Burt, The Old Man With friends Daryl and Donna

Yep, freeze/ thaw is pretty rough on the road and grading is a two edged sword, if they grade too fast, there is more broken sharp rock, especially in the beginning of the season.
I am curious to see how the Coopers stack up, early versions of the MAXX tires that we had on the work trucks did fairly well-wildcard is as always individual use habits and the fact that people never mistreat the work rigs
I suspect that sometimes it has to do with the width of the tread spacing as to what type of punctures you end up with. The big one for sure is speed, once I started slowing down I got a lot less flats.

The first couple years I worked out at the ranger station I drove an 84 SR5 two wheel drive, my third Toyota after moving to Ak, so fortunately I had about a dozen mounted wheels about 40% tread life, I averaged 1-2 flats a round trip, kept a couple spare wheels at the road camp and at work and always carried two along with repair stuff. Basically got every last mile of life out of those tires, and lots of plugs..

For the Taco, I had planned to upsize to 16” tires anyway, just spend up the timeline. It is getting harder to find an LT tire in a 15”, and also to make way for the Tundra brake upgrade, really helps when towing the box trailer:


Of course ‘Roland‘ really dislikes the first trip out west:

There will be 16” tires and wheels and gearing in the future for him as well.

 

Yeh I agree, going with a 16 or even 17 will open up much better tire options, and sticking with a E-load and 10ply.
I knew a few people in alaska that swear by the ST Maxx, and have run through 2-3 sets without issue. We have the freeze these cycle from September to November, then from March Thur May it June. Plus they scrap the paved roads with graders and pay loaders instead of snow plows. Which tears up the roads even more. Makes the little pavement rocks sharp on the tires.

 

Everything so far seconds that on the ST Maxx, might lean that way for the next set.
At least try them on the diesel, then I could take the almost new set of Toyo ATlll(same size on each- a bit light on load capacity for the big truck) and replace this set so they start out on the 7” wide wheels and I can see how long they will last, and apply the correct tire pressure from the start. Not to mention the price difference.
The first set (ATlll) has worn funny due to the tire pressure being high from the shop, didn’t really notice it until after the AlCan. The experiment continues.

 

2nd gen steel wheels are also 16X7 but they have 3/4” more backspacing than 1st gen wheels. I had the same issue with 235’s on 2nd gen steelies until I figured out it was the stupid wheels causing the problem, not the tires.

 

Yup, and it can be seen pretty easily when I switch from the 2nd gen wheels to the 1st gen wheels. The center line of the tire is that 3/4" farther out with the 1st gen wheels.

 

That is one of the side benefits of my work scene, I get a chance to confer with our mechanics, regarding tire wear and which tires hold up the best wear wise- the park road is one of the ultimate crucibles for gravel road tire wear. The road is pretty well maintained- since they run buses on it, has to be- and with the variety of vehicle users and driving styles you get a pretty good look at what works and what doesn’t. As we all know the ultimate factor in off road tire wear is user habits and driving styles.

Is the pic in your last post of Burt running 1st gen steelies? That is a good stance. I am a fan of the longer footprint for off road tire use. Old lessons seem to last the longest..

 

No the last picture is the 1st gen alloy wheels they are the 15x7s with the 31x10.50s

 

Nice

 

Just been enjoying Burt lately as fall is ending and winter is slowly coming. Its been a bit warm here after the couple small snows, but I know we will get dumped on soon here in the Rockies.
As for my Starting issue, I replace my injectors with a set of flow matched ones from LCE Performance, unfortunately that didn't fix it. But I found a good video of shop diagnosing an almost identical issue on another 3rz Tacoma, just in the later stages were the truck would die more often.
I believe that it is the Idle Air Control, I did some testing and the truck doesn't have some of the functions it should when the IAC is working properly. Such as a Cold Start High Idle, and while driving if I let off the gas and push the clutch in the revs drop down past idle to about 400 before bouncing back up.
This to me sounds like the IAC is gummed up and not moving freely nor is it opening on the very initial cold start after getting full cold soaked. Anything under 30-40 degrees the truck starts and dies almost right away, but then I can start it up immediately after and it will idle just fine.
So I am going to get a new IAC on the way and maybe clean the old one to see if I can get a bit more life out of it but probably just replace it just because its a bit of a process to remove the throttle body.

 

Lately I have been putting a lot of miles on Burt driving from Gunnison down to the front range to work with Off Grid Engineering on projects, as well as help get the Newest overland shop up and going.
Boulder Vehicle Outfitters is a combination of OGE and Camper and Gear, and we are opening up a large shop space in December to do full vehicle builds and supply the northern front range with quality products and services for overland vehicles. We have been slowly taking some smaller builds in the mean time at a smaller location before the grand opening.
I went down last weekend to help install a OGE dual battery system in this 08 Tacoma, along with a Arb Dual Compressor and Air Tank on an Expedition Essentials Bed Cubby Mount.

 

Preface! Burt Is not going Anywhere, He will likely end up with my parents as a second vehicle for them as my mom really like driving it around town, eventually to be back with me when I have space to have 2 vehicles.

I have also been looking into a new truck once again. This time, with the start of the new shop, Graduation from College, and other things. It is time to get something new for longer trips and to show of products that we sell and most importantly, test products.
I test drove a 2020 Tacoma, a Sport Access cab with a 6 spd Manual. Unfortunately it was a fairly large disappointment. I found that going up hills in Denver it never felt powerful. It felt like the same power as Burt, even with nearly double the power. I have also been driving a 2016 TRD Off Road a fair amount with the Auto. I really like driving that one, but I basically only drive it on gravel roads, and off road while hunting/scouting with a friend of mine who owns it. I really like how they perform off road, especially with a small lift and good tires. His has Bilstein 5100s at 1" lift and an Ad a leaf on 265/75r16 Toyo Open Country AT3, as well as an OV Tune.
Sadly, as much as I like wheeling them, after building probably over 40-50 of them for OGE I just know its not the best setup for me. Especially since you basically have to set aside 3500-4500 just to make them drive half decent with 4.88 or 5.29 gears and a Tune. Before you even start to build them.
the same day I drove the Tacoma I had also driven the 2020 Ford Ranger FX4.
Holy Crap, talk about one of the best driving trucks I have ever experienced, the 2.3l EcoBoost paired with a 10 speed, make it feel like it has unlimited power, merging on to the highway is not even the slightly of concern, unlike my experience with the 3rd gen Tacoma. It drove much better, feeling tighter and more responsive than the Tacoma. The interior in my opinion is nicer as well, along with having all the same off road goodies as a Tacoma. Trail control (Ford Crawl Control) Terrain Management (Multi Terrain Select) A rear locker of course. But also, you can use the rear locker in 2wd, 4HI, and 4LO. Plus I really like getting good fuel economy, I like to brag on trips I can get the best. And with the Ranger getting in the 22-25 highway as reported by the owners of them its better than the Tacoma.
Also report indicate that even up to 35s a regear is not needed. Yes you likely loose 10th gen but you have 9 others to get that engine to 3000, AKA peak Torque at 310Ft/Lbs not the 268Ft/Lbs at 4600 like the 3.5.
Driving it the power feels less like any midsize truck and most like a 2018 Ram 2500 Cummins, Where you not have a build up, peak, and drop off of power, its just a .
constant bucket load of power to pushing the truck along.
That being said, I am thinking of getting one at the beginning of next summer unless I can find the fund at the end of this year, fingers crossed. I have already started thinking about how I want to build it. I will likely keep it mostly stock for about a year then throw a bit of a parts catalog on it. Mainly ARB because I have had great success with them in the past. Here is a terrible photo shop I came up with of how it will sit in after a year or so. Yes this thread is just turning into a place to write down my thoughts.
As it sits in the Render
Ranger XLT FX4 with the 2.3l and 10 Speed.
OME BP-51 suspension
General Grabber ATX or maybe X3 depending on how I want it to look
ARB Summit front Bumper
ARB Summit Rear Bumper
ARB Sliders or Shrockworks
Front Runner Slimline 2 Roof Rack
RCI Mid height Bedrack with a 23Zero RTT
And much more under the hood and inside.

 

Burt got to meet his new companion today.

 

I picked this one up last month for my awesome wifey.

 

Glad I'm not the only defector...

 

Hahaha sounds like this is the new meeting place for first gen, and ford truck owners.

 

Been a bit absent from the forum lately with work and other things. So here is a bit on an update.
Burt has taken a bit of a side spot now, with having the new ranger, and going to work and back. The Ranger is just so much nicer to have for commuting every dat, especially since I am in my final semester at school, and every other weekend I am driving 8+ hours down to work.
Burt is also still having the rough start issue and is feeling down on power from what little it had to start. I am starting to suspect either a cracked head, or a lose of compression in some other way.
My dad has been driving Burt around a bit lately and is also finding some other issues that I was already aware of. So I think come this summer its finally time to do a bunch of work to Burt, now that I have the ranger as a daily and an overland rig, but can turn more into a resto project for the next while. I still plan on keeping Burt for a long long time, but Burt might not be getting a lot of work or going out of trips for a couple months. I need to figure out the best plan of action and where to take the truck for now.
In my search to find what was wrong I ended up replacing the IAC and while it helped it wasn't the be all end all. It definitely wasn't functioning perfectly and seems like it was binding.
In looking at it, I learned a very interesting thing that leads to these failures. Dust, and not just dust, the IAC is operated by magnets, meaning over time the steel valve also becomes magnetic, thus allowing any piece of magnetic dust to stick to it. Making it heavier, and bind up eventually leading to failure. So Keep the Air Filter Clean, and make sure there are no leaks! I presume over the 278,000 miles tiny bits of dust have slowly made their way into the intake and thus the magnetic material ended up on the IAC.

 

I did get to take a trip to the White Rim, but with the ranger due to Burt not quite running right and being a very slow vehicle to drive. While I would have preferred to have Burt on the trails, I really did prefer the having the Ranger for the 1000 road miles there and back. It's nice to be able to not only keep the speed limit of the mountain passes, but be able to haul a$$ if I have to pass someone.
Seriously, these Rangers are stupid fast, and do it so effortlessly, I have driven 2nd and 3rd gen Tacoma's, and they almost always are sitting in the 3-4k rpm range up these hill, the ranger can sit a 2k in 9th or 8th gear, and can pass people with just a slightly push of the gas and not even needing to downshift.
But I digress, it was a good trip and it was nice to return 5 years after my first time on the trail. I think next time I do the trail, I want to try to do it in one day on my KTM.

 

Oh I want that bumper on my Ranger!!!


We went shopping for a Tacoma and came home with a Ranger. There were other reasons, but the insane power the Ranger has over the Tacoma is what made up my mind.

 

The ARB on the Ranger, looks really good, and In my opinion and experience is one of the better fitting bumpers. I have only done one but so far it is easier than any ARB for a Tacoma I have ever installed.

 

I absolutely hated installing the ARB on my Tacoma. The one on my Hilux was a breeze to install.