New Member intro: Drewactual :)

drewactual

Adventurer
We are always in Wilmington and on Freeman Park Beach. Kids love the fact we can drive onto the beach and camp there as well. We will be getting a season pass and spend as much time we can there until I deploy again.

Would love to find other beaches that we can drive on and camp on as well.

I want to hit the national seashore soon... secluded island with 30ish miles of beach, no amenities, just drive along and stop where ever you want... surf fish... treasure hunt (but not with metal detectors, it's a national park and they don't care for that!), camp as long as you want... gotta take the ferry there, and follow their schedule... so... better be provisioned and prepared!!

If I didn't have so much going on right now, I'd have already been out there several times!
 

drewactual

Adventurer
the truck was OE equipped with 20", and I dropped to 18" for added sidewall (37x12.5x18 deflate nicely for sand), and now I'm back to 20's... the on board air is nice to air out at the top of beach access, and knowing you can air back up coming out... just don't let everyone know you have air, or everyone will want it- which isn't a bad thing to help, but the little viair can only handle so much duty before it's thermal protection kicks in... I added a three gallon can to it, for a total of five @ 300psi, which handles those big tires w/o complaining. :)

it's also nice for impact wrenches, rafts, ect... It is one of the most useful mods on the rig and only behind the added fuel. :)
 

drewactual

Adventurer
I don't recall the model... it isn't a chromed show piece, though... it's one of few that hit the 300 mark, and that's all i can recall.... :-(
 

drewactual

Adventurer
I was wondering if this was *you*. Nicely done work so far on the bigun! Love the rack/panel work for sure!

good to see you over here, man!!! I've lurked this joint from time to time, but finally joined just recently. I swear I think I joined a long time ago, but who knows what email or username, ya know?

Man it's good to see that Ram of yours movin out still!! My ol' girl is for sale after somebody run her hard and put her up wet- looks like it was repo'd, interior gutted, ect... I'm watching it, though, because nobody likely realizes she still has 4.56 grizzly R&P LSD axles, tunnel ram on clearwater 202 heads, sausage cam, ect... somebody took the exhaust off, and unless they run the VIN, they;ll not realize it's a cali emissions truck... I may scoop it up if it drops below $4k... :)
 

drewactual

Adventurer
i've added a few things... thought I'd share.

PMF three links.. got my castor back!!!! super easy install, top shelf quality product- followed the instructions to a 1/16" (PMF called for a 32nd) and didn't need an alignment- it was balls on using the GPS and laser rack the next morning.
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went back to 20's- and ran STT Pro's prior to this pic.. dropped them and sold 'em, loaded up some ProComp AT Sports that I'm super happy with. my range went back to around 1800 miles with these tires, when the STT Pro's dropped it to around 1400miles... if I had to choose just one tire brand/model for the rest of my life it would be the STT Pro's, but economy on the long haul i pull a few times a year forced me to an AT tire...
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got her nice and salt painted up in the north country over the Holidays- drove 1472 miles in 22.5 hours in the middle of that storm everyone was talking about. it was.... interesting, and the procomps handled it fine.
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slapped a group 27 AGM bank in the back, fed both by solar and engine generated power and protected via this isolator- 500a constant 950a peak... ran 2ga wire back to the box to manage charging from the alternator.
15400558_10154942511228755_8128801680546672466_n.jpg


and then there is this... I found them so cheap i bought two- one to use, one to sell to recover costs.
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i pointed placed the exhaust on the frame rail opposite the airdog lift pump, which in theory will reflect heat to the spin-on's and guard against gelling (not that I've ever had an issue with that).
15590561_10154942515423755_1092596885065119943_n.jpg


and to complete the thought process on the eberspacher, and with the dogs health and comfort in mind (or if I'm forced to sleep with them), I installed a heater core in the bed and a permanent boot between the cap and cap:
15590076_10154941742743755_5313690908531508861_n.jpg


the eberspacher has already paid for itself so far as I'm concerned- and it was mighty nice to get into a truck with frost free windows and at least 50* when the ambient temperature was well below zero... I put an inkbird thermostatic controller in the bed and set it up to turn on the heater core fans when the heater core enclosure gets to 90*, as well as fire a dual headed fan I mounted in the bed/cab pass-through... I've got it set to turn on above 110* too, with a hysteresis of 5* and a temperature achieved time of five minutes for summer.

oh.... and I put 5100 bilsteins on the back and 5160's up front, along with billy dual stabilizers (pending, I've been running a RC dual system but the cold had it's way with them).

people can talk all the trash they want to about these 6.4's, but mine is solid as any truck I've ever owned. and this one is set up right for the long haul. I'll keep y'all posted if there is any interest.
 

jkilgore11

Adventurer
Great looking rig! I'm always glad to see another 6.4 built right and running well. I have a 2008 with all the necessary engine mods, tuner, intake, and exhaust. At 165k, it is still going strong and don't foresee changing anytime soon.
I'm planning to do the front end and suspension in the next few weeks. Dynatrac free-spin kit with dynaloc hubs, Dynatrac ball joints, and Icon suspension with new adjustable track bar. Should be good to go for a while. Keep the updates coming!
 

drewactual

Adventurer
thank you, gentlemen.

running a full size diesel that is for all practical purposes a daily driver, a road hog, AND capable off-road slaps a limit on what I'll do and what I won't. It's also pressin' me toward a trailer- not an off-road'n trailer but a toy hauler with enough margin in it's design (rigidity and capacity) to get where I want to go- which, akin to the truck, has to be 7 parts road hog and 3 parts capable off the beaten path....

make no mistake, this thing is primarily a road hog though it looks otherwise- the fuel capacity gives me all kinds of range, which sounds adventurous but is based solely on locating quality fuel and the ability to polish it several times before shooting it to the main tank (a modern diesel MUST HAVE is clean treated fuel) - 17.5~18ish MPG fully loaded @ average of 75mph, and comfortable to be behind the wheel for up to 25~26 hours between extended rests...
 

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