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I have had about a half-dozen large action packers stored outside with tools and misc stuff in them since a garage fire last year. We got six inches of rain a couple of weeks ago and the contents are dry. But I wouldn't strap them to a roof rack to drive through a rainstorm.

At a $21K price point, OP's choices will be somewhat limited. My 3/4-ton is a 2005 Dodge Quad Cab short bed Hemi. It has been essentially trouble-free for ten years, best truck I have ever owned, no front end issues. At $21K, I'd look for the best third generation Ram Quad Cab I could find...

I have the factory GM G80 autolocker in my old Z71 and it works fairly well. I can hear it clanking and clunking sometimes but the noise does not bother me. It came with the truck, so I can live with it. All things considered, I'd prefer a selectable locker, probably ARB.

I have an aluminum step that is spring-loaded and folds down from the receiver, so the step itself is about 7" lower than the bumper step pad. When it's folded up it just looks like an oval hitch cover and fits up flush with the end of the receiver, so there's nothing to walk into in the dark...

A few years ago I found one that takes a decent padlock, so I have that lock keyed to the other padlocks on my truck (tool boxes, gun cases, stuff up on the rack, etc.).

Just don't do anything silly, like taking a running start with a tow strap. If you must use a tow strap, keep it under steady tension and pull slowly. You will be better off with a jerk strap for recoveries, gives you better ability to recover another vehicle with less stress on your vehicle.

For those of us in So Cal, is there a way to pick them up in LA and save the shipping expense?

I have your mounting pins, but the padlock holes are too small for my preferred locks. That's why my Trax are chained to the roof rack with more secure locks. Something to think about for the next design iteration.

Short length of chain with padlock solves that. They also make a set of mounting pins that accept small padlocks.

And cleaning the magnets when you change the diff fluids.

You could probably mount a telescoping tube above your bag awning, with the tube extending toward the front of the truck and some way to stabilize that end. The tube would allow you to attach the top of the wall and then run cables out to stakes to anchor the outboard ends. The cables could...

Black is more of a trip and fall hazard on night recoveries, and harder to find in the dark once you get out.

Lots of bag awnings are available with optional sidewalls. Look at Hannibal, EZ-Awn, ARB, Fiamma, etc. Or maybe an oversized bag awning that deploys to the ground, maybe with cables and stakes.

Chrysler uses electric lockers on the Power Wagons and Jeeps. They seem to work OK if properly cleaned/maintained, but some have reported various failure modes, usually related to the electronics. The lockers in my '05 PW work fine, but are sometimes slow to engage. Others have reported a...

It absolutely is the ARB and SCAQMD regs. You cannot get real or even decent spar var in Los Angeles. Most of the "spar var" at the big box stores is water-based polyurethane masquerading as spar var. You can import your own from AZ, or you may be able to score some at the harbor in San...

Those Odyssey charging problems seem confined to the Group 31s. Been there and done that, still doing it on the new Odyssey 31M. I have had three Odyssey/Platinums in Grp34 and they have not had any charging problems whatsoever. My only gripe about the Odyssey 1500s in Grp34 is that they are...

Not so disconcerting. The Platinums are still available from the manufacturer, Odyssey. Identical to the Sears batteries except for the label and the color of the case, but the Odyssey marines have a longer warranty. The early-to-mid-Mexican Optimas were crap, but the new ones seem to be OK...

I have six of those and four of them are broken, but still usable. I have more than a dozen Action Packers with all kinds of crap in them and none have broken. The only problem with the Action Packers is that if you load them with heavy stuff and then stack them 4-high in a hot garage, the one...

Roll-on bed liner is simple, cheap, effective and heavy. Check the Jamestown Distributors site for boat paints.

On a tight budget, look on Craigslist for a fresh set of takeoffs from somebody's new truck. You might find a set of factory wheels and tires, mounted and balanced and ready to go for a few hundred dollars. The biggest problem with Toyota types is that they think their stuff is gold, so be...