2006 Tundra Overlander Build Thread and Trip Pics
- Thread starter spazstic
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spazstic
Lives for the weekend
One of my favorite memories in this truck. We were out by the Salton Sea at dusk and in a valley I noticed a lot of green plants but no water. I got out and walked down. The ground was hard and seemed safe to pass. Once we drove on it, we broke through the crust and this goopy horrible mud just sucked the truck in.
My wife was incredible... Nothing negative to say, just positivity even when I wanted to quit. We dragged dozens of nearby railroad ties and buried them in each corner using the hi-lift until we got each wheel up on one, then I attempted to gun it out, but got stuck even worse. The Hi-lift kept jamming with mud, so we used Dr. pepper to clean it, so we'd conserve our water. Repeated the process but made a road out the second time, which finally worked. Lost our shoes in the knee deep mud, it took 5 hours of digging but we made it. If we weren't already married, I'd have proposed to her that night.
The truck has numerous dents in it that all have a story... One of the dents is this story, and was from the hi-lift slipping out.
My wife was incredible... Nothing negative to say, just positivity even when I wanted to quit. We dragged dozens of nearby railroad ties and buried them in each corner using the hi-lift until we got each wheel up on one, then I attempted to gun it out, but got stuck even worse. The Hi-lift kept jamming with mud, so we used Dr. pepper to clean it, so we'd conserve our water. Repeated the process but made a road out the second time, which finally worked. Lost our shoes in the knee deep mud, it took 5 hours of digging but we made it. If we weren't already married, I'd have proposed to her that night.
The truck has numerous dents in it that all have a story... One of the dents is this story, and was from the hi-lift slipping out.
spazstic
Lives for the weekend
BUILD PICS
The original RTT rack. I made it so that it'd clear the ARB fridge below and still allow me to open it to grab something quick out (beer). This made it stick above the cab a little, so I made a loop that protected the front of the tent from low-hanging branches. (Sold when I did the camper shell mod)
Prior to kids, the dogs traveled with us. I made this to replace the backseat. Memory foam top, hinged at the back, lots of dry storage inside. The ramp slid out and attached to either side for the dogs to get in and out. The ramp was just some extra wire shelving doubled up. Worked great... Until the kids came along!
ARB fridge slide I made
Front grille mod. Just used fiberglass (I like the stuff with hair in it), cut out the emblem, sand, paint, use expanded metal for the center, done.
The original RTT rack. I made it so that it'd clear the ARB fridge below and still allow me to open it to grab something quick out (beer). This made it stick above the cab a little, so I made a loop that protected the front of the tent from low-hanging branches. (Sold when I did the camper shell mod)
Prior to kids, the dogs traveled with us. I made this to replace the backseat. Memory foam top, hinged at the back, lots of dry storage inside. The ramp slid out and attached to either side for the dogs to get in and out. The ramp was just some extra wire shelving doubled up. Worked great... Until the kids came along!
ARB fridge slide I made
Front grille mod. Just used fiberglass (I like the stuff with hair in it), cut out the emblem, sand, paint, use expanded metal for the center, done.
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spazstic
Lives for the weekend
Roof racks and camper shell frame. I wanted the full load to go from the RTT roof rack down to the bedsides. I also wanted it to be removable. I used exhaust flanges and it turned out well. The camper shell has some thickness, so spacers need to be glued into place, connecting the internal frame to the external.
spazstic
Lives for the weekend
Bed drawers. I got the idea for this from "Pask Makes". He's an incredible woodworker and overall craftsman.
I had to modify the design as I wanted an upper bed slide in order to get to the stuff that would get buried at the back of the camper shell. If I could have, I would have bought a camper shell with sides that hinge open, but I bought this shell used for $300 - you take what you can get. I bought a big pack of skateboard bearings off Amazon for pretty cheap, and they've held up really well. I routinely have several hundred pounds on the slide and it still rolls very easily.
Note that the holes I drilled in the left were originally for the ARB fridge vent... My original idea was to have it sit in the drawer, to reduce the height to get into it (wife is tall at 5'9", but still too short!). I ended up just putting a stool on the side LOL.
Routed out notches for the upper bedslide bearings.
I had to modify the design as I wanted an upper bed slide in order to get to the stuff that would get buried at the back of the camper shell. If I could have, I would have bought a camper shell with sides that hinge open, but I bought this shell used for $300 - you take what you can get. I bought a big pack of skateboard bearings off Amazon for pretty cheap, and they've held up really well. I routinely have several hundred pounds on the slide and it still rolls very easily.
Note that the holes I drilled in the left were originally for the ARB fridge vent... My original idea was to have it sit in the drawer, to reduce the height to get into it (wife is tall at 5'9", but still too short!). I ended up just putting a stool on the side LOL.
Routed out notches for the upper bedslide bearings.
spazstic
Lives for the weekend
Bedslide. Just like the drawers, they sell these, but they're expensive - so I made my own. I used 1" steel framing, and then a long rod running through the center connected to a handle and a spring loaded mechanism I made at the back to latch it into place in a steel slot screwed into the top of the drawer frame. It works really well - very sturdy, and rolls smoothly even with hundreds of pounds on it. Really happy with how it turned out. The tracks have quick removable eyelets to strap stuff down, and the ARB fridge tie downs have them on there, hence why the center track is not centered - it lines up with the size of the ARB fridge. I then added some really heavy duty rubber to top it.
spazstic
Lives for the weekend
Front roof rack. With two kids, the fridge, gear bags, bikes, food, etc, the bed was getting cramped, and I needed a place to put firewood. So I made a roof rack for the top of the cab. All the aftermarket racks use rivet nuts, but I've never been a fan of those. So I removed the headliner and bolted it in at the pinch weld with large fender washers. Much stronger than rivnuts. I also added tabs for a light, the plate, and bent some steel rod to use as tie down points for the net I used over the firewood.
spazstic
Lives for the weekend
Almost forgot one of the biggest mods - I wanted to run a full size spare when tubbing the truck for 35s, but didn't want to use a swing tailgate, or put the tire on the roof. I also wanted to redo the rear suspension as I was running a softer Deaver pack and was going to upgrade to the Archive Garage Overlander Deaver pack. And I knew I wanted to put bigger and better bypasses on. So, a removal of the entire rear cross beam was done, and I boxed in the frame and added tubing above the frame. This allowed me to fit a 35 under the bed, with no cutting into the bed, and the tire, despite being 2.5" wider, actually sat higher up than the 33 did. I had a buddy who worked at King and gave me a deal on some custom Kings with welded rod ends to maximize the travel. I never measured it, but the amount of droop travel is insane. It was around this time I remove the entire proportioning valve system and replaced it with a manual Wilwood one as well. I didn't realize how much that proportioning valve was limiting braking - it was a big difference in stopping power afterward.
One leaf, checking travel and setting bypass locations
Also - the "X" isn't centered to reduce the amount I'd need to cut from the bottom of the bed rib.
One leaf, checking travel and setting bypass locations
Also - the "X" isn't centered to reduce the amount I'd need to cut from the bottom of the bed rib.
