He is a toolmaker working in medtech where they work in very small tolerances. These he knocked up in the garage with hand tools! That makes it more impressive to a guy who is lucky to make his bed well He also has a bunch of Landcruisers so you know he is OK !
After some effort and threatening the kid across the street to come and help me lift, tent is on and ready today....
And some small jobs to make it more workable for me... With the mattress in place there is about a 35cm section of the aluminium floor exposed so I joined and trimmed some foam mats to cover that... Laid there in the foreground, you can also just make out the anti-condensation matting I cut to size and put under the mattress... Skylights/ventilation open....looking up for the laying position..... One side window view.... Sleeping view..... And the "front" as the same door net opening as the "back", with it open I have access to the remaining deck space on the rack, I figure I can leave a small brew kit here overnight and have coffee etc done without stepping out..... One thing I got from YouTube, the cover hangs down when open, not so much an issue if you have it opening to the side but this would impede my rear doors. Added a couple of squares of velcro to the bottom of the platform and it allows you to roll the cover and attach it up using the existing straps that hold the cover on....
New 12v Fridge in and running (a story for another time). On mains power it dropped from 15degsC to 2degsC in under 30mins. Ladder extension fitting up and locating holes drilled... Heading bush for a night tomorrow !
First night away !!! On arrival yesterday.... Tent and annex up.... Didn't need it but in the interests of experimentation I hooked up the solar blanket via the DC/DC controller to see what the new fridge told me about it. It certainly made a difference but I will need a few days away to see how hard the fridge is on power and if/when the solar is needed... Inside.... Kitchen... Dinner Prep/Outcome.... Drinking fire...
……they are OK. With the higher lids 4x will fit under the rear deck of my truck. I run two in there all the time, one with food/kitchen gear (the one that is out) and one with the “emergency gear” (some extra food/water/tarps/spares/rope/ millbag etc etc. The wolf pack is just a branded version of the crate that LEW packed and delivered small arms ammunition in to the SADF. They are not bad for what they are at all but have their limitations.
Interesting, didn’t know the backstory on them!! Very cool. I have two Wolfpack’s for my dry ingredients/ spices/ field kitchen etc , and (somewhere in this 450 SF pigsty) two of the cub packs as well and today I just found both my small Rubbermaid Action Packers!!! a lot lighter than the Pelican Cases I’ve been using Are there any surplus LEW cases floating around Australia???
Yep. The support for them is great too. I can rebuild it if need be but even moderately well maintained they'll last decades. 6 years after ordering it I can still get parts for it without issue.
How's the Jeep going? Taken it out much? For the first time in many years a friend and I just went wheeling. At this point in my life if I'm offroading it's to get somewhere to do something else. It was fun to just go climb stuff and stack rocks like we used to. He has a '00 TJ. Fairly stock, just small lift and 33s. We also had a late 90s Trooper with us that reminded me how bad I'd like to have one of those. Anyway, I mainly just played passenger princess and rock stacker, but it was fun.
Slowly. Rear bumper is on. Sliders are painted and ready to install when I get the time. I've got to replace the front pinion bearings, axle shaft seals, and u-joints soon. Got most everything ordered this morning. Just have to get the u-joints and possibly a yoke. Then next it needs rear axle shaft seals. Almost time to install the hard top and full doors for winter. Maybe I'll get a few more days I can run with the top off but it's supposed to rain for the next two weeks.
Regeared the LJ this weekend. 5.13s on 32s is a little low but when I get to put the 33s on it it'll be nice. The original carrier bearings were PRETTY shot. Yes, all 4 carrier bearings looked like this. I'm thinking it sat for several years with moisture in the diffs. It's had a pretty catastrophic axle joint failure at some point and someone sliced into the sealing surface while replacing a rear wheel seal in the past so yay, MORE work. But this is as much restoration as it is a wheeler build.
