What did you do to your SMB today?

[1der]

I see you used the shark bite fittings - I am getting ready to redo our build and was wondering what the best fittings are. What is the opinion around shark bite vs the crimp collars?

[DesertSMB]

BrianW,


If you decide to do this I can give you a list of parts I used. I bought from Lowes, Amazon and of all places MoreBeer.com for the quick connect.


Chris

[DesertSMB]

My tires are LT285/70R17 Load Range E BF Goodrich KO2s. They weigh just shy of 60 lbs each. I don't know the weight of my rims but estimate somewhere around 25 lbs so the combination comes in around 85-90 lbs. We have an Aluminess rear spare tire rack and an Aluminess roof rack. We have a fixed top SMB. We keep a spare top side in addition to the one on the back rack. A few trips ago we had to change a tire and the wife and I just barely were able to get the tire back up on the rack. Therefore, I've decided to do something about this. I've designed two spare tire davits which combined with a light block and tackle will enable me to get the spare tires off and back on with ease. They each break down to their sub components and are held together by 5/16 inch pins. The top one will be stored up on the rack using some aluminum brackets and the same pins used to hold it in place when in use. After I get them welded up I'm going to have them galvanized. The bottom one makes use of 3/4 inch square tubing with 1/8 wall thickness. The main beam on the top uses 1 inch square tubing with 1/8 wall thickness. The support legs are the same tubing as the lower davit. And if you have any questions about the strength I have run a Finite Element Analysis (FEM) of both designs. I have most of the parts necessary to put them together and just need to purchase the tubing. I'll post more later when I start to build them.

[DesertSMB]

Originally Posted by 1der

I see you used the shark bite fittings - I am getting ready to redo our build and was wondering what the best fittings are. What is the opinion around shark bite vs the crimp collars?

Ray,

If I was going to do a complete rebuild I would probably pop for a good crimp tool and use the crimp collars. For a small project like this the shark bite are nice but they are rather expensive and kind of bulky. When I got the van I installed a water filter and used a shark bite T. For the number of connections in a complete rebuild the cost would be prohibitive I think.

Chris

[JWA]

Originally Posted by 1der

I see you used the shark bite fittings - I am getting ready to redo our build and was wondering what the best fittings are. What is the opinion around shark bite vs the crimp collars?

The Shark Bite connectors are UL approved for use behind finished dry wall---I think that's almost a ringing endorsement for their utility.

Naturally keep one of the Shark Bite release tools, or one for inside your new build and one stowed around the house too.

[arctictraveller]

Originally Posted by 1der

What is the opinion around shark bite vs the crimp collars?

Ray, I have extensive experience using Sharkbite's in the marine industry and I found them to be very easy to use, even in tight spaces, and super quick to connect \ disconnect, but quite expensive. If money were not a huge object, I'd use them exclusively.

[Charliesmom]

I installed a GP Maxtrax Spare Tire Mounting kit to mount my Maxtrax recovery boards. Still waiting for the Maxtrax
Pandemic?

[gahamby]

I installed a Scan Gauge II. Velcroed to the top of the dash just under the A pillar.

[plaurie]

Isever, Look into an ARB Tire Plug Kit. It has saved my bacon numorous times in some nasty hard core off roading situations. While certainly not a replacement for a spare tire I have seen plugs in sidewalls bigger than my fist. Cheap insurance for the unknown. Remeber, Luck Favors The Prepared

[TritonTamer]

Originally Posted by JonBertsch

I put in new Bilstein rear shocks in Feb and have done 1500-2000 miles on them. There is much less bounce on bumps and other highway obstacles. Off road they seem to be fine.



Somehow I had managed to blow the Fox shocks that were on the rig when I purchased it - inspect the van after each trip and noticed grease had been blow around the back axle area so had my shop check everything.



Can't tell what caused the old shocks to fail - I was on some serious washboard roads in Utah last Oct, but nothing very challenging after that and the failure seemed to happen on a 99% paved surface trip.


Anyway the Bilstein shocks work well.


Jon

Jon - where'd you get your Bilstein shocks from? I'm having a tough time finding some locally in stock.