Lone Star Toyota Jamboree Live! (2018)

Pics from the pavilion

 

So much mud... !

 

I really dislike mud.

Continuing with more pics



Apparel sales for the Jamboree



Along the back section they had raffle items on display

 

Guys... Are you ready for this? They had more than sixty-thousand dollars worth of product donations in the raffle!!! (Thank you Nathan for the number!) I've never been to an event with this massive of a raffle







Here is a list of supporting vendors. I'm not only speaking for ourselves when I say this, but it is very important to support the companies who make events like this for the community possible by donations. It costs a lot to attend events and it's a mutual relationship we share with coordinators. Any of them will tell you that the event cannot go on without the support of vendors, and vendors cannot go on without being able to get out and network and meet people at events like this.

So if you don't see a company on here then try to buy products from someone you do see who took time and effort to help in a big way! We all love to support amazing efforts like this and the show of support from all these vendors was amazing!! The most I've ever seen and believe me I've been to a lot of events over my 35 year experience in the off-road industry.



We donated seven in products, including two of these:



2 x Half-price TacoBox Supreme

(They put many vendor donations in buckets so that we could include additional swag such as shirts, hats, koozies, pens, and so on. I thought it was a nice touch!)

 

Back outside it had finally stopped raining. The entire day people were going nuts over the Tacoma. What impressed me the most is the quality of questions I was asked out here. You can tell right away if a person is a gearhead and gets the concepts of what makes a TacoBox Dual Case so special and there were a ton of people asking really good conceptual and operational questions of low, low gearing. I'm not used to getting quality questions like what I experienced at some other annual events that we attend.

After proof reading I don't think I'm accuratey describing things. To grossly generalize, there are those who follow Toyota's horrible US marketing and go play in the mud bro (consider these a "0"), and then there are those who actually care about the outdoors and who have actual rock crawling experience far removed from modern amenities (consider these a "10"). The group out here is about a 7 out of 10. For many not having ever experienced what it is to truly Rock Crawl (and "Crawl Control" is certainly NOT Rock Crawling), this was a great crowd to showcase what we offer to make off-roading experiences so much safer, comfortable, less bouncing, less breaking, and of course, much more capable.





Proof rainbows really do end at off-road dreams!



Live band!!



And finally a panorama before nightfall

 

That night back at my hotel we now had two 5th gens plus two Tacomas, an FJ C, a 100-series LC, and a Lexus GX. It was freak'n awesome! I only got this pic of the new addition to the 4R collection:



Saturday

Back at the event I snapped this pic showing how the entire state park was closed, they even had volunteer workers at the park entrance turning away traffic who was not part of the Jamboree.



This was when I really fell behind in trying to keep this thread updated. As you can tell we're not Live at the moment lol I was fortunate to be busy with such an awesome amount of people, managing the booth solo left no time for thread updates!

I must have redlined my engine in triple low for product demonstration probably half a dozen times showing how slow the truck is in gear while it wasn't even faster enough at 6,000+ RPM. To get out of our booth.

For the entire day here is the only photo I took of our booth

"The Marlin Crawler Chromoly 4.70:1 display TacoBox"


I've owned the Tacoma now for two years but because it was essentially useless off road prior to doubling it down with the Marlin Crawler last year, we've only been featuring it at trade shows since last spring.

Last year many things were new to me, things I didn't have experience with such as having the first gear ratios memorized of the Lexus GX. Fast forward to the present, and now at my first serious event a year after installing the TacoBox, man what a difference the past twelve months have made for me. I can finally rattle off date ranges, vehicle specs, and final drive ratios on most modern Toyotas, which, in never owning a modern Toyota truck, is nearly 25 yrs of knowledge I need to answer questions on the fly beings that our TacoBox now fits all 1995 and newer Tacomas, 4Runners, FJ Cruisesr, T100s, 3.4L & 4.7L Tundras & Sequoias, and Lexus GX470.

The Tacoma and I are more than ready for the 2018 wheel'n season to get underway!!

I met countless new faces including a really cool couple with a broad range of vehicle experience dating back to a flat fender Willys. Thanks again for your service Sir and thanks for asking me to sign your shirt! It was a real honor for me!

 

During one product demonstration I had my Tacoma idling on its own in reverse with all three cases in low range and with the drivers door open and no one inside it was backing up towards our booth at 7.7 HPM (that's Hours per Mile). All of a sudden a guy came racing over through our booth and to my open driver's door as if to hop in to hit the brakes. He quickly realized we were standing around watching the truck move slowly on its own and was really cool about it, we all had a good laugh. I thanked him for being concerned and that this wasn't the first time we've had people do this while demonstrating the Marlin Crawler at trade shows...

...But it was was a first for the Tacoma!! It made me feel so proud of this young baby truck, all grown up with triple cases finally worthy of Marlin Crawler product demonstrations! They grow up so fast; Almost made me cry

 

Big Mike,
The pleasure was definitely all ours. Thank you for taking the time to show/teach us about your crawl boxes and that awesome taco. It's refreshing to meet someone with your reputation that is so professional yet down to earth and friendly. It was like talking with someone we have known for years. Hope you enjoyed Jambo as much as us! Wishing you safe travels home and many great adventures! See you next year!
James & Sara

 

Jane, thank you very much for the kind words. I am definitely looking forward to seeing you and your wife Sarah next year. I was serious about her: she is a real jewel. We should all be so lucky to have a life partner who is into off-roading and understands the mechanics of it all. You are blessed my friend My Tacoma would like you to know that when you see it next year it's going to have some very impressive new features to share to you and Sarah

 

One last comment from our booth is that I was amazed at how many people have heard of the MarRack. So. Many. People. Are. Excited. About. The MarRack. Over a dozen people asked about the MarRack before they even told me their first name, and while I was describing the many benefits of a TacoBox to others, I overheard many times at the front of the Tacoma people I hadn't spoken to yet using the word "MarRack", pointing at and taking photos of it. I even had multiple 4R owners tell me they found out about it on the 120-platform forum. I've pretty much had blinders on for the past 2 to 3 months working on this project that I haven't had any time to look outside my build thread.

Of course the most common segway into the MarRack which occurred contineously all three days was people asking, "How are you running 40s on IFS? Aren't you concerned about the steering?" Ohhhh boy... with such a large grin, I would simply repeat the phrase, "Thank you for asking Let me show you how "

I mentioned in my build thread that I'd have a better idea on vehicle compatibility after this event, and while we still need to do test fitment across many platforms, I am worried about the shape of the 4.0L oil pan. Space looks tighter than under my 3.5L. But, it's easy for me to forget that back in December many of us thought the MarRack would not even fit in my Tacoma. From the outside of my Tacoma it looked clearly impossible. Potential good news (or bad news) is that I've already got a 5th gen 4R and a GX470 (4.7L V8) lined up for prototype MarRack v2.0 test figment later this summer. Man oh man I reeeeally hope I can get the MarRack to fit vehicles other than the currently small 3rd gen Tacoma market! >_<

ETXTacoma was right and you can imagine I was hot to trot to finally take a look at a Raptor's steering up close. And folks I'm happy to report that the MarRack blows the doors off the Ford Raptor (which has twice the engine and much more weight than my Tacoma)!

Because it's already a proven fact that the factory Tacoma/4R steering fails when Rock Crawling, it's a dang good thing we don't see Raptors out on the trails!!! We'd probably have to start charging for recovery of broken Raptors everywhere.

Check this out guys. Here is the image again from my build thread comparing our new prototype MarRack system with a factory Tacoma tie rod:


Now look at the Raptor's tie rod:



It's diameter is literally smaller than my pinky finger, and I have small Toyota MR2 4cyl friendly hands!



I didn't bring a dial caliper but I wouldn't be surprised if it is only 16mm.

What's most important is that the Raptor's rack is visually smaller than our MarRack.

Lastly, I was most happy to see how Ford stuffed the tie rod end between the brake rotor and wheel, making it as long as possible -- which is exactly what I did with the MarRack!! Too cool!!

Example:



What's more is get this: I had five people tell me that they broke tie rods during this event, three of which were already on their second replacement factory rack. IN FACT, Tom, the main event coordinator, almost missed the event because the end of his factory FJ Cruiser rack broke two days before he was to pull a trailer full of supplies to the event and he told me it was a miricle that hike was able to replace everything in time

To Tom and everyone else please thank you for your interest in the MarRack and please thank you for your patience while we test and develop everything. It's going to take probably a year or more until we test fit all applications and put together a complete kit!

I know I've said more than enough on this subject and you're probably tired, but check out what I traded a Marlin Crawler Turtle shirt for: A participant's broken 4Runner tie rod that he just replaced here at the event!

 

(Time travel news from the future: I'm driving home and just stopped at a TacoBell for lunch just east of Armarillo. While inside I witnessed two cars and one truck stop next to the Tacoma, roll down their windows, hold up cell phones pointed at the truck, and then left. This truck is crazy! It attracts this much attention and I still have the factory rear bumper, no fancy body wrap, and most of all I have yet to install a single LED light to the truck. I don't understand how this truck can be popular when it doesn't have a light bar or Monster energy drink sticker.)

 

Your in TX where lift and big tires get more attention than most other mods. Lots of people around think mud not rocks.

 

Sitting on 40's makes you stand out just a little. You dont see many Tacoma's on tires that big being driven on the road, not many vehicles period are rollin on 40's. I didnt get a chance to meet you this weekend but I did get to look at the truck a few times and it was even more impressive in person. Cant wait to see what you do over the next year to the truck!

 

None of that should matter because #LightBarIsLyfeYo

I know I'm stirring the pot and being facetious because of my disgust with Toyota of USA's marketing decisions but I must concede that I've failed to consider this, and additionally, that I should stop saying "Toyota of USA" when this may infact only be a west coast issue. In Calif where we have the beach and dunes, 8 out of 10 Tacoma's are modified just for this and if you don't have fiberglass and lightbars then you should shouldn't own a Tacoma.

/me stirs a different pot now hehh hehh hehh

Thanks to both of you guys for the replies. SuperBad! Yes sorry we didn't meet up but I'm glad you were able to see the truck! I love your last sentence because come next year because I'll have even more mods done that I've never seen anyone do to a Tacoma )))))

 

Moving on the awesome guys from the Toyota Truck and Trails Podcast were here and I got to finally meet Jason and Rich for the first time!! I did a Podcast with Jason last fall and it was awesome to finally meet them!

https://toyotatrucksandtrails.com

They interviewed me mostly about the MarRack and if you've met myself or Marlin (the man I get it from) we can talk and talk and talk and I think they got more than an hours worth of interview from me and will be releasing the podcast sometime this summer!

It was awesome, I felt I did a much better job on this one

If you're bored and/or love podcasts, then check these guys out. Really great show. They did many other (hopefully!) shorter interviews from the event that they'all be releasing just as soon as they can!

Here is my interview about the future direction of Marlin Crawler and the Tacoma, recorded last summer:
https://toyotatrucksandtrails.com/episode-044/ (my interview begins around the 1 hr 15 min mark or so)

And two months later they interviewed Marlin which is an awesome interview
https://toyotatrucksandtrails.com/episode-047/

Marlin and I had a great time with these guys and are always excited for future opportutunitues to share our knowledge and experience on such a cool platform

 

At 1 PM Saturday afternoon they scheduled the famous Jamboree Group Photo. They asked all the vendors to line up early and not knowing what to expect I just headed over around noon to eat my lunch from the truck.

I ended up being the first vendor in line followed by my booth neighbor Nathan from Trail Toys, https://trailtoys.net, who I've only just met and he is one hell of a nice guy! @SMKYTXN I won't forget your offer and will be ready to do some wheeling with you next year for sure. At first I thought being first in line was not good because I'd likely be placed at the very end of a row, but Nathan assured me we'd both be placed near the middle by one of the title sponsors.

Freak'n awesome. My first time at the event and *hopefully* I'll have a nice spot in the group photo!

But when it was my turn to follow the last premiere/title sponsor vehicle to the front, I fired up my engine, hit the gas to move forward and.....nothing. No response from the throttle. The engine was just idling no matter what I did. I stopped and restarted numerous times and then this error meeeage appeared!!

 

Don’t leave us hanging Big Mike!

Anything to do with the run away cars Toyota had?

 

Be safe heading back west Mike.

Hated that I could not make the round up once again would have loved to see your truck in person. Next time I head to Cali I am going to make it a point to stop at the shop to see y’all.

 

Disconnect the batteries will clear it. Had it happen to me the other day backing a trailer.

 

Great meeting you and I hope to see you next year!