CreeperSleeper's '85 Xtra-Cab

[Saint Nick]

I didn't get nearly as much done on the truck as I wanted to this weekend. However, I did get the sliders sorted. I just need to finish weld them (ran out of gas in the welder) and weld them to the truck. Then it will be on to the back bumper...

Oh, and I only lit myself on fire once so that is a plus!

Ahh, nothing like setting yourself on fire to keep you focused!

Nick

 

[CreeperSleeper]

It got my attention for sure!

 

[CreeperSleeper]

I've been sick the last couple of days, but I was able to sneak out to the garage and get the sliders done.

I don't think I will have time to get the rear bumper done before my trip, so I'm going to wait on starting it and get going on the other stuff I need to take care of.

 

[CreeperSleeper]

Buttoned up a couple small things this weekend:

1st up was installing my stereo and 2m Ham radio. Unfortunately, the old Kenwood stereo my BIL gave me is dead, so I will need to swap that out eventually. At least it is plugging the hole in the dash for the time being. LOL! For the 2m antenna, I was going to mount a 1/2 wave on the passenger side bed rail to match the CB antenna. I know this would make for dead spots and not the best ground plane, but I thought it would look the best. However once I got it all set up, the damn mount broke and I didn't have another one. My solution was to run my mag mount on the roof with my flexible 1/4 wave antenna. I'm going to have better reception with that anyway.

After that, I used the XL QuikFist clamps to mount my CO2 tank. I have decided on running a side box instead of a crossover toolbox in the bed, so the tank should be well protected.

I leave Friday morning for my trip, so I will probably stop modifying and start figuring out where everything is going to go. LOL!

 

[CreeperSleeper]

We had an awesome trip up to Tillamook State Forest (Browns Camp OHV) this last weekend. We didn't get rained on too much, but there was no snow. Saturday was our main day of wheeling and our group consisted of my truck, an FJ40, a YJ, and a FZJ80. What a great group of guys! I am really happy with how well my truck did and I'm excited to keep getting both it and me dialed in.

Here are some pics that I took, but the full album (including videos) can be found on Facebook. 2019 Guys "snow" trip

 

[nickw]

Oh, and I only lit myself on fire once so that is a plus!

Well ya know the ol' saying:

"light yourself on fire only once a day your a-ok; if more than twice you'll pay the price"

 

[CreeperSleeper]

I apologize for the long delay in updating everyone on my progress! My son, Canaan Thomas, was born on 3/13, so I have a good excuse. We have been blessed with an easy-going, healthy boy.

That looks just like me... We found a picture of me when I was 3 days old and held it up to him. I started to feel sorry for him! LOL

Unfortunately, Mom isn't doing nearly as well. I feel like we have been in the hospital more than we have been home. We would appreciate prayers for her as we try to figure out why her body is seemingly shutting down. I won't go into detail, but it has been very stressful.


On a lighter note, we have finalized our toy situation moving forward. My wife drives a very well built 5th Gen 4Runner that we used as our adventure rig.

Very quickly we realized that there is not nearly enough room for us, our 9 yo daughter, a newborn, and a Rottie. So we started searching for trailers. We started thinking of a military based trailer, that moved to an off-road teardrop or tent trailer, that landed us at this:

Yeah, we may have gotten a little carried away. However, we are super excited to have an awesome base camp that we can explore out of.

Circling back to the pickup: Since buying the trailer, we have no reason to have our RTT on the 4Runner any longer. I have decided to build a rack and install the tent on the mini. That should put me one step closer to my end goal of a do everything truck.

I will continue to keep y'all in the loop, but it may be a while before I start working on the truck again. Right now all of my free time is taking care of Canaan so his Mom can get some much needed rest and recovery.

 

[Saint Nick]

Congratulations on the new arrival ? Sorry to hear about mum, and I wish her a speedy recovery.

The truck looks great, so concentrate on mum and babe for now. It won't be long and I bet you will all have some great adventures with the new trailer

Nick

 

[redthies]

He looks ridiculously like you! Hope all goes well for momma! Gotta get her healthy so you can host the “red truck run”!

 

[CreeperSleeper]

Thanks guys! I appreciate the support.

 

[warrpath4x4]

hope things are looking up for mom

 

[CreeperSleeper]

I got some work done on the truck!!!

I really wanted to figure out a way to keep cargo out of the shocks, carry all of my camping stuff for when I 'm not using the trailer, and get locking storage for my tools outside of the cab. I also needed to mount my hi-lift and secure a cooler. A buddy of mine bought a flat-bed Taco a few years ago and the PO built a rack to go on top of the flat-bed. He decided he would never use it, so he dropped it off for me. With a little shuffling, I figured I could notch a bit out of it for the cooler. I could also use the rack to mount a side box and my LabRak Hi-Lift mount that has been sitting on my shelf forever. I must say it worked out way better than I thought! I should be able to carry everything I need. I just need to finalize placement on everything and mount some tie down points.

 

[CreeperSleeper]

I got a little bit of an update, but nothing too exciting. Saturday a buddy came over and helped me pull the t-case and install Sumo 4.7 low range gears and FROR twin stick. Unfortunately, I was really greasy so I didn't get many pictures. Hopefully this week I can throw some 90w in it and have everything work. LOL!

 

[CreeperSleeper]

I finally got a little bit of time to start working on my back bumper. The main body of it is almost done, then I'm going to trim up the back and sides of the bed. After that it will just be figuring out how to attach it to the frame. A picture is worth 1000 words, so here you go:

I'm really just making it up as I go along, but I think it is working out nicely.

 

[CreeperSleeper]

I finally got the rear bumper done! I'm pretty proud of how it turned out:

Now I need to get working on the front bumper... I kinda doubt it will be done in time for Cruisin' the Woods this year, but we will see.

On a completely unrelated note, I did pick up a new commuter for me! 2019 Yamaha MT-07... It's been a lot of fun so far.