richard310
pew pew
X2 on the glare question.. still awaiting a light cage from xoskel ordered over 3 weeks ago.
WreckDiver1321's 2003 Frontier CC SC
- Thread starter wreckdiver1321
- Start date
X2 on the glare question.. still awaiting a light cage from xoskel ordered over 3 weeks ago.
wreckdiver1321
Overlander
It's noticeable, but the visibility is still better with the lights on. It's nowhere near as annoying as the stupidly bright LEDs in the switches.
wreckdiver1321
Overlander
The lights do glare a pretty good amount. But it's not bad. The added visibility in the dark is well worth it.
richard310
pew pew
Just wondering, what kind of lights are you running up top?
wreckdiver1321
Overlander
They are El Cheapo Pro Comp 8" driving lights from Summit: http://www.summitracing.com/parts/exp-9131/overview/
I decided against spendy Hellas or likewise for the roof lights, because they're the most vulnerable to trees and whatnot. They light up the trail like I want, and they're nice and cheap if (when) I break one. I'll be getting some pencil beam Hellas for the Shrock bumper. Those will be good for seeing long distance on relatively smooth forest roads. They'll also be more protected.
wreckdiver1321
Overlander
No worries man, I'll get it figured out. I'm pretty confident it's the right choice for the truck.
Just for grins, I checked out shipping from Laurel, MT to Girdwood, AK. It's $586. Guess you don't want to buy my ARB, huh?
Co-opski
Expedition Leader
No worries man, I'll get it figured out. I'm pretty confident it's the right choice for the truck.
Just for grins, I checked out shipping from Laurel, MT to Girdwood, AK. It's $586. Guess you don't want to buy my ARB, huh?
Wow. I knew it would be an arm and a leg. Custom bumpers up here are about $900. I have seen some (like 2) first gen xterras with an ARB in the state, I just keep checking CL or the pick and pull yards. If we could just get the Nissan section to have an Alaska expedition, I would put in a shopping list of things to bring up here.
richard310
pew pew
Yikes that's nutty for shipping! Although I would love to take a road trip up to Yellowstone, BC, then to Alaska and back. It's one of my to-do's for sure... always comes down to time and finances.
wreckdiver1321
Overlander
Man I would love to do that. Just not in the cards right now unfortunately!
So, about Red Lodge. Every year, the town of Red Lodge has a "Christmas Stroll" on the main drag. They close off the road, put fire pits every so often, play Christmas music over loudspeakers, and open all the shops in town with a pretty nice discount. The shops also have some sweet treats and hot drinks (some with things like vodka mixed in
) that they give away for free. Coincidentally, this year's stroll took place on a -25F day after a solid 16" of snowfall the past few days, so the level of charm would be pretty cranked up. My GF and I decided to go check it out on Saturday. We spent the first part of the day finishing up the repairs at the house and left for Red Lodge early in the afternoon. The trip was especially long due to not so good road conditions and too many terrified drivers who think the only way to survive is to not exceed 25 mph.We got there with a few hours to burn before the stroll started (it's a night time thing. They are big on ambiance there), so we decided to hit a trail that goes off into the woods. This was covered by about 10" of powder. Along this road, there were several people hunting for Christmas trees despite the deep snow. I wanted to see how far back there we could get. I got to the point where I felt it would be a good idea to chain up, so I stopped and dug out my tire chains. As I was about to put them on, a Chevy truck comes rolling around the corner. "No problem," I think, "I'll just pull off down that hill and wait for him to pass."
DISCLAIMER: In 99% of these situations, I walk the hill first. It is covered in snow and I don't know the topography. Stupid mistake in this instance!
To get out of the guy's way in a hurry, I jumped back in my truck and drove down the hill. The nose of my truck fell pretty quick and I heard a loud wham! as the low spot on the frame hit the edge. Underneath the gently sloping snow was nearly a sheer drop off of about 3 feet. Now I was stuck down this damn hill with 2 feet of snow. However, I wasn't stuck, per se (thank you pizza cutters). I could move the truck around at the bottom of the hill in this little clearing, but I couldn't make it back up the hill. Oops.
I got the truck to the point where I could hit the hill at a good angle with enough momentum and made it most of the way up, but the truck wouldn't climb all the way out. Crap. The very nice guy in the Chevy stopped to see if he could pull me out, but I was pretty determined to get myself out. I threw my little tracks down in front of my tires and tried climbing out. The truck hopped and walked back and forth, but no luck. I tried again, and the guy started pulling on my bumper with his hands. More hopping. My GF then grabbed the bumper and started pulling too. One more hop, a big grunt, and out she came.
Despite my stupidity, my truck continued to serve me faithfully. Lesson learned.
After coming out of this predicament, I aired down the tires and began to drive back. I then asked the GF if she wanted to drive. Her rather excited "yes" was pretty cool.
Eventually, she started driving between the ruts just so she could carve her own trail and make big clouds of powder. I'm a lucky dude
Turns out, the view out here is even better in the winter.
After our little adventure, we stopped at the head of the trail to air up. At -28F, the air actually froze the tire valve open a bit after I aired up. That took a bit of fiddling, but I did get it to seal before we headed back into town for an enjoyable night. We were able to get a great homemade soup, some books, a few knick-knacks at the outdoor shop, and plenty of free drinks and snacks.
All told, it was a great day.
Last edited:
wreckdiver1321
Overlander
Yikes that's nutty for shipping! Although I would love to take a road trip up to Yellowstone, BC, then to Alaska and back. It's one of my to-do's for sure... always comes down to time and finances.
Make a detour and come to Montana. I'll meet you in Jackson, WY!
wreckdiver1321
Overlander
So, after calling a ton of times I finally got through to Rugged Rocks. They've either been super busy or having issues with their phone system, but I finally made it through. Steven has been fantastic to work with. He's getting on the horn with Ironman and making sure they make arrangements to pick up the bumper for return, as well as refund my money. I'm pretty happy about that. I actually got a call from Ironman, and they asked all sorts of questions about fitment issues, so they may fix the problems and make a US version eventually. We shall see.
And I just got off the phone with Shrockworks. I was just inquiring about the wait time for a new bumper for my Frontier. He said about four months (!!!). It will suck big time to wait that long, but for the product I'm getting out of it, I won't complain too terribly much. That being said, there are plenty of reports of people being told that wait time and getting it after a month or two. So I am very hopefully optimistic. With all the bumper troubles I've had, I just want a solid, sure solution.
Now I can focus on other things, like getting my winch and figuring out my rear bumper or sliders. Also think I'm ordering an ARB awning soon. Was originally going to get a CVT 55" and have it mounted on RTT frame I am going to put on the back, so it would open over the tailgate. But then I saw this picture:
I like how there's a big covered area on one side of the truck to set up camp under. So mounting the awning to the roof basket seems like a pretty solid idea. The 4' ARB will suit the smaller roof basket better than the 55" CVT would. Then I'll match the look on the other side with a custom made shower like Glamisdude made, the same length and diameter of the rolled up ARB awning. That way, there will be a public side, where the shade is, and a private side, where the shower is.
Just for fun, I took some pics of the weather I was in last night:
The visibility was pretty bad for a while there, but I managed to rescue the local PD sergeant's son from a snowbank on the side of the road. Nice to have points with local law enforcement
Oh, and I snapped a pic of the glare from the lights up top, for those of you who asked.
And I just got off the phone with Shrockworks. I was just inquiring about the wait time for a new bumper for my Frontier. He said about four months (!!!). It will suck big time to wait that long, but for the product I'm getting out of it, I won't complain too terribly much. That being said, there are plenty of reports of people being told that wait time and getting it after a month or two. So I am very hopefully optimistic. With all the bumper troubles I've had, I just want a solid, sure solution.
Now I can focus on other things, like getting my winch and figuring out my rear bumper or sliders. Also think I'm ordering an ARB awning soon. Was originally going to get a CVT 55" and have it mounted on RTT frame I am going to put on the back, so it would open over the tailgate. But then I saw this picture:
I like how there's a big covered area on one side of the truck to set up camp under. So mounting the awning to the roof basket seems like a pretty solid idea. The 4' ARB will suit the smaller roof basket better than the 55" CVT would. Then I'll match the look on the other side with a custom made shower like Glamisdude made, the same length and diameter of the rolled up ARB awning. That way, there will be a public side, where the shade is, and a private side, where the shower is.
Just for fun, I took some pics of the weather I was in last night:
The visibility was pretty bad for a while there, but I managed to rescue the local PD sergeant's son from a snowbank on the side of the road. Nice to have points with local law enforcement
Oh, and I snapped a pic of the glare from the lights up top, for those of you who asked.
