Tag: icon vehicle dynamics

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Project Tundra // Winter (Pre-OXW) Update

RXT Rear Suspension

Late last fall, Project Tundra received a pre-production set of ICON Vehicle Dynamics RXT rear suspension – and the change these RXT parts made to the vehicle’s performance was profound.  The RXT system is made up of a user-configurable, Icon leaf spring pack that replaces the OEM Toyota leaf pack. Also included are Tundra specific shocks with increased travel, and a hydraulic bump stop kit.  Taken as a whole, these parts all work together to make your rear suspension next level.  Project Tundra already has the hydraulic bump stop kit, but adding the RXT leafs and shocks made a huge difference in the way the truck performs.  The best part about the RXT kit is that it can be configured to your specific truck and the amount of additional weight you have in your truck bed, so the end result is a system that will deliver much better performance than a one size fits all solution.  Here’s how it all works.

The RXT leafs for the Toyota Tundra can be configured in three ways all depending on how much additional weight is over your truck’s rear axle, or how much lift you want.  The leaf pack comes configured from ICON to handle an additional 250 pounds of payload while providing about 1.75 inches of additional lift.  If you swap out the third leaf in the RXT leaf pack with the provided additonal leaf, the pack will handle an additional 500 pounds of payload and add 3 inches of lift.  Finally, adding the additional leaf to the pack will provide 750 pounds of carrying capacity and add 4 inches of lift to the rear of an unladen Tundra.

I opted for the + 500 pounds option on Project Tundra, as two dirtbikes or our typical gear loadouts with the truck cap and roof rack come in around this mark.

Installing the leaf packs is easily done in the driveway on an afternoon with basic tools and an extra set of hands.  The first thing you’ll need to do is choose what configuration you want the leaf pack in, and then make any desired changes prior to mounting to the vehicle  A couple of C-Clamps will help you keep the packs from disassembling themselves when you loosen the locating bolt, and otherwise the process is well covered in the instructions.  With the packs configured as desired, lift up the back of the truck SAFELY and swap the packs out.

The other part of the RXT equation are the shocks which provide additional stroke over the 2.5 VS CDCV units that we’ve been using.  ICON offers three levels of shocks, named with their Stage-Number convention.  Stage 1 shocks offer vehicle specific valving, Stage 2 adds the CDC Valve, and Stage 3 adds Omega-level shocks that feature rebound and compression damping.  All RXT kits include the hydraulic bump stop Kit – another system we’ve absolutely loved having on Project Tundra.

As I mentioned in the last article, the performance difference realized by installing the IVD suspension on Project Tundra was huge, so the bar was already set quite high when the RXT parts arrived.  The RXT suspension makes a night and day difference over stock leafs or even an add-a-leaf – especially when you’re carrying any kind of weight.

Speaking of the Icon 2.5 VS CDCV shocks I took off the vehicle, I’m happy to report that after a year of use all over the Southwest the shocks are still in great shape and still fully functional.  Yes, there is pitting on the lower shock mounts and the aluminum bodies aren’t as shiny as new, but this wear has been earned from logging thousands of miles bombing around off-road and on wintry roads.  It turns out flying rocks are an equal opportunity destroyer, so I don’t care whose shock you have – pitting and aluminum oxidation are going to happen.  What counts is that all of the ICON shock shafts look great, and all of the seals are holding tight – so these shocks still have plenty of life left in them before they get rebuilt.

The RXT suspension has handled every type of terrain I’ve pointed it at so far with performance that’s perfectly matched to the front end, which is to say that the back end has now been turned up to match the front end.  The ability to set the leaf pack up for your specific vehicle depending on what you do with your truck and how much weight you carry combined with the damping adjustment from the CDCV and Omega level shocks make the RXT system the choice for Tundra rear suspension.

 

 

LINE-X

Spray-In truck bed liners are hands down the best way to project your truckbed from sharp tools, ski edges, car parts, the occasional steel-fab project, and everything else life throws at your truck bed.  The problem is that the OEM spray in liners leave a lot to be desired, which is why I took a trip to San Diego before SoCal Desert Rendezvous to make an appointment at Line-X of San Diego.

At Line-X of San Diego, Dallas and Chris applied their years of experience in truck bed coatings to come up with in a spray in bedliner application for Project Tundra that was exactly what I was looking for.  In addition to protecting the sheet metal, I wanted to do a few custom things that would make the bed of project Tundra better suited to my needs.  First up, I pulled off the stupid plastic caps that run around the bed rails of the truck.  These pointless pieces of plastic exist only to trap dirt and dust, and when sandwiched with a load (like a truck cap) become plastic backed sandpaper that wears on your paint and in no time at all, starts wearing on bare metal.  Taking the plastic caps off also allowed Dallas and Chris to do a true over the rail bedliner, providing extra protection to the bedsides from the truck cap and from me when I’m loading heavy things over the sides of the truck bed.

With all of the holes in the bed rails covered, we then turned our attention to sealing up all of the drain holes in the truck bed to make the thing as dust proof as possible.

Line-X is also a great thing to spray on your truck’s rocker panels to protect them from rocks and other road debris that are constantly tossed up by your tires.  I sprayed the rocker panels on my Tacoma, and it’s held up great to hundreds of thousands of miles of dirt and rocks.  Again Dallas and Chris applied their expert hands and took the time to remove the plastic wheel well trim so that they could tuck the Line-X under the plastic bits once installed – a detail that will only serve to help lengthen the lifespan of Project Tundra’s sheet metal.

Chris and Dallas devoted an entire day to applying Line-X to Project Tundra, and the results of their attention to detail and skill speak for themselves.  Project Tundra’s bed and rocker panels are now armored-up to handle hundreds of thousands of miles of dirt and rock, and all of the gear hauling I can throw in the truck bed.

ABOUT THOSE HUB CAPS

I’ve had a couple of the hub caps on my ICON Alloys Six Speed wheels break, and when I called Icon to asking about buying new hub caps, I was really happy to hear that they’ve redesigned the caps to fix this very issue.  The new hub caps are screwed together (the old design was a snap-fit) and I do not expect to see any failure or issues from this new design.  I need to give ICON props for revising and continuously improving their products, rather than simply selling more copies of an imperfect design.

LET THERE BE LIGHT

Yes, Project Tundra will be getting fully armored – but as with any good thing, it takes some time.  So in the mean time I’ve been working with Pelfreybilt Offroad to design brackets for the Tundra’s A-Pillars and stock front bumper, so that I can add some light while I’m waiting for my armor to arrive.  With a bit of time spent in Solidworks, I’ve developed A-Pillar brackets for the Tundra that will hold an XL 80, as well as brackets that will allow me to run a Baja Designs 30” S8 light bar in the stock bumper.

Project Tundra will be receiving it’s armor soon, so I’ll leave this update with a photo I took of what’s to come.  Stop by and see us at the American Adventurist booth at Overland Expo West (PS1) and say hi!

Full disclosure:  ICON Vehicle Dynamics provided the RXT suspension for review and testing purposes at no cost to Chad de Alva or American Adventurist.  Line-X of San Diego installed their products free of charge.

 

 

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Eastbound and Further Down

Leaving Delaware behind, we rolled through Maryland and were in Virginia by lunch. Ahead of us lay an important part of our coastal shortcut and one of the highlights of this trip, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. The CBBT as it’s called is an impressive feat of engineering that had me really geeking out, because bridge-tunnel-bridge-tunnel-bridge.

It crosses over open waters where the Chesapeake Bay meets the Atlantic Ocean providing a direct link between Southeastern Virginia and the “DelMarVa Peninsula” (Delaware plus the Eastern Shore counties in Maryland and Virginia). It also dips down into underwater tunnels in two places making this a pretty unique roller coaster ride of a highway.

This route along US 13 cuts 95 miles from the journey between Virginia Beach and points north of Wilmington, Delaware. From shore to shore, the Bridge-Tunnel measures 17.6 miles and is considered the world’s largest bridge-tunnel complex. Taken together with all the ferry rides on this trip, this coastal route that took us from New Jersey to North Carolina is clearly one of the most epic drives in the world.

Continuing along the Virginia coast, we skirted around Norfolk and headed towards Currituck, North Carolina and the Caratoke Highway aka Route 158. This route is the gateway to the Outer Banks (OBX) and turns into North Carolina Highway 12 near Kitty Hawk.

The northern parts of OBX are pretty heavy with vacation homes and touristas so we kept it moving south along NC 12 and the Hatteras National Seashore. Rumor was we could camp somewhere on these islands and maybe even get this rig into 4WD on a beach somewhere. Time for a little toes in the water tires in the sand!

The treacherous waters off the coast of the Outer Banks are known as the Graveyard of the Atlantic. Over 600 ships have wrecked here, victims of shallow shoals, storms, and war. In the past 400 years the graveyard has claimed many lives but the local inhabitants have a reputation for cheating death. As early as the 1870s, local villagers served in the US Life-Saving Service, the forefather of the US Coast Guard. Others staffed lighthouses built to guide ships at sea.

Seeing some of these old lighthouses was very high on our list. Each lighthouse here in OBX is a landmark with it’s own unique paint scheme, Bodie Lighthouse (seen here) can be identified by it’s horizontal black and white stripes.

North Carolina Highway 12 is also known as the Outer Banks Scenic Byway so it’s a pretty amazing destination all on it’s own. Often severed by hurricanes over the years, it’s another east coast engineering marvel that provides ready access to miles and miles of amazing beaches on both the windward and the leeward sides of the islands.

Drifting south through the Outer Banks, we were taking our time and just enjoying the trip. If you listen closely, the road teaches you things like how sometimes you just have to forget “the plan” and make that random stop, and to eschew tourist traps. You learn that eating at the local hole in the wall is always better, that the best deals are always had when you shop at the local mom and pop, and that your experience is vastly improved when you actively avoid chain stores or restaurants when possible. The only way to experience and really identify with local cultures is to immerse yourself in it and get off the beaten path. Eat the local delicacy. Engage the local community. So we figured we’d best set course for a less travelled part of the Outer Banks that we’d heard of. With a name like Ocracoke it had to be cool.

Fun Fact: One of the reasons so many people flock to the Outer Banks is the thrill of driving on the beach, a rare privilege on either coast. On the Outer Banks, there are many miles of shoreline to explore, from the uninhabited shoreline on Ocracoke Island to the solely 4WD accessible beaches of Portsmouth Island in the south or Carova, north of Corolla, famous for its wild horses.

Driving offroad on the beach at Cape Hatteras National Seashore requires a Beach Driving Permit, these can be purchased online and sent via mail before your trip. They can also be obtained in person at one of the following locations: Coquina Beach office, Cape Hatteras Light Station, and the Ocracoke Visitor Center. All of the beach driving areas and ramps on Hatteras and Ocracoke Island are open seasonally, meaning that during certain times of year, (specifically in the summer months), some areas may be closed for threatened species that are breeding, or sea turtles that are nesting.

After all the long highway miles we endured to get here from the Midwest, this is where the trip really started to become relaxing.

Beach ramps are all marked by brown, National Park Service managed “ramp markers” that indicate the mile and entrance point of every beach ramp along these islands. Simply engage 4WD and take one of these many sand ramps onto the beach and enjoy. Be ready to air down and bring basic recovery gear!

Beach wheeling box checked off, we headed for camp for the night on Hatteras Island at Frisco Campground. The next morning we were up early for the line up to board the ferry for our ultimate destination of Ocracoke Island. Boarding the ferry was pretty straightforward but be forewarned – arrive early or make reservations in advance to ensure that you get a space on board!

Arriving on Ocracoke, you notice that things feel different here. The pace is slower and more laid back than the hustle and bustle of some of the more northerly OBX areas. We quickly noticed that the “change in latitude” from venturing just this little bit further south really made a difference in attitudes, especially ours. This small island felt very much like the Caribbean, with beautiful beaches and blue/green waters as nice as any we’d seen on numerous forays there. And it has a lighthouse.

Built in 1823, Ocracoke Island Lighthouse still stands and functions today. It may not be the biggest in the Outer Banks, but it has been signaling mariners at sea for almost two centuries. It is North Carolina’s oldest lighthouse in operation, and the second oldest in the United States.

While here, I learned that Ocracoke has a darker history that I was keen on hearing more about. It was a favorite anchorage of Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard. From his base here in North Carolina, Blackbeard and his crew of pirates raided English and Spanish commerce at will, ranging far and wide throughout the Carolinas and the West Indies. This remote island was a perfect hideout as it’s sand bars and navigational hazards made it nearly unreachable for those not familiar with these mysterious waters. No doubt some of his loot may still be buried here or on any one of a number of nearby islands. The grounds of what is now the Springer’s Point Nature Preserve were said to be the pirate’s favored hang-out during those days. Blackbeard’s ship, Queen Anne’s Revenge, was recently confirmed found sunk near Beaufort Inlet, North Carolina. Geek factor 8 and climbing…

But I digress. We were here to immerse ourselves in the Ocracoke of today and by Teach’s Beard that’s just what we did for the next couple of days.

We swam. We cavorted. We feasted. And we slept the sleep that only long distance travelers, explorers, know. The satiated sleep of a goal attained, of days fully lived. One thing was clear in our minds on Ocracoke though. We were on the edge of the world with no real desire to go back. Ever. You’ve probably experienced that same feeling when you know that your “Adventure Hourglass” is running out and you have to return to the real world of jobs and obligations.

But we still had a couple days before we had to go back to the suck. Up early again for the ferry to the mainland, we were bound for Swan Quarter and points beyond. There are three ways to get to or from Ocracoke Island and the Swan Quarter ferry is the most remote route with only 2 to 4 trips in each direction per day. So you need to be paying attention if you intend to catch a ride to the mainland or risk spending an extra day marooned on the island. Which would really be a bummer.

The Swan Quarter ferry has to cross 30 miles of open water on Pamlico Sound so it’s a bit bigger than the one we came from Hatteras on and the lineup of rigs waiting to board was impressive. The weather had been near perfect during our time in OBX but it was taking a turn for the worse now as winds were picking up and making waters choppy. This ride normally takes two and half hours but our ride was more like three hours as the crew successfully avoided darker weather that would have played havoc with their wheeled cargo. I was tired from all the driving on this trip so while the girls enjoyed the air conditioned passenger decks I chose to get in some stealth camping on deck – nap time!

Landing at Swan Quarter, the girls were now tired so they soon nodded off as I made my way inland, following the country highways and byways through eastern North Carolina. My goal was to head for Uwharrie National Forest in the middle of the state and camp at the site of our Appalachian Rendezvous events. Arriving after dark, I quickly made camp before waking the girls up so they could just climb in and go to bed.

The benefits of the Four Wheel Camper were many on this long trip but the primary one is always convenience, and AT Overland did a great job with this custom conversion. I stop the truck on a level spot and get out and open the camper, pop the roof up and done. Easy peasy. It was really nice on this trip to have soft beds, full bathroom (showers!) and kitchen amenities. And no matter what type of wind and rain is going on outside, it’s watertight and solid as a rock. Speaking of rain, I’ve only been to Uwharrie many times and only once not seen rain, this night it poured on us again but the morning brought blue skies and that hot, sticky humidity that the Carolinas are famous for.

Up early again, we rolled over to the Eldorado Outpost for some of their famous pork tenderloin biscuits and Cheerwine. We made some time here to visit with local friends who had stopped by to see us and I was reminded once again why this area is so remarkable – it’s the people. I’ve travelled the world and never met nicer, more honest or more hardworking people than you’ll find right here in North Carolina. Few places feel like home to a traveler but I’m at home every time I visit this Forest.

Bidding farewell to the Tar Heel State, I made tracks for the Commonwealth by slicing through the mountainous western reaches of the Old Dominion. Arriving at the Kentucky line I feared we might face more bad weather ahead but it proved to be short lived as skies above gave way to blue with cotton candy clouds.

My goal this leg was Cave Run Lake, Kentucky. Eschewing the nearby over-priced, “ReserveAmerica” debacle that most people seem willing to accept as “camping” nowadays, we took the path less travelled and headed out into the forest in search of a good old fashioned, and free, dispersed camping spot.

We made camp for the last time on this trip on a ridge high above the lake. No one here but us. The Daniel Boone National Forest made for a peaceful last night on the road as we settled in here, surrounded by sights and sounds of the forest, unmolested by insects or any bipedal pestilence in our hideout high above the lake.

Morning came and it was back on the road, carving our way through Kentucky and Indiana before arriving home on the north shore of Lake Michigan in Illinois. This trip was a blessing for all of us as the hard work of the “build phase” of this vehicle project was rewarded over ten long days on the road together exploring America.

And now we can’t wait to get out and go again!

NOTE: Full build details on the vehicle and the camper are well documented HERE and HERE.