Expedition TrailBlazer Project

[JamesDowning]

I have found that navigation by a handheld GPS gets a tad silly at times. Handheld GPS units are great for hiking, don't get me wrong, but for vehicle travel, I wanted something better suited. So I mounted the laptop on a ram-mount:



I run Delorme Topo USA (after reading good reviews from this site):


Here's a panorama from the passenger seat during a recent trip (taken while I was spotting some guys through a slightly rough spot).



After running with the mount through a few trips, I realized there are two needed upgrades for the ram system:

Screen stabalizer:
(Otherwise the screen vibrates everywhere and eventually bends over)


Low profile laptop holders:
(With the stock ram-mount holders, the screen cannot close while the laptop is in the holder)

[winkosmosis]

I believe they use torsion bars and leaf springs.

The closest I can think of is the FJ Cruiser. It has IFS front, a decent frame, and a 5 link rear axle as the TB does.

Forgot about the FJ and 4Runner. Strange that the Xterra and H3 have leafs

[winkosmosis]

Nice GPS setup. The Delorme software is supposed to be the best

[JamesDowning]

Well, my fabricator and I put in another full day working on the most recent addition. I wasn't planning on showing this until it was fully completed... but aw, what the heck.

The naked truck, awaiting it's new brassiere:



A little plasma can really spice things up:



Not a bad fit for an initial test fitting eh?



Most of today was spent on fixing minor issues (interference with the grille, headlights, fender alignment, etc, etc.). More details to come whenever more progress is made.

[JamesDowning]

The brown truck man brought some goodies!

First of all, the fog lights came in for the bumper. After reading many reviews on fog lights, I found that the projector type lights had what I would consider the best 'fog' pattern. I was looking for wide spread, yet a nice cutoff that wouldn't throw light upward. I ran across the Hella Micro DE fogs when reading up an expedition motorcycle thread. After more research, they seemed perfect, so the bumper was designed around their specs.



The second goody was a newly tuned powertrain control module (PCM). This controls the engine and transmission as a unit and tunes the shift points and the engine power curve. This is actually the second try at the tune. Last round the 1-2 shift became overly harsh and I had them detune it. The power curve, however, is greatly improved!

[Rusty-Ford]

great work on this thing!
I can't wait to see what the front bumper looks like finished.. i would love to build a bumper soon for my explorer! Are you making provisions to mount a winch in the bumper?

Keep up the good work!

[JamesDowning]

Thanks!

I decided not to mount the winch inside the bumper for a few reasons:
-It would have pushed the bumper out further.
-It would add a lot of unnecessary weight for my daily commutes.
-It would subject the winch to lots of unnecessary weather.

Instead, there are a few companies that make a receiver mount for winches:



I see a few benefits to this mounting method:
-I can take off the weight when I don't need it (for daily commuting).
-The winch sees less weather and may theoretically last longer.
-The winch can be mounted on the rear receiver to allow rearward extractions.
-Rated to 9000 lbs.

[JamesDowning]

Well I've been out in Mexico for work these past couple weeks, but I finally got some work done today on the bumper.

Cutting out some brackets with the plasma:


Test fitment of the Hella Micro DEs:


Center section tacked in:


Light hoops being tacked in:


Figured I would take a couple pictures with everything in place:




Tomorrow the top end will be finish welded, the final internal structural brackets will be welded in, and the entire thing will be ground down to a nice finish.

Then its on to the powder coater!

[wikid]

Great job on your TB. It's interesting to see how an idea about your build begins, then grows legs after you do some trails. At first, I saw the brush guard and thought that was a mistake. As always, as you wheel it and see what works , here comes the fabbed front bumper.
Looks like you are heading in a good direction.
thanks
Don

[02TahoeMD]

Looks better than I imagined. Great progress, looking forward to seeing it with a nice coat of black powder on it.