Lone Star Toyota Jamboree Live! (2018)

Good morning everyone! Sorry for the late reply. Due to how tired I was yesterday I've altered my schedule to get home Tuesday instead of today. I was planning to work tomorrow but I'll likely be the most useless employee for the day due to being wasted mentally. But now I can take breaks and work remotely from the road via my laptop so let's get this thread back to Live! status!

Anyone who has followed my build thread knows I love cliffhangers but I wasn't expecting to go silent for this long. I was too tired mostly l, exhausted actually, to continue posting. Got to my final hotel just before 11p. Including stops that was a 14-1/2 hr solo drive...and I'm only half way home

Thank you very much @RedBeard1!

Bummer on the Round Up and yes pls most definitely stop by if ya can, I'd love to shake your hand and show ya around our small shop

Good guess @nDub but no, it wasn't part of Toyota cars running away (what I believe an intentional sabotage of Toyota by the US gov.), and @RedBeard1 that's CrAzY man!! Let me ask this, were you backing down hill where one of your front tires locked up and skidded a considerable distance?

So here is what happened

To recap from my reply 573+ of my build thread, because I had to modify the cab to fit three cases, (1 x Marlin Crawler MC08 Unit) + (1 x Marlin Crawler TacoBox Unit) + (1 x Factory Transfer Case), I took advantage of doing something I've alwaaaaaaaaaaaays wanted to do to my 1981 Rock Crawler but never could and that is to have dual E-Brake handles. Why? Because in order to out-wheel Jeeps, I've got to do something about my turning radius. And it's even worse in this Tacoma which has a wheelbase 25% longer than my triple-cased 1981 Crawler. The Tacoma is like a school bus on the trail. (Older trucks only have a single emergency brake cable leading into the cab whereas most modern Toyota 4WD vehicles have two separate cables. It is so much easier to do this in the Tacoma.) Here is what my interior looks like:



And let me tell ya what... Many people from the event can probably contest to this but I was showing off the cutting brakes like crazy hahaha Even just to park the truck in front of my booth, turning corners that could have easily been done normally, I was locking up inside rear tires in both forward and reverse and having a great time. I had 5 or 6 people tell me things from, "Hey I think your locker is broken!" to, "Hey! Stop!! You're rear axle is damaged!!" It was simply awesome

So when I had driven over to the group photo area, considering how I was nearly the first person in a huge dirt field well, I had some fun I pulled into the area pretty quick, probably over 10 MPH, and yanked my driver's rear e-brake and did an ugly one-wheel brake skid/drift while simultaneously killing the ignition. It sounds cool but I did an ugly job about it hahaha I tried

Well, fast forward about 15 mins later and the organizers had the title sponsor vehicles parked in the front row and with me leading a long, loooooong line of other vendors and rigs, it was my time to pull up and get lined up. This is when I started the ignition and had absolutely zero throttle response from the gas pedal.

The organizers where like, "Come on Mike! Everyone is waiting, quit showing off!!" I think they thought I was going to line up in Triple Low Range which would take over 10 mins to do haha But now I was panicking and certainly didn't want to lose my nice spot at potentially a front-and-center photo!

A couple vendors went around me and a super nice guy in a blue Tundra (If you're reading this then sorry I didn't thank you in my moment of はらきり self-suicide!) quickly whipped around and pulled out a tug strap to tow me over and into line.

I was thinking, "Oh geeeez this is just great. I'm in one of the more capable rigs and am now going to be towed to the photo op in front of hundreds of people", so with no other option I figured I should at least try to reset my OBD-II codes so I gave it a go....



...and WA-LA! The truck fired up and I had throttle finally!! Thank goodness I brought my scanner with me!! GEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZ. "Visit your dealer" What?? How can I visit my dealer when the truck cannot move! Crazy error code/system.

Lesson learned: Playing around with cutting brakes while going slow is no big deal, but if you've got ample wheel speed and the ECU detects pro-longed skid (which would indicate ABS is needed) but yet the driver has not applied the main brakes (so if the brake pedal is not firmly depressed then how could their possibly be a situation in which ABS is needed) then I can see how this can throw an error code.

Finally on my way to line up!

 

Definitely great meeting you and thank you for the awesome photo! Next year for sure I will return!

 

​

 

And Nathan was right!! Both him and I are nearly at center!! The photo is gonna turn out awesome for both us! Too cool!!





The fearless camera man. While waiting for everyone to get lined up, he was up in that boom for probably 45-mins!!



This is the only photo I took of the line-up of rigs and it's not so good but the line was snaking and bending around every which way to pack as many rigs as possible in queue to be directed into the group photo area. I heard the event had over 300 rigs. More than three hundred!! That is insane!

 

This was a lot of fun!!



Awesome camp chair idea



Haha check out Ray from the Rock Solid Toys group

 

And that was it for the Saturday group photo! The camera man took a few main pics and I'd like to keep this post here without any images as a placeholder to edit and upload the group photo once it's prepared and released by event coordinators.

We also convinced the camera man to take a goody photo of us all and I decided to lay across my hood at the base of my windshield. Can't wait to see the official photos!!!

 

Back at the pavilion it was the calm before the storm...





...because after the group photo everyone had left for the annual short rock course timed competition

 

Here's a couple teasers @tacopromatt Got with his drone.

 

@driftkingBIGMIKE

Do you need some road topics for the drive home?

Question- How do you like 4 wheeling with the IFS vs a solid axle? Or a pros and cons of the two in the relation to extreme 4 wheeling? Stability, off camberg, three wheeling?

I love the idea of two parking brakes. Can u list parts to replicate or let us know if we can buy a kit?

Safe travels home.

 

What this is is a straight line of rocks, a decent length of them actually, about two truck widths wide, with multiple lines and actually some nice deep holes, especially for those with 33" or smaller tires. As you can imagine there was a lot of skid plate dragging.

They did two timed events:
Group #1 was for vehicles tire sized 33" or smaller, with a maximum allotted time of 1 min 30 seconds to complete the course.
Group #2 was for vehicles tire size 35" or taller, with a maximum allotted time of 1 minute to complete the course.
Fastest one across the entire rock course wins!



While walking to the rock area I took some random pics of rigs...

Pretty cool salvaged FJ C convertible!





A rare 2nd gen Hilux! Love that hood sticker!



Another 2nd gen!! Sweeeeet!! Perhaps the most iconic Toyota truck 4cyl engine of all time!! 22R-E FTW!!!

 

Ohhhhh my this is AWESOME!! Thank you both Chad and @tacopromatt!! So many rigs!! And there were probably two dozen more in main camp that weren't driven over for the photo. I like this way better than our FJ Summit group photo because it's not in a city and all these trucks actually look like they go wheeling! hahaha

This will be the new cover to our brochure for sure Here is our current cover photo from last July:



The Jamboree photo is so much better!

 

Nice! If you PM me your email address I can send you the full size picture. btw, I know LOTS of people decided to go wheeling while the rest were waiting on the picture.

 

That would be @harrisonfaulkner

 

@BigMike Thanks for the shoutout! It's got your dual case adapter and 1600lbs clutch on it, dual cases make all the difference!

 

Hey PB FAB, thank you for the reply and the questions.

I don't have time currently to expound as much as I'd like but I don't want to skip your questions either. This will be non exhaustive and hopefully I'll keep it short.

Rock Crawling with the Tacoma on a +2" long travel IFS (Moab twice, Rubicon twice) has been an awesome learning experience. My current IFS setup is a custom prototype that I helped co-develop and is not yet ideal and does not bring out the true potential for what I know the truck can do while remaining IFS. I'll be running Moab again this month and Rubicon again in June after which I'll be replacing the entire IFS with my own version 2.0 system that will finally incorporate all aspects of how I think the IFS should be setup for some impressive rock crawling.

Compared to a Solid Axle for Rock Crawling...

I will forever be a solid axle guy at heart. It's how I was raised and I know it is overall superior for rock crawling. But I'm really enjoying this IFS experience and will keep the Tacoma IFS forever.

Articulation
In terms of articulation there is no comparison. A solid axle walks all over left right up down underneath and back again in terms of articulation and being able to drive over rocks much, much taller than what my current and eventual IFS setup will be capable of. I measured my current full travel with limit straps from my hub center, and I got 9.5-inches. It will be more, say at the outer edge of the tire where I might have 12 or so inches, who knows, have not measured that yet. A +3.75" kit will get more travel and that is highly needed for desert racing for sure. But get this: Wyatt from Rock Solid Toys builds Live Axle Swap kits that get almost three times my current IFS articulation. And what's more important is when you're crossed up this number is double in your favor: If I am fully crossed up in the front, I can climb about a 20-inch rock without lifting the other tire. Wyatt can climb almost a 60-inch rock. 60-inches. Five feet. No way can a bolt-on IFS kit with the same axle width flex up to five feet. I am however working on a new design for my v2.0 suspension kit that will enable some extra down-travel without going beyond the limits of my CV which I've never seen anyone ever do before. (reference "A") I will be improving this issue.

Ok. So... I'm gonna try to talk less

Body stability under articulation
What is nice is that the body stays level for a much longer time while climbing over rocks. This is very helpful when squeezing between trees or you have a high bounder near an opposite body line: The truck no longer tilts into obstacles. Now granted I only have experience with leaf spring solid axle suspension, which has a progress spring rate under articulation, but I've seen linked setups do the same, and given the simple fact that IFS has a far lower unsprung mass, it will be more active under a load no matter what. This also helps keep less camber from occurring and thereby keeping the tire flatter atop an object for more tire-to-rock contact/traction.

Track width
This is something maybe some don't consider. Because I've lifted my truck without a differential drop bracket kit -- because I actually use 4WD -- my control arms at static ride height have a downward angle to them. This also means that due to CV angle limitations, I have more up travel then down travel, which is a bummer. Because my arms are angled down, my track width is decreased at ride height and increases as the suspension compressed. At full compression, my arms are only just barely past horizontal. (If I had smaller tires I could run more up travel, and yes I could do more trimming as fitting 40s was not easy, but this is a topic for another time.) So as the arms come up to a horizontal position relative to the frame, the track width increases. Because many memorized lines on the Rubicon trail involve hugging the sides of granite boulders taller than my truck, the progressive track-width IFS suspension actually pushes me off my regular lines. It's an adjustment I've had to make which involves getting the rear end over more before committing to a climb. Again, if I wasn't lifted as much as I am this wouldn't be as bad a factor. Reference "A" above will help with this. I will be improving this issue.

Ok I don't like talking less

Brake response
This mostly only applies to leaf spring live axle setups and that is zero axle wrap of an IFS system. Using the brakes at extremely steep uphill or downhill angles are much better with IFS. The whole truck feels more planted.

Steering lock
This is an issue with IFS that I've spent some time looking into but have yet to come to a satisfactory solution. Because both caster and toe angles change under IFS articulation, it is impossible to maintain full steering lock one way or the other at both down travel and up travel extremes. You have to make a choice with your alignment: You can only achieve full steering lock in both directions simultaneously (ie. left tire pointing full left -- where the rear steering stop is maxed out, and right tire pointing full left -- where the front steering stop is maxed out) based on the conditions of which you've set your alignment to. You could set your toe to have full lock at full articulation, but then because toe changes, you would not have proper toe nor steering lock both ways at normal ride height (obviously a horrible idea). This is not an issue with a live axle where the toe and caster are static based on the length of the single tie rod and static caster set by the trunnions. This sucks about IFS. I've needed to cut a sharp corner with my tire completely stuffed only to find that the other tire's non-articulated spindle was already hitting full lock whereas the tire I needed to cut the corner still had like a quarter of an inch before it's steering stop. Sucks.

Steering feel
When I had 37" tires and stock steering it was definitely more difficult to turn the wheel in the rocks. It's a compound issue but I've got most of it worked out now with the MarRack. For starters, Toyota has made the newer vehicles feel far more sporty by having a tighter steering ratio. The 1986-95 IFS steering boxes we use on solid axle'd Hilux Pickups and 4Runners can be setup to have 5 full steering wheel rotations from knuckle lock-to-lock. That is 2.5 turns from center-to-lock in either direction. For the Tacoma, it is nearly half this!! My Tacoma came with a 1.5 center-to-lock ratio (3 turns steering wheel lock-to-lock). The diameter of the steering wheels are about the same with the older trucks. This means that for the driver to rotate two 37" tires deflated to 5 PSI and surrounded with rocks, she must exert 40% more effort to steer. This sucks. With the MarRack I've currently gotten this to 1.7 turns center-to-lock or 13% better than stock. I'm hopeful that my second prototype (which I hope to have on the truck and Rubicon-test it during our Round Up in September) will increase this to 20% better than stock (20% less effort than stock........but also 20% less responsive than stock in the city......but my truck is lifted and I don't have a sway bar: I want to enjoy life with a capable rig on the rocks and steering response went out the window long time ago........plenty of Solid Axle Swap guys daily drive their trucks and you never hear them complaining about "20% less responsive while doing a high speed solemn course for Car and Driver magazine....and so on). I will be improving this issue.

Ground clearance
Phenomenal with the IFS. This is a no brainer. It is amazing. Things I think for sure will hit don't and I've had to make additional adjustments to pay extra mind to the rear axle. With an offset solid axle setup such as the typical Toyota pickup with an offset front differential and centered rear, all I have to remember is that my front ground clearance is limited to the right (right pumpkin) and my rear limited at center (center pumpkin). With the Tacoma, forget about center diff clearance, I've got rocks hitting the actual axle housing itself! So many rocks pass quietly under the IFS that I forget even the sides of my rear axle are not tall enough. The truck must do great in the snow. Hopefully Calif will get out of this ridiculous drought and we'll have some nice snow to play in for a change. Reference "A" above will even help more with this. So I'll be improving an already great feature.

I think that's a good list for now. I need to get going, I'm still in New Mexico. (I've actually altered my travel plans and am currently in a cafe trying to get MC shop work done.) I'm trying to only consider a comparison for Rock Crawling. Gonna hit the road now and proof read this later

Regards,
BigMike

 

PM sent! Thank you!!

YES! AWESOME!!!!!!!! Thank you for your trust in our products and for representing with my #1 favorite Toyota truck body style of all time!!

/me ponders if the Tacoma on 40" tires could tow my 1981 Hilux to the event next year..... hmmmmmmmm............

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LoQTme51tA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mrFkpYKJ6Q

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4kyDHdZfIY

4cyl power and round headlights FTW!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUHZBh7PFYQ











Bought the truck July 2004, had it Triple Cased and it's first shake down trails were at the Hammers in Johnson Valley by that October, and had daily driven it ever since. With it's smog legal 2.7-liter 1st gen Tacoma 4cyl engine conversion and 37" IROKs, it makes 19 to 20 MPG on the highway at 70 MPH.

BigMike

 

That thing is badass. 511:1 is insane, I'd love to check it out some time. I have dual 2.28s right now, but I was planning on grabbing your 4.7 gear kit for the rear case soon.

I'd love to have mine still street legal, but after the propane, spool, and square driveshafts, it's not meant to be.

 

Continuing with pics of random, cool rigs that caught my eye



OH MY GOODNESSSSSSS

TAKE

MY

MONEY

PLEASE

TOYOTA

OFFER

THIS!!

Turbo diesel and live front axle right off the show room floor everywhere but here



Check out this absolute beast of an FJ C!

 

Really liked the beautiful work done to this 1st gen 4Runner



Nice 1st gen Taco



And finally, a pair of amazing late model SAS BEASTS and some idiot running IFS



In fact, when it was my turn I was idling past spectators in 12th gear (1st gear trans + TacoBox in low, the rest in high, 99:1 ratio) and with my windows down I heard murmurs from the crowd saying, "Whaaatt That thing is still IFS?"

"Is still", that's the key phrase. People see my truck and automatically assume it needs to be SAS. No one believing this can be done is the best part of my Taco journey!



Tire sizes left to right are 40, 42, & 39.

 

I was busy talking with people when I should have been taking more pictures and I apologize for that.

Here comes the rest of the photos I took from the rock course! Please tag a TW member if you see one!