Hello, I'm Rafepirate. I was raised with outdoorsy motorcycle parents and have explored in the Mojave desert and Bishop, and Big Bear. Big Bear is 2 hrs from home.
College and work changed my priorities away from outdoors adventures for nearly 30 years before I started but reading my nephews family adventure blog. Reading his blog reminded me remember how much fun I was missing. I started looking for a 4x4 rig...
The nephew (BLKWAGN), his wife and daughter have a blog titled "family-off-the-map".
I'd had my eye on one of dads 4x4 work trucks which he was willing to part with. It had served him well as a chase vehicle in the Baja 1000.
Current rig: A 2010 F350 Super Duty King Ranch, twin turbo diesel with custom steel camper shell. It's a non dually and mostly stock. Came with a couple extras dad had installed for the chase grill mounted flood & spot light bars, air compressor, standard wheels and standard road mud and snows.
I added a CB, 150 watt solar panel with a deep cycle agm 85 ah storage battery, a Dometic 12v fridge, 400 watt AC inverter. Recovery gear- minimal at this point, recovery straps, tow rope, chain, shovel, pick axe, a set smitty traction treads, high lift jack is everythign I have at this point. Next on the wish list since it is about 6800# unloaded, I doubt a jeep could rescue me if I ever get super stuck.
After market additions: custom steel camper, roof rack which can hold (6) 5 gal H2O/fuel cans and 2+ full size spare tires. I installed the the solar panel inside the rack to protect it from smashing on branches after noticing that I was "trimming" lower branches fairly often when doing some dirt road exploration. Truck is 92" tall at highest point. Solar panel for the Dometic Fridge. Has a few accessory light bars hidden in the grill. No winch. too. serving double duty as an off road chase vehicle.
F350, that is too long for some narrower trails but I made an offer and he accepted.
I'm stuck with it now so lets see what the big beast can do.
The possibilities make my mouth water...its a really big truck though and if I get stuck I don't know if a jeep could move the beast.
Current rig: 2010 Ford Super Duty 4x4, mostly stock, standard wheels, no winch, have a set of traction pads, tow rope and, compressor and chain with a high lift jack for self rescue.
Upgrades: Custom steel camper shell, 1 tubular steel cargo rack designed for 2 or more full size spares, six 5gal water/fuel can and 1 additional rack for up to 3000# cargo. Could be good base for a roof top tent. I installed a 150watt solar panel in the rearmost cargo rack to protect it from branches oalong the trail. A 85 ah AGM storage battery for the Dometic fridge and a CB make up the complete rig.
Thats all of it so far.
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