Just read through this. Green jelly. Your truck is my pos e350's hero, I may have to borrow some of these tricks here..
Just read through this. Green jelly. Your truck is my pos e350's hero, I may have to borrow some of these tricks here..
In reply to grover :
Thank you :D
In reply to 8valve :
Please borrow away! It's been a fun build for me.
Always love seeing the pictures. I was just up at Mt. Baker this past Saturday myself, Snoqualmie the weekend before. Playing in the powder has been a ton of fun!
In reply to LifeIsStout :
Yeah the snow was amazing! Say hi if you see us!
Ok tire musing.
Mpt81's
Rated for 4674 lbs each, and 68mph. I am just under (like within 100lbs) of the load rating, and I would like to do 70 at times. But generally cruising at 65 is fine.
Is this a stupid tire choice?
Discus.....
I think its fine for an educated user to run that close to spec. Somebody who checks pressures and knows how and why tires behave how they do. I "downgraded" from a E rated set to a set of modern AT's on my father's van and it actually rides and handles much better on the road. Spec is close to what we max load it at, no headroom like the E's. But its been fine. No mud or winter tire experience here.
Was just reading up on the G159 tire lawsuits..
In reply to 8valve :
After doing lots of reading that is kind of what I am thinking. I think a tire pressure and temp monitor like This would be a ghood investment. Once I know what temp/heat they run at 65 it would give me a "baseline" of sorts to be able to easily keep an eye on things.
Oh one other hiccup, I was going to run a 20x11 rim, the tires want a 9" rim.... Will I be asking for more trouble? 
Tire rep says don't even think about it....
Now I have a few thoughts running through my head I will take input on. Namely wheels and tires, and bumper and winch.
On the wheels/tires font, as much as I want to run the 37" MPT81's as a super single, the wheels and tires are ~$4200, a lot of cash for something I will only really need for 5% of what this truck gets used for.... So looking at tires alone, I can do just new steers to match the rear tires (more aggressive) or I can do all of them up one size. I am not sure its worth just going up one size, from a 225/70/19.5 to a 245. Id love to drop some highway RPM's but that is only 3.5% larger (~1" taller), which equates to 80 ish rpms at 65. Not much.
Now onto bumpers, is Aluminum worth the extra $$, I like the lightweight idea, and rust free, but it's another $750. (and keeping weight off the front axle, I am close to its rating....)
Thoughts?
I would do aluminum bumpers for sure.
In reply to Professor_Brap :
Yeah that is how I am leaning too, unless I come across a used one cheap (unlikely for a two year model truck....)
How much more does the aluminum bumper cost? Once you put a winch in, what's the weight difference. Synthetic line vs steel cable is a much bigger weight vs cost value.
If you go slightly upsized tires, what's the cost? Vs just new steer tires?
It's hard to say no to 37" super singles if you can swing the cost. Does that 4200 include a full size spare?
Petrolburner said:How much more does the aluminum bumper cost? Once you put a winch in, what's the weight difference. Synthetic line vs steel cable is a much bigger weight vs cost value.
If you go slightly upsized tires, what's the cost? Vs just new steer tires?
It's hard to say no to 37" super singles if you can swing the cost. Does that 4200 include a full size spare?
Alu is a $750 upgrade. ~$2600 for the bumper. Winch is going in either way, but makes me want to run alu even more. Warn 18k industrial with 1/2" cable is 178lbs. I would swap that to synthetic, but I dont know the cable weight vs winch weight.
Upsized in Chinese aggressive tread is $1001 for 7 tires, plus install at ~$200. Two steers to match the rears I currently have is $1002 installed (IIRC)
Singles included a spare, but its SOOOO much money for something I wont use a ton. The tires are only good for 20-25k most likely too.....
Playing moto hauler this weekend. Good times!
Awesome! Is that your daughter riding? I keep joking to my wife that Honda Dirtbike school starts at six. My older daughter's three now, we'll see if it's still a joke in three years. ;-)
dculberson said:Awesome! Is that your daughter riding? I keep joking to my wife that Honda Dirtbike school starts at six. My older daughter's three now, we'll see if it's still a joke in three years. ;-)
Yep! First weekend on the bike! She did awesome, we rode a fair bit before we had her, and when she was a baby and we could get baby sitters, but its been 5 ish years. It was great to be back on the bikes. We just picked that one up for her, shes 9 now, was a little timid at first but she did great. A few crashes, ripped the exhaust off, but rode until it was just about out of gas :D
java230 said:Petrolburner said:How much more does the aluminum bumper cost? Once you put a winch in, what's the weight difference. Synthetic line vs steel cable is a much bigger weight vs cost value.
If you go slightly upsized tires, what's the cost? Vs just new steer tires?
It's hard to say no to 37" super singles if you can swing the cost. Does that 4200 include a full size spare?
Alu is a $750 upgrade. ~$2600 for the bumper. Winch is going in either way, but makes me want to run alu even more. Warn 18k industrial with 1/2" cable is 178lbs. I would swap that to synthetic, but I dont know the cable weight vs winch weight.
Upsized in Chinese aggressive tread is $1001 for 7 tires, plus install at ~$200. Two steers to match the rears I currently have is $1002 installed (IIRC)
Singles included a spare, but its SOOOO much money for something I wont use a ton. The tires are only good for 20-25k most likely too.....
For the same price, I'd go with all new upsized Chinese tires and call it good.
So how do you like this back bumper, hitch/step combo. Mine it sort of like this but without the hitch. If you had to redo it, what would you do? Do you like the full width step? Would it be helpful to have two different heights of the step, higher on the edges for better departure angle?
I'm asking because I'm going to cut mine all apart soon, add a receiver and maybe work in nicer tail lights.
Untitled by Petrolburner, on Flickr
In reply to Petrolburner :
It's likely going to get cut off, and moved up ~8". I debated between just cutting it off vs moving it up and I think I would just move it up. Its nice to have at times to get into the back. a 2x4 piece of tubing could be used as a step too though. So far I have not had much ass dragging issues.
As it is now, the hitch is BEEF, that's nice, the step is really nice for when I am putting away skis, in my ski boots, its a good footing. Full width is nice, I dont see a huge advantage to making the outside edges taller or having it skinnier, just make it beefy enough to drag if it becomes an issue. It does make a nice bench as it is now, altough it doesn't get used as that much. The aluminum that is on it is the way to go, its punched holes/dimples and they are sharp and grippy.
Are you going to be going in and out the back a lot? or side door mostly? Its still a big step up to get inside.
A couple little projects, got the maxtrax mounted on the back door. It will be nice when they are snow and muddy.....
And OBA! It will be nice to be able to air down a little as needed, as well as fill the airbags. Puma 12v compressor, 2.0CFM @40psi, 1.36@90psi, 1.5 gallon tank.
I have a couple options, one to mount it under the truck, it fits just in front of the tool boxes on either side, or under the bed in the back. Under the bed is clean and easy to install, but back doors would need to be opened to turn it on, under the truck is out of the way, but in the dust/mud/spray, and harder to install/plumb/wire.
the easy option.
What about mounting it in the clean and dry, and installing a remote switch to turn it on? Best of both worlds.
In reply to ShawneeCreek :
That's a thought, run a switch and chuck over to the other door. I would need a relay that can handle 50 amps.
java230 said:In reply to ShawneeCreek :
That's a thought, run a switch and chuck over to the other door. I would need a relay that can handle 50 amps.
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