seat frame (reamed from 14mm) and secured by an e-clip that's backed by UHMW in the form of a spacer washer. It's almost an interference fit, so the bronze should hold up very well; a single drop of light oil will be enough lubrication for a long, long time.
This being said...
I may reverse the installation of the bushing and the washer. My only concern about this arrangement is that I might prefer the UHMW as a silencer between the two metal planes of the seat frame; the material is effectively a wax, and it's even better as a wear surface than the bronze...but popping that bushing into place from the back of the frame is a bit of a fiddly pain and it was late when I was working on this, last night...and I had already sliced my hand open on a bridge reamer, which we will not discuss because it makes me sound like even more of a moron than I am. Instead, we'll just look at a picture of the sleek and net-free seat backs.
Pictured: Retiarii everywhere are weeping at the loss of entanglement.
View attachment 3484198
I know it looks plain, but I just don't use seat-back pockets...and with an in-vehicle sleeping arrangement still being considered, I don't want to deal with snaggy-flavored surfaces in immediate proximity to sleepy-flavored platforms; that's almost as bad of an idea as a rooftop tent on a crawler. Also, I'm not sure that the seat heater power cables are going to remain in those exact places; I need to start working on the rest of the harness so that I can site some relays and figure out exactly where the connectors need to be located, and the power routed. My 24-volt source will be only a few inches away, under the console...but the switches are located in the lower part of the central dash, and because that's a significant distance away...-
...
...
...you know, I could find a different place for those switches. Hmmm....
Okay, that's a thought for Future Me, yet again; also, wow...Past Me is really kind of a dick about things. Meanwhile, Present Me has a bit of restoration work to do on the driver's-side seat bushing area, and a hole to ream, and some replacement e-clips to find; I ordered some from McMaster-Carr, and although they fit they're of a much smaller outer diameter than the stock e-clips...of which I only have one. Four total pins...only one e-clip; go figure. So it's gonna be a quick run over to Tacoma Screw to see if they have something that'll fit, and if not, I'll definitely be flipping the bronze/UHMW arrangement; the replacement e-clips will easily hold the flat surface of the sleeve bushing in place, but they don't have a lot of engagement on the UHMW, because diameters. I'll grab a picture later to make that otherwise-cryptic statement more clear. For now, here's the current state of things:
Pictured: Had them rebuilt 24 hours ago, and I already have them on the bench, being taken apart. Le sigh...I make bad choices.
View attachment 3484213
Also, I really need to organize the garage. Like,
really. But that's Future Me's problem as well...because, yeah. That.
Stay tuned.
*- Propaganda: what happens when a Brit takes a really good look at something.
