Diving in Head First!
- Thread starter yabanja
- Start date
yabanja
Explorer
All packed up and ready to go.
Today was departure day! We decided to camp in the driveway so that we wouldn't have to go so far if we forgot anything.
The fuel tank is mounted and works well. 50 gallon capacity is going to be really really nice. I also mounted an old metal milk crate for misc. odds and ends behind the fuel tank.
We re-packed the truck and found some more space. I have been bringing all my car camping gear in case we had a failure-tent, sleeping pads, etc.... This time I brought my backpacking gear as we hope to do several overnight trips along the way.
I put some additional friction modifier in the rear differential as I had noticed binding when beginning from a stop while turning. It made a big difference! Now the truck will coast around a sharp corner where as before it took the engine to move it along.
The new shock valving is very nice. I am really happy with the ride at this point, although I am still considering softening it up some more. The only problem is that the truck is beginning to lean in the corners on road with the softer suspension. The next investment will be some rubicon auto-disconnect sway bars front and rear. The list never ends.
Looking forward to hitting the road again. We haven't made any plans about where we are going past the first night(hardware ranch near bear lake). Once I am around the campfire I will have some studying to do as I went a little crazy map book purchases in the last weeks.
Allan
Today was departure day! We decided to camp in the driveway so that we wouldn't have to go so far if we forgot anything.
The fuel tank is mounted and works well. 50 gallon capacity is going to be really really nice. I also mounted an old metal milk crate for misc. odds and ends behind the fuel tank.
We re-packed the truck and found some more space. I have been bringing all my car camping gear in case we had a failure-tent, sleeping pads, etc.... This time I brought my backpacking gear as we hope to do several overnight trips along the way.
I put some additional friction modifier in the rear differential as I had noticed binding when beginning from a stop while turning. It made a big difference! Now the truck will coast around a sharp corner where as before it took the engine to move it along.
The new shock valving is very nice. I am really happy with the ride at this point, although I am still considering softening it up some more. The only problem is that the truck is beginning to lean in the corners on road with the softer suspension. The next investment will be some rubicon auto-disconnect sway bars front and rear. The list never ends.
Looking forward to hitting the road again. We haven't made any plans about where we are going past the first night(hardware ranch near bear lake). Once I am around the campfire I will have some studying to do as I went a little crazy map book purchases in the last weeks.
Allan
pugslyyy
Expedition Vehicle Engineer Guy
Have a great time, you are heading out just as I am getting home. Montana was a great time - didn't make it to Washington or Oregon. True 50 gallons will really help with the range anxiety.
yabanja
Explorer
I just began a trip report on our recently completed 4 month vacation in FIDO here:
http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/162410-FIDO-Expeditions-2016?p=2149243#post2149243
Allan
http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/162410-FIDO-Expeditions-2016?p=2149243#post2149243
Allan
Coachgeo
Explorer
Agree..... very nice 510 posted way back in 2013. The great PO-MANS BMW as they use to call it.
http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/116607-Diving-in-Head-First!?p=1453341#post1453341
http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/116607-Diving-in-Head-First!?p=1453341#post1453341
yabanja
Explorer
Specs on the box
In answer to the question about the box specifications:
My truck is short wheelbase. The box is 12' long and 7' wide. It is pushing the limits of length that is viable for the short wheelbase. If you have a long wheelbase truck this size would still be nice as it would leave room on the back for storage. I believe the box is about 3.5' tall when closed and 7' tall open(externally). 7' wide is a bit wider than the cab and the truck could be narrower, but it allows a transversely mounted bed that will fit someone up to 6'3" which is nice. The total weight of the truck is 10k lbs fully loaded which makes all the modifications including storage, spares, fuel, water, SIGNIFICANTLY BEEFY Subrame, etc... about 4500 lbs. This is the lightest FUSO based camper I have heard of and I am really happy with that part. Weight is the enemy of economy and performance. It has the added benefit of being easier on components so theoretically less mechanical failures.
Hope this answered your questions!
Take care,
Allan
In answer to the question about the box specifications:
My truck is short wheelbase. The box is 12' long and 7' wide. It is pushing the limits of length that is viable for the short wheelbase. If you have a long wheelbase truck this size would still be nice as it would leave room on the back for storage. I believe the box is about 3.5' tall when closed and 7' tall open(externally). 7' wide is a bit wider than the cab and the truck could be narrower, but it allows a transversely mounted bed that will fit someone up to 6'3" which is nice. The total weight of the truck is 10k lbs fully loaded which makes all the modifications including storage, spares, fuel, water, SIGNIFICANTLY BEEFY Subrame, etc... about 4500 lbs. This is the lightest FUSO based camper I have heard of and I am really happy with that part. Weight is the enemy of economy and performance. It has the added benefit of being easier on components so theoretically less mechanical failures.
Hope this answered your questions!
Take care,
Allan
Allan,
I have signatures blocked in my settings. Apologies for the post in the travel thread. I am happy to remove my post if you want to keep that thread clean. I hate threads that get off track, so no worries there.
I appreciate the specs and that is about what I was guessing. A mate of mine is slowly building a hard sided box that is about the same size as yours when it is raised. I was concerned about the width and expressed that to him, but he will not see the technical driving that you do (likely only state parks, fire roads, OvEx, etc)
Now that you have had a chance to use the truck some, what do you love, what do you hate and what would you change, if anything?
Cheers
I have signatures blocked in my settings. Apologies for the post in the travel thread. I am happy to remove my post if you want to keep that thread clean. I hate threads that get off track, so no worries there.
I appreciate the specs and that is about what I was guessing. A mate of mine is slowly building a hard sided box that is about the same size as yours when it is raised. I was concerned about the width and expressed that to him, but he will not see the technical driving that you do (likely only state parks, fire roads, OvEx, etc)
Now that you have had a chance to use the truck some, what do you love, what do you hate and what would you change, if anything?
Cheers
Last edited:
yabanja
Explorer
What would I change?
Well, I wouldn't really change much. I am very happy overall. But saying this is the right vehicle for me doesn't mean it would work for everyone. For example, it doesn't bother me to be held back by slow freeway speeds because I have lots of time and am not in a hurry to get anywhere. Obviously this might be a problem for a weekend warrior. Because I built it I was able to build exactly what I wanted which worked out great and saved me a bundle of money. I was very fortunate to find a sub 50k mile pre 2007 truck in beautiful condition. This is really becoming a sticking point for most as they get snapped up pretty quickly at great expense. I still have a long list of things I would like to do to the truck but mostly just because I like to fiddle and my projects are generally never done.
Allan
Well, I wouldn't really change much. I am very happy overall. But saying this is the right vehicle for me doesn't mean it would work for everyone. For example, it doesn't bother me to be held back by slow freeway speeds because I have lots of time and am not in a hurry to get anywhere. Obviously this might be a problem for a weekend warrior. Because I built it I was able to build exactly what I wanted which worked out great and saved me a bundle of money. I was very fortunate to find a sub 50k mile pre 2007 truck in beautiful condition. This is really becoming a sticking point for most as they get snapped up pretty quickly at great expense. I still have a long list of things I would like to do to the truck but mostly just because I like to fiddle and my projects are generally never done.
Allan
yabanja
Explorer
Time for some improvements.....
FIDO has now been on the road for three years and taken us some remarkable places. Honestly the truck, and the camper box in particular, have far exceeded all expectations. We have done a lot of hard core off roading over the course of three extended trips totaling 15,000 miles. At least three quarters of these miles were off pavement. We have crossed through 3-4 foot deep water and on the recent trip bashed through a million trees. We have hit uncountable large potholes at speed, and at least one unexpected Basketball sized rock hidden behind a sagebrush! Aside from a few small maintenance items related to the age of the camper which were easily addressed on the road, and the cracked wheel debacle the truck has been completely trouble free.
Fido has proven itself worthy of a little further investment and we have decided that it is time to put more time and money into it before the next trip! Yahoo, upgrades!! (As well as a few structural improvements.) As usual, we have a 75 plus line item list of things we would like to do, and of course we will need to pare that down.
I still stand by the theory that lean is mean and simplicity is the key to longevity, so I will try to maintain the overall character of FIDO.
I intend to share my modifications here on this already ridiculously oversized thread. I am hesitant to do this on one hand as the build of the truck is very personal for me and I am not really doing it for any other reason than utility and self gratification. The web can be full of negativity and I tend to take it personally. However, these forums were extremely helpful to me in my year of research prior to building FIDO and I would really like to pay it forward. So here goes!!
Allan
FIDO has now been on the road for three years and taken us some remarkable places. Honestly the truck, and the camper box in particular, have far exceeded all expectations. We have done a lot of hard core off roading over the course of three extended trips totaling 15,000 miles. At least three quarters of these miles were off pavement. We have crossed through 3-4 foot deep water and on the recent trip bashed through a million trees. We have hit uncountable large potholes at speed, and at least one unexpected Basketball sized rock hidden behind a sagebrush! Aside from a few small maintenance items related to the age of the camper which were easily addressed on the road, and the cracked wheel debacle the truck has been completely trouble free.
Fido has proven itself worthy of a little further investment and we have decided that it is time to put more time and money into it before the next trip! Yahoo, upgrades!! (As well as a few structural improvements.) As usual, we have a 75 plus line item list of things we would like to do, and of course we will need to pare that down.
I still stand by the theory that lean is mean and simplicity is the key to longevity, so I will try to maintain the overall character of FIDO.
I intend to share my modifications here on this already ridiculously oversized thread. I am hesitant to do this on one hand as the build of the truck is very personal for me and I am not really doing it for any other reason than utility and self gratification. The web can be full of negativity and I tend to take it personally. However, these forums were extremely helpful to me in my year of research prior to building FIDO and I would really like to pay it forward. So here goes!!
Allan
yabanja
Explorer
TPMS
The main failure we have had thus far was our first set of wheels(purchased from a company which is now defunct) cracking and becoming unusable. When the first one failed Sakshi was driving, and failed to realize we had a flat for a while. We drove that way across Navajo Bridge, and could have easily plummeted over the guard rail to a watery death 750 feet below. By the time we pulled over the tire was smoking!! These tires are very expensive, and of course flats are a huge safety issue.
At the beginning of our last trip this spring I decided to buy a Tire Pressure Monitoring System just before our departure. I had looked at these in the past and they were prohibitively expensive. After doing a little research(and considering the cost of tire replacement) I found that the cost has become downright affordable.
Here is the one I purchased:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B012AEEYDM/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
The control unit is simple, but remarkably well thought out. It plugs into the cigarette lighter(although I intend to hard wire it) and communicates with the individual sensors via some sort of wireless or bluetooth connection. The advertised sensitivity of it is for vehicles 20 feet or shorter. Fido is 18 feet and we had no problems with it picking up signal. Each sensor is labeled for a corner of the vehicle and no additional programming was necessary as it knew which was which out of the box. You can set up your desired air pressures, and there is a loaded and unloaded setting which we used for freeway pressures and off road pressures. The sensors also have built in temperature sensors so you can set your maximum desired temperature. The display gives you real time data for pressure and temperature on all four tires. If you exceed your desired pressure by more than 7 psi or your preset maximum temperature there is an audible alarm. You can push a button and the alarm turns off until there is another problem(handy on really cold morning startups when the pressures are low). We were able to use the temperature readings to fine tune our pressures, and know how far we could drive on pavement with the off road pressures before we needed to air up. This is really handy! The display also has a dim setting for nighttime driving.
It uses four screw on valve stem sensors which are easily installed and removed. They have replaceable watch batteries and come with a special tool to take them apart.
I installed the rear ones on the second valve stems on the inside of the wheel and fill on the outside so and Sakshi can monitor the pressure when I air up and down and honk the horn for exact fill every time! The fronts didn't work out that way because of brake drum clearance so I just fill the tire traditionally and install them when I am done. I was concerned about whether they were water proof and removed them on the first few water crossings, but forgot about them on then next twenty or so water crossings and they held up fine. They seem to be physically durable as we did a lot of low range off road work through heavy brush with no problems. Just in case, I did purchase a spare on amazon for twenty bucks.
It is so reassuring to glance down when on the freeway and confirm that everything is ok. I think this is the best $100 I have ever spent!
Allan
The main failure we have had thus far was our first set of wheels(purchased from a company which is now defunct) cracking and becoming unusable. When the first one failed Sakshi was driving, and failed to realize we had a flat for a while. We drove that way across Navajo Bridge, and could have easily plummeted over the guard rail to a watery death 750 feet below. By the time we pulled over the tire was smoking!! These tires are very expensive, and of course flats are a huge safety issue.
At the beginning of our last trip this spring I decided to buy a Tire Pressure Monitoring System just before our departure. I had looked at these in the past and they were prohibitively expensive. After doing a little research(and considering the cost of tire replacement) I found that the cost has become downright affordable.
Here is the one I purchased:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B012AEEYDM/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
The control unit is simple, but remarkably well thought out. It plugs into the cigarette lighter(although I intend to hard wire it) and communicates with the individual sensors via some sort of wireless or bluetooth connection. The advertised sensitivity of it is for vehicles 20 feet or shorter. Fido is 18 feet and we had no problems with it picking up signal. Each sensor is labeled for a corner of the vehicle and no additional programming was necessary as it knew which was which out of the box. You can set up your desired air pressures, and there is a loaded and unloaded setting which we used for freeway pressures and off road pressures. The sensors also have built in temperature sensors so you can set your maximum desired temperature. The display gives you real time data for pressure and temperature on all four tires. If you exceed your desired pressure by more than 7 psi or your preset maximum temperature there is an audible alarm. You can push a button and the alarm turns off until there is another problem(handy on really cold morning startups when the pressures are low). We were able to use the temperature readings to fine tune our pressures, and know how far we could drive on pavement with the off road pressures before we needed to air up. This is really handy! The display also has a dim setting for nighttime driving.
It uses four screw on valve stem sensors which are easily installed and removed. They have replaceable watch batteries and come with a special tool to take them apart.
I installed the rear ones on the second valve stems on the inside of the wheel and fill on the outside so and Sakshi can monitor the pressure when I air up and down and honk the horn for exact fill every time! The fronts didn't work out that way because of brake drum clearance so I just fill the tire traditionally and install them when I am done. I was concerned about whether they were water proof and removed them on the first few water crossings, but forgot about them on then next twenty or so water crossings and they held up fine. They seem to be physically durable as we did a lot of low range off road work through heavy brush with no problems. Just in case, I did purchase a spare on amazon for twenty bucks.
It is so reassuring to glance down when on the freeway and confirm that everything is ok. I think this is the best $100 I have ever spent!
Allan
Great idea Allan, especially with you guys traveling in remote areas where tire/service is not available.
Is there an on/off road setting so as to avoid an "alarm" when you are at lower pressure on purpose (off road use)?
I presume the temperature sensor is part of the air pressure sensor and is thus measuring air temp, not the actual tire temp (rubber).
If you have a low pressure setting (off road), then had a flat tire (off road), is there enough sensitivity to still sound an alarm? As you know, once you get used to low pressure, it can be quite difficult to tell if you have a flat until the tire is "completely" flat. When I had my 4Runner, I would run about 10 psi in difficult terrain and I feel this reduced the number of flats that I had to almost zero, because the tire is able to conform to the terrain over which you are driving. (glass or long thorns, etc., still cause punctures even at low pressure though)
Cheers
Is there an on/off road setting so as to avoid an "alarm" when you are at lower pressure on purpose (off road use)?
I presume the temperature sensor is part of the air pressure sensor and is thus measuring air temp, not the actual tire temp (rubber).
If you have a low pressure setting (off road), then had a flat tire (off road), is there enough sensitivity to still sound an alarm? As you know, once you get used to low pressure, it can be quite difficult to tell if you have a flat until the tire is "completely" flat. When I had my 4Runner, I would run about 10 psi in difficult terrain and I feel this reduced the number of flats that I had to almost zero, because the tire is able to conform to the terrain over which you are driving. (glass or long thorns, etc., still cause punctures even at low pressure though)
Cheers