Run to the Hills! - Jason's Completely Stalled Colorado GTFO Build

Holy hell, what size are those tars?
Also, lefty?

 

Believe it or not, the truck came from factory with those tiny tires LOL. And yes, it was 4X4 - most people assume it was one of those little 2WD tacomas with the 2.4 engine. But if you see the front tires, it has manual locking hubs ....and it does have the 2.7 in it.

It was a metric tire size, can't really remember now; but it was essentially a 28" tall tire . It also had 3.57 gears!! I started wheeling it like, I got stuck everywhere It was a terrible combo

So yea, I am lefty. Started taking guitar lessons right handed. I really tried - as many lefty people do it that way - but it never really worked for me.

So I started playing right handed guitars upside down; flipping the strings over. It was terrible because you cannot get the guitar to intonate unless you also change the bridge, nut and saddle. It is actually a lot of work to convert a right handed guitar to lefty. Then you have the tone/volume knobs on the opposite side, which makes playing very difficult, etc.

Eventually I learned that you can get guitars custom built left handed. It is more money than their regular right handed counterparts, but that's the best solution.

It is always fun to see a lefty guitar player playing next to a right handed guitar player. It confuses people a great deal LOL

 

I saw this earlier and didn't have a chance to reply, so Austin beat me to it. Looks like you're rocking a true lefty! That 335 is absolutely fucking gorgeous. Seriously. I've always loved them because of all of the tones you can pull out of them. For big, fat, round jazz tones there are better rigs, but that 335 will get you close and still give you that awesome Gibson bridge pickup sound for blues and rock. Damn!

This is my baby. Not the best picture because the light sucked, but I'll get a better one soon. PRS Tremonti SE. I almost got an Epiphone LP Standard, but this one spoke to me. Since I'm all over the place between blues and metal and jazz and blah blah blah, it's a great all around guitar for me. Eventually, if I stay with it, I might get myself one or two more dedicated setups.



And your truck is badass! Love the regular cab; and with the SAS and 40s, the damn thing is a beast! Now I need to go read thru your build!

 

Wtf. How was I not subbed to this...hopefully this summer you are ready to wheel and camp (finally) and I can see your rig in action...hurry up lol

 

Dude, the PRS SE series are highly rated instruments. I've been impressed with their quality. Lots of great reviews everywhere. The Tremonti model is actually one of my favorites. Really love that body style. And that looks like a translucent black finish on flame maple, correct? Killer finish. And the infamous bird inlays...glad to see they are adding those to the SE models.

The 335 is certainly not a jazz guitar. The body is too thin to get those tones. But being semi hollow, it produces a nice blues tone. What I like the most is that it "softens" the tone a lot when you play with overdrive/distortion. You can certainly play heavy rock with it; but it takes the edge off distortion. Personally, I prefer that softer tone over solid body electric guitars. It's all a matter of personal taste though. Some people hate 335s for the same reason I like them lol

The truck turned out good. It is mostly done; just a few more things to add to it. It was a big project because I went from IFS on 33"s to 1 ton axles and 40"s There's not a lot of room under the 1st gen tacomas, it took a lot work and creativity to squeeze everything under there. At some point later I can share more about my reasoning for going with heavy duty axles and big tires instead of smaller axles and smaller tires.

 

Haha! Welcome, bud!

This summer is the goal! Shit, this SPRING is the goal. I want to be good to go for the summer. Hate the fact that I missed most of it last year.

 

welcome to the build..

I swear once you cross a certain threshold..you spend more time working on it then wheeling..annoying.

 

I absolutely LOVE my PRS. It isn't a $5000 full-up single-cut, but it does the job! And the finish is indeed the translucent black on a flame maple top. I need to get a better picture with some actual sunlight, because it's freaking gorgeous.

The first thing I did was install the black locking tuning machines and change out the ivory pickup rings to black plastic. What I'd really like to do is change those out to ebony, along with the controls. But I'd rather invest in some better pickups and electronics first. And get a decent tube combo. I'm regretting getting a modeling amp, even though it's fine for most things.

As for the truck... Good God. That thing is just BAD ASS. What gears are you running with those 40s and the 2.7? Lockers?

 

Haha! I can definitely see that happening!

I like to fuck around and tweak things, so I think between fixing broken things and trying new things, I'll always be wrenching between trips.

 

Did you say you were going to RT? Anyways I'd love to come wheel with you in summer get to know more CO guys. Truck is looking fantastic, love all the attention to detail!

 

Thanks, bud!

That's the goal! I need something like that to shoot for to help motivate myself. Be great to see you out there!

 

Yeah man, Im done with high school in the spring and I'm planning on seeking out every cool old mining town over the summer!
I missed RT last year but don't plan to this year!

 

Just a heads up, RT is going to be in the fall for 2017. Getting away from the heat and bugs this year.

 

October is gonna be perfect!

 

Except for those of us still in school...I was gonna go this coming year but I can't now because im not gonna be able to miss class...

 

DISLIKE.

I didn't even think of that!

 

So you are old school too about tube amps, huh? LOL I cannot deal with solid state amps anymore. There's just a night/date difference in tone. I have an old Carvin Steve Vai signature amp, 100watt all-tube monster. Best thing you can do is get better pickups/electronics and a good tube amp. Those are the best mods anybody can do. Trucks, guitars, etc.; it is always the same drama as we do mods

I have 5.13 gears. The lowest you can go with the axles I have is 5.38. But I got a deal on the axles cause they were already geared with 5.13s when I bought, brand new gears. Going to 5.38 would have cost me another grand with parts and labor. And 5.13s are so close to 5.38s; not really worth it. On a gear calculator i think it comes to about 4.5% gearing difference; not really anything you can feel a difference either on/off road.

In terms of how it drives with the 2.7 and 40"s on the highway...it's just a "little" slower than before LOL

As for lockers, I have a Yukon grizzly locker in the rear axle (it is like a Detroit locker) and a Yukon ZIP locker in the front axle, which is like an ARB air locker but cheaper

 

Are you in school still?

 

I do remember reading something about that, thanks for reminding me

 

Damn, Oz! That Carvin can probably wake the dead! My only 'big tube amp' experience was with a 90s vintage Marshall 100W head into a half stack. The thing was just stupid loud even with the gain set just below halfway. And that was with a cheap Mexican Strat with really weak pickups. The only way to get a decent distortion was to crank the volume knob on the guitar and stand as far away as the cable would let you. It was just insane!

I really want to get into a solid tube combo that I can play through at home without pissing off the neighbors. The good news is that nowadays the preamp stages are so much better that you don't have to destroy your ears to get a good dirty tone. But until I prove to myself that I'm going to play more consistently, I'm not dropping that kind of money on an amp.

Pickups might be a different story...

Nice! I really like the responsiveness of my truck right now with the 35s and 5.29s, so I can't really imagine losing some of that with 40s and similar gearing. But like you said before, maybe running a D44/37 combo wouldn't be too bad.

What was the biggest challenge that you ran into when you did your SAS? Also, as an aside, would an early CJ5 have too short of a wheelbase to go to a link/coil setup? I've always wondered about that with mine.

I'm not, but I might go back someday and finish up my EE degree. Or I might not