The Build

This is the one I have

They make an 18 and a 30 inch as well now

 

Just had a question on what part numbers are included for the Garmin 62, so they are now listed in the GPS mount article

 

Ha Mike, i am here in Olympia. Just picked up a 14 DC TRD OR. I would like to meet some time and check out your truck.
Ted

 

Send me a PM sometime and we can make it happen. I'm free this weekend

 

Subbed, can't wait to go wheeling sometime. Would you be down for a funny rocks trip this summer?

 

Yup, but I will be keeping away from ninja sticks!

 

I use the term chickenmunga'd a lot now and I wasn't even there to witness it!

 

Wow, so I've been quite busy, but not very good at keeping things up to date here. More to come soon I hope.



I just did the compass fix. I was really sure there was something else wrong with my board until I tapped one of the resistors with a finger and it just about fell off. I've been reading that re-soldering the original resistors might only be a temporary fix (you eventually have to get the normal shaped resistors that you get for all your other DIY projects), but I'll see how this goes for now. Red arrows are where I soldered.

 

CVJ Extended-length CV Axle Boots

I noticed that I had been swapping out CV axles fairly regularly (probably 3-4 times? I lost track).
Furthermore, I realized that all the components were good, it was that the boots were ripping. I feel like a bit of an idiot for replacing the entire part now.
Hopefully, all of this is over now: I added CVJ extended length boots. This is probably one of the worst, hardest jobs I've ever done on the truck, just short of when I refurbished my LCAs. It took about 2 weekends and I destroyed some cheap Harbor Freight tools in the process, but it's all good now. I've had them on for about 6 months now as of writing this post.

 

King Suspension and All-Pro Expedition Leaf Springs

I've never been pleased with the stock leaf pack. Always has been rather saggy and... weak. I was going to try the junkyard Chevy spring mod, but decided I was just too tired of trying to pinch pennies for a half-ass result. Instead, I purchased a set of All-Pro Expedition leaf springs on Black Friday of 2014. While doing the install, I noticed something else needed attention, too:

... OK, well I can't find the video right now, but after many faithful adventures, I noticed my OME setup was really not doing so great. I could compress the shocks easily, and it would take nearly 2 minutes for them to re-extend. I always thought you'd see visible leakage or something - guess not!

While the OME setup was good for its use, I've realized that I've used the truck harder than what was my original intent. I also didn't want to be weird - I wanted a good, solid setup, capable of doing what I needed, without being messed up from a bizarre install or expending money on the slippery slope of advanced mid travel builds. This became more apparent as I read of how LITTLE that I, and the large majority of TW, understood about suspension.

I had some major concerns about getting correct length shocks, and I received some excellent help from @jberry813, which I promised one day to refine some of his instructions with pictures and share with the community... but as life happens, I haven't posted that yet.
I decided upon a new King Setup with 700lbs springs, thanks to great help from @Rebel Off Road. You can read my review of them in their vendor section.

The new setup provides a noticeable gain in handling dropoffs (OMEs would have a jarring effect as they slammed to full extension, the Kings just... don't do that). They also have great handling, which would be expected when you shell out they extra cash

Note that even this bolt-on solution required some finagling. The original rear reservoir brackets weren't fabbed correctly (King was quick to fix this).
Also, the front brackets interfered with the Relentless front bumper. To fix the front bracket, I used an angle grinder with a cut-off wheel, then sandwiched the bracket. Works great (see below)!

 

BFG A/T KO-2

After a long run on the tall, skinny 255s, it was time for a change.
I got great life out of them at over 3 years and over 50k miles - I'm not sure what the exact mileage is, I should dig through my records.
They proved to have a very 'precise' feel offroad, and were strong as hell. I had some weird sidewall cuts early on, not sure if it was a wannabe vandal or a evil tree root (I have a thing with trees), but the tires have been unfazed. They never let me down for grip in snow (like the Maxxis)... but they would dig to the center of the earth, which had me using a shovel on more than one occasion to trench out.
Over these past 6 months, it felt like the grip took a quick dropoff, though. I engage the locker more, and they are skittish as hell on wet pavement. I added some wheel spacers to give a better stance (which helped alleviate some tippy feelings in corners), but ultimately decided I wanted something wider.

...Enter the new BFG A/T KO-2. People are going nuts like it's the holy grail of tires, so I decided, "what the heck".
Apparently the 34x10.5x17 is the new hotness, but I didn't want to buy new rims (I like the stock TRD offroad rims, and I'm kinda cheap )
I was done with 255s (which isn't an option for KO-2s anyway), so as a result, I tried buying some 285/75/16 over this 2015 Black Friday. I ended up having to drive over to the next state to get the last set of 5 within almost a 380 mile radius

So, was it worth it? So far, just driving around the wet streets of Portland and Hillsboro, HOLY GOD YES. With the KM2s, I could easily break free on a corner, and always felt like I was 'on the edge'. These KO2s? I'm wondering if I can make them slip! They just want to grip and go as if everything was dry out.
They have a funny change in noise. The KMs made a slight 'woo woo woo' sound all the time. These KO-2s are making relatively no sound over 40, and at low speeds it sounds like a higher than normal engine idle. I keep thinking I've got an aftermarket muffler, or the engine idle is out of whack... but when I'm stopped, there's nothing wrong. Crazy tires!

Overall, I'm quite pleased so far. We will sill what the forest brings soon!

Oh, and for later notes... still looking good at 108k miles!

 

Superflow

$69 MV-90 Magnetic Dryer Vent Coupling

MV-90 Compressor with Easy Upgrades

Completely forgot about my compressor... not as fancy as the OBA guys, but I'm quite happy with the mods I made. Writeup here

 

Nice build Mike. Truck looks good. I liked reading your writeups on truck work.

 

I'm still trying to get a follow up video for that one posted, but every time I go out there's either a bunch of jets flying, it starts raining, or some other random thing happens!!