Jump to content

PathyGig12

Members
  • Posts

    407
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    30

Everything posted by PathyGig12

  1. Yeah this sounds exactly like the issue I had before I changed my trailing arms. I just did the lowers and it got rid of the sway, but it’s a good idea to do the uppers as well. They control the twisting of the axle under load/braking and if the lowers are crapping out then it’s likely the uppers are pretty close behind. Only reason I did the lowers alone was because the uppers were already done a couple years prior
  2. Cool thanks John. Can’t remember what I used for the transfer
  3. I’ve been considering doing a drain and fill for the tranny fluid since it’s been at least 5 years, but I’m having a tough time figuring out which fluid to use. I know Matic D is recommended, but it’s super expensive and I’d like to find an alternative. Walmart had the valvoline Maxlife multivehicle ATF in the red gallon bottle and on the back it specifically says that it’s compatible with Matic D, so I picked one up. But the more I look into it, it seems that people are saying it needs to be a DexIII/merc instead of the one I got which is technically DexIV Will it work or nah?
  4. Shoot I wish I was that organized with my wiring! Right now I’m just happy if it’s good enough to not worry about an electrical fire breaking out
  5. Three stage roller bearing slides, just some basic 24” ones from Amazon. Not heavy duty or anything, but still rated for 100lbs each pair.
  6. I pulled the cover off but wasn’t feeling motivated enough to make cutouts in the base of my drawer frame to allow access. It’s not a whole lot of space down there and I can’t imagine really needing it for anything. Access would be difficult anyway since the drawer boxes are in the way
  7. I’m honestly not even sure my air bags work anymore, haven’t had anyone look at them since I got the truck 6 years ago. oh well In regards to getting wiring up to the overhead panel, I’ve had to rewire mine 3 or 4 times since I first put them up there and each time was an absolute pain. I got to the point where I didn’t even bother doing it properly because I kept changing my lighting or redoing which switch went to which light, so my wiring was just tucked above the secondary sun visors, rationalizing that Id do it properly someday. Ive got them under the headliner and A pillars now, the only ones exposed are the few that run to the monitor on the dash. Haven’t found a good solution for that section yet With that many switches it just becomes a pain because of how many wires Are involved. Keeping it all organized is the hardest part. When I go to install the new panel I’m going to have to tie together the related ones and keep things from jumbling together because last time I managed to lose track and spent a couple hours trying different combos
  8. Yeah this was the best way I could find to make full use of the space but not have to cut out the plastic hatch panel
  9. There are slides on the drawers, just can’t see them! Ha, I was wondering who would notice first. They’re actually under mounted. After messing around with the standard set up I just couldn’t get them to roll smoothly because of all the geometry involved, so I basically took the slides and mounted them to base with thick beefy angle brackets and then put a 2x4 on the bottom of each of the drawers to screw the slides into so they still function identically to side mounted slides but the spacing between them is only 4 inches and they make a sandwich with the 2x4. I was initially concerned with the stability but so far so good. There is a tiny bit of flex clockwise/counter clockwise but as long as I don’t put all of the weight on one corner of the drawer (which would be dumb anyway), everything works great. And of course the added benefit of doing it this way is that I have a couple inches of room under each drawer to stash longer items like breaker bars, prybars, etc. I also went with 2’ long drawers instead of the full 30” so that I could still stash water, jack stand, recovery equipment, air compressor, and the spare CV behind the back seats. I need to hardwire and mount the compressor eventually but for now it’s sitting in the cargo area. I haven’t decided yet whether I want a small air tank to go along with it, in which case I would put it where the spare used to go, and then mount the compressor close by for simplicity’s sake. Anyway, I still need to either carpet or paint the the drawer boxes. So far I’ve only got the carpet on the front face and bottom of each drawer Here’s a quick pick of the mounting set up. I need to chop the slide bolts down a bit or get some shorter ones, I was playing around with fitment to see if the idea was feasible and I only had that length on hand so I just went with it and before I knew it the drawers were done lol
  10. You might be wondering why I took pics of a dirty truck at a car wash lol. I was about to spray it down but then I remembered we have more snow coming later in the week so I just did some internal cleaning instead and realized I had some decent lighting for pics so I grabbed a couple. Drawers are mostly done. I redid the boxes and slides so they function perfectly now. I just need to finish carpeting the interiors. They’re not millimeter perfect, but I’m quite happy with the result. I’m curious if anyone will catch what’s strange about them... The rack is done as well but I’m still playing with the routing of the wires. I’m considering getting/making an awning for the left side so I’ll be grateful for the height of the rack. I put the two 7” pods on the corners but when I put the main bar between them it was whistling above 20mph so I have to leave it off until I can figure out where it’s coming from. The light output between the three was astonishing though! I also managed to close the hatch glass finally but it’s no longer functional so I’ll need to replace the hatch eventually. I removed the panel and found that it was bent at the spot with the most reinforcement so it’s not salvageable. You’d need a big sledge to bend it back but the effects of the various bends are not easy to track down so it would never be perfect again. Always two steps forward and one back with this truck! Oh and we’re doing a vegas trip in a couple weeks so I convinced the girlfriend to let me detour through Moab and hit a trail or two. Pretty excited, I’ll make sure to get lots of pics.
  11. I went back to check the eBay listing and I think it was the G spec that I got. Oh well, rattle cans to the rescue lol
  12. This is an awesome find. I ordered one as well, not sure what trim color it matches but honestly I couldn’t care less because a quick shot of paint will make it whatever I want. I just want something to replace my current set up because it’s too cramped behind the panel with all of the wiring and even though its functional, it does look out of place
  13. The rack looks fantastic man! A lot more refined than mine I love the idea of using aluminum extrusion and I agree its the best stuff for this application, I just couldn’t get past the price tag. Also, you mention it’s around 70 lbs, thats pretty surprising for aluminum but I guess with all of those crossbars it makes sense. I think mine is sitting around 50 or so I haven’t weighed it but I can lift it pretty easily with one hand so it can’t be much more than that. How many attachment points did you go with? I like the idea of a deflector, I might have to figure out how to add one eventually. The front is still flat for now so I’d have to chop a diagonal and then get some 1/8 plate steel to weld on. That’s a lot of work just for some wind deflection.... maybe if I have some time down the road. I do like how the sides of your rack are more low profile, I went with a height of 6” on mine to maximize support of the sides for bulky items but it may have been a little too much. The lights arrived so I’ll put them on later tonight and post up some pics soon
  14. Oh and here’s a fun update. Last week my girlfriend back into a pole somehow and cracked the welds on my tire carrier where the A-frame meets the lateral base of the swing gate..... The pole had plenty of leverage from the tire I guess, and it was enough to crack the welds and tip the whole thing into the back hatch, denting up the section just below the glass. The hatch still works fine but the glass no longer latches properly after I managed to get it open, so I’m on the hunt for a new hatch at a junkyard. I was considering removing the inside panel and banging things back out but the damage is pretty extensive and it also messed up the mount for the rear wiper. Wiring up the new hatch when I track one down should be fun. So far I’ve only had time to redo the welds and added some reinforcement plate to strengthen the connection. The hatch will have to wait until I have some extra cash and time
  15. Ha, you’re right the rack is definitely pretty “safari” inspired. I was almost tempted to use old school round lights for the front but decided against it. I ordered a set of 7” bars that will go on either end, and together they put out 24k lumens, which beats my original bar by a good 5K. Haven’t decided yet whether I want to keep the main bar between the two newer ones or just leave it off, but I’ll make the final call based on looks. Either way I’ll have tons of light output. Anyway, I’m sticking to the policy, no pics until it’s done! Like everything else on the truck it’s not perfect but I like it a lot so far. I like the larger footprint in terms of both looks and functionality, even though its pretty utilitarian in design and not the flashiest. One of my goals for the truck is to have the ability to grab the essentials and get out of the city if @!*% gets bad, which is serious possibility lately between the pandemic and political craziness. I needed the extra room on the roof for a few gas cans, my luggage roof bag, and the second spare tire. The back seat needs to be free for the pets and my trunk is full of tools and spare parts. Given the fact that the pathy is not huge like an 80 series, its short on space to begin with, so I felt pretty limited with the old roof set up. The drawer boxes themselves will need to be rebuilt but the main frame of the system will stay the way it is so it’s not really a full redesign. There’s no point in continuing to tweak the existing boxes since they are going to be so full of holes soon that they’ll be questionable in terms of strength. I want this setup to be cleanly built and super durable so it lasts the life of the truck. Better to start from scratch and make them fit right this time around.
  16. Too late now, already disassembled it further. On Tuesday Im gonna redo the boxes and remount them, they were a little wonky anyway so it’s probably best. At least this forces me to slow down and make sure it’s all perfect
  17. Bit of a set back yesterday. Was putting the finishing touches on the drawers and unmounted them out to do the last bit of painting for the parts that didn’t need carpet, but when I put them back in they no longer rode smoothly on the slides. Well @!*% I reused the same screw holes and everything stayed structurally the same, so I can’t think of anything that could be messing them up. Super bummed right now. Need to leave them for a few days and plan a new approach. After a couple hours of fiddling I was quite close to grabbing the sledge hammer
  18. Rack is done and mounted, need to wire up the lights still. I really have to be in the right mindset to do anything electrical so I’ve been putting it off. I’m still trying to source a different light bar for the front so that’s my main excuse. I won’t post pics until it’s fully set up but the rack itself is very sturdy and the wind noise seems to be less than with the previous set up. The only issue I had was a bit of whistling because two of the mounting tabs in the front were catching the air JUST right, but Im using hooks to plug them so it’s all good now. Im also pretty much done building the drawer system. It’s mounted using the 4 cargo tie downs in the back and I used 1/2 inch plywood with drawers slides. I just put on the carpeting yesterday and now I need to finish the last few things like adding handles and organizing the tools and spare parts inside of them, but they are 100% functional as of right now. Instead of regular carpeting, I went with the stuff that they use for oil spill pads because it’s heavy duty and has a rubber backing that won’t let oil, grease, and solvents seep into the wood. I’ve learned from my previous spills back there that it’s bound to happen, either from tipping something over or from the dirty tools I think in total, the drawers only add around 30lbs and I don’t notice any effect on the ride height. The rear still feels roughly the same as well. The drawers are only 24 inches so I have some space behind the seats for longer tools, recovery stuff, and water storage. Again, no pics until they’re finalized and the interiors are organized. I’ve got big plans for the layout, gonna be awesome
  19. It’s coming along nicely. Only have a little bit of free time here and there so I’ve been tackling it in stages. I’ve welded the verticals and crossbars on now, as well as the mounting tabs for the lights and tools, plus a few extra for tie down points. It got its first coat of paint day before yesterday and last night I bed lined it to give it some better resistance to chipping and scratching. It was -6 degrees when I sprayed it, so that was fun. I’m just determined to get this damn thing done. I left the truck idling next to the garage so I could hop in and warm up every few minutes Anyway, I also managed to mount the lights and tools once it was dry to the touch, now it’s just a matter of mounting the rack to the rails and soldering the wires up. You’ll notice I gave up on the idea of mounting the bar under the rack, and that’s mostly because the angle of the brackets that come with the bar don’t allow enough adjustability to aim the bar correctly when mounted upside down, so I could either bend my mounting tabs or put it right side up and I went with the latter for now. Looks pretty small with a full width rack though! I think I’ll have to upgrade to a 50” pretty soon lol Gotta love the makeshift painting set up/ repurposed heavy bag chain. The biggest challenge was keeping overspray off of the riding gear
  20. Interesting. I’ll see what I can come up with
  21. Thanks goat. I think you might be on to something with the 4 mounts thing, I just wasn’t sure it would be strong enough. Like I mentioned earlier, an amber bar is definitely on my short list. At the very least adding amber lens film to the front of mine I hear you on the wind noise but I don’t really mind it that much. My current set up has LOTS of wind noise but I’ve gotten used to it by now
  22. Bingo, I think it’s the best way to be able to get that full width
  23. I’m not sure I follow what you mean? The cross bars of the basket will be perpendicular to the frame rails of the truck and sit directly on top of them. With the wedge spacers for the ends the basket will sit flat along the roof and the bolting will be the same for all of the crossbars. The idea is to use a modified bracket that works like a U-bolt for each crossbar and bolts into two captured nuts in the rail The adjustability in the brackets shapes will allow for the slight angle change that the wedge spacers will make relative to the rails
×
×
  • Create New...