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The last time I was in Walmart, they had OEM Toyota, Honda, Ford, and GM filters. Like in the boxes like from a dealer.
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Aug 27, 2020 15:37
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angryrobots posted:The last time I was in Walmart, they had OEM Toyota, Honda, Ford, and GM filters. Like in the boxes like from a dealer. Yeah thats a new thing. Saw them in my local one last month when I was picking up oil. Pretty nuts.
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Aug 27, 2020 18:07
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angryrobots posted:The last time I was in Walmart, they had OEM Toyota, Honda, Ford, and GM filters. Like in the boxes like from a dealer.  and I am not exactly disappointed. This plus Mobil1 from Costco when on sale works sweet. Nicer to offset the cost of the annual service the M takes up which is  Saturday morning work:  Removed a total of 9 screws per side. Mostly easy to reach, but on the passenger front side was a bit of a trick. Having a set of swivel head ratcheting wrenches made this so much easier. Also WTF Toyota for having one single bolt one each side being 12mm while every other one was 13mm? Easy  Less easy (I think these are AC lines in the way)  Tough.  It completely transformed the look. It went from MallWheel Drive to a much more menacing stance. I kind of want to add some flexible front mud flaps. Something like those heavier silicone ones I see on the rally car posers would be kind of neat I think. It would be nice in the winter time to keep all the crap from getting thrown at the lower body panels. Not pictured are the rock sliders that got a couple coats of self etching primer and will be painted this week while I can fit it in at night. Two cans of primer was not enough. I picked up a third can and will give each one another good coat. I also got around to finally removing the hydraulic suspension accumulators at the remaining three corners. Having the ratcheting 12mm box wrench is a must to do this. I also chased my hard lines from the accumulators and remove those. The hydraulic hoses that went to the tops of the shocks are still in place since that is going to take a lot more effort than I want to put in right now on complete removal. Just the left front has had those removed.
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Aug 31, 2020 20:21
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It really is a huge improvement, I need to do that to my truck but my wife already dislikes the car enough as it is. Are you putting on sliders?
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Aug 31, 2020 20:57
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MomJeans420 posted:It really is a huge improvement, I need to do that to my truck but my wife already dislikes the car enough as it is. Are you putting on sliders? Yeah! I ordered the OPOR (Outpost Off Road) from Metal Tech 4x4 that I posted about here in my big dump. I just have the primer laid down. I am going to use spray on bed liner for the coating. I have used that on some other projects and I think it will work well. The texture comes out nice and I like the idea of having something that can easily be touched up as it gets rash etc. They are real heavy.
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Aug 31, 2020 21:33
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Man these and Land Cruisers are just such cool vehicles. I wish I could afford to run one, but a V8 petrol is just too thirsty for our European fuel prices. Maybe if an E85 conversion existed that was economical, I'd get silly ideas...
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Sep 1, 2020 07:45
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MrOnBicycle posted:Man these and Land Cruisers are just such cool vehicles. I wish I could afford to run one, but a V8 petrol is just too thirsty for our European fuel prices. Maybe if an E85 conversion existed that was economical, I'd get silly ideas... Toyota did sell the turbo diesel LC100 in Europe.... Mine just did a 2800km outback trip loaded up to.... heavy... on 285 muddies and gave me 13.5-14.4L/100 depending on what section of the trip it was
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Sep 3, 2020 00:44
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 That's pretty similar to what I get in Brokeback. I just got my second >18 (US) mpg tank since I've owned it (including one that was a road trip), and I suspect that's mostly because of the new fuel filter + all of the rubber hoses being replaced (every... loving... hose... was pissing). It's a 2.5L petrol motor. It's rated much, much higher than this in terms of MPG.
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Sep 3, 2020 16:58
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edit: no it doesn't, should be mid-20s at least. Sorry
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Sep 3, 2020 21:47
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Ferremit posted:Toyota did sell the turbo diesel LC100 in Europe.... drat, I just did the math and you're getting a few mpg more than me in what I think you guys would call a Prado (stock but with ATs)
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Sep 4, 2020 08:12
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MomJeans420 posted:drat, I just did the math and you're getting a few mpg more than me in what I think you guys would call a Prado (stock but with ATs) Yeah, but we didnt get the 120 prado with the 2UZ in it- Only the 4.0L V6 and two versions of the 3.0TD 4 pot. Im still perplexed how a 2UZ gets WORSE economy in a 120 series chassis than it does in a 100 series chassis?
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Sep 4, 2020 10:21
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So after literally 65 days i FINALLY got my truck back from the crash repairers... its mechanically fixed up (they replaced the entire steering rack knuckle to knuckle because everything was broken) but the barwork still hasnt all turned up so we're waiting until thats done and they'll do all the bar work in one go and fix the guard then, so its still wearing the battle scars of eating a Nissan Pulsar. The reason I got it back was because: 1) Winter in Adelaide is miserable, its cold, its wet, so it soaks into your bones. I work on top of a loving mountain, so I wake up in the dark in the morning for work, drive through the fog, into the clouds on the mountain, work all day in the cloud, then drive home in either the fog or pissing rain. I can go 8+ days without actually seeing the sun, its just "The grey is brighter now" 2) Covid sucks, Im over it and all the bullshit working for a government owned public entertainment site that goes with it. So we ran away. To a place called Dalhousie Springs. Its basically as far north as you can go and still be in South Australia. The drive up was pretty uneventful, around 20 degrees, some whispy cloud around. The country around Hawker in the Flinders Ranges is still pretty dry though- they've been through a pretty bad multi year drought and didnt get much this year.  Spent the first night in a place called Brachina Gorge. The iphone 11 Pro has an absolutely mind blowing night mode- I cant get night photos this nice out of my Canon 7D without some heavy duty photoshop touch ups!  Dinner was grass fed porterhouse steaks done in the Oz Braii and cold oil chips done over the campfire.  If you havent heard of cold oil chips or an Oz Braii, do yourself a massive favour and check out Harry Fisher (Fire To Fork) on Youtube here The next day was back on the road heading north. Eventually once you hit a town named Marree, the bitumen road runs out and you've got a choice- Head north east on the Birdsville Track, or head northwest on the Oodnadatta track, so we aired down to high speed gravel pressures and headed out of town north west. We pulled up camp in one of the nicest campsites in Australia- A place called Coward Springs. A little back story: Australia has this absolutely massive underground water system that spans a huge chunk of the outback called the Great Artesian Basin- it covers something ridiculous like 22% of the Australian Landmass  Basically, you get water recharge into the aquifer in the high rainfall areas of the tropics of queensland and that water travels deep underground where its heated. Eventually it reaches the surface by either flowing out of man made bores or out of natural springs that form where theres a weak area in the overlaying impervious rock. Coward springs is a man made oasis in the middle of the desert- Its just up the road from some natural formed mound springs, but its all fed off a bore into the Artesian Basin. They've got a spa they've built there from sleepers from the original Ghan train line that used to run up the oodna track (this used to be the main rail line from the eastern states to Alice Springs, but they shifted the entire rail line west because they constantly had trouble with track damage in the desert areas the oodna track runs through) and its 29 deg C water all year round. Its a great space to stop and just chill out.  Dinner that night was another Fire to Fork brainchild- Cheeseburger damper. Basically, make two beef patties, melt cheese onto them, cover them with raw onion, pickles, half a pigs worth of bacon, a shitload of sauce and mustard and then wrap the entire thing in a damper and bake.  They were delicious, but my god thats too much food for three people.. Thats too much cheeseburger damper for 6 people! We ended up burning about half of it because we couldnt eat it and it had more energy density than the hardwood we were using for firewood. Next morning, after bacon and eggs we continued to roll on north, stopping at a place called William Creek.  There were some odd locals...  We dropped off the mail we were carrying for the owners of Coward Springs and rolled out of town. Compared to normal the entire outback is deserted because half of Australia isnt allowed into our state!  Because our outback roads are literally made of whatever they could find laying around and are generally a mixture of sand, clay and small gibber rock, they turn into goo when wet, so all outback roads can be closed at a moments notice to protect them from damage. Its a huge fine for going past one of those signs that says closed too- Around $1K per tyre, and if they're feeling lovely with you cos you've made a mess, they'll count your spares too. So for me it would be a $6K fine. For a truck with a road train, that could be north of 62 tyres on the road so a $60K+ fine. Its designed to make people stop. No issues this time, we rolled onward, still heading north. As you head towards the town of Oodnadatta, you get to the Algebuckina bridge.  It was built in 1892 and is 1,927 feet long, comprised entirely of wrought iron sections bolted and riveted together by hand. Its an impressive piece of engineering. Whats also impressive is that in 1974 a flood in the area almost reached the bridge decking! After Algebuckina, we reached the town of Oodnadatta, which is famous for its Pink Roadhouse (Google it- its very, very pink). We filled up with diesel there- $1.89 per litre (for comparison its $1.09 in Adelaide atm) and headed onwards to the Dalhousie Springs.   Dalhousie is another one of the natural springs that have formed on the Artesian Basin, however unlike the bore at Coward Springs, the water in Dalhousie is between 38-40 deg C! Theres a bore about 100km further east into the desert drilled looking for oil and gas called Purni Bore that has water that flows to the surface at 90c!) The amount of water flowing into Dalhousie springs is truly mind blowing- 160L/second, 9600L per minute. Over a 24hr period 34,560,000 litres of water well up out of the ground and flow out of the springs. An Olympic swimming pool is 2.5M litres of water, so this is more than 13 of those flowing out of the rock, into a pool, then out into a wetland delta. It truly is a peaceful, beautiful place.  Dinner was beef stirfry, but since we arent allowed to have campfires at Dalhousie any more because people were being dicks, i never took any photos of the meals I cooked over gas because its just like cooking at home. We camped at Dalhousie for 3 nights and went for a wander out to the Mount Dare Hotel. They've had heaps of rain in the area so a lot of the local waterholes were actually full, which i've never seen before, and I've been up in this country for 10 years now.  It is still a brutally harsh country that could kill you without blinking though.  Sadly, reality called and we had to wander our way back south heading for home, so we packed up our kit and made our way from Dalhousie back to Coward Springs. This time because it wasnt 9 in the morning, we stopped in for a beer at the Willian Creek Hotel. Because tourism has tanked all these little outback towns that rely on the tourist dollar are really doing it tough- Most havent hired their usual backpacker staff, havent hired managers for the tourist season, the pilots who are usually doing flights over lake eyre are behind the bar at the pub in William Creek. So we made a decision to spend a fair whack of money in most of these places to help em out. So i bought beer and diesel... at $2.10 a litre.... That hurt.  Its hard to head home when your missus is telling you its 8 degrees and raining sideways and your looking at that wearing shorts and a tee shirt... After a few beers and a good chat, plus a donation to the Royal Flying Doctors Service, we rolled back down the track into coward springs for the night, where we were treated to a cracker sunset.  And I still dont want to go home...  The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful, we saw some pretty cool things because of the rain, like these Sturt Desert Peas.  But eventually I reversed the car into the shed- after taking off the HF antenna because it makes a horrible noise getting stuck in the roller door if you dont and looked down to realise why my arse hurt...  7 Days, 2800kms, 394L of diesel.
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Sep 4, 2020 15:16
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drat, that's quite the trip, I'm jealous. I thought the toecutter sticker was referring to this guy since it's Australia, but with the logo it must be Mad Max.Ferremit posted:Yeah, but we didnt get the 120 prado with the 2UZ in it- Only the 4.0L V6 and two versions of the 3.0TD 4 pot. I have a lead foot? I'm around 18.8L per 100km but I'm mostly surface streets with short freeway trips. It gets better if I'm on the freeway for a longer drive, but this car wants to go around 70 to 75mph and the gas mileage goes down pretty fast above 80.
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Sep 4, 2020 17:56
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Ferremit posted:
Mother. Of. God.
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Sep 5, 2020 07:51
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I had to look up damper but I'm intrigued
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Sep 5, 2020 17:42
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cool fuckin cool 
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Sep 8, 2020 04:33
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Oh yours went at that end! Mine has broken BOTH adjusters so far... I've replaced em and plated them with 5mm steel to make them more robust. When you replace the arms, get the little reinforcing plates, bolt AND weld them on, then seam weld the inside of the arm as far as you can. Makes them bullet proof then
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Sep 8, 2020 12:08
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Ferremit posted:Oh yours went at that end! I have the OME brackets to install. Do you folks weld up the broken arm and then weld the brackets on, or buy new control arms and then do the brackets. Trying to decide if I'm hunting a control arm or not. edit: ebay'd a driver side control arm for 125 bucks. Time to learn how torsion bars work. Slow is Fast fucked around with this message at 17:47 on Sep 8, 2020 |
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Sep 8, 2020 14:05
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They're pretty straight forward- Just make sure that the adjuster threads are cleaned and lubricated BEFORE you start reefing on them and if they look old and crusty, have the adjuster nut and bolt on hand because if they bind up, they're never coming undone and you just have to add more breaker bar until they snap and replace em. Dont adjust them with weight on the tyres and its a simple case of get them about the same number of turns in, lower it down, measure your height, lift it, adjust more, lower rinse repeat. Best way to set max ride height is to measure the front end at full droop from guard to rim, then take 60mm off that (whatever that is in moon units if your not metric inclined) which is minimum droop for shock protection and then set the ride height to that droop - 60mm measurement. Then get ANOTHER wheel alignment.
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Sep 9, 2020 01:08
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I ditched the truck at my folks last night after driving 20 miles of logging road and then 150 miles of highway to get there. Today I drove it the last 40 to the shop. Rides fine on the highway on the bumpstops. Take it all apart tonight. The adjuster bolt was loose but im assuming thats because the arm is no longer in tension. It seemed to spin fine with the impact. Hosed both down with wiesel piss.    The results of beating cheeks over washboards and whoops. I'm camping all weekend and the arm shows up Monday, so next week ill get them seam welded and the OME FK27 brackets welded on then reinstalled.  I plan to be a bastard and just set the drive height to where the pass was along with measure with Ferremit's instructions for shock travel and kinda go from there. Once driver side is set and happy, I'll do the pass side. Oh and this showed up. I only use a single key to keep stress off the ignition rod (which I have a spare in the glove box), but the single ebay key case was creaky. Grabbed an AJT design as yotaMD is loving stupid priced. Seems cool so far. 
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Sep 9, 2020 03:17
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Ferremit posted:
This is now Ferremits thread for he has taken over in one single posting. Seriously this has been the best reply in this entire thread and really the inspiration for me to attempt this whole thing. Seeing an adventure laid out like this inspired me to want to experience that. While I am still very much a noob this was so cool to read through. I am glad you finally got your truck back! That is a long time to be at the panel beaters for what seemed like a glancing blow from that little car. Slow is Fast posted:and this showed up. I only use a single key to keep stress off the ignition rod (which I have a spare in the glove box), but the single ebay key case was creaky. Grabbed an AJT design as yotaMD is loving stupid priced. Seems cool so far. Agreed about the YotaMD being priced way too high. I bought the same AJT and find it to be great, plus it looks like a luchador mask. People on the facebook group seem to slobber over themselves with the YotaMD keys. Is this the emperors new clothes or something or are there too many LC people that just open palm hulk smash their key into the ignition and crank it like an abused lover? I don't get it. My ARB Awning Deluxe Room finally got delivered last week. It took two months to get it. It showed in stock when I ordered it. Maury determined that was a lie and I had to wait. It looks really cool and I can't wait to use it. stock photos:   I can't stress how nice that awning has been since I have used it. One of the better things I have purchased; and absolutely get the huge one (2.5M X 2.5M). The room is cool, it has a floor so it can essentianlly be used as a tent. I think it would be neat to pick up one of those outdoor pocket projectors and have a movie night in the mountains with the kids. They would love it. I hope to get the sliders painted and installed this week. Home obligations and weather has not wanted to cooperate and now that it is in the 40's for temps I think I will wait for it to get up warmer again before painting. It will be in the 80s this week and back into the 90's next week.
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Sep 9, 2020 20:00
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Somewhat Heroic posted:This is now Ferremits thread for he has taken over in one single posting. Seriously this has been the best reply in this entire thread and really the inspiration for me to attempt this whole thing. Seeing an adventure laid out like this inspired me to want to experience that. While I am still very much a noob this was so cool to read through. I am glad you finally got your truck back! That is a long time to be at the panel beaters for what seemed like a glancing blow from that little car. The delays have all been parts. I still don’t have the steps in yet, they’re waiting for manufacturing by Arb and initially had a 6-8 week lead time. Then all of Melbourne got locked down and their facility got closed so... who knows! So I’m still wearing battle scars for now. Glad you liked the write up. We have so many fantastic places to visit in Australia and it’s great fun to share them with other people and be an inspiration to others. I have neither the time nor the patience to do video like ASPW or Ronny Dahl but I’m pretty good with words and can take an ok photo. I just don’t get a chance to get out anywhere nearly as much as I would like!
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Sep 10, 2020 03:00
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Somewhat Heroic posted:I hope to get the sliders painted and installed this week. Home obligations and weather has not wanted to cooperate and now that it is in the 40's for temps I think I will wait for it to get up warmer again before painting. It will be in the 80s this week and back into the 90's next week. Look at this hopeless bastard. 12 days later and there has been some progress. I need to lay down one more coat of spray before I will be satisfied with the coverage. If a little is good a LOT is better, right? I will definitely get them installed this week because next week I am going to Moab for a couple of days with the family and would like to hit a trail or two.   Yesterday I casually drove over a mountain with the family. Mostly it was me wanting to get out and explore and see what goes where. I have shown a number of photos from American Fork Canyon which is just a ~20 minute trip from my house to the mouth of the canyon. I knew that there was in theory a way to get all the way over the mountain and down into the Heber Valley into the small town of Midway, UT. From google maps best I can crudely draw and guess is I did something like this:  the motivation for the drive was to get out and see the fall colors since we had our cold snap. Honestly we missed it by probably a week but there were still some nice things to see. I didn't stop for many photos since this ended up being about 2 1/2 hours on the dirt with about an hour and a half of pavement/highway driving. It was a good drive though and I found a ton more places that I can go explore on a different day when I am by myself and have time. The road for the most part was like ~10mph with just rocks so it was really bumpy   dropping into the Heber Valley and getting some nice colors. The eastern part of the Wasatch Mountains in the Heber Valley is probably the most beautiful region in Utah if you are looking for that alpine/aspen lifestyle. The air is clean, the elevation high. It is just green everywhere with blue skies. My wife and I would probably move there if it made sense to. We have been considering buying cabin property in the area and just sitting on the dirt until we are ready to build but the better thing would be to just pay of our house. Total detraction from the adventure but this is a place that just makes you feel alive to be there. Totally good for the soul. On our way home we were in stopped traffic thanks to road construction. At least the views did not suck.  So this week will absolutely getting sliders on and giving the truck a once-over before heading to Moab. We will be slumming it in a hotel rather than camping which I am okay with.
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Sep 21, 2020 17:17
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I GOT MY NEW CONTROL ARM IN THE MAIL I WELDED ON THE OME BRACKET ON THE DRIVER SIDE I PUT IT BACK TOGETHER AND SET RIDE HEIGHT AND IT WAS FINE I WENT TO BRACE THE PASSENGER SIDE TODAY I KNOCKED THE T BAR BRACKET OFF WITH OUT MARKING IT MY TORSION BARS ARE NOT KEYED I SET EVERYTHING AS GOOD ENOUGH AS I CAN IT DROVE HOME OKAY I AM VERY EXCITED TO RE INDEX MY TORSION BARS THIS WEEKEND  I'm probably a spline or three off but I'm driveway tape measuring all this. I literally don't care about these tires and it drives nice enough. I just wanted to caps lock cruise control for cool rant about t bars.
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Sep 25, 2020 03:36
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Dont sweat the T bars being out of index- one of my adjusters is a solid inch lower than the other and its been that way for 75K kms.
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Sep 25, 2020 13:22
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Ferremit posted:Dont sweat the T bars being out of index- one of my adjusters is a solid inch lower than the other and its been that way for 75K kms. when let off the jack stands they matched height to original, but when I drove home the steering wheel is a little more off and in my parking lot the pass is a little lower.
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Sep 25, 2020 16:54
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Tow time! - this past weekend I towed my nostalgia race car up to an event in central ca.  I have a lot of tools, to work on old rear end cars - but finding a torx bit that big was kind of a mission, I had to buy a whole set of torx sockets to be able to get this T55 bit. not really the most elegant solution to the issue, but whatever...  between this and the next step there was plenty of tribulations including my hitch ball not being able to fit in the reciever - the powder coating was way too thick - so I ground all the coating off and it fit ok, but I needed to remove the spare tire to make it fit, I have to hack off the back of the hitch off, but I didn't have time to do that, so out came the spare (which is dated the 28th week of 2004... EESH) once I got that done, I put the hitch in, loaded up the trailer annnnndddddd i needed a drop hitch, the rear of the trailer was about 2-3 inches off the ground. it was so low I didn't have to use ramps to load the roadster on it. So all that work... only to borrow a friends drop hitch. So this year I borrowed the trailer from some friends, and the murder rig was ready to roll.   Thoughts: I really hate how unfinished the truck looks with this piece installed - I almost want to grab another cover and modify it to cover the corners of this reciever. The truck towed great, it didn't even feel like anything was being towed the big grades really were no big deal like they were with my FJ - The AHC did really well actually, which is something I was really concerned about. the problem with the hitch being so high, and having to remove the spare to be able to fit kinda makes me want to think about getting a hitch receiver that goes under the bumper. I have another year to figure that out tho. another random thought, I removed my 3rd row seats to get a bit more room in the cabin for sleeping, I love having them out and I purchased some SOR bags to store the seats.
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Sep 29, 2020 23:05
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The factory towbars on the 100 series here in AU went under the factory bumper- they're also rated at 3500kg so I'd say they're a probably a tad more robust than the in bumper ones, and they dont touch the original bumper cover either.
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Sep 30, 2020 01:20
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I think this link will work even if you're not a member of the GXOR Facebook group, but here's a stock GX doing Escalator at Hell's Revenge. Looks like his side steps are removed, and tires are Nitto terra grappler in 265/70/r17. Not bad for a stock vehicle! https://www.facebook.com/100001271731838/videos/pcb.2014568355340934/3666016076784081
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Oct 3, 2020 00:07
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Well I have been putting this post off for far too long. Step sliders installed. As you remember I washed them thoroughly. Did many light coats of self etching primer as I was supposed to do. Decided to give some spray on bed liner a shot because it goes on thick and has a nice textured finish. Worth a shot! I peeled off the remaining hydraulic lines that went to the old AHC suspension. I then make sure to put the U-bolts around the frame *not* pinching the brake line like a total d-hole.    Remember these were painted a couple weeks ago, and so the paint was definitely cured and all. I decided that using my jack/jack stands while installing I would put a little bit of lightly tacky tape on the bottom to protect the finish. After installation I was quite pleased with the look    So I removed the tape once I had them spaced and aligned...  along with most of the paint and primer.   Have I repainted this? No. No I have not. That has been relegated to Future Me's list of problems and things to deal with. Moab however was both good and cool, and I will get into posting some photos and vid clips as usual. 
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Oct 28, 2020 23:06
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On one hand, loving oof for the paint flaking like that. On the other, if you need sliders you're going to scuff them and you aren't going to yank them off for a full on repaint on a regular basis, so just rattle bomb them on there and send it.
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Oct 28, 2020 23:57
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Etching primer clearly did not etch. I like a quick sand to get some tooth in the surface, but the etching primer *should* have made that unnecessary. The sliders look great on the truck!
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Oct 30, 2020 18:32
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GX470 with (I think) a Metaltech front bumper vs a Mustang running from the cops: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eklW35un8n0 That bumper held up surprisingly well. This isn't a pressing issue since it's not going to be hot and sunny for a while, but do people here have opinions on awnings? I had been thinking of one of the ARB 270 degree awnings, I also liked how ARB had add-ons like an enclosed room. My use case is 85% just having some shade with my wife and baby while hanging out in the mountains, and ~15% keeping three guys comfortable at a track day where it's often fairly hot. I saw some Australian one (can't remember the name but it can't be hard to find) that didn't require tie downs and looked pretty slick, but it was many times more expensive (I want to say ~$1200) and it seemed excessive unless it really pay for itself over the long term. I had been planning on making my GX more off-road capable in the next four months so I could do a Colorado/Utah/Arizona road trip next summer, but my work schedule just changed such that I'll probably be working most days May through September. I figure I may as well build out the creature comforts in the meantime.
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Nov 26, 2020 07:38
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MomJeans420 posted:GX470 with (I think) a Metaltech front bumper vs a Mustang running from the cops: This was great! Imagine getting your mustang murked by a retired 81 year old in a Lexus and he drives off like it was no thing. MomJeans420 posted:This isn't a pressing issue since it's not going to be hot and sunny for a while, but do people here have opinions on awnings? I had been thinking of one of the ARB 270 degree awnings, I also liked how ARB had add-ons like an enclosed room. My use case is 85% just having some shade with my wife and baby while hanging out in the mountains, and ~15% keeping three guys comfortable at a track day where it's often fairly hot. I got the ARB 2.5M awning and out of all of my "overland" stuff it is one that I get most excited about. A roof tent is super nice but the deployment and takedown does take some of the magic out since that is pretty involved. The awning however doesn't take much to deploy and setup and it is just really nice to have a cover. I definitely suggest the 2.5M. If I had gotten the 2M or smaller it really wouldn't do much other than cover your head and would limit shade other than when the sun is directly overhead. It is easier to setup with two people seeing how long it is, so a shorter one would be easier to get done with one person. I ordered the awning room and it was back ordered forever and came later than I was able to use it so far but next camp trip I am going to bring it out and will set it up. I might actually use it as a camping tent for the two older kids as they get older. I have some full size camping cots that would probably be nice to setup in there and be comfortable. A batwing/270 style awning is really cool. I looked them up when shopping for mine, there is one brand I am forgetting but they have a free standing 270 with no poles! It was awesome but I feel like it was well over a grand. Since my whole intention behind my build wasn't to spend a fortune I passed and was able to pick up the ARB for about $260. Here are some photos I have shared before:  It is super nice to cook under. With the room it will be nicer too for bug abatement. Back on my river rock, you can see how long the 2.5Mx2.5M sticks out, but depending on the angle of the sun/orientation of the car you might not get much shade. That is where being able to lower the outer posts/adding the room can add more shade  stock photos of the room I have been meaning to update my thread so I appreciate the bump. There are plenty of updates and I do need to post more about Moab. I tortured myself by getting my friend from the BMW dealership to bring home a 2016 200 series that they got in on trade. I wanted my wife to drive it to convince her this is what we need for the next car purchase.   this did not deter me from wanting one very badly. They are super nice. With winter coming in I finally got my garage organized and kids bikes/crap hung up so I could finally park Lucy in the garage. I have maybe a half inch clearance from the weather stripping on the garage to the top of the tent. Organizing included important things like applying stickers to my cooler:   All my beautiful babies tucked inside. Remember if you're cold, they're cold. Bring them inside.  winter also meant cleaning this and filling up the tank and taking a syphon filter shot before putting her away for winter. Then last weekend I stopped by the toy store to pick up a Group 31 battery mounting tray so I could fit a deep cycle AGM battery. This is my Thanksgiving break project. I am pretty happy to see how it goes.   This battery is like 75 pounds. My current battery is a little tired on cranking when it was parked outside and getting started when it was ~30 degrees outside so this was probably the last season for it anyhow. I wanted the group 31 deep cycle because I bought a sweet electric cooler/fridge that might be better than the cooler for camping through Costco for $270 after on sale. It actually looks like it is still on sale but plugging it into the wall I got it from room temp down to 6 degrees in one hour.
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Nov 26, 2020 17:59
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MomJeans420 posted:This isn't a pressing issue since it's not going to be hot and sunny for a while, but do people here have opinions on awnings? I don't have one but I think they look neat as gently caress and it's one of the only things that makes me sad about having a soft-top TJ. Yes, roof racks exist for them but they're a bit janky looking and I think they might depend on my Jeep being more square than it actually is.
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Nov 27, 2020 04:20
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If all you need is shade why not go with a $100 Chinese special from Amazon? I know ARB is top of the line but seems like a lot of cash just for that use. Just an opinion.
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Nov 27, 2020 04:47
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Because you'll get a dozen uses out of the china special and then it breaks. And theres no parts availability for them. That free standing 270 deg awning is from the Bush Company and holy loving poo poo are they expensive! https://www.thebushcompany.com.au/product/270-xt-awning/ I cant use a 270 on my truck because of the way the roof top opens over the back tailgate, so i'll be updating my 10yr old ARB for a new one in the not too distant future. The current one still works, but its just getting old and tired, things like all the velcro is dead, the zipper on the bag is sad, the pop rivets are starting to get loose and worn. I definitely got my moneys worth out of it!
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Nov 27, 2020 07:50
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I had no idea that the awning debate raged so crazy, I saw a thread on one of the facebook groups with the same kind of back and forth. Typically when I go camping I just take some milsurp canvas tarp with me and make due. your garage is giant, how tall are the ceilings in there?
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Nov 27, 2020 20:52
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I totally see the benefits of something like a premium ARB if you use it all the time and get 10 years out of it. But if you just need some shade occasionally get a clip on amazon one. It stalls money not mine! I had lots of Japanese campers with ultra nice Gianna retractable awnings I see the appeal and convenience.
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Nov 27, 2020 21:29
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Hmm I thought ARB had a 270 degree one but it looks like I was thinking of the Rhino Batwing one, which is also fairly expensive. The ARBs seem to have reasonable prices depending on how fancy you go, but that Bush Company one was even more than I had remembered, that's going to be out of the picture. I like the idea behind it but I'd have to be using that all the time to justify that purchase, and even then it's questionable. RE: ARB vs a cheap no name one, there are just times where I'm not going to feel like dealing with potential issues and rolling the dice. I'll go Harbor Freight for one off tools and things that aren't a huge inconvenience, but I'm picturing rolling up a cheap awning and having issues, things breaking, etc, and I don't want to deal with it that as I have a car full of dogs, baby, and wife. The ARB accessories (walls/wind breaks and rooms with floors) are surprisingly reasonably priced too, which is an added bonus. If someone said here's thousands of dollars you have to spend on you car, I'd get that Bush Company one though.
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Nov 27, 2020 23:32
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