Nissan Frontier Truck Bed Off-Road Trailer - The "Frontrailer"

[Nd4SpdSe]

The next big piece for getting functional brakes on the trailer, is to actually have a way to control them. I've been thinking about installing a brake controller in the Xterra almost since the start, but not only did I have no need, but I couldn't really decide on where to install it without being in the way. It's been more on my mind since I started the trailer project, knowing I had plans for brakes eventually. She toes it well, but illegally overweight for not having brakes, and the braking could be better for panic stops. Although I still hadn't figured out where to install one that my knee wouldn't hit it, or get in the way of my center cubby storage since I do find it handy, especially since I did install a deeper version from a Frontier since removing the OEM Rockford-Fosgate amp that was behind it when I upgraded the stereo.

 

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First day of the year in shorts! While we did host a mother's day lunch for the girlfriend's family, I did get some time in the afternoon to start prepping to get some work done before truly starting the seasons. Weather is on the up and time to take advantage of it!

The reason why I went with the Dexter was the size and shape. It gave me the best mounting options for my setup, and so far, everything is going exactly as planned. It fits nicely underneath the floor for the tongue storage tray.

Test fitting the brake actuator. I was thinking that the best place to mount it was going to be here, but I wasn't sure how it was going to work out. Ironically and gladly, it fits perfectly! This is a tray I had made to mount and secure a single battery when I had first started this project. I had left it there after making a proper battery tray and moving them up towards the front, thinking there was no real reason to remove it until I had to. Well it couldn't of worked out better with only a small modification to cut away a small piece just to clear the hydraulic line fitting.

You can see a lot of the wires in this picture, and I assure you that one day they'll be organized and hidden away, but with the build, there was a lot of unknowns on what will get installed, including how and where. Until I have pretty much everything on the trailer that I have planned to install, then I will know what I have to wire and where it's going to. That day is getting quite close, and when that happens, the electrical will get a proper full reorganization including a whole new control panel, but in the meantime, I need to keep things accessible and flexible for changes.

 

[Nd4SpdSe]

Picked up most of the braking components. Drums, pads, spring kit, cylinders and the line with a few fittings. I'm still missing the flex line and associated fittings, but should come in within the next day or two.

 

[Nd4SpdSe]

First time the wheels have been taken off in a few years. Time to get this started

What was left of the original braking system. Wasn't sure how I was going to go about doing this when I had planned for this build, but left it in case. Now, it'll all going to get removed, brackets and all. Time to start anew.

I have no idea what's the state of the brakes, and they haven't been used in over 4 years. I've had it for over 3, and the truck sat for a year prior.

Brakes were about half way worn. Seems to of have no leaks, but the parking brake system (which is totally different them from the Xterra) is completely jammed. The whole system does look old like it sat, not surprised

Everything removed. Bolt from the brake cylinders snapped of course, all of them. Will be giving it a quick clean up with the wire brush. I don't want to jinx myself and spend too much time on cleaning it up and painting it until I have it all working and am happy with the system. I'll give it and the axle a whole bunch of TLC one day. Probably the day I work on the suspension and will have the axle completely unbolted at that point.

A whole new kit installed, on both sides of course. I removed the parking brake hardware, but will be keeping it in case. I'm undecided if I use the hydraulic system for the parking brake, or rebuild the cable system.

Tension adjusted and the drum installed. I'm not a fan of the color, looks more green in person. I'll have to clean those up and give it a coat of black caliper paint.

Time to work on the hard lines. Here's the original one, the shorter section runs to the passenger side

I'll be centering the brake distribution block, so each side is equal length. It makes it easier to mount and install, and I don't need as long for the flex line. I'm not sure if there's a difference and having it center will reduce any natural biasness from one side to the other, but it definitely won't hurt.

It's been about 3-4 years since I first and last touched hydraulic lines. I redid the clutch line for the Xterra those years ago. The first took me a while to figure it out. The other (drivers) side was much quicker.

And the lines connected to the distribution block, which is part of the flex line. It's an aftermarket replacement for the OEM Frontier brake flex line. I used a nut to use as a spacer to raise it to clear the top of the diff. I'm not a fan if doing that, looks half-assed, but again, I want to make sure it all works before getting into the finer details.

The original line went in back of the diff, while I decided to run it so that it's not the furthest point to avoid any rubbing, like on the spare tire. I may redo them to follow more of the curve of the diff, but again with little experience, I want to make sure it works and especially, that my flares don't leak.

I also grinded away the clearance necessary for the hydraulic output of the brake actuator, cleaned it up with a wire brush and primed and repainted it.

They weren't calling for rain until tomorrow, but the skies were getting darker through the afternoon. It was going well and I thought I would of had the time to finish up the last section of hard line, but then a neighbor came by to ask help improvise and setup a shelter to have for tomorrow since they're hosting a last minute baby shower and don't have the room in their small house for 40 people in the morning. I (internally reluctantly) agreed. It did start to rain while doing that, so in the end, I didn't lose that much time, but still think I could of completed it. At least today the rain they're calling for came early yesterday and cleared up by the end of the morning, so I can continue on today.

 

[Nd4SpdSe]

I finished up the hydraulics Monday like I wanted to. You may excuse the odd loop. I decided to run the main line inside the tubing with the wiring to protect it, but was worried that if I was to have a leak, that the fluid would follow the line, so I made a "drip loop" in case. There's nothing to say I can't do back and redo the line, and it may be here where I would "T" into for a hydraulic hand brake. I honestly don't know if this is possible. With the information that I can find on hydraulic parking brakes, they either have their own reservoir and people use install a second set of calipers (largely referring to drift cars), or there are versions that let the fluid pass through when not in use. The issue I have with this is the brake line I would have to run up to the tongue and back. Maybe I'll rebuild the cable parking brake setup, but I'll let this idea simmer for a while in the meantime. Fortunately all went well and I was surprised to of only had one leak where the hardline joined to the flex line. Despite trying a few tricks to fix it, I ended up having to chop off my flare and do it again from scratch. It's probably from working underneath upside down. Once that was redone and tightened down, all was good. My girlfriend ran the pump to help me bleed the system and all seems good so far. I'm actually really anxious to try this out, really see what it's like to tow the trailer that can brake. but the next step is to get the controller installed in the Xterra.

And yesterday evening I worked and completed all the wiring. Was hot but a bit windy. It's not going to be nice the next few days to decided to use this day to finish this up. Picked up the wiring I needed after work from my local trailer supply shop and got to work. The E/H actuator uses standard trailer wiring colors, which pisses me off cause I hate using black for power. It wanted power directly from the vehicle source. White is connected to ground. Blue of course went up the harness to the 7 pin trailer connector that will get feed from the brake controller. I also had another 7 pin connector on hand, so I replaced it. The old one was showing some signs of corrosion on the pins, so I figured it was a good time to swap it out to ensure a good clean connection, and I also did a much better job at sealing up the wire end and retaped up the wire loom.

Yellow is for the breakaway switch, so I ran a pair of yellows up to the tongue to the switch. From there, one was connected to the yellow on the E/H actuator dedicated to the breakaway function, and the other was connected directly to one of my batteries. Specs lists a battery of a minimum of 9Ah, so my car battery will more then suffice. I may work a system in the future to use power from both batteries as an extra redundancy, but that'll be when I do a total reorganization of the electrical system. This is all designed to be expandable and reliable, but it's not the permanent setup since I'm still making it up as I go along.

 

[Nd4SpdSe]

With the brakes technically done, it was time to get some work done on the truck. I was working pretty crazy (as always) for about 3 weeks trying to finish up the truck while working on a haunted maze for our gang of the haunted house for family-friendly event. I reinstalled the roof rack with the newly installed rear light bar and signal bar, installed the Red Arc Tow-Pro Elite brake controller on my last available weekend before the "Rassemblement Overland" trip. This even despite all of it's work was great exposure for us, but it took up 2 weekends of my time; one for prep, the other for the setup and the event. We were suppose to have 2 days to setup, but because the city screwed up with not finishing the road, one entrance was blocked off and the fire department forbid us from using the school gym they were setup at. They paid for a tent, but setting that up took up a day, so we only had 1 day to setup this all up. We finished around 2am, went to bed around 3am, and was up bright and early at 7 to be there to finish up and open for 9:30am. We rested up for Sunday, which finished at 4, but EVERYTHING had to be taken down that night since the tent was coming down Monday morning. We finished after midnight and I was hurting. I tell you I didn't work on anything Monday so I lost another day.

I'll just glance over it, but I had started a project to convert the truck over to an electric power steering pump back in late 2016 but ran out of time, and 2017 was a write off for any projects, and I made it my priority to get that done this year. I had a two week window to sort out the new belt and pulley to bypass the old pump (shares the belt with the water pump and radiator fan) and extend the hoses. The hose being actually the hardest part. I did get it completed and so far it's working quite well.

From there, I managed to score a set of Pathfinder manual locking hubs for a great price. It coincided well with the upcoming overland event, and figured it would work out better then the auto hubs if I have issues getting stuck with the trailer and auto hubs don't like being rocked. They didn't come with the studs, but I picked up (shorter) bolts instead. Oddly the ones designed for the Xterra are longer, and thus stick out more and tent to get damaged by rocks and such unless your running offset rims. I have no clue why they made more then one version since they're very much compatible, and plus shallower. They're said to be stronger too.

I drove the truck to work the next day. Leaving in two days, I wanted to make sure everything is OK and not find this out on the trail.. I took Friday off to get a bunch of last minute stuff done, including getting the skid plates from the mother-in-laws garage and install them. A last minute modification to the trailer was to install a water pump. A few weeks ago, a good friend of mine wanted to borrow my Martin hot water heater for a weekend at his new cottage. Well I'm sure you know where this is going and indeed, the pump came back broken. Apparently still somewhat functional, but broken. Well the day before we were leaving, my girlfriend asked if I was bringing the shower kit. I guess I forgot to mention it and she wasn't impressed. She hates it when we/I lend out stuff cause it never comes back in the shape it left. In the what, 3 years I've had this heater, I lent it out once. It's frustrating. She really wanted the shower for "feminine hygiene" reasons. While it was always part of the plan, I guess this would be a variant of a "forced upgrade". So part of my errands of Friday was to purchase and install a new water pump. I'll deal with cleaning it up when I replace the hot water heater with an Eccotemp L5. This will do for now.

And around 9pm, we were ready to head off. I stopped off at the gas station to fill up the Xterra, fill up the tank in the Frontrailer, and also the 20L jerry can. They had said it would be a 250km trip. The water tank was full plus another 20L, and I also had a bit of wood. After a little over 3 years of work, this will be the trailer's first real test. It's the first time it'll be used in the environment for what it was designed for, and will full weight. I'm both excited to finally get back out on the trails, get out camping for the first time this year, but also nervous. I'll find out if my design and setup actually works as I had planned and hoped it would.

 

[Nd4SpdSe]

Fortunately it was a little over an hour away for us, so it wasn't too bad for the fact that we left late and would get a good night sleep. Oddly, in almost 10 years, this is the first time that I'm camping and that I'm not the only person using a roof top tent.

We didn't pack the warm sheets, but I didn't think we would need to for mid-June, but by 5am, I had to pee, and it was chilly and the tent was filled with condensation. While up doing my business, I figured this would be a good time to hook up the heater, considering it takes less time to setup then it was to actually pee. Would give a little warmth and especially to dry up the inside of the tent before packing up.

We were 35 vehicles in all in all different overland configurations. We all met up for a briefing of the events of the weekend and explained the two trail options. Not knowing what to expect nor the limits of the trail, I was planning on following the main group on the easy but long trail since this was essentially the inaugural overland trail run for the trailer. After chatting with a few people, they said that the hard trail wasn't bad and it was just the beginning obstacle. With that, I thought, what the hell, let’s make this fun! Trial by fire! This would especially be interesting since the trailer is in fill overland mode, meaning that the fuel tank is full as well as the water tank, minus what we used for dishes the night before, but we also had a 20L jerry of fuel and a 20L jerry can of water as well. It’ll be essentially in full weight, somewhere around 2800lbs would be my solid guess, but it could be more.

We had stopped on the road with some people going straight, and some people going on a trail to the left. I asked what was happening and this is where the group split for the different runs; left is hard and straight is easy. After chatting with a few people, they said that the hard trail wasn't bad and it was just the beginning obstacle. With that, I thought, what the hell, lets make this fun! I could of sworn in the info and briefing that we all were going to fuel up on the way out, but this wasn't the case and only as few people did. I didn't was to lose the group nor my friends and kept with the pack. At the stop I took advantage of the time to air down using the speed bleeders and added a 1/4 tank of fuel from the main tank in the trailer.

And off to start the day!

The first obstacle was the trail entrance. It was tight and we needed to turn. Most needed some help, a few trucks made it look easy (helps if you have a heavy foot) like my friend in his Tacoma, or the guy in the Tundra. The stock Tacoma and 4Runner had a particularly tough time here, but would be their story from the start to the end of the that section of the trail. It would of been a fairly easy obstable for me as well but I got caught up on my driver’s side leaf spring hanger and needed a slight tug off the rock. The trailer followed with no issues and took a line to compensate from the start. From the video, it looks like it squeezed by.

Mud was my enemy on this trip, as was most us of. I could get anywhere if I had traction, but if I had to paddle through, the trailer would be an anchor. They said when they scouted the trail a few days ago there was only one, but there was several to contend with and I needed a tug a few times throughout the day on this section.

 

[Nd4SpdSe]

I was starting to get frustrated since I hate having to ask for help, and took a few bypasses around some of the mud holes where I could. The stockers in the back where complaining that we were tearing up the trail by the time they got though. They weren't wrong.

The picture that follows was an interesting detour. By buddy in the red Taco was pulling people out and he was looking for a detour to get ahead and help out. He asked me to walk ahead to find him a clear path around. There was some parts that was grass/moss with mud hidden underneath so I was looking for a solid path for him. After getting him through, I thought about it for a bit and looked at the 3-4 sequential mud holes (where the Wrangler is pulling out the Cherokee in the pictures above) and wanted to avoid being a hassle for the others and decided to go for it, but was worried that I’d be on my own if I got stuck; the consequences of my own actions. I figured by now that all was going well as long as I had traction, so I’ll just follow the path I led my buddy on. It wasn’t as easy I thought out to be. It’s not easy to see the tracks of a single truck’s path. On the first start of the detour, I needed to go up a rock covered with grass, but I took it to the right where my buddy went up, but it wasn’t smooth like for him and with the running start I took (for the trailer) we jumped up and so did the trailer. That caught me off guard. From there the bypass went well, but there was a point I lost his track and went too much to the right where the truck leaned to the side from being on a slope and then girlfriend screamed. From that I totally lost track on where I wanted to go. I think it was the issue of me not going where she thought I was going to go. No choice, I had to keep going, but my girlfriend at this point wasn’t comfortable with it and for the first time ever, stepped out of the truck. She did record a bit (will be posted later) but the video doesn’t do it justice, but does it ever? I pointed the truck uphill and after a few attempts (losing a bit of traction from a rock) and repositioning, I got up and over and back down another hill and rejoined the trail. I was ecstatic, what a run, what a rush!

We all then rejoined back on the forest road.

The Cherokee did some trimming that day

From there, we took some much lighter trails. From the pictures, it looks like this is where the easy group passed by in their part of the trip. We stopped for a late lunch, waited for the easy group to join us (they took a detour and went to a lake) and eventually we headed off to the spot planned for the group to camp for the night.

We didn’t want to open the awning, so we tried to make a make shift shower under the tent with a tarp. My RTT doesn’t have an annex. I don’t remember them existing back 10 years ago, but I didn’t know all that well about them back then either. I’m always torn about getting one or not, but maybe one day I’ll add one.

And cooking up some steaks for supper. A well-deserved meal.

And a fire. I wanted to stay up late, but it’s been a rough few weeks. My body wasn’t having any of it, especially when you’re sitting and relaxing, so I and decided to shower and rest up.

The next morning people were slowly making their way out. Some having longer distances then others. I followed some Land Rovers until we split leaving the park and jumped on the highway to head home.

I left I had over a quarter of a tank left I think, and decided to stop off the highway eventually, and fuel and air back up. I wasn’t really worried, I was going to use the fuel in the tank of the trailer anyway. I’ve already paid for it and I don’t want it to get old and go to waste. I spotted a good exit to stop and just as we hit the ramp, the fuel light came on. We stopped at a gas station for the air pump to save time, and transferred the fuel while we were doing that

I forgot about thinking to time the fuel up, but we figured from the messages my girlfriend sent when we stopped, took less than 15 minutes, which is much better then the 40 minutes that I calculated with the water bottle test I did earlier this year. I need to revisit that test. What I found interesting that despite that I put in a “1/4” tank of fuel, I still managed to go from the fuel light on to touching the fuel line in what was left in the tank before the it started to sputter. I, of course, don’t want to burn out the fuel pump.

And a stop for ice cream before arriving back home

In the end, it was an amazing weekend. I couldn't be happier with how the truck and trailer performed. I didn't feel the trailer other then in accelerating and when I got stuck in the mud. It just did it's own thing and followed without and complaints and never hindered any obstacles. It never jostled the truck which I would like to attribute to the off-road coupler and the soft and long truck suspension absorbing the bumps. The only thing is that the truck is missing just a bit of power under 1000rpms to get going. Gearing would help and maybe even going with a smaller S/C pulley might make up the difference. I was happy that nothing broke, especially on the trailer. I was put through it's paces and took it like a champ. The weight had me worried. It's a common concern that's been pointed out since I started the build. Considering it's weight, I wasn't worse off compared to the FJ towing a lightweight military trailer, and still did much better then the stock trucks. In the end, I'm extremely pleased of the performance of the setup.

 

[Nd4SpdSe]

 

[Nd4SpdSe]

Before getting into my camping trip on the weekend, I'll do a post on a new and an old feature of the trailer that I did last year and never fully explained, or even cleaned up.

Here and there between the last few months I've been slowly working on a jerry can holder. While I wanted to have it ready for the Rassemblement Overland, I couldn't get it done in time, but I did get it done before my trip to Mosport. It was an idea and my first attempt at building one. It's designed to hold either my Sceptre military fuel or water Jerry cans. I know there's a variety of different jerry can holders that you can buy, but I found them mostly quite expensive, and I had a few features that I wanted out of mine that I couldn't find; 1) I wanted to be able to side load it 2) I want have to lift the jerry can as little as possible to mount it. 3) I wanted it lockable, of course. 4) I want to be able to put the jerry can on it's face. Would be handy with camping with a spout for the water can. We'll consider this one a prototype and could easily be unbolted if I change my mind. I do want to build one for the drivers side eventually, but it would block my access to my actuator control box, so I may have to work on a proper electrical system before I make one for that side. With it's mounting location, I also needed to add a spot to relocate and mount the front corner light.

All loaded and latched up

Lockable latch picked up from my local trailer supply store.

The double-hinge setup was made to save my shins if it was made as a solid piece. When I was making it, I could already foresee and feel the pain

Although I need to make up a spout, in this position it would be convenient to pour out water.

And also, just to having to avoid lifting it higher then I needed to, with the lack of sides, I could easily just load it with as little lifting as possible, and I can do it from the side, so I don't have to fuss with going straight in from the front, especially with pinned to the truck.

The other part was the awning extension system. I made it in a haste in fall of last year and never properly cleaned it up nor painted it. I didn't have the time but I also wanted to make sure it actually worked before spending all that time on it for nothing. So far so good, but badly needs some TLC. The issue was with the awning, specifically installing the walls, even more specifically the inside walls. Having the awning not extended beyond the side of the vehicle would have it follow the shape of the vehicle, taking up some of the length and width of the walls, where they wouldn't line up to all properly attach together. I could of easily used some really long brackets. I had actually bought some to modify and use for this exact I but I didn't want to have the awning be the furthest point on the side of the trailer where it's widest part of the setup and increasing the potential of it to get caught up on stuff. I still wanted to be able to use just the awning without the sides and needing to extending it out. I let the idea simmer most of 2017. Eventually I got an idea and in the fall, found a set of identical scissor jacks for sale for a good price and not $100 a pair new, especially since I needed 3. I also needed them to open up flat and use a socket style for the crank handle and not the hook style. I got some cheap discount swivel sockets to use as u-joints, welded to come round bar and clips in to the proper socket to drive the jacks. I needed to weld on a joint to the end of the worm gear on two of the jacks and modify the top of the jacks to be able to attach them to the rack using my favorite 2" muffler clamps. The front most jack needed a spacer to compensate for the tubing that extends the Frontier rack forwards since it had a slightly bend inwards. Hopefully I'll take them off soon and clean them up. I'll also need to replace the pin in the swivels with proper stainless hardware. Another modification was that the the top facing feet on the base of the jacks needed to be cut off and made flush to clear the RTT when it was retracted.

 

[Nd4SpdSe]

Holy crap I missed out a lot over the last few months. lol

I read you are getting a Diff charging system! LUCKY!!! I had thought hard about using a stock toyota axle specifically for that reason but i didnt want the headache of the electric hydraulic brakes. Although i definitely like the idea a diff battery charger. that one should charge up batteries hella good! I'll have to rely on my one 100watt solar panel and small 12v charging wire off the 7 pole connector and hope it gets the job done.

Hehe, I didn't realise you liked the idea that much. It was part of the initial design, and I had planned for the electric-hydraulic brakes from the get-go as well, and actually ordered the actuator this week; the last of the big pieces of the trailer project. The awning and Webasto being the other two. I'll get to solar eventually, but I want to take care of a few other things first. So far my reserve power has been mostly plenty adequate for the most part.

Nice work on the Dimmer/ON/OFF switch. I'm glad i dont have to worry about that. CVT tents come with inside LEDs on their Summit Series tents.

Hehe, ya. My tent is going on 10 years now, so we didn't have those fancy things back then.

By the way i had not thought about the beach mist at night time. Now i have a whole new purpose for my annex if i ever decide to go to a beach to camp. That is kinda hard around California unless you camp out at PISMO beach where the sand dunes are. And i sure as hell wont drive through that stuff with my heavy trailer lol And about that. I saw you got stuck in the sand. That is one thing i am terrified about.

Ya, it wasn't a pleasant experience when I got stuck and scrapped the day. I regret having that idea.

2 things i absolutely need to fabricate for my trailer after seeing your build is a trailer tongue tire attachment. something with nice somewhat big rubber tires that wont get stuck in sand or soft dirt.

I need to replace mine as well. It did the job when I first got the trailer built, but since then it's gotten much heavier, especially with the tongue basket loaded with gear/wood. The XO looks like a nice unit, and I saw a few at the local trailer shop last week, but my issue with them is that they would be permanently fixed to the tongue, while mine I like to be able to remove it since it would get in the way if and when I need to jack-knife it on that side. So I'm a bit stuck on that, but my current one isn't too happy with me, nor is the tongue where it's attached. It's moving up the priority list of stuff to do, but bugs me that I don't have a solution that I'm happy with yet.

And you just reminded me that i need to fab up some adjustable trailer jack mounts for when i disconnect the trailer. Up until now that the last 2 trips i have kept the truck attached to the trailer because i dont have anything to keep it from rolling away other then blocks on the sides of the tires. but i dont have anything to keep it stationary other then the one trailer jack. I gotta fab something up for the rear; preferably 2 on each side of the rear. Maybe add another jack on the right front to make the entire trailer level because when i use my one jack it does lean due to the jack being on the left part of the trailer tongue. I kinda like how do you built yours. are they removable or do they just fold down?

Ya, I made them for that reason, as well as the other big problem was the sway in the suspension that would cause the RTT to fold and unjoin at the split. I looked at a few options, and even bought a set of BAL C's, but they ended up being too large and bulky. In the end figured out a way to make my own making a hybrid version of ones that fold and extend. They're bolted in and not removable, but tuck in even with the frame and are not in the way at all. I have plans to make some for the rear and be integrated and hidden in the bumper, but just having the fronts have dealt with the side to side rocking/suspension flexing issue, so the rears haven't been a priority, but I do need to make something up to replace the jack stand that I use in case the trailer decides to flip back. I like them integrated cause I know they're always there, and I don't have to dedicate any storage space for them

So, as a warning to what's coming up, as I look back and read it, it's more of a generic blog that's generically about vehicles then the trailer and the truck. You guys will have to let me know if it's interesting or me just posting up long winded digital rambling, but I find them ironic and interesting. Not just to validate on why thing happen, or not, but I find when I talk to people about things that happen in my life, I get the feeling that people look at me like I'm making it up all up, or just exaggerating what happened. They also tell good stories, and lessons to learn, for myself and others.

 

[Nd4SpdSe]

As it always seems to be, things were just crazy and non stop. I did get a little fun in July with my yearly pilgrimage to Mosport to watch some races with some of my best friends from Ontario. This time, we managed to bring my girlfriend's best friend along and her new boyfriend. Since I wasn't planning a trip down to visit my parents this summer, I convinced them to come up. They didn't camp but spent the night at the hotel. Other them regretting not having ear plugs, they seemed to of enjoy themselves as well.

Before the trip, I swapped to the Frontiers old street tires. I wanted to see if it would improve my fuel consumption since there was zero off-roading on this trip. I wanted to get there as soon as possible to get a good site. They open up Thursday morning, so what we ended up going is booking Thursday, Friday and Monday off, but planned to leave right after work Wednesday, drive until I didn't like feeling like going anymore, and cut much of the drive to get there at a good time Thursday. We left later then we wanted to, and stopped at an On Route just inside Ontario to get some coffee and figure out the plan for the night. I did look at the iOverlander app days prior, but what I failed to see, because I didn't zoom in close enough, is that the spot I planned to spend the night was on the other side of the St-Laurence Seaway in the USA, so a no-go at this point. There was Walmart nearby, but I then got thinking about truck stops. I've heard they have services for truckers, and the girlfriend REALLY wanting to of taken a shower (the spot in the USA had them) so I looked into it. There was a Flying J really not far off, and it had pay showers, so why not?

We took a spot amongst the other tired travellers

We we're actually quite surprised with the showers. We were able to pay for one shower for the both of us. They were clean, plenty hot, and no time limit. Even came with a set of clean towels for one person. While waiting for my girlfriend to do some business, I picked up a dual 12v fan setup. The evening was hot, and it typically is in July. My old single 12v fan had been with me for many years of RTTing and has seen better days, so we connected that and went to bed. I ended up waking up around 2:30am. I was not only getting a bit chilly, turned off the fans and had to pee, but also woke up to the sound of diesel engines idling. I look outside and see flashing red lights. First thing I'm thinking is that whoever it is will be kicking us out. I stepped outside and checked out the situation. I also took some pictures as well. They were going into the building for the Denny's with their suits and masks on. They said nothing, and I went back to bed. The next morning, I talked to the girl at the cash. She was a different person from when we first arrived, and she had no clue what something had happened. I guess I'll never know what it was all about. During the drive, I bring it up in conversation with the girlfriend, but I didn't realise that SHE HAD NO IDEA of the events of the night before. Not the trucks idling feet from the tent, not me getting out of the tent or climbing back in, nothing. She thought I was making this all up...until I showed her the pictures.

For the first night, we just did the basic setup

And the full awning setup.

Weather was nice, but as with typical fashion, we did get a storm roll through Thursday afternoon. We got a warning and my friend had (as always) had left me the task to tie town the gazebos. We sat in the truck to wait out the storm as opposed to spend it in the tent, to be ready to jump out and fix anything. As we watched the lightning in the distance and the dark clouds coming near, it looked like it just missed us from the north.

While I had spotted a nice campground for the trip back, the girlfriend not only liked the convenient and services of the Flying J, but we had supper with my parents and left later then planned, it worked out better. Fortunately, nothing happened this time during the night, that we know of.

What I found odd was that normally we're usually hot camping in July, this time around, we actually used the Webasto during the night; on minimum, but still. We should of had the fans on and still complained, but cold, in July? It's been a weird summer weather wise.

 

[Nd4SpdSe]

One of the reasons for leaving and getting some distance in Sunday, was to arrive in time to see the Foo Fighters playing in Quebec at the F.E.Q. Monday night. Last time they were in town, I was in course in Kingston (Ontario) and my girlfriend being a HUGE Foo Fighters fan, as opposed to coming down to meet me and head off to Mosport for the same ALMS event, she stayed behind to watch their show. Unfortunately for her/them, they played a few songs before having to shut the show down for a severe thunderstorm. The evening didn't go that well, but we did make the show.

While about a half hour out of Quebec City, a hole blew out in the exhaust. While not a big deal, it was more embarrassing for me for my truck to sound like a POS driving downtown while towing the trailer. She does stand out, but we didn't want to stop at home so we could get a good spot in line. It's an outdoor show, so it's a first-come first-serve "find a spot and stay there" deal. We were too early to get the cheap parking rates for the evening, especially with the trailer, so we went to look for one in a side street. We lucked out, and while pulling into the spot, the slave cylinder on the truck goes flat. It was just replaced in October as well. With that, I put it in 2-Low and went around the block to line myself up better. And a few back and forth bumps with the starter, I was good enough.

At the show, while watching the other shows before the main event, it went from sun to a nice downpour. I HATE getting rained on, and we didn't have any of the emergency ponchos with us, but fortunately I had my Mazda cap I got from Mosport, and I rarely wear a cap. We met our friend Tommy there, and his CAA Plus was expiring very soon, so gladly volunteered to use one of his tows left that would otherwise go to waste. The show was awesome! They played an extra hour, so a full 2 and a half hours of Foo Fighters with permission from the city to make up for last time. Walking out around midnight, we called CAA to get a head start on that wait. We didn't wait too long, but we had other issues. The drover asked me if the trailer was for camping, which I thought was small talk, but he was looking for clarification for the tow. CAA Plus in Quebec includes a trailer, but not a camper. I didn't know this. Fortunately for the setup, since the RTT is removable and easily transferable, it "can turn into a utility trailer", so I was able to correct myself on that. He also wanted to count this as two tows, but it's not supposed to be. Also, the tow truck didn't have a ball for a trailer, and the driver said there was a second tow truck driver on his way for the trailer. We waited around I believe it was 40 minutes, and he then got a call that the second tow truck wasn't coming, so he was going to do it on his own and make two trips. Since we worked in the morning, I sent the girlfriend back with the tow truck driver, they dropped Tommy near his car along the way (it was a good walk and late), while I pulled a camping chair and my cell charger out of the truck and closed my eyes, waiting for the 40+ minute round trip of the tow truck, in the cool night air, while still damp.

The next while now, for the most part, is working on stuff. To begin, I had to replace the AC condenser on the Mazda2. I bought this car with the intended feature of air conditioning. You can easily find one for much cheaper without, especially in manual. When I bought it however, it was November, so testing it wasn't really possible. Mind you, up to this point, I've been driving it in the summer no problem, but I've never been bothered by it. My Mx-3 didn't have AC, and the truck didn't have it for a few years after I removed the radiators to replace the lower rad support and got it only recharged last year. This was more for my girlfriend who can't really handle the heat since she'll be driving it while I work on her car for the next bit. I was thinking 2-3 weeks, but that wasn't the case.

 

[Nd4SpdSe]

The girlfriend has a 2008 Dodge Avenger (2.7L SXT) and rust had been getting worse over the last few years, and my goal was to stop it, patch it up, and extend the life a few more years. I've never done major body work, but I figured if I took my time, I could handle it. I needed to pick up some mixed gas and some 0.23 wire for the welder. Here's a few pics of what I had to work with:

What I had to fix up is: Rear passenger fender (major), drivers side rocker panels (major), front fender and door (they rubbed in the winter), hood (minor aluminum corrosion from chips), roof (though minor, but rusted and pierced through in one spot), passenger rocker panel (fairly major), rear fender (reasonable compared to the driver side) and trunk (minor rust and dents). What made it much worse was that there's foam all over the vehicle. Sprayed in between the panels, but also a layer squeeze in between the sheet metal. This caused the rust to spread from the inside out. What wasn't rusted, was dry and a fire hazard when welding in the new sheet metal. It was fun.

I also had a buddy who came by, needed the welder to weld some flanges to remove the resonator

And a rear brake job on a Jetta. Friend purchased it just 3-weeks before dieselgate

We did make some time to get away and do a little camping just me and the girlfriend at a close by campground and water park. The weather was good except for one day of a good downpour, but again, for August, we used the Webasto a night just to cut the cool air.

My girlfriend also wanted to make some gardens. She wanted them for this year, but progress was slow. While I did the majority of the work, I refused to work on it unless she was. Surprisingly (not really) they never got completed. One is 95% done, the other 85%, and will be finished next year

 

[Nd4SpdSe]

Finally getting back to the trailer, I jumped on a deal for an annex for the RTT. I was told that my tent was made "in the same Chinese factory as the ARB", but don't they all say that? Anyways, an annex was always on the wishlist, but I could never make the leap of faith to give it a try. On one of the local Quebec Xterra Facebook groups, a guy had an RTT, awning and annex for sale. It was the first time I've seem him and his setup, but he was selling it for the reason that it wasn't practical to setup this all up and incapacitating the vehicle. That's the exact reason why I build the trailer. I got the annex for C$80+shipping (cause he was 2hrs away) and arrived Friday, the Friday we had planned to go camping. We were heading back to Mont Radar, but this time there would be no snow. We had planned to do some filming for the teaser for this years haunted house on Saturday, but decided to head up and setup on Friday, take it easy, and leave Sunday. We went up with her cousin and her friend from work. The rest of the gang would show up Saturday morning to build the sets, film, deconstruct and leave. We'll say they regretted doing it that way. We did enjoy the annex and we used it as a shower and change room. This was way better then any improvised setup that we have done to this point, and like we did back at the Rassemblement Overland in spring, pumped the Webasto into it to warm up while we shower. The days were nice, but again, using the Webasto at night. You can tell is frustrates me that it was this cold during the summer. I always look forward to summer, but I already find them short in Quebec, I don't need them shorter and less pleasant.

Actually, while on the way up to Mont Radar, just a few km from the base, we come up to a Jeep on the side of the road. At this point it was getting dark, and while anxious to arrive, we rolled up beside them to see if they were alright. At what I first thought was a look of disgust, but actually more of a look of surprise once they actually said something. They were towing a pop-up trailer and were on the way to Mont Radar themselves. There was a Jeep off-road event there on the weekend, and the trailer had came off the ball, but had no way to get it back up and on it. I had the Hi-Lift and gladly pulled over to give them a hand. They said many people drove by but no one had even stopped to ask if they were ok, which would explain the look of surprise. They had friends that did show up just as we were finishing up. They offered $20 for the help, but we refused it. We said we'd come by for a beer over the course of the weekend, but it sadly didn't pan out. We setup and took it easy Friday, and finished up the filming and helping the others pack up around midnight. They did gladly wave hello to us when the Jeep group came up to the top of the hill for their run Saturday

With no plans for the trailer for a little bit, I took the time to bring the cover to a local canvas shop and had them repair the zipper. It's been frustrating cause it doesn't zip the two halves together. He ended up just replacing the slider.