Another Around the World Tacoma

It just kills me how much work you had to do to fix a slightly chewed up wire. Damn mice. It's always something.

Glad your BMW didn't disappear while left parked. Still some honest people out there, so that's a plus. Slick, wet, muddy roads (two up, no less!) are far too 'exciting' on a two wheeled bike pushing well over 600lbs w/o anyone on it. Glad you were both unharmed from the minor get-offs you had. Bikes are great fun but mostly when it is dry out.

I always enjoy your updates. Stay safe & keep seeing the best in life.

 

Loads of words incoming, and no pictures =(

You are totally right Frog, the effort required to get to that thing was massive! We have been taking pretty extreme precautions to avoid an issue in the future too. Peppermint spritz and strobing LED lights every night. We open the hood after we get to camp to help cool the engine faster as well. Apparently getting the engine cold alone won't fully solve the issue, but I leave the hood open all night if the weather is not going to be rainy or windy.

There is one final update from the chewed wiring harness that I need to share:

When the misaligned O-ring caused fuel to leak out, it spilled down the back of the engine, and onto the skid plates, which were covered in dirt. After I fixed the problem and cleared the codes, the truck drove fine, back to normal, but I could occasionally smell a whiff of fuel every now and then, especially driving with the windows down.

I originally chalked this up to the dirt on the skid plates just being soaked with fuel, and when I turn on the engine the engine fan blows across that dirt, releasing the smell. No discernible change in fuel consumption either. I initially looked at the fuel system closely, seeing no obvious signs of spraying, so I was content to leave it as is until i could spray off the mud on the skid plates. I would also smell fuel when the truck was off, if the wind was blowing from the front of the truck, so this further solidified my theory as to the origin of the smell.

Well, we had the opportunity to fill the water tank at a picnic area, fed by a spigot, that had great water pressure. So after filling the water tank I sprayed off all of the mud on the topside of the skid plates.

And the smell was still there. Gah. I need to look again, there has to be something leaking somewhere.

I resolve to find the source after our weekend of hiking/backpacking came to an end.

So last night I kept the engine running and I climbed on top of the engine on a mission. And lo and behold, right at the back of the engine, on a connection I never would have suspected, was the culprit. The two fuel rails are linked by a small, curvy, connecter, with large built-in nuts on either end. These clamp down onto the fuel rail, without the use of a O-ring or seal, just precisely machined aluminum ends. The drivers side connector is harder to tighten because of a sensor/wiring clip being right in the way. I gave it a solid crank when reinstalling everything, but I guess not quite enough, because about every 3 seconds, a single drop of fuel would escape this connection and stink up the air. It wasn't enough to drip, or even puddle up, but there it was. No CEL either btw.

It was later in the day when I found this out, and the engine was still too hot to work with, so I will tighten up the connector this afternoon. I may be able to get to it with everything in place, but I may also have to take off the air surge tank to get enough access. All in all nothing too serious, but very relieved to find the culprit.

If you ever have to do this, don't shy on getting that connection nice and tight!

Battery Situation:

We had a weird battery issue last week, while camped near Picketpost TH in the Tonto NF. The Renogy DC Home app, the app used to monitor my electrical systems functionality, charge, discharge, etc. would not populate one of the two batteries (the older, original battery). This has happened a few times in the past (with either of the two batteries), but prior to this event it had always resolved itself with a refresh of the app or reconnecting all devices. But not this time.

I followed some troubleshooting outlines from Renogy online to no avail. The only one I hadn't tried was a complete disassembly of the system, and then reassembly, to check. I couldn't do this during the work week, so we just dealt with only the one battery showing up, and I assumed that the two batteries would continue to share the load, as they were physically connected still, I hadn't changed that aspect in any way.

I wake up the next morning and the one battery showing up in the app was down to 12%, which is super low, and it should not have been that low. Ooof. Now I have to try to figure this out, as either both batteries are almost dead (we did have partially cloudy day, but nothing heinous) or this one battery is doing the job of both batteries for some reason. All of the charge and discharge was also going to/coming from this single battery, i.e. none of the incoming sunlight was being 'lost' to the second battery. Odd.

And it turned out that that was likely the case. I was eventually able to get the second battery (which was the older of the two, sparking my fears that it had crapped the bed already) to connect to the app. You can disconnect and then search for eligible devices right in the app, and I had tried that a dozen times, but it would never show two batteries, just the controller and the newer of the two batteries. Well, I had that page open, and then I set my phone down while I did something else, and I hadn't looked at the phone for a couple of minutes, and when I remembered and picked it back up, the second battery was showing on the screen. Phew, finally. I will note that this occurred when the present battery was near 100%, which is similar to the other times a battery has not shown up in the app. Usually applying a large load (running the electric kettle) or starting the truck (which I had to do to charge the battery when it was down to 12% as I waited for the sun to rise) will trigger the system in a way that it allows the second battery to reappear.

But then I noticed that the functioning battery was near 100%, but the newly present battery, the one with the connection problems, was down at ~50%, which was unusual. The batteries usually hang out within ~8% of each other, at the extreme. 3-4% is much more common.

So the system was behaving if as the non-connected battery wasn't physically present. Only after it reappeared in the app did the charge/discharge become split between the two, like it usually is. Not world ending, but interesting for sure. The batteries are so 'smart' nowadays that they can disconnect themselves, while still being physically connected, if something happens. A bit of a let down, and annoying, especially if it happens to both at the same time, but the intelligence of the battery is probably necessary to keep it healthy and safe, so its something that just has to be dealt with I suppose.

Hiking Update:

We spent this past weekend hiking through the single hardest passage of the AZT (in my pinion), due to its length, elevation gain, and general ruggedness, as it is in a wilderness area. We had to link two long passages together, without either vehicle, so that meant we had to carry overnight gear in legit backpacks to spend the night out there.

And what a night it was. Hail and nasty wind throughout most of the night. We camped right next to the trail, and got a terrible nights sleep, so we were up at 3:15 am packing everything up, and on the trail by 3:45, and we hiked for almost twelve hours to finish out the day and get back to the bike. It was a doozie, and made us both question why we even do this sort of thing. I mean, every foot we have hiked has really, truly, not been enjoyable. But it does satisfy something within. It's strange. I dislike it, immensely, but I do feel something 'good' when I finish each day. And I must finish the entire thing, without question. It is very weird. I have a hard time putting it into words, but other hikers have a similar feeling, so I am not alone in this.

We are right on track to finish the trail the weekend prior to a family vacation, so all we have to do is stick to the schedule and we will be golden. After the Mazatzal's (another wilderness area), the 'hard' part of the trail seems to be done. We will also be bypassing two passages up north, as we have already hiked them together in the recent past, and we determined, based on talking with other hikers, that that certainly counts for saying that you have hiked the entire thing. One of the passages is in Flagstaff, and the other one is the Grand Canyon itself (this one is a big one, as this passage is kind of long, and steep, and the drive around the canyon itself is very long, the longest drive between passages on the entire trail, so having previously done this one on a Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim hike is very helpful for our timeline).

We are currently staying in a high school friends parents second house here near Lake Roosevelt, as their second home is literally across the street from the next passage that we need to hike. It is really nice to have access to running hot water, a proper shower, and some laundry machines. Haha. We did a deep clean of the truck and the stuff inside, and that feels really good too, despite taking an entire day. There are two massive, and one large, water crossings to get back here to their house though, through Tonto Creek, which is flowing like mad right now. There was no way the bike was going through the first two, as the current is strong enough to push the truck downstream. Most people simply leave their vehicles outside of the post office when the creek is running this high, but we were able to secure a locked parking spot for the bike at a neighbors custom vehicle shop, so that's where the bike is for the week.

I would have loved to try to ride the bike across, but the water depth, and the rocky ground beneath it, are simply too much. They grade large rocks where the water flows so that it is still passable by 4wd vehicles. These large rocks are kryptonite to the large bikes, and laying it down in the water would have been a bad time for sure! So we left it on the dry side of the creek and worked our way across in the truck. One section has water above the sliders and the lower door sill. Exciting for sure, and a surprise, as the other side of the creek is well kept, paved roads and huge houses galore. They are slated to finish a massive bridge that goes over the creek in June of this year, so the next time we visit we won't have any issues.

GMRS Update:

I was able to get the GMRS radio all paired up with the biking gear (Cardo Packtalk Edge's), so that the truck and bike can use GMRS to communicate while traveling together. I paired the radio to the headset as a 'GPS device', and paired the radio to a small push-button located on the left hand grip, which is used to trigger the radio. Simply set up the radio and plug it in, and it's ready to go. The microphone inside of my helmet transmits my voice into the truck, and Stacy's response is filtered back into the speakers in the helmet as well. It is all pretty seamless, and easily reconnects when everything is powered back on. One negative is that when using the GMRS, it actually fully pauses and then un-pauses the music streaming from my phone. When we are just communicating with one another through the units themselves this does not happen. The music quiets slightly, but does not stop, as Stacy speaks. I like this better, but maybe they will update that in a future software update.

I also have to balance my voice volume as well. I can adjust how sensitive the microphone inside of the helmet is in the Cardo app. Too sensitive and Stacy hears all sorts of noises I make i.e. slightly mumbling along to music, or a grunt/cough when we are riding together and the units are connected directly too one another, as they are designed to be. But too non-sensitive and my voice comes through the GMRS in the truck too quietly, even at max volume on the radio in the truck. So I need to find that balance so that I am not constantly changing the sensitivity based on if we are riding together or separate.

Differences between Bike and Tacoma:

Stacy and I have nonchalantly been talking on and off about the differences between our two chosen modes of transport, and I have to say, they are really polar opposites. Haha

The truck is an absolute dream in inclement weather. That HVAC, the waterproof interior, the comfort, man, it is to be truly cherished. It is also beyond compare on the rough stuff. Places where I have crashed the bike are simply child's play to the Tacoma. Steep, rocky ascents, where I will never be able to ride the GS, no matter how good I get, are conquered in 4Lo and first gear, with ease! It's inherent stability and surefootedness is truly wonderful. And it also just carries so much, without complaint either. I love it more and more each day.

All of these things cripple the GS. Riding in the rain can be unpleasant, especially if it's cold outside to boot. Otherwise perfect dirt roads become a huge struggle when just a couple of inches of rain falls in an afternoon. Truly offroad routes are seldom done without issue; dropping the bike at least once is basically guaranteed.

But man oh man, is it an absolute joy and thrill when the traction is good. On the bike, distance, and especially elevation, after just non-concerns. The entire world feels flat to this machine. Sixth gear is always plenty, even on steep ascents. There is no paved grade in the world that this machine cannot just straight up rip right up, even when loaded with two people and stuffed full of backpacking gear (as we were on Saturday, climbing out of Superior, AZ). Mileage just disappears. The ride is so engaging, and takes so much of your attention, that before you know it you have ridden dozens of miles. When it's time to fill up at the pump just a few gallons of gas is usually all we need, and with the price of gas, that is truly nice indeed.

On the other hand, the world is very, very steep behind the wheel of the Tacoma. You notice even subtle grade changes. MPG is greatly impacted by the steep stuff. Sixth gear will never work, and even S3 is necessary in some cases (10% grade changes out here in this area). Distances can, and often do, feel the length that they truly are. Filling up with gas is always interesting, as the gallons just pour in and the money ticker keeps going up and up.

They do great in completely opposite conditions, and they make a great team when used together appropriately. Though unfortunately we are sometimes using them under sub-optimal conditions, but those are the moments that you just hunker down and get the job done.

Synopsis of truck life so far:

We have still been loving it, even after 7 months on the road. We are seeing and experiencing so many things. The camper simply feels like home, and being closed up inside of it at night is very familiar and comforting. Going number two in holes is now second nature, and listening to the birds (so many birds) every day hits the soul in just the right way. We are getting better and better at picking spots, and each one almost immediately feels like the place to be, despite its newness and unfamiliarity. We both look forward to a lot more time living like this.

Thanks for reading through all of this.

Until next time.

 

Man, crazy updates, Mike! Hopefully things slow down a bit for you and Stacy here soon.

Really sorry to hear about the mice caused mess you had to deal with. That sucks. That’s smart that you guys have some measures to hopefully prevent that for ever happening again. Similar thing happened to my uncles truck back in the day at his cabin. After that, he religiously opened the hood of the truck when parked down there to prevent those lil guys / gals from finding refuge in the engine bay.

I really enjoyed reading your comparison of the truck and the bike. I couldn’t agree more with your perspective. Motorcycles, esp adventure bikes, make the world feel flat. My triumph gets 55 mpg going up the steepest Colorado mountain passes and can do it in 6th gear. It’s wild and amazing haha. On the other hand, technical off-road stuff is damn near impossible due to weight and having two tires.

As for the Taco - it’s wild how terrible it does with inclines, even minor ones. Before re-gearing, mine would hunt for gears going across western KS (flat as can be) just due to wind drag. It’s so much better now, but you still know when you’re going uphill.

Enjoyed the update! Thank you for sharing!

 

@MR E30
Good update, all interesting. That mouse electrical thing is really quite scary... not something I had considered as a breakdown risk! Now I'm a bit worried parking out there, more than I was...

 

Looking back, I could have rectified the issue while out in the desert, at the location we discovered it, with the things I had on me in the truck. I knew the trouble code, had an internet connection (always have that nowadays), had every tool I needed to get to the wiring in my tool roll, and had extra, appropriately gauged, wiring in my Electrical bag. So I could have theoretically fixed it right then and there.

But yes, I will admit that it is rather annoying to have to worry about this now. Even the GS isn't immune. We left it at Picketpost TH for two days and nights this past weekend while we backpacked back to it. We pulled the cover off of it and I see that my phone charging cable, and the little rubber piece you use to access the gas tank storage cubby, had both been nibbled on by a mouse! Thankfully no nest or serious damage, but highly, highly annoying.

 

A tune helps a lot with those 6th gear woes.

 

For sure. My problems have all but disappeared after the regear. It is so natural for me to be in S4 and S5 now that I haven't had any complaints. I do use S6 on flat sections from time to time.

 

Haha, thank you, but it isn't anything that we can't handle.

Yeah, the mouse problem was bad. An update for that, based on my earlier comment: I was unable to tighten the union nut on the pipe connector sub assembly enough with all of the stuff in the way, so I had to once again pull the air surge tank and intake manifold to get down to the fuel rail itself. Getting way faster, was able to get it disassembled, tightened, and reassembled in just 1.5 hours. Les Brown was right; Practice makes improvement. I fired it back up and the tiny leak is now officially gone.

It is a tricky nut to tighten, as the fuel pressure sensor is right next to it, and the nut is back up against the firewall, with heater core hoses and the main wiring loom in the way. The manual says to torque to 26 ft*lb. (probably my initial problem, as I gave all three union nuts ~18-20 ft*lb. (based on my calibrated elbow) during the first reassembly). I gave each of the other two nuts a nice twist, and only one budged ever so slightly.

The manual tells you to install the fuel rails, and then install the pipe connector sub assembly, and then to torque it down, but only parallel to the fuel rail. But the fuel pressure sensor is in the way (you have to have your wrench up at maybe 40 degrees to get it over the top of the sensor). And you can't remove the pressure sensor, because if you do that's a problem, and the entire fuel rail itself needs to be replaced. Which would require you to remove the pipe connector sub assembly again. A little bit of a catch 22 there. So I just gave it a massive crank with the 17mm wrench. The nut spins down probably 10 rotations before getting tight, and the fuel rail is bolted to the block close to it, and is very stout, so I definitely gave it some extra love. I checked the two mating surfaces prior to reassembly, thinking maybe one got knicked somehow, but that was not the case. They were both true and free of defects.

Glad to hear we are not alone out here in the woods on the motorcycle/truck thing. We are getting 46 mpg on average so far, but we do a lot of 2-up riding, and I don't shy away from the throttle a lot of the times. Still gobs better than the Tacomas average of 16.7 mpg as of late!

 

This has probably been advised somewhere in the previous posts but getting a more offroad oriented tire would help. TKC80 is the standard and ride pretty decent on road. Just gotta tone down any hard street riding or in the rain but still decent. Likely other options and wouldn't last as long but makes up for it in the dirt.

AltRider Cylinder Head Guards BMW R1250GS / Adventure 2019-2024 - RevZilla

Also may be good to invest in something like this. There are other vendors but don't recall the ones I had a while back but similar.
Another good option...
https://blackdogcw.com/cylinder-guards-for-bmw-r1250gs-gsa/

I'd stay away from the ones that bolt directly to the cylinder head. Can still be pushed into the head cover with a hard hit.


Regardless, attitude is everything and ya'll seem to have that going for ya'. Continued safe travels.

 

Yes, thank you for sharing these three recommendations with me. A more aggressive tire is on the short list, maybe the very short list. Would you advise, based off of what you have read in this thread so far, to upgrade to a 50/50 tire? Or to step all the way to an 80/20 (offroad/onroad) tire?

Those guards will be getting purchased. I just need to figure out the next place that we will be/near that I can have them shipped to. Not planning on going back to my brothers for a long, long time atm.

Thanks again! This weekend will potentially have one tricky route (scouting it tonight in the truck) to deal with, but then we get pretty lucky with the AZT and it's access points and lengths from here on out.

 

Several varieties but a lower cost and still good tire is Shinko 804/805. TKC 80 as mentioned. Will take a little getting used to going from the stock tires. Most do decent in the dry but I'm just thinking something more aggressive will make the muddier days easier.

 

"Sir, this is NOT a Wendy's"

Horsing Around by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

We had a large group of noisy neighbors last night. I guess the grass here at this TH was mighty tasty.

Horsing Around by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

One of our GSI Haulite pots took a beating from these fellas. It was the first night I have ever left the table standing up (I usually flip it over and move it very close to the truck) and also the first night I left out two pots on said table, and this is what I get.

Most all of the horses liked people, so I spent a while petting them. They eventually moved on to the shade of a large tree (I can still see them huddling around for the shade as I type), which was nice, as I am not too keen on getting kicked by a horse, or having them damage more of the things on the truck. One even tried to pull the Trasharoo off of the spare tire!

We also had another animal friend hang around this week.

This little bird was all about the truck. Hopping around on the ground, jumping up on to the hood, and hanging out on the very top of the open tent. He would fly up into this nearby tree if I got too close, and sit and watch me until I moved far enough away, before he would hop back to the ground and prance around once again. I was enthralled by him, just sitting there watching him do his thing.

Bird Friend 1 by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

And as I was sitting back working on my computer, he took it to the next level.

Thankfully I had the good camera out, as I was taking a handful of photos of him already. This was the third morning that he had hung around camp, usually flying away around 11 am.

I suppose a little bird bath never hurt anyone!

Bird Friend 2 by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

All washed up and ready to dry off

Bird Friend 3 by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

Conveniently, the best perch happened to be right nearby

Bird Friend 4 by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

Bath over, it was time to resume the shenanigans

Bird Friend 5 by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

Bird Friend 6 by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

Life had been good this week. For the first time since setting off, we have camped near enough to a stream to have access to basically unlimited water, which has been really nice. I was even able to haul water up to the campsite and give the GS its first bath under our ownership. Definitely not sparkling, but at least all of the dead bugs and most of the mud has been scrubbed off.

This week was almost the best week we have had in the truck since moving in back in September. Our current benchmark is our week-long stint at Marble Canyon, high above the Colorado River, way back in September of last year. The temps, wind, location, etc. have yet to be bested for an entire week. We have had some stellar days since then, but 4 better days in a row has yet to occur. This spot is almost as good, and the weather is almost as good as well. The stream helps bump it up a bit too, but I think it still falls short by a few points.

The days are longer, and the weather far more pleasant. This is beginning to get good! Hopefully summer brings an ease with it as the year progresses.

We did a bit of hiking this past weekend, and ended up a bit south of Payson.

Camped out near a radio tower up El Oso Road one night.

Ended up not being the wisest decision I suppose. Those buildings eeked out some very creepy sounds as the night progressed. The types of sounds that hit you deep inside, and immediately wake you up and increase your heart rate.

In the end, we survived.

Radio Tower Camp by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

More work today (been very busy), and more hiking this weekend. Still on track to finish the AZT by the end of May/early June.

Until next time!

 

Pictures again, yay! Loved your avian visitor. Cracks me up that it took a bath in your pot. Definitely not shy. People use "bird brain" as an insult but some of them are extremely smart (I'm looking at you crow family!) Just Googled and found they are in the "corvidea" family:
Corvidae is a cosmopolitan family of oscine passerine birds that contains the crows, ravens, rooks, magpies, jackdaws, jays, treepies, choughs, and nutcrackers.

I have no idea what your particular bird friend was but it sounds like it provided you a bit of distraction & entertainment. You're not going to get this kind of 'moment' in an office building, working out of a cubicle. You are living the dream. Thanks for taking us along for the ride.

 

@MR E30
Good report, thanks!

 

It definitely felt good to pull the D500 out of the case. These hikes, and work too, have really been draining the two of us. We have been to some lovely places these past couple of weeks, but being so busy with work dulls the desire to pull out the camera and figure out the shot.

Yeah, I agree with you big time on that. We don't give animals enough credit. Almost all of them can amaze me in some way, if I find the right way to look at them.

I need to find a good way to figure out how to determine what bird I am looking at. Maybe an app. I have tried to randomly find them through Google in the past, but I had no luck.

I'll do my best to capture some more photos to share with you all.

On an unrelated to above, but previously discussed note:

I am thinking that that Renogy battery I had an issue with two weeks ago is on the fritz again. It has not been present in the DC Home App for the past 4 days. My strategy from last time has not worked this time to get it back online

So, we have been working with just a single house battery again this whole week. It's been sunny all day, so no problem topping off the single battery, but I am still annoyed.

I have said it before, and I'll say it again: I have not been impressed with Renogy thus far. (2) inverters and (1) battery functioning improperly, or outright failing, in just three years, is a lot for me to reconcile. I essentially paid ~$233/year to rent this recently failed battery. And that is bothersome.

I am not in the physical position to swap over my electrical system to something better (more expensive), but the next time we spend a decent amount of time in one place I will strongly consider moving to another manufacturer. I have some adventure buddies who have a few different setups, so I will talk with them on an upcoming trip to learn more from actual users.

 

@MR E30
Yah, I would say that renogy is very poorly regarded at DIYSolarForum.com, or
https://www.mobile-solarpower.com
Which are Will Prowse's sites for mobile solar and, I think, the best place on internet for overland power setup.
Endless failures of renogy dcdc chargers, and inverters. Victron ispretty much the approved solution. Redarc also good, but both very expensive. Kisae has good devices.

 

I lucked out, my renogy charger has been going strong for about four years now.

 

It's frustrating when you pick a product (Renogy) for something critical, like electrity generation and management, and it turns out to be sub-optimal. That forces you to do a lot of work & pay out a lot of money to hopefully get something more trustworthy in place.

Life - it is rarely simple, easy, or troublefree. Makes you appreciate those moments when horses & birds make an appearance & take your mind off that stuff, if only for a little while.

 

Oof, I definitely missed this way back in the day. I used him to understand how the system fits together and functions, but then I saw a handful of YT'ers that I trusted (Dan Grec for one) that were all pushing Renogy hard, and I liked their all-in-one setup, so I went with them.

We will be spending some time with Stacy's brother this summer, so I will start putting together a Victron components list so that I can get away from all of this headache. The older house battery is still not functioning at all. Blah.

 

Definitely. Couldn't have said it better myself!