The Lair

I'm here just south of RVA and work down in Yorktown...willing to do the inbetween run, or at least whatever makes sense for Randy or Paul vs. making the full drive to RVa.

#TacomaExpressVA

 

Thanks for the offer! Karas about to spend a month in Richmond so this’ll just be an excuse to come visit her.

 

also looks like the weekend of 2/5 is when I'll be down there. Does that work well with you schedule?

if not I can leave it with my parents. My dad is works from home, so you could pick it up anytime

 

Sorry Greg, gotta get your handy from someone else

 

That should work, I’ll text you to work out the details later.

 

It's okay, BoBandy knows where I'm at!

Besides, I reciprocate afterwards, he can use the shooting lane, play around on the skid steer, even use the indoor plumbing, etc.!

 

Got that lightbar in. I tried an Amazon warehouse and it didn’t work out. Missing hardware and a couple small misc things which can be dealt with, but the momentary switch to cycle between patterns didn’t work. I opened the control module and could cycle by tapping a wire on the connections but no dice on the switch. Gonna return and get a new one but that didn’t stop me from playing with it for a bit to make sure it was what I wanted.

 

I think you got Toyotas mixed up...this isn't tow 4lo

 

Well you see, this is me being the planner that I am. When I’m all hooked up and towing, Betty’s ass will still be the most visible in traffic so Betty’s ass is the best place for this traffic advisor.

 

Touche!!! But seriously hope this works and for the long(er) haul!

I'm still just dicking around not buying ditch lights, roof or grill lights/lightbars...

 

this is an r/nostupidquestions moment:

what is stopping one from just having a ball valve instead of an air solenoid for a rear locker? Not that I was actually considering it, just a thought that that ran through my head. Lose the convenience of actuating in the cab, but don't most people leave it on the whole time they're off road?


also unrelated: that stuff from your IG story was pretty interesting. Almost like a video game cheat code, but kinda cool how they integrated those systems without needing to use a fancy machine to read the abs codes and clear

 

No comment for the first portion as I don’t know much about lockers (take that into consideration with my next comment).

I can say that I most definitely do not leave a locker on the whole time I off road. It’s basically only on when needed, but to each his own.

Harder to break if it’s not getting used right?

 

Nothing from a hardware standpoint. Just a convenience thing. Same way manual hubs largely died out for electronic actuation.

To your second point, granted I'm a softroader with an e-locker, but I def don't leave my locker on full time, so it would be a major PITA vs a solenoid, etc.

 

might have been someone else, but I thought Randy said he just left the rear on all the time when off road lol. I certainly see the convenience thing being annoying, was just a random thought

 

If you're wheeling hard enough stuff, I could see it making sense to have it on full time.

I am light years from that threshold.

 

Makes sense. I'm tempted to piece together my own air system rather than buy an ARB since I think it would be a good learning experience and I already have a compressor. Air solenoids that are rated for more than 100psi at constant use are initially appearing a tad difficult to find for not a zillion dollars

 

ARB, and presumably others, makes a smaller pump that is used to only power air lockers. Maybe just plumb a pump straight to the locker, then use the 12v feed to the pump itself. No need for a solenoid that way.

 

Because I’ve never had the pleasure of using them/trying to understand… can you put a 4x4 in 4wd without locking the hubs? Also can you lock the hubs without putting it in 4wd?

I assume both lead to the same result (pointless without the other) but I’m trying to understand how they function at a somewhat high level.

 

You can leave the manual front hubs locked and be in 2wd. It'll just spin the CV shafts from the hub side, and you'll lose a little MPG.

If you had the hubs unlocked and put the t-case in 4hi/lo, it'd spin the CV shafts from the t-case side, but that movement wouldn't translate to the wheels since the locking hub, which is the interface, isn't meshed together.

 

Perfect explanation, thanks!