81 Trekker Build

[Volcom]

Nice Mega Cab!  You're going to love it.  I love towing with mine!

[dropzone]

Nice Mega Cab!  You're going to love it.  I love towing with mine!

Thanks! it is taking a little while to get use to the huge turning radius.  I towed about an 8000 lb load over the weekend, it didn't even phase the truck.  1700 rpms @ 65

hopefully next year I can get a better flat bed trailer, the one I have been using is tired..

What kind of mileage are you getting with yours?  i know you are a mile or too higher than I am..

[Volcom]

Thanks! it is taking a little while to get use to the huge turning radius.  I towed about an 8000 lb load over the weekend, it didn't even phase the truck.  1700 rpms @ 65

hopefully next year I can get a better flat bed trailer, the one I have been using is tired..

What kind of mileage are you getting with yours?  i know you are a mile or too higher than I am..

The turning radius is huge!  Even driving my dad's quad cab short bed (2 feet shorter than our trucks) makes a huge difference in turning radius.  I hand calculate every tank for mileage.  I just averaged my 53 fill ups since I've owned it and am averaging 16.09mpg (that includes all my towing my 4Runner around).  My truck is my DD as well.  My last tank with 100 miles of straight highway and 400 miles of random in town stuff netted me my first 20+ mpg tank (20.3 mpg).  I was pretty excited about that.  I run a Smarty Jr on mine which bumps the fuel mileage up a couple mpg's.

[dropzone]

The turning radius is huge!  Even driving my dad's quad cab short bed (2 feet shorter than our trucks) makes a huge difference in turning radius.  I hand calculate every tank for mileage.  I just averaged my 53 fill ups since I've owned it and am averaging 16.09mpg (that includes all my towing my 4Runner around).  My truck is my DD as well.  My last tank with 100 miles of straight highway and 400 miles of random in town stuff netted me my first 20+ mpg tank (20.3 mpg).  I was pretty excited about that.  I run a Smarty Jr on mine which bumps the fuel mileage up a couple mpg's.

we tried one of the short bed quad cabs but the rear seat leg room just didn't agree with my teenagers. I drove 10 or 12 trucks (Ford, Toyota, Dodge and Chevy) and ended up going back to work a deal on this one.  One thing that really sold me on it was how the rear doors open a full 90 degrees. We got what I feel was a killer deal on the truck.  I probably won't use it for a DD all the time.  Worst part is my wife loves driving it..
I will look into the Smarty Jr.  A couple little enhancements like that will probably be the only real upgrades I do to the truck.  Need to keep it realiable for a long time.

I will have to find some Diesel forums to join.

[ToyotaTasia87]

Really enjoyed this build. Huge Trekker fan, Was nervous about the bob, but it actually looks great.

[toygasm]

Went ahead and painted the d/s rims to match the truck. Not sure if I like it or not.
Before

After

Easy to go back..

i think the rims look pretty cool painted to match.im currently deciding what color to paint my rig.i am considering something like yours.

[Volcom]

we tried one of the short bed quad cabs but the rear seat leg room just didn't agree with my teenagers. I drove 10 or 12 trucks (Ford, Toyota, Dodge and Chevy) and ended up going back to work a deal on this one.  One thing that really sold me on it was how the rear doors open a full 90 degrees. We got what I feel was a killer deal on the truck.  I probably won't use it for a DD all the time.  Worst part is my wife loves driving it..
I will look into the Smarty Jr.  A couple little enhancements like that will probably be the only real upgrades I do to the truck.  Need to keep it realiable for a long time.

I will have to find some Diesel forums to join.

http://www.dieseltruckresource.com/
http://www.cumminsforum.com/forum/index.php
One guess on what my screenname is over on those message boards

Well, fell into some great deals today for my Dodge.  My buddy was trading his 03 in for a new Charger so I asked him if we could swap batteries.  He's got 2 Sears Diehard Platinums (over $400 in batteries) and mine were starting to get sluggish during the winter.  So I've got some new batteries in my Dodge.  Then he sold my dad his Smarty for $400.  My dad gave me the Smarty in return for my Smarty Jr.  So I'm now rocking a Smarty now. 

[dropzone]

Got a trip permit and been driving the Trekker for the last couple of weeks.  Over the years I have been blowing the fuse for the gauges.. would replace the fuse and it would be fine.  But the last two weeks it has blown 8-10x's. Really annoying.  Tore the dash apart..
found something I hate and appears to be the root cause...a short wire off a crappy splice deal...WTF would someone pull power from there???

[dropzone]

Passing emissions is probably not a big deal to most but I am pretty stoked. A year ago is was failing for high hydrocarbons in the 600 range with 220 allowed. Passed today at 29...a good tune up and new cat I am good till 2014...

[BigMike]

Went ahead and painted the d/s rims to match the truck. Not sure if I like it or not.

i think the rims look pretty cool painted to match.

X2

[tgmaul88]

big bumper!

[dropzone]

I was looking at the front end to see if I was going to have tie rod clearance if I pushed my front axle forward an inch or so by redrilling the spring pad...
Looks like that will not be an issue but found something I always knew was a possibility:

I know the right way would be to pull the steering box and plate the frame..that is something I want to do but am wondering if something like this might work for a good temp fix(borrowed from pirate) so I could still drive the truck, just not wheel:

this is something I had meant to do for a few years...might have prevented the crack above..
i am thinking I will see if I can do something about this gap that I believe is from the factory.


any suggestions?

[John Doe]

fill in the gap, plate the frame and add the angled gussets.

Oh yea, and make it to the MCR next year.

[dropzone]

^^did the above to fix the frame..need to post pics.
Hopefully make it to the round up..just started a new job so time will tell..
Been running around for awhile with out a cover over my shifters. Decided it was time for a change:

been collecting assorted shift boots for awhile

Cut some thin aluminum diamond plate to size and fit some shift boots:


Bent it to fit with a small HF Bender

Painted and mounted

Need to get some armor all or something to clean the boots with
I did mount some rubber gaskets below the diamond plate too

[nisota]

Looking great!

[BigMike]

Get those frame cracks fixed ASAP. Don't let this happen to you on the trail:



(source: http://board.marlincrawler.com/index.php?topic=11671.330)

[dropzone]

]

Get those frame cracks fixed ASAP. Don't let this happen to you on the trail:

(source: http://board.marlincrawler.com/index.php?topic=11671.330)

Gotcha Mike- I plan on replating the d/s soon so I can move the steering box forward a little more and plate the inside of the frame too...here is my booger weld edition for now..
Made one of these for each side



Crude and fugly but solid..

[BigMike]

Looks good man, I like the idea of bracing under there. I plated both sides and the top of my frame where it broke and made a massive brace across the corner of the frame. I'm home now so let me see if I can't get a decent pic of this with my phone...

Ok hopefully this pic comes out okay. Let's just say I didn't want to encounter the same problem twice


Sent from my iPhone connected to the BigMike Network using Tapatalk

[dropzone]

That pic came out great and I am gonna borrow it.  Thanks!

[nisota]

Me too!

[BigMike]

Nice. I also welded the frame line above the plate where you can't see. It would be good to make additional holes where the plate lays beneath the frame rail that you can plug weld for additional support. I should have done this


Sent from my iPhone connected to the BigMike Network using Tapatalk

[dropzone]

kind of cool when you see your truck drive by on TV on your way to vote..

[nisota]

why was it on tv? im confused 

[Royota]

Probably news about voting day and he drove through the shot? Super cool I want a picture of my truck photobombing the news with my no-exhaust rust bucket. WEEHOO WE GONNA VOTE FOLKS! Darth Vader/Morgan Freeman 2012

[nisota]

Probably news about voting day and he drove through the shot? Super cool I want a picture of my truck photobombing the news with my no-exhaust rust bucket. WEEHOO WE GONNA VOTE FOLKS! Darth Vader/Morgan Freeman 2012

oh ok yea that makes sense.

[dropzone]

Yep...was on my way to drop off my ballot and channel 12 must have had a camera set up on the other side of the road..

[nisota]

oh thats cool, unfortunately they didnt have a camera set up pointing at my driveway cause mine is still sitting.  school ends the 27th of this month then i will be back at work and buy a new motor!!!

[dropzone]

got lucky and was the only bidder on a 30" LED light bar, got it pretty dang cheap..puts out a ton of light..just need to figure out a place to mount it, thinking about mounting it on the inside to my cage, would just need to make a shade to keep it from flooding the passenger compartment:

[Nimyad]

Very nice, I want a light bar so bad!
How much did you snag it for?

[dropzone]

i was gonna work on the lights today but the weather is crap with rain and 25-30 mph winds and the garage is filled with misc junk so I worked on some interior projects:
replaced my old cracked grant steering wheel with one I got a good deal on ebay..only 1" bigger in diameter, that should keep my fingers away from the cage and it has a couple of extra horn buttons up by the notchs:

mounted my locking center console..nice to have two separate compartments and cupholders:D


picked up some tube clamps from Frontier 4x4 (great service and prices) that I plan to use to make a removeable passenger side grab bar and rear seat belt mount for my harnesses: