Builds R²M 2013 GX 460 Overland Build (6 Viewers)

[r2m]

The damage....

Note the completely pinched off section in the middle. When I backed up to align for a new approach angle, the tail pipe went into the boulder behind me. We were able to unbolt it on the trail and continued on. About $350 to replace.
The price of entertainment for the weekend...

Personal reminder...
"This is NOT a ROCK CRAWLER. This is an OVERLANDER!!!
Don't try to keep up with Jeeps with 6" suspension lifts and 35" plus tires!!"

All in all, it was a great weekend! My wife loved doing a mild trail with the other group in her 4x4 Taco.

 

[Turbohardtop]

That is impressive what you have done with the GX. I do not think i have the balls to do what you did. Was there any scraping on the skids on this terrain? Also, each time I look at your truck, I like it that much more. You and TXGX460 provide so much motivation to us GX owners.

 

[Qball]

Props for having the balls to run Holcomb Valley trail in a GX, not an easy trail and I definitely want 37s for that trail.

 

[r2m]

All the guys in the club were saying, "Ahh, no problem, you got this!!" Little did they know that the rains and weather we had this last winter drastically changed the trail. Even some of the Jeeps were having issues, specially the JK 4 doors/longer wheel base.
In fact, it was so bad that we got stuck behind two other groups of Jeeps, a total of about 12 Jeeps that were all backed up on the trail. We waited for over 2 hours for them to move forward. After waiting that long we decided to use 3N016 to get back to camp. From what I understand, there was some guy in a Jeep Cherokee with NO lockers that was plugging everything up.

 

[r2m]

After R&R the tail pipe from my last off road adventure, I decided to do a couple of other little hacks to my rig.
This first hack is real simple for those who have an on-board compressor under their hood! All I did is use a "reusable" cable tie (zip tie) and attached my ARB air line to the compressor! Now when I need to use it, it's exactly where I need it to be. I don't need to dig trough all my recovery gear to get to it. See photo below.

Neither the gas strut nor anything else is in the way and the hood closes fine with no pressure.
Just make sure you have the male and female connections of your hose plugged together to keep out dirt!

 

[r2m]

My next little mod was something I've been wanting to do for a long time and even had the part sitting on my bench in the garage for a long time.
This is what I purchased:
Amazon product ASIN B078SN814RAnd below is where I but it!
Whenever my daughter is in the car she wants to plug in her phone and I always have to run a cord from my ashtray to the back for here, which means I have a stupid long USB charging cord.

This was real simple to install. Just open the top of the arm rest compartment (arm rests) and while sitting in the back seats. Tip: have your front seats all the way forward, it just helps...

This is how it looks after just being "popped" off. (below) You can see the USB device in the center just below the AC controls.

 

[r2m]

I wired it to my HAM radio so it is a "constant" on power supply. I like this because when camping, I like to charge my phone over night and doing this I don't have to leave my ignition on, it just charges off my second battery.

This is a photo of my HAM radio as it's mounted under my drivers seat. You can see the power and ground for both my HAM and USB connection go into the white connection, above.

Easy peasy!

 

[r2m]

My last little hack was to replace one of my 5 gal Jerry cans with a an ammo can I picked up on our 3,800 mile road trip last month.
My wife and I were driving through a little town of Beatty, Nevada and as we were exiting the town, there were these pallets of ammo cans, probably 20 or 30 pallets all neatly stacked with ammo cans.
Had to stop...
Wound up purchasing a 8-cartridge, 60mm can from this guy who could have been type cast for any movie that needed a Army vet with long hair, long beard, missing a few teeth, wearing jeans and a "God Bless America" shirt with suspenders. This guy was straight out of a movie set! But regardless, he was real nice, especially when I told him I'm an active Army reservist. He appreciated that...
So anyways, the idea is to take some of my recover gear that I have in the back of my rig (on top of my folded down 3rd seats, and put it in this can. Below is how it came out.

It fit almost perfectly. The depth was spot on, it is only just a little narrower than a Jerry can which I just stuck a short 2x4 to keep it from moving around. I had to make a strap for locking it in the same manner as the Jerry can since the Jerry can strap wouldn't work.
Found some material at my local hardware store that was the perfect fit! Did a little cutting, grinding and bending. Done!!

 

[r2m]

And if you're wondering what the spigot is for on top of the other Jerry can, if you look closer you'll also see a Shrader valve. I run an air line with a regulator from my spare to the Jerry can to pressurize it. Turn the spigot and I've got flowing water! Works great!
That was a little hack I did some time ago and just never posted it.
Forgot about it.

 

[r2m]

I just finished making a fairing for my Gamiviti rack. Gamiviti offers a black fairing that he says can be flipped up if one needs to use the LED light bar, but I wanted a clear one so I don't have to deal with that anytime I want to light up what's in front of me.
I used 1/4" Acrylic. It may not be the best grade of Acrylic but it was cheap enough and readily available from Lowes. Tim at Gamiviti was kind enough to send me the CADD file template for the faring so I loaded it up on my SolidWorks and printed it out on 11" x 17" in three sections. Taped the sections together and sha-shazm I have a working template! I then went to my local bicycle shop and picked up a box that bicycles are packaged in. I needed a box that had a long and flat enough section to cut out the 48" long x 8" high template to lay on the Acrylic to cut.
Below is the fairing file loaded in SoildWorks. You can see I sectioned it into 16" lengths so I can print it on 11" x 17" paper.

Below is the cardboard cutout.

Below is picture of the Acrylic cut out.

Below, I also purchased some small I.D. tubing and split it along one edge. I then used that as an edge lining so the Acrylic doesn't scrape against the roof of my vehicle.

 

[r2m]

These last couple of pictures are the finished work.

The template is a perfect fit for the curvature of the roof line! AND I can use my light bar anytime without having to flip up the fairing!
If anyone is interested in the fairing template let me know.
First I'll have to first ask Tim at Gamiviti if it's okay to give it out.

 

[nakman]

Wow!!! you've really pushed some limits here, well done! I always love it when someone else's innovation challenges my own, very motivating and makes a better product for everyone, that use of clear tubing on the bottom is a big smack in the head also, much easier than door weather stripping.

will be interested to see the long term use of that clear fairing and how it holds up to the elements, suspect it will be ok for a long time.
Any odd reflection with the light bar? again, well done! :

 

[r2m]

Wow!!! you've really pushed some limits here, well done! I always love it when someone else's innovation challenges my own, very motivating and makes a better product for everyone, that use of clear tubing on the bottom is a big smack in the head also, much easier than door weather stripping.

will be interested to see the long term use of that clear fairing and how it holds up to the elements, suspect it will be ok for a long time.
Any odd reflection with the light bar? again, well done! :

Thank you for the compliment!
I just finished the project yesterday so I haven't had a chance to try the light bar at night to see how the light defuses through it.
Regarding longevity, this isn't the highest grade Acrylic, I could have used a tempered polycarbonate that is almost like glass, but it's costly and more brittle when cutting.

 

[r2m]

The other day I decided to relocate my backup camera. When I added my rear bumper with spare and dual Jerry cans, I lost about 80% of visibility through my camera. Below is a brief description of how I did it.
Started off with un-clipping the door panel. Tip, you will need to just un-clip the bottom couple of clips of the molding that goes around the sides of the rear window. Then just carefully pull back the plastic.

This is what you're after. (below)

Just unscrew and unplug and you'll just have the small (approximately 1" x 1") camera.
I needed a 4 wire cable and didn't feel like going to a store so I had some old USB extension cables lying around and they are shielded and 4 wire. One wasn't long enough so I plugged 2 together, put silicone around the connection and then heat shrunk the connection for strength and water proofing.

Now I had enough length to go the front of the Jerry can rack, through the door rubber grommet/conduit and in door towards the male camera connection. Forgot to take pictures, but I kept the plug and just inserted the corresponding wires into it and heat that.
Next I made a simple steel mount to hold the camera and clamp under my Jerry can rack.

 

[r2m]

Continued, since we're only allowed 5 photos per post.
Below you can see it just to the right of my license plate, between the Jerry can mount and spare tire.

Below is a close up.

Below is a pic showing the cable running along the back of the swing out. Where my HAM antenna is, both the cables are run together.

Then had to replace the plastic camera mount, sans the camera. I used a small sheet of Acrylic from my last project (Acrylic fairing, above), painted it black and reattached the mount in its stock location. (below)

Put a bunch of silicone around the inside to avoid water intrusion. (below)

 

[r2m]

Just a few more shots of the camera mounted.

 

[r2m]

Update: The resolution on the console is kind of poor. The USB wires are a really small AWG. I'm thinking that may be the issue that the camera is not getting enough band width from those small wires.
Since I'm a biomedical engineer (mechanical), my focal range of knowledge of all things electrical is narrow. If someone knows any more than myself, please feel free to chime in!
I could use the info!!

 

[r2m]

I forgot to give a report on how well the fairing for my rack is working.
GREAT!!!
I can actually hear the stereo with the sunroof open and have a conversation with my wife with out having to elevate my voice. I think it's as good or better than before I mounted the rack, when it was in stock form up there.
In short, very pleased!
The only thing is I get a little whistling and squeaking. I fjound the squeaking is from the Acrylic rubbing on the RRT. A little lithium greas solved that. But I may have to split some more of that small I.D. clear tubing and run it along the top.
I'm not quite sure where whistling is coming from. I think maybe from the very small space between the vehicle roof and the fairing. That, I need to investigate a little more.
But neither the whistling nor the squeaking is loud enough or bad enough to be an annoyance.

 

[r2m]

Just did another simple hack to my rig.
Question: for those of you who have air compressors, especially those with onboard air mounted under the hood, where is the best place to have your air attachments?
Under the hood. Right??
Here you go!

Below is how they're attached. Just the average "broom handle" clip used in closest and walls to hole brooms!

Here's a better view of the "broom handle" clips I used. Had to tighten the clips a little to make them a little more secure.

Now, whenever I need to use my compressor, I'm not having to open the rear door, go through bags or boxes trying to remember where I last put those darned nozzles. They will always be right where I'll need them!

 

[LastPlace]

@r2m
How well will the rubber and the o-rings on the attachments hold up to the heat and the elements?