In reply to irish44j (Forum Supporter) :
I just realized I completely forgot to respond to you, I really appreciate that, I don't see me being able too anyitme soon due to my work, but I really appreciate that offer, and will keep it in mind for the future, would I need to fab new mounts for the transmission and a transfer case? or will the 2.4s t case and mounts fit?
trexxit said:In reply to irish44j (Forum Supporter) :
I just realized I completely forgot to respond to you, I really appreciate that, I don't see me being able too anyitme soon due to my work, but I really appreciate that offer, and will keep it in mind for the future, would I need to fab new mounts for the transmission and a transfer case? or will the 2.4s t case and mounts fit?
Honestly, not sure. I mean, I have the crossmember for this one, which is different from the manual crossmember so I had to swap them.
So yesterday as I was about to jump in the shower, my wife comes and gets me because our mail carrier got her truck high-centered on a pile of snow across the street, and apparently my other neighbors are helpless when it comes to giving a tug or push. So I grab the Raider and pulled out there. Initially didn't want to get straps out and figured I could just give the mail truck a push off the snow. But that didn't work, it was really stuck up there, and in the process I somehow clipped one of my Hellas on the front bumper and cracked the base off....
So, that really sucks since these things aren't exactly cheap or all that easy to find these days. So busted out the plastic weld/epoxy stuff and laid down a ton of it, clamped everything tight, and eventually put it all back together. Seems to be fine now, I guess we'll see....
On the topic of lighting, finally got around to putting my LED bar back on, uising the new mounts I hid behind the fairing. I think the positioning now is much cleaner than before, and hopefully less out of direct wind/noise.
I really like how the light bar tucks in neatly. Nice work as usual.
also nice having it moved back, so it won't shine onto the hood because the front of the roof will shadow it.
For anyone not following my (admittedly pretty boring) rally trailer build, here's a couple shots from today. Making progress!
irish44j (Forum Supporter) said:also nice having it moved back, so it won't shine onto the hood because the front of the roof will shadow it.
Seems like someone warned you about that a page or 3 back, lol.
Trailer looks great, any plans to add a tent like your friend?
Justjim75 said:irish44j (Forum Supporter) said:also nice having it moved back, so it won't shine onto the hood because the front of the roof will shadow it.
Seems like someone warned you about that a page or 3 back, lol.
Trailer looks great, any plans to add a tent like your friend?
lol. I mean, I never actually used it in that position so I can't actually say if that was the case. But in theory ;)
tent? IDK what friend of mine has a tent, but I personally think the rooftop tents are a massive waste of money unless you are really, seriously, doing some legit long-term "overlanding" (i.e. what almost nobody on the East Coast does)....and hell,..they run like $2-3k minimum. For 10% of that price, I'll get a sweet tent on the ground and an air mattress (or a hotel room). This isn't the African wilderness, I don't need to sleep on the roof to avoid being eaten by a lion :)
Rooftop tents are all over the place here in suburban DC area. Like ever other late-model Jeep, 4Runner, and Land Cruiser apparently needs one as a mall-crawlin' fashion accessory even though none of them appear to ever have left the pavement. :)
irish44j (Forum Supporter) said:
Hey, look! It's the same color combo as the dirthammer! Speaking of which.....
In reply to irish44j (Forum Supporter) :
The classic rooftop-tent-on-the-ground setup, 10% the price and 10% the weight. My favorite fauxverlanding accessory is the snorkel. I somehow doubt every other 4runner in Dallas has forded a 5 foot crossing. Traction boards and a shovel on the other hand...
Bizwacky said:In reply to irish44j (Forum Supporter) :
The classic rooftop-tent-on-the-ground setup, 10% the price and 10% the weight. My favorite fauxverlanding accessory is the snorkel. I somehow doubt every other 4runner in Dallas has forded a 5 foot crossing. Traction boards and a shovel on the other hand...
I do carry traction boards at a shovel but they are hidden away where nobody can see them lol. And I am damn sure not forwarding any water deep enough to require a snorkel! I like my interior being dry lol.
I thought I saw in another thread you helped brace a friends trailer for a tent, my bad. Old age is setting in and I hope it either stops or progresses enough to where I don't know how bad it is.
Edit: I found the post I was talking about and I feel like a doofus
Justjim75 said:I thought I saw in another thread you helped brace a friends trailer for a tent, my bad. Old age is setting in and I hope it either stops or progresses enough to where I don't know how bad it is.
Edit: I found the post I was talking about and I feel like a doofus
lol, I know how you feel! no worries :)
Took the trailer down the street for its maiden voyage. Happy to report nothing fell off, and no issues noted. The Raider doesn't really notice it there when it's empty, which is nice.
This thing should be on the cover of the first issue of Grassroots Overlandingsports.
In reply to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :
more like Grassroots Mulch-hauling-in-style, since I foresee most of its use being in suburban utility things lol.
In reply to irish44j (Forum Supporter) :
Just like every other "overland build" 
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ said:In reply to irish44j (Forum Supporter) :
Just like every other "overland build"
in my defense I am pretty sure I have not referred to this trailer using the word overland ;)
This has long been one of my favorite threads on GRM. BUT when you added the raider it just made me love this that much more. It also made me really miss my 2.5 gen Monty... But she is being enjoyed by her new owner so I cant be too sad.
The trailer turned out great. Defiently well designed. I lead Tons of overland trips all over the southeast and see loads of home built trailers out of truck beds. few have ever come close to what you have built. You did a great job of keeping it looking like a truck bed (cause it is) AND creating ground clearance and cutting some weight etc. I look forward to seeing some pictures or videos of how it does offroad.
Pretty jealous that you have Rausch creek that close to you. It's been our list of parks to hit up with our little crew for a while now. I'm sure that Subi has less than thrilled about all that ice water coming in. I have been on the other end of that in the swamps of Florida but NEVER something that cold!
Keep up the good work. Thanks for sharing your adventures!
B13Birk said:This has long been one of my favorite threads on GRM. BUT when you added the raider it just made me love this that much more. It also made me really miss my 2.5 gen Monty... But she is being enjoyed by her new owner so I cant be too sad.
The trailer turned out great. Defiently well designed. I lead Tons of overland trips all over the southeast and see loads of home built trailers out of truck beds. few have ever come close to what you have built. You did a great job of keeping it looking like a truck bed (cause it is) AND creating ground clearance and cutting some weight etc. I look forward to seeing some pictures or videos of how it does offroad.
Pretty jealous that you have Rausch creek that close to you. It's been our list of parks to hit up with our little crew for a while now. I'm sure that Subi has less than thrilled about all that ice water coming in. I have been on the other end of that in the swamps of Florida but NEVER something that cold!
Keep up the good work. Thanks for sharing your adventures!
haha, the two Subies there are Gambler 500 cars with no interiors, so aside from getting his wallet, phone, and (another thing I won't post online) out of the car, he mostly laughed about it as he drained a foot of water from the floorboards by putting the car up sideways on a steep hill.
It continued on the trails for 3 hours after that and did fine until the clutch started to go away.
It will be interesting to see if I use the trailer much "truly offroad" other than fire roads/rally stuff. The thought of doing real ORV trails with a trailer being pulled by a relatively underpowered, manual-transmission thing like the Raider seems to be of questionable smartness overall, lol. I suppose down the line if I do some kind of long-duration trip I would take it with me, but if by myself I can take anything I need for a couple weeks in or on the Raider. We'll see. One possible trip (week+ Kentucky Adventure Trail) woudl be a good place to try it out since we want to haul Nonack's motorcycle down there for him to ride on the trails. Could try the trailer on a trail or two for posterity, but most likely would try to drop it off someplace secure and explore without it.
True overland types going on long trips into the wilderness with multiple people in the vehicle probably need a trailer like this more, to carry spares, sleeping stuff, tents, or whatever. Here in the mid-atlantic not much opportunity for that, and offroading isn't what the rest of my family wants to do lol....
I will definitely find someplace to go test it out offroad, at very least, just for posterity :)
Not much new going on with the Raider, but the last few weeks I've noticed a loud metallic sound coming from the engine bay when driving, which was pretty easy to pinpoint as bad bearings in the alternator, which is who-knows-how old and came off the parts truck when I built this thing. In any case, ordered up a new Delco unit and had it installed in about 10 minutes. Much quieter. I may rebuilt the old one just for a spare.
For no apparent reason I was searching around on international ebay and found some new corner pieces for the bumpers (from Colombia). The corners on mine are cracked, mashed, and generally ugly. Not *really* a big deal since they're there to get bumped and mushed, I guess.
Anyhow, picked up some new ones (defintely aftermarket), and the fronts arrived today
First things first, had to get the old ones off. There are 5 bolts holding them on, all of which were excessively rusty and took a good amount of penetrating oil, creativity with tools, etc.
I couldnt' re-use the carriage-head bolts since I had to destroy them to get them off, so just used standard bolts to replace them. Not quite as pretty, but should be way easier if I ever have to do this again.
You may notice that these are substantially lower-profile than the originals. Here's one of the originals. note how much it sticks out.
The new ones sit much more close to flush, which I think gives a much cleaner look. Hopefully the rears will be similar.
Keep the OEM mitsu alternator and get it rebuilt if you can find a shop! Aftermarket Mitsu alternators are notorious for poor quality, I know this from replacing way too many DSM alternators. At least with those cars, you'd be better off swapping in a used OEM unit than an aftermarket unit. The DSM alternators failed often since they were very close to the exhaust manifold and turbo, lots of heat, and many yanked off the OEM heat shields. And right below the PS pump, which would leak right onto the alternator when it started leaking.
You might still be able to find the OEM brushes and/or rectifier and rebuild it yourself.
Looking great!
Replacing the plastic bumper corners on my XJ made all the difference in how it looked.
engiekev said:Keep the OEM mitsu alternator and get it rebuilt if you can find a shop! Aftermarket Mitsu alternators are notorious for poor quality, I know this from replacing way too many DSM alternators. At least with those cars, you'd be better off swapping in a used OEM unit than an aftermarket unit. The DSM alternators failed often since they were very close to the exhaust manifold and turbo, lots of heat, and many yanked off the OEM heat shields. And right below the PS pump, which would leak right onto the alternator when it started leaking.
You might still be able to find the OEM brushes and/or rectifier and rebuild it yourself.
Yep that is the plan. Though I am not entirely sure that this is the OEM alternator. It is made in Japan but it is tagged as rebuilt. In either case my intent is to try to round up the rebuild parts and do it myself, when I get a chance. I have some suspicion that the bearings just went bad because I got a lot of muddy water in the engine bay at roush last month, but idk.
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