The Getaway...Crom's build and adventures

@Crom Are those lugs still working out? Found some really beat up ones today, was going to upgrade them all.

 

Great choice

 

Yes. All steel, tough, won't deform. The black paint is getting beat up from tire rotations, etc., but that's about the worst of it.

 

Maintenance corner, November 2014. When welding sliders onto the truck it will burn the paint on backside of the frame. This is easy to remedy with spray paint for 3-of-4 of the slider legs. Where it's not is in the boxed section of the front of the frame. To repair and guard against future corrosion I took the following actions:

First I used a leaf blower to blow dirt, sand and crap out of the frame. Then I cut the rivets out of a standard aluminum crutch and took one long length of pipe from it. It had the perfect offset for the application. I attached a rag dipped in acetone, crawled under, and scrubbed vigorously inside the boxed section of frame. I then removed rag and attached a small 2-3" paint roller I found at the department store. I then proceeded to liberally paint the shit out of the inside frame. It worked better than expected and was low cost for me.

 

Creative stuff. Subbed for the new 2015...starting all over again.

 

Congrats on the new truck!

 

Crom, nice truck and pics. Q - are you running with or without swaybar? thx.

 

Thanks man. Not thrilled with starting from square one again, but I am already creating the vision and spending the money...in my head.

 

In May 2013, I bought a road shower from Joel Cotton. It was one of the first aluminum models available and I got it at reduced cost because I was an early adopter. It was probably the easiest way to add on-board water to the truck. It gets plenty hot in the sun and works great during warm weather. Obviously if it's not sunny it will not be warm. It has a schrader valve for pressurization and utilizes a standard radiator cap for filling. It also has a pressure release vent if too much pressure is added.

In practice I use the schrader valve with a tire deflator to admit air into the system and it works just great as a gravity shower. Many times, the system will build up pressure by heat expanding the air in the tube, so often I don't need to use the schrader valve for short bursts of water like washing feet, etc.

I bolt on the shower before trips and usually keep it mounted during June, July since we do so much outdoor activities during those months.




Out of the box it works great but for my needs I needed to modify a few things.

1. I ditched the vinyl hose it shipped with after (2) years and went with some Goodyear rubber hose instead and size 4 worm clamps to hold it on. Great upgrade IMO, much more flexible, and will not let algae build up in clear hose.
2. The Yakima Snap Round mounting system was not suitable for off road use, so I had to change out those for some custom made clamps that I made from 16 gauge sheet metal.

The underside of the extruded aluminum tube has "t-track" that runs the entire length, which are made to fit 5/16" carriage bolts. I bought some stainless 1" long 5/16" bolts and nylock nuts and they work really well. It looks really clean too.

Before I made my custom clamps, I tried using 3/4" EMT clamps, but that turned out to be a mistake. They are too thin of metal and could not get enough clamping force and were only suitable for on-road use.

Pics of the EMT clamp with heat shrink tubing that I tried. (I don't recommend these clamps!)


My Custom made clamps from zinc plated 16-guage sheet metal. Much stronger clamping force.

 

I have the swaybar out still. I'll be very honest about it, driving this way makes me nervous on the interstate. On our return trip from the Eastern Sierra's I had to do a small evasive maneuver (my fault) and I handled it okay, but it involved more thought and feel to do it right, not over correct, etc. It's really hard to explain in words. Off road, with sway bar out, it's really great! I'm torn! I wish someone would bring to market auto-disconnecting sway bar end links.

Sounds goooood!

 

I thought someone had fabbed maual disconnects for 2nd gens, no? I looked at doing this for 1st gen, but there was no way to assure that the diconnected ends of the swaybar would not interfere with suspension at full tunr/articlution when offroad. It is a matter of how the swaybar is formed. But 2nd gens have a different design. I haven't even looked at mine yet. I haven't even had a chance to read the damn manual!

But what you describe is pretty much my concern too. Long highway trips in the moutains on 395 to get to the good offroad stuff between Mammoth and Lone Pine.

 

They do not exist. Unfortunately in all the years of the 2nd Gen Tacoma, NOBODY has brought to market sway bar disconnects of any type. Some have tried to build them full custom, but sadly, no workable solution.

 

Really enjoyed seeing all your pictures. Great job on the truck!

 

In July 2011, I installed a rear diff breather mod. A real easy-low-cost mod to protect the rear diff from water intrusion. It's been 100% maintenance free from the day I installed it.

Parts:

Installed a fitting in the rear diff housing:


hose installed:


New vent installed by gas cap. Done.

 

Thank you. Glad to hear it.

 

For the first time, I camped solo with my two daughters in the back country. One night quick camp. Table Mountain BLM area. Originally we tried for Cleveland National Forest, Mt. Laguna area, but we were unable to setup camp before the flash floods started. It was nuts. We were about 2 miles off pavement when the flash floods hit and the dirt road turned into a mud river. We sought escape to pavement and returned to I-8. Then headed east to Table Mountain BLM area. We found a nice secluded site in the back country. Had a nice peaceful night with a full moon. My kids got a long great and we all had a great time.



My two daughters who love exploring outside.


The monsoon that pounded the mountain.


Mud river forming on Mount Laguna back country road.


Finally our remote campsite.

Nice view to the North from our site.


Boulders to play on and explore.

 

I decided to do part of the 60K mile maintenance a little early.

• Cleaned engine bay
• Cleaned Throttle body
• Cleaned mass air flow sensor
• Swapped in new Denso plugs
• Parked on my front lawn and removed 10lbs of mud from frame with garden hose jet sprayer.
• Changed oil and filter

Fumoto Oil drain valve in action


Did not spill one drop!

Mud mess, everywhere!


All clean!


All clean

 

Way too clean. Ha, ha. I've never cleaned my engine bay.

 

Clean! Your mechanic will thank you! And since you do your own maintenance, you can thank yourself. I clean mine once every few months because working on old greasy junk sucks more than cleaning a little dust and dirt every few months...

 

How's that Fumoto valve? I was considering one, but it got mixed reviews (granted from people that aren't too familiar with doing their own maintenance)...