I've not updated my thread in a while.
I've been making progress on my prep work for the bdr trip this year.
However, not everything has been flawless.
After installing the auxiliary transmission cooler, I went to go on a trip with a friend of mine. I was towing the trailer, and when I hit the gas on the highway. The transmission cooler started spewing from around the hoses on the radiator. Turns out the hose clamps failed. I didn't have any spare hose clamps, so we towed the X to my buddies.
Spent the next day underneath cleaning everything off, and replacing the hose clamps, and double clamping it.
We still saw some dripping, so I limped it to my mechanic for them to check out.
Turns out the dripping we were seeing was residual, so it was good to go.
Then, I found a crack in the hard shell on my rooftop tent. Filed a warranty claim with Ironman 4x4, and they ended up sending me a whole new tent! So I patched up the original with marine-Tex epoxy.
I put the new tent on top of the Xterra!
I had my shovel mounted to the rack, but with the tent up there, that obviously wouldn't work.
My solution:
Use some small diameter tube mount on the Jerry cans, and put quick fist
clamps on them.
I also added a wrap around tire mount from rock slide engineering, and mounted a 5lb propane tank mount from bns overland here in Idaho on it. I'm still trying to decide what to put on the other side.
The most recent project was cleaning up the wiring in the back. I replaced my old relay box with a new one. This time I used proper 12ga marine wire, and terminated the outputs of the relay box with anderson powerpole connectors. I had two unused slots in the original, so I moved two of the extra Relays into the box.
I also swapped one of the 12v cigarette sockets for a dual 30A powerpole socket. And I have a 25' 10ga powerpole extension cable that I can use to power my diesel heater.
I also mounted a 25A solar charge controller next to my inverter, since I plan on adding a permanent 100Ah lifepo4 battery to the X.
And I added a dtp pigtail so that I can plug in power for my rooftop tent to run the light, and power our cpaps.
I also got a new hatchet for Xmas, so I mounted that to the inside of the hatch.
And finally, I replaced the roof light bar with an auxbeam 5D spot/flood combo bar.
I was going to replace the 20in bar in front with two 7in spots, but with the roofbar having the bight spot light, I don't think I need to.
That covers what I've gotten accomplished up till now.
All these modifications have exposed some flaws though.
The leaf springs.
The back end of Gamora is really sagging, and that needs to be addressed. Initially, I was thinking I would just adjust my shackles, but the more I thought about that, the more I realized that's not the proper solution. I was going to initially go with the 4x4Parts 3 leaf AAL. Then their shipping calculator quoted me 160 bucks for shipping.....
At that point, I thought it would make more sense to have custom springs made and installed locally.
Then I decided to call 4x4Parts to get an accurate quote on shipping...
$50.
Thats way more reasonable.
So those will be ordered before the end of February.
Then I need to get around to finally installing the HD tie rod adjusters. So I'll order new tie rod ends (suggestions on brand?), and keep the old ones as spares for the bdr.
Then it's belts, fluids, spak plugs, wires, and other various maintenance items, and lots of trips to shakedown the build.
I may or may not need to upgrade shocks along the way.
That's all for now.