BigMike’s Big Journey: New 2016 Tacoma

May 2, 2016: Toyota Floor Mats and Door Sill Protectors

Two days later I installed Toyota floor mats and door sill protectors, items which were on my original "Build Sheet" from August 2015 but were long since removed due to the enormous hassle in convincing Toyota to build this truck.

All-weather Toyota floor mats. Very nice quality here.



...and the Door Sill Protectors. It was very straight-forward. Just clean the sills and install.

 

May 3-8, 2016: Toyota Land Cruiser Association's Annual Cruise Moab

The very next day I left for Moab UT for the 2016 Cruise Moab event!!

This is a four-day official TLCA event, and the largest annual Toyota-specific event at Moab.

For the past two years I've held a "Cruise Moab Live" thread coverage on our forum...

Cruise Moab Live (2015) Drove my '81 Hilux there & back
Cruise Moab Live (2016) Took the Taco!

...wherein I covered most of the event concerning the Tacoma in the above 2016 Live Thread but I'd like to recap here too. The event was great. I'd say a slightly larger turn-out than 2015.

Parked in Mesquite, Nevada


Spotted another white TRD Sport!! We both gave each other a big thumbs up! Too cool!



The Tacoma in the company of an absolute legend



Misc vanity shots







Made it safely to Moab, and now the Tacoma is in the prescence of actual, real, proper, Toyota trucks I mean, just look at that Turbo diesel 70-series Land Cruiser parked next to me!! SWOON! While Toyota of USA is braging about their "high strength steal frames" the rest of the world gets live-axle Turbocharged Diesel trucks with thicker, full-boxed frames. It's no secret that I'm in love with the Tacoma, I just wish Toyota of USA would offer more options.

 

Outside Tech Inspection my Tacoma got to meet All Pro's Black Betty. I am a live axle front suspension guy thru-and-thru; I'm starting to realize it will be painful to keep mine IFS. Hoping to resist the urge for a while-









Check out Black Betty's SEXY Marlin Crawler Dual Ultimate TacoBox Supreme This setup results in nearly a 250:1 Crawl Ratio




Later that night in the city I spotted a TRD Off Road! I'm still getting excited whenever I see another 3rd gen

 

May 5, 2016: Tacoma does it's first trail!

Our group ran both Poison Spider Mesa and Hell's Revenge. Beings as I cannot take a stock Tacoma there, I solo-ran an easy trail I'd never done before called Chicken Corners. I left base camp and stopped off at the City Market for supplies. When I came back out to the Tacoma, I go to open the door and hear a faint sound of something dropping to the pavement. I look around and find this in front of the driver's front tire:



Ummm. Wat? What in the.... Suddenly plastic is self-removing from the Tacoma. I look everywhere up in the wheel well and couldn't find where this could have come from. Maybe it was a temporary part used during assembly that a Texan forgot to remove...?

I headed south-west and finally made it to the trail. The guide book wasn't kidding: It was easy. A Subaru could make it through most of it. Nevertheless it provided some good fun and good pictures

Wooohoooo! My first time airing down! Having these fancy tire pressure sensors will be interesting once beadlocks go on and I resume airing down to 5 PSI.



There were many by-passes that looked like this...



...so of course I had to try them all.



Already dragging the rear tow hitch LOL



Backing down I incurred my first "trail damage"



So off came the front valance! Goooooood riddance

 

Move your trailer plug if you haven't already, I destroyed them on both my Tacomas and they are expensive if you go OEM replacement. I relocated to my bumper, but even just zip tying it up and away will save you hassles.

 

May 5, 2016: Tacoma does it's first trail! (continued)

Don't mean to drag this out -- I'll just start posting select pics







Following the Colorado River







Didn't even find large enough ledges to break traction.

 

Thank you for the tip! This is good to know for something I'm currently doing

 

May 5, 2016: Tacoma does it's first trail! (continued)





I can see this sat nav is going to be much fun









Got the tires to chirp a little here lol

 

May 5, 2016: Tacoma does it's first trail! (continued)













I was wondering about the ABS system... The ABS light is always off, even in low range. How do I know if the system is deactivated? Maybe I'll hit a rock at 2 MPH and get a nice air bag to the face. Also what about 4WD high range -- as I'll be in 4WD high range most of the time once the Crawler goes in. I should probably pull out the unopened owners manual and do some reading!

 

May 5, 2016: Tacoma does it's first trail! (continued)

Nice vistas out here-





That is a sharp drop-off to the left





Random pic from the driver's seat. That fake hood scoop takes up precious viewing real estate.



Finally got the Taco dirty

 

May 5, 2016: Tacoma does it's first trail! (continued)

I returned to main camp to get our booth setup for the annual Vendor Night







The MC booth was humming all night





The Taco lurks in the back while Marlin does what he does best!

 

May 5, 2016: Cruise Moab 2016 (continued)

I don't know if I realized it but the hood on the new Tacoma doesn't open so much compared to the older trucks




The next day I stayed in camp and caught up with work and marketing. The Tacoma can't even dream about doing Hell's Revenge at this stage. Day went by pretty quick, after which we enjoyed the awesome dinner and huge Cruise Moab Raffle.

I then got up early Saturday morning to do a one-shot solo day trip back to the west coast.



Letting the Taco warm up @ 3:30am



Hit my first icy conditions. Truck felt good. I downshifted and intentionally laid down some torque and the traction control kicks in pretty quick. Very cool

 

May 5, 2016: Cruise Moab 2016 (continued)



Tacoma + Open Road = Driving Bliss



Maintenance lamp has turned on in only 18 days! This truck must be a defect or something





Made it back home safely with daylight to spare! (Thank you time zone change )

Averaging nearly 300 miles a day for over half a month

 

Looks like a blast. After 4 Land Cruisers I was well aware of who Marv was I had no I idea he had passed. That is a huge loss he will be missed!

 

Very cool! That tacobox is making me drool. I'll be monitoring closely, as I want to do lower tcase gearing pretty badly.

 

This should be sold with an FJ or 4Runner case bolted to it and a triple stick. For us Tacoma owners that can't stand not having a transfer case shifter in the floor. Stupid knob.... junky actuator....

Both of my Toyotas need 4 shifters in the floor.

 

I was wondering how how long this would take. Great thread.

No need on a 3rd gen. It's already in the bumper next to the license plate.

 

How do you like driving the manual on the trails? I want a manual 3rd gen in a DB but can't get it in a DB Long bed. My old tacoma was a DB SB and i could have used the LB a lot. If you don't have any problems on the trails with the manual that might be my deal breaker.

 

Can't speak for Mike but I have never wheeled any thing but a manual transmission. My 3rd gen manual is great on the trails just like my '80 was and my '85 is.

 

Yeah, it was a serious blow to the community. Definitely check out our memorial photo album if you haven't seen it already.

Here is Marlin signing the board that is up on display inside their show room:

Keep your eyes on this thread *hint* *hint* *nudge* *nudge*

Best comment I've seen yet We plan to make an improved off-set or remote shifter for the TacoBox and provide integration for a top-shift FJ C-type t/case, primary reason being for ease of installation without sacrificing cup holders.

Thanks Ch78!

For some reason I thought he was referring to the wiring harness hanging down. *Facepalm

I. Love. It. Of all the older Hilux pickups/minitrucks I've driven they only run transmissions with single synchros. We rebuild countless 1st gen Tacoma 5spds, which do have multi-synchro gears, but I've never experienced one. Well, the updated RC62F 6spd manual in the 3rd gen is silky smooth. It is really fantastic. Downshifts very nice. The only thing I don't like, which I'll discuss slightly soon, is the flywheel seems very heavy requiring time for the engine to rev down making speed shifts jerky. Internally we are hoping it is better than the outgoing RA60F which we've done some work on but do not like them at all. They are full of plastic and nylon 'thow-away' parts such that it seems it is not designed to be rebuilt. It's almost like Toyota decided to make a transmission cheap enough so that once it goes bad it will be more cost effective for the dealer to replace the entire unit rather than rebuild it. The RA60F needs a ton of internal improvements if it is to replace the R-series (R150F & R151F) as the staple stronghold of the Rock Crawling world.