Kelso's 2004 2500 Suburban build and adventures
- Thread starter Kyle Kelso
- Start date
That reminds me of a another build topic I have to unscrew thanks to Photobucket
I removed that factory intermediate console and built a new one to house my planned radios. And made a sliding door to cover them up.
awesome...you are a crafty little critter aren't ya!
rayra
Expedition Leader
I try. Been building all sorts of stuff ever since I was a kid. Lot of experience in all sorts of crafts and trades and tech. Not sure if I do it now to save money or because I can't afford a lot of things that I want. 'I prefer to think of it as 'custom fabrication'. Only thing I can't seem to build is a long-term profitable career.
Ha ha ha....really.I owned two businesses and sold them...and now, I started another..but that's not going great...So I may have to move to get the life we want. The burb will be going up for sale then...In Halifax there are many opportunities for me to make 75-100k where here there are none. but that garage door center console is sick!
rayra
Expedition Leader
thx for the kind words. I detailed the construction of that console in this topic, which I haven't repaired yet -
http://forum.expeditionportal.com/t...ling-and-heavy-gage-power-lines-under-vehicle
I'll try and fix it tonight.
~35yrs ago I was building gauge and switch consoles for my buddies for our baja bugs and POS lifted 2WD minitrucks that we offroaded the hell out of. We'd haul our bikes and ATCs up to the high desert and have a blast. The consoles were crude things, made from plywood and faced with textured plastic and sometimes skinned with thin sheetmetal. We made the lift kits out of plumbing pipe and standard hardware bolts. It was a very low budget affair. Gas, beer, big package of hot dogs. We'd ride 'til something broke or we ran out of gas.
I'm was the idiot with the sideways hat
http://forum.expeditionportal.com/t...ling-and-heavy-gage-power-lines-under-vehicle
I'll try and fix it tonight.
~35yrs ago I was building gauge and switch consoles for my buddies for our baja bugs and POS lifted 2WD minitrucks that we offroaded the hell out of. We'd haul our bikes and ATCs up to the high desert and have a blast. The consoles were crude things, made from plywood and faced with textured plastic and sometimes skinned with thin sheetmetal. We made the lift kits out of plumbing pipe and standard hardware bolts. It was a very low budget affair. Gas, beer, big package of hot dogs. We'd ride 'til something broke or we ran out of gas.
I'm was the idiot with the sideways hat
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Kyle Kelso
Adventurer
Well I got my racks up and awning installed. It looks really far off the side but its about in line with the widest part of the body, well within the width of the mirror. I want room for a shovel between it and the tent. Tent is assembled, just waiting to load it. I ordered another hardware set from Smittybilt so I can bolt it to the 3rd crossmember, should be here in the morning. I'm not sure if I could find the insert for the aluminum extrusion locally but I didn't have time to look. Tomorrow is going to be rushed to get to an out of town wedding! Didn't get much work done yesterday as my wife planned a little birthday hike for me. It looked like quite an effort to get up top of the little falls but it looked like a perfect slide off! Next time...
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Kyle Kelso
Adventurer
Got the tent on and the last last pair of nuts tightened just as my buddy and his family arrived. Nothing like trial by fire... let's hit the road! We cut one night out of our 6 day trip due to the need to run into the nearest town today for some Benadryl for my kid and heading back into the mountains at dinner time with thunder storms and rain all night we decided to just head home. The tent seems to work well, I really don't notice it on the roof of the 3/4 ton suburban while driving (road or trails) but packing up is a bit interesting. Haven't stepped through the sunroof yet! I love the setup with the RTT and awning for being on the road and exploring. The mattress in the Smittybilt is utter garbage. I thew a few of our closed cell foam pads underneath before we left but still definitely need to upgrade that as we are both side sleepers.
Our first night out we were in the area we wanted to camp in a river bed system just outside of Banff national park and ran into a conservation officer who warned us that, despite being established and legal trails even on the area map, anyone caught fording the river would be issued a ticket for wheels in the water. I always thought fording at established trail crossings was ok but we played it safe and found a sweet spot anyways! We were under a fire ban for the first couple nights which I was worried about as I'm used to big fires late into the night but honestly staying up with the kids until sunset and then getting ready for bed worked out rather well.
I didn't air down at all and the washboard and bumps on the road in the first day had us crawling around 30km/hr. Cars and minivans were blowing past us! I didn't get a deflators yet and couldn't find my pressure gauge so I just poked the valve stems for a minute until the tires looked a bit softer. Good enough! Much better, but not good enough. I need to take the time to air down appropriately and air back up, especially for longer trips as the poor truck took a heck of a beating when bad washboard would form on some steep hills. I need new shocks and have a rattle from the back end which sounds to me like a worn shock mount but haven't confirmed yet. Unfortunately one of the legs came apart on my awning so I'll have to call them and get that replaced. One of the risks of buying stuff from Smittybilt...
Overall we had a great trip. Kid didn't want to leave and mama bear was a happy camper other than the crap mattress and not packing her warmer sleeping bag (like I suggested!)
We spent about 45 minutes on a random old abandoned logging trail before deciding it was not going where we wanted. Nothing technical but crossed some washouts and crawled up and down some steep loose rock sections that demanded low range. Other than dragging the hitch and running boards a couple times the truck did surprisingly well. The tires did better than I expected and we even had to cross one mud hole just over axle deep which was drama free. I'll find my go pro eventually but here are some pictures
How do you insert pictures part way through the post so I can write a bit about each picture? Possible using Tapatalk?
Our first night out we were in the area we wanted to camp in a river bed system just outside of Banff national park and ran into a conservation officer who warned us that, despite being established and legal trails even on the area map, anyone caught fording the river would be issued a ticket for wheels in the water. I always thought fording at established trail crossings was ok but we played it safe and found a sweet spot anyways! We were under a fire ban for the first couple nights which I was worried about as I'm used to big fires late into the night but honestly staying up with the kids until sunset and then getting ready for bed worked out rather well.
I didn't air down at all and the washboard and bumps on the road in the first day had us crawling around 30km/hr. Cars and minivans were blowing past us! I didn't get a deflators yet and couldn't find my pressure gauge so I just poked the valve stems for a minute until the tires looked a bit softer. Good enough! Much better, but not good enough. I need to take the time to air down appropriately and air back up, especially for longer trips as the poor truck took a heck of a beating when bad washboard would form on some steep hills. I need new shocks and have a rattle from the back end which sounds to me like a worn shock mount but haven't confirmed yet. Unfortunately one of the legs came apart on my awning so I'll have to call them and get that replaced. One of the risks of buying stuff from Smittybilt...
Overall we had a great trip. Kid didn't want to leave and mama bear was a happy camper other than the crap mattress and not packing her warmer sleeping bag (like I suggested!)
We spent about 45 minutes on a random old abandoned logging trail before deciding it was not going where we wanted. Nothing technical but crossed some washouts and crawled up and down some steep loose rock sections that demanded low range. Other than dragging the hitch and running boards a couple times the truck did surprisingly well. The tires did better than I expected and we even had to cross one mud hole just over axle deep which was drama free. I'll find my go pro eventually but here are some pictures
How do you insert pictures part way through the post so I can write a bit about each picture? Possible using Tapatalk?
Kyle Kelso
Adventurer
This crap makes me furious! We all need to be ambassadors and help educate the ignorant!
Kyle Kelso
Adventurer
Probably so they could cut them down for firewood next year. Or because it looked cool and they have no clue what they did. They logged about 5 minutes down the road so there's a huge supply of wood if people weren't so darn lazy. That area is so tracked out and opened up since I went there the first time several years ago. You could only get in with some ground clearance and maybe a small trailer with an axle flip back then. Now people have made a new trail though the field and cut down enough trees that people are bringing in 30' trailers!
I always get mad going camping after a long weekend. I cleaned up our site of all the cigarette butts and garbage the best I could. Still looks like a ceptic field with all the toilet paper... but I ain't cleaning that up!
Kyle Kelso
Adventurer
Replaced the bump stops. Should make a noticeable difference I would say! Cranked up the torsion bars a little, just over half an inch at the wheel wells. I had to just to fit the bump stops in place!
edlaffoon
Adventure Every Day
Alberta is so awesome for remote camping, I miss the scenery there. Bump stops should help indeed, nice Burb man.
The mattress in my CVT is probably not much better, I used to get sore ribs every morning. We put a 3" memory foam mattress in there on top of the CVT one and that fixed it. We need an awning really bad.
The mattress in my CVT is probably not much better, I used to get sore ribs every morning. We put a 3" memory foam mattress in there on top of the CVT one and that fixed it. We need an awning really bad.
Kyle Kelso
Adventurer
Do you have difficulty closing your tent with the second mattress? I was thinking of replacing with a 4" mattress from a local foam shop.