Skinny's Frontier Build - Blanche

[(none)]

Great looking truck! Are you running spacers in the back to made the rear track the same as the front?

Any pics of exactly how far out of the wheel wells your tires/wheels stick? I'll admit, the one reason i have not gone for the titan swap is i hate the look of the tires outside the wheel wells.

 

[Skinny06]

Great looking truck! Are you running spacers in the back to made the rear track the same as the front?

Any pics of exactly how far out of the wheel wells your tires/wheels stick? I'll admit, the one reason i have not gone for the titan swap is i hate the look of the tires outside the wheel wells.

I'm am running spacers in the rear, but only 1.5 inch. It is slightly inboard of the front track width. I don't like the look much either, but to me the benefit of the swap outweighs it. It doesn't look too bad, and the rear isn't too noticeable. In this photo the wheels are slightly turned to the drivers side but you can kinda get an idea

 

[(none)]

agreed. I isn't bad at all. Nice work, great looking truck

 

[Skinny06]

Gotta give some love to the folks over at Heavy Metal Offroad.

They made me up a set of custom height bed bars to my specs, in under a week. Bonus they came in priced just as the regular bars they make. Dropped them off at powdercoat yesterday - going with white to match the truck. These new bars will allow me to keep my COG a bit lower than full height bars, and mount a RTT over just the bed section. The tent shouldn't extend past my trasharoo. A neat tidy package that is very utilitarian and minimalistic.

Here you can see the old setup wouldn't have allowed the RTT to clear the spare tire or fuelpax. (hi lift will now be moved to the passenger side of the bed bars)

 

[hovenator]

Awesome truck! What size tires are you running? Also love your snorkle set up!!!

 

[Skinny06]

Awesome truck! What size tires are you running? Also love your snorkle set up!!!

Thankya kindly! Currently running 285/75R16 - essentially a 33 inch tire.

I still need to sort a truly sealed airbox vs the stock box, but it is functional for now!

 

[hovenator]

Thanks for the info. Can’t decide between 255/85’s or 285/75’s. How do you like your tires?

 

[Skinny06]

Thanks for the info. Can’t decide between 255/85’s or 285/75’s. How do you like your tires?

I like them well enough, I have had zero issues with traction and they're quiet compared to mud tires I've had in the past. That being said, I believe next time I'll likely go 255/85. Just in a hope to slightly reduce weight and gain a smidge of ground clearance.

In a perfect world I'd be able to easily find 34x10.5R16s.

 

[hovenator]

Thanks for the info…..truck looks mint!

 

[WKexpedition]

Such a great looking Fronty!! Any idea on weight when fully loaded up?

 

[Skinny06]

Such a great looking Fronty!! Any idea on weight when fully loaded up?

Thankya! Estimating right around 5500-5750 lbs fully loaded. Need to hit a scale.

 

[Skinny06]

Kinda recent upgrade/switch to the build, I talked to Tim at Heavy Metal Offroad about a custom height set of bed rack bars. He had them sorted and shipped out within a single week. Phenomenal customer service there.

I then had them powder-coated to match the truck and eventually got around to putting them on. The height will be perfect for a RTT to be mounted and not interfere with the rear swing outs on the bumper. Even allowing me to upgrade to 35's if I ever decide to go that route. (tall skinny 33/34s are more likely)

I moved my hi-lift to the bars and re mounted my maul and shovel. I like the way it turned out though I'm sure the setup will change slightly as I use it more.

 

[Skinny06]

It was maintenance and repair day. Weld washers for the lower control arms, to solve the "radflo clunk" and a new CV as I destroyed the boot over a year ago and have been a lazy POS and not repaired it yet.

Here you can see the front lower shock mount has wallowed out slightly.

The weld washers in place and painted

Old vs. New

The boot had holes through one side and out the other. Surprisingly never had any clicking, grinding, or abnormality this whole time.

The cause of the damage

 

[Dmski]

LOVE that you went with the Australia style milweld snorkel. Fantastic and glad to see one (probably the only one) in the US. Killer looking truck.

 

[Skinny06]

LOVE that you went with the Australia style milweld snorkel. Fantastic and glad to see one (probably the only one) in the US. Killer looking truck.

Thanks! After seeing this style I couldn't go with a plastic one. I know of only 1 other in the states, both of us went with Meredith Metalworks.

I still need to get a sealed aftermarket airbox and mate them up, but even with the stock airbox and some torrential rain and a couple deeper (bottom of headlight) crossings I've had zero water ingress. The air filter has also stayed much cleaner when following other rigs in the dry summer.