Burt, The Old Man

Enter Burt, my 1998 Tacoma, originally bought as a daily driver and now is taking over as my adventure Rig.
As of 2023, I am building the truck with some harder trail and trips in mind, I have a Ford Ranger with a Camper on the back for longer trips but with a long wheel base I try to reserve some of the harder trails for Burt.
Current Parts/Stats.
As of 3/15/2024



Current 8/21/2023


How Burt Sits As Of 9/20/2019



11/29/2019
As of 2/19/2020

*Engine
2.7 3RZ-FE
Anti-Deckplate Mod: "More Power, Less Dyson"
Ebay Snorkel Cyclone Pre-filter
286,295 Miles as of 10/2/2023
5K Oil Interval:

$54 90915-YZZD3 Oil Filter 1 Case (QTY 10)

90915-YZZD3 Filter, Mobil 1 5W-30 Full Synthetic
High Mileage Blend
Coolant Flush and Thermostat 275,200 Toyota Long Life coolant
Toyota Mini Header Swap
*Drive-train:
W59A 5 Speed
80W-90: Last Changed 8/2/2019
*J-Shift Transfer Case
Front Output Shaft Seal Replaced PN#9031141012
80W-90: Last Changed 8/2/2019
*7.5" Front Diff
4.88 Gears
Self Install 285,000Mi 7/2023
80W-90 Last Changed 7/2023
*8.4" Rear Diff
4.88 Gears
ARB Air Locker
Self Installed 285,000Mi 7/2023
80W-90 Last Change 7/2023
*Suspension
Bilstein 5100 Lowest Setting
ARB 880 Lift Coils
1/4 Top hat Spacer
ARB CS046 Leaf Spring: Minus Short Overload and Mid Leaf
Factory Shackles Modified To Use Wheeler's Off Road Shackle Bolts
ARB FK-21
*Armor/Recovery
ARB Bumper,
Warn VR Evo 8S
Custom Rear Bumper
*Electrical
Optima Group 27F
OGE Mil-Spec Terminal Conversion
Blue Sea Aux 12 Circuit Fuse box
Voltage Boosting Fuse
Dometic CFX-35W
Baja Designs Squadron Sport Combo
ARB Single Air Compressor: OBA
Kenwood kmm-bt328u
Kenwood TM-281A Ham Radio
*Misc
Full Frame Strip and Repaint 1/2023
Various Body Rust Repairs, Kinda
Sold and replaced***Raven Topper W/ Carpet Interior, Climbing Anchors, Yakima Roof Rails***
*** Soft Topper Tan*** Storage/Winter
Custom Bed Rack 1.5 1/8"
23Zero Walkabout 56
Blue Sea Dual USB Conversion
Interior Voltage monitor
Cruise control Removal
OEM Lower Ball Joint Replacement
Seat Covers, WinPlus, Install By PO
*Wheels & Tires
Refinished factory 15x7 Alloy Wheels
33x10.50R15 Mickey Thompson MTZ
Photos of the day I brought the little guy home:

 

While on the Off road trip I came up with the name for the Tacoma when a friend asked me to describe what the Tacoma was like. I explain it was like an old man, it isn't fast, it can't take heavy abuse like CoWj, but it was hearty, had energy to do anything with enough time, and just wouldn't take no for an answer. So the name was coined, Burt, the plucky old truck that wont take no for an answer. ( I later found out that it was originally purchased at Burt's Toyota in Englewood Colorado, hmm Fitting.)
Now it was time to bring him home. Which meant trial but I-25, 20 miles of 75+mph highway where everyone goes minimum 90mph on it. I stuck it out in Burt 5th gear and held 75 in the right lane the whole way. Burt was more than happy just cruising along the highway, a very slight shake in the steering wheel which I presumed was just tires being out of balance. After a little bit of time I made it home very happy with Burt, but now it was time for the formal introduction to CoWj. Hopefully those 2 get along...

Next was a quick tour around the field just to test out the low range ability and see how the plucky little 4cyl did in 1stLo.

 

Now it was time to start the first week of daily driver duty, nothing special just Burt meeting a little shop project my boss was working on.

 

Nice mix of trucks there. Burt's kinda rare and so much potential.

 

The First Adventure!​

This was Burt's first little adventure. I had sometime over a weekend and I wanted to see the mountain slaying potential of the 2.7, just kidding I wanted to see how slow it was compared to a V8 going up a common style of mountain road we see in Colorado, steep, twisty and full of tourist. So I made the drive up to Estes Park Colorado, also known as the gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park. Boy was I surprised, this 2.7 had tons of power, and the truck was so light that I was able to hold the speed limit at 2600rpm without even being passed 2/3 throttle. After ascending the road faster than expected I decided to take a dirt road off the the west to see what it was like on washboards. Not as many rattles as the Jeep but Burt does have roughly one quarter the amount of panels and hasn't been pulled apart a dozen times for repairs. It did have the same habit my 4runner had, on very aggressive corrugation the tail likes to step out to the passenger side, Weird both Toyotas do it, neither of the Jeeps do it.
Anyways I eventually turned off onto a short un-maintained road. It by no means was anything even slightly hard but I was in the process of learning no only a new vehicle and how it handles everything but also my first personal vehicle I had driven off road in a manual. Previous experience was limited to dual cased 4runners and jeeps on one tons with manuals.
Got to flex Burt out and see how the old aging suspension was doing and had the fun of taking on a couple little ruts with the open diffs and getting a feel for using the clutch off road.

 

Yup, I absolutely love the package that Burt came with. It is my personal set up for a compact truck. It has unlimited potential, however with CoWj is my main adventure and wheeling rig so I have no need to go crazy with Burt and that is my goal in the end.

 

The Second Adventure:
Father and Son Adventure.​

The next weekend, Fathers day 2018, what better excuse to back up to Rocky Mountain National Park with my dad and do some fly fishing and exploring as we hadn't been out in the park in a few years. So since the Jeep had the front axle torn out do it so that I could sleeve it, my dads Mazda 3 couldn't really take up to some sections that we wanted to get to. So that left little Burt, his first fishing trip, and first time I had driven him to over 12,000 feet.
We made our way up to Estes Park, from Lyons Colorado, then made our way into the park. We first drove around the normal areas that we had always gone to see back when we went to the park more often. Next, we made out way to the first river, suited up and made the hike in to really good fishing, no big fish but tons of small and medium rainbow and brown trout, we were having a blast and on a roll.
With the high amount of motivation my dad set his goal, in the 15-20+ years lived in the area he has never caught a fish in the upper section of Fall River. This meant a trip up Old Fall River Road the famous high elevation dirt road access to the top of the park at over 12,000 feet. now there is a paved road to the top and it allows easy access instead of having a single lane dirt road with super tight switchbacks up to the top of the park.
It is still reasonably traveled due to the more adventurous feel or in our case access to the river. We stopped at the bottom so my dad could reset his fly rod for the tighter condition of Fall River than the previous stream.

After the quick stop we made our way up the switchbacks until we found a pull off and good access to the river, and by good I mean as long as you don't mind climbing over fallen trees and ripping your arms to shreds on spiky bushes you can access the river, welcome to fishing with my father...

And once again, nothing bites, he walks away again without so much as a nibble.
I enjoy fishing but not as much as my dad who will do whatever it take to fish a stream that may contain a cutthroat trout.
So I took photos of the scenery and Burt as that is my passion.

After being stood up by the fish again, we headed up to the Top of the World! or at least the top of the park.


And here we see the local residence of the area, Elk are seen all over the park and especially at the higher elevations during the summer. Old Fall River Road can only be driven up to the top there is not traffic allowed in the downhill direction. So one must take Trail Ridge road to return back down to a the normal areas of the park.

Burt nailed the entire trip, my favorite part of him so far the the ability to run 2wd Lo with the hub unlocked, it really helped on the tight steep switchbacks. Really starting to like this little guy, there is just something about him that makes you smile no matter what.

 

250,000 miles! 1/4 million club! Still summer of 2018.
Burt got a full oil change to celebrate and reset the maintenance schedule exactly on 250,000 miles.

 

The First Upgrade:
Oh Man it Feels Nice.
​

Upon purchasing Burt I put him on the lift at work to give him a check up. I noticed that the front coilover lower bushing was completely worn out. Which explained the clunk I got if I hit a pothole reasonably hard. The interesting part was that they were Toyota Shocks and I believe they could be OEM, maybe someone can confirm or deny this, the shocks still rode well but the bushing toast. So I took the opportunity to give Burt a bit of an Upgrade, and a set of Bilstein 5100s all the way around sounded good to me, I loved them on my 4runner, hated them on the rear CoWj (Too soft), and decided they would be a good replacement of stock on Burt without requiring a lift.
Due to the 2.7 I didn't want to go with tires any larger than stock, granted it had 31x10.50R15s but I know some Tacoma's came with 265/70r16s which were bigger, hmm...
Down to business, The old shock was looking a bit old and that bushing is not even close to being in a healthy condition.

So with the old shock removed I kept the factory coils and swapped over to the nice shiny Bilsteins.

Fronts done, now onto the rear.

Now for the best part! No, it's not the ride which is very good both on and off road, it is the fact the not only did I not have a single bolt break of be rusted and seized, they all came out easy as working on a new truck, just dirtier. I should buy a lottery ticket, especially since I checked all the LCA camber bolts, all broken loose and could be turned to adjust the camber. Talk about a good day!

 

Dead Weight...​

Yup that's right, Burt suddenly became a dead weight.
I needed to pretension and make sure the winch rope was laying flat on the drum after the past winters recoveries and work around the field pulling out fence posts. What better way of doing so than pulling Burt up the sloped driveway while running the cable in evenly across the drum. This was also one of the last journeys on the old BFG KOs.

 

New Tire Day!:
Ish...​

When I purchased Burt he had a set of 31x10.50R15 Bf Goodrich KOs on the factory wheels. I think that is a great combo, I love the look of the wheels and find the BFG KOs a good all around tire, granted I ran than them a few years ago on my Zj back when they didn't have a KO2 option. But the tires on Burt were about to hit the end of there life cycle, poor wear, and dry rotting were the main issues that they had. I would have loved to pick up a set of 31x10.50s and slap them on the factory wheels. But what made more sense was to pick up a set of 2nd gen Steelies in a 16x7, and use the perfectly fine set of tires I had in the garage. the tires in question were a set of 235/85R16 General Grabber AT2s, which had less than 10,000 miles. These were the tires I had previously had on CoWj before switching to Falken ATW3s for a better winter traction when I moved to Gunnison for school and needed a winter focused tire.
I did a quick size comparison before picking up the steel wheels for free.99 and learned that the 235/85 is an inch taller than a 265/70, however it is also an inch narrower, and well with 1st gen and no lift they clear with mudflaps and no rubber at all. So on went the Generals to the steelies, and then they went onto Burt. But not without a quick side by side comparison.

Tall and Skinny just the way it should be on a single cab!
A test drive was in order, and of course I had to go find the closest dirt road to take some photos.

Digging the look of the new wheels and tires, eventually I hope to return the factory alloy wheels, and have them in the garage for when that time comes.
I then got the idea of removing the topper as I yet to do so, and man that thing has been on for likely over 15 years, the rubber seal was stuck to the bedsides. I pried it up and made my way around slowly until I got it separated and pulled it off.

With the topper off it looked like a totally diffferent truck, still to this day I am unsure whether I like it with or without more, but I am leaning towards with more than without.
Burt even got the dog paw of approval!

 

First Wheeling Trip?​

With the new shocks, tires, and the lack of a topper I wanted to see how capable Burt truly is. I was in a wheeling mood as well as I had just completed a Rather difficult trail in CoWj the previous weekend. I took Burt up to the first 4x4 trail I ever did, Bright trail in Allenspark Colorado, nothing more than a 3/10-4/10 but a great test of a shock or nearly stock vehicles with off shoots ranging in difficulty. I made all the easy trails without issue as to be expected but then I went to tackle the hardest section of the trail a little rock climb that twists the suspension up pretty good and can lift a tire if the line is wrong, Burt climbed up it without issues, 1st Lo is low enough for the little 2.7 to idle up most things and climbed this with very little throttle. Coming down I snapped a couple pics. It's nothing insane but likely about the limit that I would take Burt on.
Compared to the trail form the previous weekend this was a walk in the park
CoWj descending V-Rock on T33A Plane Crash.

Definitely not a Burt Friendly Trail, but that why I have him and CoWj, I can do any trail I want to and still have fun on the easy ones!

 

There's a fellow on here somewhere that took the trim off under the door windows and repainted them black
after the factory black started coming off...



-Mike "looks like you're having fun!"

 

Huh, that seems like a very interesting idea, I think the may look better good too. I will love into that next time I have the door apart. The imteresinte thing is that my mother's 2010 Venza has the same exact issue happening to it.

 

**Note I Do not recommend this as your method of moving the shed**

The Move:​

My mom gave my dad and I a list of things to complete on the house before I went away for college. While we had completed nearly all of them including taking down a large loafing shed left in the field by the previous owners. Next was to move the shed across the yard.

Only a matter of 100' or so. The ground was mostly flat and all we had to do was rotate the shed 90° in the end for it to face the right way.

My dad and I spent a good 4 or 5 days coming with ideas of how to move it. And until the day we started we planned on lifting the roof off and taking each wall over separately. The night before the weekend we planned on moving it my dad and I were sitting and watching an Episode of 4WD action and I jokingly said " hey, why don't we just pull it across with Burt."

We kinda of laughed at the idea for a bit but then figured out that it might work. We formulate a plan to cut up some of the old telephone poles and use them as rollers to move the shed Easter island style.

The day of the move...

We started by bracing the walls of the shed, adding horizontal pieced about 3' off the base board to give the walls some structure. Then it was figuring out how to lift this shed, it sat on a concrete foundation that had been broken up previously, but it had about 16 bolts that were set in the concrete to make sure this shed never shifted in winds or hell even a tornado.



We used two Hilift Jack's to lift half of the shed a couple inches up then set it down on some wooden planks and moved to the other side where we did the same. Eventually we had it a good 6" off the ground and could fit out smallest rollers underneath it.



Next we had to over come the fact that one side of the foundation was 10" off the ground, so we build a ramp with a 16' 2"x10" and hoped it would work.

Next it was time to prepare the move.

The strap was hooked to a cross brace in the door. I had Burt in 1st gear low, and the hubs unlocked as traction was not an issue but control and slow pulling power was. We start to slowly pull and move the shed inches at a time. Slowly counting down until the ramp, my dad was poises and ready with a couple more rollers for when it hit the ramp.

It inched forward, it hit the ramp. And all of a sudden the shed kicks sideways and goes down the all cockeyed, amazingly it made it to the bottom, no rollers, it didn't collapse or anything. My dad and I were shocked.



Next came 2 days of moving a couple feet an hour. Slowly making our way across the yard. Moving rollers digging out part of the plant berm to fit the shed through. Hoping our measurements were correct that it would fit between the live power pole and the scrap wood from the loafing shed that we had yet to get rid of yet. Slowly but surely the shed made it's way across the yard to it's new home.

Finally we had to turn it another 90° and get it seated back into the spot next to the garage where is would stay.

Eventually after 6 hours of slowly spinning in a few degrees at a time and moving Burt around three dozen times pulling from different angles and my dad and I pushing and rocking it on rollers we got it into the spot that it now sits.

Now we quickly leveled it with some flat sandstone rocks until we build a concrete base. Next was to go out to dinner to celebrate the fact that nothing broken the shed didn't fall apart and our crazy idea actually worked without disassembling the shed.

My mom came home from vacation a couple days later to a moved shed which made her happy! Win win!

 

Awesome. Love the truck....I think it looks awesome without the topper. How's the frame??

 

You don't have to take the door apart. They come off just by prying. I just taped mine off and sprayed on the truck (just to eliminate risk of breakage), but I have removed them on other vehicles and not broken them.

 

I just had new ones installed in 2007 They're still like brand-new. It seems the after-factory ones hold paint better.

 

The frame is in pretty good condition, there is a few sports of surface rust on the frame. I plan on coating the frame with POR15 this summer to prevent anything more serious from happening. No cracks of bending that I have been able to see.

 

Hmm, I think I may try that this summer when I go to do a fair bit of maintenance that I have been meaning to do. I do plan on trying to clean up the outside and cosmetics.