Capture Colorado 01 TRD Taco - GOAE build

I've always kind of leaned toward 4.56 for 33's as "proper gearing", it keeps the ratio pretty similar to factory gearing, 4.88's are pretty close to that for 35's. I also spend enough time in the mountains that it's nice to have that lower gear for the big passes. If only I had a 6-speed manual for tighter shifts...

I heard of MCM a while back, they're a cool smaller company, I'd love to support them if I'm able to. Their reman tundra CV axles are really reasonably priced.

 

Do you still have to tub if you go LT? I'm pretty sure that at least with the AP LT kit for 2nd gens it pushes the axle far enough forward to eliminate that. Of course then you have to worry about either trimming your fenders/flares or going glass but I suppose that issue exists with 35s regardless.

 

This ^^^ These passes are brutal. My rig howls like a banshee up 285 as I struggle between 3rd/4th. Now that Adventurous mentioned tubbing with LT, I'm curious to know the answer as well. I'm pretty sure you need to tub regardless in order to stuff a 35. Check out Monte's build. He literally has everything we are talking about (MCM LT, Goodyear kevlar 35s, tub, etc.)

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/the-frankenstein-build-lt-expo-trail-rig-and-bs.159436/

 

Monty's thread is out of control. His truck is sick, not sure if 35's are really for me though. I can go wherever I need to with 33's, the additional two inches might not be needed. It's not like I can't do it later, anyway

I mostly want 35's because there's so much damn space out back with the flatbed!

With the heavy 285/75 MT/R's and 4.10's, I find I'm pushing 3rd up a lot of the passes and getting up with a good bit of speed, but it takes planning and making sure my shift timing is on point. Vail pass, heading west up to the tunnels (is surprisingly challenging for the truck even though it's not that steep), and obviously EB going to the tunnels from Summit. I think with 4.56 I'd bump my RPM at any given point up by about 300, and that would put the power output in kind of a sweet spot.

 

What's your purpose behind either? There's a lot more wheeling your rig is capable of as is.

Anyways, night be interested in your front suspension setup if you do go a different route. Just need softer coils....

 

Moar inches. Also higher leverage on the shock to better handle the bumpies.

I'm just finnicky and want to do things. I would be happier with my suspension if I dropped the spring rate down to like 500 (from 650), they don't compress very much right now, between the starting spring rate and whatever it ends up at once compressed for the lift. I also think mid-travel setups like this are much better suited for less lift than what I shot for... they say 1-3", I wanted 3" and it's kind of resulted in limited down-travel, but plenty of available up, just not very useful given my selected spring rate. The 650lb coils rode great before I lifted them, super smooth.

Either way, it may or may not happen, but generally I'm leaning toward going LT if I can make the money stuff work. I'll be sure to give you a shout if it happens and I have the current setup available to unload.

 

Thinking about selling the flatbed/bumper system or trading for a stock bed if anyone is interested.

Preference would be to do trade + some cash with someone (who may just happen to have a white bed?!). Basically I have a project in mind, and I'd like to have a little money to cover painting the new bed and repaint the cab.

Any takers?

 

Went out last weekend to visit family in New Mexico. My aunt and uncle have a home down there that they spend winters in, summers they run a fishing lodge in Alaska.

Their home is an awesome old adobe home built in 1880, walls were 18-20" thick, beautiful big fireplace in the living room, now with wood floors, but up until about 15 years ago they were still dirt. My uncle bought a large piece of property up in the mountains behind the house with some local investors to protect the property from being developed - this land was originally used as a fishing / hunting resort in the early 1900s by families like the Rockefellers, etc., to get out for 4-8 weeks at a time. There's a bunch of impressively built log cabins on the land, and a bunch of old growth (500+y/o) Pondersosa pines...some of which were more than 10' in diameter.

The road up to the ranch was fun, it was a true dirt road, infrequently maintained, and there had been a good snow with a bunch of warm days before we got there, so it was nice and sloppy - truck had no problems (duh), my uncle's old Ford struggled, but it looked like it was set to rattle itself apart - my parents took their Subaru, which did impressively well through the slop!

Anyway, really just wanted to put up some pictures. I'm getting rid of the flatbed officially on Saturday, found a dude to trade straight up for his bed, and it's even white! It's a fun novelty to have, it's super functional.... just not for how I want to use the truck. Hopefully he'll get more use out of it.

I'll be open to building more of them in the future (given what I've learned w/ this one) if anyone is interested.



Made it into Buena Vista right as the sun was coming down, so the whole time I was driving by the Collegiate Peaks, the air was just glowing a gentle yellow-orange, with layers of different clouds.







Top of Poncha pass right after the sun dipped out of sight.





About to drive in a straight line for a very, very long time.



The ranch.





The only part of the main cabin that had enough light to photograph, and the only object that had enough light cast on it. Fortunately, it's a really badass 100+ year old stove.





The small trees.







Frozen spiderwebs were all about on our hike, the frost froze a layer on all the strands making them very easy to spot.



The ancient trees towered over the rest of the forest like giants. Looming above all else, their heads in the clouds.
This particular tree on the right was 12' in diameter. I was standing as far back as I could get a clear line of sight with my 85mm lens, and still couldn't get the whole thing.






Perhaps it's a good thing Colorado doesn't have a lot of roads like those. Otherwise the whole no-fenders thing on the flatbed would be annoying more often. Either that, or we do, I just don't see them when they're muddy that often.

 

Wow very nice piece of property is it perhaps in northwest New Mexico?

 

Yup, outside of El Rito, near Ojo Caliente.

 

Is it up by the Vermejo Ranch if you onboard what that is?

 

Vermejo is due east of where I was by probably a hundred+ miles, similar mountain range and forest though.

 

Okay man! Very nice piece of property your family has! Good luck with your truck bed trade too!

 

Probably gonna build a bumper this week if I can figure out how I want it to look.

 

So, I should be seeing your old flatbed driving around Boulder?

 

Kid that picked it up lives in the Springs...

I told him not to drive like a jackass because a bunch of my customers might think it's me

 

That's a badass trailer...is perhaps yours now lol?

 

It's my dad's new company, I did a photoshoot for him the other night of the trailer, and I'm working on building him a website. He's going to be shutting down his construction company as he gets orders for trailers to be built.

I want to build one with some taller springs and 33s