Chasing a dream

benmack1 said:
This pic made me think of this thread…..slightly bigger dream to chase I suppose.

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That’s that “fuck you” money right there. That’s a 4000 series Cyclone. Easily towed by a 1 ton series dually. Now, with the additional trailer, custom wrap job and semi tractor tow rig just says “I wipe my ass with hundreds”. Camper alone is $125k+ depending on floor layout and accessories.
 
skyhighZJ said:
That’s that “fuck you” money right there. That’s a 4000 series Cyclone. Easily towed by a 1 ton series dually. Now, with the additional trailer, custom wrap job and semi tractor tow rig just says “I wipe my ass with hundreds”. Camper alone is $125k+ depending on floor layout and accessories.
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And what in all of this is preventing @77GreenMachineffrom buying it
 
Loganwayne said:
your right youd need a bigger trailer behind the camper to fit your rig... or maybe extended the wheel base of the rig and put it up against the sleeper.
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Liquid iron industries used to have a rig like that. It was pretty slick.
 
Made it to Sand Hollow. I put a radiator in the truck while staying at a friends house in AZ. It made a difference, but only slowed down the heating up. When I left the Grand Canyon, I had to pull over once coming by the Hoover Dam. It was a pretty steep grade, several trucks were pulled over. It was also close to 100° outside.
Coming out of Vegas I was going up hill, slightly, for like 25 miles. It would slowly creep up to 230°ish and I’d cut the heat on which would make it stay there.

The crazy thing is, when the truck is that warm, and when it got to 240° near the Hoover Dam, I do not hear the fan. I feel like I should be able to hear the fan screaming, as if the fan itself is pulling me up the hill. I only hear it at cold start up and then never hear it again.
I’ve now put 3 clutches on this truck. If I replace it again I am putting an AC Delco clutch on it. I wish I could convert it to an electric clutch.

I’ve also accepted that I’m simply towing too much.

Anyways, here’s some pics of the adventure. In AZ I was hanging out with a guy with a pretty awesome YouTube channel, Wrecked Gear. We did some incredible wheeling, and I did things I didn’t even think was possible.
He will have a couple videos, one tomorrow, about our travels and us wheeling at Table Mesa.
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Also, had quite the close call in AZ. I almost lost the camper. The hitch had been down a little bit for a while, but it was braced really well and I was certain it was just that the mouth of the receiver had opened up a little. Well, when I got to Chino Valley after leaving Table Mesa I noticed it was wayyyy down. The camper was very low. After unhooking the camper I got my head up in there and noticed it was cracked. The diamond plate on the back was about all that was holding it on.
Bronson, from Wrecked Gear, had invited me to stay at their house for a week and that’s where I was when we noticed this. He made a call Monday morning and Southwest Krawlers in Chino Valley slid me right in for the emergency repair. They cut out the old hitch completely, and redid everything. It’s very beefy now with plenty of bracing. I am doing a video on this soon.
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And now I’m at Sand Hollow, where I’ll be for 2 months. Which we welcome after moving around so much over the last month, bouncing across the country. We are very happy with our campsite which is 15 minutes from the park.
I’ve went wheeling a couple times, very lightly since I’ve been alone.
Yesterday I went out by myself for a couple hours, just me and the dog. I spent more time out of the buggy than wheeling lol. It’s nice to have the time to explore and check things out. I went out to the West Rim and just walked around checking out all the amazing rock formations and sitting on the cliff enjoying the view looking over town.
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77GreenMachine said:
Also, had quite the close call in AZ. I almost lost the camper. The hitch had been down a little bit for a while, but it was braced really well and I was certain it was just that the mouth of the receiver had opened up a little. Well, when I got to Chino Valley after leaving Table Mesa I noticed it was wayyyy down. The camper was very low. After unhooking the camper I got my head up in there and noticed it was cracked. The diamond plate on the back was about all that was holding it on.
Bronson, from Wrecked Gear, had invited me to stay at their house for a week and that’s where I was when we noticed this. He made a call Monday morning and Southwest Krawlers in Chino Valley slid me right in for the emergency repair. They cut out the old hitch completely, and redid everything. It’s very beefy now with plenty of bracing. I am doing a video on this soon.
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Holy chit! Was the crack fairly fresh any rust in it? I didn't see that at all. I was worried about the paint telling of a crack out side.
 
Also, one of the videos that I am the most excited about yet will be up Sunday. I did the interviews with Partially Committed Racing, Goforth Tire, and Cutler Fab. But by the time I filmed last with @mcutler, I have gotten a lot better at editing and I think this will be a very good video.
It's a little long, but the conversation and topics were flowing so well I didn't cut much out. I feel like it was all relevant stuff and shop talk that most wheeling guys would like to hear. A guy could even just let it play while driving and enjoy listening I think. We shall see. If no one else likes it, I sure did and will always be able to look back on it lol. Look for that this Sunday, as I'm finishing the final edit up this week!
 
WARRIORWELDING said:
Holy chit! Was the crack fairly fresh any rust in it? I didn't see that at all. I was worried about the paint telling of a crack out side.
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No rust. It was slowly forming and I'm certain it got worse on Hwy 17 coming out of Flagstaff, AZ. That was by far the worst road I have driven in all of my travels, ever. I'd rather driver my truck empty down a dirt road to i95 south all day than spend 1 hour on that road again.
They guys that fixed it said it was a poor design, and where it cracked had really high heat concentration in that area with no gussets or bracing to help it out.
 
77GreenMachine said:
No rust. It was slowly forming and I'm certain it got worse on Hwy 17 coming out of Flagstaff, AZ. That was by far the worst road I have driven in all of my travels, ever. I'd rather driver my truck empty down a dirt road to i95 south all day than spend 1 hour on that road again.
They guys that fixed it said it was a poor design, and where it cracked had really high heat concentration in that area with no gussets or bracing to help it out.
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The extension of the drop hitch is more detrimental than the fabrication of the mount. You've got what looks to be about 15-16" of stickout from the bed, and the shank on the hitch is not long enough to engage the braced material that was there, so it bent the 2" tube and then ripped away from the bed and bracing. If you could get a hitch that didn't hang out so far, it would help the reworked receiver last longer.
 
jeepinmatt said:
The extension of the drop hitch is more detrimental than the fabrication of the mount. You've got what looks to be about 15-16" of stickout from the bed, and the shank on the hitch is not long enough to engage the braced material that was there, so it bent the 2" tube and then ripped away from the bed and bracing. If you could get a hitch that didn't hang out so far, it would help the reworked receiver last longer.
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I wasn't gonna rub any salt and ask him if he got a load assisting hitch or equalizer bars yet.......buttttttttt me thinks not.

Hey dude @77GreenMachine you get one of em hitches yet?? 😂 Keep at it feller you got more desire to chase that dream then 9/10 the population!
 
jeepinmatt said:
The extension of the drop hitch is more detrimental than the fabrication of the mount. You've got what looks to be about 15-16" of stickout from the bed, and the shank on the hitch is not long enough to engage the braced material that was there, so it bent the 2" tube and then ripped away from the bed and bracing. If you could get a hitch that didn't hang out so far, it would help the reworked receiver last longer.
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WARRIORWELDING said:
I wasn't gonna rub any salt and ask him if he got a load assisting hitch or equalizer bars yet.......buttttttttt me thinks not.

Hey dude @77GreenMachine you get one of em hitches yet?? 😂 Keep at it feller you got more desire to chase that dream then 9/10 the population!
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Yeah @WARRIORWELDING mentioned how that would help, and I did find a setup that works with this hitch. However as you can see, I procrastinated... I need the offset of this hitch, it allows me to turn all the way without damaging the camper, and that's imperative to maneuvering this setup lol. I will probably order the setup while here in UT.
 
77GreenMachine said:
I need the offset of this hitch, it allows me to turn all the way without damaging the camper, and that's imperative to maneuvering this setup lol.
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As stupid as these braces on these lifted truck hitches may look, they do a fantastic job of decreasing load on the receiver.
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(Took this pic earlier in the week to post in the douchemobile thread, haha)
 
jeepinmatt said:
As stupid as these braces on these lifted truck hitches may look, they do a fantastic job of decreasing load on the receiver.
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(Took this pic earlier in the week to post in the douchemobile thread, haha)
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I've found it's oftentimes the military dudes driving these douchemobiles around. Guy I coach w/ talked about putting 42s on his DD the other day. Not sure I could've given him a more confused look on my face.

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Here is the Wrecked Gear video he did on my whole setup. He really shared a lot of helpful info with me, and was very encouraging and really pushing me to go after it with the YouTube thing. It has given me a steroid shot and I'm a lot more excited to get caught up on all my videos. Him among a handful or others have been very positive, telling me this could really go somewhere. I see it as just a hobby but I suppose the potential viewers could be quite large.
 
I've had a handful of guys at work tell me I need to start a YouTube channel, but I'm really bad about hyperfocusing while I work. Half the time I can't remember to take pictures as I go along, but I try my best.

I don't see why you couldn't kick it off and keep at it. Lots of people do...plus you're already doing it!
 
Croatan_Kid said:
I've had a handful of guys at work tell me I need to start a YouTube channel, but I'm really bad about hyperfocusing while I work. Half the time I can't remember to take pictures as I go along, but I try my best.

I don't see why you couldn't kick it off and keep at it. Lots of people do...plus you're already doing it!
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I just set up a camera hit record and start working. Just have to remember to move the camera with you when you move to something else.

It's the editing part that I hate, so I keep it super simple.
 
CasterTroy said:
That was ACTUALLY very entertaining
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Agreed, watched it while having coffee this morning. Keep at it PT, I see improvements & we all know you have a knack for storytelling.
 
Glad it was entertaining. I struggled when editing on what to take out to get it down. I had over an hour of conversation recorded. But it was all good stuff and I felt like people would want to hear/watch almost all of it.
Aside from some audio issues, feedback has been really good.

I’m fixing to fix the audio. Wrecked Gear showed me what they use and it’s just a case with a built in mic for the GoPro. I have also decided to stop using my phone, and use the GoPro only. Not only is that far better and easier for managing the video, it will make all of my audio levels consistent.

Thank you for all the support. The best thing you can do to help myself, and Cutler is share the video, like and comment on the YT channel.
 
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