Dust, Mud, Dirt and stuff

Hello All,

So I've been running my '03 4x4 3.4L TRD off-road numerous times a week on fairly steep mountain trails and I am starting to wonder what all of mother natures fine particles may be doing to my taco, despite power washing several times a week of the wheel wells and undercarriage. The dust is extremely fine and gets into absolutely everything.

I'm hard pressed to eat a sandwich that doesn't have a bit of extra crunch to it.

I am definitely going to add a transmission cooler to deal with the extended up-hill driving, and probably an in-line filter as well. I run synthetic oil, but perhaps an oil cooler is a good bet as well?

I hope everyone with much more mountain/desert off-roading than I can pitch in and tell me how to keep it running strong! Nothing worse than having an issue 15 miles and 5000+ft from civilization.

Thanks.

 

Well, you have the best truck for doing what you are doing.

Keep up on your maintenance and you will be fine. These trucks were designed for hard use.

 

Agreed. However, I'm pushing mine beyond what most people use it for. Subjecting the truck to abuse every work day is quite a lot to ask, particularly when driving more than 30 minutes on 40 degree+ slopes. I'm hoping the tranny cooler will rid me of the A/T oil temp light that pops up whenever I do this.

Any other mods that can help cool and/or keep the debris out would be helpful!