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Diet Taco... trying to keep things light

Discussion in '2nd Gen. Builds (2005-2015)' started by DVexile, Jan 7, 2016.

  1. Jan 11, 2016 at 9:13 PM
    #81
    Crom

    Crom Super-Deluxe Member

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    Nice. I too believe in honest straight forward reviews of product and warranty services. Glad they took care of you. Hope it lasts forever. :D
     
  2. Jan 11, 2016 at 10:54 PM
    #82
    scocar

    scocar hypotenoper

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    :pout:

    I'm really hoping to have it turned around by page 10,000 or so.
     
    MQQSE and T4RFTMFW[QUOTED] like this.
  3. Jan 12, 2016 at 8:53 PM
    #83
    Nate87

    Nate87 Well-Known Member

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    Just went through all the pages and I really dig it! Great job!:cheers: I'll be standing by for updates
     
  4. Jan 12, 2016 at 11:54 PM
    #84
    DVexile

    DVexile [OP] Exiled to the East

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    ABS Disable
    December 2015

    The first weekend in December I was stranded single parent yet again due to my wife being on travel. Being the second weekend in a row of this I decided to get some support and drove up to Utah to visit my brother's family for about four days and hand off my daughter to my sister-in-law for most of that time. My brother and I would spend one night camping at Toroweap and I'd have some time to mod the truck at his house and generally decompress as my daughter got spoiled by her aunt and uncle.

    Toroweap is 60 miles one way on washboard dirt roads with some rougher stuff in the last few miles. Now would be a good time to get some mods done necessary for a long haul on dirt roads as well as getting things better organized.

    An ABS disable switch was always planned but after smashing my head against the headliner on the very first trip because ABS wouldn't stop before a large rut I elevated the priority of this mod!

    Since this is a TRD OR the mod is very simple. A wire from a harness by the driver's feet is tapped and a switch added to pull that wire to ground to disable the ABS system. The mod works by intercepting the logic signal going to the ABS controller to make it think the rear locker is enabled. @Crom wrote up this great mod sometime ago for which I'm quite thankful! I took my time and fussed about a bit. Many searches of TW were made to figure out how to do certain things like remove a switch blank under the A/C controls.

    In the end the steps were to remove the A/C control panel - pulls/pries out easily - so I could get a finger behind a switch blank and push it out. Next the appropriate wire was tapped near the fuse box at the driver's feet and a ground tap picked up there as well. Those two wires were run over to the switch panel under the A/C controls and appropriately routed and zip tied along the way. Crimp butt connectors used to connect to the switch.

    The switch from Air On Board has LED lighting but the LEDs can not be lit with this mod unless you do some external circuitry. The switch attempts to make lighting "easy" by combing pins of the SPST contacts and LED contacts that are not compatible with using the switch to pull a logic level low. Sigh, if they just provided more connections (there is plenty of space on the connector) this wouldn't be a problem. Anyway, I decided to leave the switch un-illuminated as a result. The LED color would have clashed anyway.

    A quick test showed I hadn't screwed up the wiring so pushed the switch into the panel and the mod was complete. ABS disable was verified testing on the dirt road to Toroweap and it worked great! Much shorter stopping distance with wheels locked on a dirt road and of course a loss of steering effectiveness in that condition as well. I haven't figured out how one steers around a miles long wash that crosses a road so I'll take the shorter stopping distance over better steering. I do however very much want ABS when I'm highway driving and the beauty of this mod is you can have one or the other at the push of a button.

    Here's the switch and the dash display with the ABS disable active. You can see no additional indicators are required at the switch because the activation of the switch is obvious in the instrument cluster with four different warning lights illuminating!

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
    Nate87, RogueTRD, Crom and 2 others like this.
  5. Jan 13, 2016 at 12:30 AM
    #85
    DVexile

    DVexile [OP] Exiled to the East

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    Rear Seat Storage Bin Delete
    December 2015

    I did a lot of lurking on TW before I even bought the truck so I was well aware of the inexplicably worthless plastic bins that live behind the rear seats. They take up so much room it is insane! I guess I understand some of the design choices, you can flip down one seat and not see behind the other. It provides a "finished" look since the design intent is clearly that you might leave one seat down all the time. Still, so much wasted space!

    The behind seat storage space is extremely desirable to me. It is perfect for things like recovery and repair gear which I do not need routine access to and don't want cluttering up other storage spaces. Much of this gear is quite dense so having it between the axles is a good loading position. Similarly being dense these are things I'd prefer not to go flying through the passenger cabin in an accident so secured behind the seats is a safe spot for them.

    I had also considered removing one of the rear seats entirely to open up a large space for a variety of gear. Would cut out some weight to. I only need seats for three. It would have been the 40% seat behind the driver that I would have done this to since my daughter's car seat is on the passenger side (I have longish legs so she doesn't sit behind daddy). In the end I opted not to do this. While this truck is dedicated camping it did serve as a "daily driver" from our arrival in CA in early September until early December. Our Forester had been in a body shop for literally months after a side impact collision in August but finally arrived in CA in December so the Tacoma could go back to camping only. We actually walk nearly everything here in Pasadena, so the Tacoma didn't get that much daily driving, but I quickly learned having seating flexibility was desirable. I also realized a large open cargo area inside the passenger cabin would present its own packing, organization and safety issues. So the all the rear seats stay.

    Another thing I considered was a Molle panel back there or some other organizational aid. I rejected the Molle panel as I didn't want hundreds of little pouches back there, not very space efficient, nor did I want them secured to the truck. What I wanted were tool bags that could be easily removed and taken to wherever they were needed. In the end I decided just to leave it bare and see how that works for awhile.

    Removing the bins themselves wasn't too bad, as usual great instructions about how to do it here on TW. There were a few times things required extreme tugging to get clips loose. Once it was out I was just staggered by how much additional space was now available!

    Some future post will have to outline where everything gets stored in the truck, at this stage things are still moving around as I try to optimize things and acquire more toys. This photo should give an idea though:

    [​IMG]
    What you can't see is underneath the black and brown bags are three LynxLevelers (the other seven live under the raised floor in the bed for easier access) and a Go-Kot. Behind the passenger side seat is a Viair 400P and hose, heavy duty jumper cables, ARB tire repair kit, a small roll-up tool pouch with open ended wrenches, large binoculars (63mm for star-gazing) and some spare space!

    Once the layout of where things go settles I expect to make some additional minor modifications to keep things a little more clean and organized. Probably just a bungee here or there, perhaps a simple shelf, bracket or net to hold certain things in place better when the seat is down.

    I still have the storage bins but can't imagine why I'd ever put them back in at this point. Will need to get rid of them somehow in the coming months.
     
  6. Jan 13, 2016 at 1:01 AM
    #86
    wanna taco

    wanna taco What's my name?

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    TRD Sport with a whole Shitload of TwoBitDiddlySquat Running Boards/Roof Rack/Bed Mat; Tint all around; W/Tech Liners; Extant Hard Trifold; P&L; Relentless tailgate mod; Amp Bed Step; TracOne; Rear headrest Delete; rear window lock rod; tailgate EZ hose clamp; Kahtec 3rd lite flasher; Muth Signal Mirrors; 894 (38W) Fog Reverse Bulbs; Seat belt extenders; Seat belt chime silenced; Fumoto Kwik Valve; RideRites/Daystars; Eyebolts; SS D Rings; Viair 70P; Lund hitch Bed Extender; Custom Windshield Rock Chips; ...
    OMG! Seriously, this mod goes to the top of my list! Just this week I was so proud to be able to get my new Viair 70P behind the seat. Hell, With this mod, I could'a put my garage compressor back there! :D
     
  7. Jan 13, 2016 at 1:38 AM
    #87
    DVexile

    DVexile [OP] Exiled to the East

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    "On Board" Air (sort of)
    December 2015

    In my old truck I would "air down" a small amount when going off road. Not very much in a practical sense, around 27 PSI for tires that were normally at 32 PSI. I had a small compressor for emergencies but it was extremely slow. So I'd air down just a little bit and then when back on pavement keep the speed reasonable until reaching a gas station to air back up to nominal pressures. At those modestly low pressures I didn't have to worry once back on the highway about losing a bead in a turn I just had to keep speeds modest to avoid over heating. I knew that in a unexpected very low traction situation like deep sand I might decide to air way down and then spend an hour using the tiny air compressor I had but it never came to that.

    What I didn't appreciate for a long time was how big a difference airing down significantly might make to ride comfort on the long washboard roads I frequently encounter. Enough people kept saying to do this that for the Tacoma I wanted to be properly equipped to do so on a regular basis.

    The original plan was to mount an ARB compressor under the hood. There is plenty of space on the passenger side in a TRD OR because of the different brake booster and ABS arrangement. The compressor had good reviews and seemed to meet my needs just fine. Problem was getting air was a priority mod and the more I looked at trying to mount the ARB and deal with an overly complex wiring harness meant to support solenoids for lockers the more I realized I wouldn't get the mod done anytime soon.

    The path of least resistance then was the Viair 400P, another long well regarded compressor. Just store it behind the seat, take it out and connect to the battery when needed. Given tires take time to fill even with a good compressor the setup and break down time of the portable compressor is not a significant impact. Also I figure I can at a later date mount the Viair permanently somewhere if desired.

    And so my "on board" air mod because quite simple. Order compressor online and put it behind the seat. Done!

    I got a great deal too since a whole new generation of young ideologues who were in diapers that last time we were going to get a "new economy" are actually trying to - wait for it - compete with Amazon by - wait for it again - doing exactly the same thing as Amazon only somehow "better". Since Amazon is really good at not making a profit this other company called Jet has decided the pathway to displacing Amazon is to hemorrhage private equity money even faster than Amazon by under pricing Amazon and offering additional discount coupons on top of that. And free shipping of course.

    Now that putting air back in the tires is a solved problem there is the issue of getting air out of the tires efficiently. My 235/85/16 BFG KO2s run at 45 PSI for highway and I'll be airing them down to about 16 PSI for off-road now. That would take a long time holding the little pin in the valve stem...

    I had looked at the Staun tire deflators more than once and they seem like a great solution. Stauns are like small valve stem caps that press down the valve stem pin until the pressure gets low enough. You hand set them once in a fussy procedure but after that you in theory just screw them on when you want to air down and enjoy a beverage while all four of your tires deflate to your preset pressure. I did read enough people complaining that they didn't work reliably for them. User error? Really don't know. Also I thought I might be trying a lot of different pressures as I try out serious airing down for the first time. So I skipped the Stauns and went with the ARB E-Z Deflator instead.

    The ARB is one of those devices you really need to understand what it is doing to use it effectively I think. Yes you could treat it as a black box and just follow the instructions, but I found it much easier to read the instructions to understand what it is doing conceptually and then just think through the steps when using it. Essentially it is a tool to remove a valve stem core so that air will flow out of the tire much faster and it includes a simple slide valve on the tool so you can start and stop this very high rate flow. An air pressure gauge is integrated into it so you can see what pressure you have gotten down to. So the steps are to screw it on the valve stem, slide the valve on the tool closed, remove the valve stem core with the sliding and turning knob on the tool (this is the one part that can be a little fussy), then slide the valve on the tool open (very loud wooshing noise ensues), close as necessary to check pressure, screw core back in with knob when at correct pressure, finally unscrew tool from valve stem.

    On our Toroweap trip we drove the first two dirt miles at highway pressures to get a feel for the ride (teeth chattering, it is not too bad a road). Then I used the ARB - it does air down tires quite quickly and is easy to use once you get the hang of it on the third or fourth tire. I'm airing down hot so I went down to 18 PSI targeting a cold pressure of around 16 PSI. Then we drove to see what it felt like...

    OMFG, why for the love of crumbcake did I not get a better compressor and air down like this years and years ago? The ride was so, so, so much smoother. Just wonderfully smoother. Another week later the same experience was had on the gruelingly bad washboard of Saline Valley Road. Airing way down is the first and perhaps best "suspension" improvement anyone can make for washboard!

    On the way out we aired up with the Viair. It performed admirably and got each tire back up to highway pressure in just a few minutes each (I aired up to 52 PSI again because filling hot, this proved to result in a cold pressure checked the next morning of 44 PSI).

    I did discover two things sub-optimal about the portable compressor approach. First, sitting on the side of a remote road with your hood up attracts good Samaritans. One way to solve that would be to run a jumper cable plug to the grill and put a matching plug on the Viair cable so I could use it with the hood down.

    The second issue is the compressor gets hot enough I wasn't comfortable putting it in its bag behind the seat right away. A wet paper towel run over the heat sinks got things cooling faster but still an extra 5 minutes or so there. So I think I'll continue to investigate mounting options for the Viair. One simple option would be to mount it right where I presently store it behind the seat but shield it so that nothing can touch it while it cools down.

    (3YR UPDATE: Compressor is now more permanently installed. The ugly yellow hose has been replaced with a Flexzilla and the ARB with TeraFlex deflators. Still consider on-board-air one of the most important mods as running rough roads aired down is a million fold improvement.)

    Photo of all the goodies, note that orange wrap I have for the compressor power cable works great for holding down the trigger during longer fills.

    [​IMG]
    Why didn't I get this stuff years ago?
     
    Last edited: Mar 22, 2018
  8. Jan 13, 2016 at 1:56 AM
    #88
    DVexile

    DVexile [OP] Exiled to the East

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    The Toroweap trip report should be short but I'm too tired tonight. Time for bed!

    In other news, UPS tells me 96 lbs of stuff is on its way from Wheeler's. Those JBA arms aren't going to be lonely for long!
     
    RogueTRD, Crom and MQQSE like this.
  9. Jan 13, 2016 at 5:17 AM
    #89
    PaulK

    PaulK Life is hard. It's harder if you're stupid.

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    I just received the same switch from aironboard.com, and will be doing this mod at the same time that I wire up my new seat heaters. Mine is the green/green version that should come close to matching the factory look. I will likely spend some time trying to get the LEDs to work, but based on this I might have to go dark. Oh well, still looks cool.
     
    Last edited: Jan 13, 2016
  10. Jan 13, 2016 at 5:36 AM
    #90
    PaulK

    PaulK Life is hard. It's harder if you're stupid.

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    Again, we seem to be on the same page. Similar to a winch, I see little point in hard mounting a compressor unless you have air-lockers. Take it along when you need it, leave it at home when driving around town, and move it to other vehicles at will. I too am planning to get the ARB deflation tool, and I'm looking at one of their compressor-in-a-box options.

    I love the CKMTP12, but $850 is way too much for a compressor if you never plan to run air tools in the field.

    http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/...I121I5JY8XQC2O&psc=1&ref_=wl_it_dp_o_pC_S_ttl

    My current pick is the CKMP12. Still a bit pricey, but I like the self-contained nature of it. The case would easily hold the deflator and other small tools

    http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B004P9A35E?keywords=CKMP12&qid=1452691835&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1

    Regardless, I plan to run jumper cable plugs to both the grill and the bed somewhere for this, and in case I ever get that winch cradle that we've been talking about. I may do a dual battery set-up - not really part of the diet plan - to run lights and camp accessories, and would likely run the plugs to the second battery rather than the starting battery.
     
  11. Jan 13, 2016 at 7:27 AM
    #91
    rsxftw

    rsxftw Well-Known Member

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    What an awesome read. Great info in this thread!
     
  12. Jan 13, 2016 at 8:02 AM
    #92
    DVexile

    DVexile [OP] Exiled to the East

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    It isn't too bad to get the LEDs to work, you just add either a relay or a transistor and resistor. The switch wiring expects to be switching 12V to something for the LEDs to work while for this mod you are instead using the switch to pull a low current 12V logic line to ground. So to make the LEDs work you just wire the switch up to switch 12V instead and have that switched 12V drive a relay or transistor to pull the logic line to ground.

    Discussed in Crom's mod thread around here.

    I can always go back and modify mine to do the same if I choose. I also got the green/green version of the switch but of course Tacoma uses "mint green" for all those lighted switches which is a bit different. For those clinically diagnosed with OCD I've wondered about getting switches with white LEDs (though looks like AOB doesn't have white for these switches) and then finding an appropriately colored filter in one of the Roscolux Swatch Books I have laying around. Or I could just spend more time camping instead ;)
     
  13. Jan 13, 2016 at 8:11 AM
    #93
    PaulK

    PaulK Life is hard. It's harder if you're stupid.

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    Seems like more effort that it's worth considering the Xmas tree of lights in the dash that result from the kill switch. I think I'll go with dark.
     
  14. Jan 13, 2016 at 9:24 AM
    #94
    DVexile

    DVexile [OP] Exiled to the East

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    That was my thinking too, and since it is right next to the lighted ATRAC button I can still easily find it in the dark.
     
  15. Jan 13, 2016 at 2:03 PM
    #95
    DVexile

    DVexile [OP] Exiled to the East

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    Toroweap (Grand Canyon)
    December 2015

    As mentioned earlier I headed up to St. George, Utah to visit my brother and his wife (their kids are off at college) so they could spend some time with their niece. I could use the break too as my wife had been on travel a lot and this would be two weekends in a row solo parenting. Apparently my daughter wanted a change of pace too, earlier in the week she politely and earnestly told me in the morning, "Daddy, I like spending time with you but I'm getting tired of daddy-daughter time." I thought her gentle let down of me was pretty impressive social skills for someone not quite three and a half years old. Some folks here on TW could learn a thing or two from her.

    On a Thursday afternoon I picked up my daughter early from daycare to try to get out of LA before traffic hit. We just barely made it in time, traffic was getting awful around us as we went. Thank goodness the 210 now goes all the way to the 15 and has a carpool lane the whole way. I really didn't want this drive to be any longer than it already is because of traffic. My daughter would not nap the whole way. Six hours of chattering and the most common word out of her mouth was "Why?" - over and over and over again. Of course ten minutes from getting to my brother's house she falls asleep. Sigh...

    Anyway, Friday was mods as outlined already and a little bit of provisioning. Recently Toroweap started requiring a back country permit in order to camp at the primitive campground near the end of the road. They want to make sure people don't drive all the way down there and find the campground full. We followed the rules though it was a bit silly this time of year. Stopped by a BLM office in St. George that can fax the form to Grand Cayon NP and then they send the permit back. Was told visitation was so low we could consider the permit valid through February and that we'd be the only ones down there Saturday night.

    Saturday morning we do some grocery shopping and other last minute provisioning and then hit the road around lunch time. Toroweap is on the north rim of the Grand Canyon and is well west (down river) of the more developed part of the north rim. Most would consider it extremely remote as it is 60 miles of dirt road from the already rather remote 389 in northern AZ. Google over estimates the travel time because it assumes very slow travel on the dirt section:

    [​IMG]
    As mentioned in the On Board Air post this was my first try airing down a lot on washboard and I loved it. We made good time and reached the end of the road about an hour before sunset. Most of the road was good condition washboard but the last few miles were quite rough and really required decent clearance (stock Tacoma was fine) and there were spots I could imagine inexperienced 2WD driver might have traction problems. In this section the OEM mudflaps repeatedly scraped. Probably need to get some more appropriate mud flaps at some point.

    At the end of the road is a small parking area and a few picnic benches set a little ways back from the edge. I had never been here before but had seen many photos. It is to say the least rather impressive. It is 3000 vertical feet down to the river - straight down. Further up river at the typical "South Rim" and "North Rim" developed areas you are higher but you are miles from the river itself and can't really see it. Here you crawl to the edge and stick your head out if you want to see the near bank.

    My brother and I only get to do short trips together every couple of years so I usually try to make sure we get a good picture of the two of us. On this occasion the lighting worked out nicely for the shot. I'm the one on the right in the green sweater.

    [​IMG]

    We walked up and down the rim a little bit exploring the vistas both up and down river. A small group showed up for a short while on a pair of Razors and did their own bit of exploring but soon enough we had the whole place to ourselves again.

    As sunset unfolded I tried to setup a decent composition for a twilight shot. There really isn't much original to be done here, this place is photographed all the time, so I just hoped for some nice lighting. I actually got really nice lighting, my favorite kind of lighting in fact, with pink clouds providing light from one direction and blue sky light fill from the other. This proved to be just too much for the scene. The canyon walls are already rather colorful and this pink/blue light that I love in Death Valley was just too much color here. I couldn't get the shot to work the way I wanted in color when I processed the files later. So in the end I decided on a black and white version.

    [​IMG]
    As the last light faded to full darkness we got back in the truck and doubled back to the campground a mile or so up the road. We were as expected the only ones camping tonight. Found a site that would be sheltered from the mild wind. It was suppose to down to the high twenties - brrr!

    It was winter so there was going to be a lot of darkness to fill with some sort of distraction. Decided we should try to shake out as much gear as possible to kill time. We brought out the fire ring and discovered it wasn't working. Propane would come out for a few seconds and then stop. We killed a good part of an hour ineptly trying to figure out which parts might be clogged and blowing compressed air through tubes and adapters. Finally it seemed that only the regulator could be the problem. We used a single strand of some 16 AWG stranded wire I had in the repair kit and with some poking actually got flow again, but not very good flow. To celebrate our success we cooked some hot dogs over the fire for dinner. I made a note to buy a new regulator hose.

    I also took the awning out just to show my brother and discovered a problem there too. When installing the awning in addition to the awning rail at the top I installed two bolts with fender washers through the bottom of the housing. This is the way most people do the install. Well in my case the bolts I used had sharp edges on their heads and after all the driving on washboard this had started to abrade holes in the awning! The holes weren't very big, but they did go threw more than one layer on the rolled up awning. I applied two layers of duct tape over the bolt heads to smooth them out and made a note to try to address the issue more permanently later. I didn't look like the awning itself really needs any patches, there is just now a line of small holes for the first foot or so of the awning. Glad I looked even though we had no need for shade in the middle of the night.

    We had one new piece of equipment to test out as well. The Mr. Heater Little Buddy is a catalytic bed propane heater meant to safely heat enclosed spaces. It screws onto the top of a 1 pound propane canister and has about a 6.5 hour burn time. Given how cold it was going to be this seemed like a great time to try it out. This appeared to be working great and we were surprisingly cozy in what is really a glorified tent as far as insulating properties go.

    I surrendered the front of the Flip-Pac to my guest and tried out the hammock/cot in the back half. Given the temperature I put down a Ridgerest too. On the short bed version of the Flip-Pac this hammock/cot overlaps the forward "lip" of the Flip-Pac (dang, I really need to take some time to do interior shots of the Flip-Pac). This meant that laying with head towards the cab my shoulders and back were where this overlap was and it wasn't comfortable. Oriented the other direction so that feet were over the lip was just fine though. It was actually quite comfy though I had visions of rolling off of it in the night. Fell asleep quite easily.

    Somewhere around 2:30AM I woke up more or less spontaneously and it sounded like my brother was up too (i.e. no loud snoring). I had been sleeping with my bag half unzipped and no sweater or hat on and was plenty warm. Heater seemed to be doing its job. With many hours to go until sunrise we did what many people in the preindustrial age did to deal with hours and hours of darkness and got up for an hour or so in the middle of the night to read and what not. I climbed out of the bag, put on a sweater and sat down on the raised floor to check out the photos I'd taken earlier on my laptop. I expected the first propane bottle to run out soon anyway so it would be good to be awake to replace it. Indeed right on schedule the heater sputtered out and I attached another bottle. Soon after went back to bed and slept the rest of the night away.

    That I could sit out of my bag with my only extra layer being a sweater for over an hour in sub-freezing weather was a testament to how well the heater was working. My brother and I estimated it was probably 50F in the Flip-Pac and with me sitting in the radiative path of it I was even warmer. I didn't have a thermometer to check temperatures and so I made another note to pick up a cheap indoor/outdoor thermometer for my next trip to see just how well the heater does.

    We got up not really early at all and toasted English muffins. With the same standard sucky folding toaster of old. Made a note again to find a better toaster. Got camp mostly packed up. There was a short mile long loop trail from the campground that went along the rim of a side canyon and the main canyon which we did. Then decided we'd eat our lunch back at the main viewpoint sitting on the edge of oblivion. After lunch we headed back for home.

    The return trip up the dirt section was uneventful. At the highway I got out the compressor to air up (I had of course already done a whole air down and air back up test before going on this trip). This worked great, however we did have one person turn off the highway and drive the 100 yards or so down the road to check that we were OK since we had the hood up in order to connect the compressor to the battery. Back on pavement it was a short drive back to my brother's house with a stop for dinner at Outback along the way.

    On Monday did the drive back to LA, daughter did nap for about an hour this time. On both the drive up and the drive back down I was very thankful that she was good at the whole potty outdoors thing. The gaps between civilization along the I-15 are large and convincing a three year old they should just try to potty at this nice spot because there won't be another for nearly an hour is an exercise in futility. More than once we pulled off on one of the many "exits to nowhere" along the way, drove a short way into the desert and got out her little potty seat.

    I think it is typical for people upgrading model years in the "little" Toyota truck line to complain about how overly laden with features they have gotten and how wonderful their old bare bones truck was. You see it from 1st gen to 2nd gen owners. I'm a 1992 4WD 22RE RC upgrader. My truck didn't even have a model name like "Tacoma" or "Tundra", it was just a Toyota Truck. It was smaller wheelbase than my Tacoma and had greater payload capacity. Rock solid reliability too, there is a reason you see those old trucks bouncing through dusty parts of the world with 50 cals in the back.

    That said, when I drove up to Utah and drove back from Utah in the new Tacoma at the end of the drive I felt great. Just a little tired, nothing bad. I know from experience in my old 1992 I would have been really fatigued at the end of such a drive. Uncomfortable bench seat, louder cabin and fighting to get that 22RE to go up passes faster than 45 MPH. It wears on you on a long drive. Since our camping often involves long highway drives I can say I'm glad we now have a plush more comfortable interior.

    Well I was really glad I got to make this trip, I've been wanting to stop by Toroweap for a long time and it was a nice easy shot from St. George. Was good to give all the camping gear another test and the heater was a big hit. Quite sure my wife is going to like the heater on our next winter desert trip!
     
    Last edited: May 2, 2016
    CowboyTaco, RobZ9132, djynot and 3 others like this.
  16. Jan 13, 2016 at 5:07 PM
    #96
    Bman4X5

    Bman4X5 There is no substitute for square inches.

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    Bruce
    Upland CA
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    Bilstein, Dakar/Icon, Prinsu, CBI, Pelfreybilt, Tepui
    I may be biased, but the b&w version is very satisfying. Got an address for that BLM office? Looks like a good trip.
     
  17. Jan 13, 2016 at 5:19 PM
    #97
    DVexile

    DVexile [OP] Exiled to the East

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    Thanks!

    345 East Riverside Drive
    St. George, Utah 84790

    St. George BLM Field Office Website
     
  18. Jan 13, 2016 at 8:08 PM
    #98
    allpro

    allpro Well-Known Member

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    All Kinds Of Toyotas!!!
    Our expo springs weigh roughly 71 lbs each :)

    Tracy
    tracy@allprooffroad.com
     
  19. Jan 13, 2016 at 8:21 PM
    #99
    DVexile

    DVexile [OP] Exiled to the East

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    Thanks! I knew they were quite a bit heftier than OEM.

    Now hurry up and get them back in stock and ship them to me! :)
    I've got a living room full of suspension just waiting on my Expos!
     
    allpro[QUOTED], MQQSE and nfs257 like this.
  20. Jan 18, 2016 at 10:11 PM
    #100
    DVexile

    DVexile [OP] Exiled to the East

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    Saline Valley
    December 2015

    I try to get to the hot springs in Saline Valley once a year and I prefer to be there when visitation is low. Early December is a good time for that since the Thanksgiving crowd has left and the weather is usually cold enough to keep people away. It was last year this time I first saw a Flip-Pac and decided to do this build, would be fun to see that same truck if it is there!

    I left Pasadena around noon, provisioned in Lancaster, stopped for dinner with a friend in Ridgecrest and continued up to the Saline Valley turn off on the 190. Aired down and started the drive. I've driven this route in the dark many times and knew from trip reports that the road was in good condition (I prefer it in awful condition as it reduces visitation, but oh well). The aired down ride is wonderful.

    Navigating the turns in Grapevine Canyon I reminded myself I'd really like to leave the fogs on with the high beams. The fogs throw light to the side making it easier to see during tight turns. Reaching the valley floor once again I wanted them both on, the low lighting angle of the fogs makes it much easier to see dips and holes while the high beams help see road turns in the distance. Better get that mod done soon.

    Made it to the springs, I usually drive the last little bit with parking lights on so I'm not throwing light all around the place at the relatively late hour. Pull in along the road at the lower springs and walk in to evaluate where I might camp on foot so I will make minimum impact to people already camped. Thankfully it appears very empty as is usual this time of year. There are two people in the Sunrise Pool at this hour.

    Walking around I find only one other camp and it has a Flip-Pac in it! But a different truck than the one I saw last year. Stop by the Sunrise pool and talk to the guys there, one of them owns the Flip-Pac. Turns out his was just bought this past summer and he decided to buy after seeing a Flip-Pac out at the springs around March. After a little more chatting we figure out the Flip-Pac owner he saw in March was the very same one I saw in December. That guy has made two sales for FRP in just a few months at Saline!

    Now knowing the lay of the land I pull the truck in, setup the Flip-Pac and head over to soak. I prefer to do long soaks through the night and then nap during the day. No sense waiting to start that routine.

    There is little to report about the rest of the stay. A few days of night time soaking and daytime napping and lounging about. I spent an hour or so one morning draining and cleaning the sunrise pool as my community service. I also brought in a fair bit of extra bleach for future cleanings.

    It is rather cold but I don't end up using any propane heat because in the cold night hours I'm soaking. It is very windy almost the whole time I am there and the Flip-Pac handles the wind quite well. It makes noise in the wind of course, and the truck rocks a bit, but otherwise is great shelter from the wind. I find cooking inside works great - will have to show details in a future "Flip-Pac Inside Tour" post.

    After a few days I decide I'm rested enough and head back home. Drive out is nice and fast in the daylight, around 90 minutes from springs to the 190. Air up and head out west on the 190 towards the 395. Strong crosswind in Owens Valley and the Tacoma Kazoo starts up. Definitely need to get that solved soon too.

    This trip was all about mostly doing nothing, so it is a short report. However it strongly reinforced my happiness with the Flip-Pac. Without its large, comfortable interior and good wind shelter this trip would have been awful. The wind was relentless and punishing. The only two comfortable places were soaking in a pool or being inside the Flip-Pac.

    I didn't take the camera out once this whole trip, but what is a trip report with out a photo? So here is one from the previous December (the trip when I saw my first Flip-Pac). It is the spring source and its surroundings "light painted" using my headlamp and some very long exposures.

    [​IMG]
    The Source
     
    Last edited: Mar 22, 2018

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