Burt, The Old Man With friends Daryl and Donna

Luckily it seems all the 10.5 tires are C loads. But the bump from 31 to 33 and the increase in tread depth is likely the major part of the weight increase.

They are a bit lighter than the Maxxis Razr AT I have on my Ranger in a 285/70r17. Those are right around 59lbs.
Fantastic tires by the way.

 

Another piece showed up today.
4.88s from Revolution Gear and Axle. I ran a set of 4.56 on my last jeep from them and was super happy with the quality and strength of them so I wanted to go with them again on Burt.
Now just to wait on my ARB Air Locker which is due in at the end of the Month with ARB and a couple weeks after to our shop.

 

Frame Rust Repair...

Its been on my mind for a couple months now that the Rust mitigation I did back in 2019 wasn't very good, I tried doing it with POR15 and it resulted in an elevated rate of frame rust due to the coating peeling off and letting water get under and not be able to get back out. Evidence in peeling off the POR to expose a lot more rust than had previously been there.
So this time I decided to take a different approach. Basically stripping the frame down to bare metal in as many places as possible, cleaning it, using a rust reformer on any spot that had had rust before and then sealing it all in with a gloss black paint as I have found over the years that it holds up and seals much better than flat black.
I picked up a bunch of different wire wheels and some paint Stripper discs of Amazon, these were absolutely a huge win! They cut through paint and rust but not the metal. Making quick work of any flat parts of the frame.
Fortunately/Unfortunately in stripping the frame down, I found a hole, as I tried cleaning it grew.


It was right behind where the Passenger side shock mount was, it was full of Mud behind it as there was basically pocket that was open on the uphill side but closed so nothing could escape. It Just sat there eating away at the frame until I found it and poked through.
This was a huge bummer, and kinda saddened me that I hadn't taken action sooner, but I know how to fabricate, I have access and have all the tools needed to fix it so that was what I did.

I started by cutting out all the thinned/rusted material until I had a good base on the frame that I could weld to.
I was hopeful at first...


But this was the reality.




I bent up a piece for the bottom and got it all welded in place.



Then plated up the Front.



Once it Got Welded up I ground the welds flat. put down rust reformer. Held up and marked the locations of all the welds. Then took it back down ground off the paint in those locations and gave it a good layer of Weld Through Primer, then set about burning in some frame reinforcement plates.





Rust reformer again as a primer to seal everything. It sat overnight to cure, and in the morning it goes the first coat of gloss black.





In the morning we set about the front half of the frame, going on Day 3 we were tired but pushed though with many more hours of grinding. My girlfriend was absolutely amazing in helping with all steps of the process.





Rinse and repeat of the same thing on the front of the frame, luckily no major rust spots on the front.



In the end we had a much cleaner stronger frame. Its another step towards the my Resto Mod of Burt.

 

A Bit of a tease. Mounted one up on the stock wheel to check clearancing. The plan currently is to get the wheels powder coated the same color they are.
The Gears are here, I just got news from ARB that my locker in on the way which will probably be here next week.
I will aim for a weekend in april to do the install of gears and locker but don't know cause I will likely be moving around that time as well.
Areas of rub at ride height, None.
However, any up travel and I will be into the washer reservoir. I have about a inch to the pinch seem to I may leave that and see how close it gets overall.
I have a new washer tank here that I will see about test fitting and seeing what I can do about moving all that.
These Mickeys definitely come in more at a exact 33 than I have seen before. 33x9,3/4" is how they measure mounted on the wheels which should be perfect.

 

ARB Locker has finally arrived!
Just need to find a time I can install all this.

 

Which hidden mount did you go with?

 

I went with the 589 Hidden Mount, I have enjoyed their skid plates on the truck so I thought I might as well pick up the Winch mount from them too.
Took Some modding for my specific winch but would probably fit a VR or Come UP Seal Slim Perfectly.

 

Lots to update here so lets jump in...
What happened in the last random amount of months since I last updated!
4.88 Revolution Gears
ARB Air Locker in the Rear
33x10.5 Mickey Thompson MTZ
Custom Made Bed Rack
23Zero Walkabout 56 (off my Ranger when it got a the Super Pacific)
1/4 Spacers up Front for 1/2 Lift
Minor Trimming of the ARB Bumper.

Burt is currently all set to go when it comes to gears.
The Revolution 4.88s went in, as did the ARB Air Locker in the rear. And so did the 33s.
I absolutely love it all. I just returned from a 3 day trip in Wyoming wheeling with a couple friends, I was able to Keep up on the Highway till about 70 and even was able to run the A/C in 5th gear up some of the hills. It still struggles on the super steep passes like Rabbit ears, but most highway hills and normal mountain passes like Cameron Peak it did great and could just about keep the speed limit in 4th around 2700rpm.
On the trail its amazing, the low gear, low overall height, short wheelbase, narrow width, and everything else made for an amazing combo out on the trail.
I have a touch of Rubbing in the rear at full flex and the occasional touch up on the washer fluid reservoir but I might just leave them.

4.88 install!
I have done gears a few times and just went slow over a couple weekends. Currently I have about 1500 miles and they are amazing so far.

I absolutely love the way it drives with 4.88. I just returned from a 3 day trip in Wyoming wheeling with a couple friends, I was able to Keep up on the Highway till about 70 and even was able to run the A/C in 5th gear up some of the hills. It still struggles on the super steep passes like Rabbit ears, but most highway hills and normal mountain passes like Cameron Peak it did great and could just about keep the speed limit in 4th around 2700rpm.


With the 33s Trimming was Required on the ARB and some Plastic, As of now, I do no have anything done to my Pinch Weld, other than cutting the plastic away from in front. The only front rubbing is the frame on very very full lock Driver, and the washer fluid res at have lock passenger while flexed.



After Breaking it all in I took it out for a quick test at a local trail of mine.




N

 

Next up was I knew I wanted to Run my Rtt on this truck which was now not in use after putting a Super Pacific Camper on my Ranger so it was time for a bed rack. No photos cause I was trying to get it all done quickly on a Saturday morning. Its 1.5 1/8" wall square tube so it can hold the weight of the tent without deflecting and pushing the bedsides out. and mounted on 5' of 1.5 1/8" Angle to provide a long and stable mounting plate. Again the whole goal was minimize the chances of the bed cracking.

 

Where is that trail, bud?

Feel free to PM me or tell me to pound sand if you want to protect your stash

 

Then it was out to Wyoming for a friends Bachelor Party Camping Trip.
He has the 81 on 35s and another friend was the other 80. Both are diesel RHD Japanese Imports which is pretty cool.
Lots and Lots of Dirt roads, its an area we have been exploring the last couple years and the goal was to go from Fort Collins CO, to Jelm WY, Encampment WY, Blackhall Mountain WY, to SteamBoat CO with as much dirt as possible. With some Trails dotted in there.

 

Its Already used by the tour companies in Estes so its not like its hidden, Its Pole Hill right off 34 before in drops down into Estes. Its nice and short you get right to the obstacles for testing and you can do the whole trail in probably 2 hours.

 

I thought that might be it. It used to be a favorite of mine, but the trail behavior I’ve seen the last few times has soured me a bit. Fun trail and absolutely beautiful, though!

 

I avoid it on weekends, so usually its an afterwork trip on there maybe on a Friday afternoon being an hour away from my Shop and Home. But being so close to longmont boulder its has some bad apples up there for sure.

 

Was your softopper made for a different model truck? I bought one and it seems to be shorter than yours, mine sits well below the roof line and bugs me.

 

Mine was order directly from them, for my truck. This was right in March of 2020. Was yours and earlier or later one?

 

Later, ordered directly from them in December 2022. I guess I need to reach out to Softopper. Maybe they lowered it to keep the third brake light visible? I see a lot of first gens with fitment like mine, but I always wonder when I see one like yours that fits much better.

 

The last trip was a couple weeks ago, but I got out for a quick overnight in Wyoming. Nothing crazy just went out with my GF and a friend of mine. Did some wheeling, Broke my second rear Bilstein, so I am pretty sure this winter or next Spring I will look into a new rear shock set up.

 

That is super weird, I have never seen on be low on a first gen, Mine sits perfectly as the top of the cab when I have it on.
Here is the sku mine was ordered under 1998_Tacoma_TN73 back in 2020

 

I just read through your entire thread, very inspirational for my '99 regular cab. Am I following correctly that your current suspension is stock coils up front with just the 5100s up a notch, and the rears are rebuilt leaf's? Would you say you have about 1" over stock front/rear? Love the 33's just trying to figure out if my plan for OME 880/Nitrocharger's up front and Icon 1.5" add-a-leaf's will be enough. Hope to see you continue to post regularly!