Any Members in Arkansas?

WOW!

 

Nothing here in NWA, but my wife's Genesis got hit pretty good in Ft. Smith. Guess that's why I have insurance.

 

Reminder Saturday, 4/16 - 10 AM to NOON - Trail ride afterward in Paron starting at 1:00 PM

 

That is crazy big hail...

 

@HDMOTT - Brad from LRR&C will be saying goodbye to the Jeep and hello to a new 4Runner. The Jeep had been giving a world of trouble.

I understand the new T4R is on a boat from Japan so it may be the May meeting before we see it.

Interesting how Little Rock Rigs and Coffee has become the unofficial Toyota club of Central AR.

But we don't discriminate.

 

I saw that he was asking questions about 4Runners on the Natural State Overland group, but didn't expect that after he waited that long to get the Gobi rack. I'm definitely a little biased towards the Toyota family as we've got 3 in the garage here at home and plans to get more. The Central AR Toyotas are taking over.

 

Well shit. Not sure how this happened or what I'm going to do about it.

 

My guess is that the truck came down on something right there, but who knows. I had to go look at my truck to figure out where that is. I don't think it's a big deal, but here's what I would do:

1. Drill holes at the end of each crack
2. Pound it back flat (use a dolly on the back side)
3. Grind off the paint
4. Weld over the cracks and fill the drilled holes
5. Rattle can the bare metal

Should be fine. I need to buy a welder.

 

What he said.

 

I think I woulda remembered that lol. I think it might have got stressed when I swapped my radiator support bushings, the cab moved a little on that side and I had to give it a nudge to get the bolt back in.

I've got my little flux core welder, hammers and drifts. Hopefully it'll be hard to put too much heat with 110v. The replacement part is like $60 but looks like a major ass pain to swap.

 

Yesterday's Little Rock Rigs and Coffee was a blast. We took some new to me trails over to HWY 7 then drove up to the Hollis Country Store. Then back to HWY 9 via Trail 86.

It was a good mix of washouts, water crossings, and county roads.

 

So after going deep down the rabbit hole regarding cracked core supports I noticed one nearly 100% constant with all of these trucks aside from off roading...99.9% of the trucks, mine included, have the ever popular Energy Suspensions polyurethane radiator support bushings. I'm going back to rubber OEM style, sometimes the Toyota engineers know what they are doing.

Welp, I'm about to attempt to stitch weld these cracks. Wish me luck.

 

Odd that a radiator support bushing would be a factor. It'll be fine, that metal is not super thick. A 110V flux core welder is plenty good enough. Probably not the prettiest results, but functional.

 

I can see this nugget of wisdom applying to a long list of things in my life. Thank you, Rich.

 

LOL, I often never get to the follow-up part of "form follows function."

 

FTFM

 

All I can figure is that the stiffer poly bushing is transmitting more stress into this area when the frame flexes. The stock rubber bushing is way softer.

 

Not Tacoma related except I towed with it, but Saturday after the rain stopped 2 friends and I went out to Carters Off-road Park to mess around.

Mines the one far left.

 

Welp the results were sema show truck quality, and it started cracking again after the drive for school pickup. I don't want to put any more heat into it, I think I'll try JB Weld as a hail Mary effort. When that busts apart I'll head down to a body shop with my tail between my legs.

 

New shop edition by @koditten ……