Fox1 edition H3t, getting started buildin' her up.

[FOXedupONE]

Did the yellow Noyka 45w foglightbulbs as seen on Hunners truck and suggested by him. Stock is 37 or 32w so I found an upgraded harness to plug into just to be safe. At first the bulb did not want to go in straight and would have blinded oncoming drivers the way the bulb was sitting but after some fiddling I finally got it in there.
The H10 yellow bulb
http://www.amazon.com/Nokya-Yellow-...BIEG/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1324436187&sr=8-5
the uprated plug in harness
http://www.amazon.com/Go-Model-Plug..._4?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1324436289&sr=1-4
Before adjustment.

After adjustment. The pictures don't even pick up on how yellow these bulbs are. Besides being a great glare reducing foglight it will also help you get noticed on the roads when running with just the foglights on at dawn or dusk or in traffic and in rain. Plus I just think yellow fogs look cool.

Got the horns sprayed with some black stovepipe paint. Figured it will be pretty hot temps up there so the high temp paint wouldn't hurt.

ROCKY ROAD rock rails are here! Can't wait to get these on. Heavy suckers but guess that's a good thing for their intended purpose.

And one last beer(Estrella, my new favorite) to take it all in before I turn the lights off in the garage-mahal.

 

[Bigunit]

Nice! :cheers:

 

[FOXedupONE]

Kinda stupid as the design blocks the bulb from showing its full light but I couldn't resist ordering these up from eBay along with the smoked led front turn signals that should be here soon to get rid of all the amber.

 

[DJinCO]

The camo isn't working too well. I can still see your T.:giggle:

 

[FOXedupONE]

The camo isn't working too well. I can still see your T.:giggle:

The large expanses of white kinda gives it away, can't wait for some snow...
I see your yellow H3 really blends into terrain well also.:thumbs:

 

[FOXedupONE]

Oh yeah! My comfy rooftop bedroom has arrived. Instant camp pops up on gas struts when you undo the straps. Folds up easy in the morning. Bed stays made inside. Off the ground great weather protection, comfortable bed. Can't wait to use it. Now I need dual battery setup to run heated mattress pads or fans all night and a camp fridge perhaps music, etc...and maybe in the future mounting some solar panels on fiberglass roof of the rooftop camper for extended self sufficiency without running engine. Might be easier to just get panels that can hook up and be set up on the ground in camp when needed. We'll see want to dig around more on expeditionportal and see what others have done. Love how this camper leaves my pick up bed free for motorcycles etc...

Looks like my little one is ready for some adventures.

added tactical flag sticker.

 

[Hans3T]

That's an awesome set-up! :cheers:

 

[06 H3]

Cant see the pics

 

[ReconH3]

Me neither


"Ex Umbris Venimus"

Sent from my iPhone

 

[FOXedupONE]

Are pics visible now? I hosted them on tapatalk.

 

[Pappibri]

I have been able to see them...

 

[ReconH3]

Are pics visible now? I hosted them on tapatalk.

Now you're rockin'!




"Ex Umbris Venimus"

Sent from my iPhone

 

[ReconH3]

I really like the canopy! Is it collapsible or do you have to remove it completely? The camo wrap is awesome. You should do the whole truck.




"Ex Umbris Venimus"

Sent from my iPhone

 

[FOXedupONE]

It folds down flat for travel, and storage on the garage ceiling pulley lift. here it is mounted on the truck finally. Pics of it open on truck to follow. Time for Vday dinner out.

 

[nugget]

Might just want to check the roof loading and the weight of the unit...especially if you have 2 people as well and throw in some horizontal folk dancing , it might test the limits.

Mine failed when with in the loading limits but those load limits are tested if travelling on rough roads. Just a thought.

 

[FOXedupONE]

I have 140#'s up there, economy cars in Europe carry these on crossbars that attach to the gutters so surely a beefy hummer can handle it. But you're right about rough roads adding more stress.

With us in it is okay as the static loads on roof bars when not moving is much greater then when under way, we'll only be in it when parked.

So what is the weakness with the hummer roof mount? How did yours fail? Is it the rails in the roof that get ripped loose? I heard some mention of someone who went many miles off road with a heavy load and something about the star nuts that secure the track ripping out. Crossbars don't look to be an issue,they are much beefier then Thule or Yakima bars I even had to get special mounting hardware because hummer bars are wider then most others. But bases can be finicky and I'm never sure they are on right. When that plastic arm snaps in place seems like it could break easily, has that happened to anyone? So any tips? Is there a weakness on hummer roof carrier? Any fixes? How do gobi racks attach, to the same factory rails? How do people put so much weight and spare tires in those. Don't want to have an issue but I'd imagine issues arise after many miles of punishing off road and not taking it easy on bigger bumps.

 

[nugget]

The fixings are basically just nutserts in the roofing material. there is no re-enforcing around the head of the nutsert at all and the roof metal is wafer thin .... I think Gunner had some problems in this regard when he rented his roof to some one for the night.

Certainly I spent a lot of time off road touring on bush roads and I suspect it was going over cattle grids that caused the problem but having seen the actual design and then having to spending way too much to have it re-enforced, I would be very very cautious on how much is up there personally. What unit of measure is the 140 as I am not familiar with the unit of #

 

[FOXedupONE]

Bellow is some stuff I found from others about roofrails and the crap rivnut attachment that is used. # means pounds about 2.2pounds is 1 kilo. How did you reinforce yours? Do you have a thread about this anywhere or some pics? I'm just gonna use it and hope it will be ok for now and fix anything under warranty. I may add 2 more cross bars to spread out load more.

http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/50764-Expo-prepped-Hummer-H3T

"One thing to watch out for on the roof rails...I've had this issue (after lots of offroad washboard) and know of one other owner having it...the rivnuts that hold the roof rails in place can 'pull up' from the roof sheetmetal if you have a lot of vibration...based on your photos, it's something to keep in mind, especially with that RTT - even with 4 crossbows, the wind load up front will pull up on the front of the rails, possibly pulling the front rivnut out...if you start to hear a clicking sound above your head, that might be it coming loose...you'll need to pull off the rack and all the plastic trim to check, or just take it into a dealer since it's under warranty"

"Ran into the roof rack issue early on. Actually, I broke a foot on one of my Thule towers and tore up a few of the riv-nuts. The dealer has been great about fixing the riv-nuts and I think we have them all sorted for the moment. With the 4 crossbars the load is much more evenly balanced (it's worth noting that the riv-nuts that failed were the ones closest to each of the four towers). Hopefully it's fixed solid now. To help things along, I put a hoist for the tent in my garage and don't leave it on there when I'm not using it. If I keep having problems, might have to look at welding in some reinforcement."

 

[nugget]

I nearly died when I saw how little metal was holding the roof rack on

 

[nugget]

Used plates with nuts welded to them

The long strips were fed from a slot cut in the back of the roof so that there was steel both sides of the roof. At the front where access was difficult the smaller plates were welded top and bottom.

The plates were bolted together and then welded to dramatically increase the bearing surface.

Cheers

 

[FOXedupONE]

Thanks so much! This is great info for addressing this problem. I will look into doing this in the future so I don't have to worry. Amazing that the built this like this using attachment points on something that is expected to deal with expedition type of weight on the roof through wind loads and off road jostling and they attach the whole thing to rivnuts attached to metal no thicker then a can of soup tin. No wonder it pulled up like that on yours. Does no one else have this problem when you all put those gobi racks up there with a ton of stuff? Or are the racks mostly just used empty? Anyway glad to see a solution of placing thicker plates in there, I see you did yours after failure. What happens out on the trail when this happens? I assume all of them don't rip out at once and you may hear the load bounce a bit. How is best to secure the load to get back home? Tie down straps rigged creatively I guess?

 

[FOXedupONE]

Last question, so I see there is a long strip that is underneath that you slid in from the back (H3t might be a bit different here) then the small plates bolted and welded on top, then it looks like you covered small plates with body filler. How do the tracks then attach to the new attachment points that are covered up and does the thickness of the top plates not interfere with how the track sits in its space? I'm sure you made it work great just you may not have gotten a picture of it all buttoned back together and what hardware was finally used.

 

[nugget]

It didn't happen all at once but over a period of time. It started with a squeaking noise....nearly drove me mad trying to stop it as I thought it was something on/in a box on the roof rack and I was packing and tying and packing and more bloody tying trying to stop it. It sounded like it was coming from just above the passengers head so I was looking in that general region. I check the rack there and it was fine. It wasn't until I went to the back and saw that the rear fixing was none existent that I realised what was going on.

I have to say that it was most disappointing design feature of the H3. Having said that, most other trucks are no different although I believe that Toyota have beefed it up some of their trucks for Aussie conditions.

It is not body filler but a rust preventer. The rail and plastic cap fitted back over no problem and the rack just sat 5mm higher.

 

[FOXedupONE]

I see. Well if I hear the noise and squeaks I'll know what to suspect. Just gonna hope for the best for now with light off road use that I'll do when family camping with a baby for now anyway.

 

[nugget]

Just a thought..is the loading for a T the same as for a wagon as I would assume a T has less fixing points ?