Team Equipt's "Central America Expedition"

[Wes Craiglow]

:xxrotflma

 

[benedmonson]

@6 String & Dfurley2000, you 2 funny guys BTW Both of you be safe and have a blast on your trip south leaving in a couple of day!!! Keep us posted.....

 

[womacje]

That is where I carried my MAXTRAX while trying to make Imogene Pass this last fall. I used them so often that it didn't make sense to remount them on the rack every time, so they lived at the junction of hood and bullbar.

My shovel, was used even more, and that was shoved in between my trasharoo and the spare. Think Shovel holster, I got to be quite the quick draw.

Jeremy

 

[benedmonson]

View attachment 78503

That is where I carried my MAXTRAX while trying to make Imogene Pass this last fall. I used them so often that it didn't make sense to remount them on the rack every time, so they lived at the junction of hood and bullbar.

My shovel, was used even more, and that was shoved in between my trasharoo and the spare. Think Shovel holster, I got to be quite the quick draw.

Jeremy

Nice setup Jeremy! I love that long climb you are on there right to the top of Imogene, 13,115? As for my MAXTRAX, I'm sure once we get into the mud the traction devices will ride where ever I throw them in between "Bogs." Just trying to get them secure for the several thousand mile trip to the real starting point! It's kind of like when we shot the BTL episode in British Columbia, after one or two winching scenarios we just started wrapping the line around our ARB Bull Bars so we didn't have to burn the battery spooling in and out so much......

 

[womacje]

Nice setup Jeremy! I love that long climb you are on there right to the top of Imogene, 13,115? As for my MAXTRAX, I'm sure once we get into the mud the traction devices will ride where ever I throw them in between "Bogs." Just trying to get them secure for the several thousand mile trip to the real starting point! It's kind of like when we shot the BTL episode in British Columbia, after one or two winching scenarios we just started wrapping the line around our ARB Bull Bars so we didn't have to burn the battery spooling in and out so much......

I like your strap thru the spare wheel technique, very nice! That last climb on Imogene whooped me. I never made the pass, too much snow. Backing down that with a trailer sucked!

Jeremy

 

[benedmonson]

Looks like we may be entering through Laredo instead of Brownsville, TX. Seems the Gulf road down Mexico is quite sketchy right now especially around Tampico. Was reading some of Mexico Mike's stuff last night and now thinking about a mountain route south, maybe more interesting. We will be watching Wes and David's progress as they left yesterday and are somewhat doing a shorter version of our trip, we wish them well!

 

[RMP&O]

Looks like we may be entering through Laredo instead of Brownsville, TX. Seems the Gulf road down Mexico is quite sketchy right now especially around Tampico. Was reading some of Mexico Mike's stuff last night and now thinking about a mountain route south, maybe more interesting. We will be watching Wes and David's progress as they left yesterday and are somewhat doing a shorter version of our trip, we wish them well!

What do you mean by "sketchy" and who is Mexico Mike?

 

[Dgurley2000]

We will be watching Wes and David's progress as they left yesterday and are somewhat doing a shorter version of our trip, we wish them well!

We are waiting in the line at Laredo bridge ii. Lots of folks heading home for Christmas!

 

[Wes Craiglow]

Lots of paisanos loaded with gifts all headed home for the holidays. Traffic suck? Sure. But at least we overlanders don't stand out too much amongst the multitude of other trucks with crap strapped all over them! This also means that there are lots of fellow Americans on the road south with us today.

All is well. Mexico is open for adventure!

Will check back in soon.


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[cruiseroutfit]

Paul, got my tire chains out of storage. Looks like I have a set for 33" and a set for 35", your welcome to either. I'll followup with a call this week.

 

[Equipt]

Hey Kurt.

Thanks for loaning me that set of chains. Hopefully they work out. I am sure they will.

I thought is was time I start to share some of the vehicle preparations. We worked on the back end a bit. Some of the goodies are a new ARB bumper with dual tire swing outs. We added the Max Trax, Trash a roo, and a shovel mount. Turned out pretty good.




The shovel mount was a custom job I came up with. The Max Trax are hanging from a proto type hanger that Ben Meddows loaned me for the trip. Rear wheel steps too.

Cheers,

 

[Equipt]

Up front we fabricated some limb risers for the jungle fun we anticipate in Guatemala. The trick was that the Sahara Bumper on the 100 didn't have the higher bar surrounding the head lights. So I put together something that I believe will work for the trip. It isn't the prettiest thing in the world, but I think it will work for the trip.

5/8" threaded rod, sleeved with 5/8" ID tubing, nutted top and bottom, then braced back into the engine compartment at the intersection of the radiator apron and the inner fender wall. It is really a stout mounting. I can't use the hood with the risers on, but they are designed to come off in less than a minute if necessary. We'll see how they do.



Cheers,

 

[womacje]

Well resolved Paul! Very clean and simple, not to mention stout.

 

[Equipt]

There were a couple things that needed to be addressed on the truck, other than bolting on new goodies. The main one was that not one hose on the truck has been replaced in 12 years and 237K miles. Pretty cool to say, but I'd rather address this here than there. So, a wholesale replacement of the hoses took place. With the help of my friend Will Carroll, we replaced all the coolant lines on the truck, and changed out the coolant.



I also had a full transmission flush, had the drivelines balanced and replaced all the u-joints. A oil change and tire rotate/balance will happen once we return from our Montana Christmas run. New fog lights and turn signal lights were put in the front bumper. The K&N filter was cleaned and coated too.

We are taking along a spare ignition coil, a new fuel filter, and a spare set of front brake pads just in case.

Cheers,

 

[RMP&O]

you may want to carry some spare bulbs too, at the least. Take the K&N kit with you, no reason you can't clean the filter on the road. And where you are going, you may need to.