3 Tons of Fun! Littles' Build, Travel, and B.S. Thread

Is your drivers side front flare bolted on now?

 

Yup. No way that thing is coming off at 80mph again. The others will eventually get bolted on too, but for now it's going to look a little ghetto...like my black and white mirrors.

 

Amazing Bryan.

 

But how many people look at both sides of your truck and say hey that mirror is black

 

Exactly. It just doesn’t bother me that much. I have the white one with the broken mount, just hasn’t been a priority to swap. I guess I can add it to my to do list though.

 

Southwest Colorado Trip

Day 3 - Black Bear Pass and Imogene Pass

Here was camp at the base of Black Bear for the second night in a row. It was a different site further up the road just below a mine. I decided to scramble up to the mine and take peak at the entrance, as well as looking back down at my camp site.



This is the sign where it splits off for Black Bear (right) vs Porphyry Gulch (Left) where I camped. I started at 8am and the trail all to myself. At least at first...


Looking back down:


It's an easy climb up to the top with gorgeous views. Really not much to say about the first part. There's only 1 optional obstacle worth mentioning, a pretty serious ledge that I made short work of with 35s and lockers. I forgot to take a picture unfortunately.



Looking back at Black Bear Pass:

Once you get up and over, the intensity of the road starts to sink in. The sun glare kinda ruined my shots, but you can see it's a very narrow shelf road. Just wide enough for 1 vehicle.


Things were going so smooth and wonderfully up to this point. Then I caught up to a bone stock regular cab SLOWLY making his way down. Meet Larry...at least I think his name is Larry. His license plate reads "Larry J" and I was staring at it for the next few hours. I learned through speaking with Larry that he did not do any research on Black Bear Pass before deciding to take his stock Tacoma up. It was also clear that Larry had very little experience off-road, and was very uncertain of his tire placement. I coached him through a number of rocky sections and around the switchbacks. There were several times I thought he was going to drive right off the edge and never be seen again.

In contrast to a lot of other stuff I did out there, I don't recall seeing very many mines along Black Bear aside from this one. The photo above does not do any justice to the view right at this point. The trail is angle down and to the left, with a good 12" ledge that sent Larry's passenger rear tire into the air as his drivers side dropped down.


I was pretty frustrated and annoyed by Larry at this point, so not too many more pictures coming down Black Bear. 2 and half hours later, Larry and I finally made it down. These switchbacks are tight, and I had to back up twice on some of them, but there is plenty of space to get around them. There are some 12" ledges that are off camber, but nothing too crazy.

Here is the beginning of Imogene. Another awesome shelf road, but this has A LOT more traffic, including full size "safari" pickup tours. It was a much more interesting climb then coming up Black Bear from the east side, with some challenging ledges that I had fun coming up on. There's also a lot more in the way of mines along Imogene Pass.

After the pass there was another little parking area that offered some awesome views. I actually scrambled up to the top of the hill where there was a small structure (no picture of this) and snapped a few photos from the top.

I think that mine is called Camp Bird down below...not positive. Got to drive across the slag piles.


After wrapping up Imogene, I had some time left and headed over to Poughkeepsie Gulch, which is supposedly the most difficult trail in the area. I'll post more pictures of that later though...I'm at my limit of 50 again on this post.

 

Littles! Awesome thread. Thanks for the photos. I used to live in Ridgway so got a little misty eyed nostalgia there for a few!

 

Southwest Colorado Trip

Day 3 continued...

Poughkeepsie Gulch to Hurricane Pass and Corkscrew Pass

So I still had some time left after doing Black Bear Pass and Imogene Pass and was told that I should try Poughkeepsie Gulch, known as one of the more difficult trails in the area. From Ouray, the road into Poughkeepsie was the same one I used to leave the Alpine Loop the day before. Hurricane Pass is slightly north and west of Cinnamon Pass, and reconnects to Picayne Gulch before it turns east towards Animas Forks. This seemed like a good way to finish out the day.

Some picturesque pollution water runoff:




This obstacle is known as The Wall, and appropriately named. This was a whole lot of "nope" for me being so late in the day and by myself.















Weather was starting to get a little dicey, but nevertheless it was still beautiful. This I believe is the summit of Corkscrew Pass. There's no elevation sign here unfortunately.



I considered staying the night in one of the hot springs, but they wanted $289 which was more than I wanted to spend for a cozy night. So I headed north towards the Ampitheatre Campground east of Ouray. The paid campground was full...but that's not really my style anyway so I headed up the dirt road and found myself a nice quiet spot to do some dispersed camping. No pictures of camp...but I assure you it rocked.

Day 4- Yankee Boy Basin

For my final day on the trail, I decided to take it easy and do Yankee Boy Basin with @Taco Chris and his family. We had a great time hiking and playing around the lake, and drove up to the trailhead for a view of Mt. Sneffels, pretty ridiculous 14er. The trail is less than 2 miles, but its pretty much straight up the back side.





This is Mt. Sneffels, the highest peak in the middle. You can see the lot down and to the left.



So that was 4 days, 3 nights, and 1000+ miles, at least 175 of which were on the dirt. I hit a total of 8 passes through the San Juans and Uncompahgre National Forests, with spectacular views of the mountains and humbling reminders of life long ago living in the abandoned mining towns. It was a pretty epic trip that I highly recommend to anyone with a capable 4x4. Most if not ALL of the trails can be done with a stock rig, but please please please...don't be a Larry.

Hope you all enjoyed!

 

Thanks! Glad you're enjoying the thread because I'm having a lot of fun exploring and putting this together.

 

Bryan it was great meeting you. You, your truck and your adventure’s are bad ass. We gotta go wheeling again man keep up the good work.

 

Likewise! Thanks for meeting up! I really enjoyed the hike!

 

I moved my truck for the first time in about two weeks since our Rollinsville Mine adventure and my trip to Telluride on July 4th the week before.

Did a few little things...

2 wheel drive low!

I installed my 2lo module just purchased from @Up2NoGood

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/2lo-kit-for-2nd-gens.554456/#post-18061228

This is a feature I’ve wanted for awhile, but I’m not quite ready for the FJ transfer case swap, which is more than likely in my future. While I don’t tow it have a real need for 2lo, there have been times in the trail where I needed to do tight maneuvers on flat ground and want to slow things down, but don’t need 4wd. I realize the front drive line doesn’t bind as much on dirt as it does on pavement, still...reasons.

So for $250 and 5 mins of work (in contrast to $ and effort for the tcase swap), I have what Toyota should have done to begin with. Plug and play, prebuilt harnesses, tucks nicely up in unused space to the right of your glove box next to the 4wd ecu. Simple operation using the existing 4wd switch with no required add-ons, but I will eventually add a switch because we must have buttons for all the things!



Cut moar out of cab mounts

I finally pulled the driver front tire, trimmed more cab mount, and politely asked my wheel well to move back a little more with my trusty hand sledge.

This was a result of replacing my LCA last year. I originally had everything cleared for 35’s, but of course when you swap from OEM to aftermarket (moog for me), or even another OEM, shit doesn’t line up the same. Parts are different.

Forgot the before picture of the cab mount, but this is post cut. The mount was previously even with the wheel well, so that entire notch was close to 1/2 inch.



Not sure if you can tell very well, but this is supposed to show where the metal is shiny from my tires rubbin...



And now, all we have to do is:



With careful finesse, I was able to massage the the wheel well back behind the cab mount and have eliminated rub on flat ground at low speed. I noticed some rubbing while braking as I pulled into Cheba Hut on my way home.



I’m not touching you!!!!



I don’t really have much more I can cut out of the cab mount, so I think I just gotta deal with the rubbing. I am all the way back to the plate on top of the frame that (I think) holds the cab down. Hit the lower part that bolt a few times today if you didn’t notice the gloss on it. As I look at this photo, it kinda makes me laugh at the things do to our trucks.

Drive shaft vibration woes...continued.

I took another look at the drive shaft today, which still has a launch vibe. The carrier bearing I put in before Moab is trash. I know there’s supposed to be some movement, but this thing “floppy”. I think I trashed it by not having my carrier bearing spaced out before I discovered this thread earlier this year:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/drive-shaft-vibrations-solved-step-by-step.244535/#post-5856724

The u-joints still feel good and were just replaced before Moab 2 years ago, and have less than 10k (i think), so they should be good. But once again, things were about of balance with the carrier bearing for awhile last year so who knows.

Here’s the big ass stack of washers I have in there now with some longer bolts. Until I get this figured out, it is what it is.




At a minimum, I’m going to replace the carrier bearing and keep screwing with my angles, maybe the u-joints, but I’d rather not. This time I will measure off the flanges and not the casing, as the flanges is more precise.

Second option is a 1-piece drive shaft, rebuild this one and keep as a spare. I really like the idea of having a spare because reasons. @Tacoma SS, your buddy Ryan sounded really happy with the 1 piece he had built... any chance you can ask him for the company who made it and a phone number?

Third option that’s been presented is a traction bar, which I need to do more research on. I’m not convinced that this will resolve my issues yet, and it seems like the most expensive and complicated option.

Getting this resolved is my top priority.

Roof top tent zipper pull fix

I broke the original zipper pull in half while trying to zip up my tent after airing it out post Telluride.

The fixnzip product I bought was a fail for the CVT zipper. Going with Velcro or I will replace the zipper. Read more here:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/the-rtt-owners-thread-with-bs.312269/page-832#post-18399588


That’s all for today.

1. Updating to do list:
   1. DONE. Post pictures of the White Rim/Moab/RockTherapy trip from back in October before I forget all the details.
   2. DONE. Strip, prep and repaint sliders with POR15
   3. DONE. Inspect, prep, and treat frame for rust with leftover POR15
   4. Done. Prep and repaint shackle hangers.
   5. Done. Fix drive shaft launch vibe.
   6. Done. Install sound deadener in rear of cab.
   7. Done. Install molle panel in rear of cab.
   8. Buy molle accessories to organize bullshit in rear of cab.
   9. Done. Finish aux fuse panel wiring harness.
   10. Done. Wire and install 6 switch panel and harness for cab
   11. Done. Install aux fuse panel in engine bay.
   12. Fiinalize wiring for compressor in bed.
   13. Relocate back camera
   14. Done. Order new brackets for RTT.
   15. Done. Cut moar from driver side cab mount.
   16. Done. Bolted on now! Fix clips holding on driver front fender flare.
   17. Done. Buy new Jerry can or fix pin hole leak.
   18. Mount 2nd spare tire on spare rim.
   19. Figure out permanent install of truck fridge in rear of cab.
   20. Done. Re-wire outlet for fridge in rear of cab.
   21. DONE. Wire PIAA lights that have been on my truck for 6 months just for looks.
   22. Install lights in topper. Also see 26.
   23. Wire and install 4 switch panel in bed.
   24. DONE. Re-run CB antenna cable
   25. Done. Run power to CB from new aux fuse box
   26. Done. Run power to PIAA lights from new fuse box
   27. Done. Fix flyback diodes on aux fuse box
   28. Purchase bolts and bolt on the other 3 fenders.
   29. Swap mounts on the passenger side black mirror with white mirror so they match
   30. Install new window visor on driver side
   31. Touch up sliders from Telluride

 

Nice work Bryan! Out of curiosity what’s your caster set to.? I’m headed towards 35’s or larger but it’s a few years out lol.

 

Honestly the numbers mean nothing to me except that they are in range.

3.4 left, 4.2 right



Edit: fixed with castor numbers instead of camber

 

Positive castor pushes the angle of the wheel forward away from the cab mount. Was the left rubbing?

 

That’s simple. Think I can understand that.

Yup. Just the driver side after swapping to the moog lower and replacing all 4 tie rod ends.

Prior to that they were both 3.6 according my prior alignment.

So that makes sense. Left tire is further back then it was.

If I’m reading right, that means they didn’t touch the caster.

Possible it could be moved forward?

 

Yeah if I was running 35’s I’d have them shoot for 4.0 or better on both sides but this is only my opinion I’ve never ran 35’s lol. We gotta go wheeling again soon man I got my sliders and cb installed finally. Next weekend maybe?

 

Thanks for the input, and education. Next time I change things up and need to get re-aligned i’ll see what they can do. I assume the upper control arm limits how far forward you can go.

I’ve made as much space as I can for those things.

I’m down for wheeling next weekend on Sunday assuming I can get a decent carrier bearing installed and play with the angles of my drive shaft Saturday. While I don’t think it’s in jeopardy of blowing up on me, I’ve ridden it pretty hard lately and want to address it sooner rather than later.

 

I might be down for some trails also

To get more angle you need different uppers. Like spc adjustable. They can get you back in the 2.5 range

 

I considered them, but after doing my research I decided I will not install spc’s on my truck, redisgned or not. My understanding is they addressed the issue with a few early failures, and I know they are great for a lot of people, and I know how much people love them for the adjustability they offer, but I have never heard of a total chaos failing.

It’s the same way I feel about duratrac sidewalls.

It also doesn’t sound like I’m that far off. As far as I’m concerned, the only reason I’m rubbing now when I wasn’t before is because i assumed the tech knew what to do to make my shit work. They are alignment specialists, after all. I didn’t take the time to understand the numbers ahead of time and ask him to dial it in. Lesson learned.