Quote from: AutobahnSHO on April 05, 2023, 06:01:28 PM
Definitely! That's my 29er, an extra bike would be tricky, people use those tailgate mats. I laughed when I saw pickups with bike racks on the hitch, but I get it now, I might want to do that too.

ALSO, the bed is lower than most trucks, people can reach over and put things in/ take out without all the work.

Yeah, depends on the use case.  A hitch bike rack is great if you also want to use the bed space for cargo/coolers/etc. if you have multiple people, bikes, and gear, especially if you're on a multi-day trip or something.

Tailgate mats are a good middleground if it's just one or two bikes and you can use the back seat for gear and such and still have some bed space for odds and ends that are fine outside for a trip to the trail (tire pump, backpack, whatever).

Half the trucks around here drive around with tail gate mats

Quote from: CaminoRacer on April 05, 2023, 06:10:38 PM
Half the trucks around here drive around with tail gate mats

They are easier/quicker than hitch racks.  And once the bikes are off, you can still use your tailgate, so you can just leave the matt on all the time and still use your bed normally.  Great for general/daily/short-haul use.

Yeah it's too bad my list of stuff I want to get is growing faster than the checking account refills 

-hitch
-tailgate mat
-power stuff for the bed (a connector with bare wire ends comes with the truck, there is 12V already wired to the rear, even if you don't purchase the optional inverter/ power outlets)
-subwoofer
-Kia center mirror (it's like $12 and takes a few minutes to install, adds homelink, autodim, compass)
-business logos on rear window
-side turn signal lights (Ford cheaped out on that, people have 3d printed inserts that go into the trim pieces by the front door and added an LED)

Yeah, small trucks are really handy.  I can't wait for an EV to come out that's somewhere between Maverick and Tacoma in size.  That would be perfect.  Like a mini Rivian would be great.

LOL I'm a bit surprised how much smaller it ends up being compared to Odyssey. easier to load this stuff (instead of crawling inside) but I can usually fit it all behind the rear seats of Odyssey.

So Mav is pretty camouflaged- hides well with all the other boring grey vehicles. I was thinking maybe plastidip the antenna an orange or something?

Found this as I was googling "Just a quick tip, if you ever want to know if a material has an effect on RF, put a sample in the microwave oven. If it gets hot, then your answer is yes."

Mav has a whip antenna for radio?  Can replace it with a stubby at a slight detriment to reception.

But any paint that doesn't contain metal shouldn't impact reception if that's the route you wanna take.

Quote from: AutobahnSHO on April 07, 2023, 03:19:17 PM
So Mav is pretty camouflaged- hides well with all the other boring grey vehicles. I was thinking maybe plastidip the antenna an orange or something?

Found this as I was googling "Just a quick tip, if you ever want to know if a material has an effect on RF, put a sample in the microwave oven. If it gets hot, then your answer is yes."

The only reasonable answers are:

1:Paint/wrap it like Tom Cruise's helmet and/or F14 from Top Gun

2: Wrap it with the head of James Garner from Maverick (1957)

3: Replicate one of the trim/stripe packages from the 1970-1975 Maverick Grabber.

Turn it into a mural celebrating the life and times of John McCain (but skip the POW camp portion)

Quote from: giant_mtb on April 07, 2023, 06:45:38 PM
Mav has a whip antenna for radio?  Can replace it with a stubby at a slight detriment to reception.

But any paint that doesn't contain metal shouldn't impact reception if that's the route you wanna take.

It's a shark fin + stubby, in a spot that is visible in parking lots.

https://postimg.cc/v1q7nL3x

I'm thinking https://www.amazon.com/Plasti-Dip-Performix-11218-Fluid_Ounces/dp/B008PO6368/?th=1

Jack in the box antenna ball

Quote from: CaminoRacer on April 07, 2023, 08:10:09 PM
Jack in the box antenna ball

+1

Quote from: CaminoRacer on April 07, 2023, 08:10:09 PM
Jack in the box antenna ball

I literally read last night people have been stealing those. Plus those restaurants don't exist out here.

It was raining so not a great picture, took it from inside a store. Mini truck next to "full size" truck...

We took possession of Mav with 11 miles last Saturday.
Today Mav has 358 miles with 207 miles left in the tank supposedly.

Quote from: AutobahnSHO on April 08, 2023, 07:15:10 PM
We took possession of Mav with 11 miles last Saturday.
Today Mav has 358 miles with 207 miles left in the tank supposedly.

Hell yeah. I can only get a reliable 250 miles in the Taco. 275 if it's all highway. lol

Quote from: giant_mtb on April 08, 2023, 07:41:19 PM
Hell yeah. I can only get a reliable 250 miles in the Taco. 275 if it's all highway. lol

TUNDRA just hit 214 miles on its first fillup. Gauge is at 1/8.

Quote from: Eye of the Tiger on April 08, 2023, 07:45:02 PM
TUNDRA just hit 214 miles on its first fillup. Gauge is at 1/8.

Taco's tank is 21(and change) gallons. 

Mav is 13.8 gallons.

sidenote: we enjoy it as a rainy weather vehicle. Super rain yesterday/ last night, it's high up that puddles in the road aren't scary, but perfect height to get in and out without issues. 8in of clearance.

First fill-up. 13.1 gallons for 40mpg.



The bed has slots to insert planks to make dividers. So I did my first truckey thing for the benefit of the truck. That's a 12ft long board. 🤠 I'll cut a piece to go vertically right behind the wheel well, so groceries or whatever won't slide as much. At Costco yesterday I put the cases of heavy stuff in the bed and regular food in the back seat.



Rope was so it didn't slide side to side..

I currently have a bag of dog poop in the bed of my truck. Truck stuff.

Please tie down things (properly, not with a slack rope) when the majority of it is hanging outside the bed. Think about how seesaws work. That's really dangerous.

Quote from: giant_mtb on April 17, 2023, 04:10:33 PM
Please tie down things (properly, not with a slack rope) when the majority of it is hanging outside the bed. Think about how seesaws work. That's really dangerous.

I own like 20+ ratchet straps, and I will use five of them on a single board.

Quote from: Eye of the Tiger on April 17, 2023, 04:24:15 PM
I own like 20+ ratchet straps, and I will use five of them on a single board.

I had to bite my lip real hard once when my dad was picking up his new wood chipper and asked me for help loading it at the store and unloading it at their house...all he had was rope to secure it in his Silverado. Lucky for him I had ratchet straps in my truck.

I bought him a set of the easy automatic-winding straps shortly after.

Quote from: giant_mtb on April 17, 2023, 04:10:33 PM
Please tie down things (properly, not with a slack rope) when the majority of it is hanging outside the bed. Think about how seesaws work. That's really dangerous.

Point taken!
I was really nervous- but the board didn't lift at all when I pushed down on the rear end fairly hard.. I still drove really really carefully.

There are tie down hooks in the front of the bed as well as up high inside all four corners. Would a ratchet strap or tight rope over top of the front end of the board tied down to the bed be good?

Quote from: AutobahnSHO on April 17, 2023, 05:41:28 PM
Point taken!
I was really nervous- but the board didn't lift at all when I pushed down on the rear end fairly hard.. I still drove really really carefully.

There are tie down hooks in the front of the bed as well as up high inside all four corners. Would a ratchet strap or tight rope over top of the front end of the board tied down to the bed be good?

Might not move much in the parking lot...but imagine you need to make an evasive maneuver somewhere.  Or it just wiggles loose...disaster.

Tie downs on the bed floor are ideal for loads like that to put solid downward pressure on them.  Ideally close to the tailgate end since that's where the fulcrum of the board is so that's where you want the friction focused to keep it from moving.  If that had been me , I'd have left the tailgate fully up and used the rear high corner tie points to put downward pressure on it onto the tailgate.  Even better if it had tiedowns on the floor of the bed at the tailgate end.

Rope is never good for tying things town.  Ratchet straps. 

I find it funny I can get a 10 foot board in our SUV or a 12' board with only 2' hanging out

Quote from: giant_mtb on April 17, 2023, 06:16:44 PM
Might not move much in the parking lot...but imagine you need to make an evasive maneuver somewhere.  Or it just wiggles loose...disaster.

Tie downs on the bed floor are ideal for loads like that to put solid downward pressure on them.  Ideally close to the tailgate end since that's where the fulcrum of the board is so that's where you want the friction focused to keep it from moving.  If that had been me , I'd have left the tailgate fully up and used the rear high corner tie points to put downward pressure on it onto the tailgate.  Even better if it had tiedowns on the floor of the bed at the tailgate end.

Rope is never good for tying things town.  Ratchet straps. 

I can tie shit down with ropes better than most people can ratchet strap.