Its been a while!
Haven't done a update in quite some time. Here are some pics from my trip to OX11. I stopped in Scottsdale, AZ at ASFIR 4x4 to pick up some underbody protection. Those guys are great! Now I'm not so scared to drag the belly of the big truck.
OX11 was great! Got to meet tons of great people. Did a handful of really helpful workshops. On sunday I did a stellar ride with the "Cool" guys from Tourtech. Holy smokes, I helped pick up so many big GS beemers that day, I am convinced I don't want a huge adventure big. Mind you, they had no luggage either.
I met up with "ScottReb" and his wife Irene at the conclusion of the expo. We did most of the Mojave trail together. I had a great time, but learned that my rig is a bit big for the trail. Between the dually tires bashing rocks and and the sides getting beaten by Joshua trees and cacti, I beat the camper up a bit. I managed to break one solar panel, lose a few clearance lights, and break my side door catch. On the last day, I even bent one of my steel dually wheels. The sidewalls of all my toyo mudders took a beating.
When I came home, new Hankook A/T 's and the Centerline DOT dual beadlocks I've been waiting on had finally arrived. I have not completed install, as the bigger tires, and offset is requiring some fitment adjustments. I will hopefully have it all together next week and will take pics. The rear dually flares will be getting gut off, woohoo! Then some custom King Shocks are being built. The A/T's are much quieter as suspected, and ditching the duals rides so much nicer. I know i will miss the stability of the duals, but it's a compromise.
Also in the works is the rear tire carrier. I have a fab shop building a rear tire carrier that will slide for access to both the tire and storage compartments on the back while my dirtbike is mounted. I have also removed the packasport storage pod from the roof, in an effort to get as much weight off the roof. I am looking forward to never having to get the spare tire off the roof. It was never fun.
-Kevin
A parting shot on my drive North. On the Kern river outside Bakersfield,CA.