Tacomas doing work

my wife loads 25 soaking wet bags of mulch from H.D (I was at work) I asked "howed it drive?" her "like a dream" ya like a hard tail Harley ..... to the bump stops lmfao

 

Towed my L3800 for the first time today.

 

800 lbs of broken pianos that even charity didn’t want, plus mattresses, on their way to the Miramar dump.

 

Split some wood for camping

 

Yeah, I had a permit.
2015 Leadville, CO

 

Last weekend I hauled off all my old soil, and while I'm not particularly proud of this accomplishment, I think I might have won the thread

So what happened is that I originally planned to hire someone from Craigslist to come haul off the load, but the cheapest quote I could find was $550!! I knew this would be a lot of work but figured with help I could do it and it wouldn't be too bad since we have a compost dump only ~3 miles from my house. So I called up my best friend who came over and we began shoveling.

The dirt pile measured roughly 18' long x 7' wide and I had it covered by a tarp due to recent rain. So it was a bit damp and although it didn't seem like "a lot" of dirt, it took us three hours to shovel it onto the trailer

Check out the other 3rd gens in the background: Cement = neighbor's, White = my best friend's. Both of them purchased due to my recommendation of how cool the new Tacoma is



While loading our 18' car trailer we realized straightaway that this was a lot of weight...

I figured so long as my rear bumper doesn't fall off I'll be okay (after bobbing [shortening] my bed 6-inches, my rear bumper is only held on my 6 bolts instead of the factory 10).

We spent extra time trying to avoid excessive tongue weight but there wasn't much we could do about it.



It rained again that night so I tarped the trailer and the next day headed off to the dump.

Holy smokes what a load!!



I had one of my Marlin Crawler TacoBoxes shifted into Low Range (2.28:1) to enable 2WD Low Range, which made disengaging the clutch much easier. The front end was really unloaded which meant the RCV's all-new Gen.2 CV boot design was going to get a workout. At least having the ability of a Low Range + 2WD (Thank you TacoBox!) meant the front shafts wouldn't be loaded and perhaps the boots could be happier.

The 3.5L had no power issues despite rolling on 40s (with Nitro 5.29:1 R&P). On larger roads I would shift 1st, 2nd, & 3rd before even crossing the intersection. Felt like I was a Big Rig with some huge load haha I only ran it up to 35 MPH in 6th gear and took my time in the slow lane. Brakes felt solid, however, I took advantage of downshifting/compression braking which was greatly amplified from being in low range. Of course I wouldn't have been able to stop in an emergency so I took my time and kept my distance.



My newly installed rear 3-link from Rock Solid Toys (RST) was nearly bottomed out!





I make it safely to the nearby dump and pull up on their scale. I find out that they do not assist with off-loading, and that I'd have to manually shovel it off my trailer. This would take sooooo long and beings we have another dump that does offer tractor off-loading, I decided to leave.

The bummer is that this other dump is clear on the other end of the city which would be ~ 20 miles of surface driving + morning rush hour traffic...but I had no choice now, I was committed!!

Before leaving the first dump, of course I asked what my Truck + Trailer weighed... AND ARE YOU READY FOR THIS??



15,160 POUNDS!!!!!!!!!

GOOD LORD!!! That is 7.6-tons or 6,876 kg. INSANE.

So now I was off for nearly a 20-mile trek across town... I took a video only to send to my friend. In hindsight I should have done a better job and actually tried to take good video. But it's better than nothing so here goes. This is in 2WD Low Range:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cbzsXcbXyU

Made it safely to our alternative compost dump and got in-line with a bunch of contractors/gardeners



Finally, after 1 hour 36 minutes since leaving my house, I had this insane load ready to be off-loaded!!





While waiting for assistance, I took a look at the new RCV boots, which, based on previous RCV boot experience, I thought for sure would have been ripped due to driving with the front end unloaded and the axles at such a steep angle...



...but I was extremely happy to see they both survived! This is big news for RCV customers! They may have finally fixed their freak'n boot issues as I now have close to 1,000 miles on them when previous RCV boots in my experience couldn't even manage 150 miles

Driver side RCV Gen.2 outer boot



Passenger side RCV Gen.2 outer boot



Man oh man was I sure glad to see this backhoe!!



Again, only took this video to share with my buddy, so nothing too special. I was extremely impressed with the operator: He did such a gentle job at not crushing the load and removed the entire load with this same small incremental motion so as to not pull too hard on the truck and trailer. I must have thanked him a dozen times for the help!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVJ7N_fV950

WHEW. FINALLY!!



So next I return to the scale to weigh truck + empty trailer, which came out to....

6,640 lbs (3,012 kg)

Then I removed the trailer and weighed just the truck, which came out to...

4,840 lbs (2.195 kg)

WHICH MEANS, the total gross weight of the haul -- trailer plus soil -- came out to...



10,320 pounds of actual tow/haul weight for the Tacoma!!! That is 5.2 tons /4,681 kg!!

When the Tacoma was new it was only rated to tow 6,700 lb and I just towed 154% the rated ability yet while having Triple Marlin Crawler Transfer Cases and 40" tires on a truck built for Rock Crawling that has done the Rubicon trail 6 times plus many others.

As much as I want to be impressed by this, if you've done any hauling before you know this was FREAKING RETARDED and I am very fortunate that nothing happened and I didn't get a ticket. Had I known it would be this much weight and also that I'd have to drive this far to a second dump, then I would have just hired someone to properly haul the load away.

But man.... what a stupid yet impressive experience!! LOVE THIS TACOMA!! Also, anyone who thinks the Marlin Crawler cannot handle "heavier trucks" can freak'n shove it because I have not one but two Marlin Crawler Crawl Boxes with twice as many pieces and double the number of our Maximum Capacity Double Row bearings and it just pulled a 5-ton load without breaking a sweat. Yours truly on the other hand was definitely sweating!!

Regards,
BigMike

 

Yay!

 

My man! How do you like your ramps? Scared the bejesus out of me for the first trip.

 

5' bed but 10' deck boards were no problem.

 

You may want to check your state laws on overhanging loads in the rear. I do know in Missouri, that would probably get you pulled over for having no red flag attached to the back end of your lumber. Here it does not have to be anything elaborate --just a piece of red plastic about a foot square tacked to the load/lumber will do. I may be wrong about the distance, but I think anything past 4 ft from the rear of your bumper requires a flag during day or a extra light at night.

 

New taco filling. 1.5 yards of medium cedar bark.

 

I've got a couple of my rigs along the way

 

Towing a car from New York to Virginia Tacoma gas mileage sucked but it did work..

 

shoveling horse dookies.

 

^^^ and now you have a shitty truck???

 

I had a shitty day

 

Broke her in with some top soil and compost for the wife’s garden

 

Too nice of a truck for topsoil. I say start looking for a cheap trailer. I've got mine for $250 on craigslist. It's one of those retired HomeDepot one. Best money I ever spent.

 

Finally got our wood permit. Only 8 more cords to go (10 is the yearly limit)

I was impressed with the trailer being able to near off road with the truck. The roads leave a lot to be desired which makes the journey that much more fun.
#gettingwood