Drakenight's 2013 Pro-4x CC

Lights are wired in. I'll get some night shots once I'm able to pull into a garage and aim them properly.

Suspension shots of the OME HD set.



N-Fab Bars

Lighting shots.

Hella 500 Black Magics


Rigid Dually Spots.


Switch placement


Light show


Interior




The 'Because I can' stuff.


And a nice 1/4 shot.

Tiregate and a Hi-Lift Relocation

Got the Tiregate VT mounted fully and the over-bed rack shifted to fit properly with the new gate. Relocated the Hi-Lift from a rear-mount to a side-mount. While I did get the Hi-Lift mount for the VT itself, I quickly found out it is not pre-drilled for the kit, meaning I'll have to get it to a shop to properly get things mounted since I just don't have the tools available right now to get everything drilled out.

Shame.

The removal/installation was quick and painless. Didn't time it since it was interrupted by other things. But, as promised, here's the pictures.

New Shoes

So, today my wheels and tires came in, so I dropped the truck off at the shop to get stuff done while I was at work. The wheels came from Red Arrow and are a 16x8 on a 6x5.5 pattern, so I also put on some adapters from 4x4 Parts. The staff there was incredibly helpful, especially when I accidentally ordered spacers instead of adapters. Realizing my mistake, I called in and they were quick on the turn-around to get the adapters to me on-time for the installation.

Rounding out the Red Arrows were a set of Mickey Thompson Baja MTZs in the 265/75-R16's, and some trimming had to be done to get the fit to work without rubbing. Some of that was done by removing the plastic trim and the mud-flaps up front, as well as a little trimming and pulling back the fairing inside the wheel-well to get it out of the way, but the boys at the shop did a wonderful job. Most of what had to be trimmed will become moot once my Shrockworks bumper gets installed anyway.

Unfortunately, the 5th wheel is still at the shop (all 5 match, yo) since they could only get 4 of the 5 Mickeys in on time. It'll be on tomorrow and go on the Tiregate installed last night. I'll take my current under-the-bed spare and swap it over onto a 6x5.5 standard spare steel wheel and that'll give me a set of 4+2, which is comfortable for me and some of the field work I do with the truck, and some of the longer excursions to the middle of nowhere I plan on doing once school is done and I only have to focus on work (not the current Full-Time Work+Full-Time Student combo, yeesh).

The truck has a wonderful stance now, the Mickeys are FAR smoother on the road than the Dakota M/Ts ever were (Knobby and aggressive without the overly loud drone) and the wheels look wonderful. Red Arrow really makes a stunning product.

Wheels and Tires are DONE

Stopped by to get the 5th Thompson wheel mounted/balanced and installed it on the Tiregate carrier. That'll take me up to 6 overall (one is still a 6x4.5, but in a pinch that spare can be placed on after removing the adapter. I'll eventually change it over to a standard steel 6x5.5 to fit the adapter bolt-pattern for a true set of 6 (2 spares).

The setup looks nice and really, I can't say enough that the Mickeys run SMOOTH compared to the old Definity Dakota M/Ts. I haven't had a chance to get the Tiregate out and up to Highway speeds to see how it handles with the tire on, but that'll change this weekend for sure.

Also, had some of the stuff that'll be going on once the Shrockworks bumper comes in, including the license plate mount to put a plate over the fairlead. They'll sit cozy until I'm ready for them.

This weekend is wiring work. Revamping the lights and putting everything through a Blue Sea Systems fuse block so it's not all running off battery terminals with in-line fuses. Pre-wiring for some lighting options I have planned, and pre-wiring for the winch. That way, everything is done once, done right, and I don't have to worry about it again.

Lightweight Work

Revamped the wiring harness and pulled everything off the battery and instead ran my current stuff through a Blue Seas fuse block. Really cleaned up the bay and cleaned up clutter from the battery terminals themselves. Just pulling all those red/black clamps off the terminals was worth that alone.

Also moved the 2 Rigid Duallys out from under the bumper and up top with some X-Clamps from Rugged Ridge. Also used the X-Clamps to put up a 6" light bar on either side of the Nissan OE roof rack. The Duallys are angled down/out for front-quarter lighting on either side, and the 6" are for outward lighting. The left sides are wired together, and the rights are wired together, giving me the option of having one side at a time lit rather than all of them at once.

After installing some Warn driving lights (they got water in them pretty quick in spite of being sealed) I had some wireless modules left over. Since I didn't want to fuss with finding a new switch spot, I wired the roof-rack side lights into the wireless boxes, so they can also be powered up remotely.

The ineffectual Warn lights got removed and replaced with some KC Daylighter 130W, spots in the middle, floods on the outside. The spots are wired together, and the floods wired together, again giving me the ability to power one set at a time if I want to save on power load.

The wiring for the Rigids under the bumper remains there and is unused as of yet, but offers me a nice spot to add stuff once the Shrock bumper goes in if I so wish. Contemplating having it govern the Winch power once that's in, so I can turn it on/off rather than constant-on.



I'll get some shots at night with everything. But, for now, here's the daytime shots.

Light the Night

Here's the night-shots of the new lighting. It's pretty nice to drive down the backroads/levy with.

Intake Manifold Spacer went in today. Nice, rich blue one from XTP. I'll have to get pictures of it in later. Overall, the install went smooth, but I made it far more difficult than it needed to be. A quick run to Pep Boys for some of the essentials was fruitless, as was Lowes, and Discount, and Autozone. Home Depot finally offered up one of their sets that has sockets that are capable of fitting over numerous surfaces (not a specific E6 Torx, but they claimed it could handle it).

...let's go with 'No' on that one. In the end, I had to hammer the closest-fitting (on the tight side) socket on the stud, loosen it up, use the pliers to pull it off, and repeat for stud #2, it was a pain, and put me square at the point of no return (do or die installations are fun).

About halfway through, I found myself missing the excessively spacious engine bay on my old 1982 Datsun 280zx Turbo. Still, everything went together smooth and, after about three checks to make sure everything was plugged back in, torque-checks were solid, and hoses were in place, I took it for a quick drive around the block.

Acceleration through to 60 was smooth, idle was smooth, the truck was very responsive from a standstill and jumped right into action. I even swear it handled cruising at speeds easier than it did before, but I can't be sure and it's possible my brain was addled enough to be running off placebo effect.

Overall, very pleased.