New England B.S. Thread

If they're rusted enough to make you want to take them off, strip them and repaint them, keep in mind all the seals and the rubber boots have been exposed to the same amount of salt and road grime. For the time and hassle you'll go through removing them, stripping them and repainting them and then hoping you don't have any leaks at the end with you push the pistons back in, I think you're better off starting fresh.

 

Hell it's better than hanging around my place, watching NCIS and waiting for the girl to come over. Plus, beer is good.

 

Make sure you get the rotors while you're at it!

 

I see what your saying. I definitley do not need to do it.

They aren't bad, just a bit of rusty-ness on the outside, I thought if I did a bit of rust prevention now, they might last a bit longer.
Thanks for the opinion, this is why I ask these questions!

Hah yea I will make sure to do that! Gotta get the pads too right?!

 

Yeah, just give everything in the wheel well a good fog to make sure you don't miss anything.

 

Definitely. And make sure you grease the pads before you reinstall them. Otherwise they'll rub that sweet paint job off of the rotors.



Edit- One thing to keep in mind; generally speaking, painting calipers is almost entirely cosmetic. They're made from cast iron, so you do NOT have to worry about them rusting out. Cast iron will last pretty much indefinitely without succumbing to more than a minor layer of surface rust. As long as you keep the channels where the pads ride well-greased and rust-free, the rubber gaskets will disintegrate long before the metal bits do.

 

I like that extra dab of red on the frame. That's what makes for a good brake job!

 

Almost as good as late Friday night at an RV Park. Get a good buzz on and point and laugh as people try to shoe horn 38' fifth wheels into 16' wide sites with the wife directing them. "A little more honey, a little more"- SMASH!!!!!

 

Just curious, what exhaust is it?

 

Magnaflow 14211

 

Oh man with some over night parts from Japan this would pull a premium at dirt wars....
http://newlondon.craigslist.org/cto/5802336971.html

 

But I just got done putting the SR20s into the Civic and Integra...

Thanks for that nostalgia trip.

 

Didn't make it to the trains. I took the first road. My understanding is there is a second one that I should have taken. The first one is not in good shape. Destroyed my trailer plug on it and only made it back through the muddy ruts with (in the words of Clarkson) speed and power. Truck bottomed out with a bang a couple times, but all seems well. Think I hit on a frame cross member.

If I had stopped or slowed down I am positive I would have been stuck.

I'll post pictures soon.

 

Okay, so here's the story:

I had coordinates and basic directions to the locomotives. I used the coordinates to the last place you could drive and disregarded the directions. This is where I think I went wrong. I took the first "road" off one of the main logging roads. I started down it thinking "cool, this is a little more challenging". Started through one rutted muddy section and thought "Uh oh, this is at least double as deep as I thought it was." Powered through it because I knew I couldn't stop or back up without getting stuck.

Made it through, got out and looked and noticed I destroyed the hitch plug. No big deal, wanted to move it anyway. Decided to walk out toward the trains, realized we were at least a two hour walk through the woods from them, found no trail, it was raining, and I was worried about what I could have potentially done to the truck. Had visions of losing all my transmission fluid or oil out in the field I parked in.

Got back and all looked well, so we got back to the muddy crossing:



You can kind of see in the distance where it turns bad. The first section (close to camera) isn't too deep.

Tacoma waits while we evaluate the situation, again, this is mostly shallow ruts:



I considered filling the deep ruts with fallen trees. There were some that would have worked, but we decided to cut some branches away on the right side of the trail instead so I could straddle the rut. Put it in 4Lo and started to crawl across. Made it half way going well. Got to the deep part and felt the truck start to slide into the rut. Made a quick decision, put my foot halfway to the floor and went for it. It was either power through and hope for no damage or possibly get stuck 30 miles from help.

I made it, but the truck bottomed out a couple times with a loud bang each time. Got out, crawled underneath and saw no obvious damage. Tacoma (and both of us) are pretty muddy now, though the brown hides it:



Started heading back toward Telos. Truck is quiet, no noises, tracks straight, all is well. Phew!

I believe there was another trail slightly further that I should have taken instead. Some sites that explain how to get there describe the one I took as "not passable".

But it wasn't a complete waste. I did get my fourth climb on Katahdin in:

It snowed and sleeted the night before:


The top. Four AT thru-hikers completed their journey while I was up there, which was cool to see:


Looking across the Knife Edge:


After crossing, looking back at Baxter:


Looking out from Pamola:

 

I almost made that mistake. The first mud hole and the fact that I was the only vehicle convinced me to turn around. It only looked worse further on down that track.

 

The first one didn't scare me. The second one started out similarly, but got MUCH deeper. Realized my mistake when I was already at the deep part. No turning back then. Figured I get through then worry about how to get back to the other side rather than get stuck halfway through.

I was so proud of that truck when I got back out of there. The thing is a warrior. Those ruts were territory for something significantly higher with much bigger tires, not a barely-beyond-stock double cab long bed.

 

Wow looks like you took the trail we looked at and said no to Haha. Plus I'm sure the rain we have been getting made everything worse. Glad the truck ran like a champ time to get some skids!

 

Wow. glad you made it out of there OK. That could have been bad considering that you were by yourself. When we went we did take the second road. The 1st road was only described as "IDK where it takes you but I took the 2nd road" on the directions. Looks like your having a good time though. Are you planning to try and see the trains again?

BTW, good morning everyone

 

Good morning!

Hey Rob, what's up with that douche in the what have you done to your 2nd gen thread?!