P500 My rig build...

[Jf500]

Hey guys and gals!!
I've been poking around here soaking up the info long enough. It's time to introduce myself and start my build thread. Let's start with a little about me....
I'm 32, live in New York State not New York City haha. I come from the jeep world. I've owned 2 heavily modified Cherokees, a 94 wrangler, a 2013 wrangler, and a 59 willys fc150(look it up if you need to ask haha). So recently I traded in my 2013 wrangler for a dodge 1500. I needed more space and usability. Love my truck but this left a void in my life. That's what led me to my little 500. It's like a mini jeep. Now on to the 500.
Why did I go with the 500? Well the truck I bought is the smallest bed dodge puts on their trucks. I wanted the ability to travel with my utv without having to hook up the trailer. So I went out and measured. Just fits. Hoped mine and Hondas numbers where right and placed my order. That leads me to pickup day... Got my ramps and tried to load her up headlights front.... Wouldn't fit!! Now I'm scared. I remember seeing on here a guy said it fits better facing backwards. Let's give it a try. Just barely fits. Had to yank the ramps out from under the tires haha. The guy helping me load couldn't believe it. Here are the pics....

That's enough babbling for now. Happy to be here this is a great resource and everyone seems very pleasant here. Unlike other forums I've been a pert of.

 

[Admin]

 

[LandPioneer]

Welcome from right down here in Middle TN! Nice ride, look forward to seeing your build...

 

[JTW]

Welcome to the club!! Sounds like we have VERY similar tastes..

 

[SILVER_ALERT]

Howdy from Oklahoma, and welcome to the ultra elite P500 group of the SXS Club. Our members are traditionally smarter and better looking than the other Honda owners.
That really looks like beautiful country in the picture.

 

[drfubar]

Those pictures look familar

 

[Montecresto]

Hey guys and gals!!
I've been poking around here soaking up the info long enough. It's time to introduce myself and start my build thread. Let's start with a little about me....
I'm 32, live in New York State not New York City haha. I come from the jeep world. I've owned 2 heavily modified Cherokees, a 94 wrangler, a 2013 wrangler, and a 59 willys fc150(look it up if you need to ask haha). So recently I traded in my 2013 wrangler for a dodge 1500. I needed more space and usability. Love my truck but this left a void in my life. That's what led me to my little 500. It's like a mini jeep. Now on to the 500.
Why did I go with the 500? Well the truck I bought is the smallest bed dodge puts on their trucks. I wanted the ability to travel with my utv without having to hook up the trailer. So I went out and measured. Just fits. Hoped mine and Hondas numbers where right and placed my order. That leads me to pickup day... Got my ramps and tried to load her up headlights front.... Wouldn't fit!! Now I'm scared. I remember seeing on here a guy said it fits better facing backwards. Let's give it a try. Just barely fits. Had to yank the ramps out from under the tires haha. The guy helping me load couldn't believe it. Here are the pics....View attachment 24665View attachment 24666
That's enough babbling for now. Happy to be here this is a great resource and everyone seems very pleasant here. Unlike other forums I've been a pert of.

Welcome here Jf500. Yep, that's the best way to truck the P5, not just because it's a better fit, but also because there's more weight on the rear wheels of the P5 than there is on the front. And you can back right up to the cab without a care because the tires are first to make contact. Pulling in, one needs to be very careful or a bumper/winch hook or other that could go through the rear cab glass or bugger up the front of the truck box.

 

[ehart814]

Hey guys and gals!!
I've been poking around here soaking up the info long enough. It's time to introduce myself and start my build thread. Let's start with a little about me....
I'm 32, live in New York State not New York City haha. I come from the jeep world. I've owned 2 heavily modified Cherokees, a 94 wrangler, a 2013 wrangler, and a 59 willys fc150(look it up if you need to ask haha). So recently I traded in my 2013 wrangler for a dodge 1500. I needed more space and usability. Love my truck but this left a void in my life. That's what led me to my little 500. It's like a mini jeep. Now on to the 500.
Why did I go with the 500? Well the truck I bought is the smallest bed dodge puts on their trucks. I wanted the ability to travel with my utv without having to hook up the trailer. So I went out and measured. Just fits. Hoped mine and Hondas numbers where right and placed my order. That leads me to pickup day... Got my ramps and tried to load her up headlights front.... Wouldn't fit!! Now I'm scared. I remember seeing on here a guy said it fits better facing backwards. Let's give it a try. Just barely fits. Had to yank the ramps out from under the tires haha. The guy helping me load couldn't believe it. Here are the pics....View attachment 24665View attachment 24666
That's enough babbling for now. Happy to be here this is a great resource and everyone seems very pleasant here. Unlike other forums I've been a pert of.

That is awesome! I have the same truck.... I've never even tried putting it in the bed yet. Where did you get those tailgate supports??

 

[Jshell3]

Those pictures look familar

How's that?

 

[drfubar]

Seen them before on another thread I thought

 

[drfubar]

Welcome from S.E. Tennessee

 

[JTW]

Seen them before on another thread I thought

You did.. surely we're both not losing it!!

 

[drfubar]

You did.. surely we're both not losing it!!

Thank you @JTW, I knew I wasn't losing my mind

 

[HUCK]

Hey guys and gals!!
I've been poking around here soaking up the info long enough. It's time to introduce myself and start my build thread. Let's start with a little about me....
I'm 32, live in New York State not New York City haha. I come from the jeep world. I've owned 2 heavily modified Cherokees, a 94 wrangler, a 2013 wrangler, and a 59 willys fc150(look it up if you need to ask haha). So recently I traded in my 2013 wrangler for a dodge 1500. I needed more space and usability. Love my truck but this left a void in my life. That's what led me to my little 500. It's like a mini jeep. Now on to the 500.
Why did I go with the 500? Well the truck I bought is the smallest bed dodge puts on their trucks. I wanted the ability to travel with my utv without having to hook up the trailer. So I went out and measured. Just fits. Hoped mine and Hondas numbers where right and placed my order. That leads me to pickup day... Got my ramps and tried to load her up headlights front.... Wouldn't fit!! Now I'm scared. I remember seeing on here a guy said it fits better facing backwards. Let's give it a try. Just barely fits. Had to yank the ramps out from under the tires haha. The guy helping me load couldn't believe it. Here are the pics....View attachment 24665View attachment 24666
That's enough babbling for now. Happy to be here this is a great resource and everyone seems very pleasant here. Unlike other forums I've been a pert of.

Helpin ya out . Put a short 2x4 on the tail gate for your front tires to sit on . Makes it perfect to get your ramps back under the tires when your ready to unload . I have to do that on my RZR for the same reason . Looks great and welcome to the forum !

 

[Jf500]

Thanks for all the warm welcomes guys!!

 

[Jf500]

That is awesome! I have the same truck.... I've never even tried putting it in the bed yet. Where did you get those tailgate supports??

Dg manufacturing. Do a google search for tailgate supports they will come up. I def feel safer using those then depending on the tiny cable.

 

[Jf500]

Thank you @JTW, I knew I wasn't losing my mind

Yeah I recycled a few pics. You guys aren't crazy. Well at least you aren't crazy for thinking you saw the pictures before, I don't know you guys that well yet haha

 

[Jf500]

Helpin ya out . Put a short 2x4 on the tail gate for your front tires to sit on . Makes it perfect to get your ramps back under the tires when your ready to unload . I have to do that on my RZR for the same reason . Looks great and welcome to the forum !

Thanks for the info will def have to give it a try.

 

[Jf500]

Now with all the intro and welcomes out of the way.. I'm going to describe my intent for this thread. Obviously I'll be documenting my build here, but I'm also going to use this as a review and reasoning for everything I add to the 500 in high detail. I want to get a few more miles/hrs under my belt with it before I give my first impressions. I will say it is happy here with its nice little home....

I've cut some trails around my hunting area behind my house. I'll be taking some trail pics and videos at some point. I'll be taking it out this weekend for its first hunting trip.

 

[Jf500]

Alright guys, it's time for my first impressions....
This machine is true Honda through and through!! It's like the little engine that could, it never stops trying!! That being said....
I think that this rig would be amazing with a few tweaks. First off, the tires that come with it are ok. Probably above average for stock tires. I feel like an upgrade on tires would do tremendous things for this little machine. I will be investigating tires at some point. Which leads me to my next observation... It is a little tippy. Not to a point where I'm afraid but you can't shift your weight in this thing as easily as you could on a quad. So when I start to look at tires I want to keep that and fitting in my truck in mind. But that's for another day.
I took it hunting the other day and storage is definitely another issue which I think can be solved with a little creativity. Here's where I had all my stuff.....

My bow and quiver kept falling in my lap. I definitely need to find a solution for that. But overall I am in love with this machine, it will definitely fill the void selling my jeep left. My next post will be about my first mod which showed up today!!

 

[Jf500]

So while checking my trail cams last week in the rain I got soaked. Which inspired my first mod to my 500... A roof. I know it's not exciting and everyone has seen them but I'm going to give my experience with it....
Got home today to a huge box fedex dropped off....

Don't mind my dog he loves "man sh!t" haha.
FedEx didn't damage the box too bad but there were a few holes that I was worried about losing hardware. Come to find when I opened the box....

There is no hardware!! Everything is installed and ready to go!! A plus in my book. Got it all unwrapped and it looks good....

The clamp system Honda uses is great! Honda engineers usually know what they are doing!

This top was very easy to install. It took me all of 10 min if that. Lay it on top of the 500, open all the clamps, adjust, insert rubber pucks, close and done!! Here is the final results....

It def adds height to the rig, but I'm ok with that. I like the styling and the fit. It's made by Honda so it fits perfect. It also nice how easy it is to remove and install. I bet I could get the top off in under two minutes. I'm happy with my first mod and being a little dryer on wet days. Will be searching for my next mod....