Dmljohnson
Observer
looking good....i like...
My Defender 110 build up for South American travels
- Thread starter ExploringNH
- Start date
m(a)ce
Adventurer
We're up here at Rausch Creek & guess what rig we saw? 
The build looks sweet!
Sorry we missed you- wanted to say hi & get the full tour. Did take a look around- btw this may have convinced the gf about the merits of an rtt!
Hope you guys had a fun day.
Good luck & safe travels on the trip.
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- Sent from the batphone using Tapatalk
The build looks sweet!
Sorry we missed you- wanted to say hi & get the full tour. Did take a look around- btw this may have convinced the gf about the merits of an rtt!
Hope you guys had a fun day.
Good luck & safe travels on the trip.
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- Sent from the batphone using Tapatalk
ExploringNH
Explorer
We're up here at Rausch Creek & guess what rig we saw?
http://tapatalk.com/mu/c6e4c30f-0755-52d1.jpg
The build looks sweet!
Sorry we missed you- wanted to say hi & get the full tour. Did take a look around- btw this may have convinced the gf about the merits of an rtt!
Hope you guys had a fun day.
Good luck & safe travels on the trip.
---
- Sent from the batphone using Tapatalk
I just had a huge laugh. I'm sitting in a hotel room down the road mooching a shower and some continental breakfast. I log in to post updates and my thread is already updated. Perfect. :sombrero:
The tent is great so far. It absolutely poured last night and we stayed perfectly dry. Setup takes some time to get all the spring rods installed to hold up all the window flaps, which is why they are all down in the photo. We set it up the rest of the way after we got back from dinner.
Too bad we missed you. Hope you guys had a good time. I was amazed at how many rigs were in the park and how few of them we saw out on the trails.
Are you still planing to leave soon? did you find a partner finally?
ExploringNH
Explorer
I did find a partner and we are officially on the road. Rausch was our first stop along the way. We wanted to test the truck in a somewhat controlled environment offroad before heading out into the world. We are optimistically looking to hit Mexico on Monday, which I guess is tomorrow.
A new trip thread will be here: http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/65099-From-NH-to-Argentina-Norte-A-Sur-Aventura
m(a)ce
Adventurer
just saw your RC pics in your trip thread - looks like you found some of the fun trails there. you snagged some good flex/off camber shots. :smiley_drive:
we were there for Topless for Tatas breast cancer ride and I think we only saw one other group while we were wheeling.
thanks for the tent info. its one of the ones on the list.
maybe I'll catch you when you get back to the northeast. have a fun adventure!
Skookumchuck
Observer
Great build. Good luck on your trip and have a great time.
spikemd
Explorer
Cool build. I will be following your trip thread.
A few questions/comments...
Looks like you have a non-sealed lead acid battery in the passenger compartment. Unless, I am missing something, I would consider switching to a sealed battery.
LEDs, man, those are cool, but expensive.
Treadwright tires? You spend $1500 on a 50inch LED light bar and you buy re-tread tires?? Not sure I understand the logic in that one...
Here is a post of someones unfortunate experience with re-tread on a loaded 80-series: http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/56847-Almost-Didn%E2%80%99t-Make-It-Back%E2%80%A6.
Good luck with the trip. Be safe. I am very jealous.
A few questions/comments...
Looks like you have a non-sealed lead acid battery in the passenger compartment. Unless, I am missing something, I would consider switching to a sealed battery.
LEDs, man, those are cool, but expensive.
Treadwright tires? You spend $1500 on a 50inch LED light bar and you buy re-tread tires?? Not sure I understand the logic in that one...
Here is a post of someones unfortunate experience with re-tread on a loaded 80-series: http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/56847-Almost-Didn%E2%80%99t-Make-It-Back%E2%80%A6.
Good luck with the trip. Be safe. I am very jealous.
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brushogger
Explorer
If you happen to be coming thru the Oklahoma City area on your route, pm me. Safe travels man.
DividingCreek
Explorer
Based on the graphics on his truck I believe both those companies are sponsors.....
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ExploringNH
Explorer
The battery compartment is sealed from the passenger compartment. There is a lid on top that slides into a channel and locks down. There are a bunch of vents in the battery box to vent out any gases as well. The batteries were the largest ones I could find that I could fit two of in the space provided. There is plenty of extra space in the box once the batteries are in, but you can't get anything bigger through the openings. I would have liked to run a set of Odysseys or similar.
The light bar is expensive, but it has certainly made night driving a lot less hazardous. For my travels, I need light. We often end up driving until near midnight and the roads in Mexico and Central America always have something in them. Cows, people, rocks, cars, more people, horses, police, more people, washouts, etc. I can't travel 1 mile without having to dodge something soo, when lights became a requirement for the build, I started pricing stuff out. By the time you toss 5 good HID lights on the roof, you are very near the cost of the LED bar.
Both setups have their advantages and dis-advantages. I like the low profile, more aerodynamic, and less obvious LED bar for my travels. The LED bar is also 100% brightness as soon as you flip the switch. HIDs take 20+ seconds to fully warm up. For the first 5-10 seconds, you can't even see them. This fast start up time is useful for cycling the lights on and off, which I often do on windy mountain roads for oncoming traffic. HIDs don't like to be cycled. You also deal with filament vibration on HIDs and while this doesn't sound like much of an issue, at night this can really wear you out.
There are certainly benefits to an HID setup as well, don't get me wrong. LED is not for everyone int he same way that all terrains work for some people and mud terrains work for others. It all depends on what you are doing and what type of light you need.
Yes, Rigid Industries did partner with me on this trip and some people might think I am trying to push their products. I like their product, sure, but it is not in the contract for me to say good things about them. The lights themselves are fantastic. Super bright, super high quality, very impressive and I highly recommend them. I will also say that the mounts that they ship with could use some re-thinking. The light bar is shipped with post ends, which isn't a huge deal, but it makes fabricating a bracket slightly harder, since you need to notch it for the post to slide into. Not a huge deal on the big light, but on the 10" lights, the design of the mounting brackets makes mounting them very difficult to mount. I am also not a fan of the external wiring. The 10" lights have a nice lead coming off of them with a waterproof connector. A+ here. The large light has two whips of wire about 2' long, one positive, one negative. This setup requires a butt connector or some other joint within that two feet. For me, this puts a wiring splice on my roll bar. I would much rather have a terminal on the end of the light so that I could run a single, uninterrupted wire straight from my battery.
Now, onto tires. The build of the truck was not a budget build and a lot of money was spent on "restoration" parts. I could have bought any lift I wanted, and I chose the OME lift. It was the best lift for what I needed the truck to do. It was not the most expensive lift by far. I don't need triple bypass shocks, so I didn't see the point in spending the money for them. The same goes for tires. I could have bought any tire. I've had BFG KM2s and loved them. The TreadWright tires get great reviews and they come at a very attractive price. If cheaper TreadWrights work just as well as expensive BFGs (again, for MY needs, the BFG is obviously much better in mud), then why buy the more exspensive ones? There are several local people that I wheel with running TreadWrights and I liked how they performed on and off the road. Again, these tires have benefits and drawbacks. They are loud going down the road. This is largely in part to the MTR-esque tread pattern. They also reportedly take a lot of weight to balance. I personally didn't need much weight at all (in fact, they drove fine up to 65 with no weights at all before I got them balanced) but some people have reported otherwise.
So far, we have almost 8k miles on the tires. 6k of that through some crazy terrain. The truck weighs ~5500lbs loaded for the trip. We spent 32 straight hours in +100F heat at 65mph at 35psi. The daytime was 105-107. There have been another nearly 1000 miles of +100F heat at 35psi. We eventually were able to get the tires up to 40psi and from there, we have days of mountain carving at waaay too fast of speeds, hard braking for tumulos, cows, people, washouts, etc. One full day offroading at Rausch Creek, several days wheeling in NH and many dirt roads in Central America. The tires have been from -8ft to 10,000ft, not that that has much of an effect, but it is interesting. Some of the roads here are really aggressive pavement with a super rough texture. The tires are wearing well. I started to measure them at a border crossing, but I was pulled away before I could finish. They are worn slightly from new, but you can't tell by looking at them. We inspect the tires every couple of days as part of our walk around check. Fluids get checked, tires get checked, lights get checked, etc. 8k miles isn't much, but we will be double that in a few weeks and I can report back more. Again, just because TreadWright is a partner doesn't mean that I have to say only good things about them.
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ExploringNH
Explorer
I guess I never got a good shot of the graphics. I will try to take some when we get back to the truck.
Here is the best I can do for now (also shows TreadWrights at 10psi):
Here is the best I can do for now (also shows TreadWrights at 10psi):
spikemd
Explorer
Very nice. I agree that when lights are required, it looks like the LEDs are the way to go. I will be looking at them when the time comes for me to purchase lights for my rack. I can only imagine what traveling at night must be like south of the border... Yikes!
Best of luck with the travels. Sounds like you are moving along well. Hope the TreadWrights work out for you.
We are planning a trip down to Baja in October for a week and can't wait. :wings:
Good luck!! Be safe!
Best of luck with the travels. Sounds like you are moving along well. Hope the TreadWrights work out for you.
We are planning a trip down to Baja in October for a week and can't wait. :wings:
Good luck!! Be safe!
ExploringNH
Explorer
I never updated, but I got rid of the fridge listed earlier in this thread. It was fine for a night, but any longer than that and I would need to start the truck. This wasnt good enough for me so I broke down and bought and Edgestar scratch and dent and it arrived the day before I left. It was the small size, but I dont remember the liters off the top of my head, 47l maybe? I am glad I didnt go with anything bigger. This fridge is large enough.
The Edgestar has been performing flawlessly throughout the trip and has served us well. I can easily go 2-3 days on the house battery without a problem.
The Edgestar has been performing flawlessly throughout the trip and has served us well. I can easily go 2-3 days on the house battery without a problem.