It was absolutely horrible. Interesting thing is that the other three pads (I only did the fronts) were just fine…worn but nowhere even close to this metal-on-metal situation. This was for a VW and I went with Zimmermann rotors and TRW Ultra pads. Could not be happier with the result.
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Attempt #3 of trying to keep the rear brake light and dome light working. After this, if it fails I’ll need to replaced the brake light because I’m out of wire to solder to. Seems like for me the way I have it set up, the constant opening/closing of the door is no match for the 20ga wire. Next go around I’m going to re-route the wiring to the door and see if that is better.
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What a bummer! I’ve ran out of wire to solder to before and its no bueno
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I’m having the same issue with brake light, haven’t tried sodering yet. Did GFC have any suggestions?
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I haven’t actually reached out to them. I replaced all the wiring that they did because I already had power run from my topper for a dome light and brake light. From what I can see the gauge of that wire coming out of the brake light is SO small that it just can’t keep up to the constant bending. Same with the dome light, which is about the same quality of Amazon junk. At list with the dome light I can pull it apart and re-solder a bigger gauge wire out of it.
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That was totally my plan this go around, but I didn’t have enough Anderson Power Pole connectors 
The other thing I was thinking of doing was putting in a door switch that would turn that dome light on as soon as you open the door.
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Learned a valuable lesson yesterday morning. Thought I would take advantage of the empty rec site and wind my winch under truck tension. At the time, I totally forgot I had my 40A DC to DC charger turned on…
Needless to say, pulling 35A to charge the battery, whatever current required to run the truck, and an 8k winch trying to pull a fully loaded Ram 1500 is more than 100A DC 
Pro-tip, carry spare fuses and don’t be charging your battery at the same time of winching. Time to research the full capacity of the trucks alternator.
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So this is between your truck battery and the second solar?
I have a winch, but have only used it once or twice. I know my stock alternator is 130A. And my ANL fuse between the truck battery and DCDC charge is 30A.
Would it be best to disconnect that before winching?
Yeah this is the aux feed to my winch, dc charger, and ditch lights. My dc charger is key triggered, but I have a switch to turn it off. The day prior I was changing camps in the rain so no sun for the solar. I kicked in the charger and totally forgot.
Then in the morning when I hopped in I didn’t even think about it, but the switch was still on. The alternator is 220amps so I should be good there at least. But learned quickly that even though the 8k winch was a screaming deal. I wouldn’t count on it getting me out without some mechanical advantage like a 2:1.
I have a 100a and replaced it with a 150.
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The last purchase that influenced the spending freeze, Starlink RV. In my current role all I need (like many) is internet to do my job. So gonna try this out, but I’m sceptical of it’s consistency in the central/northern interior of BC. The 30min burn it test drew about 3A or below. Service worked well in the driveway with no obstruction audit via the app. I ran it in the house on the roof for 24h with only 1min of outage time.
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Ha funny I just sent mine back as it seemed too frivolous of a purchase, and I also decided to try to stop spending. Something in the satellite signal maybe? 
. I was impressed overall though. Worked well even with some obstructions.
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I do kinda feel that too, I just hope I decide before my 30 days are up
Shameless self plug Just love this rig! It is so dialled right now, but dream of proper suspension upgrade. Heading out for 2 weeks to Revy 
Fully loaded up, only things missing are the bikes and the boy. Rockin’ about 55lbs in the air bags.
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On my two week adventure we put the set up through the paces. Rattled a few bolts loose on the front end, and had the Mantis Claw somehow fail randomly.
Sent in a service request, and as soon as they got to it they gave me a call. Great work @GFC ! Have a new setup coming, and return label for the one I have so they can backwards engineer what failed. That’s a commitment to a quality product
**I received all my replacement parts in 2 weeks to central BC in Canada. They sent a whole ladder, mantis claws and mounts. I’ve packaged up the old one and shipped it back to them to investigate what failed to cause it to keep coming loose. Love the commitment from the team @GFC
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No rest for the wicked. Got home from the 2 week adventure yesterday and onto the summers last project. Raptor line ‘Trigger’ along the wheel wells and rocker panels. I’ve decided to try using their Color match instead of the black two tone. Fingers crossed it’s a good match.
Here’s my slew of packages from amazon to get this going.
I needed to get a few tools which include PPE mask, sprayer, scotch bright, masking paper, 180 grit hook/loop, Air sander, tack cloth, primer, adhesion promoter. All thanks to my work ‘performance points’ got me an amazon gift card
Then I got the mud flaps, running boards, and rear bumper off. Washed the truck in the hopes of getting started tomorrow.
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Got started after work. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get the one side fully done. So will have to re-degrease tomorrow when I start back up.
That first sand is a tough one on OEM paint
Then trying to get the 1/4” tape in a nice uniform arc 
Almost ready for paint. Going to cut the masking to open the doors and mask the lower rocker inside. Then it’s go time.
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Got right back into this afternoon after work 
PAU Color code tint mixed with Tintable Raptor Liner/hardener. I saw a tip to mix it externally because the Tint, Hardener, and Raptor liner don’t all fit in the bottle. Worked great!
Sprayed 1 full bottle to do the whole side and lower kick panels inside the doors. The key is to remove the tape sooner than later. I put down a thin coat of adhesion promoter before spraying the paint. Just to be sure it sticks. I’m very happy with the results. I don’t think I have time to finish the other side this week before we go camping this weekend. So it’ll have to wait to next week
Very excited about how it turned out. Now hopefully it’s dry enough to partially close the doors for the night 
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Moved onto the drivers side today on my Raptor liner rocker panel project. Well, got the 1/4” tape on and first yesterday.
Then after work I tried to slam through getting it all done before dark. Got the truck masked and sanded by before dinner.
Then got back into it and got the body cleaned, wiped, primed, adhesive promoter and started spraying. That’s when things started going south . When I started mixing the liner, I must’ve used too much hardener on another project. So it wasn’t quite enough so I don’t think it thinned the liner out enough. Now, I cleaned my UPOL gun with thinner after the last time. So I get my paint all mixed and poured back into the bottle. Go to start spraying and nothing is coming out So as I discovered after it was slightly plugged. Anyhow, I got almost the whole truck done but ran out of paint!
Ordered more liner, tint and hardener. What’s done looks good so far.
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What did ya use to mount the shovel?
Quick Fist’s then got a longer bolt from the hardware store for the t-nuts
Quick Fist Original Clamp for Mounting Tools and Equipment 1"-2-1/4" Diameter (Pack of 2) https://a.co/d/fyMeGng
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