The misadventures of Charlie Sh*t Brindle Brown (3 Viewers)

[leonard_nemoy]

I decided to start a dedicated thread to document the misadventures I enjoy in my cruiser.

I am going to start this thread with a video I put together to commemorate my previous cruiser. My previous rig was a 91 fj80 that bit the dust in June of 2020. I had a ton of great adventures in this rig and I recently discovered a bunch of miscellaneous dash cam clips on an SD card that I had laying around. I decided to use parts of these clips to put together this video. This is the first video I have ever made and the clips came from a $40.00 dash cam so the quality and audio are not the best.

Enjoy

 

[leonard_nemoy]

Onto my current rig.

I picked up my current cruiser back in July of 2020. It is a 97 collectors edition and it had somewhere around 111,000 miles on the odometer when I got it.

The PO did a monstaliner job on the cruiser in some kind of a desert brown/tan color. The first thing my father said when he saw it was, "it's sh*t brindle brown". So the term stuck and the rig was officially named "Charlie Sh*t Brindle Brown".

The guy I bought this rig from was an acquaintance that I had met a few times on local trail rides. He is a big time cruiser head with lots of rigs. He told me he would only sell me one of his 80's if I would go camping with him. So the best part of getting this rig was making a great new friend and camping buddy.

He had two 80 series he was willing to sell. One was a stock 97 lx with high mileage and a rough idle. He didn't want much for the lx and it was rust free and clean inside and out. But the lx would have needed a lot of maintenance.

Than he had the 97 collectors edition. This was his first 80 series and he got it in Colorado. This rig was supposedly built by Slee back in the early 2000,s. This 97 was very well built, had low miles, and it had a ton of preventive maintenance done already including the head gasket and a new radiator. But the collector's edition had also sat for about a year, the body had a lot of dents and other issues from its many trips to Sand Hollow, and it had no suspension when I first saw it.

Well for me it wasn't a hard decision because the way I use my cruiser I figured I could care less about the condition of the body as long as the rig wasn't a rust bucket. Plus the PO had a brand new Iron Man 2" lift to throw on the cruiser.

Here are the oldest pictures I can find of Charlie. This was the first camping trip in this rig and Charlie's former owner came along for this trip.

Up next will be a list of changes made and work done on Charlie along with a list of things he still needs.

 

[leonard_nemoy]

Before I start on the list of the work I have done I will list the mods already done on the rig.

Part time 4wd kit.
Crawl gears in the t-case.
Full stainless steel exhaust and headers.
Metal tech front tube bumper.
Slee rear bumper.
Metal tech sliders.
Metal tech adjustable rear control arms.
Slee skid plate.
Inti roof rack.
Arb IPf lights on the roof rack.
Blue sea fuse block installed and wired under driver's side dash.
Arb lockers front and rear wired into oem locker switch and indicator lights.
4:88 gears.
Front diff armor.
Heavy duty steering linkage.
Scan gauge.
Lots of preventive maintenance, ie motor mounts, head gasket, engine seals and gaskets, new power steering pump, and new brakes all around.
Other things that I can't remember.


Here is a list of everything thing I have done to this rig in the 10 or so months that I have owned her. I will probably forget something....

2" ironman suspension kit the day I picked her up.
New U joints.
Swapped seats and glove box from my 91.
Gutted the interior, removed the old stereo and a bunch of wiring for things I didn't want, and a nice deep cleaning.
Installed a new sounds system: Alpine head unit, kicker components in the front, kicker coaxials in the rear doors, a 12" kicker sub in the back, and two amps to power everything.
New starter.
New battery.
New belts.
All new fluids.
Icon caster bushings.
Eimkeith's RAM mounts.
New OME steering stabilizer.
New tires: 315/75/16 nitto trail grappler mt's.
Smitty built winch.
New sway bar bushings.
Ironman 30mm front coil spacers.
Tore apart the roof rack and gave it a good refurbishing.
Address the t-case poping out of low range, I will probably rig up a bungee or something instead of doing it right.
Updated the old ARB lights with new led bulbs.
Built a custom rack/sleeping platform to replace the middle row seats.
New window runs for the front doors along with cleaning and lubing the window regulators.
Adjusted a rear passenger door with a custom hinge spacer to ensure a waterproof seal.
New windshield gasket.
New control arm to frame bushings.
New tie rods.
Made a custom tailgate support cable to replace the missing support.
Added some extra hoops to the front bumper.
Replaced a ruptured brake line.
Assembled a recovery kit.

Here are a few more pictures.

 

[leonard_nemoy]

Alright, now I can start documenting my exploring and adventures.

I will quickly cover some of the stuff I have done in the last 10 months.The rig had somewhere around 111,000 miles when I got it and now it is sitting at 128,700. So if my brain #'s are correct I have put about 18,000 miles on this rig in the last 10ish months. A lot of this has been off-road.

Camping on the Paunsagaunt plateau.
Took the rig elk hunting about 4 or 5 times.
Took it on a few ice fishing trips.
Numerous camping trips to the Grand Canyon and other places.
Loads of general exploring and adventuring closer to home.
Turkey hunting.
Camping on the aquarius plateau.
Looking for caves on the AZ strip.
Predator hunting.
Petroglyph searching.
And I just finished a 4 day trip to the Henry mtn's, across lake powell, over to the Abajo mtn's, and back home through monument valley and the Nation.

More pictures...

 

[leonard_nemoy]

Now that I am caught up I will start detailing my trips and any work I do on the rig here.

I will start with the 4 day trip I just finished up.

Day 1:

Driving through Capitol Reef on my way to the Henry Mtn's.

The Henry mtn's are way cool. They are the last mountain range to be mapped and named in the lower 48. The Henries sit north of Lake Powell and they are located in between Capitol Reef NP and Canyonlands NP. The Henries are considered to be one of the largest granite laccoliths in the world. They are also home to the largest free range bison herd on public land other than the Narional park herds. But unlike the National park herds, the bison on the Henries are the most geneticlly pure herd in the country and the herd is managed by the state and lucky hunters. The Henries are also the best trophy mule deer hunting unit in the state of Utah.

Here you can see the Henries in the clouds and a better view of one of the peaks.

 

[leonard_nemoy]

Night #1 camp

 

[leonard_nemoy]

Day 2:

Spent the day exploring the Henries some more.

Here is the Horn and mt Pennel.

Some wildlife

Checking out a campground with Capitol Reef NP in the distance.

Looking west at Capitol Reef and Navajo peak way in the distance.

And one last view of the Henries from the west.

 

[leonard_nemoy]

2nd night:
After spending the day exploring the Henries and tarantula mesa I headed down towards the water pocket fold district of Capitol Reef and found a spot to crash for the night.

 

[leonard_nemoy]

Day 3:

Started the day by heading south towards lake powell through the water pocket fold.

Here you can see the fault they call the "water pocket fold".

This is the same area the famous Burr trail comes through.

This spot is half way from the highway to lake powell.

This is where the Burr trail switchbacks are located. I didn't drive the switch backs but you can see where they ascend through the purple area above my rig.

Further south towards lake powell and the canyons are starting to get deep.

Here are some shots crossing the lake on the halls crossing ferry.

 

[leonard_nemoy]

Day 3 continued:

From lake powell I headed to the Abajo mtn's to do some exploring. This is where the infamous "Bears Ears" are located.

Here you can see one of the bears ears in the background.

Some more wildlife:

Spot the cruiser

This is looking north east. In the distance you can see the northern end of the Abajo's and hardly visible way off in the distance are the snow capped peaks of the la Sal mtn's that tower above Moab.

Looking west from the same spot is the dark canyon wilderness area.

I found a new spot where I want to do some elk hunting. The Abajo's are a beautiful mtn range.

 

[leonard_nemoy]

Night 3:

I decided to spend the 3rd night on the Abajo's. After driving to Blanding for diner I didn't get back to my camp spot until dark.

I have probably used my exped mega mat duo 60 times now in the back of a cruiser. It is still holding up perfectly with no issues. This is such a comfortable sleeping pad and it fits the back of the rig like a glove. I would definitely recommend this sleeping pad. It was well worth the money.

 

[leonard_nemoy]

Day 4:

The last day of my trip was quite uneventful. I drove south over Cedar mesa and down to the Navajo Nation. From here it was basically highway all the way home.

Looking south off Cedar mesa torwards Mexican hat and Monument Valley.

Here is the obligatory window picture driving through monument valley. Because of the Covid basically everything on the nation was closed down. If it wasn't for Covid I would have spent a few hours exploring Monument Valley.

 

[baldilocks]

Lots of travel indeed..... as always, the photos are great.

 

[LandLocked93]

Hold the phone.
Is this a common mod? Addressing something other than caster?

 

[leonard_nemoy]

View attachment 2675649
Hold the phone.
Is this a common mod? Addressing something other than caster?

These are the RAM radius arm mount weld in drop bracket sold by @eimkeith

They address caster and also push the axle forward an inch to help center bigger tires.

I think they are a great product if you can weld. Friendly on the wallet, well designed and low profile, and they are easily reversed.

Here is a link to the install and review.

*UPDATED* Eimkeith RAM (radius arm mount) install - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/updated-eimkeith-ram-radius-arm-mount-install.1241709/

 

[leonard_nemoy]

Lots of travel indeed..... as always, the photos are great.

Yeah, I have been very blessed this last year. I hate to say it but Covid really benefited me. I got an awesome job last summer for a local company doing covid-19 testing. Than due to Covid 19 my clinical rotations in New Mexico were cancelled and I got to do my rotations in my home town.

Between these two things I saved alot of $$$$ and I was able to focus on school and adventures the last two semesters without worrying to much about working.

But now I am done with school and back to working 40 hours a week. I probably won't be doing as much adventuring until September/October when the hunting seasons start. Speaking of which I am super excited for hunting this year. My dad and I both have rifle buck deer tags this October and we should likely both draw antlerless antelope tags.

 

[baldilocks]

Yeah, I have been very blessed this last year. I hate to say it but Covid really benefited me. I got an awesome job last summer for a local company doing covid-19 testing. Than due to Covid 19 my clinical rotations in New Mexico were cancelled and I got to do my rotations in my home town.

Between these two things I saved alot of $$$$ and I was able to focus on school and adventures the last two semesters without worrying to much about working.

But now I am done with school and back to working 40 hours a week. I probably won't be doing as much adventuring until September/October when the hunting seasons start. Speaking of which I am super excited for hunting this year. My dad and I both have rifle buck deer tags this October and we should likely both draw antlerless antelope tags.

I look forward to reading about that adventure as well seeing the photos you’ll “shoot”.

 

[FMC80]

Sweet vid. Long but worth watching. Great pics too. I can’t wait to enjoy similar adventures and beautiful sights once I’m back stateside.

 

[filthyluker]

That's a sweet Kifaru pack you have. What model is it?

 

[leonard_nemoy]

That's a sweet Kifaru pack you have. What model is it?

Thanks, I have owned many different packs and Kifaru are hands down the best.

The one in the picture is a late season and I also have a timberline 2 for bigger loads. They are older Kifaru packs but I love them.