3 Tons of Fun! Littles' Build, Travel, and B.S. Thread

Holy shit I just got like 25 notifications that you caught up on my thread. not much activity here thanks for stopping by.

I definitely think that oil came from the trans. When I pulled the crawlbox there was a small crack in the seal, so I think trans oil was blowing past into the crawlbox. Only about 1/2 quart, when i topped of the trans, but damn a little oil makes a big mess.

No leaks on the NWF box.

That silly ADM. Most overrated, over-hyped, waste of time, pain in the ass mod i ever did. Lotta work for a negligible difference in clutch response IMHO. I coulda gone the rest of my life with that thing in and been perfectly happy. I really wish I had waited to screw with it till when I do the TOB, which is squealing like stuck pig. I have heard some issues with the CM kit failing, but I've also heard people running it for tens of thousands of miles. I am trying to gather parts to make a tilton HRB fit, but parts are difficult to get so I'm just praying it doesn't blow up on me before I can fix it.

As for the shift boot. I dont see a way you could fix it. It needs more material, cut larger, so I'd have to conpletely rip it apart and start new. I'm just so over it at this point. I am disappointed in the product, but it looks good enough. I won't do business with redline again, and ill caution anyone to really think through the design before you send them stuff. In the future I'll find someone willing to spend 10 minutes on the phone with me to get measurements right before I shell out a few hundred bucks for their product.

I need to throw up some pictures from our last telluride trip with the NWF box. I'm very happy with it. I recall you commented about how low the marlin box was compared your jeep. I think the dual 2.57s are the absolute tits for most manual trans 2nd gen guys, unless you're building a crawler.

 

I guess I forgot to hit "post" the other day when I typed all this up

Hey Siri, how to TacomaWorld

Haha ya, I think I'm completely caught up from the last time I checked in. I just heard about the NWF box yesterday by happenstance and then this morning was really interested to see you were making the swap here in your thread. I'm glad that it's working out for you! I am so sold on crawl boxes after having two of them in two separate rigs but I don't want another from Marlin unless they're machining new cases and adapters in house and will offer more support than "we can check the torque specs if you pay for shipping both ways".

The CM kit seems to have QC issues. Like, no two are identical. Overall I think I looked mine; the pedal feel was butter with the Stage II clutch but it didn't seem to disengage fully. Not sure how much that mattered. From what I recall it was really only obvious when messing around with compound low in certain conditions. The Tilton looks nice, hadn't heard much about it yet.

I can't remember what the guy at the local lowrider shop charged me but it wasn't unreasonable and he got it done pretty quick. I left him the truck for a day or two and he did a good job with the boot. I think I could have done better attaching it to the console though.

I love having a 4ish:1 box and a 2ish:1 box and I'm wondering how I'm going to like 2.5:1 x2. I value your input since you've had both now and I'd love to see any video you have with it in action. So far I've only seen the one clip @Supr4Lo posted.

 

Thanks for tagging me @hoverlover , haven't been in @Littles build thread. Now I have some new creeping to do

 

Correct me if im wrong, but after you sold your taco and bought the jeep, you posted a comment in your build thread along the lines of the 4.7s were lower than you felt like was necessary for the 2nd gen manual taco, or something like that...?

 

You're probably right, my memory is garbage. I'm just a big crybaby and want all the gears, it's a curse dude lol

 

I totally get it. Not trying to pick on you. I'm really glad to hear you're considering other options like NWF, because I do think it's a better platform overall. I also don't see marlin offering the frankenbox for the manual anyway. I assume because of they are out of the inchworm spline adapters they never invested the energy into designing. I'd offer you mine, but I already have someone lined up for it.

Took me awhile to find it, but here was your comment awhile back around the jeep vs taco and ratios. You got me started thinking about all that torque from the 4.7s...and then when the NWF stuff was in development, there was a brief discussion I think on the crawlbox thread where someone else made a comment about 100:1 being plenty low for most folks, and anything lower than that was just a gimmick. At first I wanted to argue with him and defend my 229:1, but then I thought about my personal experience, and for the most part I used just the 4.7s, or the double low in 2nd gear, which are 90:1 and 120:1 respectively. The dual 2.57s in the NWF setup gives me 125:1 as a final. I am very pleased with it after running black bear, imogene, and Poughkeepsie out by Ouray, all of which I ran with my marlin setup also. It was plenty slow, I never stalled, and had all the control I wanted. I have a video I'll post up going down an obstacle. I know I touched the brakes at some point, and haters are going to hate on that, but you can at least get a sense for the slow. I am a firm believer that having a crawlbox doesn't mean you forget everything you once knew about the clutch and brake pedals. You just use them less.

TW members have put a lot of time and R&D into the Tilton HRB. I dont think there are 10s of thousands of miles on one yet, but so far it is sounding good. It's pieced together with tilton parts, a Toyota bearing, and custom adapter that a member is having machined to make one fit the the other. I am also going to swap in some FJ pedal and master parts. I have never done trans/clutch work, so I am a little intimidated by it. I'm expecting a long weekend or two, but I have some time off between jobs coming up to tackle it if I can get the parts.

 

@hoverlover

 

Haha, no worries dude. I only pick on people I like so I take it as a compliment

Yea, I don't see Marlin coming back to their crawl boxes until they've pushed all the orders for their RCLT 's out and have a reasonable supply of them ready to ship. Then maybe, MAYBE, they might look into more Marlin-made taco boxes. Not going to hold my breath, the more I read about the NWF case the more sold I am.

I think you and the original commentor are correct. Thinking back when I was using compound low I favored 2nd gear or higher most of the time. A lot of the time in 1st and low/low was just goofing off like standing on sliders going up/down something.

The clutch on the second gen was an easy project. Honestly the worst part is dropping and replacing the trans. Get some 3' extensions and a good set of ujoint sockets (magnetic helps a lot) for the top bolts on the trans and the alignment tool for the clutch. The walk-thrus on here are excellent sources. I love this site dude, there's not a bolt on the truck SOMEONE, SOMEWHERE, hasn't loosened and documented! When it comes time to swap clutches and flywheels, I will do more homework on the Tilton. Also, if you have the factory flywheel still, may I suggest looking into the heavy flywheel? Dude. That thing was awesome. Just all around. Even on the street. It really settled the RPM's between shifts and carried momentum very well off road.

I see where you dragged the brakes a bit but that didn't change the work the crawl box was doing. That looks like a great crawling speed and certainly a huge step up in control over stock.

 

That was fun...

 

What in the ever loving fuck are you doing?!?!?

Was something wrong with the other crawl box?

 

Crawlbox has been perfect. I do have a slight weep/leak but I think it on the toyota case, not the NWF.

I am pushing 130k on the original clutch, and the release bearing has been singing louder and louder for over a year now.

 

Have you looked at doing the Tilton mod?

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/6mt-throwout-bearing-and-clutch-system-shenanigans.698464/

 

Yes, I have looked into it in great detail. I actually bought all the tilton and toyota parts for the HRB last year, but couldn't get my hands on the bearing spacer. I needed to get my clutch and bearing done, so after 4 months I gave up on the HRB, sent it on the OEM bearing, and then afterwards acquired the elusive bearing spacer I needed to complete my tilton kit. I packaged it all up this afternoon to send to another member at a generous discount from what it cost me to put it together, and I am not salty about the way any of this worked out at all.

 

Trying to get this thread caught up a little. Been a busy year. It hurts my soul a bit to say it, but I have only logged two nights of camping since last October.

I sold my house on the east coast back in February, then turned around and put an offer in on a new build here in CO on my birthday in March. Closed in April and moved in early May.

I went from a 700 Sq foot apartment with a 1 car garage to a 1900sq ft house, with a 3 car garage. The third bay is a 40 foot long RV bay with a 14 foot door. It's overkill, but I couldn't find anything with an 8 foot door so when this came up on my birthday, I jumped on it. I'm out in Elizabeth now.



Dad came out to visit later in May. It felt good showing my old man my big boy house. I was itching to get out so I took him up to the Yankee Hill area that I love so much.





I even let him drive the little Taco.





It was pretty cool to see my old man smiling and laughing like a little kid playing with that silly little thing. We couldn't afford cool toys like that growing up.

Unfortunately, on this trip I found out the torsion bar in my flippac finally gave up, and we couldn't get the flippac open. Fortunately I had my hammock as a backup, and a foam mattress for my pops that fit in the bed of the truck. We both got a good night sleep out in the woods.



It took me a few weeks to get the sway-away replacement and enough friends to help me out holding the lid vertical to pound the bar through. Easy job, just not a 1 man job.



I tried to braise the original aluminum sleeve that covers the torsion bar, but i blew through it with the map gas torch. Fun fact, my shower curtain rod in the new house was almost the exact same length and diameter as the original alluminum sleeve on torsion bar.



So the flipper is back together now and my glamping can continue. And yes, I replaced the shower rod with a fancy curved one that makes the shower feel bigger.

Okay...so here is the really exciting part...

Back in june/july @Nazupag524 gave me a lead on some 2 post lifts that stevinson toyota was ripping out of an old service building. So I called some friends...

@Coop68
@YamaDirtrider
@Red Baron

Couldn't have done it without you boys. We ripped two of these bad boys out of the shop in an hour and half. Coop got one and I got the other. You guys fucking rule! having a lift has been a dream of mine and it may not be installed, but it's in my possession.





More to come here shortly on the frame repair and dual battery setup but it's late and I don't want to loose my draft of this post.It's been a lot of adulting lately. I'm not used to it and I don't like it. But...

Getting ready for the Maze in a few weeks

Stay tuned!

 

HOLY SHIT THAT GARAGE! Congrats dude!

 

Thanks Mike!

 

Going back in time here a little bit...back in August 2021 I had Mike over at Warfab in Montrose weld up my chevy 63 rear suspension, shock towers, and a cab mount relocate.

I had also piled onto his to do list some new dual battery trays to replace my offgrid engineering dual setup that ripped out of the sheet metal, and patching a rusty spot on the frame.

Unfortunately Mike just ran out of time that week. I gave him a lot of shit to do. After poking around a bit trying to get good contact with the welder on the frame, he determined the frame patch would need to be bigger than we thought, and would also require pulling the cats which were rusted as hell and he didn't want to wind up cutting or breaking something he wouldn't be able to get back together by the time I came to pick it up. I was totally cool with that. So we table the frame repair until I could break the exhaust connections on my own time and agreed to bring it back. He cut the battery cages for me, and they've been chilling in my garage ever since.

So finally, almost two full years later, I had some time off work and scheduled a weekday visit to Montrose to get the battery cages welded in and frame taken care of.

Side note: Earlier this year, in preparation for my clutch replacement that happened back in February and this frame repair, I brought my truck into A&A, my favorite local mom and pop exhaust shop, and had them break all relevant connections to remove the exhaust without too much fuckery. Glad I did because both jobs went silky smooth on the exhaust removal and install.

Anyway, not only did Mike let me hang around the shop with him all day, but I don't think he charged me extra for slowing him with our chatter catching up on life.



The rust was directly behind the passenger cab mount, which, as some of you may remember I hacked up and very arrogantly left unplated for like 7 years so it could funnel water and shit into my frame. I suspect this would not have happened, or been a lot less severe if I hadn't been such an asshat.

The frame has two overlapping layers of steel here, and both were pretty fucked.

layer 1




Layer two


Cancer removed


After he cut the filler plate, Mike was back and forth between the welder, grinder, and plasma cutter for what felt like hours. Well...it was hours. There was a bit more cancer creeping towards the crossmember on the lower right side of his initial cut, and he was dedicated to getting it all cleaned up and doing the job right. You can see here how much further to the right he had to go to the cross member as he was getting ready to tack on the extra layer of steel plate to tie it all together.



Here is the finished product more or less. Probably the strongest part of my frame now.



I'll do another post on the battery cages, as I am out of town right now and don't have pictures taken of all that. I will mention that Mike cut me a whole new battery cage for the passenger side after we tried to fit everything up, and we realized he needed to tighten up a few things to make it fit using existing holes for the ABS and airbox I already removed. If you like what you see when I post up the rest of this and it fits your application, he has the designs saved.

I still have some work to do on my end with the batteries and cages and need to completely re-do my wiring for the dual setup since the 2nd battery is now on the opposite side of the engine bay, but I am one step closer thanks to Mike. He makes good shit. He thinks on the fly. He fucking redesigned his battery cage for my application because it was just slightly off, while I sat around bullshitting. He charged me a very fair price for all the work that he did. I can't say enough good things about Mike and the quality of his work.

 

Red Cone didn't suck this year.

8/20/17


8/12/18


7/3/20



8/8/21


8/5/2023

 

I have been looking forward to going back to the Maze since my first trip there almost 5 years ago back in October 2018. I felt like I only just scratched the surface the first time around. I scratched a bit deeper this time around, but I am still not done.

Brief recap of last time, we came in Hans Flatt, headed straight down the Flint switchbacks to the Wall on the lower rim (due to anticipated rain that kept us from staying at the overlook on the upper rim), then to the Dollhouse, and out Hite. The weather was rainy and overcast, and we had no planned hikes, but still managed to make it all the way out to the Chocolate Drops when the weather let up, and around the Granary and upper section of Spanish Bottom. We didn't hike down into the canyons or to the river.

This time was a similar route, but we got a little more hiking in. Hans Flatt to Happy Canyon up on the plateau, then down to the Dollhouse and back to Chimney Rock, and out Hite. The weather was pretty much perfect. Over the 4 days, we hiked down a small portion of Upper Golden Stairs from the upper rim, Spanish Bottom down to the river and back, and the Harvest Scene loop clockwise down in the canyon.

In an effort to keep things cryptic, and encourage you to go there and explore yourself, I am only going to post a few pics without context or captions, in random order. I'm not going to give a play by play of this one, but feel free to ask anything you want to know.






















This was an amazing trip. Got home late last night and I am still just on cloud 9.