Recent content by llamalander

Nice! I assume this if for a 5' bed or just the 6'?

You might consider making a frame out of "C-channel", possibly steel studs- thinnest I know of are 1-5/8", and adding a flat sheet to the front and back and screwing/ riveting as required. Getting the front cut for all your switches/ openings isn't very expensive, is totally custom and will...

What states are you considering? Are you buying a pass (Ikon or Epic or something else)? What's warmer to you?--it will all be cold at night.

Old '08 D40 owner here, wandering past 200k miles and still really happy with the truck, though the newer 3.8l and 9-speed make me a little jealous-- Part of the charm of the Frontier is it is simple, durable and ages well. Really solid, old-school 4x4 system (though it engages on the fly up...

Oy! That's no fun, but at least you cauterized it right away... I've had success welding overlapping sheets of thing-gauge material with oversized "spot welds" of a quick circular pass over a 1/4"-1/2" hole drilled in the top sheet. With a little practice, the weld is only visible from the side...

Worth remembering that your mileage will drop significantly once you start down crappy roads or crawling up things that were carved by some uranium-mad bulldozer driver--Having an extra 20L has let me take the "road-even-less-traveled" when I wanted to see where it ended. If your object is to...

The D40 Frontier happens to have the same weight rating (#) in Oz as America... except that in Oz they use Kilograms. Yes the breaks are a weak point, but durability doesn't seem to be. I'm rolling over 200K and replacing things like sensors and solenoids with my break pads, rubber parts and not...

👆Without seeing the truck, there's a good chance that an aluminum skid-plate thick enough to be worth installing will be the cross-brace. If you're using aluminum, you're paying extra to get something with a similar strength to steel that weighs less. Removing the existing steel braces will help...

Any of them! Nissans have old-school 4x4, durable, capable and reliable. Pack an air compressor and a shovel...and a can of gas! Old-school is thirsty in 4-lo

Think about how much "nimble" is needed in NZ-- not so much outback like Oz or the Americas, more developed campgrounds and graded roads than old stream-beds and wild camping. If you can get out of mud, you can go nearly anywhere on the islands... but a good turning radius helps.

I have some experience with compressors and specifically with the ARB (brushed) single. Today I looked into why my second ARB compressor can't hold air for more than 5 (actual) seconds, it's because it's leaking from the end seam, just like the first one. Not repairable, just trash now. Is this...

Yes, compared to AGM, Lithium is a different order of magnitude of functionality. 70% Lighter makes a difference every day, consistent output voltage is really nice and 90% useable capacity is huge compared to lead batteries. Add to that more than 3 times the number of cycles in it's lifetime...

These are good fridges, well-built with a strong compressor, the cover and remote are a nice bonus-- That said, the electronics are the weak point . I replaced my control module once and might have to do that again 7 years later.... but Snomaster walked away from the international market in '22...

Get a different controller, why be responsible for keeping yours alive? I've been using a single Victron controller for the last 9 years with a few different panels and batteries, spends most of its life parked under streetlights, no loss of function on the controller or charge on the...

x2 for Explorist.life, great site & company. Worth knowing is that Victron routs support and warrantee issues through the vendor you bought from, so if that's Amazon, you're probably s.o.l., but if it's Explorist, the service will be top notch.