"Lola" - WreckDiver1321's 2005 Frontier CC/SB Nismo Build and Adventure Thread

[wreckdiver1321]

Oh I check your build progress every now and again when I'm on here. I like the sounds of your plans, the fridge is something I've used on every trip since I got it, unless it's a quick day trip.

The only thing I'd caution you on is the 33" tires, you might want to research that a bit to see if the gearing will cause the truck to become lethargic especially at altitude. IMHO the difference from the 265s to 285s is negligible ground clearance wise. If you're going with the 255/85/16s I'd be more concerned about the loss of power. I have the same tire size as your's and I haven't found that going to 33s would give me a major advantage. I usually get through anything that I would on 33s but I also know when not to follow those on 35+ tires

Yeah, I feel the fridge will be an invaluable addition to the truck. The rally really highlighted how good of an investment they are.

I've done some digging about the tires, and I'm not 100% on them just yet. I would go to 285s, and I know the weight difference would be negligible since I'd get the same General tires, and the Grabber AT2 only comes in load range D in that size. The extra diameter might throw my numbers a bit though. I'm not sure what they would do to my power. I've been looking around on clubfrontier.org about 285s and no one seems to complain all that much. Like I said, I'm not totally sold on them yet. Once I get my new leafs in I'll make the call. My major annoyance with my current tires is that they are shorter than they should be. They only measure out to 30.5" with no weight on them. If the truck looks just fine once the suspension is done, I'll probably just switch to a taller 265. I know the Cooper ST Maxx is the advertised 31.5", and I think the BFG KM2 is as well.

I've already discovered that Lola can handle most of what I will throw at her on 265s, so to be honest it's kind of a looks thing at this point

Saskatchewan, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, then back home to Alberta. Anywhere in particular that you suggest to go/see?

Sounds like an awesome list! When are you going? I have a ton of great spots here that I can recommend. The Beartooth Highway that straddles Montana and Wyoming is absolutely stunning, and there are plenty of places nearby to camp off the grid for free. There's also the area south of Big Timber along the Boulder River. That place is breathtaking, plus there is an awesome and fairly easy 4x4 trail that goes up to an excellent camping spot out there. There's a few other little gems that I can think of too if you're interested. Let me know what you're looking for and about how long you'll be out this way. I'll tell you where to head.

 

[RedF]

Sounds like an awesome list! When are you going? I have a ton of great spots here that I can recommend. The Beartooth Highway that straddles Montana and Wyoming is absolutely stunning, and there are plenty of places nearby to camp off the grid for free. There's also the area south of Big Timber along the Boulder River. That place is breathtaking, plus there is an awesome and fairly easy 4x4 trail that goes up to an excellent camping spot out there. There's a few other little gems that I can think of too if you're interested. Let me know what you're looking for and about how long you'll be out this way. I'll tell you where to head.

We will be leaving the morning of the 24th, and have about a weeks time. Definitely interested in that trail. Feel free to PM me or check out the thread I started http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/144347-N-Dakota-S-Dakota-Wyoming-Montana-stuff-to-see for the sake of keeping the banter out of your build thread.

 

[wreckdiver1321]

We will be leaving the morning of the 24th, and have about a weeks time. Definitely interested in that trail. Feel free to PM me or check out the thread I started http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/144347-N-Dakota-S-Dakota-Wyoming-Montana-stuff-to-see for the sake of keeping the banter out of your build thread.

Ha! Banter is half of the reason for this thread! I'll get the info to you.

 

[wreckdiver1321]

The 2015 Northwest Overland Rally! - Part 2

After Friday morning's trail ride, I took the time to stop over in the nearby town of Leavenworth. This charming little town is 15 miles from the site of the Rally, and is definitely worth a side trip.



Turns out, sometime during the sixties, Leavenworth was experiencing a bit of an income problem. They were low on people passing through and money was tight. So to bring in tourism and revitalize the city, they redecorated the whole town to look like an old Bavarian village. Now, I've traveled through Germany a few times, and I can say they have pulled this masquerade off rather well! The style of the buildings really does look like they could have been taken straight from a small German village. As such, the town has a really cool vibe. The main drag is full of gift shops and authentic German restaurants.









Turns out I wasn't the only overlander checking the place out.



Exploring this town was a real treat, and a great way to escape the oppressive heat that we were dealing with during the Rally. Just step into one of the many pubs, and you've got plenty of air conditioning!



I ducked into this little pub.





I sat down and had an actual German beer from Munich's Hofbrauhaus. I went to that very beer hall several years ago, and it is still as good as I remember it. I also had traditional style wiener schniztel and spaetzle for lunch, which was a real treat. From there, I drove back to the rally just in time to sit down and watch Scott Brady give a talk about Expeditions 7 and their trip around the world. After his presentation was over, I got the awesome opportunity to stop and chat with him about some things. He's now planted the idea of taking my truck to Iceland in my head, but that's for another time. It was one of the single coolest experiences I've had in a long time, and it really inspired me.

After that was over, I had noticed that jhberria had shown up, so I stopped and chatted with him a while. Sat around the campfire again and watched people win some really cool stuff, including a full set of General tires. I raced back to my campsite and cooked dinner in the dark before heading off to sleep.

More to come later....

 

[RedF]

Ha! Banter is half of the reason for this thread! I'll get the info to you.

Okay, well if you don't mind, I sure don't!

 

[Blackdawg]

Screw 33s.. Go big or go home. 35s baby

jk..not worth it on an overland rig

33s man! They are worth it!

 

[wreckdiver1321]

Okay, well if you don't mind, I sure don't!

Haha awesome. Anyway, the trail I'm talking about is the old Independence Mine trail. Between Bozeman and Billings is a little town called Big Timber. If you get a chance, stop at the Frosty Freeze for lunch. Follow the main road through town till you get to the intersection with McLeod Street. Turn left there and just follow the road to the end. Once you're outside of town it turns into the Main Boulder Road. After about 25 miles it turns to dirt, and from there it's a further 22 miles to the trailhead. If you get a chance to stop at Natural Bridge falls (where the road turns to dirt), do so. It's a great view of a really cool natural formation. There's plenty of campgrounds to set up at, and the scenery just gets better the further you go. Once you're at the trailhead you can stop and air down. If you want to camp before you do the trail (it's kind of a long drive to get to it), there are several free primitive campsites, as well as several places to set up at along the trail. The trail itself is only 10 miles long or so, but where it ends is absolutely stunning. There is a beautiful alpine lake and you're right at the foot of Monument Peak. The view alone is worth the trouble of getting there.

Screw 33s.. Go big or go home. 35s baby

jk..not worth it on an overland rig

33s man! They are worth it!

Haha I'm not quite sure yet. We'll see how it handles Goose this weekend. I've got plenty of ground clearance at this point now that I've got my springs in (photos coming later).

 

[wreckdiver1321]

The 2015 Northwest Overland Rally! - Part 3

I woke up on Saturday morning early and watched the sun come up over the mountains. After some breakfast, I drove over to the gas station to fill up and get some more ice. After I got back to the field, I took the opportunity to walk around the other really cool rigs. I really loved this one, which amazingly did the advanced trail run with us on Friday:



I also got to check out Paul May's absolutely amazing 4Runner. Real nice guy, Paul.



After walking around for a little bit I went over to chat with jhberria before the intermediate trail run at Upper Mill Creek. After a few minutes and a couple of checks, we headed over to the lineup. We did the short drive to the trailhead and stopped to air down.





After airing down, we had a really dusty drive to the rougher part of the trail. The trail leader had us stop at a wider section to take us up 10 at a time as the turnaround at the top was pretty small.



We did the run, which was a lot of fun and included a steep and rocky climb. I watched the Cayenne that was camping behind me on the field go up that section. It was fantastic to watch, because the guy had a lot of skill and it's not exactly the highest 4x4 in the world, but it did it. Then we watched that blue FJ40 with the attached camper take a run on that section. That particular moment was a little sketchy to be honest. We were at the bottom of the hill and watched the truck get to the rocky part. Because the FJ40 was a manual with a carbureted engine, he had a bit of a problem here. He had to do some fancy footwork and keep on the throttle to keep from stalling. As such, he was a little fast and tipped an awful lot over the rocks. We watched the driver side front tire come around 4 feet off the ground and the rear bumper scrape the ground. We thought for sure he was going over, but he managed it in the end. Jhberria and I engaged our lockers and crawled up the rocks without issue. Once at the top, the view was awesome.





Then we headed back down the mountain.



I headed back to the field and made lunch. After I had eaten, I tried sitting around for a while to wait for one of the courses, but it was so hot I just couldn't sit around. So I went for a little drive with the AC on full blast. It was during this part of the day I learned about rolling some ice cubes into my shemagh. I ran into Tracer-X and his well equipped Frontier heading out on a trail run and had a chat with him. I just ran around bombing down forest service roads to see the area. I got back in time to have a couple tacos from the taco truck (awesome food by the way!) and watch some rigs running the tech course.







I had a successful run at it myself, but sadly I don't have any photos of that for obvious reasons. After the tech run I attended some classes, including the recovery class, which was a blast. Then we headed over to the final campfire. I sat there with a good beer and watched as a guy on a motorcycle won an Oztent and an awning (ha!), and some lucky person won a CVT RTT. Jhberria and I tried some whiskey at one of the vendor stalls before shaking hands and saying goodbye. I layed down in my tent, exhausted from the last couple of days.

 

[wreckdiver1321]

The 2015 Northwest Overland Rally! - Part 4

I woke up very early Sunday morning and packed up. I said goodbye to my neighbors, whom I hope I see next year. I stopped and filled up at the Plain gas station before heading out towards Montana. I really enjoyed the drive just to the east of Wenatchee through wine country. It's really beautiful in it's own way.



I took the side roads and drove through some of the smaller towns in Washington before I hit Spokane and reconnected with I90. I drove through the stunning Idaho panhandle, including passing the picturesque and historical town of Wallace (they filmed Dante's Peak there). I stopped in Kellogg before I made the final push to Seeley Lake.

Once I was in Seeley, I had a relaxing night with my parents before hitting the bed hard and getting some great sleep. I woke up the next day and just spent the day relaxing before my fiancee showed up. We just kind of hung around for the day, just kind of relaxing. The next day we went into Missoula for some wedding planning stuff before she headed home on Wednesday. Since I didn't have any obligations that day, I hung around Seeley and did some exploring. There is an all dirt route I thought I could do between Helena and Seeley, so I decided to try and scout it. During this trip, I ran into a downed tree and got an opportunity to use my new recovery points!





The route wanders through the backcountry, but sadly gets stopped by a gate, so the all dirt route is impossible. There is a quick highway bypass, so I will still do the trip on the way up north in August. After discovering the gate, I turned around and checked out a route I was familiar with already.









After this little exploration, I had lunch and headed home. All in all it was a great trip and I can't wait to do it again.

 

[Scott H Murray]

Very nice scenery and as usual great pics.

 

[wreckdiver1321]

Very nice scenery and as usual great pics.

Thanks Scott!

So very sorry to hear about your wreck and the loss of your Cruiser. Happy to know you survived, as did your camera I see. I hope you have a full and speedy recovery, and I hope you get a new ute and get to building it and keep traveling pronto!

 

[Scott H Murray]

Thanks Scott!

So very sorry to hear about your wreck and the loss of your Cruiser. Happy to know you survived, as did your camera I see. I hope you have a full and speedy recovery, and I hope you get a new ute and get to building it and keep traveling pronto!

Cheers mate, cars are replaceable deciding whether to get another cruiser or got for an up market dualcab ute like the Colorado Z71. Will wait and see.

 

[wreckdiver1321]

So right after I got back from Washington, my new rear leafs showed up. Because of work obligations, I couldn't install them until Tuesday. A couple friends and I tackled the install. I am now combining the Old Man Emu medium duty springs with the Nisstec adjustable shackles. I had read that the OME springs give you 1.5" of rear lift, so I wanted to set the shackles to +1" to get 2.5, or possibly 3" if the springs were stiffer than expected. Well, when I put the truck back on the ground I ended up with 3.5". So it's a little high on the rear end now, but I think it will settle a bit over time. Still though, looks really good. While I did the back, I also cranked my Radflos up a bit more so I'm sitting at 3" in the front now. I really love the stance now, and I think this will be the suspension setup I stick with.









One slight problem though. After I got the shackles installed at the lowest setting, I noticed the cross bracing was impacting the fame. So I think this has given the shackle a ton of leverage and the shackle has destroyed the frame bushings, because I now have a weird rattle from the back. I'm going to have to fix that tomorrow morning before yet another trip into the mountains. I'll also have to give Nisstec a call and inform them of the problem.



Also, I am still running on stock shocks, so I'll have to order some new ones up very soon.

 

[wreckdiver1321]

Cheers mate, cars are replaceable deciding whether to get another cruiser or got for an up market dualcab ute like the Colorado Z71. Will wait and see.

Cheers

Good way to look at it, at least you're okay. I'll be keeping an eye out for a new build. Were you able to salvage anything from your 79?

 

[Scott H Murray]

Cheers

Good way to look at it, at least you're okay. I'll be keeping an eye out for a new build. Were you able to salvage anything from your 79?

I got the Intensity LED lights, DC to DC charger etc but most was written off and I was in no shape to pull it apart for things like the winch etc. Will just have to start from scratch.