The Memorial F150 Craptor.

[dbhost]

Last dose of the Paxlovid down the gullet and a ring at the doorbell. Hello new, but cheap winch since I'm not made of money. I read the reviews, owner reviews, lots of them. And had asked around to some friends that have some agricultural interests. I.E. hauling equipment onto trailers sort of stuff, and apparently they are getting good results from the winch I ordered, although they do consider it disposable once it breaks if it isn't a line, wire or similar... I got the Rugcel 12K winch with synthetic line. It was an Amazon deal that honestly looks to be more or less the same winch as the Badlands ZXR 12K but with a longer spool, synth line, and longer duty cycle. So I might regret this, but I am not rock crawling this, I am trying to insure I can keep moving along rutted logging roads etc...

The winch bumper is here as well... as are the D ring isolators to keep them from driving me nuts banging down the trail.

Todays forecast high is going to be 97, so there is no way I am going to go working on that bumper take off today. Probably wait until the weekend.

Got the 78" spans cut for the bed. Debating using proper woodworking technique and doing half laps at the corners, or if I should just pilot drill and install coated screws and L brackets / mending plates for my corners. The L bracket / mending plate approach sure would be faster, and uglier...

Will work with a friend of mine to get the bumper installed since I need help positioning the bumper while I slide the bolts in. Will be picking up sheets of XPS Foam and plywood as well...

The sides / dividers will be XPS foam / PMF, the bedding deck will be 1/2" plywood.

I need to figure out the height such that I can put a door in the side behind the wheel well / separate compartment for the port o potty.

 

[Mekcanix]

I run a tyt winch, amazon special. I think the rugcel is made in the same factory as my winch came with a rugcel winch shackle thimble.
I have used it a few times now and its been fine, course its to recover other folks stuck so far not me cause I is chicken

 

[dbhost]

I run a tyt winch, amazon special. I think the rugcel is made in the same factory as my winch came with a rugcel winch shackle thimble.
I have used it a few times now and its been fine, course its to recover other folks stuck so far not me cause I is chicken

Chicken, or prudent, take your pick. I stopped doing dumb ******** that was likely to get me stuck 20 years ago. I pick a line that is likely to get me through nice and easy these days, not the challenging ones. I want to get there without breaking stuff. Unfortunately I have also been stupid and gotten stuck on snow piles in parking lots before too...

I'm not gonna feel bad about running a cheapie winch. It is what my budget can handle, and it should do the job, all I care about.

More progress, although very minimal today. Went to Home Depot, got more 2x2s as I screwed up thinking I was getting 2x2x10s but was actually getting 2x2x8s... Yay dummy! Anyway got more skeleton pieces cut, and, well stopped. Will bang them together tomorrow. I need to whip together the cutout around the wheel wells tomorrow and attach the top frame to the bottom. Then slide it all in place, then I can start on the L piece...

Whittling down my gear some. Taking out my old Texsport family cook set (thin stamped SS) in favor of a steel clad bottom nesting Stansport set that allegedly actually simmers without burning on the Coleman stove.

I MAY remove entirely my cast iron with the exception of the 10.5" skillet and the griddle. I know there are teflon / aluminum griddles but have you ever cooked on a cast iron griddle?

So this means my old Texport large set, and my old American Camper small set, along with my 12" Ozark Trail skillet stay home.

My kitchen ensemble at this point is...

1. Coleman Classic 2 burner camp stove.
2. Coleman folding oven, with Pizza stone, and insulating welders blanket cover, muffin tin, pie pan, and small cookie sheet. I use this to bake frozen make ahead dinners.
3. Stansport Heavy Duty Stainless Steel Clad cookset. Largest pot is a 4qt, big enough to do Spaghetti for a couple of people.
4. Ozark Trail 12cup SS percolator. This is JUST a water boiler, I hate perc coffee.
5. Coleman extendible camp fire forks.
6. Coghlans double pie iron.
7. Sierra Cups x 2, stainless steel.
8. GSI Outdoors Ultralight Java Drip.
9. Stansport 4 place setting enameled steel serviceware.
10. Sams Club stainless steel insulated tumblers.
11. Ikea Grunka I believe was the name, stainless steel kitchen utensils.
12. Long handle SS tongs.
13. Coleman collapsible double basin.
14. Coleman folding Pack Away camp kitchen / table.
15. Swing A Way can and bottle opener, not some ineffective cheap junk.

 

[dbhost]

Well back to Home Depot for me today. It would appear that I have run out of wood screws...

 

[dbhost]

Working on the bed today. Got the bottom of the skeleton done, need one cross piece to line up with the bottom to be installed then I work on the uprights. Then comes the PMF / Foam board and lastly the platform / piano hinge...

I am having some difficulty with height. I wanted it tall enough to fit the Aquatainers under it, but not so tall that the mattress is over the truck bed rails... These 2 goals are not working well together.

 

[edlaffoon]

Cheap winches are fine. I have run a Smittybuilt for many years, used it many times and no issues. How are you doing? I lost my wife in 2019 and similarly took solace in a build. Your thought process and semi-rambling above is familiar to me . If you ever need anything man DM me and I'll send you my phone number. I'm in Meridian Texas. We are doing a little family trip to Bolivar end of October.

 

[dbhost]

Cheap winches are fine. I have run a Smittybuilt for many years, used it many times and no issues. How are you doing? I lost my wife in 2019 and similarly took solace in a build. Your thought process and semi-rambling above is familiar to me . If you ever need anything man DM me and I'll send you my phone number. I'm in Meridian Texas. We are doing a little family trip to Bolivar end of October.

WIth any luck I will be doing a maiden run of the truck by then...

Seriously though. I'm still pretty messed up. But I am managing as best as possible... I tend to ramble a bit anyway, but it is messier than normal.

 

[edlaffoon]

Thats exciting, always fun getting a build to stage "going down the road". Sending you some love brother. I'll DM you.

 

[dbhost]

Got the old winch mount / brush guard uninstalled today. I should mark down fastener locations as I should probably sell this thing. Getting ready for the HD bumper / winch mount. Cleared the wiring for the Explorer ProComp 6" SS lights out of the general area. Still undecided if I am going to mount them on the new bumper, or go with LED bars in the grille.

If you notice the hole in the OE bumper, the original winch mount was behind the bumper, but when I upsized the trans oil cooler it would appear I caused myself a clearance problem. It was a this barely fits situation...

 

[dbhost]

Got as far as I reasonably can solo. Need to get a friend over here with his floor jack so we can finish yanking the stock bumper and get the new one in place.

But I at least got the fascia with all those little bolts in messed up places out of the way, I also need to trim the fender flares for the new bumper... I wish these bumpers followed the same lines as OE where the wheel openings are for flares... I might have to mix up some epoxy to fill in the gap to keep it from being quite so ugly...

 

[dbhost]

So the front bumper assembly is its entirety is now removed from the truck... I will need, but not have help to get the new bumper installed until Thursday. Hope the HOA doesn't scream too loudly...


Prior to the Thursday install, I am going to have to trim those fender flares to clear the new bumper...

 

[dbhost]

After much debate, and discussion with support folks, I have ordered the battery for the 12v house system, a Chins 200ah Lifepo4, pending delivery of that. Hauled the take off bumper to the curb, hoping the scrappers come by somewhat soon as I don't want to tick off the HOA too much...

I am as far along as I can get without a usable truck bed (again my truck is down until the engine is done) and I need sheet goods to continue my build... Again borrowing a friend and his truck this Thursday.

Honing my cookware. I need to verify the clad cook set skillet works acceptably and I can leave my 10" cast iron skillet at home as well, leaving me to having the following cookware.

Ozark Trail 12 cup percolator. This is simply an efficient water boiler for doing LARGE volumes of coffee AND rehydrating things like potatoes, or freeze dried stuff... I also have an old Texsport 9 cup but I like the Ozark Trail better.
Stansport HD Clad cookset. 1,2, and 4 quart pots, 10" ish skillet, multi fit lid and handle.
SS collender if I spelled that right.
SS mixing bowl.
SS wisk.
SS utensil set (Ikea Grunka)
18" SS BBQ Tongs.
GSI Ultralight Java Drip. I know lots of folks do instant. Nope. Not gonna happen...
Coleman campfire forks.
Cast iron griddle / grill (Lodge)
Cast Iron double pie iron
Dollar store measuring cups and spoons
Swing a way can / bottle opener. I have tried smaller lighter ones and hate them.
Outdoor Gourmet 12" Deep dutch oven and lid lifter.
Coleman folding oven with pizza stone and insulating jacket. Small assortment of toaster oven size bakeware. Round and square cake tins, and muffin pan. This can probably be done away with in favor of the dutch oven
Coghlans Heavy duty cooking grate.

 

[dbhost]

The video of the build so far...

 

[dbhost]

Well, it looks like the closest auto zone that has the battery hold down for the truck is on the other side of Houston metro, so 2+ hour drive and gas, or for $1.25 more Amazon will drop it off at my porch tomorrow. Guess which way I am going?

I can't find ******** around here since she passed. Not blaming her my head is basically jello. I need to find my oscillating multi too that I THOUGHT was in the master bathroom for the remodel. It is not there... I need it and the cut off blade to abbreviate the fender flares for my bumper install.

Trying to get a hold of the MFG of my Android Auto head unit for the install guide. they want me to email them via amazon, but I can't find the link. Ugh...

 

[dbhost]

Went out and bobbed the front fender flares to match the fender and allow room for the new bumper install. Not thrilled about the huge open gap it leaves between the flare and the fender. Not sure how to resolve that issue. These are MFG unknown aftermarket flares. I had more industrial rubber flares giving me tire coverage before I had an incident that required body work. The body shop swapped me out with a set of 4 of these aftermarket jobs. Nice flares but no clue who made them, or how to cap the ends of them. May end up doing spray foam and poor mans fiberglassing / flat black painting the ends just to keep water intrusion down.

Funny, Amazon tracking on my battery says somethime between the 13th and 19th. UPS tracking on the other hand says this Friday, and it is here in the US in transit. I don't necessarily believe Friday as UPS is never on time for me, but if they say Friday, it will likely be here Saturday...