Bear, My 200 Series Newbie Build

[wreckdiver1321]

Awesome. Will do. May drive through the day and night to be there bright and early. Any recommended camping spots where I can just pull in about 30-60min southwest of town. We'll be coming from the San Francisco area.


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SW of Cooke? The only easily accessible campsites on the west side are in the park. There are spots a little ways to the east of Cooke (literally 5 minutes outside of Yellowstone), but they do not allow tents. Grizzlies are kind of thick up there haha. Not unsafe if you're smart about it, but apparently the Forest Service decided it's better safe than sorry.

If you want to camp in the park near the Cooke City side, your best bets are Pebble Creek, Slough Creek, or Tower Fall. They're not reservable campgrounds though. Next best bet is Canyon Campground. It's reservable, but expensive at $27/night.

If I was you though, I'd do it a different way if I wanted to camp the night before meeting me near Cooke City. I'd go around south of the park and find a place to camp near Cody. Then you're only 50 miles from Cooke, and you can run the Chief Joseph Highway on your way, which is yet another awesome drive. I'd be in Cooke City around 8 AM, so you could get up around 7 and meet me there. Then you could meet me, do the day trip stuff, and as the sun was going down you could make your way into the park and find a place to camp. Easily done, since Cooke City is so close to the park.

 

[aausmana]

SW of Cooke? The only easily accessible campsites on the west side are in the park. There are spots a little ways to the east of Cooke (literally 5 minutes outside of Yellowstone), but they do not allow tents. Grizzlies are kind of thick up there haha. Not unsafe if you're smart about it, but apparently the Forest Service decided it's better safe than sorry.

If you want to camp in the park near the Cooke City side, your best bets are Pebble Creek, Slough Creek, or Tower Fall. They're not reservable campgrounds though. Next best bet is Canyon Campground. It's reservable, but expensive at $27/night.

If I was you though, I'd do it a different way if I wanted to camp the night before meeting me near Cooke City. I'd go around south of the park and find a place to camp near Cody. Then you're only 50 miles from Cooke, and you can run the Chief Joseph Highway on your way, which is yet another awesome drive. I'd be in Cooke City around 8 AM, so you could get up around 7 and meet me there. Then you could meet me, do the day trip stuff, and as the sun was going down you could make your way into the park and find a place to camp. Easily done, since Cooke City is so close to the park.

Got it. Cody seems like a very doable and pleasant idea. Lauren is in. Let's plan on meeting on Friday, August 5th if that can work with you. I know I said the 8th but the only option would be to leave earlier and extend our trip a few days. PM and let me know if that still works.

 

[aausmana]

Camping...then moving...

Below are some pictures of us camping up near Shasta on about 100 acres..there were some waterfalls, a nice river and some nice trails. We really enjoyed the trip.

The first night we arrived late around 11PM and set up camp. By the time we were done, I was making sure the camp site was somewhat put together, and surveying our surroundings, I was about to head into the tent when I about 200 yards across this field I saw two little yellow reflections from my Maglight...hmm thats weird. I kept scanning across the whole field and when I panned back to where I saw the reflection there were four little reflections now, hmmm somethings isn't right...then I saw them BLINK! I thought they were some coyotes at first, but then their motions and lack of communication made me think... yep... WOLVES! :Wow1:

Here's an article I found upon our return that confirmed my suspicion: http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Wolf-Pack-Wolf-Wolves-Northern-California-322439192.html

Typically I would not be too concerned though heightened awareness, but we had our two dogs with us this time and one started whimpering (he is a baby when the whole family is not with him but we're close), and there was my concern. I do not know too much about wolves and other pack animals but if they hear something that could be mistaken for a wounded animal or smell other "food", they could come. Now my wife does not like protection so I was without my shotgun and sidearm, and all I had were my knives... they wouldn't do much. Long story short, I threw the family in the truck and pulled it out with my brights shining toward the pack. We could not see their whole bodies but we could see several pairs (3-4) of eyes looking right at us.. I flashed the brights and I honked 3 times about every 5 minutes. They ultimately backed away and well into the forest. Exciting times!

Camp Setup and the pups:








Lauren keeping things tidy:



Trying out Solar with Goal Zero Yeti 1250:



Across the field where the Wolves were:

 

[aausmana]

In the middle of building my drawers our landlord had decided it was time to raise the rent. We had been there for 3 years but a rent increase of over 30% was not justifiable, and we received the notice in early November no less. Our landlord was phenomenal but we simply decided to find another place that would be a more even commute for both my wife and I...and a 30% hike with Bay Area rents which are already astronomical, time to go.

This put a damper on my drawer build for about 3 months, with finding a place taking priority, packing the house and moving ourselves, it was a tall enough task. Then finding our way through the boxes and putting the new house together took another month. Anyway the holidays came and went, we brought 2016 in with a trip to Lincoln City, OR and stayed right on the beach at this awesome house. Here are some pictures, it was nice the first day then dropped to low 30's and low 20's with the windchill factor:


















Drawer build to be continued with some more posts and progress hopefully tonight. Hang tight.

 

[T-Rey1]

Sucks about your LL. Here is my homemade drawer system in my 200

 

[aausmana]

Sucks about your LL. Here is my homemade drawer system in my 200

View attachment 332199

Yeah more of a PITA than anything but it is what it is...

Your drawers look great! I will post some more pics of mine tonight but I like your wing and the front panel cut out to fit nice and snug. I also like the pull out tray/work station I believe I see. I really debated between carpet, rubber flooring and the most intensive bed liner but ultimately I wanted to try for a solid and durable finish that cleans easily... So I went with Monstaliner. If you haven't seen David's work at TrekBoxx you should check out his build thread over on Mud: http://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/1407drivers-build-thread.678649/page-5. I spoke with David a couple times and his thread, which inspired him to create his company, inspired me... I stole a few ideas from him. though mine will not turn out nearly as nice. If nothing else, an awesome drawer build.

 

[wreckdiver1321]

Awaiting awesome drawer updates :lurk:

 

[High Country Nomads]

Thanks for following! It took me a while to decide but looks like you have had some nice rigs. How are you liking your TRD4R?

The TRD4R is a great truck for the mountains where I live, but a dog on the HWY with poor MPG. However I bought it to build it up and enjoy the Rockies. I also just bought an 05 Land Cruiser that is getting full service & lift next week. My next rig I hope, will be an 16' LC in about 3 years.

 

[aausmana]

CONTINUATION!!!

Ok, so this is pretty much where I left off. You can kind of see the bottom half of the carcass under the moving blankets:



When I finally go the time, I measured the the top of the drawer system with a slight (3") overhang on the passenger side. This will be so that I can bolt the drop-down fridge slide I got from Australia further to the right so it doesn't take up the complete cargo area. Disregard the driver side overhang, that will be made into one of the wings.



Drawer slide time. I had purchased a few sets of Accuride slides from Allegis 9308's combined with 9301's. I got two sets of 40" slides and on set of 36" slides.









The slides are rated for 500lbs, approximately 300lbs in a mobile setup. They are heavy duty and you can tell! Very happy with these slides and I highly recommend them.

 

[wreckdiver1321]

Looking good!

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Right on, looks like a neat build in the making. Glad you enjoyed the 100 Series build, be sure to check out our 200 build too. Oh, and thanks for watching Expedition Overland and I'm glad it spurred some enthusiasm. Let me know if we can help out with any build parts on your 200

 

[aausmana]

Looking good!

Thanks Tom! She's coming along..so much to do, so little time.

Right on, looks like a neat build in the making. Glad you enjoyed the 100 Series build, be sure to check out our 200 build too. Oh, and thanks for watching Expedition Overland and I'm glad it spurred some enthusiasm. Let me know if we can help out with any build parts on your 200

Thanks Kurt. Oh yeah, I've been following your 200 build drooling in anticipation. Also excited to see what Paul does with his, do you know if he will be starting a build thread? How are you liking the BP51's? Any news on the next XO trip?

Will do, will be needing a Pull Pal, snorkel, and a few other items coming up here.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

...How are you liking the BP51's?

Loving them!

...Any news on the next XO trip?

Options on the table, nothing set in stone to my knowledge yet.

...Will do, will be needing a Pull Pal, snorkel, and a few other items coming up here.

Sweet, we'd love to help!

 

[aausmana]

OME Lift, KO2's and Spacers

In-between the move and getting back-on-track with the drawers, I found some time to get a much needed item checked off the list. OME lift with 440lbs springs all-around, Spidertrax spacers, and 305/65R18 KO2's. There was a lot of back and forth between the Duratracs and KO2's, I finally decided on the KO2's as there are an overwhelming number of people that swear by these tires.

Unfortunately I do not have the tools to actually get in and do this hugely important mod myself, so here in the Bay Area, I was relegated to 4WheelParts. Extremely nervous going into it have 4WP do the install but they did an over-all good job. I mentioned my concern with the KDSS system to them and they did have an issue finding out how to reset the sway bars after the lift but got it figured out in due time... and hey they did give me this as a parting gift :safari-rig:



Anyway, here are before and afters of how she looks. Drives like a dream!

Before:

After:


Before:

After:


I know I know, not the best before and after pics...

 

[T-Rey1]

Yeah more of a PITA than anything but it is what it is...

Your drawers look great! I will post some more pics of mine tonight but I like your wing and the front panel cut out to fit nice and snug. I also like the pull out tray/work station I believe I see. I really debated between carpet, rubber flooring and the most intensive bed liner but ultimately I wanted to try for a solid and durable finish that cleans easily... So I went with Monstaliner. If you haven't seen David's work at TrekBoxx you should check out his build thread over on Mud: http://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/1407drivers-build-thread.678649/page-5. I spoke with David a couple times and his thread, which inspired him to create his company, inspired me... I stole a few ideas from him. though mine will not turn out nearly as nice. If nothing else, an awesome drawer build.

Yours are turning out very nice. That is a slide out shelf above the left drawer. The left top is also my fridge slide, but I don't have and pics of it with the fridge. Not letting me post pics right now.