The super slow build thread of my 2021 LC HE (1 Viewer)

[HSTexan]

Hey buddy, what did you do with your old roof rack, the Front Runner? I may be a player. P.S. Don't forget you are always welcome to use my lift if you have anything underneath you need to work on.

I ended up selling it to another local guy shortly after I took it off—sorry John! Forgot to text you about the XM and mine is the same way as well—out in CO for elk season so a bit scatterbrained

I dig the ARB rack, it's at the top of my list. I am jealous of your Dissent full wrap bumper, when I inquired recently about the full replacement with the added bar work they told me they weren't offering that, just the base bumper. I am not sure what they said that but it's a bummer. Lastly, did you vinyl wrap or paint the trim?

Truth be told I bugged them for months asking if they were offering the bull bar and got told no numerous times. I thought I had spotted one being built on an Instagram story and asked about it and they said the shop guys agreed to make me one. It definitely seems like timing needs to be right with their production schedule. The rear trim I actually got from a local guy who sold his 200–it was an eBay purchase by him—the center section is a full replacement and the sides are overlays with double sided tape. The center piece is a lot more thin than the factory one and I can see some dimples where the clips are. I like the way it looks so I will eventually take it off and paint the factory pieces for a better finish. It’s good from about 10ft but when you get close you can tell something is off.

 

[HSTexan]

Since this got bumped, reserving so I can keep updating without needing to bump the thread every time


May 2023 - 30,300 miles

A recent trip has reaffirmed my desire to figure out a better cooler setup until I bite the bullet on a fridge. When I take a big trip I typically will bring my 65qt Yeti and loaded down with food, drinks, and ice it can easily weigh 70-80lbs. My Kaon shelf gives me minimal clearance (~4-6" opening) to try to put things in and pull out, the elevated position on top of the drawers means lifting higher, and the absolute pain it's become to drain the excess water when topping off ice. I figured if I was going to do something now, it needed to be future proof and work with a fridge once I go that route. I looked at a number of slides: Clearview, MSA, Alu-Cab, DFG; I ended up deciding that while a drop slide would be super cool, as someone who isn't terrible tall I get a much better view and access with a tilting slide. I really liked how the Alu-Cab had a solid tray vs. something like the DFG which only has a platform for the feet in the front and back sections with nothing in the middle. The Alu-Cab lets me put any cooler that fits within the boundaries inside and is properly sized for the fridge I will likely get in the future. Luckily my ADGU drawer/sleeper system came ready for a 50% setup, so a handful of bolts to remove and I converted it to a driver side only sleeper so that the slide could be mounted on the passenger side.

To further increase the ease of use I got on Amazon and grabbed a few parts: Yeti drain plug hose adapter, a 90 degree adapter with shut off valve, 1ft flexible hose, and a hose cap. I thought the cap might be overkill, but after testing it for a couple nights I discovered either the hose will hold just a bit of water after draining or the valve isn't 100% perfect. Either way the cap keeps things tidy. This will now allow me to tilt the cooler down, dump the hose over the tailgate and drain any excess water without needing to remove the cooler. I think this is probably about as good as it will get for me until I go for a fridge and stop messing with ice entirely.

June 2023 - 32,500 miles

Trying to wrap up a few last minute small projects before the trek out to CO for LCDC 9. Like many others I am looking for a solution to integrate CarPlay. Every time I think I'm ready to pull the trigger on something like the Grom, Navi Plus, or Naviks I keep reading about the issues randomly dropping out and I reconsider. I also don't like the idea of the terrible resolution factory display so I decided to pull the trigger on the Road Top 8.9" standalone unit...kind of. I was encouraged not to purchase it yet as I have a birthday coming up in the next few weeks and my wife didn't know what else to get me. In the meantime I have been redoing electrical to prep for the needed DC socket for the Road Top. Previously I had just run a USB cable behind the infotainment, out the drivers footwell, along the trim and to a plug in the 2nd row DC. I wanted something more permanent and with the Gamiviti dash panel I ordered 2 ARB socket housings, a 12v DC socket (reversed for maximum clearance to install a plug), and a dual USB plug. I still ran the wires down behind the infotainment and instead used some add-a-fuse taps into the fuse panel in the driver footwell. The solution is much more clean, provides much better power for each device, and should be adequate for any need I have.

Another project I'm trying to finish up is rooftop storage. Drawers have been a game changer for me, but since selling my GFC RTT and reclaiming my entire rack space I have found storing all of my recovery gear in one of my drawers is a waste of space. Not to mention the need of always having to open the hatch and tailgate to access anything I feel as though it would be easier to access from the outside of the vehicle. I have a Pelican iM3300 that I got probably 10 years ago that used to be mounted on my Prinsu rack on my 4Runner and has since been sitting in the garage. Of course I had to drill holes into it to make it work so first order of business was patching. I used some JB Weld Water Weld to create plugs in the holes which I sanded down almost flush. I then used the traditional two part JB Weld epoxy to brush over those plugs and create a watertight seal. I filled it with water and left it overnight and saw no leaks anywhere. The next order of business was figuring out how to mount the case where it would be removable if I wanted so I didn't have to live with it 24/7 around town.

I stumbled across The Mounting Company who makes some pretty slick and super high quality quick release mounts of all sizes. I sent them a message to determine what size mount I needed and received a call back from the owner of the company himself and we discussed my setup and got the appropriately sized mount ordered. It will require new holes to be drilled, but comes with a much nicer gasket to ensure waterproofness. If you aren't familiar with their mounts you put a plate with pin bolted onto whatever you'd like (my rack in this case). Then you install an outer plate to the bottom of case, drill holes and install a plate on the inside so that the case is sandwiched between--those will stay on the case permanently. I have a bunch of orange accents around my car so I decided to drop it off at powder coat yesterday to get it in a matching signal orange powder. Should have it in hand next week so I can get it all mounted.

February 2024 - 40,750 miles

The long standing plan was to make the 12 hour trek up to Denver and leave my Cruiser with Slee to knock out a list of items--I was hoping for last winter, but my wife wanted a pool so we compromised and built the pool first. The general line of thought was that I wanted more range since I find myself having to stop every 200ish miles to keep a safe reserve. The 24 gallon tank LRA has was a good compromise of size and range--the 12.5 just didn't seem worth it and the 40 hung lower than I liked. If I did a 24 gallon LRA tank then I'd need a way to carry the spare on the rear which led me to a bumper. The decision was between Slee and Dissent and even though Dissent made tons of sense to keep weight down there is just something about the design of the Slee that I love so much--I let my heart override my brain on this one.

Additionally ever since I swapped to a group 31 AGM battery keeping it properly topped off has been a major concern. I do have a Noco tender I can put on it at home, but it is tedious to do every time I want to drive. Last spring Slee also announced their hood solar kits made specifically for the design of the '16+ hoods and knew it would be the easiest "set it and forget it" solution for me. Lastly, the goal was always to do onboard air, and since I already had their SwitchPro mount I knew I would use the Slee compressor mount too. I figured I'd just have them get it sorted while it was up there for everything else at the same time. I also fell in love with something I saw on the SleeBuilt Heritage they did awhile back that I knew I wanted to incorporate it into mine as well--a rear air chuck. It just makes so much sense to have a secondary air up location that doesn't require popping the hood for a quick top off.

I made the appointment in November and waited patiently until my drop off date on February 5th. Flew back up this past Friday to pick it up and am absolutely blown away with how everything turned out. Knowing they've probably installed hundreds of these bumpers and that they have it down perfectly was a driving decision for me to take it to them rather than ship it down here. The upgraded pump and fittings kit they do for the LRA was also a big factor for me as I want to make it as reliable as possible. Everything came out super clean and I'm looking forward to getting to put it through it's paces soon. I opted for the triple jerry can holder as I remember reading a 35qt Yeti fits in it perfectly. It will be in that configuration for quick weekend trips; otherwise the jerry can holder will come off around town. For trips where I want to carry water or diesel for a heater I've got a double jerry can holder that I can mount.

February 2024 - 41,500 miles

A sketchy bit of sliding on the highway on the way home from Slee gave me the idea that maybe I should check my tire tread. Sure enough the fronts were getting pretty low and with my state inspection coming up in March I figured I should just bite the bullet and replace them all beforehand. I had really enjoyed my Nitto Ridge Grapplers, however, I've got big dreams for the winter of 2024/2025 which would allow me to run much larger tires, so the idea of paying Nitto money for 12 months of use wasn't super high on my list. I thought I would be happy settling on a basic cost effective A/T like the Wildpeak A/T4W, but I just couldn't go back to a standard A/T after running a hybrid "R/T" basically the entire life of the vehicle. In the end I settled on a relatively new tire--the Falken Wildpeak R/T01. I also took the opportunity to go up a size since when I fitted the original 275/70R18's I was stock height. With the lift and bumpers I could now run a 285/70R18 relatively hassle free (though I do get a bit of KDSS rub on lock). Initial impressions so far have been that noise is much quieter on city streets below 50mph. On the highway they seem both louder and quieter as I don't feel like I have to talk as loud to have a conversation, but the frequency of the noise must be different than I'm used to since it seems much more pronounced--I'm guessing I'll just have to get used to it a bit. Very excited to take these offroad and see how they compare to the Nittos.

April 2024 - 43,250 miles

The trailer has been picked up; I had found this M101A2 on Facebook marketplace pretty far south of me. As luck would have it my wife and I had a quick anniversary trip planned to the Texas wine country and this was almost directly on the way home. I wanted a lockable trailer to take hunting and not worry about in hotel parking lots along the way. This is perfectly setup for it. Won’t get to in depth as I’ll do a build thread in the trailer section, but hoping this will solve quite a few storage and camping problems for me as well. Yes the wheels are absolutely at the top of the list for fixing

April 2024 - 44,500 miles

Something I had not considered about my dual setups for jerry cans was that the ladder would provide issues for mounting. As it turns out on the Slee ladder there is just a slight lip where the rungs are recessed and the side supports stick out. My double jerry can holder is just wider than the ladder so bolting it straight on would mean bowing the rear panel of the holder. I really wanted to run it for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, one of my closest friends it the director of engineering for the company. They mainly do van parts and 4Runner/Tacoma parts so a universal part like the holder is about the only thing of theirs I could buy to support them. The second is that I was able to provide some creative input to the design so it's just a bit neat to have something like that on the back. I briefly considered washers to space it out a bit, but decided to have same friend help design and cut me a panel that could be used as a universal mounting plate and spacer so that I could run their jerry can holder or any number of other accessories as desired. I gave him a crudely drawn MSPaint diagram and some extremely rough measurements and the outcome was about 97% perfect. Height was off about 1/4"-1/2", but the slots he cut provided enough adjustment it really didn't matter. Of course like my Mounting Company mount it got sent to powder for a coat of signal orange which provides just a slight accent of personalization.

 

[HSTexan]

Reserved 2

 

[HSTexan]

Reserved 3

 

[HSTexan]

Reserved 4

 

[HSTexan]

Reserved 5

 

[Tex68w]

I ended up selling it to another local guy shortly after I took it off—sorry John! Forgot to text you about the XM and mine is the same way as well—out in CO for elk season so a bit scatterbrained




Truth be told I bugged them for months asking if they were offering the bull bar and got told no numerous times. I thought I had spotted one being built on an Instagram story and asked about it and they said the shop guys agreed to make me one. It definitely seems like timing needs to be right with their production schedule. The rear trim I actually got from a local guy who sold his 200–it was an eBay purchase by him—the center section is a full replacement and the sides are overlays with double sided tape. The center piece is a lot more thin than the factory one and I can see some dimples where the clips are. I like the way it looks so I will eventually take it off and paint the factory pieces for a better finish. It’s good from about 10ft but when you get close you can tell something is off.

Good to know on the bar work, I’ll bother them as well and use the existence of yours as to the reason why they need to make me one as well. It looks great, I wish I were still living up there so that I could come sees it in person. And in regards to the trim, I thought about the overlays but if they suck I’ll just go straight to painting them.

 

[ryanCA]

Great build. How much weight did the slider and the skids add?

 

[HSTexan]

Great build. How much weight did the slider and the skids add?

I think weights can be found on the BudBuilt website, but if I remember correctly the sliders were 60-65lbs each and the skids were around the same combined so somewhere in the 225-250 range

 

[ryanCA]

I think weights can be found on the BudBuilt website, but if I remember correctly the sliders were 60-65lbs each and the skids were around the same combined so somewhere in the 225-250 range

Thank you so much!!

 

[Kurosawa]

I currently only use the rails with the K9 load bar setup; my use for a full rack is very limited so I have been running it slick top when I don't need to mount anything and putting crossbars up for my RTT.

Fellow DFW 200 here.

I've been following your build and enjoying the evolution as well as the dialog on your thoughts about each change you've made. I was curious if you had the K9 set up still and would be interested in letting it go? If so I might be interested in purchasing and giving it a try. I'm just now thinking through the same three dimensional chess of what RTT mounting avenue to pursue and which RTT to go with it. I am hoping to get it squared away before a long summer trip with my wife and daughter out to wheel in California prior to heading back this way via LCDC.

We are in Fort Worth and I have a shop where I work on the truck and other projects over by TCU if you'd like to meet up sometime. Your inbox was full otherwise I wouldn't take up space here, feel free to delete.

Jesse

 

[CT3]

Great build, loved the read. Very unique little details and thoroughly thought through —refreshing.

 

[HSTexan]

Fellow DFW 200 here.

I've been following your build and enjoying the evolution as well as the dialog on your thoughts about each change you've made. I was curious if you had the K9 set up still and would be interested in letting it go? If so I might be interested in purchasing and giving it a try. I'm just now thinking through the same three dimensional chess of what RTT mounting avenue to pursue and which RTT to go with it. I am hoping to get it squared away before a long summer trip with my wife and daughter out to wheel in California prior to heading back this way via LCDC.

We are in Fort Worth and I have a shop where I work on the truck and other projects over by TCU if you'd like to meet up sometime. Your inbox was full otherwise I wouldn't take up space here, feel free to delete.

Jesse

Hey Jesse—

I didn’t even realize my inbox was full, I’ll clear it out in case you want to continue the conversation there. I ended up selling the K9 load bars for pretty dang cheap to a gentleman awhile back. The RTT mounting has been probably my biggest headache with all the planning—the main issue being that any rooftop tent I can mount will make me too tall to fit in the garage. Because I want to park inside it means constant install and removal and that is a huge pain being 5’10” on a good day with my wife being a few inches shorter.

In the end my solution has been to move the rooftop tent off the roof. I bought a cheap M101 trailer to do a build out on and one of the first things I’ll probably do is weld together some sort of rack to carry a tent. Not only will it be at a height that the trailer can fit inside the garage at all times, but I can also move to something like an iKamper with a king sized mattress for a bit more comfort. While not the only reason for getting a trailer, it was one of the primary reasons and I’m hoping it will finally be the solution I’ve been looking for.

 

[Boston Mangler]

Beautiful truck and build sir!

Any long time feedback on the ADGU drawer system? Any rattles? Pro/Cons?

I am having a hard time deciding on a drawer system

Thanks.

 

[HSTexan]

Beautiful truck and build sir!

Any long time feedback on the ADGU drawer system? Any rattles? Pro/Cons?

I am having a hard time deciding on a drawer system

Thanks.

I still absolutely love it; since I installed the fridge slide I had it set up with a single side sleeper and went ahead and pulled that sleeper as well. I haven’t needed it but it’s only a handful of small allens to install that piano hinge with the sleeper again.

As far as noise there are really only 3 that I’ve had, the first is when the sleeper is stowed if there is nothing on top it can bounce on some really big bumps. I looked at a few solutions, the most simple being drill a hole through it and the top of the drawers and install a bolt and wingnut to keep it tight. It never became annoying enough for me to do, though that is part of the reason I just went ahead and roomed the sleeper while I don’t need it.

The second noise was a mysterious clicking that developed my first winter. We somehow figured out that I just needed to reseat my metal front trim and giving it a good hammer made it go completely away. The last is a bit of a creak which we narrowed to the latch. I usually leave my drawers unloaded around town and when I recently loaded them back up for a trip I had moved some stuff around and had more weight than previously in one. That latch was making a creaking when I drove from a stop and the tail sagged a bit. Some white lithium grease was all it needed to make that go away.

Kyle and Andy have always been super helpful and responsive to any questions or troubleshooting. The trim clicking was a tough one because they’d never seen it before, but we got it sorted out pretty quickly. I put a bit of yoga mat in the bottom and am constantly surprised how little I hear from back there. I’d definitely buy them again 100%

 

[Boston Mangler]

I still absolutely love it; since I installed the fridge slide I had it set up with a single side sleeper and went ahead and pulled that sleeper as well. I haven’t needed it but it’s only a handful of small allens to install that piano hinge with the sleeper again.

As far as noise there are really only 3 that I’ve had, the first is when the sleeper is stowed if there is nothing on top it can bounce on some really big bumps. I looked at a few solutions, the most simple being drill a hole through it and the top of the drawers and install a bolt and wingnut to keep it tight. It never became annoying enough for me to do, though that is part of the reason I just went ahead and roomed the sleeper while I don’t need it.

The second noise was a mysterious clicking that developed my first winter. We somehow figured out that I just needed to reseat my metal front trim and giving it a good hammer made it go completely away. The last is a bit of a creak which we narrowed to the latch. I usually leave my drawers unloaded around town and when I recently loaded them back up for a trip I had moved some stuff around and had more weight than previously in one. That latch was making a creaking when I drove from a stop and the tail sagged a bit. Some white lithium grease was all it needed to make that go away.

Kyle and Andy have always been super helpful and responsive to any questions or troubleshooting. The trim clicking was a tough one because they’d never seen it before, but we got it sorted out pretty quickly. I put a bit of yoga mat in the bottom and am constantly surprised how little I hear from back there. I’d definitely buy them again 100%

Thank you very much