So you mean it attaches just infront of tailgate window? or just above bench seat? Also how do you cover up the AC lines?
Do you have any pictures by chance
CK5
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Do you have any pictures by chance
I'm curious where @AugustDiesel is going to mount that vintage air unit.
It’s been mounted since the summer sometime. Perhaps I forgot to post about it? It fit perfectly in the factory AC mounting location. One of the AC lines had to be slightly modified.
Let me dig up some pictures.
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Hmmm, okay apparently I never took pictures. But I remember why. I slammed this unit in the day before we left for our north Georgia trip in July. I’ll be doing some work in the back of the truck early tomorrow morning. I’ll get some pictures then.
Andy
Added lots of sound and heat insulation to the floors, it did pretty well on the trip to Moab in September. The vintage air unit pushes a ton of air, way better than the factory front dash unit. My system has been upgraded, so I believe that means R-134.
Ask and you shall receive.
The Vintage Air unit is exactly the same width as the factory unit, so fit perfectly on the factory crossmembers with its own brackets.
What it does not fit within is the factory shroud, so the shroud was ditched.
Which means the plumbing and wiring is all exposed. Not really a big deal but I suppose if I wanted I could fab up some kind of one off shroud. But that’s purely aesthetics.
What’s really nice is the package and size of the unit. It’s very compact and doesn’t take up a lot of space. Packs a wallop too.
Much smaller compared to the factory unit and factory shroud.
Even better, the fittings at the end of the factory lines/hoses were a perfect fit for the Vintage Air unit. Just one line had to be reshaped in order to align with the port on the VA unit.
You may notice though, that due to the location of the ports, the lines are not long enough to reach AND stay behind the hard plastic cover that hides the lines. My only problem with this is the fact that the lines have to kind of cut the top corner in order to reach, which can cause functional space issues if loading something large into the truck. Otherwise, it’s another pure aesthetics issue. I could potentially offset the VA to the passenger side to compensate, but I may have some other ideas up my sleeve too. Also, it’s totally possible to make mew lines that are long enough, I just have to figure out the right fitting sizes. The fittings in the floor manifold are not the same size as the fittings at the VA.
It has served its purpose extremely well over the last 6 months - save for that pesky Freon leak that developed during the Fall and has yet to show itself. I’ll find it soon enough.
Andy
The Vintage Air unit is exactly the same width as the factory unit, so fit perfectly on the factory crossmembers with its own brackets.
What it does not fit within is the factory shroud, so the shroud was ditched.
Which means the plumbing and wiring is all exposed. Not really a big deal but I suppose if I wanted I could fab up some kind of one off shroud. But that’s purely aesthetics.
What’s really nice is the package and size of the unit. It’s very compact and doesn’t take up a lot of space. Packs a wallop too.
Much smaller compared to the factory unit and factory shroud.
Even better, the fittings at the end of the factory lines/hoses were a perfect fit for the Vintage Air unit. Just one line had to be reshaped in order to align with the port on the VA unit.
You may notice though, that due to the location of the ports, the lines are not long enough to reach AND stay behind the hard plastic cover that hides the lines. My only problem with this is the fact that the lines have to kind of cut the top corner in order to reach, which can cause functional space issues if loading something large into the truck. Otherwise, it’s another pure aesthetics issue. I could potentially offset the VA to the passenger side to compensate, but I may have some other ideas up my sleeve too. Also, it’s totally possible to make mew lines that are long enough, I just have to figure out the right fitting sizes. The fittings in the floor manifold are not the same size as the fittings at the VA.
It has served its purpose extremely well over the last 6 months - save for that pesky Freon leak that developed during the Fall and has yet to show itself. I’ll find it soon enough.
Andy
Thank you!
That is awesome and very good information.
How were you thinking of moving it more passenger? Make a bracket to attach to bracket that it mounts on that would shift it passenger?
I’m hopein to put one in a Blazer. Did you buy other parts from VA or just all stock other than them?
That is awesome and very good information.
How were you thinking of moving it more passenger? Make a bracket to attach to bracket that it mounts on that would shift it passenger?
I’m hopein to put one in a Blazer. Did you buy other parts from VA or just all stock other than them?
Yes some kind of bracket to move it over. But I doubt I’ll do that at this stage in the game. Probably just build longer hoses.
Just the unit was from VA, and I ordered it through Summit. Summit also sells most parts to build your own hoses, but I’ve also identified a supplier more local to me and this is all they do, so it’s good to have multiple resources.
Okay, I need to get better about these trip reports, otherwise, it’ll be BB2022 before I finish!
Besides, I’ve been doing work on the truck since the trip and haven’t been documenting it while I wait to finish the trip reports, so I need to catch up on all that too.
So I’ll try and slam the rest of the trail days into this one post.
The next day, the first official trail day, was the most intense of all. Hell’s Revenge. And it really was intense for this Florida dude. I’ve done my fair share of wheeling and been in my fair share of off camber situations, but nothing like this. There just simply isn’t anything in my neck of the woods that can hold a candle to Hell’s Revenge. The entrance alone was nearly enough to cause me to tuck and run. It was a long and crazy day, and was truly a sink or swim test for both the truck and driver. I am thankful that off-road driving skill is like riding a bike, as much as I am thankful that the truck extremely exceeded my expectations on the trail. I opted out of Hell’s Gate. Simply because I didn’t think I could handle anymore than I already was. I had no doubt the truck would do just fine, it had proven itself, but I have a heart condition that I have to keep tabs on and was already maxed out by the time we got there. The Escalator and the Hot Tubs were of course never even a consideration. Even though I bypassed these iconic obstacles, I still enjoyed watching others give it their best. The exit was just as gnarly as the entrance, and the flat level ground at the bottom offered an inexplicable sigh of relief. Here is all the media I can find of the day. Not much, the day was a whirlwind and catching it was not as much of a priority as was surviving haha.
This is the entrance, perhaps someone recognizes who I’m quoting at the end lol.
View attachment C42B2223-8846-47E1-9988-55F2A7FB037B.MOV
(Ask me how I feel about Jeeps and side by sides)
Hell’s Revenge was intense, and we will certainly be back for more someday.
For Official Trail Day 2, we needed something a little more laid back, so we departed from our original sign up for Golden Spike and opted for Copper Ridge. This trail was super easy, but the day ended up being the highlight of the trip, because we got to spend the day with @ktmoutfront and the entire Offroad Design crew (save for Brandon, who was doing convertible duty on Golden Spike). It was just Wade, us, and ORD, the whole day. Dadgum awesome getting to spend time with James Watson, Miranda and Riley Watson, and Jessie and his wife. Mighty fine folks, as they would soon be proving to this goofball.
View attachment 3D28B31F-2435-47BC-BEDE-E48F0339A6B9.MOV
Besides, I’ve been doing work on the truck since the trip and haven’t been documenting it while I wait to finish the trip reports, so I need to catch up on all that too.
So I’ll try and slam the rest of the trail days into this one post.
The next day, the first official trail day, was the most intense of all. Hell’s Revenge. And it really was intense for this Florida dude. I’ve done my fair share of wheeling and been in my fair share of off camber situations, but nothing like this. There just simply isn’t anything in my neck of the woods that can hold a candle to Hell’s Revenge. The entrance alone was nearly enough to cause me to tuck and run. It was a long and crazy day, and was truly a sink or swim test for both the truck and driver. I am thankful that off-road driving skill is like riding a bike, as much as I am thankful that the truck extremely exceeded my expectations on the trail. I opted out of Hell’s Gate. Simply because I didn’t think I could handle anymore than I already was. I had no doubt the truck would do just fine, it had proven itself, but I have a heart condition that I have to keep tabs on and was already maxed out by the time we got there. The Escalator and the Hot Tubs were of course never even a consideration. Even though I bypassed these iconic obstacles, I still enjoyed watching others give it their best. The exit was just as gnarly as the entrance, and the flat level ground at the bottom offered an inexplicable sigh of relief. Here is all the media I can find of the day. Not much, the day was a whirlwind and catching it was not as much of a priority as was surviving haha.
This is the entrance, perhaps someone recognizes who I’m quoting at the end lol.
View attachment C42B2223-8846-47E1-9988-55F2A7FB037B.MOV
(Ask me how I feel about Jeeps and side by sides)
Hell’s Revenge was intense, and we will certainly be back for more someday.
For Official Trail Day 2, we needed something a little more laid back, so we departed from our original sign up for Golden Spike and opted for Copper Ridge. This trail was super easy, but the day ended up being the highlight of the trip, because we got to spend the day with @ktmoutfront and the entire Offroad Design crew (save for Brandon, who was doing convertible duty on Golden Spike). It was just Wade, us, and ORD, the whole day. Dadgum awesome getting to spend time with James Watson, Miranda and Riley Watson, and Jessie and his wife. Mighty fine folks, as they would soon be proving to this goofball.
View attachment 3D28B31F-2435-47BC-BEDE-E48F0339A6B9.MOV
And they still went right up there after I told/asked them to hang back until you came down.
I have a ton of pics of you guys that day, I'll see if I can find them.
A few more from Copper Ridge
View attachment BC5CDCF9-5B92-4A13-9B29-8DD3158191D2.MOV
Later that day/evening, Jessie and Riley invited us to ride Kane’s Creek with them since they were going to take their dogs to enjoy the water, so we tagged along, but didn’t get very far ...
This was the first difficult obstacle of the trail, and perhaps I was feeling over confident from the truck’s performance on Hell’s Revenge the day before, but instead of bypassing it like Jessie did, I decided to take it on and follow Riley in the Cheap Truck. He plowed right through it, but I took a slower approach, which proved to be fatal.
View attachment DD5B7239-43B8-4CFF-A920-329CF4E8B021.MOV
The ravine was a steep decline followed by an immediate steep incline. Riley knocked it out of the park because he kept the throttle going. As you can see in the video, I stopped at the bottom before I began my climb, and subsequently got hung up on both ends, and all four tires were spinning.
A quick placement of a large rock to gain traction, just as Jessie was positioning to winch, and the truck drove right out.
View attachment E268C560-21E5-4796-872C-2FA5A27E141C.MOV
Wish it was that simple. Well it was, but while hanging there, the helicoils I had used in the transmission tail failed (yeah, I know, bad place to use helicoils) and the the transmission adapter started pulling out of the transmission, and tranny fluid was dumping everywhere.
This is where ORD started showing us that the quality in their parts begins with quality in their people. Jessie, Riley, and I got right to work and cranked on the adapter bolts to try to pull it back to the trans, but the helicoils were badly damaged and not much was happening. So Jessie donated his ratchet strap, wrapped it around the magnum 205, hooked the other end to the engine crossmember, and cranked it down as tight as he could, to keep the adapter from separating any further. We then pulled the front driveshaft to remove any pressure it may be putting on the tcase, and we turned around and high-tailed it out of there.
We crossed the ravine again, this time taking the bypass, and I led the way out of there so that if I had any further failure getting off the trail, they would be there to save the day
It was, to be honest, a really great experience. Seeing great people demonstrate their quality is something of a rarity these days, and it is forever appreciated. I felt bad, and still feel bad, for messing up their plans to take their dogs to the water, but I am sure thankful for their presence and quick work to get us back to camp.
The plan was to get to the trail head, and then Riley or Jessie was going to tow me back to camp, but the truck did fine getting off the trail, and we figured it best to just give it a go and beat it back, so the truck limped the whole way.
There’s a lot to appreciate about Moab, but there’s something about this picture that just captures so much, knowing that the truck is climbing up this grade, in two-wheel-drive, with a separating drivetrain, racing against the sun as it sets behind the mountains, my family in tow, brings back indescribable emotions.
Until next time folks. The rest of this saga, and the quality of the experience with Offroad Design just gets better from here.
Andy
View attachment BC5CDCF9-5B92-4A13-9B29-8DD3158191D2.MOV
Later that day/evening, Jessie and Riley invited us to ride Kane’s Creek with them since they were going to take their dogs to enjoy the water, so we tagged along, but didn’t get very far ...
This was the first difficult obstacle of the trail, and perhaps I was feeling over confident from the truck’s performance on Hell’s Revenge the day before, but instead of bypassing it like Jessie did, I decided to take it on and follow Riley in the Cheap Truck. He plowed right through it, but I took a slower approach, which proved to be fatal.
View attachment DD5B7239-43B8-4CFF-A920-329CF4E8B021.MOV
The ravine was a steep decline followed by an immediate steep incline. Riley knocked it out of the park because he kept the throttle going. As you can see in the video, I stopped at the bottom before I began my climb, and subsequently got hung up on both ends, and all four tires were spinning.
A quick placement of a large rock to gain traction, just as Jessie was positioning to winch, and the truck drove right out.
View attachment E268C560-21E5-4796-872C-2FA5A27E141C.MOV
Wish it was that simple. Well it was, but while hanging there, the helicoils I had used in the transmission tail failed (yeah, I know, bad place to use helicoils) and the the transmission adapter started pulling out of the transmission, and tranny fluid was dumping everywhere.
This is where ORD started showing us that the quality in their parts begins with quality in their people. Jessie, Riley, and I got right to work and cranked on the adapter bolts to try to pull it back to the trans, but the helicoils were badly damaged and not much was happening. So Jessie donated his ratchet strap, wrapped it around the magnum 205, hooked the other end to the engine crossmember, and cranked it down as tight as he could, to keep the adapter from separating any further. We then pulled the front driveshaft to remove any pressure it may be putting on the tcase, and we turned around and high-tailed it out of there.
We crossed the ravine again, this time taking the bypass, and I led the way out of there so that if I had any further failure getting off the trail, they would be there to save the day
It was, to be honest, a really great experience. Seeing great people demonstrate their quality is something of a rarity these days, and it is forever appreciated. I felt bad, and still feel bad, for messing up their plans to take their dogs to the water, but I am sure thankful for their presence and quick work to get us back to camp.
The plan was to get to the trail head, and then Riley or Jessie was going to tow me back to camp, but the truck did fine getting off the trail, and we figured it best to just give it a go and beat it back, so the truck limped the whole way.
There’s a lot to appreciate about Moab, but there’s something about this picture that just captures so much, knowing that the truck is climbing up this grade, in two-wheel-drive, with a separating drivetrain, racing against the sun as it sets behind the mountains, my family in tow, brings back indescribable emotions.
Until next time folks. The rest of this saga, and the quality of the experience with Offroad Design just gets better from here.
Andy
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Dude that was the worst. Petrified is probably the best way to describe how we felt in that moment, haha. I couldn’t see forward, couldn’t move, punks on either side of me, and people coming up behind me. But we made it, and I appreciate you hanging back until we got off that rock.
Pictures are always appreciated!
Thought it was just my lack of new site prowess.
I see pics.
Not sure what’s going on. I can see them. Am guessing @Capt Ron can also?
I even followed the instructions!
I see 5. But there are more I don’t see. Kinda curious because I know @ktmoutfront is using a different device than me
carry on!
In each of the 2 posts I maxed out the 20-file limit, so you should be able to much more than 5. I even uploaded videos!
Excellent story. Great pics. Thanks for sharing!
I can hear the videos, nothing to watch though.
