The Road to a 100 and 2001 build thread

[lead62]

If I may, where did you source cutting board material that wide?

Labrak

 

[Lowbudgetlc100]

very nice build are you still in pasadena

 

[paulbgardner]

very nice build are you still in pasadena

Yep

 

[paulbgardner]

I finally finished my home built sliders. I didn't have the time to finish making them myself so I paid a friend to finish welding it all together for me and then went to another friend's autoshop to put them on really quickly up on his lift.

I thought about doing two step plates but it just didn't look good so I decided to go with a full length step plate with dimple die holes.

 

[paulbgardner]

Mocking up the position so we could tack weld the frame cross bars in place

All the pieces in place

Done minus powder coating

Dimes

Fresh powder coat

Up on the lift getting installed

Total price for materials, welding, powder coating was in the $600-700 range. I kind of lost track since it took a few years to get them finished. In the end I didn't save much but there weren't many options for a nice step slider other than the Slee step slider. that is almost $1k so using that as the benchmark I did save some moeny. I am very pleased with how it came out. my wife and kids like them as well.

 

[paulbgardner]

2016 was a year of using the truck way more than building. It took me and my family all over the southwest this year. Many trips to Owens Valley, two trips to Death Valley, a Utah traverse over 7 days, local weekend trips, hauled work gear around, 4 trips to some remote locations in Nevada all without skipping a beat. My mantra has always been to add mods as they are really needed. We ran the truck in pretty much the same configuration all year and at the end of the year re-evaluated how we travel and what additions would make life easier with the family. Here are a few photos from the places we have been and then some of the most recent additions since Thanksgiving.

The Trekboxx drawer system is going strong and is the best thing I have ever added to the truck

On the trail at the start of a Utah Traverse

Midway through 24 crossings of the Virgin River

Nightvision for the astronomy work I do.

 

[bucfl]

You did a fantastic job on the sliders. They look great! Would like some red lights. Where did you get yours? @pfran42 ?

 

[paulbgardner]

Death Valley for the big wildflower super bloom

 

[paulbgardner]

You did a fantastic job on the sliders. They look great! Would like some red lights. Where did you get yours? @pfran42 ?

Waterproof SMD Bar | Oznium

 

[paulbgardner]

In the spring I went on a Utah traverse trip with a group of buddies @bluecruiser and some others whose screen names I don't remember. Pretty epic 7 day trip. Best trip I have ever been on and the best group of guys to travel with. This is like #2-3 on the books with this group of guys.

The one thing that has bothered me all year is the stance on the truck with the drawers, rear bumper, etc, etc, etc. It has been just OK but has gotten soft and drags ass when fully loaded with the gear and family. More on that later. I also HATE my roof rack and gas situation. That issue has been resolved though. More on that in a bit too.

Best beer mod on the truck. Harbor Freight can special.

We got shut down on one leg of the traverse by some heavy snow and ice. Had to pull @bluecruiser out of the snow

 

[paulbgardner]

Spent some time in Owens Valley and up at Monache Meadows in the souther Sierras.

 

[paulbgardner]

Last year my foxwing awning got turned inside out by a freak wind gust on a calm day. Took a year of procrastinating but I finally got all the replacement poles, hinges, and fittings to get it back in service.

I don't recall this being on there the first time around

Got an entirely new cover

 

[paulbgardner]

OK, on to some changes. This year we tried several roof top tents, mainly versions from Autohome. I have seen soft RTTs in action in person and they aren't a whole lot more efficient than a ground tent for speed of setting up and tearing down. After seeing Bob Brindell's Columbus Variant in action on our Utah trip I was sold. By the time the last truck pulled into camp he was asleep in his tent. I borrowed his columbus variant for a month and fell in love. It really enabled my wife and I to get out on a trip really quickly at the last minute. It was also great for taking my kids out for quick weekend trips without my wife. With two busy kids, the hardest part about taking them camping is setting up camp. With the Columbus variant it was a non issue. We also gave the autohome AirTop a try and absolutely hated it. If I am going to spend $$$$$$$$$ on a tent it better only take 10 seconds to setup and take down. The Airtop consistently required two people and a lot of hassle to get packed down. It is a first world problem, and still faster than a ground tent but when you have the 10 second option I will go with that. We ordered a Large Columbus Variant so we could sleep all 4 of us. The large is going to overhang the truck on each side, and it will still be a tight fit for 4 people but it will be worth the ability to get out on a Friday night and pull into camp in the dark just about anywhere on BLM land and get to sleep. Maximize the weekends. My main reason for the RTT is for either my wife and I to get out alone or for me to take the two kids. We will probably still ground tent camp if we are doing a trip where we setup a basecamp in one place for a while.

I liked the larger useable floor plan of the Airtop but am wiling to trade that for the faster setup and stowing. The mechanisms on the airtop were also annoying and took up valuable space side to side.

 

[paulbgardner]

My fleet is going strong. The second cruiser is sitting on my old OME860 springs and 295/75R16 BFG KO2s. I love having the stock truck with that suspension. It has been an outstanding Mule truck when we take friends and family offroad. Fill the back with Firewood, extra water, soft goods, etc. It also is nice to show that you don't really need a super built truck to go places. It goes everywhere my built truck goes.

 

[paulbgardner]

My BIOR bumper had the tab for the Hi-lift was welded in the wrong spot and I finally got around to cutting it off. I replaced it with a temporary bolt on bracket solution.

I also ordered a ladder and three jerry can holder attachement for the drivers side swing out. I have been putting this mod off for way too long. It is nice to have the water out of the truck and the gas off the roof.

truck serving work duty

I told my son this is where he would be sitting if he didn't listen to me on trips. Unfortunately he thought that would be a really cool idea. I lost my leverage.

 

[paulbgardner]

A front bumper has never really been on my list of things to get. I have always thought it was too heavy and for what I like to do most, not super necessary. I started considering it more once I got the second truck and started traveling with two rigs. I wasn't super happy with how any of the options looked but I had always been attracted to the TJM T17 but it was not being made any longer. Then one day Bob Brindell calls me up and says TJM is looking for a 100 series to test fit a new bumper on and the person providing the test truck would get to keep the bumper. Not one to pass up free stuff like a bumper I jumped on it and got on board with TJM. It took a number of months for TJM australia to get the prototype over to the US but they finally did and I went down to San Diego to have it installed. After getting it installed they test fit a TJM 12K winch. I had no intentions of buying a winch but once it was in the bumper for testing I said "how much" and they gave me a smoking deal on it since it was a SEMA floor model. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the front bumper, it is lightweight, looks OEM, and seems to serve its purpose well. It is not an overbuilt tank but rather a spartan middle of the road bumper. Fits my style perfectly. It is light enough to lift the entire bumper with one hand. This is the prototype for the new T17 model they are bringing back to market.

Driving into the TJM garage. It was like being a kid in a candy store. I had to keep my hands in my pockets.

The bumper has removable wings so that they can keep shipping costs down with a smaller box. The joint was terrible though and they decided to go with a solid welded wing for the production model. They were trying to use existing gaskets from an 80 series bumper to hide the seam but it wasn't working very well.

Frame mounts were pretty bent out of shape from sliding down an ice sheet on Fins and Things a few years ago in Moab and slamming into the ground nose first. Easy fix with a hammer

Bolt on bumper mounts

12K TJM winch with synthetic line

They had blinker lights for the Lexus models. I suggested that they ditch those and make the light compatible with rigid style square LED offroad lights. The finish on the powdercoat was really nice.

 

[paulbgardner]

The prototype wasn't perfect. So we 3D scanned the entire front end of the car so they could go back in Solidworks and tune up some of the profiles to match the trim on the truck. Being a mechanical engineer myself this was a fun process to be a part of.

This is exactly the look I wanted for the front of my truck. It is clean and understated. Doesn't stick way out in front of the truck and had minimal impact on the stance and driving performance of the truck.

 

[paulbgardner]

utilizing equipment all the time

Finished look

 

[paulbgardner]

The stance on my truck was becoming an issue. With the drawer system packed, two kids and their crap, a small dog, wife, food, beer, camping gear, drone, camera gear, water, gas, etc etc etc, the truck was getting really heavy in the back. The OME 860s were starting to not cut it. It was dragging ass fully loaded. We made it through the year but knowing we were also going to add a roof rack and RTT at the end of the year pushed me to upgrade the springs for the third time in this build. I spent a considerable amount of time considering the options and spent some time on the phone with the guys at Slee to get some input. I finally settled on the OME868s. Or as Slee put it, Armored Truck Springs. They are seriously heavy duty and I was a bit concerned they would be way too stiff. Thankfully they ride fantastic. With the truck dry the back rides pretty high and the ride is just a tiny bit stiff. But the truck rides SWEET fully loaded. I only drive 0.9 miles to work so I don't care how it rides dry. What's important is the fully loaded ride. The maiden trip was Death Valley and it handled the drive like a pro. We did maybe a hundred miles of dirt and washboard and it was smooth sailing. They got rid of the sway I was having with the over-compressed 860s.

Here is the truck completely dry on OME860

Fully Loaded on OME860

Dry on OME868s

Fully loaded on OME868

Couldn't be happier with the ride and load carry capability.

 

[paulbgardner]

I had been running the RTT on Yakima crossbars attached to the stock rack side rails. It just wasn't really sturdy enough for my liking. I have always had a great rack on my trucks except for this one. I just haven't ever been able to bring myself to buy into a system. I have always been drawn to the LabRak system and had some friends with one. Their newest roof rack looked really solid. I have always admired the engineering behind their products and the attention to little details. So I went with the rack. I don't regret the decision. The rack is a work of art. The craftsmanship is second to none. I have seen almost all of the other rack systems in person and in use and this really is the top of the line in my opinion.

The mechanical engineer in me loves that these parts were designed in Solidworks using all the advanced sheet metal features. The brackets for the roof have been simplified greatly from the original versions. Single piece of precision bent sheet metal with a nice powdercoat finish.

The tracks on my truck were a complete disaster.

The little holes on the top of the brackets indicate position front to back and which part of the bracket should face forward so you know which goes on the left and right sides. The front and rear brackets could get easily mixed up if you weren't paying attention and these marks weren't there.

Custom profiles for the slats. They are super wide. Makes for a solid platform when all assembled

more custom profiles for the side rails. These used to be just a square cross section like 80/20. The new profile has conduit for running lighting wires inside the profile for a super clean install of lights

The corner pieces are another example of how the use of tools like Solidworks for design and manufacturing turns out a really high quality product. Simple efficient use of materials. Again, these are much more simplified from the first version of the LabRack rack.

The slats slide right into the side rail profiles and bolt in place. The positions are fixed so you can't really slide things around to put the slats in custom positions. If you really needed to you could drill a few extra holes. I keep thinking this is a downside to the rack but I have yet to need to move them around.

The profiles easily slide right into the corner pieces

I think the rack weights in at around 80 lbs

It makes for a wonderful drone landing platform

Really low profile and clean looking

I am a really big fan of how low key the roof lightbar mounting is. It doesn't stick way out like you see on a lot of trucks. All of the hardware is tamper proof. It made for some minor annoyances when assembling but worth not having your light ripped off.

Before Roof rack

After Roof rack

Before

After