AdventureTaco - turbodb's build and adventures

This looks like 1/8" air line, like I use on air shocks for my Harley, what is going on on your axle that requires an air line?

 

Airbags?

 

Hahahaha, how'd you come across that pic anyway? It is and air line. My rear shocks are Monroe MA-820's, which were perfect for how I used to use the truck (hauling), and probably not ideal for adventuring...

 

Just reading a part of your build thread last night. Saw that and was like what's going on here, thought you might have gotten creative with a broken ABS wire or something haha. Do you still use the rear air shocks or have you found something with a larger range of travel?

 

Still running those, since I've never experienced better . My guess though, is that I'll likely want to replace them after this summer's trips.

 

Cool, if it works it works. Wonder what the valving on an air shock is, must take into account the bladder of air as rebound too. Gotta imagine they certainly ride better than the one blown Rancho was used the last two trips haha. If you ever need specs for a relocate I'm happy to help, was a pretty easy weekend project.

 

Air shocks like his are weird, they have a normal oil damper in them and then a bladder that physically forces the shock apart to add load capacity. That's why I wondered what the oil valving is to work with something that is designed to have external resistance too.

 

"...that were the crazy..." - love it. I hope you never get your Chrome/TW keyboard issues fixed, hahahahaha . So much fun reading.

 

Do they run to an air source? Or just a schrader valve to fill/deflate? If it's the latter you are setup nicely to go for bags. Seen it done on a 2nd gen and I love the idea for an adventure rig.

 

They run to a schrader valve that I installed behind the fuel door.

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Greasing the Drive Shaft Fixed My Rattle
February 21, 2018.

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I've had a rattle for a little over four months. I first heard it (I think), when returning from The De-Tour at the beginning of October, or else maybe a week or so after that.

It sounded like a loose heat shield, or other piece of sheet metal, rattling away under the back half of the truck. But I knew it wasn't a heat shield - it only happened at speeds above about 15-20mph, and changed when under load (vs. coasting) and there were certain throttle/speed/terrain combinations where I could almost get it to go away. Of course, I'd been under the truck several times to push and pull on everything I could, to see if anything was loose.

Nothing was.

And I was sure it wasn't the drive shaft - I mean, I greased that back in September - the first time I'd done it in 18 years. There's no way it could need a greasing again, so soon.

And the drive shaft itself seemed to be in good condition - the u-joints were tight, the play in the carrier bearing seemed normal, it wasn't dented from hitting a rock, and none of the balancing weights had fallen off.

Hmm.

As luck would have it, I was going to be taking off the skid plates for a few other bits of work, and so I decided - what the heck - I'll grease the drive shaft and see if that makes a difference. So, I cleaned off all the zerks, got out the Red-N-Tacky and grease gun, and set about pumping in grease until it oozed and popped out of the various crevices around the u-joints.

And then I gave it a test drive.

Silence. Sweet silence.

The rattle was gone. Guess I'll be greasing the drive shaft more often. Apparently, unless you leave it completely alone for 20 years, it's a regular maintenance item.

 

wow you don't say??

 

Don't you miss the good ol' days when your keyboard wasn't part of your screen?

 

It's still strange to me that I never did it for 18 years and had no problem. Then I touch it once, and it starts rattling almost immediately. Oh well, probably just a coincidence.

Definitely don't miss those days... But I do miss the days when "I talked to [so-and-so]" meant that you each actually made some audible noises, and probably actually saw each other in person! hahahahaha

 

Wait...

You beat the holy fuck outa your truck for two weeks straight, dragging it through awful mud, snow, dirt and water crossings, abusing the shit out of it and now wonder why it needs greasing more often?

 

bingo

 

First: Stop trying to reason with me. That doesn't work, at least according to @mrs.turbodb
Second: Sure, we drove the trucks hard for two weeks. But it's not like I didn't run months and months of dirt roads (week long OBDR, etc.) in the years before. Honestly, I think it was just luck on my part.
Third: Stop trying to reason with me. I know I should have been greasing this damn thing for the last 20 years.

I wish. We'll find out when I put them back on I guess. But my skids are on very solidly, and as Mike can attest, it was a "rotational" noise, unfortunately.

 

First: STFU
Second: We told you so
Third: You heard it here first
Four: STFU




honestly the joints could be ready for replacement. Especially the one by the diff as lifting the truck will make that one go out without dropping the CB. Mine went out about a year or so after i lifted Frank. And you've had yours lifted fairly high for a while.

 

Great story telling and the pics are amazing! I've really enjoyed following the posts of your trip. Cant believe I missed the day 5/6 update until now. Makes me want to work harder to figure out my plan for a trip later this year. Kinda sucks being 2 days+ away but I'm hoping to make it all the way to Seattle since I havent been there since I was a little kid(30yrs ago maybe? not that I plan on spending more than 1/2 a day in Seattle)Hopefully my work wont complain about me taking 3+ weeks off.

 

There's no play at all in the u-joints, so I hope they don't need replacing. Only 70K miles on them; theoretically serviced by Toyota at the appropriate intervals, before I started doing it myself. My plan is to see how it goes now, and then y'all can take a look later this year.

Thanks! Was an awesome trip. I know what you mean about being far away - I always feel that way up here in the corner. Just means putting up with long drives though - 'cause it's so good to get out and adventure.

Dunno. Like I said - per all the "how to tell if your u-joints are in good shape" references I can find, mine still seem to be in great shape. Happy to have you give them a look-over as well (hopefully soon). Honestly, personally I'm more worried about my carrier bearing than the u-joints.