Builds Owyhee J.A. BJ75 Troopy Journal (2 Viewers)

[SNLC]

Another vote for the BlueSea cable clam. Mine is working out great. If you place it in the right spot the roof crossmembers can hide the entry of the cables into the roof.

I used the largest one they make without the chromed lid. I've got enough space to run a few more cables through for any lights or antennas I may mount up there in the future.

I stuck it in the rear corner where it arches down to the gutter rail. Didn’t even have to pull the headliner. If the chrome cap is to much for somebody, easy to paint or powder coat.

I tested it with a pressure washer, no leaks.

Cheers

 

[Owyhee Jackass]

Awesome work, Dan. And nice D-box.

Thanks, it took me second to get the D-box reference, I bet you know where that came from...

 

[Owyhee Jackass]

Got the L-track in. Also modified all the cubby-plates so they're held on with magnets now instead of hinged. I could never open the front ones as they were blocked by the seats, so now I can pull them off and access without removing the seats. I don't have anything in them...yet. The rears have my tow-strap, jumper cables and the stock bottle jack/tool kit. Now that I've got the fridge plugged in, I may need to get to the jumper cables more often.

 

[Owyhee Jackass]

Got the seats and all our gear back in.

Waiting for my new house battery and DC-DC solar controller to show up to add power to the back. Currently have it plugged in to the cig lighter up front.
Going to test it out this weekend.

 

[SNLC]

Hey did that gasket cure your rear hub leak?

Cheers

 

[Owyhee Jackass]

So far. I filed all the burrs off the hub and axle flange from previous beatings, cleaned up the rtv and so far so good. I haven't forgot I owe you a gasket, just need to make an order of a few other things and haven't made my list yet.

 

[SNLC]

You don’t owe me a gasket, that was free. Good to hear no more leak.

Cheers

 

[Owyhee Jackass]

Got my wiring 'done' last night.

Added a house battery, a new DC-DC Controller that will do solar and battery tending, along with a Blue Sea panel that has a voltmeter, cig. lighter port and dual USB port. I put a bus bar in for the loads in the rear (fridge and Blue Sea Panel) then ran a wire back to the 12v panel I put in a few years ago for my radio, tach, and trailer lights. I abandoned the solenoid set-up that was keyed off the ignition, so now that 12v. panel is hot all the time. I'll run it like this for now, I may go back to the keyed set-up, not sure I need to though.

Mock up with cardboard:

Pulled the new floor out for the umpteenth time and put in some eye-bolts for the battery hold down J-hooks. Battery is 100 amp-hours and weighs 65 lbs!.

Poor-man's press brake...piece of .080 aluminum plate from the scrap bin at work.

Several trips to the electrical supply store and a few Amazon orders, for connectors, a Saturday, part of a Sunday and two-hours last night...I am not a sparky.

And it's in and functional Just need to get a second DC power cord to sacrifice and cut the cig.-lighter plug off, to wire to an Anderson plug I mounted to the side of the panel. The cig. plug is a bit finicky, and loses connection periodically.

 

[Owyhee Jackass]

Panel annotations for future reference:

 

[Bogan]

I had some Ipe’ (Brazilian iron wood) that a friend gave me laying around and decided to re-purpose it for the slats on the shelf. This is the same stuff I have on my roof-rack. It’s bomb-proof, bug proof, sun proof and rot proof. I love this stuff, just wish it wasn’t so expensive.

I was an architect in my previous life. We used Ipe for homes all over the world, including a home in typhoon country. The entire house had a series of cranks that enclosed it in an IPE cage. When the "cage" was open, the panels made a series of sun shades and scrims to shade the windows. It was really cool but it was over a million dollars in Ipe and the SS hardware. It's so expensive because it is farmed from the rainforest and is endangered. Great wood but yeah, at a cost.

 

[Owyhee Jackass]

Cool. And, it's hard to work with, you need sharp tool and I think the saw dust is toxic too.

My buddy built a custom home/house and built a huge L-shaped deck that wrapped around two sides of the house out of Ipe. It had to be about a $50k in material alone. But he did sell the place for close to a million and that was 10 years ago, after the market crashed and before it fully recovered.

 

[svsisu]

Panel annotations for future reference:

View attachment 2401878

Very nice wiring practices. Having a common ground point is so important in multi wire/negative returns and mostly overlooked, that and proper use of and location of fuses. Thanks for the great description/annotation.

 

[svsisu]

Cool. And, it's hard to work with, you need sharp tool and I think the saw dust is toxic too.

My buddy built a custom home/house and built a huge L-shaped deck that wrapped around two sides of the house out of Ipe. It had to be about a $50k in material alone. But he did sell the place for close to a million and that was 10 years ago, after the market crashed and before it fully recovered.

There is a lot of silica in ipe (and teak), that's one of the reasons it is so hard, and hard on tools. It's not necessarily toxic, but the silica in the sanding/saw dust is pretty hard on lung tissue.

 

[Bogan]

"Bullet wood" is another species. It is so dense it sinks haha

 

[Owyhee Jackass]

More work organizing stuff. Moved the high-lift off the roof rack and removed the Pulaski and shovel off the roof rack as well. The Pulaski head needed periodic 'maintenance' to keep it from falling off, and I rarely use it. I have the shovel in the tube on the front bumper now, so don't need the second one on the roof. High lift was always a pain to load/unload up on the rack. I got some knobs w/ 1/2-13 nuts so the jack can be removed 'tools free', hope it doesn't get removed by someone else...

Also got a small propane tank (1 gal./ 4.25 pound capacity) and mounted it up on the roof (temporary for an upcoming trip) yellow box is my grill and propane hose/accessories.

 

[Owyhee Jackass]

Broke my tie-rod ends last week, ordered up some new ones from C.O., in the mean time I had to beg. borrow and steal some old parts to get the Troopy back from Oregon. Ended up taking a trailer back, with some old, used parts and got it steerable enough to drive it onto the trailer and drag her home.

Broken ends...

Failed attempt at fixing it:

Loaded on trailer:

Spent today putting on the new ends, also changed out u-joints on the front shaft, changed the oil and fuel filter, gave it a dose of Seafoam, we'll see if it makes a difference or if its snake-oil.

Tried using my cheap HF press on the u-joints, but couldn't get the right combo of blocking to press them out. Ended up going to O'reilly's and renting a tool, it worked okay, not great, but got the job done.

 

[Owyhee Jackass]

Well the old-girl made it to Canyonlands and back, I was a bit worried after the incident in Oregon a few weeks ago, but she did fine on this trip.
Averaged 18 mpg on the way down (not in a hurry, about 68 mph on the freeway, no headwind) Got about 15 mpg for the 5 days in 4-low in The Maze, filled up in Green River, drove about 210 miles, probably 100+ in 4wd, 50 or 60 in 4-lo. Came out at Hite with a bit above a half tank. Had a hellacious headwind on the way back and drove a bit faster (75 mph, 2700 rpm) and got 16 mpg back to Boise. About 1500 miles total for the trip.

Refrigerator was awesome and the two guys I went with are now researching car-fridges.

Buddy's Lexus did fine, his first time 4xing, same with his friend and his new Rubicon, neither had any experience 'off-roading' and both did great, good times had by all. Beautiful scenery down there, and pretty quiet considering it was Labor Day weekend. Wife has most of the action shots on her phone. I only took a few pics of the cruiser at camp.

Here's a poser shot on the way out.

Cocktail hour at camp-3.

Dolls at the Doll-house

Swimming in the Colorado after a bit of a hike; smoke rolled in on us on Monday, kind of a bummer, but it cut the heat of the sun a bit.

Wife just shared this photo with me; Camping on Dune, the Desert Planet...

 

[FJBen]

Awesome trip!

@Owyhee Jackass do you have an EGT gauge? Just wondering what you are pulling for EGT's when running 75 into a headwind?

I need to either turn my fuel down a little or boost up some more. I boost at 11.9 but can get to 1250 trying to hold 65 on hills or BIG headwinds.

 

[Owyhee Jackass]

Thanks, it was fun. My wife's first time down in that area and she really enjoyed it. I told her there was more to Moab than just mountain biking and 4x4ing. I left my bike at home (first time ever) and we just relaxed and took in the views, went for hikes.

No EGT gauge yet. Just running it stock. I really need to get one, but haven't been able to settle on a gauge mount I like. I was going to get the little rectangle, digital ones and mount them down under the heater controls, but the visibility isn't great there. I was told a 1st-gen dodge pillar mount could be modified to fit the A-pillar, but haven't verified that yet. I saw a dash-mounted one at a meet-up a few weeks back that didn't look too out of place. I shouldn't worry so much about the aesthetics and just get one.

 

[FJBen]

Thanks, it was fun. My wife's first time down in that area and she really enjoyed it. I told her there was more to Moab than just mountain biking and 4x4ing. I left my bike at home (first time ever) and we just relaxed and took in the views, went for hikes.

No EGT gauge yet. Just running it stock. I really need to get one, but haven't been able to settle on a gauge mount I like. I was going to get the little rectangle, digital ones and mount them down under the heater controls, but the visibility isn't great there. I was told a 1st-gen dodge pillar mount could be modified to fit the A-pillar, but haven't verified that yet. I saw a dash-mounted one at a meet-up a few weeks back that didn't look too out of place. I shouldn't worry so much about the aesthetics and just get one.

such a fun trip. Those are exactly the things I’m wanting to get back to doing.
I run the Auber square digital dual gauge egt/boost and it seems alright. I really like the audible/visible alarm or kick on a relay aspect, although I haven’t done it yet. Mine was put in the ashtray temporarily...a year ago lol. it isnt anymore difficult than the clock to see, but eventually i would like to put it maybe above the stereo or in a gauge pod.
I did have to replace the probe once, not sure what happened but other than that its been good and matches those 1980's aesthetics.
Not the best picture, but you get the idea.