crawler#976
Expedition Leader
I dropped the pressure to 5PSI - the minimum recommended inflation. I can't tell any difference from the stock ride quality now. Even 10 PSI changed the ride to a slightly harsher feel.
The Cactus Red mod thread.
- Thread starter crawler#976
- Start date
crawler#976
Expedition Leader
Carlyle, do you flex the truck enough to require a free float bag? Cactus Red still gets wheeled pretty hard, and has way more flex than most 3/4T or 1T trucks do since the front axle has a disconnect. That transfers a lot more twist to the rear than you'd suspect.
Mark
Mark
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crawler#976
Expedition Leader
We got in about 50 miles of dirt this weekend with the Starcraft 10RT trailer in tow. Set the bags at 20 PSI to bring the truck up to level, and it actually improved the ride quality with the trailer. I suspect it's because we're no longer into the harsh part of the spring, and the airbag itself is very smooth in it's operation. Spent a night near Williams, AZ. watching the monsoons, and enjoying the fall flowers in the meadows.
Attachments
redthies
Renaissance Redneck
Thanks for posting the travel pics also in your build thread....it reminds me and everyone else that building a rig is useless unless we play with it also
I got grief for posting travel pics in my build thread a while back. Why wouldn't you put them there? You built it to use it! Show the fruits of your labor!
crawler#976
Expedition Leader
I had a question regarding the blackout curtains I use in the topper last weekend. While I learned to sew in the USCG as a Boatswain Mate, I'm not good at it. Fortunately the black covers my crappy sewing!
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Anyway, the material I chose is heavy enough to conceal what's in the topper, yet has the ability to let air thru the side windows. It's pretty dark in there with the sun shades in place on the windshield and side windows. Since I usually sleep with the rear window open, I have not made a curtain for that. A 6'6" bed length doesn't lend itself to closing the rear unless the weather gets bad.
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Attached to the carpet on the topper w/ Velcro strips sewn at 4 places top and bottom, it's easy to install and remove. One of the other benefits to this is it does a great job reducing heat inside the topper.
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Pictures are difficult to take of this, so what you see is what you get, including the junk I'd already stuffed into the truck for this weekend's Prescott Rally campout.
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Direct sun on the material:
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Shady side:
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Laid out on the tail gate:
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Anyway, the material I chose is heavy enough to conceal what's in the topper, yet has the ability to let air thru the side windows. It's pretty dark in there with the sun shades in place on the windshield and side windows. Since I usually sleep with the rear window open, I have not made a curtain for that. A 6'6" bed length doesn't lend itself to closing the rear unless the weather gets bad.
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Attached to the carpet on the topper w/ Velcro strips sewn at 4 places top and bottom, it's easy to install and remove. One of the other benefits to this is it does a great job reducing heat inside the topper.
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Pictures are difficult to take of this, so what you see is what you get, including the junk I'd already stuffed into the truck for this weekend's Prescott Rally campout.
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Direct sun on the material:
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Shady side:
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Laid out on the tail gate:
crawler#976
Expedition Leader
Well, Cactus Red has passed the 60,000 mark. I've been very pleased with the truck over the last 5 years. Considering all the miles of hard use, it's only had a few problems, mostly with front end components (it's on the list for the NTSB tie rod recall for most Dodge/Ram 2500's - again...). The modifications made to the truck all work as expected.
I will have a rear bumper to install soon - look for that in the next few weeks. The stock rear tin hasn't held up to well!
And, appropriately, we hit the 60K mark on a typical day trip off highway. While the trip itself was normal, the conditions weren't. We headed into the Kiabab NF, and experienced 60 deg weather at 6600' of elevation - virtually no snow where there should be about 20 to 24" snow pack.
I will have a rear bumper to install soon - look for that in the next few weeks. The stock rear tin hasn't held up to well!
And, appropriately, we hit the 60K mark on a typical day trip off highway. While the trip itself was normal, the conditions weren't. We headed into the Kiabab NF, and experienced 60 deg weather at 6600' of elevation - virtually no snow where there should be about 20 to 24" snow pack.
Attachments
crawler#976
Expedition Leader
Toyo ATII XTreme - one year and 12K later
Thought I'd report on the 35/12.5-17 Toyo ATII XTreme's.
1
After 12K and many, many miles of hard use, I am very pleased with these tires.
1
I've had a lot of tires on the truck in the 61000k on the truck.
1
Stock 33" BFG AT's for less than a thousand mile - hated'm, sold'm. Big problem with them was being too short, the extra inch a 35 adds under the diff is precious for this truck. That and they chunked up terribly were the reason they went away so quickly.
1
So, they got replaced by GoodYear MT/R K's for about 13K. They offered great traction, were incredibly tough, and surprisingly quiet down the road, but they wore badly due to my fault - I mounted them black wall out, so they cupped terribly. I couldn't stand the vibrations on asphalt.
1
The BFG M/T's went for about 14K. Second worst tire by far. Being D rated, they were just too soft for the truck. Anything below 20 PSI was just asking for bead seat problems, and they cost me a rim in snow due to bead loss. Traction was way below what I'm getting from the Toyo's! For a tire that is sold as "key word, Mud", they sucked in it. They also chunked up badly - I tore off three complete lugs at one time on a local trail.
1
The Nitto Trails were a decent tire, but as they wore, and I had heard they would, they developed a hard left pull at about half tread depth. I didn't like that much. Other than that, they were second to the Mt/R's in traction, and never failed to get me thru some nasty stuff. Last year with just under half the tread remaining, the ATII's replaced the Nitto's. The other problem with the Nittos was weight - they come in at a hefty 88 lbs apiece! I lost over 1 MPG with them, and when you only get 10 to 11 on road, 6 to 8 when aired down, I wasn't too happy about that either.
1
So, with a lot of thing factoring into the decision, one of the biggest being MPG, I picked to try the Toyo ATII XTreme's. I saw a set at Discount Tire, really liked the tread pattern in the XTreme version, and that made up my mind. MPG went up by 1.5 over the Nittos right off the bat! I average about 12.5 now, and I can deal with that.
1
Tread durability is very good considering the weight of the truck (roughly 8K), dual lockers, 400+ HP/420+ Ft/Lbs Torque, towing on and off road; they have held up exceptionally well. The tread depth is at 14/32 from 17/32 when new. With a 50K Tread Life Warranty, we'll see how they do in that department over the next year or two.
1
Balance has never been an issue - heck, one tire/rim combo has NO WEIGHTS! The most used yesterday was 3.5 ounces. I've been going 4K between rotation/balancing, using all five tires in a clockwise pattern.
1
Traction has been way better than I expected, coming in behind the MT/R's and Nittos in that regard. They clean well in mud/snow, are excellent in sand and other dry conditions, and I've aired down to 10 PSI without a problem. It's a stiff tire, yet it rides very well both on and off road.
1
I've had one failure, and that was a weird one that I'm glad I have the tire warranties from Discount Tire for. Had a 16P nail go in, start to penetrate the steel ply's, get turned back around and come back to the top in a nice U shape. It got just deep enough into the carcass to damage the belts. It was replaced at only 3K, so in essence it now has the same miles as the rest of the set since I rotate all five tires.
1
Mark
Thought I'd report on the 35/12.5-17 Toyo ATII XTreme's.
1
After 12K and many, many miles of hard use, I am very pleased with these tires.
1
I've had a lot of tires on the truck in the 61000k on the truck.
1
Stock 33" BFG AT's for less than a thousand mile - hated'm, sold'm. Big problem with them was being too short, the extra inch a 35 adds under the diff is precious for this truck. That and they chunked up terribly were the reason they went away so quickly.
1
So, they got replaced by GoodYear MT/R K's for about 13K. They offered great traction, were incredibly tough, and surprisingly quiet down the road, but they wore badly due to my fault - I mounted them black wall out, so they cupped terribly. I couldn't stand the vibrations on asphalt.
1
The BFG M/T's went for about 14K. Second worst tire by far. Being D rated, they were just too soft for the truck. Anything below 20 PSI was just asking for bead seat problems, and they cost me a rim in snow due to bead loss. Traction was way below what I'm getting from the Toyo's! For a tire that is sold as "key word, Mud", they sucked in it. They also chunked up badly - I tore off three complete lugs at one time on a local trail.
1
The Nitto Trails were a decent tire, but as they wore, and I had heard they would, they developed a hard left pull at about half tread depth. I didn't like that much. Other than that, they were second to the Mt/R's in traction, and never failed to get me thru some nasty stuff. Last year with just under half the tread remaining, the ATII's replaced the Nitto's. The other problem with the Nittos was weight - they come in at a hefty 88 lbs apiece! I lost over 1 MPG with them, and when you only get 10 to 11 on road, 6 to 8 when aired down, I wasn't too happy about that either.
1
So, with a lot of thing factoring into the decision, one of the biggest being MPG, I picked to try the Toyo ATII XTreme's. I saw a set at Discount Tire, really liked the tread pattern in the XTreme version, and that made up my mind. MPG went up by 1.5 over the Nittos right off the bat! I average about 12.5 now, and I can deal with that.
1
Tread durability is very good considering the weight of the truck (roughly 8K), dual lockers, 400+ HP/420+ Ft/Lbs Torque, towing on and off road; they have held up exceptionally well. The tread depth is at 14/32 from 17/32 when new. With a 50K Tread Life Warranty, we'll see how they do in that department over the next year or two.
1
Balance has never been an issue - heck, one tire/rim combo has NO WEIGHTS! The most used yesterday was 3.5 ounces. I've been going 4K between rotation/balancing, using all five tires in a clockwise pattern.
1
Traction has been way better than I expected, coming in behind the MT/R's and Nittos in that regard. They clean well in mud/snow, are excellent in sand and other dry conditions, and I've aired down to 10 PSI without a problem. It's a stiff tire, yet it rides very well both on and off road.
1
I've had one failure, and that was a weird one that I'm glad I have the tire warranties from Discount Tire for. Had a 16P nail go in, start to penetrate the steel ply's, get turned back around and come back to the top in a nice U shape. It got just deep enough into the carcass to damage the belts. It was replaced at only 3K, so in essence it now has the same miles as the rest of the set since I rotate all five tires.
1
Mark
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1leglance
2007 Expedition Trophy Champion, Overland Certifie
Great to hear that your rig is still running strong as I know you get your money's worth out of your toys.
I know this isn't directly related to Cactus Red but are you still happy with your Antigravity jump start pack? I am looking for something small that can go between my Burb and moto's for travels.
thanks
I know this isn't directly related to Cactus Red but are you still happy with your Antigravity jump start pack? I am looking for something small that can go between my Burb and moto's for travels.
thanks
crawler#976
Expedition Leader
It's a great piece of kit Lance. I'll be buying another one for the truck at some point this year. Since the test and review, it was recharged and is stored in the Jeep.
Sent via gigawatt laser...
Sent via gigawatt laser...
crawler#976
Expedition Leader
We have the XP-1, the larger of the two units.
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Sent via gigawatt laser...
crawler#976
Expedition Leader
Had the 5 year warranty inspection done today. The truck passed it fine! They did see excessive play in ball joint, so they will be replaced for the third time. Yes, the third time. It astounds me that the ball joints on a 3/4 or 1T AAM 9.25 front diff are smaller than those used on a D44.
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Sent via gigawatt laser...
toddz69
Explorer
How long with the ball joints continue to be covered under warranty?
I'm curious if there are some better quality ball joints available for the AAM axle once it's no longer covered by factory care.
Todd Z.