AdventureTaco - turbodb's build and adventures

Can't wait to see the re-lo rear shock v.2. Also, the front.

 

Lava tubes, the shrines (near where the bus used to be) and cinder cones were all fun spots. The shrines are just kind of funny. We ended up cannonballing from Afton to Laughlin on saturday and then back to Afton (via some highway due to the bronco issues) on Sunday. It was a whirlwind haha

 

Was there still downed power line on the ground where you begin driving on the white gravel road that parallels the train tracks?

 

That sandy section really is treacherous when dry. It was a breeze for you because of the wet.

I really don’t like the Mojave River crossing and will likely skip it in the future despite having done it successfully a few times. It is actually a really short drive from the mouth of Afton to the Basin Rd. exit on I-15. Afton is pretty enough to be worth driving both up and down it as well.

The photos of the pistons should be enough encouragement to go around!

Great write up as usual!

 

Should be next week for the final rear write-up, then a short break while I take some more photos of nature's beauty.

No downed power lines when we were there. Must have gotten patched up. Wonder what caused it to come down in the first place - not much out there to stress the lines, I'd think.

Thanks Ken!

Interesting to hear about the sandy section when it's drier. The top was plenty dry when we were there, but I suppose that it was wet a couple inches down, providing some good "footing." And I'm with you on the crossing - definitely something I plan on avoiding in the future - nice to have "done it," but no need to push my luck in the future...well, except once through Dry Soda Lake, which we skipped this time, but I'd still like to try when there's another vehicle there to pull me out.

 

As soon as you make that turn onto the white gravel one of the poles got washed out and pulled down some of the lines. At least that's what looked like happened.

Luckily they weren't live, so I think that entire length of powerline doesn't power anything anymore. I'm not going to discuss how we found out it wasn't live. Some stupid decisions were made by some that could have been very bad.

 

Zzyzx was a mining claim a guy built a town/ health retreat on, Feds said you can't do that but it was there for a couple of decades. Now it's a base for desert research. Worth a drive into to read the history and see what is going on there now.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zzyzx,_California

I've been to Zzyzx twice, need to hit the Mojave Road.

 

What did the shackles look like when fully flexed out?

ZZYXX: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/zzyzx-mineral-springs-and-healing-center
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articl...e-biggest-health-spa-scam-in-american-history

 

I could swear that you recently posted a link to a very in depth post on removing the center pieces of the dash, but I cant locate it now. Did I remember that incorrectly?

TIA

 

Ahh, washout makes more sense. Should have thought of that. Glad everyone in your group was OK - could have been a bad situation .

but I would assume they look about how they would look with OEM leafs since the Alcans I have are dang close the same length as the OEMs that I removed. Well, OEM leafs with a little bit taller bumps, since the ones in the photo are 4.25" instead of 2.5".

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I think someone else posted it recently, but here's a link to it. Might be one on TW too, but easier for me to find the blog, lol.

https://adventuretaco.com/removing-the-dash-trim/

 

thank you! I appreciate this.

 

FYI - @Ace115 I just took apart my dash yesterday and scanning through the linked post - it's all the same for our trucks except the climate control. Very similar - remove knobs and take a flat blade screwdriver to pry gently around the faceplate on the climate control and it will come off. Otherwise, all the screws/bolts are in the same places on our 2003 as in that truck.
One thing that is missing is that there are two screws to remove the metal plate that the ashtray slides into (look up from the floor) and then ONE MORE screw pointing up holding the large black trim piece on (the one that goes around the radio, climate control and upper vents).

 

I bought something like these awhile back and it makes me way less nervous working on my dash and trim.

GLISTON 5pcs Auto Trim Removal Tool Car Pry Tool Kit, Door Panel Clip Removal Set for Vehicle Dash Radio Audio Installer

GLISTON Paintless Dent Repair Tool Dent Puller Kit

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07JVP1MRS/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_GjeyCbHPFZJ5K

 

Add in “use cation when removing climate control dials. Each has its own metal ring spacer thingy (approved technical term) that will either stay in the post hole or on the actual post. If missing the dials will not fit back on snug.”

Looking back at the link and pics, my findings may be specific to the ‘01-‘04 models.

 

Tacoma Rear Shock Relocation - Scrapping the First Attempt and Trying Again
December 17, 2018.

I'm generally pretty good at building things with my hands, but in relocating the rear shocks on my first gen Toyota Tacoma, I'd royally screwed up. If you haven't read about that, I'd recommend checking out the previous post in this series - Rear Shock Relocation - Fabrication and Failure, where after I'd permanently welded a bunch of stuff to my truck, I'd discovered that I couldn't go over bumps taller than about 2-inches. Not good for adventuring out on dirt roads.

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But, failure is a great learning tool, and I'd spent some time figuring out why what I'd done hadn't worked, and what the right way was to accomplish my goals... so it was time to give it another shot.

Note: If you just want to understand the right way to do this and don't care about the story, the post you want to read is this one:
How-To: Toyota Tacoma Rear Shock Relocation - Determining Leaf Spring Cycle and Mount Positioning​

Of course, having welded on the original shock mounts I'd purchased from RuffStuff.com, the only way they were coming off was by cutting and grinding, so my first step was to order a couple new sets of mounts. I got the same ones I'd purchased previously - RuffStuff SBRKT-175 (upper) and R1988-8 (lower) shock mounts.

New parts acquired, it was time to figure out how to get the bed off the truck again - always a tedious process for me since I don't have a good place to store it, and since it requires a few strapping folks to lift free of the frame. Luckily, my 4Runner buddy Joe - who'd run the WABDR with us earlier in the summer - wanted some help installing a new roof rack and said I was welcome to use his "trellis hoist" to pull the bed off at the same time if I wanted.

Of course, I wanted.

So I headed over and maneuvered the truck under the trellis in his backyard. Joe uses this hoist to lift his RTT on/off his 4Runner so we hoped it had enough oomph for the Tacoma bed - I protected the cab and rear bumper with some moving blankets just in case it started to swing around.

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As we started lifting the bed, it was clear that the rear half was much heavier than the front. Removing the tailgate balanced it out almost perfectly and with the help of some pulleys and guidance up and over the fuel filler neck, the bed was soon suspended several feet above the frame.

With rain in the forecast, it'd make a nice roof, assuming the rope held through work.

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The first order of business was cutting off and grinding down the first attempt at the top mounts - the mounts quite clearly angled too far down.

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Then, I positioned and welded on the new mounts. Unlike the previous attempt, there was no measuring this time - I took @Squeaky Penguin's advice and mounted them as high as possible. In fact, I mounted them high enough that I had to grind just a little bit of the back of the mount off so it'd clear the bed. Every 1/8" counts!

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A quick measure at this point showed that I'd gained just over 2 inches of up-travel, previously the distance between mounts around 17 ¾".

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This was "close" to being good enough, but alas, once the mounts were re-painted and shocks were installed, the amount of exposed shaft (at rest) was exactly equal to the distance between the top of the bump stop and the frame - meaning the shock would bottom out before the bump stop could compress and absorb any impact. From talking to @Plastics Guy, I knew that the bumps would compress somewhere on the order of .4 - .7 inches depending on the impact, so I needed to either move the bumps up an inch or expose an additional inch of shock shaft to really feel comfortable.

Since I already knew what the leaf springs would look like when "on the bumps" from our recent Mojave Road trip, I knew that raising the bump stops would be the wrong call - I'd be limiting my travel more than I needed to.

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That of course meant that the bottom mounts had to come off as well, and new ones installed, with the mount rotated down slightly - giving me an additional inch of shaft travel before the shocks would bottom out. This process was both easier and harder than the top mounts. On the one hand, I had plenty of room to work without removing the bed. On the other, there were hard brake lines all around the lower mounts and there was no way I could get a grinder in there without some serious risk.

The first step then was removing the hard lines - a bit of a pain in that I'd have to bleed everything when I was done.

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Then, I was able to cut and grind off the lower mounts, just as I had with the tops. I was careful here to make sure I'd taken measurements of the position so that I'd be sure to correct correctly when I welded the new ones on!

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Axles naked of shock mounts once again, I positioned the new mounts and tacked them on. I wanted to make sure that I could install the shock and ensure that it'd cycle correctly before buttoning everything up this time!

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Things looked good, so I finished welding, cleaning up, and painting everything for the second time. Hopefully the last time. That's what they say, right? Second time's a charm. hahahahaha

Finally, it was time to install the shocks and load everything up to double check that things looked good - and they did!

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It had been quite the project - or was it two? - upgrading my shocks, bump stops, and relocating everything at the same time. But it was a great experience - one that taught me so much more than having done it right the first time, not really understanding why (or thinking I understood why but having that understanding be incorrect).

Thumbs up all around.

There's more to this story, check it all out
Part 1: Collecting Parts and Heading South
Part 2: Fabrication...and Failure
Part 3: Scrapping the First Attempt and Trying Again

and, if you're doing this yourself:
How-To: Toyota Tacoma Rear Shock Relocation - Determining Leaf Spring Cycle and Mount Positioning​

 

That's more like it, lookin good!

 

shoulda welded on some resi mounts while you where there too.

 

Nice write up... Again.

So, can you talk a little bit more on driving without rear shocks? I thought it would be like driving a rocking horse and be difficult.

Then, what's the beer can protecting?

 

Thanks man!

Nah, I like the cheap minimalist approach. Plus, gotta keep the pounds off (as though the resi mounts would matter). Hahahahahaha.

Driving without rear shocks was like driving a rocking horse. When we were on the Mojave Road, we'd hit these little sections of whoops (like 50-100 in a row) that would have been amazing to drive with shocks, but which caused us to have to slow down to like 5-7mph because we were hitting the resonant frequency of the springs, and pretty quickly then getting into the bump stops. Definitely kept the speed down on the trip!

And the beer can is a heat shield for the resi hose. It's hard to tell from the angle of the photo, but the exhaust is about 2.5" from the hose at that point and I was a little worried that it would be too hot. When we put on the can, it was cool to the touch even when the exhaust itself was too hot to touch. Don't know if I really need it, but decided to leave it as a tribute to the fun I had putting it all together with Zane.

 

I remember a section on there when we were heading W to E that ended at a road and railroad crossing and it was terrible, even with shocks. Seems like it was a half hour to 45 minutes of just straight rocking horse whoops, big enough that the real LT guys were really able to pull away from us regular peasants.