BigMike’s Big Journey: New 2016 Tacoma

Sept 11, 2019: Rear Rock Crawling Tube Bumper FINISHED (continued)





Here is a detail shot around the tailgate hinge. The production bumper will stick out more due to both larger 2.00" DOM material and space for formed caps to be fitted onto the bed over this area beneath both taillights.



So cool now seeing our bumper in my rear view camera!



Nearly ready for another Marlin Crawler Round-Up!

 

2WD Triple Low Range, a video from the future (March 25, 2020)

Now that I've gotten the rear bumper out of the way, I can finally share a video we posted this past March showcasing 2WD Triple Low Range. Enjoy!!

Hey @tonered, whatcha think of 2WD Triple Low Range?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqXPHyaN8ZA

 

Freaking lusty. I would love a reduction box someday.

Beautiful monster that you have there!

 

You're welcome!

If you're ever up this way, lemme know! We can hash something out.

 

Clampy!

Two of the coolest Toyota builds in one photo!

 

C’mon stuff that tire. I know mine are only 37’s but tuck that bitch up in there.

 

Hey snowsk8air2, thanks for the photo! That is very impressive!!! I'm not sure how much more room the fiberglass fenders provide, but our axle centerline to the bottom of our cabs don't look too much different, but you definitely have more up-travel. I probably could go up higher as I don't have tire contact to the outside face of the frame yet (I do on my 1981 with 37s), but I really like my body line and didn't want to cut into it anymore

(Incoming pictures from the future! Keep in mind the 3rd gen has a higher bedline)

Red Mountain Trail


Dusy/Ershim Trail (so far the most difficult trail I've taken the Tacoma on for reasons I'll discuss once I get the thread caught up. Definitely more difficult than the Rubicon)



Not to take away from your 37s, which is no easy task to fit under a 2005+ Tacoma and is what I ran for the better part of 13 years wheeling my 1981 Triple T/Case'd Hilux (37" MTRs, 37" ROCKERs, and finally 37" IROKs), but the jump from 37" to 40" is quite drastic; A lot more than the jump from 35" to 37"

Left: 40 x 13.50, no load
Right: 37 x 12.50, on truck

 

Thanks nDub! But the other rig isn't Clampy It's close though!

 

Sept 4-11, 2019: Final remaining items before MCR18

Finished up a few more items before the Round-Up.

On the 4th I installed a pair of our 90-degree exhaust fittings to my ARB solenoids to get oil film spray out of my engine compartment



On the 11th I added basic diff armor as a temp. solution until we get our Full-Face Armor ready for the new 8.75" axle housing



And finally I added these lil LED lights with these surprisingly strong 5mm button magnets which I can slap onto the license plate for now until I get the plate mounted properly and powered lights reattached.



All loaded up and ready to return to the Rubicon!!!

 

Sept 13-16, 2019: 18th Annual Marlin Crawler Round-Up (MCR18)

I should be posting these to my Trip Thread, but that thread is so far behind and I can't be bothered updating it, so I'm just going to fire these off here with minimal comments. Let me know if you have any questions!

 

Sept 13-16, 2019: 18th Annual Marlin Crawler Round-Up (MCR18) (continued)

Forgot to install the K&N filter sock





This is my 2nd prototype RCLT HD. There were over 100 improvements since V1, and speaking from the future, V3 has around 40 improvements over this V2 shown, and the final production version has about a dozen final improvements over V3.

 

Sept 13-16, 2019: 18th Annual Marlin Crawler Round-Up (MCR18) (continued)

First time seeing this much up-travel since upgrading to linked suspension!



Final made it through Soup Bowl!







New prototype bumper doing it's job!



Cakewalk through the Little Sluice

 

Sept 13-16, 2019: 18th Annual Marlin Crawler Round-Up (MCR18) (continued)





New muffler modification

 

Shoot. Just looked again. Definitely not clampy.

I just breezed past the post and I saw somewhere else that DED was there shooting some video so I just assumed. I stand corrected!

 

Sept 13-16, 2019: 18th Annual Marlin Crawler Round-Up (MCR18) (continued)





Couple pics from my friend CABOOSE





Buck Island Lake

 

Sept 13-16, 2019: 18th Annual Marlin Crawler Round-Up (MCR18) (continued)

Completed another pass through the Big Sluice. Such a pain in the ass with this huge monstrosity that is the 3rd gen Tacoma...



One of my favorite corners on the trail





These are from after the event, loaded up and ready to head back through the trail to Loon





Looks like I got the rear axle well centered

 

Sept 13-16, 2019: 18th Annual Marlin Crawler Round-Up (MCR18) (continued)

I've now slithered this annoyingly oversized "minitruck" through the Big Sluice 8 times without any body damage





Awesome shot from Jamie coming back around to Buck Island!



Regrouping near the top of the Slabs

 

Sept 13-16, 2019: 18th Annual Marlin Crawler Round-Up (MCR18) (continued)

Made it safely back to Loon Lake



Regrouping before merging back onto Hwy50



Grabbing dinner in Pollock Pines



Refueling at Grantline & 99



During the final 100ish miles home it had climbed to 20.3 MPG



Back home successfully still without any body damage wooooohoooooo



And that's mostly it for Tacoma pictures from MCR18! We recently posted our MCR18 Review Video which shows some footage of the Tacoma from the event

We didn't write this in the video description, but due to a corrupt memory card we lost the first two days of trail footage including additional interviews and slow motion footage of various rigs including SlowestTacoma. Nevertheless, our video guy did a hell of a great job turning the little remaining footage into nearly an 8 min video!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ekttpUVFQc

 

My arb leaked gear oil past the solenoid. Once it got bad the locker would stay engaged....was fun when it decided to randomly unlock. Anthony at Hoopers rear end changed out the bonded seal in the middle of locker and it works normal now and doesn’t spray gear oil out solenoid. Arb should warranty the seal and possibly labor.

In there bench testing Hoopers sees full locker engagement at 20 psi. They also suggested running a pressure regulator. I have mine set to 60psi with zero issues. Compressor and tank go to 150 on my system.

Glad to see updates on the slowest 3rd gen, can’t wait to see the rclthd out in production on vehicles.

 

This is my favorite pic.