New to the Portal - great resource everyone, thanks!
I started a thread about my upcoming project in Costa Rica, under the Central America heading in the Portal - I welcome your insights. Until a few months ago this was my business truck, never off road, mostly highway miles (I have used full size trucks off road for work, but have always been a Toyota off road enthusiast, [84' FJ60, 87' Pickup, 94' 4Runner, 99' Tacoma, and counting...]). This one is different. My business is sponsoring this truck and it has been outfitted through sponsorships by: Rancho Suspension, Buckstop Truckware, Superwinch, B & S Wholesale Tires, PIAA, Optima, DeeZee Truck Accessories, and Farm Bureau Insurance, for a teaching/research project I will conduct as a U.S. Fulbright Scholar over the next year. Thanks to the Portal I have been made aware of the short comings of the front end on this truck, and I am looking in to what I can do to improve things in any way that I can - HD tie rods are first on the list and I am looking for additional suggestions. I will be hauling logs in remote, muddy, steep, rainy, mountainous, technical, tight, wooded terrain.
2003 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 Z71 4x4, 3:73 with factory rear locker, 100K, well maintained.
Rancho 4" lift with RS 9000XL shocks and MyRide Wireless dampening controller, 33x12.50 BF Goodrich All Terrains on Pacer aluminum bullet hole rims with keyed lugs (including spare), Buckstop 'Classic' bumpers front and rear, 12,500lb Superwinch Talon with synthetic line , PIAA ATP lights (4 & 6" front, 4" rear), dual Optima Yellow top batteries, DeeZee wheel well style toolboxes and Du-Ha underseat storage. BNSF International Logistics is sponsoring the shipping to and from Costa Rica for the year I will be there.
Not yet installed: re-purposed FJ 60 roof rack for luggage, saws, straps, axes, cant hooks, chainfall, etc. 4:10 gears if I can come up with the money, have a respected shop in Raleigh willing to help by doing both axles for $900.00 total, but working on a fixed income through a grant severely restricts things, and unfortunately gears are out of budget. Bluetooth controller for phone/radio integration allowing spoken GPS/phone/internet radio/music.
for anyone interested in the project, read the abstract and follow my blog:
stuartkent.com
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