Colinb17's kinda sorta build thread - now with 4-link and long travel

Chris, what Ocala videos are you seeing as private? i just ran through them on my youtube acount and they say public. maybe youtube reformatted something and the link has changed?

 

Yeah my main reason is spacing them out. I bought the Sport package cause I liked the wheels and skewp. I was thinking about getting another set of sport wheels and having them PC'd gunmetal gray and getting a set of Cooper Discoverer ST Maxx in 285 for them with the spacers.

 

Wow now I feel dumb I should have guessed

 

I'm not ashamed to say it is my favorite color.

 

*colour

 

speaking of your favorite color, Colton and I met up for some beers last night. first raptor grill i've seen in person. ya dun good! very nice grill

speek murican, nao!

 

i did consider using some fancy anidized hardware from some more exotic suppliers than Lowes, but it was going to end up being a ton of money for something purely aesthetic.

 

In post #19, the two videos called "Ocala Offroading" and "Ocala Ofroading 2". When I click on them, it goes to fuzzy screen and says "This video is private"

 

hmm, i'll give it another shot and see if i can fix that. worst case is that i can reload them.

 

Ordered one of these guys yesterday to keep in the truck box, just in case. gotta keep building the spare parts box to take on the trails.

Kevin was great to deal with. ordered yesterday, and it should be in mid next week.

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2n...s-4x4-sale-complete-best-price-ever-save.html

 

This is still my favorite truck.

 

Thanks Tim

we're glad to have you back here. how's the little one doing?

 

She's great, I swear she'll be taking her first steps any time now. Let me know when you're going to start burning metal again. I want a hc rear bumper.

 

keep that video camera ready

I'll keep you posten on when i can start welding again. i'll have to build a break for my shop press first though. i got my rear bumper brackets premade from kevin. he speciffically had extras cut for me instead of just cutting what he needed for his bumpers. but since he sold armortech, i'm not sure if i can get them anymore. Adam at 4x-innovations is an awesome guy, but he's got a really full plate now, and may not be able to fit in the extra time for a part that costs 2% of what his other stuff does.

the brackets with the holes in them are what i'm reffering to. they are 1/4'' steel, bent 90 degrees. I have to see if my 10 ton shop press can handle that kind of bend.

 

So, I went out today as part of an experiment. We all build out trucks for a specific purpose, but while many build theirs to conquer a terrain style, I am trying to build with a different goal. Mine is to be able to wheel a wide range of terrains, but more importantly be able to do it alone. this incorporates the principles of Overlanding, but adds to it with the fact that there is no one else/no other vehicles out there to lend a hand.

The experiment started last week. I went to explore Kansas Rocks Recreation Park during their 10 year anniversary event. this allowed me to familiarize myself with the park before attempting it myself. I will rarely have the luxury of essentially prerunning the area with other vehicles before going at it on my own, but for the first time, i thought it would be wise.

The day went well. I intentionally pushed it and took lines that weren't necessarily the easiest. Got into some interesting situations, but was able to figure out how to use the tools at my disposal to safely get out of the pickles.

pictars!





This little deal almost got my bedside last week. drivers side tire slid off the rock, towards the right, almost into the tree. the further you move forward, the closer it pushes you to the tree. you can see the rocks right in front of the tree that i had to stack last time, to keep me from getting too close.


this is the same spot, from the other side. you can see how steep it actually is towards the tree. it had also just rained last time, so it was nice and slick.


I always tell people that the factory toyota alloys are some of the best wheels for offroading, short of beadlocks. partially because they are very strong, but more-so, becasue they hold a bead at low pressure better than a lot of other wheels i've seen. had to snap this picture becasue it showed what i've been preaching for so long. the part of the wheel behind the valve stem is only an inch off the ground because of how off camber this was. the tire rolled completely towards the center of the truck.


trail called "drop off". pretty steep, but it wouldn't normally be very hard. it was very slick today though, and i ended up sliding down the whole trail with my tires locked. luckily the slight ruts kept you off the trees.




it really was a drop off


This was the real adventure of the day. took a line that turned out to be far too narrow. at one point i had both sliders touching both trees at the same time. felt like something out of a car chase in a comedy movie. the major issue was the tree on the drivers side. if i pulled forward, i took out the drivers bedside, if i backed up, i took out the drivers rearview, door, and probably fender. the solution was a come-along on therear passenger side of the bumper, and a winch off the passenger side of the front. due to another tight fit in front of me, i decided to back out of it and take another line. the cable puller kept me from swinging into the tree, and the winch off the front, when tensioned, tilted the truck away from the drivers side tree. together, it allowed me reverse in a controlled manner, that kept me off of both trees, and on the trail. only thing that went wrong was the tree that i hooked my winch up to had green leaves all over the top, but was apparently hollow. just after i cleared the tree beside me, the winch pulled the other tree over. oops. as any considerate wheeler would do, i made sure to chop it up with the ax and move it off the trail.








tree down......


Why I love the old-style all-pro front skid. a "standard style" skid from any other company would have already hit the rock, making the climb much harder.




perched on the rock from the skid plate picture


twas steep


the rear up on the skid plate rock


Had a nice relaxing lunch on top of the mountain while we got a little drizzle.


headed down the mountain, back to camp, to try my hand at their competition course.


some good sidewall flex. still very pleased with the treadwrights.


just a little public service announcement.
most people don't really look at the details when they buy a strap. the two big criteria people tent to look at are length and strength. important things to take into account, but there are many other areas to look at when buying a strap. one of those things is the eyelet type. most people buy a standard straight loop. that is good for attaching one vehicle to another, but when you are ataching both eyes of the strap to the same shackle or hook (like when using a tree strap), i much prefer the half twist eyelet. it allows the two eyes to sit clean and flush, instead of having to bunch them up, putting more stress on the strap and shackle/hook.


The rest of the pictures are all from the comp course and RTI ramp. this is the man-made area near camp that they hold regular rock crawling competitions. lots of rocks and a very steep hill.
















Gonna have to radius the bedsides for 25s


happy with the rear drop, but always looking for more


IFS flex


busted a nut


one of the reasons i haven't purchased nice aftermarket wheels


It was a very educational experience trying to push myself and the truck without anyone else around to help. I learned a lot, and hope yall can take something away from my little review.

 

Glad to see you got yourself out. Saw the tree pic on FB and figured you had o chop one down

 

if they extend my time here any more, i'll definitely go back.

tread lightly

i don't have any issues chopping dead trees (i didn't feel bad when i winched the one over), but i'd put money on me losing an entire door if i had chopped either of those trees down. probably would have fallen and then bounced the bottom back up and done more damage than just driving into it

 

Tread lightly indeed. The spot where we usually wheel the trees are the only things keeping us from rolling off the trail