Jnelson4x4taco's mod thread

[jnelson4x4taco]

Well ive done a few mods in the first few weeks and thought i would share them with you all and get some feedback.

New Mods:
Sony Mp3/cd player with aux. output for ipod
Neoprene seat covers ( $15 ebay special)
10" Sub and amp kit ($50 wal mart special)
Garmin GPS dash mount

As you can see, this is going to be a fairly inexpensive project for me, as i am trying to (slowly) make my way through school. I picked up an old leer topper for $40 on the local craislist and replaced the front window with acrylic plexiglass for about $35.

My next idea is to mount some lights up on the topper. I am planning on making a light bar (1" tube) with 3 supports across the topper and then making a hoop out of some industrial conduit over top of the lights and running some stretchers back to where the topper raises up. My reasoning for this is that i plan on hauling my inflatable fishng yacht up there and i figured that would level it out without putting the stres on my lights.

And now the pics:

So thats my truck, hopefully ill be able to get a pic of my lightbar idea soon so i can get some feedback.

 

[jnelson4x4taco]

Heres a pic of my lightbar idea, its small in scale but you get the idea.

Pros/cons.....lets hear it

 

[Ursidae69]

My next idea is to mount some lights up on the topper. I am planning on making a light bar (1" tube) with 3 supports across the topper and then making a hoop out of some industrial conduit over top of the lights and running some stretchers back to where the topper raises up. My reasoning for this is that i plan on hauling my inflatable fishng yacht up there and i figured that would level it out without putting the stres on my lights.

Nice truck. Will the inflatable sit right on the topper or will there be some other sort of rack or crossbars? That might affect the light bar height. I like the idea though! Also, might be easier to use 1" square instead of tubing.

 

[flyingwil]

Heres a pic of my lightbar idea, its small in scale but you get the idea.

Pros/cons.....lets hear it

Looks a bit low. Think of the light output as a < and the cab will cut some of it out. Another option for sticking with a stock style would be a unibar upfront, if you have given any thought to that. Although every one I can find is Chrome, they seem to be pretty sweet.

 

[jnelson4x4taco]

I was planning to put the inflatable right on top of the topper. This would only be for short trips to and from the lake, otherwise i will deflate it and store it in the topper. I also have a decent hand pump and will possibly use an onboard air solution as well. Anyone ever use an onboard compressor to fill up an inflatable raft or boat? How do they work?

As for light placement, i really like the look of them up top and it gives me a reason to add a support for my boat. Im definately open to the idea of mounting them up front, if i can fab up a light bar or something "inexpensive"

 

[Scott Brady]

Great looking truck! I am in your area today, and it is COLD! I consider it Arctic Training

 

[Willman]

Looks a bit low. Think of the light output as a < and the cab will cut some of it out. Another option for sticking with a stock style would be a unibar upfront, if you have given any thought to that. Although every one I can find is Chrome, they seem to be pretty sweet.

:iagree:

Nice Rig!!! A set of Hella 500 fogs would look great on your rig!!! Good $$$$ too for your dollor!

:26_7_2:

 

[BlueFly]

I was planning to put the inflatable right on top of the topper. This would only be for short trips to and from the lake, otherwise i will deflate it and store it in the topper. I also have a decent hand pump and will possibly use an onboard air solution as well. Anyone ever use an onboard compressor to fill up an inflatable raft or boat? How do they work?

If you want onboard air for airing your tires, from what I've seen, you'll want to hold on to your hand pump for your inflatable yacht- it will be quicker than trying to use the same compressor for both purposes.

They do make 12 volt compressors for boats that are very low pressure (12 psi for the top of the line ones) but high cfm (up to 17). For example, my kickboat is properly inflated at less than 2 psi.

For your truck tires you'll want the opposite- high psi that comes with lower cfm.

I'm thinking I might try a 12v pump for the boat at some point in the future but invested in the high pressure version first as I'd rather use the hand pump on the boat than on my tires!

 

[jnelson4x4taco]

Made a few additions to my truck recently so i thought id post up.

New laptop mount i built modeling the one @ www.mobilelaptopmount.com
Super easy to do, the hardest part is making it stable enough and finding the angles so that it stands straight up. I also didnt want it to be uncomfortable for the passenger so it mounts to the stock seat bolt and is entirely removable with a few twists at the joints. I also used a lock ring up at the top so it can swivel and lock so the passenger can us it as a DVD player and my Sony deck plugs into the speaker jack for my LISTENING ONLY pleasure
Eyes on the road right! I also posted a pick of my sub and amp setup, the box underneath is an ammo box i use for survival supplies that never leaves my truck....EVER.

I recently got in a little fender bender so im in the market for a new front bumper. I can get a bentup bumper for 520 shipped (New stock is 550)
So im leaning in that direction, do any of you have any experience with there front bumper? I have their rear bumper and love it, super strong, hitch included and shackle tabs for a decent price. They claim it weighs less than 70lbs and i dont plan on adding a winch ( if i do it will be receiver mounted) so that doesnt seem to unreasonable. What do you all think?

 

[RoundOut]

I also used a lock ring up at the top so it can swivel and lock...

Can you post a picture of that? I would love to see how that works. Thanks in advance.

 

[jnelson4x4taco]

I got this lock ring ($.79 or so) and then put another threaded base under the platform so it threads on and then the lock ring threads up to lock it down. Then just unthread the ock ring pivot the platform and screw up the ring to lock it in place again. Pretty basic but so far it works good.

 

[RoundOut]

I got this lock ring ($.79 or so) and then put another threaded base under the platform so it threads on and then the lock ring threads up to lock it down. Then just unthread the ock ring pivot the platform and screw up the ring to lock it in place again. Pretty basic but so far it works good.

That was obvious. LOL As soon as I saw the pictures, I realized how simple that is. I didn't think of it, though. Do the tapered threads on the pipe matter with a lock-ring on there?

 

[jnelson4x4taco]

the tapered ends havent seemed to make too much difference, they thread on pretty well so there are a good amount of threads inside the flange so it tightens up pretty well.