Exterior Mods
Tires and Grill Blackout
I've knocked off the top item on the modification plan; replace the 265/75/R16s with 285/75R16s. I went with Hankook DynaPro ATM RF10s to take care of both on and off road duties.
I also blacked out the chrome grille - too much shiny for my tastes in an adventure vehicle.
Garvin Wilderness Sport Roof Rack - February 15, 2014
For our vehicle-based adventures, I considered two roof racks, a Gobi Stealth and the Garvin Sport roof rack, the latter being a third the the cost. While the Stealth would offer storage the length of the H3's greenhouse with a different construction, I'd be using a rack to stow recovery items and serve as a mount for an awning. While one of the laws of overlanding is the stuff you carry expands by 1.5 times to the available space, I won't be using the square footage of the Stealth and want to resist overloading the top of the rig.
That's why I went with the Garvin.
The rail's channel depth makes it awkward to reach the cleats with the mounting bolts. I found that if I used one bolt without the washers to thread into and pull the cleat up into position, I could easily thread the opposite bolt with washers in place, and then replace the assisting bolt with its washers and complete the mount.
I've knocked off the top item on the modification plan; replace the 265/75/R16s with 285/75R16s. I went with Hankook DynaPro ATM RF10s to take care of both on and off road duties.
I also blacked out the chrome grille - too much shiny for my tastes in an adventure vehicle.
Garvin Wilderness Sport Roof Rack - February 15, 2014
For our vehicle-based adventures, I considered two roof racks, a Gobi Stealth and the Garvin Sport roof rack, the latter being a third the the cost. While the Stealth would offer storage the length of the H3's greenhouse with a different construction, I'd be using a rack to stow recovery items and serve as a mount for an awning. While one of the laws of overlanding is the stuff you carry expands by 1.5 times to the available space, I won't be using the square footage of the Stealth and want to resist overloading the top of the rig.
That's why I went with the Garvin.
I researched to to no avail find how it mounts to an H3's existing rack system, so I thought I'd provide that illustration here.
The front of the H3's rails have a plastic cap that clips into place, finishing the line of the rail to the front of the cab. This has a tab that when compressed and lifted, the plastic insert can be removed to access the rail.
With this removed the cleats to which the feet of the Garvin rack mount to can be inserted and positioned along the track.
I left all of the hardware hand tightened on the feet to allow easier positioning and centering of the rack once all the feet were mounted into the rail.
The front of the rack is tapered and the upright stanchions are welded at diagonals to eliminate excessive wind noise cause by parallel supports.
I like the flexibility of configuring the rack to meet the needs of stowing recovery gear like a shovel, a Hi-Lift jack, TREDS, and Roto-Paxs. The channel created by the twin cross-members creates a solid mount for Grip Fists that I'll be using to stow the shovel and jack.
N-Fab Pre-Runner Grille Guard - February 22, 2014
Another lesson gleaned from adventuring in the Montero was worrying about its front-end vulnerability; there was little protection for the radiator and oil cooler. The H3 is definitely more robust, but the frame terminates at the shackles leaving everything above them at a bit of a risk.
The N-Fab guard has a stinger-like design to part away through brush and debris and it has tabs to mount auxiliary lighting upon which are mounted a pair of Hella 700ff lamps. I bounced back and forth between this design and the more conventional brush guard that integrates better into the H3's facia, but given our off-road history the N-Fab hardware will serve us better.
The guard mounts using the stock hardware that attaches the shackles to the frame. This will also serve as a foundation for a fabricated winch mount.
N-Fab Pre-Runner Grille Guard - February 22, 2014
Another lesson gleaned from adventuring in the Montero was worrying about its front-end vulnerability; there was little protection for the radiator and oil cooler. The H3 is definitely more robust, but the frame terminates at the shackles leaving everything above them at a bit of a risk.
The N-Fab guard has a stinger-like design to part away through brush and debris and it has tabs to mount auxiliary lighting upon which are mounted a pair of Hella 700ff lamps. I bounced back and forth between this design and the more conventional brush guard that integrates better into the H3's facia, but given our off-road history the N-Fab hardware will serve us better.
The guard mounts using the stock hardware that attaches the shackles to the frame. This will also serve as a foundation for a fabricated winch mount.
ARB 4' Awning
I had an Australian 60" Eezi Awn awning on the Montero that converted me to the idea, but not to the convenience since the Eezi Awn's cam system in the legs was unstable at best in calm conditions. This ARB awning solves that and other issues.
Its engineering makes it easy to deploy by one person. The construction is top notch with reinforced corners on the awning and clever plastic disk stays on the struts and legs that keep all the hardware in place until it's deployed. Stowing is a cinch in its PVC reinforced nylon bag with two d-ring velcro straps and heavy duty weather-proof zippers.
