Builds R²M 2013 GX 460 Overland Build (3 Viewers)

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Cheap enough if they wear out. I also have a much nicer inflator attachement with a digital readout and locking chuck so I don't have to stay bending over for 3 or 4 minutes/tire to inflate after airing down. I keep that one inside the vehicle. But these are easy to get to for quick use.
 
Did a simple project this weekend.
But first, a brief synopsis of what I wanted, what was available and what I come up with.
What I wanted: I wanted an awning that was NOT relegated to whatever side of the vehicle I had it mounted on. Hence, if one mounts the awning on the passenger side, one is committed to orient the vehicle to either the the available parking space or the direction of the sun. Too many restrictions. I wanted it capable of attaching to ANY side of my rig OR be free standing.
What was available: A lot of awnings available from just under $300.00 to whatever your credit card limit is. Yes there is the Batwing by Rhino and some other knock-offs but still, the awning will only be on one side of the vehicle, and albeit will cover the rear. What does one do as the sun moves through the sky? Yea, you could move your vehicle, but a headache. Not really what I wanted.
Solution: I call it the "Awnbrella" An awning AND umbrella together! This Awnbrella can attach to any side of the vehicle needed. It is very sturdy from wind! I can ALSO have it free standing if I'm not by my vehicle for shade anywhere!!

What I purchased:
TOTAL: $118.74

Note: I purchased everything except the umbrella, umbrella cover and stand from my local hardware store, so my cost was actually less (sub $100). I just used Amazon for reference pricing.

Steps:
  1. Now that you've purchased all of the above all you need to do is add 3 grommets to the long side of the umbrella, preferably close to the arms and close to the umbrella edge.
  2. Then add 2 more grommets to the narrow side of the umbrella, determine the spacing to whatever the width of your roof rack is to attach the key rings. Mine was 15" in from each side, again close to the umbrella edge.
  3. If necessary (I did) cut the bottom half of the umbrella pole to be the proper height of your vehicle's roof rack.
  4. I then cut the wood dowel to sleeve in the umbrella stand and the lower umbrella pole.
  5. Then just open up the umbrella to whatever side of your vehicle you need.
  6. Use the key rings to attach the umbrella through the grommets to your roof rack.
  7. DONE!
And if you're not where you can sit next to your vehicle, just move the stand and umbrella to wherever you sit!
Note: the umbrella stand is not very secure (read that the legs aren't very long) and will tip in a light wind so you can either use anything heavy lying around your area, e.g. rocks, logs, ice chest, etc. or you can just use a few tent stakes.

Now to the pictures! The below photos are attached just to the drivers side, but can be moved to the passengers side also.
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The pic below, I have it attached to the rear of my vehicle.
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The next photo is a top view showing coverage.
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This is where the grommets and key rings come into play.
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Below the key ring is attached to my roof rack.
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A quick pic of the stand.
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Here it is attached my rack, ready for adventure!
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Been super busy at work and haven't had a chance to post anything new in a while nor even look at other posts.
So, spent 4 days out in Death Valley a couple of weeks ago. AWESOME. It was more an overland trail trip with little to no technical wheeling, but very pretty out there!
The first picks are our camp setup.

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Since this totally dry camping, we needed a privy (e.g. priviate potty spot...) So I used my AwnBrella that I made in the posts above and used it as a privacy barrier. Worked great!

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Some strange and beautiful sites out there! Just don't know where/how/who does some of this stuff??

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This is my latest mod. I absolutely love this mod!
I purchased 2 of the Victory 4x4 MOLLE racks for the rear quarter windows. I was in a time crunch and didn't have the presence of mind to take any photos after I installed them, but before I loaded them out so here is the link to what they look like installed without anything on them: GX Rear Window MOLLE Panel - Victory 4x4

As I mentioned on an earlier post on someone else thread, being an Army reservist, the old ACU digital camo that you all have been used to seeing for the past decade or so, as of this last October, is not allowed any longer. Thus I needed to do all my military load out with a new pattern. So I have all this ACU pattern pouches and stuff from my load out and thought it would be perfect for this application.
Below are the new Victory MOLLE racks installed and loaded out.

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These racks work GREAT for organization, getting things off the deck and just generally making more space!
 
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So for those who are new to my thread and may not have read all the posts, You may be wondering about the massive inverter and all that extension cord.
The 100' heavy gauge extension cord is for the 3,000 Watt inverter. The 3,000 Watt inverter is for my chain saw. The chainsaw is for cutting and sectioning wood for camping. I use an electric chainsaw cause I was tired of the oil/gas mixture, the leaks, smell, not always starting on the first pull, etc. of my gas chainsaw (and it was getting old). And will never haul wood to my rig that's further than 100 feet. I prefer to cut and split my own fire wood when camping and when there's wood available. Didn't need it in Death Valley... Also with the black-outs that PG&E threaten here in California, I will always have a power source for my home if there is a power outage.
So, that's why I have the inverter.
 
Some notes on MetalTech Bumpers, both front and rear.

Late last year I was on Holcomb Trail, up in Big Bear (our local mountains) with our off road club. When we got to the "gate keeper" (read: difficult!) beginning section of the trail, the usual line for the trail had changed due to our heavy wet season last year. I landed a couple of times on both my front and rear bumpers pretty hard.
Damage aside from minor scratches on the the bumper5s:
  • Front bumper has a little more gap between the front fender the and the bumper on both sides, about 1/2" gap. I can live with that.
  • Rear bumper has one side slightly higher than the other, maybe 1/4" off. That too I can live with. On the drivers side, some of the metal that flows under the bumper bent upward a little and had to bend it back down. Nothing affected the swing out and it works just fine.
Looking at both, you'd have to be critical to notice anything.
Fast forward to yesterday at YotaMasters...
Had my rig at YotaMasters for warranty work on my rear ARB locker (that will be another post) and asked if they could re-align my bumpers a little from what happened at Holcomb's. They spent a about half an hour on it and said that the front bumper mounts (on the bumper) were a little bent which is causing the larger gap and the rear was a little skewed, meaning one side was a little higher than the other.
Like I mentioned above, unless one is very critical, wouldn't even notice and since I can almost by like that and it doesn't bother me, I'm fine with it.
SO....
In short I am a little disappointed.
If they become too twisted from off-roading or a traffic accident, I will probably be looking somewhere else for replacements. Hopefully it happens from an incident that wasn't my fault so insurance pays for a new one!! :p
Note, I hate giving less than a glowing review, but from what I've experienced this is my two cents on MetalTech bumpers...
 
Now on a different note, as mentioned above I just got my baby back from YotaMasters yesterday.
The story line:
I few weekends ago, some friends, my wife and I were out snow wheeling (4x4 in our local mountain snow) and one of my buddies says he wants to try a short off-shoot trail and to wait for him. 15 minutes later he radios and says he's stuck in deep snow (he has a very capable straight axle Toyota pickup with 35" tires and lockers). So we get up there, pull out our my winch line and pull him out. As I'm backing out the trail, I veer off to the side of the trail in deep snow and I get stuck. I go to fully lock the front and rear hubs (both ARB lockers and re-geared) and my buddy says he's only seeing one wheel spin on both the front and the rear. WHAT THE H-E-DOUBLE "L"!!!
I had to winch to a tree and got out easily enough, turned around and came back down the trail "forward" this time and continued on with a great day of wheeling!
 
Here are a couple of pic's of our trip. I should have taken a couple of shot's with me stuck.
The first photo is my buddy who was stuck first.
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Toy land!
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What was the failure on the ARB locker?
 
So when I get back from this day trip I wanna know why my lockers aren't working!
I call Eric at YotaMasters and make an appointment to see what's up. When I arrive, Eric and I go to a near by dirt lot to engage the lockers. When the rear locker is engaged the compressor keeps coming on every few seconds. Read: major air leak... somewhere...
He also said that if the rear locker is not engaged, ARB has a sensor to prevent the front locker from engaging. So if I can't get the rear locked, then no front locker either! Thus, I was stuck as mentioned in my post above.
After looking at where the leak was and having to take the rear pumpkin apart, it was a seal in the ARB locker. This has now been well documented within the community in the past year or so when ARB changed manufacturers. (China??).
They have now fixed the problem BUT.... there are still many lockers out there, but in rigs and also on the store shelves that have the bad seal.
Speaking with Dan, the ARB guru at YotaMasters, he said that the old defective lockers will have a BLACK seal and the new fix will have an ORANGE seal.
Just something to think about if you're getting an ARB locker anytime soon OR if your locker starts leaking air.

Sooooo, you're thinking, I'll just go with a TJM air locker! Well, Dan says they've kind of gone through the same thing also. So just beware of which locker you get, and if you have any leaking issues, there's a good chance this is the problem.

The nice thing is that it is ALL warranty and didn't cost me a thing! Just time without my rig.
 
What was the failure on the ARB locker?
I tagged your comment just to let you know that I was actually writing the whole ARB issue as you made your comment! ;)
 
I tagged your comment just to let you know that I was actually writing the whole ARB issue as you made your comment! ;)

I'll read slower next time lol

I have actually ran in to the issue even with the new seal that's why the last few trucks I've built have gotten Harrop units. I'll probably do the same to the GX when that time comes.
 
Did Death Valley this last weekend.
Saturday was great! Sunny and warm! But by the time the sun went down, the wind was up to about 25kts.
It blew like that all night with much stronger gusts.
The 'ol iKamper roof top tent was OUTSTANDING!! Solid, did not collapse like some the ground tent campers. Very warm, even with a window left open!
The only issue was the 3" wide, 4' long nylon webbing strap used to pull down when folding the tent up. The strap banged on the fiberglass top like a drum all night long. Next time I just need to tuck it away. Easy peasy...
Some photos of our camp site.
For my wife's birthday, I bought her a "privacy tent" for the potty. She loves it!! That's the blue tent just under the iKamper RTT. And that's the birthday girl reading her book on the left. A potty tent is really nice when dry camping in the desert with no trees, shrubs or rocks to hide behind.
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Without flash
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Had to completely stake and guy line that potty tent just to keep it up all night! The wind just howled!
In the end, the potty then got a little tear on the back from rubbing on my HiLift jack and the top wore through a little from rubbing on the under side of the RTT. Still good and ready for the next adventure!
Other than that, it held up great!
 
A pic of some of the other vehicles in our group. Yea, I know they're Jeeps, but hey, what can I do? It's a free country and people drive what they want...
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This is Ubehebe Crater. Caused by steam blowing off the top!
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Another shot of the crater.
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