The Bowman Odyssey Rig
- Thread starter LeftofLucky
- Start date
secondechomatt
New member
thank you for not only sharing your process, but essentially, inviting us all along on the adventure. It's a cool thing man.
LeftofLucky
Observer
Lightning Round
We're four days out from leaving, and things have been happening faster than I can keep track of. So, how's about a lightning round?
First, tires. The truck has never been a highway cruiser. At 65, it sat right at 2,000 rpm, or, as I've come to understand it, the Fuel Economy Canyon. After some research, I discovered I'm running 3.73s, not 4.10s like I originally thought. Even so, I wanted to take some load off the engine. The solution came in the form of a full set of BFG A/T KO2s, 315/70/17s to go around my recently reconditioned factory steelies.
They're basically 35 inches tall and just shy of 12 inches wide. The extra diameter will effectively gear the truck down, and the additional width will be useful on soft surfaces (sand, mud). And, despite how it looks, they fit almost perfectly.
The almost, in this case, comes from the control arms. At full lock, the tires rub. Fortunately, the bushings in my control arms were entirely roached, which as as good an excuse as any to upgrade. Jason Cooper at Rock Your 4x4 had these ordered up and in my hands in a heartbeat.
The only issue was, the cam bolts in the lower arms were frozen in place. The driver's side came out with about an hour and a half of torching, sledge hammer work, and convincing with the air hammer. The passenger side required a little more aggression. In the form of a sawzall. And a grinder. And a pry bar.
But hey. The new ones are in, and they offer enough clearance for the larger, wider tires.
Next? A comfier mattress for the camper bed. We went with gel-infused memory foam two inches thick. The factory mattress is nice enough for a weekend stint, but not for sleeping on for a year.
Then, it was throttle position sensor time. Pure Diesel Power sells a replacement sensor with excellent install instructions for a fraction of what the factory wants. Dropped it in in about 30 minutes or so and took care of the codes.
Somewhere in there I took the Mechman alternator back to those guys. They dropped in new internals and had it back to me in about a day. They didn't have any idea why it burnt up, which isn't entirely encouraging. I'm keeping the NAPA replacement I bought in Delta as a back up just in case.
I picked up a set of aluminum scissor steps and bolted them to the rub rail of the flatbed. They detach and sit inside the camper door for easy grabbing.
Then, it was underbody box time. I wound up going with a 24" RKI steel box on the driver's side and a 30" on the passenger side. The driver's side required a shorter box due to the fuel filler location. I wanted aluminum, but that was both cost prohibitive and difficult to justify. At about $200 a pop, these are sacrificial. Snag them on a rock, lose one to the highway, whatever, I'm not going to cry about it. Just shrug and swing in the closest truck supply shop. Plus, my supplier said there's only about a 10 lb difference between the aluminum and steel boxes, anyhow.
Of course, getting them to bolt to the bed took something of a miracle. I had to weld in four 2x2 aluminum square tubes as a mounting surface.
I had to buy a 24' stick of the stuff at almost $75, and getting the tube stitched to the bed set me back another $75. Jerks.
Then something interesting happened. A few months ago, I reached out to ARB to see if they had any interest in supplying us with a few pieces for review. They were receptive, but the components never showed up. Until this week, that is.
A full bull bar, IPF 900 lights, an 8' awning with room, a compressor, and a pile of recovery bits. Better than Christmas.
My goals were originally a bit more modest. I was after a rear locker to help us scramble out of sticky spots, and I didn't want a bumper. To me, they represent a lot of flash and a lot of weight with little gain. But Matt Glass, PR for ARB, made a good case for some protection on the nose. The truck has about five different coolers up front. One animal strike, and the machine's done. Given that this is our house for the next year or more, that was a stupid risk to take.
With less than a week before we depart, I didn't really have time to jump into a massive modification fest. The rain and snow blowing through didn't help things, either. Fortunately, I have miraculously generous friends. The guys at Blaziers Trucks made a spot in their warehouse for me to do some wrenching, and a buddy blew a valuable PTO day to come suffer on the cold concrete.
This, of course, brought me to another crossroads. Winch, or no winch? Having one would add even more weight. Not having one would mean that if I wanted to install one at a later date, I'd have to completely remove the bumper. Gross. And, of course, not having one would mean I'd be stuck somewhere wishing I had one. So, Rock Your 4x4 brought another miracle to pass: a brand-new M15000.
So, there we are. The house still needs packing. So does the truck. But at least it's together.
Oh, one last thing. We rolled over 297,000 miles tonight. The brand-new fan clutch croaked as I pulled in the driveway. So much for quality aftermarket parts. I'll try and source a Mopar replacement in the morning.
We're four days out from leaving, and things have been happening faster than I can keep track of. So, how's about a lightning round?
First, tires. The truck has never been a highway cruiser. At 65, it sat right at 2,000 rpm, or, as I've come to understand it, the Fuel Economy Canyon. After some research, I discovered I'm running 3.73s, not 4.10s like I originally thought. Even so, I wanted to take some load off the engine. The solution came in the form of a full set of BFG A/T KO2s, 315/70/17s to go around my recently reconditioned factory steelies.
They're basically 35 inches tall and just shy of 12 inches wide. The extra diameter will effectively gear the truck down, and the additional width will be useful on soft surfaces (sand, mud). And, despite how it looks, they fit almost perfectly.
The almost, in this case, comes from the control arms. At full lock, the tires rub. Fortunately, the bushings in my control arms were entirely roached, which as as good an excuse as any to upgrade. Jason Cooper at Rock Your 4x4 had these ordered up and in my hands in a heartbeat.
The only issue was, the cam bolts in the lower arms were frozen in place. The driver's side came out with about an hour and a half of torching, sledge hammer work, and convincing with the air hammer. The passenger side required a little more aggression. In the form of a sawzall. And a grinder. And a pry bar.
But hey. The new ones are in, and they offer enough clearance for the larger, wider tires.
Next? A comfier mattress for the camper bed. We went with gel-infused memory foam two inches thick. The factory mattress is nice enough for a weekend stint, but not for sleeping on for a year.
Then, it was throttle position sensor time. Pure Diesel Power sells a replacement sensor with excellent install instructions for a fraction of what the factory wants. Dropped it in in about 30 minutes or so and took care of the codes.
Somewhere in there I took the Mechman alternator back to those guys. They dropped in new internals and had it back to me in about a day. They didn't have any idea why it burnt up, which isn't entirely encouraging. I'm keeping the NAPA replacement I bought in Delta as a back up just in case.
I picked up a set of aluminum scissor steps and bolted them to the rub rail of the flatbed. They detach and sit inside the camper door for easy grabbing.
Then, it was underbody box time. I wound up going with a 24" RKI steel box on the driver's side and a 30" on the passenger side. The driver's side required a shorter box due to the fuel filler location. I wanted aluminum, but that was both cost prohibitive and difficult to justify. At about $200 a pop, these are sacrificial. Snag them on a rock, lose one to the highway, whatever, I'm not going to cry about it. Just shrug and swing in the closest truck supply shop. Plus, my supplier said there's only about a 10 lb difference between the aluminum and steel boxes, anyhow.
Of course, getting them to bolt to the bed took something of a miracle. I had to weld in four 2x2 aluminum square tubes as a mounting surface.
I had to buy a 24' stick of the stuff at almost $75, and getting the tube stitched to the bed set me back another $75. Jerks.
Then something interesting happened. A few months ago, I reached out to ARB to see if they had any interest in supplying us with a few pieces for review. They were receptive, but the components never showed up. Until this week, that is.
A full bull bar, IPF 900 lights, an 8' awning with room, a compressor, and a pile of recovery bits. Better than Christmas.
My goals were originally a bit more modest. I was after a rear locker to help us scramble out of sticky spots, and I didn't want a bumper. To me, they represent a lot of flash and a lot of weight with little gain. But Matt Glass, PR for ARB, made a good case for some protection on the nose. The truck has about five different coolers up front. One animal strike, and the machine's done. Given that this is our house for the next year or more, that was a stupid risk to take.
With less than a week before we depart, I didn't really have time to jump into a massive modification fest. The rain and snow blowing through didn't help things, either. Fortunately, I have miraculously generous friends. The guys at Blaziers Trucks made a spot in their warehouse for me to do some wrenching, and a buddy blew a valuable PTO day to come suffer on the cold concrete.
This, of course, brought me to another crossroads. Winch, or no winch? Having one would add even more weight. Not having one would mean that if I wanted to install one at a later date, I'd have to completely remove the bumper. Gross. And, of course, not having one would mean I'd be stuck somewhere wishing I had one. So, Rock Your 4x4 brought another miracle to pass: a brand-new M15000.
So, there we are. The house still needs packing. So does the truck. But at least it's together.
Oh, one last thing. We rolled over 297,000 miles tonight. The brand-new fan clutch croaked as I pulled in the driveway. So much for quality aftermarket parts. I'll try and source a Mopar replacement in the morning.
Last edited:
justbecause
perpetually lost
are those eye bolts recovery points?
LeftofLucky
Observer
That they are. Big, beefy suckers.
pappawheely
Autonomous4X4
Looks like a proper overlander now. The mattress was one reason I sold my pop-up. It was too stiff and there was no room for anything else on that older model.
LeftofLucky
Observer
Departure
Hey look, a new Drive post:
http://www.thedrive.com/article/2413/leaving-knoxville
The week leading up to our departure was some kind of special. As I said, the new fan clutch had seized, which in turn put undue stress on the hub bearing behind it, causing it to fail as well. I decided to go back with a Mopar fan clutch, but the hub bearing was something else. The dealer couldn't get one in time. Cummins wanted $300 for the bearing alone, and Orielly had its hand out for $240 the complete assembly. Given my recent luck with aftermarket junk, I decided that wasn't the best course of action. Instead, I pressed out the old bearing, pulled the NSK number, and called a local bearing supply. $75 later and some cursing, we were back on the road.
I will really, really miss the 20-ton press.
Friday night was a party. Our good friends threw us a big send off. The house has never been so packed with loving, laughing people. It was good to see the place so bright. We set up the rig in the front yard to let people crawl around inside and get a feel for what we'd be living out of for the next year. I don't think the thing was empty the whole night.
You'd be amazed how many people you can stuff in a Grandby.
We got lucky with the weather. Spring is already tiptoeing into Knoxville. Robbins and daffodils and tulips all coming to promise warmer weather. My dad, father-in-law and a passel of friends came to give the ultimate sacrifice: help us pack up everything. That included the garage and the tools, which meant figuring out what I was taking with us and what I was leaving behind. I settled on using my grandfather's old Craftsman box, sentimental as that is. I may have gone overboard with the tools, but I'd rather have what I need than have to try to make do without when something goes wrong.
I'd originally wanted to head for the coast. Push for the Outer Banks and spend some time getting accustomed to the camper, but that really didn't work out. We wound up with way more stuff left over than I had anticipated, and that meant needing a place to store it while we're out galavanting. Dad offered up a trade: head back up to Virginia to his place and help him clean out the garage in exchange for some floor space.
We left Knoxville and rolled up Route 11, meandering north and east along the first road to string Memphis and Bristol together. The feeling of it was overwhelming. Of walking away from my grandfather's house. From our friends and our lives there in Knoxville. It all felt so foolish.
The truck feels the weight. I haven't been over a scale with the truck fully saddled, but I imagine we're knocking on 11k lbs. Empty, it sits at 10k. Nothing happens quickly, and my paranoid side is convinced the clutch is slipping. Who knows if that's true or not.
Rather than head straight to Lexington, we stopped off half way at Hungry Mother State Park. I've driven past the signs for the place a hundred times, but never stopped. It isn't technically open until March 1, which meant we were relegated to the lower campsites. Still, it was largely empty and clean, and the walking trails were a good place to stretch our legs and clear our heads.
We're in Virginia now. I've spent the week helping dad square the garage, getting our stuff indoors, and sorting a few things on the truck. It's been a good way to have a largely consequence free shakedown. More on that later.
Hey look, a new Drive post:
http://www.thedrive.com/article/2413/leaving-knoxville
The week leading up to our departure was some kind of special. As I said, the new fan clutch had seized, which in turn put undue stress on the hub bearing behind it, causing it to fail as well. I decided to go back with a Mopar fan clutch, but the hub bearing was something else. The dealer couldn't get one in time. Cummins wanted $300 for the bearing alone, and Orielly had its hand out for $240 the complete assembly. Given my recent luck with aftermarket junk, I decided that wasn't the best course of action. Instead, I pressed out the old bearing, pulled the NSK number, and called a local bearing supply. $75 later and some cursing, we were back on the road.
I will really, really miss the 20-ton press.
Friday night was a party. Our good friends threw us a big send off. The house has never been so packed with loving, laughing people. It was good to see the place so bright. We set up the rig in the front yard to let people crawl around inside and get a feel for what we'd be living out of for the next year. I don't think the thing was empty the whole night.
You'd be amazed how many people you can stuff in a Grandby.
We got lucky with the weather. Spring is already tiptoeing into Knoxville. Robbins and daffodils and tulips all coming to promise warmer weather. My dad, father-in-law and a passel of friends came to give the ultimate sacrifice: help us pack up everything. That included the garage and the tools, which meant figuring out what I was taking with us and what I was leaving behind. I settled on using my grandfather's old Craftsman box, sentimental as that is. I may have gone overboard with the tools, but I'd rather have what I need than have to try to make do without when something goes wrong.
I'd originally wanted to head for the coast. Push for the Outer Banks and spend some time getting accustomed to the camper, but that really didn't work out. We wound up with way more stuff left over than I had anticipated, and that meant needing a place to store it while we're out galavanting. Dad offered up a trade: head back up to Virginia to his place and help him clean out the garage in exchange for some floor space.
We left Knoxville and rolled up Route 11, meandering north and east along the first road to string Memphis and Bristol together. The feeling of it was overwhelming. Of walking away from my grandfather's house. From our friends and our lives there in Knoxville. It all felt so foolish.
The truck feels the weight. I haven't been over a scale with the truck fully saddled, but I imagine we're knocking on 11k lbs. Empty, it sits at 10k. Nothing happens quickly, and my paranoid side is convinced the clutch is slipping. Who knows if that's true or not.
Rather than head straight to Lexington, we stopped off half way at Hungry Mother State Park. I've driven past the signs for the place a hundred times, but never stopped. It isn't technically open until March 1, which meant we were relegated to the lower campsites. Still, it was largely empty and clean, and the walking trails were a good place to stretch our legs and clear our heads.
We're in Virginia now. I've spent the week helping dad square the garage, getting our stuff indoors, and sorting a few things on the truck. It's been a good way to have a largely consequence free shakedown. More on that later.