🛠️ Member Build Overtrail Upgrades (1 Viewer)

[Bluegill]

You both recommend dropping the spare tire down?

No need to, unless you long for company while under the truck.

 

[Bluegill]

DId you spring for the Lexus Windshield warranty? I ended up buying it for OEM replacements for the first 5 Years. With my luck, I won't crack a windshield until 6 years in.

No, I have full glass through State Farm. I had a crack in the upper right corner for a year before a windshield finally came available in November of last year. I got it replaced, then it cracked again a week later during a freak hail storm in late November.

 

[YellowLab]

It's been too long since I've done something interesting to Junior, my GX550. It seems like I've been waiting a year and a day for my Camburg Upper Control Arms. I waited a little over 3 months with promises of any week now and I cancelled my order when they finally said 8 to 10 more weeks. I scheduled my King suspension installation at Westcott Designs for their first available date, January 26th. I'm going with Icon UCAs which Westcott has in stock. That was easy. On another note, my December 1st order of a 6-pack of Camburg "King blue" stickers arrived yesterday. How ironic.

Anyway, tonight I was tinkering, as my wife says, and I finally finished my new shovel mounts for my roof rack.

After my December to Remember adventure in the new mud pit at my favorite local camping spot, I realized that I need a good shovel that you can actually dig with for a good amount of time without breaking your back or making your hands raw. I have carried my father's US Army-issue folding shovel for over 30 years but it's more suited for digging fire pits and single-serving field latrines. Since I'm not a $300-super-off-road-overlander-Armageddon-spiked-razor-sharp-shovel-zombie-survival-tool kind of guy, I looked for a useful and somewhat classy alternative. After far too much research, I settled on the Kent & Stowe border spade which is a quality 41" long English stainless steel spade with an ash handle. Two requirements were stainless steel and a wooden handle with a real hand grip. I hate the simple straight handles that dig into your palm with any amount of real work. I'm not a soft hands guy but I also don't dig holes for a living. I found this fine English tool at Walmart online, of all places. $92 shipped to my door. Only £39.99 on Kent & Stowe's UK website which is about $54 but then you have shipping and import taxes on top of that...a few clicks on Walmart's website and it appeared on my doorstep.

View attachment 18594
View attachment 18595
I chose this shovel size and shape because it's good for swiping sand away in a rowing motion as you're on your knees by the truck, such as scooping sand and gravel away from behind the tires. The size (blade is 9" long x 5.5" wide) is good for moving some material but also not so big that you're trying to move too much weight with each scoop. Same for mud. You can cut in manageable scoops instead of trying to move a 40-lb clod of wet mud with each scoop.

In keeping with my quest to keep my roof rack as low-profile as possible, I didn't want to bolt on a shovel mount that stuck up a few inches, thereby losing my garage clearance. I also don't really have clearance on the side of my low-profile rack to strap on a shovel without hitting the body of the truck. Most shovel mounts from the Armageddon crew are also nearly as expensive as the $300 Armageddon shovels. I figured I'd just be throwing the shovel in the cargo bay with all my other junk and then I had an idea.

Years ago I bought a couple of folding & locking hinge mounts on Amazon for some long-forgotten truck-related project. These look like the same brackets. They sat in a little box on the back of my workbench forever. A couple months ago I cleaned off my workbench and I relocated them. As I lay awake in bed one night at about 3:00 AM thinking of stupid random things like mounting a shovel on top of my truck, I remembered these hinges. The next day I had to tear apart the garage cabinets to find them because of course I forgot where I put them. Then I spent a good 2 weeks moving the project forward in very small increments, as is my way.

I found the perfect rubber mounts at Harbor Freight (Vehicle-Mount Rubber Tool Clamp). $2.99 each. Take that, $250 Armageddon zombie apocalypse shovel mount companies. I had to use my Dremel to cut down the flanges on the hinges to clear the roof when folded, and also cut down stainless steel bolts to fit just right in the hinge and in tracks on my rack and into the Harbor Freight rubber clamps. I removed a cross bar to get the bolts all in the proper places on my workbench, reinstalled the cross bar, and it works exactly as designed.

View attachment 18596

View attachment 18597

View attachment 18598

View attachment 18599

View attachment 18600

Next updates to this page will be the Vulcan Series 2-1/2 IN to 3 IN 304 Stainless Steel Axle-Back Exhaust System that JoeMing posted over on the Modifications page. Then it will be King suspension time! And then in February the Beatsonic Sigma Amplifier that we've all seen on the Modifications page. The reviews were so good that I dropped the $800 on the amp.

Ah yes I bought the smashing Kent and Stowe shovel from across the pond. It is a splendid contribution to my kit for overloading adventures without the bollix of a larger blade. They did bang me for about 100 quid and have no idea why I suddenly needed yet another garden tool - but it looks spot on.

 

[Bluegill]

You shall be pleased with ye old spade. I used mine for fire duty a weekend past. It performed admirably.