The Little 2TRFE That Could..

[jeverich]

I'm seeingpictures from this last weekend....

Took my Dad out into the Mount Baker National Forest for the day on Saturday. Nothing too extreme, in fact it was mostly pretty mild.. Not like I didn't bust his balls enough; but, he's got pretty bad vertigo. In other words the awesome literally edge of the mountainside road was out of the question. Too bad, because it would have made for some killer photos.

Attempted FS39, but an avalanche basically dead headed it before the start of the Heliotrope Trail, so that will have to wait until later. Finished up the day with a trip up to Mt. Baker Ski Area.

Amazing how this is the same exact trail that was covered in 4 feet of snow in January!


Really want to attempt FS17 again. It looks as though all of this warm weather we've been having is making all of that higher elevation snow disappear.

Just packed the tent and stove into the rig, heading down to shipyard in Oregon for the next few weeks. Hoping to get out into the woods this weekend for some long overdue camping. Will update when I can.

Loving the 2 Meter. Taking the test on Wednesday. Wish me luck.

jake

 

[uscg2008]

1. AWSOME pics really making me jelly
2. Why didn't u just use a magnet mout and run the wire through the brake light to the roof?
3. You got anymore pics of how you mounted the antenna?

 

[jeverich]

1. AWSOME pics really making me jelly

Yup, lot's of more places to go than Kodiak..

2. Why didn't u just use a magnet mout and run the wire through the brake light to the roof?

3. You got anymore pics of how you mounted the antenna?

Just decided to bite the bullet and go for a thru-drilled NMO mount. Didn't want to worry about about a magnet coming off when I'm going down the highway (don't even know if that happens). Figured I'm going to keep the truck forever, so why not?

Don't have any pictures of how I installed it, there are a few good tutorials out there. I've got to work on taking some more pictures when I do work on the truck, it's easy for me to forget.

Basically I pulled out the dome light to get access to the roof. There's a structural beam running directly ahead of the dome light, which runs from either side of the cab. You don't want to drill that. Located the center beam, ran a piece of twine across the top of the roof, and measured back 2".. Then centered my hole in between the two ridges in the middle of the cab.

Had to pull the headliner off the Driver's side, which actually had a great channel in it already for running coax. Used a fiberglass road road reflector stick to fish the wire across the roof and out to the A-Pillar.

From there it was just basic 12 Volt Wiring and soldering/cutting the coax to length.

 

[jeverich]

Just scored some extended SS brake lines, Hypertech Speedo Calibrator and hoping that the BAMF rear bumper will show up sometime soon!

Stay tuned.

 

[Costman13]

Hey Jake, What do you have for skids? Im going to need some post APEX install.

 

[Scott Brady]

Awesome project. One of my favorites on the forum. All of your modifications are thoughtful and deliberate - well done.

 

[jeverich]

Hey Jake, What do you have for skids? Im going to need some post APEX install.

Just a 3/16" IFS skid, fabb'd it up myself a while ago. May possible try and weld up a T-Case skid sometime over the next month..



Hi Lift Mount, too..



Want to work on some kind of Jerry Can holder that'll use the bolts for the rear bed cubbies. Kind of like a cage-type contraption. Might make that into this week's project, along with the SS brake lines.

Awesome project. One of my favorites on the forum. All of your modifications are thoughtful and deliberate - well done.

Thanks, Scott! That means a lot coming from you..

It pales in comparison to a lot of the other rigs on here; although most of my work has been pretty fundamental.

 

[Scott Brady]

It pales in comparison to a lot of the other rigs on here; although most of my work has been pretty fundamental.

I disagree. It is the fundamentals of your project that makes it notable. I also see a lot of pictures of you using the truck, getting stuck, exploring. You are only making modifications when you find a serious deficiency in the field. Bravo.

 

[uscg2008]

I should have had you make me a real skid so I can ditch the TRD whimppy POS

 

[jeverich]

Whoo hoo! Passed my Tech Exam with 94%!

Thanks for all of the positive comments, guys..

 

[Louisd75]

Whoo hoo! Passed my Tech Exam with 94%!

Thanks for all of the positive comments, guys..

If I told you once...

Congrats! Now we just have to get you back up here before I'm completely out of commission with all my upcoming new responsibilities.

 

[jeverich]

If I told you once...

Congrats! Now we just have to get you back up here before I'm completely out of commission with all my upcoming new responsibilities.

Man, it's looking awful tight.. we're going to be out of the shipyard by June 1st and off the Bering Sea. Going to attempt to take August off.

 

[jeverich]

Seeing as there is just about no social outlets in Reesport, well - I don't do Meth so that rules just about everything out in this town.. I know. Brutally honest.

Managed to keep myself busy for a few hours this evening - have a couple of parts ready to get installed; extended Stainless Steel brake lines and a Hypertech Inline Speedo Calibrator. Of course, the Hypertech doesn't have any drivers available for a Mac, so know I have to find a pre-Windows 7 PC to do the configuration.. Ugh.

Might attempt brake lines on Sunday. Still have to replace the rear pinion seal.

Finally connected with Billy down at Brutrforce Fab - looks like my High Clearance Rear Bumper will be finished up next week. Just in time for me to be returning to the Bering Sea.. Oh well, I'll have something to look forward to when I return!

Back to the original topic:

I think this pretty much embodies the meaning of "One man's trash is another man's treasure..".

Replaced a snatch block on the boat yesterday - it was pretty gunked up with rust/scale and was missing a grease zerk. Being the maritime hoarder that I am, it went into the back of the truck. I'd get to it someday..



A few minutes with a needle gun and most of the scale and old paint was gone..

Built up the top arm with a couple passes of 7018..



Extracted the old zerk fitting and tapped for 1/4" x 27..

Painted it CAT yellow. Yup. Just because.



End result, 2 hours of work gets a "like new" $75 Made in Japan Snatch Block! Fo' free!

Hoping to make it out into the woods tomorrow.

 

[Louisd75]

Replaced a snatch block on the boat yesterday - it was pretty gunked up with rust/scale and was missing a grease zerk. Being the maritime hoarder that I am, it went into the back of the truck. I'd get to it someday..

And here I was thinking you were trying to keep the weight of your truck down. On the maritime hoarding note, check with me before you go buy any brass or bronze for a project.

 

[uscg2008]

Make me some skids and bring em up to me on ur way past and I'll have a couple growlers waiting ........