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wesleywillis posted:Anyone deal with Bay Area Metal Fab? I know nothing whatsoever of their politics but I have their leaf spring hangers on my 3rd gen taco. I'd given them a pass since they're in the Bay Area, which is a little bit foolish in retrospect. I just went and leafed through quite a bit of their website and instagram and I saw nothing political whatsoever.... but I've been wrong before. The leaf spring hangers are top notch FWIW MomJeans420 posted:That sticks out a lot less than I thought it would, it looks like a pretty decent option. I guess I have the problem of where I'd store it when it's not on the GX as my garage space is limited right now. I never go to meetups but I'm thinking I should go to a GX meetup and see how the JW carrier feels in person once it's installed. For being bumper mounted, it sits tight. And at least for me, this thing is permanent. Not just because of the wiring and reverse camera, but the weight/effort of unmounting it and taking up space in the garage. Also specifically to my taco, I had upgraded to the OME dakar HD springs and they rode like complete rear end when I only had the camper shell on. Now that I've added ~200lbs to the rear, it rides 100% better. Vampire Panties fucked around with this message at 18:35 on Nov 30, 2021 |
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Nov 30, 2021 03:30
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wesleywillis posted:Anyone deal with Bay Area Metal Fab? My buddy is a part owner in this company and he's not an authoritarian or a hater - https://explore-overland.com/
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Nov 30, 2021 05:51
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FogHelmut posted:My buddy is a part owner in this company and he's not an authoritarian or a hater - https://explore-overland.com/ Looks like I just missed the black friday deal, but I think I might still pull the trigger on GX 470 sliders from these guys, as the price is still great (appears to still be somewhat discounted) and they have reasonable shipping costs (looks like a flat $100, while others are charging like $150-200). e: I emailed them about the black friday code (since their website was still advertising it last night but the code was inactive) and they just added the code back for me...bolt-on, 10 degree, HREW sliders w/ kickout & top plate for $600 shipped  . Haven't seen a price like that since everyone started raising their prices due to steel prices rising. Everything else similar seems to be in the $850-1250 range shipped (though tbf some of those are w/ DOM).
Splinter fucked around with this message at 20:05 on Dec 1, 2021 |
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Dec 1, 2021 11:36
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I'm not a super woke person but I definitely support progressive stuff in general and I've inadvertently supported plenty of companies that turned out to be basically run by neonazis (hard to avoid in industries like firearms, diesel trucks, etc) so I 100% believe in going out of my way to support companies that aren't like that now!
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Dec 2, 2021 01:18
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Took the dog for an overnight trip up to Death Valley. Although I find myself really wondering if I genuinely need a 4x4 truck, or if an AWD van would be more appropriate. Taking a break outside of Baker  Dog sniffed out some treasure  Zabriskie Point is beautiful, but iphones must have some sort of automagic image processor for national parks; the lighting IRL was bad.   Stopped for the night 
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Dec 8, 2021 18:50
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I'm heading to the same area later this month in my fwd van. Ngl, reports of sand have me somewhat concerned.
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Dec 8, 2021 19:06
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ryanrs posted:I'm heading to the same area later this month in my fwd van. Ngl, reports of sand have me somewhat concerned. I can't speak to anything outside of echo canyon road specifically, but IMO you should be fine. Weirdly didn't see any sand in my trip, like at all, but I also went the one day it was raining. Much like all of the other 'off road' trails I've seen over SoCal, seems like Death Valley is mostly natural gravel wash that has been driven/compacted into a vague trail. The only thing I'd be concerned about is large unseen rocks - there were a lot of 2-3 foot sized chunks of slag hiding in the usual wash scree. I definitely put a souvenir dent in my skid plate, and I thought I'd hit the rocker panel pretty hard but it looks like I'm ok.
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Dec 8, 2021 19:21
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I want to get out to Death Valley this winter/spring before it gets too hot. Any recommendations?
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Dec 8, 2021 19:29
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FogHelmut posted:I want to get out to Death Valley this winter/spring before it gets too hot. Any recommendations? I'm also open for recommendations, specifically 4x4. I struggle greatly with AllTrails and other website recommendations - a lot of people in SoCal think that a gravel road requires four wheel drive. On the other hand, I've already stumbled into double black diamond stuff once at Joshua Tree completely by accident. Reading beforehand, Echo Canyon was described as either a dirt road or a moderate trail adventure, and I could see it being either.
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Dec 8, 2021 20:17
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Keep an eye on winter rain levels and time it for wildflowers in the spring. But I think that's probably also peak season for visitors, so accommodations might be difficult. Anyway, that's the 'obvious' time to visit the park, but I haven't done it myself, so maybe not! Right now is early winter weirdo camping season, I think/hope. It's 60s temps during the day, 30s and 40s at night, with some rain. I don't intend to spend much/any time inside the actual national park, since I'm more of a national forest / BLM dirtbag camper. I find places by driving around for days and putting notes into the ONX Hunt app. Also by looking at topo maps and sat images on ONX, Google Maps, and Google Earth. I don't really look at 4x4 maps/websites. e: I know a lot about Indian Wells Valley, west of highway 14! But I know nothing about the rest of the desert.
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Dec 8, 2021 20:26
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Vampire Panties posted:I'm also open for recommendations, specifically 4x4. I struggle greatly with AllTrails and other website recommendations - a lot of people in SoCal think that a gravel road requires four wheel drive. On the other hand, I've already stumbled into double black diamond stuff once at Joshua Tree completely by accident. Reading beforehand, Echo Canyon was described as either a dirt road or a moderate trail adventure, and I could see it being either. Yeah, trail ratings always seem to be all over the place - and also conditions change throughout the year. I've been on trails that were perfectly smoothly graded, and then 9 months later its a horrible rutted and rocky mess. I try to figure out where I'm going then double check the trail rating against YouTube videos of what it might actually look like. I might try onX Maps again. When they first launched, info and maps were sparse, but it looks like they've gotten pretty big and are sponsoring TFL on YouTube, so might be worth checking out. Death Valley is gigantic. I'm not specifically looking for 4x4 stuff there, but more where to go, what to see, where to camp. I was under the impression that a lot of it is just long dirt roads?
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Dec 8, 2021 20:29
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To clarify: I don't use the ONX offroad app, I use the hunt app. They keep trying to sell me the offroad app, which is completely stupid since the two apps don't share waypoint data. (possibly this has changed? what about offline maps?)
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Dec 8, 2021 21:45
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What is the difference between the Hunt and Offroad? I've also tried Gaia and TrailsOffroad, but all of these things are confusing.
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Dec 8, 2021 22:58
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I was told that Gaia was the best, but that I absolutely needed a tablet to run it... the same day that Gaia announced Apple Carplay support  and it sounds like we're all struggling with the same thing - finding verifiable pictures of the trail, with actual directions/locations of the trail, and a meaningful description. For what its worth, at least twice now I've headed out to 'remote' SoCal locations that were both described as difficult to find or without markers.. to find out that Google Maps had a trail straight to the place. (IIRC Smuggler's Cave and some weird thing out in Anzo-Borrego).
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Dec 8, 2021 23:45
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Vampire Panties posted:I was told that Gaia was the best, but that I absolutely needed a tablet to run it... the same day that Gaia announced Apple Carplay support I love gaia. But I'm also a bit of a gis nerd so I realize that not everyone needs all the layers it provides. But I do find it very easy to use and there's a lot of regional Facebook groups that will share trail data that you can directly plug in to it.
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Dec 9, 2021 01:02
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Atticus_1354 posted:I love gaia. But I'm also a bit of a gis nerd so I realize that not everyone needs all the layers it provides. But I do find it very easy to use and there's a lot of regional Facebook groups that will share trail data that you can directly plug in to it. I tried to use layers in Google Maps to plan out a 2 week+ road trip, and after fighting with it for hours I got this awful abomination that sorta/kinda included everything... with zero ability to send it to my phone or another device. This has actually hurt a lot of (planned) 4x4 adventures because I don't want to drive out to the middle of nowhere to find out the trails been closed, or doesn't exist, or whatever.
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Dec 9, 2021 06:29
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FogHelmut posted:What is the difference between the Hunt and Offroad? Each product comes in two price tiers, Premium $30/year and Elite $100/year. Offroad Premium $30/year Nationwide, No property ownership info. Offroad Elite $100/year Nationwide, with property info. Hunt Premium $30/year Single state, with property info. Hunt Elite $100/year Nationwide, with property info. The property info is exactly what it sounds like: assessor tax info for every parcel in the state/country. It's not actually a lot of data compared to the satellite imagery. It's especially important for hunting, because you need to be able to answer the question "Can I hunt / shoot a gun here?". This all works offline if you pre-download the areas you will be traveling to. It's super handy for dirtbag camping and target shooting, too. Here in California, and probably other states, the Hunt app is very close to authoritative because game wardens and similar forest law enforcement also use it. So even if the map has inaccuracies, they'll be the same on the cop's phone. The Hunt app has useful hunting-related layers, like historical wildfires, etc (also handy if you're trying to visit forests that haven't burned recently). The Offroad app has trail descriptions and ratings. I haven't used the Offroad app much at all because when I first tried it, it couldn't see my Hunt app waypoints. If I can't see my hundreds and hundreds of waypoints all over the state, your mapping app can gently caress off. Given that both apps are from the same company, and obviously share most of their code, I was not going to export waypoints back and forth manually. I don't think the devs really envisioned people subscribing to both apps. Since I'm in the middle of California, I don't travel to other states much at all. So I buy the $30/year Hunt app and get full data for my state. e: and since we're talking about GIS crap, here's your reminder that Google Earth and Google Maps do NOT use the same aerial imagery. Google Earth generally has more recent images.
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Dec 9, 2021 07:49
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I can't speak for California but my area of Washington state just updated on Google maps satellite, and they used imagery taken between mid June and mid October of this year. How can I tell? Because our RV was parked and tarped on our neighbors property in the imagery they got, and that was the only time it's ever been there.
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Dec 9, 2021 08:10
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kastein posted:I can't speak for California but my area of Washington state just updated on Google maps satellite, and they used imagery taken between mid June and mid October of this year. How can I tell? Because our RV was parked and tarped on our neighbors property in the imagery they got, and that was the only time it's ever been there. I love being able to pick out dates with poo poo like that. You might also want to check if the county has their own aerial imagery - mine does new aerials every year, though of course mostly focused on the parts where people live. Funny enough they've snapped photos of my mom's house on a holiday or a birthday multiple times over the years, since you can clearly see my car and my siblings' cars parked in the street. As far as trail resources, I'm a big fan of the Funtreks / Wells books, with the caveat that they tend to focus on very well established trails that you can also probably find half a dozen or more other sources for. But they include detailed maps and step by step directions with odometer readings.
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Dec 9, 2021 19:19
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Re: Death Valley Chat Spent some time there after Christmas last year in my adventure van I’ve been building out. First night, I camped at Mahogany Flats near the trailhead to Telescope Peak In the snow.  Next morning I ran up to Telescope Peak @11,000 feet and had no views due to being caught in a blizzard. Still awesome tho. Once I got back to the van, I drove a few hours to the Racetrack Playa and spent a couple days camped there.  This is looking into the Saline Valley from the hill next to camp:  And looking toward the Playa:  You can’t camp next to the Playa and the camping area is about a mile or so up the road. There are two ways in, both requiring good tires. I’ve put a 2” lift and 32” BFG A/T KO2s on the van, but it’s still 2WD. I drove the 25 mile dirt road from Ubehebe Crater and it took about 2 hours due to the nasty washboard and sharp rocks. The second way in is via a Jeep trail from the Saline Valley side called Lippincott Road. I bombed down 5 miles of that route on my mountain bike to scout it out, but there was a couple sections I knew would be near impassable with the limited (read “no”) articulation of my van. Once section is pretty washed out and careful line choice and experience would be prudent. I saw mostly lifted Toyotas and Jeeps driving on it and would have if I had my XJ there. I did see one guy in a newer Subaru wagon make it, but he definitely had mods and BFGs. After scouting (and having to ride/push my bike back up) the road, I chose to drive out the way I came in. The top of Lippincott:  Super cool area out there and on one of the days I was totally alone. Climbed up Ubehebe Peak for a sweet view of the Playa and didn’t see anyone for literally 20 miles. Racetrack Playa from the top of Ubehebe Peak:  Tiny spec of the van and the Grandstand on the Playa:  (Sorry if image quality sucks - phone posting and imgur is a terrible user experience)
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Dec 10, 2021 09:12
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Signed up for a Jeep Academy event. I know I'll be subjected to the obvious marketing, but is it going to be a bunch of boomers like a Harley Davidson dealer?
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Dec 20, 2021 21:14
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The impression I get from most of my Facebook groups these days is that it's going to be vaguely right wing antivaxxer former RNs with live laugh love murals on the living room wall and a bag of rubber duck toys to leave on people's windshield for no reason. Plastidip and angry eye grilles may also be involved.
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Dec 21, 2021 07:12
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Red halos around the headlights, white halos around the taillights.
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Dec 21, 2021 07:19
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kastein posted:a bag of rubber duck toys to leave on people's windshield for no reason. ??????? I've only driven in the snow one time before but will be doing it again in a few months. I was wondering if it's helpful to air down the tires a bit in that situation but from what I can tell from the GX Facebook group it's like asking what religion is the best and which oil does your chosen god prefer. If there was anything like a general consensus it would be it seems like airing down would help with fluffy snow but you'd want higher pressures to help cut through the ice in an ice situation. I'm just going to bring chains with me so I don't have to worry about it, but is there a "proper" answer?
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Dec 28, 2021 19:40
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MomJeans420 posted:??????? It's A Thing for people with large five figure loans on their JL/JT to "duck" other Jeeps. I don't loving get it either. The only times I've driven in snow I did not air down. The worst conditions I drove through were shortly after I bought the WJ, and goddamn is that the perfect scenario for Quadradrive.
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Dec 28, 2021 19:55
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MomJeans420 posted:??????? As is my understanding, on a dry grippy surface, you want as many square inches as possible for traction (like how dragsters have wide rear end tires), but for a slippery surface, you want narrow because then you have more pounds per square inch of surface area to push down/cut through/dig in to the snow. But then again, if you're trying to ride on top of deep snow, then maybe thats not so good. The first one is probably best for rolling on the street, gravel etc, but if you're in deep snow, or somewhere that there is the risk of sinking to your axles and getting really stuck, then you probably want more surface area. Sorry if I didn't help. E: What type of surfaces are you expecting to drive on? Are you just going skiing or some poo poo, or are you planning in driving across a field?
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Dec 28, 2021 20:05
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Your truck is heavy, you'll sink through snow regardless of airing down. Bring a shovel. Hell even atvs sink through snow pretty easily.
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Dec 28, 2021 21:06
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For driving in snow a narrower tire is generally better as it is able to cut through the snow/slush more easily. Just put some Nokian Rotivas in a 245/65/16 on my 4Runner last week, which is the same tire/size my homie runs on his dedicated “snow” Discovery. I’ve been driving in the snow regularly for over 30 years, can’t think of one time where I thought “lower tire pressure would help here”. With that said, I haven’t done any off-reading in the snow so maybe there’s an application there. Chains are probably your best bet for actual off-roading, but if you just want to carry something for emergency traction a set of autosocks are so much more convenient and pretty effective. Aside from all the heavy trucks with automatic chains fleet ops for my company has switched up to autosocks for everything else.
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Dec 29, 2021 15:49
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For actively driving on snowy roads I wouldn’t air down preemptively. But if you do end up in a situation where you’re stuck, I think airing down then can help and I can’t picture it hurting.
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Dec 30, 2021 01:40
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Airing down in snow can help sometimes, it can hurt you sometimes. I don't do it for normal driving. If you're on fairly hard packed snow and it's real slippery, airing down to get a bigger contact patch might help you. If you're in deep snow and you're worried about high centering, airing down might help you and it might gently caress you. On the one hand, it will help float up a bit higher, give you more traction, and give you more room under the car since you're floating more. On the other hand, it lowers your ground clearance and it might gently caress you. If you're in mushy snow without good traction, but there's a solid base that has traction, MORE air pressure might help. The idea is, if it isn't too deep, you want to dig into the base where you can get a bite. I only ever use chains when it's so slippery and icey I literally cannot move. I also use chains when I run winter sweep for pulling rally cars out of ditches. I use chains if I'm snow wheeling and generally loving off in the woods. The other day I had to chain up to pull the town plow truck out of the ditch, it was stupid icey and he slid off trying to sand the roads. The vast, vast, VAST majority of the time, I run my snow tires at the pressures suggested by the vehicle manufacture.
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Dec 30, 2021 03:17
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Anyone ever go far enough that you need to carry extra fuel?
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Dec 30, 2021 04:37
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FogHelmut posted:Anyone ever go far enough that you need to carry extra fuel? Regularly- I quite often i've been 600+km away from any source of fuel while exploring- hence the 217L fuel capacity, even at 20L/100 that still gives me 1000km of range.
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Dec 30, 2021 05:50
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FogHelmut posted:Anyone ever go far enough that you need to carry extra fuel? Nearly always, but thats because my range is ~ 230mi in the Subaru. I always bring extra just in case and plan my trips around fuel stops.
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Dec 30, 2021 19:11
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FogHelmut posted:Anyone ever go far enough that you need to carry extra fuel? In my current vehicle? No, the east coast US has a gas station at least once every 50 miles and even if you’re on some class III or IV road you’re never far from somewhere. Now going out west to the desert or into the wide open spaces of Nevada, Wyoming, Utah, etc? Yeah I’ll pack a five gallon can because on a good day I get 300 miles out of the 4Runner’s tank at 15.3 miles per gallon. The last time I made real use of Jerry cans was crossing the Iraq border in March 2003. My unit rolled with 20 gallons of extra fuel, an equivalent amount of water and food for a month. The nominal range on a Humvee is ~300 miles, but that is on the road so I was constantly topping off the tank and watching for unsuspecting fuel trucks to top off from.
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Dec 30, 2021 19:43
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4 wheels? never, not even in the desert southwest. You might pay $6+/gal right now though. 2 wheels? needed in some areas of the desert southwest depending on moto.
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Dec 30, 2021 19:54
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I carry extra fuel with me but mostly I expect it to be used either if someone else forgot to fill up before they left, or if Something Bad happens and someone ends up with fuel tank damage. The way I offroad the odds are I'll never actually need it myself.
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Dec 30, 2021 20:49
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I've only carried extra fuel with me maybe once or twice, a long time ago and only for off roading trips that were at least an hour or two from a gas station. Trips to Lake Pillsbury in northern California specifically. IMO there's really only three trails in the US west where you should really bring extra fuel - The aforementioned lake Pillsbury loop, the Mojave road trail, and the Rubicon. I haven't taken the back loop of Utah or gone up to Ouray CO yet, but its my understanding that effectively all of the major overlanding trails cross a freeway with a gas station at some point.
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Dec 31, 2021 01:57
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Carry 4gal extra, I've come real close, but never needed them. It's not so much that the trails here will need that much range, but you might be driving from town to town, explore a bit offroad and find yourself cutting it kinda fine in a pretty remote location. I mostly use them as a way to get 4 more gallons of cheap gas from not-california states.
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Dec 31, 2021 03:42
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Do you all carry fuel in your cabin? My car only has around 400km hwy range but no way to carry fuel outside of the car unless I get a custom hitch fabricated or roof racks and a basket.
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Dec 31, 2021 04:06
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I see a lot of people driving around with Jerry cans, I just figure it can't all be for fashion. But I mean, I see them on the streets here in the suburbs, not on the trails. The longest one I've been on in Southern California is probably 20 miles or so, but there's a lot of gas stations close by. Ideally if I ever feel like I need one, I'm trying to find a gas can that fits inside of a milk crate. I don't really want to install a permanent mount, and milk crates are just convenient for keeping things from sliding around and falling over. My Aquatainer fits perfectly inside a milk crate.
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Dec 31, 2021 04:58
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