TGO - The Overlander Build

[wizardoforange]

Overland Kitted Spare Tire Maxtrax and Rotopax Mounting System.

As mentioned, I'm taking a different way of modifying my Bronco vs. what I did with my Bison. Since this is going to be my daily driver, I don't want to drive around with unnecessary weight, and since the Bronco has a miserable payload, I'm trying to be very aware of how much weight I'm putting on. Since I also paid for the extended warranty, I'm trying to keep as much as stock as possible and/or use Ford Accessories when they meet my needs.

So if I had the money and didn't care about the warranty. The first thing I'd do is replace the stock roof rack with a TrailRax and the associate PaxRax. The second thing I looked at was the M.A.S.S. Spare Tire Platform Mini from American Adventure Lab, put configured to carry both maxtrax and rotopax you're looking $560.00 and you just ruined all of your real rear view vision. Then I found Overland Kitted Spare Tire Matrax system and I was intrigued, pricier than what it should be (but what isn't these days) and recommended by Maxtrax USA. I thought I could do it cheaper than the $340.00 system, because I had a Racksbrax Matrax mounting plate that I thought I could mount to their system, so I bought their accessory bracket with strap first. When that didn't work I ended up buy the Complete System so I'm into this for $440.00.

After I purchased this, I came across Rockslide Engineering EZ Rack for $110.00, that comes with two accessory plates and is intended for only Rotopax, not Maxtrax, and when I saw that they don't recommend anything bigger than a 2.5 gallon rotopax, it doesn't appear to be as strong as the Overland Kitted which says can hold up to a 3 gallon rotopax and 4 Maxtrax Extreme boards.

So I went with the Overland Kitted set:

Here's the accessory bracket strapped to the tire:

And the Rotopax mount can mount directly to that. For the maxtrax mounting you'll need to attach the Universal Maxtrax Mounting Plate. The nice thing about this plate is you can mount it to roof bars, roof racks and platforms, so I can use this on my Bison too.

I can't say it's fun installing with one person, things kept sliding and moving, I definitely recommend getting someone to help you install it.

I had to mount the boards up higher, which is why they are at a slight angle, but they just clear the tailgate handle, which is still usable:

The strap, is a 2-inch MAC's Custom Tie Downs that is very beefy and smooth to use:

The Rotopax is close to the tailgate, but doesn't touch it (this is a 3 gallon Rotopax) and the tailgate still opens fully with this on there. I originally wanted the maxtrax on this side, but I wouldn't be able to open the tailgate fully.

It doesn't really block the rear view all that much. It might affect the 360 degree rear view, I'll have to check it when I'm not in my garage:

While I was hoping to be able to do this for under $300.00 dollars, spending $140 more got me what I wanted. Something that can be taken on and off relatively easily, can be used on another vehicle and not impeding my rear visibility.

I'll fill up the rotopax and drive around to see how it does, the maxtrax do wobble but they are definitely securely mounted.

Are you still digging this setup? My Bronco just arrived after a 1003 day wait. I'm about to leave on an extended trip to Nevada and Idaho fairly soon and I'll not have time to accomplish even 1/10 of the things you've done, but I definitely want to be able to carry some spare fuel in to the backcountry and this system looks simple and economical.

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[rguest3]

Haven't been keeping up with my postings, but I have been busy working on the Bronco.

I last left you all at installing the TrailRax and the Superlite. When I got the Superlite on a few days later there was loud creaking and a lot of air noise. I tried moving the Superlite back so the front was even with the wind fairing and shoved a pool noodle between the tent and the fairing. I ran a wire through the middle of the pool noodle and tied it to the side rails of the TrailRax that worked for one day, so I'm going to need something stiffer to put through the middle of the pool noodle, also switched out the pool noodle for pipe insulation since the bright colors of the pool noodle weren't to my liking.

Well doing all of that the creaking and the air just didn't go away, so I researched and found TrailRax suggests moving the wind fairing up as high as it will go. Seems the opposite what one should do, but it brought down the wind noise to acceptable levels, but I still had loud creaking. To stop that my research showed putting something between the wind fairing where it meets the side rails, didn't think that would help my situation because I took the front roof panels off and I could hear that the cross bar the the tent mounted to was the one creaking. But I was willing to try anything so I loosened the wind fairing and put a zip tie in-between on both sides and tightened it down, Low and behold the creaking stopped. I have some wind noise still but it's 80% better, so I'm going to try the pipe insulation again.

I did install the IAG v1 rock rail steps, left out the cyber orange piece as it was the only thing I ordered a couple years ago when I was going to get cyber orange but they got rid of that color for '23. I like the steps a lot and think they will provide protection from someone opening their door into my vehicle. Now that I have these the AR Magnum full length steps are looking really good and would provide more protection from doors, but also help with stuff flying up from the road, but man are they pricey. I'll get a picture of the IAG steps up tomorrow.

I ordered the BuiltRight Industries 2-door rear Molle Panels as a way to attach my fire extinguisher (ended up not working on the roll bar, or so I thought, but when I took the roof off to install the PaxRax, I ended up catching part of the Badass Moto in between the roof and the side mount and that's why it must of kept turning). Anyway the main point of the Molle Panels was to install a DC-DC converter so I could charge my EcoFlow Delta2 faster than just with the cigarette style plug.

They install with brackets that go under the OEM tie-down brackets:

However, when I saw someone's post that they were able to get the slide-out tailgate installed in a 2-door, I had to order it as I knew that would make a huge difference on trips having a place to sit or to prepare something without having to remove anything from the trunk. I wasn't sure if the Molle panels would work with the slide-out tailgate and in the end they didn't but I do think I'll be able to fabricate something to get them to work. I tried just zip tying the bottoms to the slide out tailgate frame, but I couldn't get the cover to fit with the installed. In order to install the slide-out into a two door, you just need to create a place to attach the rear of it:

That's the bracket I made to use one of the rear seat bolts:

While I was installing the slide-out tailgate my Mabett v3 tailgate table came in:

While I wanted something made out of stainless steel, the price ($239) and the functionality of this one called to me, so I thought I'd give it a try.

First, I watched the video and read through the instructions. There was no way to get the little bars through the opening on the right (when the door is open) side of the tailgate, luckily there is a rather large hole next to them, so I was able to carefully put the bar on the backside and screw into it from the front. The Left top side the little bars went in the way the instructions show. Also I ended up replacing the washers provided as they were to small and feel into the hole when tightening up. I just used 1/4 SAE washers that were wider. Otherwise the install was relatively easy and one person can do it on their own.

2nd observation is the unit itself is dark grey that doesn't match anything on the Bronco. I would of preferred it to be black.

Overall for the price it seems to be well made with an enamel type of paint. Would be awesome if it was made out of food grad stainless-steel, but I'm sure that would a couple hundred of dollars to the price. The slide out piece seems fairly stable (as long as you pull it out to the farthest it will go). I see why it's not possible, but wish the top piece could be deployed without the side pieces deployed. And for those of you with the slide out tailgate, you can deploy both at the same time.

One downside is the closing "locks" you need to push in hard to get them to close, which means you either have to hold the tailgate door or move it to the max position. Hopefully the will close easier with wear.

The Mabett may be a good option for a Tailgate table?

Do you have to drill any holes for installation?

 

[emulous74]

Are you still digging this setup? My Bronco just arrived after a 1003 day wait. I'm about to leave on an extended trip to Nevada and Idaho fairly soon and I'll not have time to accomplish even 1/10 of the things you've done, but I definitely want to be able to carry some spare fuel in to the backcountry and this system looks simple and economical.

I am still digging it, I think where I have ended up will be a great setup for me and my dog. I need to get the platform for slide-out tailgate finished and then I think I'll be good.

Beyond keeping fuel inside the vehicle I think the most economical thing would be to get the Rock Slide Engineering spare tire kit and mount Rotopax to those, the nice thing is if you move up to something else (like Pax Rax) you can reuse the Rotopax.

 

[emulous74]

The Mabett may be a good option for a Tailgate table?

Do you have to drill any holes for installation?

For the price, I don't think you can beat the Mabett v3 of their tailgate, it provides the most area for all your stuff and is a pretty solid unit. There are no holes to drill for the installation it uses existing holes on the tailgate door.

 

[wizardoforange]

Thanks. That's my inclination. I was a little worried about adding weight to the tailgate, but I think the Rock Slide Eng. solution and two 2 gallon Rotopax will be minimal.

 

[emulous74]

For those of you that are following along for the GFC Superlite, while not on my Bronco, but on my Bison, I finally slept in it and was very impressed.

Some good friends of mine are moving to Colorado and they asked me to help tow a trailer up there with them, so the Bison was the right choice. I mounted up three Leitner Designs cross bars to my RLD Canopy and mounted the Superlite and off I went to Colorado with the idea of camping on the way back.

My first night was outside of Great Sand Dunes National Park on some BLM land that I found through iOverlander:

It was windy (30-40 mph) and was supposed to get down to 32 degrees F that night with possible gusts to 60 mph, so all panels on the tent closed up and angled for the front of the tent to take most of the wind. With all the wind, I didn't even try to deploy the awning (OVS Nomadic 270), even though I though with the wall panels, it would be a nice reprieve from the wind. But I've had bad experience with a Rhino Rack Batwing and an Alu-cab awning bend support bars in heavy wind.

I put on some silk long underwear and slide into my sleeping bag. My pup was put into my truck as a ground tent for him would of been miserable with all the wind and cold. Overall the SuperLite did great and much better than I anticipated in such strong wind. The panels did a great job of keeping out all of the wind, yes it was cold in the tent with no insulation in the panels, but I was able to stay warm in my sleeping bag and get a decent nite sleep. The GFC mattress was really firm in the cold weather, but as I'm a side sleeper it still had enough give to be comfortable.

I was amazed how well it put up in the wind and gained a lot of respect for it. For an 80lb RTT it definitely exceeded my expectations. Setup is not as easy as other wedge RTT that have two clips and struts to open and close. As the Superlite has zippers on three sides and 10 pull straps and you have to raise tent 2 tent poles (inside) to get it open. That being said having an RTT that I get on and off my vehicles myself and not carrying hundreds of pounds so high up, I think the compromises are worth it for me.

I tried out the new Tred GT Levelling pack and liked it pretty well.

I think it's easier than getting out the MaxTrax to level out your vehicle and it's easy enough to break apart. It held my vehicle well, I just wish they were a little longer. The extra "green" plates allow you to level from side to side. I'm not sure how well they will hold up, but we'll see.

I tried to other campsites on my way back, Blue Creek off of FM1913 in Texas, which looks like an awesome off-road park, but there are no official camp sites and the river was down to about an inch of water. I liked the spot enough, but didn't want to wake up to side by sides right next to my tent so I drove to Lake Meredith (which is one of my favorite camping spots) but when I got there the winds were worse than normal, enough that the wind blew my canopy door enough that one of the struts fell off. I tried out different sites but I knew the wind was to much and I looked up the weather and the wind was only going to get worse and the temperature was to drop into the 40's and the kicker that sent me driving was Tornado watch, which North Texas is known for. The last place I want to be caught in a tornado is in a fabric RTT.

I was right about the wind, my mpg dropped from mid twenties to 15 mpg and all the pull straps on the closed Superlite came loose and a few came undone. Mind you on the drive up with normal winds, the straps stayed taught.

For the drive in CO and NM:

For the drive through N. Texas to Central Texas:

So 10 mpg drop just because of wind.

 

[emulous74]

Looks like a good starting list! How do you like the go fast superlite RTT? Was initially looking for one but then they stopped making them. I’ve got the inspired overland RTT-also super lightweight-hoping to see how it does in colder weather soon

I actually used this past week on a trip up to Colorado. The weather on the first night sleeping in it had me worried. 30-40 mph winds with up to 60 mph gusts. Color me impressed, the fabric panels and zippers didn't flap and they kept all the wind out. It dropped down to 32 degrees F that night but but some silk long underwear and a good sleeping bag kept me warm. The mattress was firmer than when I tested it, but that was probably due to the cold weather, but I got a good nights sleep. It's a little more work than most wedge RTTs in that you have to unzip it on 3 sides and undo and/or loosen 10 pull on brackets as well as raise the interior tent stakes. With all that and how well it did in 60 mph gusts of wind, considering I can get the tent on and off the vehicle myself (not gracefully), it is worth more than it cost me.

 

[emulous74]

Just picked up some Black Steelies that were take-offs from a 2-door Black Diamond.

Here's a pic of a 2-door HPR Black Diamond with the rims, mind you the BD comes with 32" tires and I'll be running the 33" K02's that came with my Badlands, the rims are 1/2 narrower, but from my research a 7.5" rim is the smallest you can put a 285/70/17 on, so I should be fine.

I'm thinking about getting them painted bronze, What are you thoughts on that?

 

[ElDuderino]

How is the Litewing awning holding up? Do you like it? Was thinking about buying one, they are on sale for Memorial Day. Can’t find too many reviews out there.

 

[emulous74]

I still like it, I'd like to see improvements before I can fully recommend it, but for the price it is a quality tent that should hold up better than I expected.

 

[emulous74]

Well, I couldn't pass it up when Ford Performance started offering the Method 703s in Bronze that are hub centric to the Bronco, and luckily I jumped on them the day they first offered them, because now the price has gone up 200 bucks.

So I literally now have 3 sets of wheels for the Bronco (still fighting with Grudge Motorsports on the Everglades wheels they never sent me). So the steelies and the stock badlands wheels should be going up in the Classified section soon.

I personally am loving the Hot Pepper Red with the bronze wheels.

I know it's been a while since I posted, but was getting a house ready to sell and that paid off, got an offer on it in the first week and it sold. Used that money to buy a lake cottage about an hour East of Dallas on Lake Tawakoni. Once the weather cools down some, I'll host a g2g out there I think with 3 acres there will be enough room.

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