Whomp Whomp - Colorado adventure build and adventures

As purchased


Current setup



I'd lived in CO for 7 years before I finally decided I wanted a vehicle where I could use to explore some of the more remote areas. Wasn't so so much interested in the off-roading, but more of where I get to and what I could do when I got there.

Had a few criteria when shopping:

• Reliability
• Aftermarket support
• Seating for 4
• Small enough to get down CO trails
• Cost

Ended up deciding a 1st gen double cab checked all the boxes. Found min after extensive searching in the summer of 2016.

As purchased - Aug 12 2016:
2003 Toyota Tacoma TRD Off Road Double Cab 4x4 SR5 with 160k miles. Rebuilt from Salvage title, bunch of neglected maintenance, shot suspension and tires. As I already had plans, wan't concerned too much with these items.

Immediately got to work as we already had a labor day trip planned that I needed the truck for. First thing was to replace the ignition cylinder. When I purchased the truck, the key was so worn down that it would only turn in the lock occasionally. The seller had to have his girlfriend come to the emissions test facility in order to start it for them, and I only manged it start it twice. Drove right to the parts store and ended up leaving they key in the accessory position while I ran in and got the replacement. Following this, did plugs, fluids, fuel filters, dash light bulbs and everything else you'd expect a neglected truck needed. Also removed the running boards to get some clearance back.



After I'd decided on the Tacoma, I'd moved onto tire and lift research. Ended up getting OME 2883 with Nitrochargers for the front and the Dakar packs for the back. Also got Tundra rotors/calipers and SS brake lines to go with it. Spend the day with a friend and got everything installed.

Starting height 34"

Tundra front brake components

13 year old stock vs OME 2883

Dakars

Ending height 38"

Everything went smoothly until it was time to remove leaf springs. The front mounting bolt rubber had seized itself to the bolt and prevented removal. Ended up having to cut the old leaf springs apart to gain clearance for a grinder to cut the bolts out. Between that and finding an ACE that carried the replacement bolt we lost around 3 hours. Finished up with a driveway alignment and called it a night.

When researching tires, had decided I was going to run pizza cutters. The aftermarket wheels that were on the truck didn't have the backspacing I needed, but fortunately the previous owner still had the stock 16" wheels. After doing to test fit to make sure they would clear the Tundra rotor/caliper, put in an order for Dick Cepek Extreme Country 255/85R16 and started refinishing the stock wheels while I waited for them to arrive.

Condition and fit check

Mid sanding

Finished painting

Slight upgrade

Ready for the trip

Got everything mounted up and got it aligned. Couldn't get perfect, but was good enough. Around this time I discovered the that the 'rebuilt' part of the title was a loose interpretation. Found I neither had a windshield washers nor horns. Dropped in some generic horns, and found a stand along kit for the windshield washer cheap on Amazon. Ignore the awful 'cold air' intake, it goes away later.


I had everything wrapped up by Aug 30th, and made it out to Telluride and to Yankee Boy Basin upper trailhead to climb Mt Sneffles.

 

After getting all the basics done, settled down for the fall/winter with only a few trips/projects.

Storm mountain

Didn't like the vehicle lighting, so got some new LED bulb. The LEDs don't work correctly with the vehicle computer, so you have to add resistors.

Big resistors with proper wattage rating.

Also got a complementary tire carrier replacement under recall from Toyota due to corrosion potential.

Once ski season was over, started ordering parts for the next phase of the build.

Ordered a full set of Budbuilt skid plates


Trailgear weld on rock sliders


Smittybuilt XRC9500 and an ARB bull bar


Sky offroad e locker guard



Install proceeded as parts rolled in over about 2 months.





Measuring the stock frame end caps


New plate piece


Welded up

Bumper and winch

All done

Felt pretty confident with the truck at this point, so when I had family in town started them off with this:


Which then turned into an unexpected trip down Spring Creek near Idaho Springs. (Didn't get any good photos, was too busy trying to not break things)

 

Looks great just got done welding my sliders on today bumper is next where did you buy the arb been on eBay and they got them for something like 879 free shipping

 

I shopped around a bunch on price and ended up getting it from http://www.autoanything.com for $823 shipped. It was listed for $866, but the shipping got delayed a bunch and they tossed me a discount on it.

 

That’s awesome how long did it take to install the bumper

 

Did it in two parts. Took an afternoon to fabricate and install the thicker end caps. Bumper install took around 5 hours. Longest parts were reclocking the winch (end up trying a few different setups), drilling for the mounting bolts and the fussing it took to try and get the bumper square and level.

 

Pretty nice build for not being very interested in off-roading haha

 

I may have come around slightly, haha.

 

Nice I contacted autoanything.com this morning and just asked if they could give me a deal on the bumper they gave me a discount code it’s now 858.36 with free shipping! But did they tax it ?

 

Prices I gave you was the total I paid.

 

Nice did it take long to ship was thinking about ordering tonight after work

 

I nearly a month, but a lot of that was an extra delay due to inventory shortage.

 

Damn

 

Now that I'd gotten the truck to a state where I felt I could confidently travel solo, planned a trip around western CO over 4th of July weekend. Only request I had from the crew was that black canyon be on the list.

I put together the following itinerary.

Saturday:
Depart Denver for Black Canyon
Try and pull a hiking permit and hike
Drive to Crystal Mill
Camp in the area


Sunday:
Drive Marble to Aspen
Drive to the top of Aspen mountain
Lunch at restaurant
Raft slaughterhouse falls

Monday:
Drive as high as possible on the trail to Castle
Hike Castle
Enjoy Aspen

Tuesday:
Drive back to Denver


Saturday:
Made it to Black Canyon and did pull a permit, albeit for the hardest trail. Unfortunately, had some people who didn't fee confident, and had to turn around well shy of the bottom.


We bailed, hiked back up, and reloaded the truck for the drive to Marble. Made really good time, and made it to Crystal Mill around 18:45.



Super pretty spot, even if we only had a hour to enjoy it before sunset. Hurried and snagged a camping spot right in the area and settled in for the night. Next day we enjoyed breakfast with a curious visitor.

We then got on the road and drove over lead king basin. This area is one the prettiest locations I've been to in the state, my photos don't do it any justice.



The original plan had been to drive over the mountains, but many passes were still snowed over, so we went the long way around. Got into Aspen and found a nice FJ40 on the way to lunch.


Stayed in Aspen that night. Next morning, drove to Castle creek trailhead and made our way as far up as possible (was the highest vehicle at that point) then started hiking.






Had some more hiking group related issues, so turned around prior to the summit. On the way back down, found an F150 that was high centered on a pile of avi debris consisting of trees and snow. Since they'd been there over an hour and had no recovery gear they were pretty grateful we'd come along. Unfortunately, don't have photos of the recovery, but pulled them off in short order with winch, snatch block and chocked tires.

Since we had some time to kill, drove to the top of Aspen (since we didn't have time the day before). Not a challenge drive, but pretty entertaining and much better than paying $20 for the gondola.


Leaned quite a bit on this trip:

• I tend to try and cram too much into a trip
• I don't like Black Canyon
• The high passes aren't open in early July
• I didn't like my girlfriend anymore

All in all a good learning experience which would serve me well later in the summer.

 

Had a friend moving from CO to the pacific NW, which sounded like as good an excuse as any to take a road trip. Ended up with 3 trucks, a week or so and SW CO as a destination.

Talked my college roommate into flying out, collected another friend,and we hit the road Friday morning. We opted for a scenic route to Ouray over Hancock and Tomichi pass. Unfortunately we were in a hurry and the weather didn't cooperate, so no photos, but enjoyed visiting the Hancock townsite. Made it into Ouray that evening and met the 3rd truck, grabbed dinner and enjoyed scotch and hot springs.

The next day was dedicated to the alpine loop. We decided on take Mineral Creek to Engineer Pass, grab lunch in lake city then head back via Hurricane Pass and camp in the Red Mountain mining area. Again the day was plagued by the same poor weather which really hindered the views we were expecting.

The convoy and some ruins


Majestic views


Galena Mining District

Things started to clear up by the end of the day, and we were eventually rewarded with some pretty awesome views and some cool areas.


Getting clearer


Clearest spot

Was a fun drive, but felt a little cheated on the views. Made it back on the Ouray side, set up camp and got into the scotch again.


Plan for Sunday was Black Bear and Imogene pass. Woke up pretty happy with the weather and the view we had from camp.


After a short drive down 550, took the turnoff for Black Bear. Felt the pass was pretty uneventful until we reached the top, then wow, what a view.


At that point, we caught up with a convoy of land cruisers, one of which had slashed a tire. Lent them some socket adapters, and they were quickly on the way again.


Once we made it around the bend, could finally see down into Telluride.


Along the downhill, a friend chose a less than ideal line and did some 3 wheeling.


Lots of traffic and waiting on the switchbacks


Enjoyed my lack of width on some of the switchbacks, but was cursing the wheelbase


Lunched in Teulluride and did some shopping, then parted ways with the red truck so they could continue to Moab and then Oregon. The rest of us jumped on Imogene pass so we could get ready to climb Wetterhorn.

Made good time through Imogene redid Engineer pass and parts of the alpine loop to camp at the Wetterhorn trailhead. Reviewed some route info, then called it an early night.

Our first view of the summit


Saw more Marmot and Pika than any other mountain I've been on.

Scruffiest Marmot


Pika


Knocked out the hiking section, and prepped for the scramble


Summit Pitch


Summit


Made it back to camp after fending off some overly friendly marmots, then got back on the road towards Crested Butte. Made it into town late, grabbed a quick dinner, then drove toward Taylor Pass looking for camping. We tried driving over upper Reno Divide, but got turned around by a large boulder on the trail that we didn't feel comfortable attempting at night. Ended up camping around Italian Creek road.

Next morning, continued over lower Reno Divide, and took the turn towards Taylor Pass.

Driving the creek


Coming out of the creek


Took some careful driving to make it out of the creek successfully, but managed without any damage. We then ran across some duck dynasty types in side by sides that were impressed we 'took those trucks through there' but also expressed concerns at our 'almost flat tires'. Booked it to the Aspen GA terminal as we had someone flying in to join us. I got a kick out of mingling with rental Bentley Convertible jet setting crowd and eating the ginger snaps they had set out, especially since it had been days since my last shower. Hit the road quickly again and camped around 11k feet on the Castle/Conundrum trail.


On Wednesday, got an early start and completed the drive to the upper Castle trailhead.


Had better conditions and a much better crowd than the previous attempt in July, and summited both peaks without too much trouble.


Shitty Elk Range rock


Summit #2


Couldn't hang around too long, as we noticed a storm moving in. Made it back to the summit of Castle before we started getting hit with hail, which significantly increased our slowest member's pace. Thankfully, we made it off without further incident. Drove down Montezuma basin, made an airport dropoff, then decided we'd had enough adventure for a while and headed back to Denver.

Wasn't until weeks later that I found a parting gift my friend had left for me tucked up on the spare tire.


Really enjoyed my time in SW CO, can't recommend this area enough, especially if you can catch the wildflowers in bloom. We had such a good time, we decided to do something like this every year.

 

Did a late season trip in October up to Vail and the surrounding area.

Fullford Cave the 1st day



Hiking to the 10th mountain division hut near slide lake.
Trailhead


Yorkie suitcase


The hut


Decided to do some additional offroading in the afternoon so headed towards red and white mountain.

Tree 1


Tree two and three


Lumberjack Tacoma


Made it past all the downed trees and started making fresh tracks so we could enjoy one of my favorite views.

 

While waiting out mud season, made our way to Pawnee National Grassland.

Buttes and beef



The next weekend, my sister and her BF came into town so she could take a class. While she was in class, we headed up north of Idaho Springs for a little fun.

 

Finally pulled the trigger on some ditch lights. I'd known I'd wanted a bussman system for a while (and had purchased one) but never had gotten around to installing one. Ended up buying all my parts from Waytek with a switch panel and relay holder from paranoid fab.

Lights


Rear of panel


Switch panel


Mounted up


Success!