The rack is a cheapo unit from Amazon. Used the mcmaster u-bolts with the cross bars that came with the basket. Then fabbed the traction board mounts from 1/8 x 1 aluminum.
Good job !!!!! I have spent the last few weekends giving my trailer some TLC. I am torn about doing a spring over axle conversion on it for some more ground clearance but there days I mostly use it to haul my dirt bike around, so that extra height mat be a pain in the arse when loading it (the ramp up is already pretty steep). It's only a couple of hours work to do and another couple to return it so I may do it and see. I am going to replace the springs at some point with some galvanized jobbies so I may hold and do it all together.
So there were big plans today.....have all my drawings done for the frame for the back deck I want welded up. Also printed some pics of the old one so he could recall the job he did for me before.....bounded out and was at the workshop at 9am at which point I remembered he is a Seventh Day Adventist (I don't even know how I knew that) and of course today is his Sunday....so back home via Micky D's with my plans shot down. I then saw the vinyl flooring I got last year and thought "why not"....not I hurt allover and am asking "why" LOL First of all this should have been done in warm weather as the flooring would be more supple and easier to work, but it is what is it.....I also realised that the wax pen marks that they drew on for "where to cut" were pretty f"ing roughly placed and the "some trimming required" was the understatement of the year. Fitting required me to pull the seats, consoles and seat belts and that when you do all that you find a bunch of spots that have not been cleaned since the truck was assembled ....!!!!! So a good bit of time was cleaning !!!! I also had to consult with YouTube to find out a couple of the tricks involved in getting this apart !!!!! I also destroys one of Mrs Andy's plants in the garden when I fell backwards into it carrying the driver's seat (the choice was fell of drop the seat.....it's an expensive seat and bruises heal.... The mob that make these work in the taxi industry so they are more about function than looks but they are OK. There is another maker (that is used in the cargo bay) which are more expensive but a better finish, if I was not $$s into these I would go with them. Getting these cut in around the shift levers and and brake was a complete pain in the arse and there is one spot I am not happy with. Apparently when they heat up in the car naturally things settle and take more form.. Seats out and cleaning started.... Fast forward around 5hrs... I have to pull the back seat and lay the back floor tomorrow before I can put everything back and finish.....beer and a lay down time now...LOL
It’s always worse than it looks. Needs to be completely replaced. Don’t know, didn’t see when it happened or who did it. People suck.
Another 5hrs invested in the flooring project and now all the seats (front and back) all the consoles and everything is back in and, most unusually, not a singe part left over. Also managed to bled across the new back flooring which justifies the very reason I did this...clean up was a damp rag !!!
First trip with the trailer was a success! It tracked great offroad, didn't have to be overly mindful of where it went on the trail, it is narrow enough to stay right where I wanted it. Now to start looking for better storage solutions. These worked ok but aren't water proof. Nothing got wet though. Also looking for an offroad coupler. I had to be mindful of the hitch in a few situations.
.......one simple job....so much swearing and bloodshed.... Bought this truck with a UHF radio fitted. I kept the UHF and and antenna from my old truck (both much better) to fit into this one. I pull the UHF out of this one not long after I got it as the antenna plug had detached anyway and figured I wouldn't both till I as ready to fit the new one. So I am ready to spec out the floor console I want to add to this and there were things I need to do beforehand (the UHF will mount in the console in a custom space - just have to finalise in my mind what else will go there, 1 x 12v cig lighter space, 2x 12v USB chargers and if I can get it maybe the fuel gauge for the long range fuel tank I will eventually add (I may but the gauge alone and add it now). The main one was the flooring so with that out of the way I figured I would do the quick and easy one today, bolting on my antenna and running the cable into the cabin....yeah....easy I said..... taught neighbour lady some new ways to abuse something......!!! It was easy enough till I got to the back near the second battery cradle. I pulled the batter (heavy f'ing thing it is) and had to tie the cabling around it all back so I could work, to my horror I realised that the cradle for the second battery blocked access to the bung in the firewall that the electrical pass through. To be able to shove that antenna lead through I would need to remove it but noted that the ECU and such are all attached to it - ergo great risk of me gorilla fisting something expensive. Got smart and just attached the old cable inside to the new one working on the bright idea I would pull it through easily. Nope old cable sailed away leaving the new one hanging in the engine bay. After some pacing and swearing (during which time I removed one of the bash plates from under the truck to retrieve a socket that I dropped and which was not kind enough to fall through to the ground.... ..... I got a clever idea (for me....chopped up a coat hanger and pushed it through from inside the cabin.....then taped about a foot of the cable to a foot of coat hanger and created a taper at the leading point. Sprayed it with silicon spray and summoned Mrs Andy.....said pull that wire slowing till I tell you to stop or you see black cable (used silver tape). I threaded my dainty little hand down to guide the cable to the bung and even I was shock when it worked...!!!!!!!
Sounds like one of my fiascos! Getting my radio and accessory power cabling into the cabin on my X has been a chore!
View attachment 55330 View attachment 55329 My daily rider year round (the black one), and the family vehicle for nearly 6 years now (the blue one in the creek). No plans of changing either any year soon (I may add another proper dual sport to the stable since I insist on still riding trails, LOL, but not getting rid of either of these) Oh, I'm new here (my first post), nice to meet everyone. BTW, I LOVE my Esee knives! ✌
See....an FJ Toyota....and man of discerning taste, class and style.....!!!!! Welcome to the forums !!!
Was up for over 37hrs before making it to bed at 7pm last night and then slept close to 12hrs !!!!!!! Woke with a bright idea to sort out the solar input into my battery management system as well as adapt the garage solar panel (maintenance charger) to plug into the same spot. A visit to the electrical place and got some gear.... and after a bit I have the input set up.... ...... I wanted to hard mount the input plug but could not fin a suitable spot that had it in a workable location. As it wont ever be used with the vehicle in motion I decided to cable time it onto a thick harness and add a rubber cover. I have a larger folding "solar blanket" that can plug straight into this and which will make running my power hungry fridge a bit easier if I don't want to haul it out and hook it up on gas. I then cannibalised the cigarette lighter plug adaptor for the solar maintenance charger and added an Anderson Plug to it so it van just plug in here as well. Realised later that I didn't add an inline fuse holder (getting late and I was rushing) so I will open up the heat shrink tomorrow undo some soldered joints and add the fuse (I think it is a little overkill but it's not a big job).
@Andy the Aussie what do you have going on for solar and what’s it for? I have always been interested in solar. For the house and vehicles.
I have a 200w solar blanket.... .....that now plugs into the battery management system to keep both the cranking and auxiliary batter charged (battyer management keep both topped up directing power to each as needed. I have several 12v outlets (including 1x50AMP ) so can run most things as needed - add a larger inverter and I could do more but I don't need it. Mostly the fridge and lights.
Some more updates! Added a tablet mount above my Ham radio head unit. This will be nice running my APRS software and mapping programs. And today my carpenter buddy Ron helped me build the cabinet for a drawer set for the back of the Xterra for my tools and gear. I think it's coming along good!
..... excellent work mate. Just received the frame for the deck I am putting in the back of my truck from the welding place last night. So cutting out the top is this weekend's project. Just need it to warm up a bit outside to start.
So...... today went "OK".... didn't start well but I got caught up. Launched out to the local hardware place to but the ply top, leg caps and some abrasive wheels to get the deck base cleaned up and in place so I could start to measure and cut the ply for the top. This should have been easy..... my local place is less than 5mins from home. Get there and grab the wheels some files some other cleaning gear (unrelated to the task at hand) and then discover that the leg caps I want are the ONLY size they are sold out of......FFS......so grab what I can (except the sheet of ply as it needed t go up on the roof rack and would overhang so didn't wan to drive around too much with it up there) and go to another hardware place a little further up the road....no luck for the caps there but did get a big bottle of Isopropyl Alcohol I wanted.so not a loss. There is a BIG branch of the hardware chain about 15mins away so I headed off there and it was a crap fight. Limits of the amount of people inside so I had to line up and they did a 5 out 5 in routine....grabbed the leg caps (and a new circular saw as I walked out ) I needed but the crowd and such annoyed me so I returned to my local branch for the ply. Of course the size I wanted was not there but they had another pallet of it they went and moved in for me. Had to sift through half the sheets to get one I was happy with and then wrestle it up on the roof rack. Paid and tried to leave but some complete f#cktard in his new Merc had parked everyone who was using the drive through/trade area in while he went to look for something......I was ready to launch into him but two Irish tradies beat me to it and he quick shuffled into his car and took off allowing the queued up ten other vehicles out. With all that out of the way I got home.....ate and actually started work...... Frame as collected..... ....gave it a hit with the wire and abrasive wheels, took off any sharp edges (because if I left one it is a given I would find it with the back of my hand or fingers while loading/unloading in the middle of the night somewhere) and then test fitted it. He built it exactly to my measurements but I had gotten the length of the two outside back legs wrong (too long) so the middle back leg was not sitting on the floor. It's a bitch to measure as with the flooring and underlay there is not a nice easy flat spot to work with so I guesstimated (with a tape and some pressing etc) it was around 1cm that needed to come off each leg...started by taking 0.5cm off each and test fitted then another 0.5cm and all is good now. As it was cooling off I decided that was enough for the night.... ....only thing he missed was a chain link (welded in as an eyelet) I wanted on the inside of each back leg and the front outside legs. Once the top is cut and at the upholsterer I will run the base back out for him to spot those in for me. I really want to Cerakote it but that means I need it blasted and that means I need to find someone to do it for me, then once I spray it allow it a week to cure.....I will see how long the upholsterer wants to do his part.....
