John Lee On: Cargo Drawers

John doens't like cargo drawers very much. Personally I think it's because they tend to be build at home systems, and John is jealous because he seems to have zero ability to do anything by himself. That's why he likes Genuine Land Rover parts so much, they're pre-engineered and come with easy to follow instructions to bolt them on. Also, since they are typically built and not sold, he can't make any money off them. He would prefer to sell you Pelican cases to store your gear. In fact, he'd love to sell you one of the most expensive Pelican cases made, the Pelican 0450 7 drawer tool chest for $565.

Unfortunately, I don't have the pictures that go with this. If anybody has a spare login for their forum, you could help us make this Blog even better. ;)

John Lee:

Hey guys, check out my sweet cargo drawer system:

The factory cargo area sucks. It just didn't meet my specific needs. So I decided to build a drawer system. It took time, but I built it myself. It was very rewarding. I even used hardwood veneer for that little classy touch.

The two pics above are just after completion, so the drawers are empty. The pics below show the capability of my drawer system.

Left drawer:

Let's see. There's so much there that an inventory would be difficult. But we have a Rand impact, an inflator, a hose, a Safety Seal kit, and something else in a blow-molded case.

You can see just how efficient these drawers are. The right drawer is even nicer:

What do we have here? Some channel locks, some dikes, electronic pliers, needlenose pliers, a circuit testers, nine sockets, and some miscellaneous junk in the rear. I'm especially proud of my carpet job and the rubber tie-downs. These rubber tie-downs are rated for a 50 lb. capacity. So you know they're the real deal.

I designed a clever two-level system for this drawer because I'm all about maximizing the usable space I have. Here's the right-hand drawer with the top level removed:

Just look at that assortment of tools. I have an entire ratchet there, plus eight wrenches, four screwdrivers, and seven (!) nut drivers.

As you can see, I maximized the usable space in my already-small FJ Cruiser. The hours of time and effort to build these drawers was well worth it. I could have put all of this stuff into two small duffel bags, but I much prefer the drawers.


What does John's $565, 45 lbs empty, waterproof, drop proof, dust proof, lockable Pelican tool box look like?

Well, first of all, it takes up half of his rear storage space:



But, I'm sure he's got a whole lotta super awesome tools in there right, since he's an expedition badass. Let's see:



Hmmm. He's got an air hose. That's rubber, prone to impact damage. Good thing it's in a Pelican case. He's got a funnel. You don't want those to get wet. And, he's got some other junk inside another Pelican case!



Now this one has a lot of inventory. He has a couple wratchets, and some sockets. Look how efficiently they are packed. Also notice the rich patina of use on all of John's tool. As you can see, he prefers Snap-On tools, not because they're a fancy name brand, but because a professional must be able to rely on his tools for years and years of hard use!



Check this drawer. This is where he keeps his salt and pepper shaker. And his Snow Peak titanium utensils. They're titanium for light weight. That's very important when travelling Fast and Light. They're stored inside a HD nylon pouch that weighs more than they do, because a fork failure in the field would be devastating. Then they are stored inside a 45 lb tool box. Fast and light!



This drawer holds a fragile rubber hammer. And another wratchet. I think he should label the contets of these drawers so he can find everything.



This drawer has the goods. This has the most important items of all. Worm Screw clamps from Home Depot! These are very important when trying to slow down the leaks on a Land Rover. Also note the Knipex pliers. Snap On pliers are for white trash. These are the real deal. Again, check out the patina of use.



And in the top drawer, the backup HT radio. To call for help should his Land Rover break down halfway between his shop and his house in suburbia.

Expedition Poseur

John likes to accuse everybody else of being a poseur. We've already gone over a few reasons why he himself is a big expedition poseur, but here's one more. John just had to have his wheels painted white to match his truck. It's a nice look, I have to admit. But as always, he takes it to extremes. It couldn't be just any white, it had to be the perfect white. He previously had his wheels painted white, but it was not the correct Land Rover Alpine White.

Let's just let John tell us all about his wheels:

Wheels came back from Auto Bahn today:



They did a really nice job. The color is actually Alpine White and the outside is clear coated. Nice and glossy. My ANR1534's were rattle-canned since day one, and the paint was dull and not Alpine White. So it'll be sweet having glossy Alpine White rims for once. Damn, somebody's going Uptown.

I also got my new lug nuts plated with black zinc:



These are the pre-1998 Disco1 steel spare wheel lug nuts. I think the part no. on these is ANR3116. They have an integral flange so that use of the impact wrench on the lug nuts doesn't give the wheels a black eye around the lug nuts. I hate that; It looks so sloppy. The impact socket bottoms on the flange instead of the wheel itself with these lug nuts.

The ANR3116 lug nuts come from LR plated in silver zinc. I wanted the lug nuts black so that they would look as close as possible to the RRD500010 lug nuts. So I had them plated with black zinc at Aerodynamic Plating, a local plating shop. They did a superb job as well. I'm very pleased.

I'm stoked but I'm actually a little pissed as well. The rims came out so nice that now I have to find a decent tire mounting shop that won't treat these rims like Econoline wheels. I'm going to drive around Torrance tonight and see if I can find one of the Antera/DUB/pimp wheel shops. Hopefully one of them has a kick ass Snap-on tire mounting machine that doesn't mangle the rims. I realize the rims will get trashed on the trail eventually, but it's one thing to suffer damage on the trail and quite another to get the rims mangled during tire mounting. The latter just hurts.

We'll see what happens.

The new shoes are on:



There's an America's Tire less a mile from the shop, so I took the tires there first out of convenience. I'm glad I did. They did a superb job. The tire guy there even changed out the tire machine's plastic jaw to fit the flange shape on the ANR4636's. He was really careful the entire time, even though he had to use a combination of tire irons and the tire machine to get the tires mounted. Not a scratch on the delicate white paint. Also, they charged only $10 per tire. Quite the bargain. I felt bad so I tipped the guy a $20 for the extra care he took with my new rims.

I'm going to shed a tear when these wheels get mangled on the trail. Tito, get me some tissue.

Now, does sound to you like somebody who takes his truck on expeditions? You can just imagine him ripping out a valve stem on the trail, and having to use manual tire irons to get the tire off the rim. Well, we didn't have to wait long for John to tell us how he feels about taking his pretty white truck off road:

Next month? Sorry guys I'm definitely out for that trip. There's no way I'm putting these new wheels at risk.

John Lee On: Water Supplies

If there was every ANY question about how much of a black-ops expedition poseur John was, this post really settles it.



I hate this product. I think it's absolutely terrible and it's for white trash. Just looking at it makes me feel insulted.

Three observations on this video:

First, the flag on the door is backward. If you're going to fly the flag, at least try to get it right. Really, it's not that hard. Figure it out.

Second, if you didn't have a Gigantor 100-gallon water tank on your ridiculous trailer, you would be able to lift the tank, tilt it, and pour water from it. Adding more to this untenable situation is not the solution. You're swallowing a spider to catch the fly that you swallowed, when you should not have swallowed the fly in the first place.

Third, am I the only one who thinks that faucet sounds like pissing into a toilet? That faucet seems to have about the same power as the human bladder muscle, and the volume of water coming out of it sounds just like piss. And you're going to drink that?

Obviously John has never been away from SoCal for very long. 5 gallons is about all the water a man can comfortably carry. 5 gallons will last a man 1, maybe 2 days. John has never seen fit to carry more than a couple of gallons of water at a time. In fact, I've never even seen a water jerry can on John's "expedition" pictures. All he carries is a few drinks in his fridge, next to the sushi and stuffed duck.

Heaven forbid somebody actually carry enough water to last them a week out in the desert. And don't even think about buying something to make it easier to access your water.

Lastly, he's like a little kid in grade 2. "Hee hee, it sounds like it peeing!"