P1000 P1K5Dave's 1000-5 Build

[P1K5Dave]

I went back in and did more digging on my brake pads and their numbers.

I don't know what was on my machine when I got it at 2500 miles. But since then, I've put on:

Niche semi-metallic ($42): Ran 2250 miles. Rear were metal-on-metal, front were about half worn.
Niche semi-metallic again ($42): Ran 1920 miles and changed them out. Rears were on squealers but had pad left, fronts were in good shape, changed them out anyway.
Ransoto sintered metal ($65) - Ran 1520 miles, rear pads were completely shot and fronts were maybe 60-70% wear.

So I was thinking, the full sintered metal pads didn't last as long as the semi-metallics? Went back to the fascist Amazon page and found that they 100% guaranteed them for 6 months. I let them know that they didn't last as long as the competitors semi-metallics. Let's see how they respond...

<edit>well, they refunded my money! I'll take it...

 

[P1K5Dave]

I replaced an upper ball joint in my almost new TTC arm kit last week, when I replaced that broken axle.

If you look at my hub here, where the upper ball joint goes into the tapered hole, you can see a depression where the joint itself was wearing into the hub.

With the style of ball joints the TTC kit uses (they're tie rod ends from 1-ton pickup trucks *correction Apr 2022 - they're standard car tie rod ends on the uppers, apparently. The big truck joints are in the lowers*) the whole joint is protected by a simple rubber boot surrounding the joint and its mounting place. Since this one was pinching into the hub, it destroyed that boot in short order, allowing it to constantly flush out the grease with water. Within 1500 miles, the joint had gotten sloppy.

I contacted Jared at TTC via email about this, and he responded immediately to talk via phone.

I speculated that the "ball joint" had a too-small tapered shaft, allowing it to sink too far into the hub, closing the gap that should've been there. He agreed that was likely the problem, and went on to explain that due to COVID-1984, he's been forced to find alternate suppliers for these parts. The ones I got with my kit were "cheap ones" with no grease zerks to keep them lubed.

As much as I've mentioned how much I appreciate Jared and his customer service, I"m a bit disappointed that I paid full price for "cheap" parts and have spent another $100 upgrading the s***ty upper ball joints shipped with it. (I broke the rubber boot on the other one in installation.)

I upgraded both times to AutoZone Duralast lifetime warranty joints that have grease zerks in them. He mentioned that he usually ships ones with zerks.

These "ball joints," in general, are a bit of concern for me. While they're easier to swap out (thread in vs. press in) I don't think these boots are up to the task of keeping the joint protected. At least now I have zerks on all four uppers and lowers, so I can schedule them for a regular shot with the grease gun. I'll keep this thread up to date on this concern.

 

[P1K5Dave]

Here's a pic of the AutoZone replacement "ball joint" (tie rod end) that he uses on the TTC arms so you know what I"m talking about. The grease zerk comes uninstalled and is not pictured.

 

[P1K5Dave]

I've been slacking on the spending lately, so I've got some upgrades coming in this week.

I'm really excited about the VisionX Light Cannons on the way. I found a pair of the 6.7" Cannons used on ebay. These things go for over a grand a pair new, and this guy has a set he took off a truck he sold for $500.

They are going to throw some serious light out there past my current spot/flood setup for excellent long-view lighting. I'll get pics up after they're in.

6.7" CG2 Single LED Light Cannon Kit

The CG2 Light Cannon Series is our most powerful & versatile off-road LED lighting system. From 3.0" to 8.7" sizes, each light is available in a Single-LED Long Distance Beam or a Multi-LED Full Beam version to shine the light exactly where you need it. Each CG2 is equipped with ultra-bright...

visionxoffroad.com

Also have the Honda rear bumper on the way, and since it looks like I'll need to take the back doors off to install it, I'm going to go ahead and put the RB3 bushings in all around.

 

[P1K5Dave]

We're talking 8,000 lumens shining out there 3,000 feet boys.

 

[mlynch001]

21 Amps for the pair @ 12V? You better have some good heavy wire, switches and relays. Those things put out a lot of light and pull a lot of current.

 

[P1K5Dave]

21 Amps for the pair @ 12V? You better have some good heavy wire, switches and relays. Those things put out a lot of light and pull a lot of current.

It's 11.67 amps @ 12V for the pair, I know the specs can be a bit confusing. Check out a single one and you'll see it at 5.8.

They come with the wiring and relays, which I'm figuring should be good. Going to use a switch pros switch.

I actually haven't done all of the math yet to calculate all of my draw together, I'll be working on that. I do have a dual battery and isolator.

 

[mlynch001]

Not confusing at all. The model that I looked up draws 10.6 per single unit. So you must have bought a different model than the one that I looked up. From the VisionX website:

 

[P1K5Dave]

See the one I linked to above. It'll show you the specs for a pair of the single LED cannons. You're looking at the multi LED

 

[mlynch001]

You must have got this one? Or another single LED model? This would make more sense on a vehicle with limited Alternator output.

 

[mlynch001]

See the one I linked to above. It'll show you the specs for a pair of the single LED cannons. You're looking at the multi LED

Dave,

Yep, I think I found the one you are using or at least similar. 11 amps is a more reasonable current draw. 8000 raw lumens for the pair. 5600 effective lumens for the pair. Should give some good light downrange.

 

[P1K5Dave]

Got the VisionX 6.7" Light Cannons mounted up the other night. Here's a few pics I snapped at night. The cannons are mounted wide on the bumper:

 

[P1K5Dave]

Gotta come back and 'fess up, the 6.7" cannons are a bit much for my system, as configured. Everything that isn't stock to a Pioneer is running off my Mighty Max battery, isolated from the rest of the electronics.

If I run the cannons for more than a minute or so, my stereo starts to fade and reboot due to a lack of power from the battery.

Time to do some math and design considerations...keep or downsize...we'll see.

The long beam on these things is incredible, though. It's so concentrated in a tight spot that I would find it necessary to add some filters to change the spread. But now to find out if it's stay-or-go for them power-wise first.

4/23/22 Edit - I have some time in using the cannons now, and it's not too much. Read a following post...

 

[P1K5Dave]

I did buy the Honda rear bumper and RB3 door bushings recently, but didn't get them on before Winter storage. Next Spring...

Oh, and side note: Put her away at 9,996 miles. 10K next time out!

 

[P1K5Dave]

Alright, let's talk lighting.

First of all, to correct my earlier post about the cannons being too much for my system. The correct statement is:

Running the Cannons and the Overhead Lights at the same time is too much for my system.

It took a little testing and monitoring to figure out my new configuration, but it's now dialed in and working perfectly.

The first thing I want to highlight is why I bought these cannons in the first place. My riding environment is diverse. Most of the time, I'm out in the forest on tighter trails. With the overhead lights, my light has been fantastic in that scenario. But here and there, I'm out on a long flat trail (or back road) where I think "I'd like to see better waaay down there..."

That's why I wanted the cannons. The earlier error I made was trying to run the cannons in addition to my other lights. That's a no-go. The overhead light and the cannons draw 10-12 amps per set. That's no big deal when it's one or the other (most of your 52" light bars are going to draw about the same) but you can't run both. The fact is, however, I don't need to run both.

You can think of my overhead / cannon choice kind of like low / high beams on steroids. The overhead lights are perfect on the trails and in the woods, the cannons kill it out on the long/flat view.

Pics to follow.

 

[P1K5Dave]

The lighting inventory on my Pioneer 1000 is now as follows:

• Driving Lights
  • Standard Honda LED headlamps
  • Xprite LED side mirrors
  • Alpena 15" 2-row LED Light bar (front bull bar mounted)
  • 80W combined (8 x 10W) CREE LED spot/floods overhead (built in to Audioformz roof)
  • 140W combined (2 x 70W) VisionX 6.7" light cannons
    • Clear Euro lenses
    • Blue Euro lenses+
• Other Lights
  • Left / Right side LED flood / work lights
  • Audioformz roof lighting
    • Cabin lighting
    • Reverse lighting

 

[P1K5Dave]

Before I get to the cannons, here's what I did over the last three days:

The Audioformz roof has four switches built in.

1. Overhead spot / flood light
2. Radio
3. Cabin Lights
4. Reverse Lights

I didn't like having my radio on a switch, since the roof is already wired to my AUX panel that gets its power when I throw the AUX/IGN switch. So I bridged its connection so that as soon as I provide power to the panel, the radio has power.

I also didn't like having some of my driving light switches on the dash panel, and one up on the overhead panel. So I moved the overhead light switch down to the dash with the rest of my switches.

That left two unused switches on the Audioformz roof switch panel. Perfect opportunity to install left and right side flood / work lights. Got those installed today and wired into those switches.

I replaced all of the stock switches from my lighting and winch with Carling V-series switches. This is a pic I took the night before I got the winch switch in:

 

[P1K5Dave]

And here's the result. Mind you, it's hard to truly get the difference in a picture, but it's at least a peek.

Honda LED Headlights:

Xprite Side Mirror LEDs

15" generic light bar mounted on front bumper:

Now the bigger lights, starting with the Overhead lights built into my roof:

And then the Light Cannons with the clear Euro lenses on them:

And just for the fun of it, the cannons with no lenses. They're a 10 degree spot, and getting them lined up to look exactly straight ahead is a bit of a challenge, but I'm not planning on running them this way anyway:

 

[P1K5Dave]

Here's a view out the driver's side of my machine. With just the headlights, it was basically black with the camera.

The Xprite side mirror LED's cast a little light off to the side. They provide a nice wide-view out front, and add a little off to the side:

But the new side-mounted floods really make it nice for doing work alongside the machine:

 

[P1K5Dave]

Some numbers from my AUX battery's voltmeter:

8x 10W overhead spot/flood running alone: 13.8V

• Add mirror lights for better wide-lighting: 13.7V

Light Cannons (2x 70W) alone: 13.5V

• Add mirror lights: 13.3V