Welcome to Botches Off-Road.
Join us as we talk about everything from gear reviews to trail stories, tent camping to
rock landing, and all things to do with the outdoors.
And again, not tank camping.
As fun as tank camping would be.
So out of all, so you're pretty tank first.
What would be your tank of choice for tank camping?
I think the Ripsaw would be kind of good.
Yeah, it has a performance there.
I think I would have to go with a classic like a T1.
They're small, they're light, they can fit through most of Michigan trails.
Yeah.
They've got pretty high clearance.
I would agree with that.
Like a smaller tank, I wouldn't go medium or large.
Yeah, no, I really think I'd have to go with an old T1.
And you know, I like my old rigs anyway.
Although the artillery tanks would be kind of dope because they got the opening and you
just got to throw a tarp over it.
Yeah, you're right.
That would be pretty sick.
I don't know, man.
Any tank with a rooftop tent on it, I am fucking down.
Rooftop tents don't, I'll say it now.
Rooftop tents don't belong on forerunners.
They belong on tanks.
Can you just imagine just putting up your hatch goes right into the rooftop tent you
put the rooftop tent up.
An up armored rooftop tent.
So that's funny.
So now you can you can get shot and everything and you're just good to go.
Oh, it'd be beautiful.
Oh, morning alarms.
Okay.
So a little weekend recap.
So I got baby birds on Friday.
We were supposed to have a Friday night work night.
Yeah, but my baby birds kept getting pushed back and then they didn't get here.
What was it like seven o'clock by the time they arrived?
I mean, it was late.
So that kind of yeah, that kind of ruined our Friday night work night.
Yeah, I also I wasn't feeling that day either.
Yeah.
So Friday night work night turned into me working alone in between baby bird checks.
I got most of the wiring done for the trailer.
Still got a little bit to do.
Still need to cut that platform and weld it on to hold the battery.
Yeah.
Though I I had an idea the other day for decking and now I don't remember what my idea was
and that really makes me upset because I'm trying to figure out a way to make it cheaper
leading up to our first trip.
Just just to have a deck on there.
Even if we did plywood would be okay.
Yeah, we just like will fit.
We'll fix it in the future.
But yeah, at least we get like a thick piece of plywood.
We should be fine.
Just something to get us through for a little bit.
Yeah, just loading a bunch of stuff on it.
Yeah, we just got to write.
Not not the the composite board, but like true plywood.
I think that we can get a four by eight sheet for a pretty decent price compared to doing
a full deck.
At least for the leather would trip.
Yeah, because we're broke boys and we keep having stuff come up that needs paid for.
Yeah, especially since I guess sleeping system now or not.
Not sleeping system, a ticket system now.
It'd be pretty sick to have it before.
Oh, hey, third gen weekend.
All third gen for runners in the Midwest.
We are having a third gen weekend, April 25th, 26th and 27th.
Come on up to Everett, Michigan.
We're going to meet at Westco in Everett around probably four or five that Friday.
And then we'll go out to a campsite and Saturday we'll do a little bit of wheeling.
I'm thinking Saturday night we'll do like a potluck dinner kind of thing.
And then Sunday we are going to convoy down to the first Rigs and Coffee for the season.
Nice.
So the first one's in April, not March.
Yeah.
Let me double check this.
I was about to say, I literally meant to look into this because the conversation was bought
up in the Rigs and Coffee chat and then I totally forgot that you will look into it.
No, I swear that the first one is the same weekend as our third gen weekend.
So I could be wrong.
Huh.
Look at that.
March 23rd.
That's coming up quick.
The second one.
Yes, it is.
Yeah.
So the second Rigs and Coffee of the season, we will convoy down for that.
But, I mean, it should be a good weekend.
Last year was pretty fun even though I broke my 4Runner on the way to the campsite.
It never went to the trails.
Never made it to a trail.
It hit a dirt road and broke.
So a 2.5 generation Tacoma was wheeling that third gen weekend.
It wasn't even a third gen Tacoma.
Like come on man.
That's what I said, a 2.5 gen rounded up.
Yeah, but it was fun last year.
We got, we'll have the third gen trophy of carnage with us this year.
You got to get your brother to weld that stuff together.
I can't believe it's been almost a year since our last third gen weekend.
Yeah, crazy.
But this one's a little bit earlier.
I think last year's was in August.
September.
Oh, September.
Okay.
So what has it been?
Yeah, we originally planned for August and then we backed it out or backed it up a little
bit or something like that.
So I guess it hasn't quite been almost a year.
No.
This one got, excuse me, this one got moved up because one of the core botches third gens,
he's going to be deployed with the Navy.
So we're doing it a little bit earlier than normal.
It shouldn't be too cold, but it'll be definitely cooler than normal.
A normal third gen weekend anyway.
And I plan on sleeping in my newly rediscovered army tent that apparently I've had this whole
time.
It's a super sick single person.
It's not really a bivy tent.
No.
But still a single person tent fits on top of a cot, can be strapped to an army cot.
I mean, super sick tent.
And it gives me on either side, it's got wings that give about three foot of dry storage
for gear.
So I mean, it'll be perfect for me as an individual.
And hopefully we can get Mark one before third gen weekend.
Yeah.
I'm probably going to purchase them this week, at least through Afterpay.
Nice, nice.
Make it future Mark's problem.
I like it.
That's what I do.
Future Alex.
Oh man, he's going to hate me because I spent a lot of money on Afterpay this weekend.
Kurt Mark's trying to figure out how future Mark's going to get everything figured out
by Leatherwood, but we're getting there.
Future Alex sat down and realized he can't do half of what he wanted to do before Leatherwood.
Like the fact that the 37s will not be on the truck by Leatherwood.
Yeah.
Yeah, that's probably when we get back from Leatherwood, we'll sit down and do the tubbing
for that.
I do kind of want to put them on this weekend after we put the new springs and shocks on
the back and just see how bad they rub.
I also think we're going to ditch my spacers this weekend.
Nice.
Which have been a feature of my truck since I bought it.
And I like the stance, but I think that part of that shake I'm experiencing might be a
spacer that's starting to break down.
I can believe that.
I mean, those things are old, man, and I've put them through hell.
So I wouldn't be surprised if I've got a spacer that's on its way out.
Yeah.
Yeah, so that's kind of my weekend recap and a little bit of forward recap.
Did we talk about Rocks and Valleys?
Was that when we started recording and then screwed up and started over?
We haven't talked about it yet in this one.
Okay, okay.
So I'll let you give your weekend recap and then we'll get into all that.
So I had fun in the hockey game.
That was quite experience.
I knew that the tickets were going to be on rake level, but I didn't realize it was going
to be by the goalie in the corner.
So that's going to be way awesome.
Yeah.
I'm super jealous that your work gets tickets like that.
My work's over here like, oh, you can go to a Turkey conference and talk to other Turkey
razors.
And then Mark's works like, hey, who wants tickets to go watch hockey?
Yeah.
My mom was quite surprised by it.
She knew about the tickets, but I didn't tell her when we were going to get them or if I
was going to get them.
Gotcha.
So it was a total surprise for her.
That's awesome, man.
Yeah.
Although I failed to realize what game the theme of the game was going to be is Star
Wars night.
Oh, shit.
You could have had a lightsaber.
Oh, yeah.
You could have been wearing a freaking Jedi robe.
Yeah.
I'm going to fucking laugh.
Yeah.
So they got all the parody songs to Star Wars.
Do they still do a dog night?
I would assume they would.
Because I remember a few, like 2015, it's been years.
Yeah, I remember they they did a dog night where everyone could bring their dogs in for
a hockey game.
Mercy would absolutely hate it and Wrangler would be going ballistic the whole time.
Yeah, I can see that.
But yeah, dogs are cool, man.
Did you see the complete topic change?
I'm yeah, for the listeners, I'm very out of it today.
Did you see that forerunner that Derek Becker posted?
Yep.
Yeah, I if I had 17 grand, I would probably buy it.
It's got ADS all the way around long travel in the front.
He says long travel in the rear, but I don't know what that means because it's got a solid
rear axle.
Who knows?
But yeah, who knows what that means?
Probably extended travel of some kind, maybe extended travel shocks.
Marketing.
It is Midwest 4x4.
But man, it is so pretty.
The front two bumper on that.
I just I should have went that route instead of the bumper I've got.
Yeah.
So it's not a good.
That's not even a trail gear bumper on that white forerunner though.
Oh, it's not?
No, it's a completely different bumper.
And it's supercharged with 488.
I mean, it's it checks all my boxes for what I plan to do to mine.
And it's tubbed for 37s.
Oh, yeah.
I really didn't do it too much, but yeah.
I mean, it's got all the stuff and he's like, probably the best built forerunner in Michigan.
And I'm like, for now, for now, for now.
No, it's a beautiful build, man.
I love the I love the retro Toyota graphics on the back.
I agree with that.
I like the white.
Yeah, someday.
It's like forerunner goals, you know.
I bet you that thing fucking rips.
Probably does.
We wouldn't be surprised.
Did you see that Duncan recently bought a TRD supercharger?
I saw something about it, but I didn't look into it.
So yeah, we're going to have a supercharged third gen forerunner in the botches soon.
It is that thing's going to be on ADS shocks, too.
So he's not going to be too far away from no.
No, no.
I need to step up my game.
I'm falling behind.
I don't know, you're the pinnacle around here for a good bit.
Yeah, with my.
But I haven't done anything like all we've done is maintenance and frame repair.
I know.
Like I'm chasing my tail so bad right now.
But we'll get there.
I think we're ahead of most of it right now.
Yeah, about say for the year of building for us, because this is definitely a year of getting
our rigs built 100 percent or getting there.
Yeah, I need to.
Maybe we'll put that long travel on my forerunner and see how it is.
Yeah, because I I do have long travel and I've been kind of planning on putting it on
the chimera build, but I'd kind of like to put it on the forerunner and see how it does
daily driving wise.
Yeah, I mean, worst case, we just take it back off and put it back on the other.
Yeah, because we can put my front end on the chimera build with my gusseted knuckles and
all that.
So that builds going to be a little bit anyway.
So you try out for a month or so and see how you like it.
So yeah, that's what I'm thinking is throw it on, see how it is.
If it is OK as a daily driver with it, probably keep it.
Yeah, but if I hate it daily driving, then it's got to go.
Yeah.
And I need to I've been kind of pricing out icon shocks for the front.
I was going to try and get those before Leatherwood, but now that I'm looking at it, there ain't
no way.
Yeah, like there really ain't no way.
I've got two months.
That's fifteen hundred dollars.
I don't have right now, so how can I expect to have it in the next two months?
Yeah, but.
That's that's me too.
I think I'm going to get at least most of the navigation setup finalized.
I don't know if I'm going to get all that 100 percent, but let's get the main GPS unit
in.
I don't know, man.
I think you could easily have it all done.
Yeah, I mean, because I also got a factor in getting the winch still.
Oh, yeah, you have the winch.
Even if you just bought a cheaper tablet to use now and then.
Yeah, I could do that too, because I could send you that Samsung tablet I'm running.
That thing's fine.
I mean, I'm not it's no speed demon in it.
I just hate to buy more.
I just hate to buy another mount based off of what I could find mount wise.
Just get a cheap one off Amazon and run it for now.
I mean, it's like I said, it's not a huge and it's not like we won't use that mount
somewhere else.
Yeah, you're right.
You're right.
It could get put in the camera at some point.
Yeah, yeah.
So, I mean, we've got to use for another mount, so it's not like.
Yeah.
And then even that cheaper tablet you buy could end up in the camera at some point.
Yeah.
But because I won't be getting a new tablet before Leatherwood.
There ain't no way.
I do need to.
I just know the tablet I'm looking at is quite the pricey one.
So I'm like, I don't know if I'm going to get that one in.
It is.
And that's the one that I want.
But I do need to figure out a way to make my tablet more stable because it is driving
me absolutely nuts.
But we'll get there.
Maybe I still need to take my dash apart and hide wires.
So yeah, it's it's quite the process getting these trucks built, especially when we're
broke all the fricking time.
Also doesn't help as I blew all the good amount of money on a new bumper, but I need it.
Dude, you needed a bumper that.
Oh my God.
You didn't plan on doing that bumper, though.
No, you planned on kind of waiting a little while.
I was going to tough it out.
But after this new year, like, all right, I got to get a new bumper.
I saw a picture before the New Year's trip and your bumper was already pulled forward
before that trip.
I think it was too, but I think it just got a whole lot worse from the trip.
Yeah.
That's going to be quite the process getting that straight and back out.
Yes, that is going to be quite the process.
Because we actually you bet your frame horn, right?
So it's pretty much like the mounting surface got pulled where the bolts are at.
So I think we just got to like tap it back in somehow.
I don't know.
It's a matter of putting a wood block and just hammering back flat and then have Alan
beat around the whole thing again, like someone the welds might have broke.
Or we could get a pair of vice grips and put like a breaker bar on them and kind of
pull back on it.
Yeah.
I haven't figured out how we're going to do that yet, but we got to figure out how to
straighten it out.
Yeah, that'll be quite the process.
Yeah.
Did I tell you what my plan is for doing the 4Runner rear end swap this weekend?
No.
We're going to lift it up with the loader.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, I remember.
Do chains to the shackles on the rear bumper and just lift up and then that way we don't
have to jack it.
All right, Alan, we're going to test your welds tonight.
Let's see how screwed Alex Fram will be.
It'll be really fun getting that done.
This weekend should be a really fun weekend in general.
Yep.
And then next weekend go into rocks and valleys with MST.
Yep.
Happy birthday, Joe and happy birthday, Derek.
Yeah, I that's probably one of my favorite events they do actually.
Oh, yeah, that's a good area too.
They had a lot of stuff when we first went there.
That's a good testing for the new truck as well.
Oh, that was right after you got the new Tacoma.
Like within a couple months, right?
Weeks.
Oh, fuck.
You didn't.
You wasted no time getting that thing scratched up and dented.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
And twisties and all that.
No, it'll be a really fun trip.
But all right, man, you ready to move on to the hour?
Yeah, might as well.
All right.
Well, we will catch you guys later.
I hope that this little what ended up being a 21 minute episode is going to be decent
enough for a Friday.
So catch you later.
Later.