Well, I thought I would join the rest and share my modifications and additions so far and as I go along. I am always open to suggestions, recommendations, telling me what I have won't work on the trail and so on. My objective is riding normal with no intentional mud and rocks. This will be used for work also, so I need to maintain reliability.
First thing I did was add two side view mirrors. They are "ok" I believe they will hold position but the view is somewhat distorted. I do have a rear view mirror on the way after deciding on what I wanted. It is an actual glass mirror.
Second thing I did was mount my Tuff Box for tools and spare parts. I had to put the 2x6 behind it so the lid could open. It is mounted with bolts back and bottom.
Next mod shown partly above and below is creating a storage compartment that can also doubles as a temporary rear seat. All the wood can be quickly removed by one person by hand if needed. I can raise the lids and pull out the front 2x10 and access the Tuff Box latches. The cooler is a near perfect fit with a little gun case foam taking up the extra space. It fits tight and shouldn't rattle.
So far I have nothing in this as everything pictured was already on hand. After figuring out this would work I decided to buy some $1 hinges at Harbor Freight and a magnet from Home Depot. The small silver magnet is too weak but the red one is not and will work perfect. I removed the smaller one.
I'm going to ride it a few times and see how things work out. If it's all good I'll pull all the wood and paint it with a texturized black.
Foam between the cooler and bed. More than likely I'll add the exact same cooler to the other side. The Igloos work great for a day trip. If you spend a night you might want something a little better.
Next I painted the Honda logo on the tailgate. I created a few light gray spots getting the excess paint off. I need to fix this, open to suggestions.
Next, I mounted the Badlands 5000 winch with that crappy KFI mount. The blue and yellow winch wires were just long enough. I had to drill two new holes in the bumper to mount the fairlead. I mounted it low as I could go to decrease the pulling angle.
Just showing how I routed my wires.
I feel really confident they will never get snagged on anything.
Here I am trying to show were I tied the blue wire to the grill (top left). There's no way the blue wire can make it even close to the radiator.
Only had to drill one hole for the yellow wire. The hood has no problem closing. Right now, I'm waiting on my second battery and isolator kit before hooking up to the battery. And I know what you are thinking and yes it would be hilarious as hell if the winch didn't work.
Next I installed the underseat storage and the under dash storage compartments. Also shown is a nice DC socket splitter with two usb ports and a voltage meter. BTW, those THOR gloves are over 20 years old and still going strong. I have had to sew the seams in a few places but for wear, no holes yet..
At some point I removed the cup holder and cut off the tabs so my RTIC cup would fit. Also, my name has been on that cup for a long time. No, i'm not narcissistic, autistic or any other statistic. 😆
Last thing I did was mount my PBR plate with the push pins, RAM mount for the OnePlus phone and the winch rocker. At some point the RAM mount may get relocated if I get a bluetooth controller for speakers.
Extra credit, my custom DeWalt radio (side kick). With the larger battery starting with a full change it will run over 13 hours straight on half volume. After 13 hours I turned it off so I know it will go longer. Of course this isn't permanent and on a ride with others I'd probably never bring it in this position because of the dust.
That's it for now, future mods on the wish list are a backup light, two small cube flood lights for the front and maybe a 8-12" driving/spot light bar for the front. A rooftop but it's hard to cough up $400 or more for a piece of plastic.
Let me know what yall think; I always take criticism critical...or is that constructive?? 🤣
First thing I did was add two side view mirrors. They are "ok" I believe they will hold position but the view is somewhat distorted. I do have a rear view mirror on the way after deciding on what I wanted. It is an actual glass mirror.
Second thing I did was mount my Tuff Box for tools and spare parts. I had to put the 2x6 behind it so the lid could open. It is mounted with bolts back and bottom.
Next mod shown partly above and below is creating a storage compartment that can also doubles as a temporary rear seat. All the wood can be quickly removed by one person by hand if needed. I can raise the lids and pull out the front 2x10 and access the Tuff Box latches. The cooler is a near perfect fit with a little gun case foam taking up the extra space. It fits tight and shouldn't rattle.
So far I have nothing in this as everything pictured was already on hand. After figuring out this would work I decided to buy some $1 hinges at Harbor Freight and a magnet from Home Depot. The small silver magnet is too weak but the red one is not and will work perfect. I removed the smaller one.
I'm going to ride it a few times and see how things work out. If it's all good I'll pull all the wood and paint it with a texturized black.
Foam between the cooler and bed. More than likely I'll add the exact same cooler to the other side. The Igloos work great for a day trip. If you spend a night you might want something a little better.
Next I painted the Honda logo on the tailgate. I created a few light gray spots getting the excess paint off. I need to fix this, open to suggestions.
Next, I mounted the Badlands 5000 winch with that crappy KFI mount. The blue and yellow winch wires were just long enough. I had to drill two new holes in the bumper to mount the fairlead. I mounted it low as I could go to decrease the pulling angle.
Just showing how I routed my wires.
I feel really confident they will never get snagged on anything.
Here I am trying to show were I tied the blue wire to the grill (top left). There's no way the blue wire can make it even close to the radiator.
Only had to drill one hole for the yellow wire. The hood has no problem closing. Right now, I'm waiting on my second battery and isolator kit before hooking up to the battery. And I know what you are thinking and yes it would be hilarious as hell if the winch didn't work.
Next I installed the underseat storage and the under dash storage compartments. Also shown is a nice DC socket splitter with two usb ports and a voltage meter. BTW, those THOR gloves are over 20 years old and still going strong. I have had to sew the seams in a few places but for wear, no holes yet..
At some point I removed the cup holder and cut off the tabs so my RTIC cup would fit. Also, my name has been on that cup for a long time. No, i'm not narcissistic, autistic or any other statistic. 😆
Last thing I did was mount my PBR plate with the push pins, RAM mount for the OnePlus phone and the winch rocker. At some point the RAM mount may get relocated if I get a bluetooth controller for speakers.
Extra credit, my custom DeWalt radio (side kick). With the larger battery starting with a full change it will run over 13 hours straight on half volume. After 13 hours I turned it off so I know it will go longer. Of course this isn't permanent and on a ride with others I'd probably never bring it in this position because of the dust.
That's it for now, future mods on the wish list are a backup light, two small cube flood lights for the front and maybe a 8-12" driving/spot light bar for the front. A rooftop but it's hard to cough up $400 or more for a piece of plastic.
Let me know what yall think; I always take criticism critical...or is that constructive?? 🤣
