NightMares 01 Sport Build

[NightMares]

So I'm going to push back my engine install a few weeks. I was going to shoot for around or just after Christmas, but now I'm going to wait until after the first of this next year. Reason being, after months of trying to figure out a daily driver that I still tinker on, I finally decided I know what I want.

The holidays are preventing me from wanting to leave the state at the moment, we've been slammed at the shop on top of obvious family time, but I've browsed the entire northwest ranging from Idaho, Washington, Montana, Oregon, Nevada, Utah, and northern California. Prices aren't changing, and the vehicle I'm after isn't really easy to find, nor is it cheap for what it is.

I'm after a Toyota Land Cruiser 80 Series. It offers 3rd row for the kids, reliable, and it's a new project I can tinker on same as the Dodge, only a little more daily driver friendly.

I'd prefer a FZJ80, which is the 93-97 that has the 4.5 rather than the 4.0, as it produces more power and parts are easier to find for it. I'd also, again, prefer a 95-97 for the interior comfort, along with air bags for obvious reasons.

Everything I'm finding around my area, they're all ranging from 5k to 10k and are usually somewhat a mess. Northern California has some really nice ones, but prices on those are ranging between 10k to 30k (no, not a typo).

For whatever reason, while browsing craigslist, they are all over the place in Los Angelos, most in better condition than those further north, and prices range from 2500 to 5k for 95-97's loaded with leather and under 200k on the odometer.

So, after we settle down from the holidays, I'm planning on taking a round trip on a plane, I'll spend a weekend down there looking at quite a few of them, then make an offer on the one I want and hopefully leave a deposit, if not might have to pay in full, then fly back. Following weekend, I'll load up the family in either the Tundra, or a different tow rig, we'll drive down to LA and pick it up, then do some California sight seeing while down there.

With picking one of these up, plans for the Ram will slightly differ now. I won't be AS focused on an expo vehicle. I'll still do the bed rack and probably a roof top tent, but I'm thinking I'll make the FJ80 a little more overlandish and keep the Ram on a trail rig level.

FJ80 being a DD, it'll stay a little more leveled back from the Ram, more so probably a 2.5" OME lift, 17's on 35's, ARB bumper and winch, snorkel, then I'll probably throw a Front Runner rack on top and for the most part call it's modifications good for the time being. Sometime a year or two down the road, I'll invest in a rear bumper with everything on it, but that takes my budget up a little more than I want to spend. I'll add accessories to the rack, but keep the vehicle modifications to a minimum.

One thing I love about the 80 Series, is they hold their value, and the value actually seems to go up with the aftermarket parts on it, unlike my Dodge. There's some fairly hammered, but built similar to how I want it, selling for 18-20k. Pricing out my stuff, I can keep it around 5k mark for upgrades, then always have the option of making about 50% back in the investment if I ever decided to part ways with it.

But here's some photo's that represent kind of the look I'm after with this project.


















This one is more or less what I would want it to look like.

 

[NightMares]

Did some photoshopping. Eventually the colors will change when the wrap is done, but due to time restraint, and the fact that my design still is not 100% complete, I'm going to wait until sometime late spring or maybe next fall to pursue the wrap further.

But here's kinda the outcome of what it should look like after this winter time when it makes it's debut at the Easter Jeep Safari.



All items will be clamped down. More than likely this is how it will be for around town driving.



The rack I'm going to make removable as well, although I doubt I'll ever really take it off.



This is the final design for the overland aspect after my decision of getting an FJ80 was made. Rooftop tent and my one awning. Driver's side I'm going to make a ladder that connects to the horizontal tube on the rear bumper, then connects to the top of the bed rack, all bolt on so it's removable as well. Passenger side of the lower section of the bumper shows my exhaust exit, driver side will have a recessed step built into the side for a first step on the ladder in the same spot.

Ignore the flipped image. I'm lazy.





As for the overland aspect, I'm thinking I'll make the truck more of a gear hauler, and leave the actual sleeping and main camp site with the FJ. Something similar to one of these.





But that's another project for a different thread, but it at least explains the turn the Dodge is taking. The Dodge will have enough sleep space and storage for my family, the FJ I could bring along friends and people who don't have the means or the rig capable of coming along. Combine the two and I'd have a pretty decent overlanding setup.

 

[NightMares]

Dodge is GONE! Finally got the title to the Bronco so I started getting it ready to drive daily. Got some wheels and tires thrown on last Friday, so decided to drop the truck off to get the motor installed.

Due to it being a hook up from the builder, my truck is a fill in, meaning customer vehicles are first priority over mine. He's hoping to start on it this week, and hopefully have it all finished up by next Friday!

In the meantime, here's some enjoyable photo's of said Bronco.

 

[Lil_Ram]

Dodge is GONE! Finally got the title to the Bronco so I started getting it ready to drive daily. Got some wheels and tires thrown on last Friday, so decided to drop the truck off to get the motor installed.

Due to it being a hook up from the builder, my truck is a fill in, meaning customer vehicles are first priority over mine. He's hoping to start on it this week, and hopefully have it all finished up by next Friday!

In the meantime, here's some enjoyable photo's of said Bronco.

Thought you meant you sold it at first. Did the motor blow or something? Or just got the chance to drop it off


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[NightMares]

Just got the chance to get it dropped off now that I have the Bronco to drive daily.

Talked to them this morning, they've got the old motor out, and apparently my pacesetter headers are cracked at the flange. They didn't sound like they leaked, which according to them they still might not have leaked, but they probably won't last very long. I'm getting a little too excited to get the truck back, so factory manifolds are going onto the motor for now. I might get another set down the road, but for now I just want the engine running.

 

[Lil_Ram]

Just got the chance to get it dropped off now that I have the Bronco to drive daily.

Talked to them this morning, they've got the old motor out, and apparently my pacesetter headers are cracked at the flange. They didn't sound like they leaked, which according to them they still might not have leaked, but they probably won't last very long. I'm getting a little too excited to get the truck back, so factory manifolds are going onto the motor for now. I might get another set down the road, but for now I just want the engine running.

Is there not a warranty on them? Seems like they would and you only had them for a little while right?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Pull Ya]

Still enjoying the ride, keep the updates coming.
Jay

 

[NightMares]

Is there not a warranty on them? Seems like they would and you only had them for a little while right?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I've had them about 2 years. It was one of the first things I did to the truck when I got it since the stock muffler was smashed on the truck. They might be covered under warranty but if I do another set it'll be JBA so I don't run into this issue again. Plus, I won't lie, it was annoying as hell having to constantly retighten them for next couple months after I first put them on. Granted, I haven't touched them in close to 18 months, but I'm kinda happy I won't have to deal with that crap again.

Still enjoying the ride, keep the updates coming.
Jay

No updates as of yet. I was going to swing by this morning but my partner had a meeting and thanks to an accident on the interchange traffic was backed up. By the time I got to my exit I had 10 minutes to get to the shop to open up, so maybe this afternoon I'll swing out and check up on it. I know he told me yesterday he was going to try to have the motor at least set down and bolted up, then just finish final accessories and what not today. He has an opening on Thursday to throw the truck on the dyno, so he's hoping to have it done by then in order to get the tune done so I can pick it up either late Thursday or sometime Friday.

 

[NightMares]

Got a call last night from Throttle Works. He held the phone up to the back of the truck, heard it idling via phone. Sounded good.

Went over this morning around 11:00 and I guess they ran into some major oil leaks from the valve covers. They replaced the gaskets twice but couldn't get it to stop. So, for the time being stock valve covers went back on as well.

But, it runs. Sounds good, seemed to do okay with the cam although it was cutting out when revved up. So today it's on the dyno getting tuned, just talked to him about 20 minutes ago and he's just about done. Said the numbers aren't surprisingly bad, but he'll save it for a surprise for me tomorrow when I pick the truck up.

They're still doing some final tuning on it right now. Can't wait to get the truck back!

 

[Pull Ya]

Hope you are satisfied with the results. Sounds good so far---
Jay

 

[NightMares]

Little disappointed just due to the fact that the valve covers and headers didn't go on. But, if it runs better and doesn't leak oil anymore I'd say it was a good build!

 

[dapepper9]

Little disappointed just due to the fact that the valve covers and headers didn't go on. But, if it runs better and doesn't leak oil anymore I'd say it was a good build!

Those aren't hard to do if you get a day where you're not busy though

 

[NightMares]

Those aren't hard to do if you get a day where you're not busy though

I'll be knocking it out eventually. They didn't get painted either, so I'll probably spray them and throw them in sometime.

Truck is back, I got it picked up Saturday morning. Took it around town all day, never really got on it real hard but it definitely has some more pep in her now. 3/4 throttle is close to what my full throttle use to be, and I have no issues getting up to speed now.

Once I get the motor broken in, I'll drop it back off and have the final performance tuning done on it, but for now it's back. Thanks to the weather, I've had it parked in the shop since Saturday night and haven't touched it all day yesterday or today. Supposed to be cold all week, this morning it took almost 30 minutes for my Bronco to defrost the half inch thick ice off the windshield that my scraper couldn't budge. With the amount of money spent on the engine, I don't want to risk anything with it right now. Call me paranoid or whatever, but I'd rather be safe than sorry.

So, for now, I'm going to turn my focus to get everything else done for the truck while it's cold out.

 

[NightMares]

Alright, so it's been a bit. Unfortunately, I haven't done anything fun or badass to the truck since the engine build. We've been slammed hard with snow in the valley, business is pumping and I don't have room to store the truck at the shop. Without having a rear bumper, and with the mass amounts of accidents around the city due to the weather, I've actually been terrified to drive the truck without a rear bumper or rear protection.

So, it's mostly been sitting safely tucked away in my garage at home for the past few weeks. I've taken it out occasionally to my parents house, which is all back roads.

On Christmas day I ran into an issue with lighting though. Still not 100% solved, but I got it so it's legal again.

Long story short, passenger rear bulb socket melted, and I lost brake and turn signal out of that light. When right signal was engaged, both front signals would flash, and drivers rear would dimly flash for about 10 seconds before stopping. That was solved with new sockets.

Second issue I have not resolved, although did find a solution, is I have no tail lights or park lights. I have power at the headlight switch, but after tracing the park light wires to the firewall and finding zero issues, along with down the frame to the tail lights, I'm figuring it's something inside the dash. So, I went ahead and clipped the wires under the hood, fed them to the fuse panel on the side of the dash and tapped into my jumper fuse for the halo's. So, now my park lights, halo's, and mirror led's are on all the time, but it's legal to drive right now.

After doing that, I snipped the wires at the headlight switch so it didn't back feed or short something else out.

And that's really it right now. I've been driving the Bronco every day, still haven't found the time to get the lift kit installed on that. I am considering bringing home a ton of boxes this weekend, and while the Dodge is in my garage, start cutting and taping a template together for a rear bumper build. Might build it myself instead of sending the truck all the way to Spokane. With how intricate I want it, plus the idea I have in my head vs the idea they might be thinking, I don't want disappointment after it's said and done.

We will see. If that's the case, while I'm on a fabricating kick, I might start adding some other fabricated parts to the Dodge as well. Like a gear rack under the pack rack, flip down table off the back of the TireGate, chainsaw mount, axe and shovel mounts, etc.

 

[Pull Ya]

Thanks for the updates! Hope you and your family had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Jay

 

[NightMares]

Thanks for the updates! Hope you and your family had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Jay

Thanks!

So, bad update, but some fun updates for upcoming stuff.

The bad: I'm holding back on continuing the heavy upgrades with the truck. I've sold my Hutchinson beadlocks and 37's, I've sold my coilovers, the conversion kit, and rear shocks. I'm still going to install the bed rack, rooftop tent, and build a rear bumper. I'm going to order in some Fox 2.0 air shocks that will fit for the 5" lift, and remove the blocks in the back and install the shackle flip, along with the adjustable Y link arms up front. From there I'll install the Air Lift Performance controller and compressor to be able to adjust shock valving as needed. I'm also going to still install the Cali Off Road beadlocks that are still coming in, and decided I'm going to order in a set of 35x12.50x17 Nitto Ridge Grapplers to go on the truck to replace the KO2's.

Reason why: New project. I got a once in a lifetime opportunity to purchase my dream car at a great price, so I jumped on it...without consulting the wife. Basically the stipulations are 3 projects are 1 too many, and if I plan to build the new car, then I get to either leave the Bronco or the Dodge alone. So, to offset the cost of buying the car, I sold majority of the parts I had to install on the Dodge. I won't get around to touching the car for a while, and I have a lot of work ahead to revert it back to a somewhat stock form, but all the same it's peace of mind knowing that I have the car of my dreams tucked away when I'm ready.

I picked up a 2004 Mustang Cobra. Car was pushing 900+ horses with a Kenne Bell and nitrous, but this last summer he blew a piton out of the motor and parked the car for the season. Now he's got himself a bigger built new edge GT, so he opted to sell the car with a 4.6 Cobra motor to go back in. He said he was told the motor has been built, but he still planned to go through it. There's nothing above the heads, so all intake, charger and etc need to be swapped from the blown motor under the hood to the replacement engine, but it'll be worth it. The car no longer has the Cobra hood, it's got about a 5" cowl hood instead. Rear axle is now SA instead of the IRS, but I have yet to look to see if it can be reverted back or not. Cobra seats are replaced with some Mastercrafts, so I'll have to find those as well.

I want to revert the car back to a street capable car instead of a track queen, so no squirt and keep the motor somewhat mild. I had the car delivered to the shop that built my motor, as he had the room to store it and tinker with the replacement motor to make sure it checks out.

But, that's a different topic for a different forum.

As for the good news: I'VE JOINED AN OVERLAND GROUP!

Some of the runs they plan to take I won't be able to make the whole trip due to time restraints between family and work, but I'll be attending at least HALF of this upcoming summer trip.

Currently, away from them at the moment, I plan on attending 3 events this year that are bigger.

April: The wife and I are being sealed in the LDS temple and renewing our vows in Brigham City, Utah. This will take place April 6th, then the 8th (my birthday) we'll be doing our renewal of vows with friends and family. From there, we're going to finally take our honeymoon by going through Utah. Honeymoon is Sunday-Wednesday, then we'll be arriving in Moab on Thursday morning to catch the tail end of the the Easter Jeep Safari with the Dodge.

May: I'll be attending the Bronco Safari May 2nd-6th. Both the Dodge and the Bronco will be in attendance for this trip, even though for these 4 days the wife and I will be using the Bronco and leaving the Dodge at camp. On the 5th of May, a local Jeep club here in Boise has an event scheduled to run Moab that will end on the 9th, so we're going to stick around down there and run some trails with them while bringing the Dodge.

The last trip is a personal trip scheduled for July. I want to run the Rubicon. It's a bucket list trail for me, and I'm tired of putting it off due to time restraints, vehicles not ready, or whatever else pops up. I'm not attending All-4-Fun due to personal reasons with family events, so in compromise I'll be running the Rubicon early July instead. I've got some friends wanting to tag along with it, so we're currently going through schedules and times to see if we want to make it a weekend trip, or a midweek trip with time off of work. We will see.

Now, for the big news. The overland group I've joined has a member that builds custom overland trailers. I've been talking with this said member for quite a while about building my truck bed expo trailer and getting advice, parts lists, and more. Well, as a promo video for the trailers he's building, he's running the Trans American trail in August. Currently it's him with about 6 other Jeeps, but I've officially got the invitation to both join the group, as well as attend their Trans American trip with the Dodge! I've discussed with them the details of the trip, and unfortunately I do NOT see myself making it all the way to North Carolina from Oregon, but they've scheduled themselves out to run some of the All-4-Fun trails that I'm missing out on, including Halfmoon Creek, another bucket list trail for me.

So currently the wife and I plan on starting in Florence, Oregon with them, and doing the trip up till Colorado where we'll run the trails I've talked about with them, and from there the group will split. 3 of the Jeep's and myself that are going will break off in Colorado, and we're planning on heading down to Hurricane, Utah to finish the trip up in Sand Mountain's SRMA trails. From there our 4 rigs will convoy back home to Idaho.

Other trips they're planning is the Pan-American highway from Alaska to Chile for early 2018, and they want to hit Australia in either 2019 or 2020, although oversea I doubt I'll go to. Not looking to make it a career, just an adventure hobby and see North America. I'm hoping to tag along for the Pan-American highway, then break away when we get back to the lower 48 and head home while they continue down through the US into Mexico and South America. We will see what happens.

 

[NightMares]

Alright, so it's been a while since I've had an actual update on the truck itself, so here it is.

After selling all Fox coilovers and shocks and other suspension items, the Hutchinson beadlocks and 37" Trepadors, as well as a few other items here and there for my other projects, I've finally placed the order for other goodies for the truck.

So, here's what's coming in. Should have plenty of time to get everything done before Moab!

980-02-018 Fox 2.0 Air Shocks (front)
980-02-241 Fox 2.5 Air Shocks (rear)
These will be used with my current suspension height and the truck will more than likely stay the height it is now for a while. I still have the Air Lift Autopilot V2 so I'll be able to control these shocks still, as well as my replacement front arms. Only thing I'll need is the rear lift addressed again, which I'll have a local spring company install a few 6" cut leafs to the bottom of the packs to eliminate the stacked block it currently has. Not sure if I mentioned this here, but a while back I sold my BDS shackle flip as I anticipated using the DOR, but that was sold with the suspension I just had.



Next

35x12.50x17 Nitto Ridge Grapplers
These I'll mount up on the Dirty Life 9302MB's I'm still waiting on to go into production. For those who don't remember what they look like, I'll throw a reminder picture in.





Next

CU-59123 Chassis Unlimited Universal Rock Sliders
Scrapping the JK Rubicon sliders and just going to fab these up and call it good.



8206-AP-W-SB All Pro Off Road Pack Rack 00-06 Tundra Unwelded
To replace the rack I purchased for myself and then wound up selling to my buddy instead.



Next

2883 Smittybilt Overlander XL Roof Top Tent
813206 ARB 3 Wall Awning Set
After going over the measurements, I found that the tent will still fit in the same allotted space as the standard tent. More room, the better, plus the overhang will be nice. My issue with this tent is there is no annex available, which I was really wanting. So, in turn I ordered in the ARB 3 wall set, and I'll just modify as needed to make it fit.





Next

ARB3110A ARB 1250 Awning
813301 ARB 1250 Awning Windbreak Front
ARB4404A ARB 2000 Awning Windbreak Side
I wanted to go with the Rhino Rack Foxwing, but I can't justify the cost of it on top of not being really fully self contained. I don't want to have to build a special tube to hold the poles needed, etc. So, I've planned it out so that everything will coordinate together. Smittybilt RTT will flip off the drivers side of the truck. ARB awning I currently have will come off the passenger side and be able to be used with the Touring Room correctly. That leaves nothing over the rear of the truck, which is where I'll be setting up a table that folds off the TireGate for cooking or whatever else. So, I'll add the 1250 to the backside of the Pack Rack, then have the windbreakers to supply some shade from the wind. The side mount windbreaker is not designed for the 1250, but after some research I think I can still make it work.









And that's everything that's been ordered! Last items on the list are local pickups and custom built by me. I need to pickup the steel material to build my rear bumper, and I'm going to pickup a ton of canvas material and put my sewing skills to the test. I'm going to build a cover that goes over the Pack Rack to give it a little closure (keep a little bit of the elements out of the back of the truck). Should appear similar to a soft top camper shell, but I'll be able to remove the canvas when not needed.

I also want to build a triangle that will attach to the Smittybilt Tent and the 1250 awning, giving a little coverage from rain or sun. I did a quick sketch in paint to show how I plan to have everything laid out to explain the corner triangle. It's labeled as "Custom Canvas" on the diagram.

 

[NightMares]

Still waiting on my beadlocks to get here. Getting stressed for time as in April I'm heading down to Moab for the EJS. I talked to them last week, and they were talking another 90-120 days for my 17x10's to be custom built, so I changed to order to the standard 17x9's with a lead time of around 30 days. Still getting worried, so I'm considering ordering the ATX Slabs sometime mid March. With those, if need to be, I can mount my tires on them and throw them on the Dodge for Moab. When I get back from that week long trip I'd hope the Cali's are there, then I can just dismount my tires off of the Slabs and move them to the Roadkill's, then mount up some new tires back on the Slabs and have them ready for the Bronco. I do have an update on tires though. I decided instead of doing the Ridge Grapplers on the Dodge, I cancelled shipment on them and instead ordered in the General Grabber X3 red letters in a 35x12.50x17.

Got a ton of projects going on all over the place. Getting prepped for the SAS on the Bronco which was going to happen last week, but ran into some issues with time from customer rigs and projects around the shop. So that'll be happening this week. Got my Mustang getting put together at the performance shop, so I've been in and out of that shop picking out and ordering parts, including having them revert the solid axle in the rear back to IRS and reworking the air bag sensors so I can put the stock steering wheel back on with functional air bags in case of an accident. Located some stock leather GT seats front and rear, so I have the rear seat out of the Cobra and the GT seats down at an upholstery shop getting recovered in charcoal leather with tan stitching (car is Arizona Beige) so it should turn out pretty sweet. All that I'll have left on the car is finding either a factory Cobra hood, or I've found a couple aftermarket that still have a sleek style rather than the bold 6" cowl hood it has now. Also picked up another vehicle. I had sold my Suburban a few months back to one of my employee's buddy's for his wife. They went to trade it in at a dealership on a brand new car, but they wouldn't take the burb due to a salvage title. So, after selling it to them for $2500 a few months back, I gave them trade in value of what a clean titled burban would have been to buy it back so they could go get their brand new car.

I've decided to finally do something with it, as it's a comfortable and reliable daily driver, but I obviously hate stock vehicles. So, I've got a 6" rough country lift, 20x10 Dirty Life Roadkills (same wheel as my beadlock, just street lock style) and some 35x12.50x20 Ridge Grapplers to go on it (the reason why I switched the Dodge to the X3's). That'll be a while, as it's a bottom priority vehicle right now.

But, I do finally have a good update for the Dodge. Hopefully next week I'll get started on building my All Pro Rack, so Friday I ordered in some red 31" Tred Pro's recovery ramps, and some additional steel and DOM tubing to add all my accessories to it. So, that's coming here SOON. But, this weekend I FINALLY broke down and did my retrofit on my headlights.

I donated my Winjet headlights I was going to use as I decided I wanted to go for a clean and simple look rather than overdone. So I started off with ordering some cheap black/grey one piece housings off eBay again, with no lights or anything else. And started tearing into them.

Fairly simple, but they turned out clean and I'm EXTREMELY satisfied with them. Painted the housings black, grey reflectors I did a light coat of red over the top of them (still reflect perfectly fine) and painted the shrouds red as well. From there, I added the Morimoto Mini H1 projectors, RGB halo's, demon eyes, then sealed them back up and wired everything in.

Again, very happy with the results. Only thing I have left to do is finish aiming them. I gotta pull the driver side headlight out and turn the projector slightly. Got them aimed height wise last night, and they're bright as all hell, but the driver side one somehow got slanted between aiming them on the truck, baking the lens back on, and then reinstalling them. Quick easy adjustment, and then they're 100% done!

 

[NightMares]

So, it's hard running a business and building a truck at the same time. Last week I was talking to a guy on a local facebook page that wanted to get into overlanding with his 04 Tundra. We got on the subject of my camper shell and roof basket, so he came into my shop and we started picking out a basket for him.

Then we got on the subject of me replacing my shell with a rack, which then turned into me showing him the rack on All Pro's website.

By the end of his visit, he walked out with my rack I bought for my truck, and I had $500 cash in my pocket.

Thinking nothing of it, I called All Pro to reorder the 3rd rack for my truck...come to find out the amazing awesome news. Backorder for 4 weeks.

So, I had to wait 4 weeks...to get a rack...that I had to fabricate once it got here anyways?

No. Wasn't gonna happen. So I set out on an online adventure to locate another rack. After a while, I came across what's called the Xtreme rack from Go Rhino..which happens to be the same manufacturer of my roof basket. I went nuts trying to find it, only to find out...it's been discontinued.

Here's what it looks like.



What clicked in my head next was the fact that it's the same style as Go Rhino's Lightning Rack, which is the same roll bar/light mount I was considering a while back.

Gears started turning, and I decided to do a photoshop of it. Photoshop looks like **** thanks to angles, but you get the idea.



After spending more and more time looking for a rack, I decided to pull the trigger on the Lightning Bar's instead. My issue was the fact that they don't make them for a 2nd gen, only 3rd gen and up. I found pictures of a 2nd gen with one, more research resulted they used the 3rd gen setup and I hated the fact that it stuck up over the cab.



So I measured a 3rd gen from a neighbor in our complex, and discovered the cab height from the top of the bed is 23" high. My 2nd gen is 21" high. So, I started browsing more and more and found they make it for the 99-06 GM truck's, which one of my employee's owns. So we measured his, 21" high. I got the bed dimensions for camper shells off google, found out it's identical in width and length. Looked up the part numbers on a distributor's website, even more luck. 2 in stock in my local Portland warehouse.

So, I ordered them yesterday. Delivery will take place tomorrow.

Then, I started looking at it closer, getting all excited. And found for some reason the tubes are a different shade than the uprights and crossbar.



So, again, a little photochopping, and here's the final outcome.



I'm starting off with just getting the rack mounted across the top. Just going to get some strips of 3/16, mount it to the bottom of the rack and to the top of the lightning bars, and call it good for a while. I'll start adding to it as I find where and how I want to mount everything. But, for now, the shell's getting removed and I'm finally getting my rack.

 

[NightMares]

So I got the bed rack started over the weekend. Today I'm going to try to remount the basket, the rails I have are currently mounted to the top of the Lightning Rack's, and I wanna switch them so they come down underneath to lower the basket and inch and a half. Just need to find some square tube scrap lying around to use as a spacer between the top of the rack and the bottom.

But, it's on, it's sturdy, and it looks decent for right now. I'll update again later once i get the rack lowered and the racks positioned correctly. Here's some process photo's for now























I've also found a way to temporarily mount my awning until I can figure something else out. In the meantime, I don't want to drill any more non-necessary holes, so I'm going to utilize a hole in the crossover of the racks. There's a third hole in the middle that I'm assuming is for some small lights for side lighting or something. My awning has a slide channel for the bolts to slide into, making them adjustable length wise for any and all mounting adjustments. For now, I'm going to get some longer bolts, slide them into the channel, then bolt it on using the hole already there. This will get it mounted to the truck, but still be removable for the future when I figure something else out. At least with it there, I can still take the truck out on trips and have it functional.