Builds TonyP's Build

[TonyP]

Spent about 7 hours giving it a detail job (compound and wax) after the hell I put it through in the past two weeks. It cleans up nicely.

Probably aren't going to be much more mods for a bit. I'm possibly headed to Kuwait next month for several months.

 

[Rigger]

You're in the military, sir?

 

[TonyP]

You're in the military, sir?

Yup, Air Force, 16 year mark is on the 28th of August.

 

[Rigger]

Thanks for your service.

Post up some pics from over there.

And come back safe.

 

[TonyP]

After all the nonsense I put this thing through, I start it up this morning and see this. Blinking 4LO with check engine and trac off. Not in limp mode. I was too lazy to find my techstream cable so I swung by the dealer, they wanted $55 to diagnose. Nope, drove home and found my cable, hooked up techstream, cleared codes. All gravy now. I did clean my engine so I guess water got somewhere.

Moral of the story, buy a techstream cable.

 

[TexAZ]

Tony, did you use the light bar in the front bumper on the night runs?
what did you think of the placement? did it help with picking out the holes/dips/rocks or do you think a higher mounted bar would have been better?

still pissed I ripped a giant hole in my ridge grappler because I couldn't see the ground in front of the truck very well. The 08' stock fog lights were just about useless.

 

[TonyP]

Tony, did you use the light bar in the front bumper on the night runs?
what did you think of the placement? did it help with picking out the holes/dips/rocks or do you think a higher mounted bar would have been better?

still pissed I ripped a giant hole in my ridge grappler because I couldn't see the ground in front of the truck very well. The 08' stock fog lights were just about useless.

The light bar works very well at it's current location. I used it quite a bit in Moab. I could see just about everything at normal trail driving speed before I reached it.

The spotties on either side aren't great. Not the placement so much as the light pencil-like output and lack of output. They get overpowered by the bar. I'm looking at replacing them with angled floods to get more 45* light spread so I can see where I'm turning. Or just pulling them out completely and going a different route.

I had a light bar on my 4Runner that was on the roof rack. I MUCH prefer the bumper mount location for a variety of reasons. Only "downside" is it gathers bugs and dirt. But a quick wipe-down before using and it's good to go.

 

[Atwalz]

The light bar works very well at it's current location. I used it quite a bit in Moab. I could see just about everything at normal trail driving speed before I reached it.

The spotties on either side aren't great. Not the placement so much as the light pencil-like output and lack of output. They get overpowered by the bar. I'm looking at replacing them with angled floods to get more 45* light spread so I can see where I'm turning. Or just pulling them out completely and going a different route.

I had a light bar on my 4Runner that was on the roof rack. I MUCH prefer the bumper mount location for a variety of reasons. Only "downside" is it gathers bugs and dirt. But a quick wipe-down before using and it's good to go.

You don't want to be in front of @TonyP when the lights are on. Ask me how I know?

 

[TonyP]

You don't want to be in front of @TonyP when the lights are on. Ask me how I know?

Hey! I said let me know if it was too bright and I'll turn it off

 

[Markuson]

Tony, did you use the light bar in the front bumper on the night runs?
what did you think of the placement? did it help with picking out the holes/dips/rocks or do you think a higher mounted bar would have been better?

still pissed I ripped a giant hole in my ridge grappler because I couldn't see the ground in front of the truck very well. The 08' stock fog lights were just about useless.

Personally, I find high-,mounted lights less helpful because they fill in holes with light at an angle that eliminates your eye's perception of shadows. -While there are still shadows farther down the hole, you can't see the shadow because the light is higher than your eyes--meaning you lose depth perception and identification of the size of bumps & depth presence of holes at higher speeds.

An experience some may relate to is snow skiing. -When you have low-angled sunlight, you can perceive the contour of the snow much better than high-noon sun...because the low angle of light adds much needed shading behind bumps and within holes/depressions. Also, it provides perception of snow texture (ice vs. powder, etc.). This is also true of landscape photography. High-noon makes for flat photos, where low-angle light provides depth and shadowed outlines.

For this same reason, I find bright lights that are BELOW eye level much more helpful. I learned this from doing extensive, technical mountain biking in the pitch dark of night. -I keep my most powerful light on my handlebars (3600 lumens)...and a less powerful light (1800 Lumens) on my helmet for directing light where I'm looking...but the main light on my handlebars--being lower than my eyes--creates extremely helpful shadowed outlines that provide perception of contour, holes and obstacles. If the light is mainly above my eyes? -I lose the outlines, and therefore depth perception is replaced by illumination ONLY. In my experience, the same is true on my truck...which means I will NOT be adding roof-level driving lights at any point. I might add side lighting, rear, etc., but definitely not driving lights up high.

 

[TexAZ]

Tony, did you check the codes before clearing them?

my truck did the same thing this morning. Flashing 4LO, check engine. pulled codes at lunch: 2401, 2402, 2419, 0430
looks like evap canister. wonder if the gas system is normalizing from the boiling purge of moab?

 

[TonyP]

There were about 6 codes in the system. I didn't copy them down though.

 

[Markuson]

After all the nonsense I put this thing through, I start it up this morning and see this. Blinking 4LO with check engine and trac off. Not in limp mode. I was too lazy to find my techstream cable so I swung by the dealer, they wanted $55 to diagnose. Nope, drove home and found my cable, hooked up techstream, cleared codes. All gravy now. I did clean my engine so I guess water got somewhere.

Moral of the story, buy a techstream cable.

Interesting...because I got the same error the morning after driving all the way back to San Diego!

4Lo flashing...check engine light...and a "Check VSC System" message on my dash.

My solution?
-Disconnected battery...
-Reconnected battery...
...and all was right with the world again.

Go figure...

 

[TonyP]

That's wild. Three people so far? Must be a recalibration thing from the various terrains over a short period of time. There was an option for recalibrating a couple of sensors in techstream but I just cleared the codes.

I'm thinking of switching to a windows tablet for navigation so I can run techstream from there too. Then run an android emulator for my mapping.

 

[Markuson]

Tony, did you check the codes before clearing them?

my truck did the same thing this morning. Flashing 4LO, check engine. pulled codes at lunch: 2401, 2402, 2419, 0430
looks like evap canister. wonder if the gas system is normalizing from the boiling purge of moab?

No. Didn't have a device.

I did discover that my battery terminal connection was pretty loose.
Wondering if it was caused by a vibrating connection that was cutting power briefly and creating electrical havoc...

Time will tell...

What device are you using?

 

[TexAZ]

@Markuson swing by an autozone/checkers/oreily and pick up a $50 OBDII scanner. they plug into the port under the dash in the drivers footwell. you can read the codes, check online to make sure they aren't serious and clear them without erasing all your radio stations

it is odd that we all had similar issues.... @Atwalz , did you have the gas fume issue on Top of the world? will be interesting to see if you get the same codes.

 

[kreiten]

@Markuson swing by an autozone/checkers/oreily and pick up a $50 OBDII scanner. they plug into the port under the dash in the drivers footwell. you can read the codes, check online to make sure they aren't serious and clear them without erasing all your radio stations

it is odd that we all had similar issues.... @Atwalz , did you have the gas fume issue on Top of the world? will be interesting to see if you get the same codes.

Gas fumes for a chunk of the long day in Moab, no codes for me...

 

[TonyP]

No. Didn't have a device.

I did discover that my battery terminal connection was pretty loose.
Wondering if it was caused by a vibrating connection that was cutting power briefly and creating electrical havoc...

Time will tell...

What device are you using?

Talking to me?

I use a Galaxy Tab 10.5 now for mapping. I might swing by Best Buy today to see what kind of windows tab I can get that'll fit in my holder.

 

[Markuson]

@Markuson swing by an autozone/checkers/oreily and pick up a $50 OBDII scanner. they plug into the port under the dash in the drivers footwell. you can read the codes, check online to make sure they aren't serious and clear them without erasing all your radio stations

it is odd that we all had similar issues.... @Atwalz , did you have the gas fume issue on Top of the world? will be interesting to see if you get the same codes.

Ya... I used to have a reader, but I think it may have been in my 100 when I sold it. Was wondering if y'all had any particular favorite device...

InterestingLy, I did NOT have bubbling fuel this time on TOTW in Moab...but did last year. But wow... Tony's was not just boiling. -It was POURING fuel like two faucets that were not quite turned off. Like...A LOT of fuel. So strange. TOTW is like the Burmuda Triangle of fuel weirdness..

 

[TonyP]

Ya... I used to have a reader, but I think it may have been in my 100 when I sold it. Was wondering if y'all had any particular favorite device...

InterestingLy, I did NOT have bubbling fuel this time on TOTW in Moab...but did last year. But wow... Tony's was not just boiling. -It was POURING fuel like two faucets that were not quite turned off. Like...A LOT of fuel. So strange. TOTW is like the Burmuda Triangle of fuel weirdness..

There were fumes coming from your gas cap. I could see it while I was behind you.

I do trail drive like a degenerate so I'm sure that exasperated the issue.