New Member intro: Drewactual :)

[drewactual]

Howdy- don't know much about the site yet, have stumbled across it a few times but just took what information it offered forgetting to come back and register... well, tonight I registered!!

anyway... I like capable trucks... capable of whatever, and adaptable for same... I thought I'd show off my truck a bit, and maybe to let y'all know I'm serious about the same things y'all are!


She has nearing a 2k mile range when full, nearing 18MPG for a 9k# rig, right at 600 ponies and over 1200 twisties... she can tug whatever I've asked her to..






anyway, been looking at some rigs here, and thought I'd open up with my own... I'm looking for advice and thoughts backed by experience, and I think this is the right place!!! Cheers to all, looking forward to a fun experience!!

 

[xkid]

Welcome to EP. Looks like you are set up pretty well.

 

[drewactual]

thank you, sir!!

and I thought I was set up decently, until I found this place... My wife is gonna HATE y'all!! (until she's with me thirty miles off grid, then she'll love ya)

 

[ExplorerTom]

2k mile range! That's about 100 gallons. Where ya packing it all?

Sweet rig. You need to detail out that puppy and share some ideas.

 

[drewactual]

various goodies...

solar charged remote battery powering on board air, port beside license plate.... winch and low led's, hid's up top, leds on back of rack, fuel cell in bed (80ga) w/ remote controlled transfer pump/fuel polisher, tool box, all padded and enclosed providing sleeping platform...

i've swapped tires/rims since most of these pics.. i'm playing lab rat i guess, going with a basically unproven cooper stt plus tire... about 500miles into them, so far they're solid... need to break in some still... lift is a 4.5" with PMF panhard rod, PMF traction bars and integrated 7" block, bilstein shocks and steering stabilizers.... oh well, I'm proud of her, and if anyone has any questions I'll be happy to answer... right now I'm reading about a build a few below this thread, and MANOMAN that efller has some good ideas that just sent my imagination into overdrive with more things to do!!!

 

[PNWINFERNOPRO]

Welcome. Beautiful setup.

 

[drewactual]

thank you, sir!!! it's been a long strange trip to get her where I want her, and I'm far from complete... it's apparent y'all know what you're doing here, so... tis why I joined!!!

 

[surlydiesel]

What have you done to the Motor, if anything to make it more reliable? I'm really leaning towards getting a V10 but the milage of the diesels are hard to beat. I'm always reminded of the repair bills though.

Awesome setup!!!

-Jorge

 

[PNWINFERNOPRO]

thank you, sir!!! it's been a long strange trip to get her where I want her, and I'm far from complete... it's apparent y'all know what you're doing here, so... tis why I joined!!!

It's a great forum and source of expedition information. I've been here since I started building a JK for 8 years, now my 05 F450 service body and pop-top camper.

Enjoy

 

[drewactual]

list fashion, else I'll get too wordy...

fuel: ULSD is too dry, removing sulfur also removes lubrication properties which HPFP needs to lubricate itself... so, constant treatment of fuel with standudine lubricity formula.. the 80ga aux tank has an additional airdog150 pump managed by one upfitter switch, and a separate upfitter controls a solenoid valve which allows fuel to the main (30ga) tank.. airdog150 transfers from main tank to hpfp, and NEVER 'runs' out of fuel- which is a big deal... one running dry will kill an HPFP causing $10k+ in damages..

crank case vent: to atmosphere... blow by is laden with acidic gasses and oil which is hades on turbos and intercoolers, so... bye bye. no more oil mist shot through engine killing cats and clogging dpf's, expediting their destruction and butterfly effect on the rest of the engine...

EGR: stupid heat back into intake? I think not.... blocked... tuned to support..

DPF: stupid high heat, back pressure, wasted fuel, hard on valve seat, head gaskets, valve trains, mileage, and so far as I'm concerned, the environment... tuned to support a particular surgery I performed... EGT's now never break 1k, mileage jumped 3mpg easily.

filters: oil bypass filter to 2um- oil analysis tells me I can run above 15k miles, but I refuse to... added sump capacity to 18~19qts, use high quality schaeffer's synthetic. Coolant filtered via bypass, after thorough chemical flush and replacing ford gold with cat ec-1 'red', hopefully avoiding a clogged oil cooler... external spin on transmission fluid filter- stuff is pristine perpetually. Air: aFe stage 2 dry, and I have an extra one, swapping them every 2500 miles...

very conservative tuning.... light foot... extensive monitoring of gauges...


this is the aux pump between aux tank and main tank- little buzzers so I can hear it attached to board, there is a fuel gauge not pictured pointing through back window, and the solenoid valve which either sends fuel back to the tank after polishing it down to 3uc, or, sending it to the main tank..

 

[EMS WJ 2000]

Nice rig and welcome.

I am out at Fort Bragg NC if you ever want someone to wheel with.

 

[drewactual]

cool!! I'm on the coast just north of Lejeune... If I ever head to Uwari (sp?) I'll give you a shout!! Truth is, though, my rig is a road hog more than anything... forest roads, beach, ect... I've never put her in the mud (on purpose) and I steer clear of true trails (with this rig)...

 

[EMS WJ 2000]

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.

 

[jerstw]

Drew - Awesome setup. Can you share some additional details on your racks (brand, mounting details, pros / cons, etc.)?

Thanks!

 

[drewactual]

Drew - Awesome setup. Can you share some additional details on your racks (brand, mounting details, pros / cons, etc.)?

Thanks!

thank you, sir.

it is a diamondrax, some fellas out of cali- I had them custom build two racks, one 5'x48" and the other 6'x48"... those fellas could do it a lot prettier than i could- bending flawlessly the square tubular steel... they are mounted using the brackets provided, which took freakin' nerve and a few shots of pappy van winkle to tap both the cap and the cab... four mounting points up front, same in the back... I haven't done it yet, but I intend on putting some bent steel bars under the cap that follow the contour of the cap but allows the rack to mount to them- essentially relieving the cap of the burden.

pro's: it's light, it's very functional (rated to 1200#) and it can be made to order with little issue. It's square tubular steel, which is stronger than round...
con's: it's steel (rust), the construction is square tubular, which makes mounting things to the bars a little more difficult.

I had them run braces across it in a certain way, so that I could mount cedar planking up there... I chose to stain and seal it anyway, and used round headed carriage bolts to hold the grid of planks to the rack... I can walk on it, but more importantly, I can sleep on it or carry whatever gear i need... I'm 6'4 and around #280, so I needed something substantial- more so than a smitty, a thule, or a yakima... I've carried lumber up there too- way too much, at one point actually... well over 1k#, but was only driving half a mile or so, so I crept along and didn't have a problem... could sure feel it up there though!!!







pardon my mess and trash cans... the sawhorses were occupied elsewhere...