AdventureTaco - turbodb's build and adventures

no you can't dude. Says right on the page that the fabbed spindle is required. You can run the spindle with whatever though. It's my plan as well.

 

I see the relief cut and little metal shield in their fabbed spindle for it, the clearance is present in the stockers too. I'll remeasure, but I'm almost sure that they say that to avoid having people grind on their stock components.

 

I don't think the dish in the stock spindle is deep enough for the uniball bolt.

 

I think the height isn't the issue, I think it's the clearance toward the outer potion of the spindle. Where the bolt would go when suspension compresses. We will find out soon, just need someone to kindly measure their uniball deal for me. Or maybe I'll just buy them and get the spindles if my idea is wrong.

 

I don't know anyone with them so sounds like Option B is the way to go.

Be funny if you could do that. The other part is of course you have to run the heim steering too...which adds even more cost. So could end up being a $2500 experiment haha

also the issue with the stude. Im not sure how that is supposed to work actually. Its just a bolt vs a tapered end.

 

I thought that bolt was a bit odd too, but I could make a tapered to straight hole piece given 5 mins on a lathe at work so it's not a big deal. The more I'm looking at the fabbed spindles the more I'm convincing myself I just want those instead, saves me the 45mins of welding gussets to the stock spindles haha, that's priceless, at least that's what I'll tell myself.

 

Im going that route. Not worth it either, well that and mine are likely bent anyways haha

 

Well I guess we will see how long it takes me to break a stock BJ with the LT, and when that happens I'll just do it all.

 

Eh. Shouldnt be a problem I think honestly. Just keep an eye on them as usual. Mine was fine just didn't watch the bolts.

 

Rig Review: Whipsaw & Colorado 2019 - What worked and what didn't?
September 30, 2019.

It was another whirlwind of trips through August and September, with three more trips and 21 more nights now in the books: The Whipsaw Trail in BC, Canada, a trip with Pops to the California Sierras, and a nearly two-week adventure through Wyoming and Colorado. Of those, the two driving adventures both ended early due to mechanical failure of at least one vehicle on the trip, so without further ado, let's get into what's bound to be a stunning rig review!

Front Brake Hard Lines (long term)
TL;DR - the hard brakes lines are working fabulously and I'm happy to have installed them.

After the brake caliper failure on the IDBDR, I evaluated the Tundra brake situation and decided to complete the conversion to a Tundra front end from a brake perspective. That meant installing hard lines to the calipers, and replacing some of the mounting hardware on the spindles. It's worked out well, and I am now a firm supporter of this method of connecting the calipers to the rest of the hydraulic brake system.

As a reminder - LCE charges too much for the parts to do this, and they are essentially the only supplier. I will sell you the parts necessary to upgrade your brake lines for significantly less than LCE. If you are interested, check out the store page here: Tacoma-to-Tundra Hard Brake Line Upgrade Kit.

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Rear Axle Seals
TL;DR - The rear axle seal replacement seems to worked beautifully and there is no more leaking at all.

My trip to Canada and the Whipsaw Trail was cut short when I discovered a leaky rear axle seal on the driver side. Upon my return, I replaced the seals using the Step-by-Step Guide to Replacing the Rear Axle Seals & Bearings I'd put together when doing the job on my 3rd gen 4Runner, and the project went off without a hitch. I hadn't driven the 4Runner much since doing the job, and the job on the Tacoma was done only a couple days before leaving for California and Colorado. I'm happy to report that through the entire 4500 mile journey, the seals worked flawlessly and I suspect will continue to work for another 100,000 miles or so. This is a job I entirely recommend doing yourself if you have the same problem - with the right tools, a little time, and the step-by-step guide above (which also links to the necessary parts and tools), it's easy and satisfying. Plus, you'll save yourself about $1000.

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Little Hotties Hand Warmers
TL;DR - if you get cold hands/feet at night when it's cold outside, and would like to be warm and toasty in bed, these work great as long as they are exposed to air/moisture.

Perhaps even a year ago now, I purchased a box of Little Hotties Hand Warmers in the hopes that they would keep me warmer on really cold nights when we stayed up around the camp fire until way past my bedtime (midnight or so). I've used them a couple times since then, but I always tried putting them in my shoes as we were around the fire, and that never seemed to work - I think because they didn't have the necessary air flow to trigger the chemical reaction that gives off heat.

On the Colorado trip, I took a different approach. Instead of using them around the fire, I placed them in my socks when I got into bed. This way, they had more exposure to air. It worked great. They warmed right up and kept my feet warm for 8+ hours. That in turn kept me much more comfortable in bed. Will do again.

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Front ADS Reservoirs Too Close to Tires
TL;DR - Moving the resis to the top of the frame means there is no more rubbing and I have my turning radius back.

It was many months ago that my tires started rubbing on the ADS reservoirs that I'd attached to the frame in the front wheel wells. This was a result of moving from SCS Stealth6 wheels to 4Runner 5-spoke wheels in order to reduce the amount of mud that was flung onto the truck in muddy conditions.

Until the trip to Colorado, I believed that my mounting location was the only one that the hose from the coilover to the resi would allow. However, I've since seen two other ADS owners who have installed their resis on the top of the frame, with seemingly positive results.

Also on the trip to Colorado, I noticed that the resis were starting to see significant wear from the rubbing. As such, immediately upon my return I moved the brackets and reservoirs to the top of the frame. This has solved the rubbing problem entirely, and though it's harder to access the resis when bolted to the top of the frame, I think it is a good long-term solution.

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Front ADS Coilover Spherical Bearings (maintenance)
TL;DR - it's been about a year and my spherical bearings are getting squeaky; time to replace them.

My understanding is that these are COM10T bearings and that I can just look around on the internet and find the cheapest seller. Ugh, a plan like that always worries me a little bit.

Relentless Skid Plate Attachment
TL;DR - The skid plates are holding up, but the mounting strategy could have been better. For the 3rd time, I'm modifying it.

I had some significant trouble with the Relentless skid plates on the last trip to Colorado. I've always had an issue with the bolts in the rearmost mounts on the mid (transfer case) skid loosening up over time - I believe due to the fact that the bolts simply thread into the <1/8" frame, which is just too thin to really secure them.

Additionally, I've had a problem a year ago where the crossmember mounts sheared off, and had to be rewelded to the skid plate.

Both of these things were a problem this trip, and I also apparently ripped both bolts out of the IFS mounts on the front skid.

​

As a result, I'll be making the following modifications:

1. For the front skid IFS mounts, I'll be drilling out and re-tapping the mounts that I welded on to the LCA locations so that I can insert larger bolts. I'll also be welding a bit of a lip around the bolt heads to try and protect them more.
2. For the mid skid, I'll be welding the crossmember mounts on again, and I'll just cross my fingers that they last another year. If/when they fail again, I may consider a different mounting strategy.
3. For the mid skid, I'll be using Rivnuts to secure it to the frame in the rear-most position. I've already done this on the passenger side and it seemed to work well.

Oil Leaking from Transfer Case
TL;DR - I have oil leaking from the transfer case where the front drive shaft attaches.

The truck is subjected to a lot of muddy water crossings and over time that muddy water gets in the various seals and things start to leak. That has happened on one of the transfer case seals, so I'll need to replace the seal between the transfer case and the front drive shaft. The part number for this is Transfer Case Oil Seal - Inner Front Drive Shaft (90311-41012) and I'll also need to replace the Transfer Case - Front Drive Shaft Stake Nut (90179-22016) at the same time.

The work isn't done yet, and I'm not overly worried at this point as the leak looks reasonably slow.

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Overall Weight of the Tacoma
TL;DR - the truck is heavy at 5800 lbs loaded, and I need to find a way to shed weight. That's now on the project list for this winter.

Not technically my truck. Mine might be heavier.​

Seemingly solved from previous Rig Reviews

1. Front ADS Reservoirs Too Close to Tires - Moving the resis has solved the problem - as noted above.

Unchanged / Still an issue from previous Rig Reviews

There are some things that have been featured in Rig Reviews that are - as yet - unchanged from when I originally reviewed them. Rather than highlight those things again, I'll simply link to them here.

1. The Swing-Out Table - as expected, it was unusable on this trip.
2. The Ham Radio Antenna - continues to have the shortcoming mentioned.

 

To solve you antenna issues:

https://www.theantennafarm.com/catalog/sti-co-roof-ft-niti-6442



Id keep the other antenna in the truck though. This one is a 1/4 wave and does not have the gain boost the one you have not has. However, this antenna I just posted as you can see is very very flexible. Its what my dad and his buddy run for APRS and even for coms. They seem to do just fine, just make sure it gets tuned right.


this one might be fine too: https://www.theantennafarm.com/catalog/laird-technologies-qwb144-719 not sure how flexible it is though.

 

Hey Dan, do you have a section (a table of contents of sorts) that outlines all of you gear reviews, similar to what you’ve done with you ‘Completed Mods’ section or ‘Notable in some way maintenance’ section?

 

Is it not as fun, or not fun?

I guess my point is you may enjoy it more than you think as you get comfortable with it, and you're really not going to be much harder on your rig than you already are.

Plus, technical wheeling, and getting out and seeing amazing things, are not always mutually exclusive. You'll be missing out on some cool stuff by worrying about pushing your rig a little harder. Wheeling is really Mind over Matter - you know what your rig is capable of.

And I'm not saying change your rig or change what your most often do with it, because you can have a setup that can do a little of everything.

 

Rock star. Looks like those are just for the wire - do you read it the same way? So, we'd take the existing wire out of the NMO base, and secure this one?

Sort of. It's probably not all gear reviews, but all the rig reviews are here: https://adventuretaco.com/tag/rig-review/

...and in what will be an ongoing thing, since I've started 2019 now, I've also got: https://adventuretaco.com/tag/gear-roundup/

Not as fun. In general, I know you are right and I was even commenting to @mrs.turbodb on this trip to DV that we just got back from, about how tame everything seemed to both of us, b/c we've gotten so much more comfortable in the last couple years.

So yeah, I'm happy to push boundaries and find my comfort level growing, but at the same time, I'm not in any huge rush to do that. There's still plenty to see that doesn't require me jumping the rig, or dropping it down a 10' ledge.

Speaking of which, @Blackdawg... you going to remember to apply for a permit to The Wave this year, or do I need to do it?

 

There's a lot in between what we did and dropping 10' ledges. Jumping is never required, but is fun on occasion.

 

Yep, I totally get that.

It's just that - understandably on the internet - whenever we start talking about "harder," photos start popping up of "the hardest" (or you know, not the "between" stuff) and of course - it being the internet - I'm happy to put in my controversial .02 that I don't need to do that stuff.

Because really, even if I do end up doing it someday, it's not the important bit to me. And I hope it stays that way - I hope it doesn't become about the technicality of the driving because I feel like then I might as well just drive a technical course.

 

It's okay Brett, I'll run hard trails with you. That's actually one of the most fun parts for me, something challenging, I know no matter what I'll get to see someplace neat and be outdoors with friends. I like the challenge of a tough drive, it's what I build the trucks for, I don't get to use it everyday, or even every trip.

 

no. They come with an NMO mount is you want so it just screws in as you have it setup now. So you can just swap between antennas.

Has it's own antenna element.

Wait...i didn't realize we were going? did I miss something? haha

This is ultimately the difference.

And is something Dan either A) doesn't care about or B) hasn't gotten to the point YET haha

To be determined I think. I mean shit, look at how his driving style has changed in just the 2/3 years we have been wheeling with him he now goes as fast as we do and enjoys it. So I bet once I start sneaking in more challenges here and there...that could become something enjoyable as well.

 

You could have done everything we did here in CO in a stock taco. Including red cone, with a little more rock stacking on the one obstacle.

Weight savings plan - remove everything from the truck except the suspension, tires, and tent. Maybe rock sliders and IFS skid can stay too. Then go through your camping gear and spares and remove everything you don't need or use regularly.

A simple, light vehicle might be the best setup for your kind of travel. I think too many people, myself sometimes included, can get caught up in the build without looking at the end goal, or what they really need.

 

Well I'd hope that Igor doing all of that makes it obvious it doesn't need much to do what we did. Id still be on stock bumpers if I hadn't made close friends with that deer. and I had no skid plates..like..at all haha other then the very front one, but diff wasn't even covered.

Is a good plan. I still think one worth exploring is pooled resources in a more organized fashion when it comes to the OSK.