Finally Getting Around To It Build

My best friend from high school just graduated with his masters degree and came out to visit me. I took him on a roughly 1,500 mile road trip. He loved every minute of it. Got to test out the new Kings and Fox shocks without the sway bar and the truck handles so much better. I just need to grease the TC UCAS since they were squeaking. Our route was Breckenridge>Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP>Ouray>Mesa Verde NP>4 corners>Grand Canyon NP>Horseshoe Bend>Antelope Canyons>Lake Powell>Vermillion Cliffs NM>Zion NP>Moab>Breckenridge. Hopefully I can drop the truck off this week to get the damage fixed from the accident a couple weeks ago.

Ouray


Grand Canyon


Vermilion Cliffs National Monument

 

On the way to the airport this morning to drop off my buddy my truck got in another accident... Once again it wasn't my fault and my truck was the only one able to drive away without being towed. Luckily everyone was ok. Funny thing about the accident is that I got hit in the EXACT same spot where I was hit a couple weeks ago. Now I have to wait even longer to get my truck fixed because now I have to wait for the insurance of this mornings accident to go through when I was going to drop my truck off to get fixed today. Could have been worse but it just sucks.

 

Damn dude! That’s some unlucky stuff. Glad you’re ok again

 

You're telling me man! When I got out of the truck to check out the damage and found out I just got hit in the same spot again I just laughed. Lol

 

Nothing too new with the truck other than doing some mild wheeling. Finally got the insurance checks from the accidents earlier this year and All Pro said it's going to be about 3 months to get a new bumper to me. Anyways, took the truck up to Mosquito Gultch today at 13,185 ft! This weekend I'll be headed over to Moab and then the next week MAYBE Yellowstone NP, Grand Teton NP, and Glacier NP. Moving down to Fort Collins the beginning of August for school so we'll see if I can squeeze moving and another road trip in before school starts!

 

The trip didn't end up happening to Montana, but I did end up driving all the way back to Ohio for a funeral. Decided to take a little detour on the way back to Colorado by going to the Badlands National park, Mt. Rushmore, and the Black Hills! Unfortunately, on my way to Ohio, my AC compressor went out, and on my way back to CO, I lost my other front corner light. Got the AC fixed while we went to the funeral and it was good to go. Also, hit 150K miles! Not much is going to be happening with the truck for a while due to school but maybe the occasional wheeling trip!

Badlands National Park


150K

 

Finally got around to installing Tundra brakes. Surprisingly everything went smoothly. The pedal is a little soft and I have to press down about halfway for the brakes to really engage but once they do they're awesome.

 

@Blackdawg has a pretty good theory on this about how the master cylinder size affects pedal feel. It’s in his build somewhere. Might be worth checking into. I can’t stand a soft pedal. You might have the “wrong” MC in your truck for the tundra brakes.

 

I think I saw something about that. Unfortunately, I have more pressing issues to deal with before tackling the MC like a new steering rack and timing belt change sometime this year. I'm sure ill get used to the pedal after a while, it doesn't really bother me that much since I can stop a lot better.

 

I've got a soft pedal as well but I got used to it quickly. Only time I notice it is after driving my other car for a while and coming back to the truck. I'd get other major issues done first as this is extremely minor IMO.

 

It’s amazing what you can get used to if you ignore it long enough. Haha. My truck has several of those “issues”.

 

Yeah, it's just something I'm going to live with for the time being. The trucks no longer as pristine as it once was since last year I had two people run into me and I put the truck on its side... but now I don't feel as bad whenever I get trail damage

 

Just got back from taking the truck on a 4,400 mile trip through most all of California, I'm working on putting together a trip post that ill post here. My route was Fort Collins>Fruita>Moab>Las Vegas>Joshua Tree>Death Valley>Seqouia>Kings Canyon>Yosemite>San Fransico>Redwoods>Lake Tahoe> and back to Colorado. I'll also be traveling to the PNW, Canada, and the northern part of the U.S. also, later on, this summer so keep an eye open for that!

 

Heres the link to the trip I just did, check it out if you want!

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/roaming-around-cali.611576/#post-20713167

 

Took the truck on another 2,500-mile road trip through Colorado, Arizona, Texas, and New Mexico. I'm going to make a write up soon but here's a sneak peek for now. The route was Fort Collins-Breckenridge-Salida-Pagosa Springs-Cortez-Sedona-Petrified Forest NP-Saguaro NP-Tombstone-Guadalupe Mountains NP-Carlsbad Caverns NP-Roswell-Fort Collins. It was a great trip, tons of mountain biking, wheeling, and exploring.

 

If your trucks still have ABS modulators, they make it a bitch to bleed all the air out.

 

Finally got around to making a trip write up. Heres the link if you're interested!
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/my-southwest-u-s-trip.615313/#post-20891542

 

Getting the truck prepped for the next road trip this week to the PNW, British Columbia, and Alberta. Changed the steering rack and bushings, inner tie rods, lower ball joints, timing belt, rear shocks, and swapped out the raggedy old winch with a new synthetic line winch. Also scored a great deal on an ARB awning half off of new that I installed too. The guy only used it 3 or 4 times so its basically brand new! Truck should be ready to go for a while now.

 

Just got back from a 22 day road trip up through northern U.S., Canada, and the PNW. It was one of the best trips yet! I'll make a write up soon once I get everything in order. The route was Fort Collins-Devils Tower-Grand Tetons NP-Yellowstone NP-Glacier NP-Waterton NP-Banff-Lake Louise/Lake Moraine-Jasper NP-Whistler-North Cascades NP-Seattle-Olympic NP-Mount Rainier NP-Crater Lake NP-Reno-Salt Lake City/Land Cruiser Museum-Fort Collins.

 

This thread will coming to an end soon. The truck has gotten to the point where i'm changing the same parts every year or every other year with a lot of expensive maintenance coming up as well, and to be honest i'm tired of working on it. Pulled the trigger on a fully loaded 2019 Tacoma with 18k miles.