BigMike’s Big Journey: New 2016 Tacoma

To elaborate more on this, RCLT HD (more info) has been a massive undertaking which has required literally thousands of hours of my time over the last year (for sure over 3,000 hours).

After the last Round-Up, I invested all my work, holidays, and free time from last September to January the 2nd to finish v1.0, and then from late January to the last day of April to finish v2.0. I put in just shy of a month of design work on v3.0 and then broke my ribs

Other than my lead fabricator doing the welding, I have been the only person working on this project. RCLT HD is far more complicated than a typical LT because least of all we have new HD Knuckles (which gave me the ability to engineer all-new suspension geometry), and far more complicated than the rare LT kit with custom knuckles because we have an integrated HD rack and pinion steering system (which gave me the ability to engineer all-new steering geometry).

The level of effort increases exponentially with each item, as not only are all parts designed in unison, but more jigs are required as well as extra specialized jig hardware. For example, I am on v2.2 prototype jigs currently, which I have not discussed because this is part of internal manufacturing.

On top of this, I've been promoting a brand-new Rock Crawling IFS market with unique features such as the combination of angled lower control arms with inset shock mounts and v-groove inner axle clearance with internally gussetted upper control arms both using horizontally-mounted ball joints modified for maximum steering angle with non-welded steering arms on knuckles that are moved forward in compatibility with steering system placement whose sector shaft does not interfere with frame or driver side engine mount.

By far the hardest part about RCLT HD has been making the MarRack a universal installation across multiple applications, the worst being under the stupid Toyota V8 (4th gen 4Runner & GX470). Compared to other companies, this isn't even part of a suspension kit yet it has by far required the most amount of my time. The MarRack is currently at v2.0 and has room for a few improvements, however, I am proud to say that installation is identical, from 4cyl to V8. I rarely use this phrase due to it's gravity, but Thank God that task is behind me.

Oh, I also created the HD LCA Frame Mount and Cam Tab Kit for 6-applications while recovering from broken ribs.

Regards,
BigMike

 

@BigMike what set up you got for the rear end? You probably mentioned it and I missed it can Point me in the right direction on this thread.

 

Pages 46 and 47

 

Thanks man...

 

Hey @BigMike did you ever find a solution to the oil burning issues?
Happened to me recently, I’ve thought about adding a catch can but doesn’t seem like there’s much of a permanent fix.

 

It's like the tire came inside the cab to say "hi"!

 

Mike, I’ve enjoyed ready your journey with your ‘16 Tacoma. Gotta tell you a little story, my dad worked on the Apollo program, from design with Von Braun to being on the launch team for the lunar landings. One of the things he was most impressed with was the crawler. Huge machines that moved very slowly to take the rocket from the Vertical Assembly Building to the launch pad. Every time you talked about your “crawler” it made me think of dad, thanks.

 

Did this ever happen again? Did you figure out what caused it?

 

It can happen to any 3.5l 3rd gen. Happened to me a couple times on lesser angles. Tons of posts about it all over since the 2016's have released.

 

This thread








Is extremely behind on updates








Someone should tell the OP








To update his thread








Soon.

 

I want to update the thread but don't want to go through all the work of doing so. /firstworldproblems



Rubicon last Sept



Last weekend at the Fourwheeler Overland Expo, courtesy of @4runningmutts

 

Someone should also tell him to pick my application for the early release of RCLT



or even better let me come drop off my 1st gen so they can start developing that one

 

Don’t know how I missed all the updates on here... guess I was watching the thread on the Marlin forum closer.

But anyway, this RCLT is looking really awesome. Good job @BigMike !

Did you wind up ever changing front spring rates so the front flex was more evenly matched with the back, as you alluded to earlier? I sure would like to try this out on my second gen! You need a beta tester?

 

Hey guys, I am pretty sure I know the problem to be the fact that the PCV port is at the backend of the driver side valve cover, which get a nice supply of oil at steep angles. My solution has been to install an oil separator but I haven't gotten around to it yet. I assume someone by now has surely tested this??

Wow that is very cool! Thank you for sharing this. I've seen videos transporting to launch pads as well as general component transportation on regular public roads! Very impressive how much mass can be moved

Thank you!!

Yes, so far I've dropped from 600 lbs (what my coilovers came with) to 550 lbs which made an improvement, and I have a pair of 500 lb coils that I'll be trying next.

 

What's up guys and gals! I've been making a lot of progress in 2020 trying to get the Tacoma finished to where I've envisioned it to be. It's now about mid August 2020 and I currently estimate to be only 80% finished with the Tacoma. I've been preparing updates a lil at a time and have many things to post so here comes some updates!

The combination of developing RCLT HD prototypes and breaking my ribs meant I only went wheeling once in 2019 which was the Marlin Crawler Round-Up (September, 2019). My ribs healed well; Took about 6 months until I could sleep on my side. During recovery I began working on four really great new products, two of which are complimentary to RCLT HD. Fast forward to Jan '20 and I had the third & final RCLT HD prototype finished and passed over to our production team which finally gave me quality time to spend on SlowestTacoma.

Resuming major work on SlowestTacoma this past spring kept my mind distracted from the event cancellations, scheduling concerns, and employee & company well being surrounding COVID-19 and it's now high time I get this thread properly updated!

May 12, 2019: Dumb USB power outlet

Last April (2018) I installed a dual USB power outlet with a digital volt display and critiqued how it's voltage reading was off... (reply #904)



So I ordered a replacement from Amazon which resulted in the following:



I reached out to the manufacture and all they did was send me a refund and told me to keep both defective parts. Gee thanks.

 

May 25 & 28, 2019: Largest Haul of my life

This is a bit off-topic, but I did the largest haul of both the Tacoma and my life, and wanted to share

It all started earlier this spring where my wife and I decided to kill off our front lawn and resod the whole thing. So two weeks ago I rented a sod cutter for my first time and gave it a go



It wasn't too difficult to use. Set it to 2-inches and pilled all the soil in front of our home.



The dirt pile measured approximately 18' x 7'

 

Then this past weekend we finished half the project by hauling away the old soil, and while I'm not particularly proud of this accomplishment, it was quite the experience!

I originally planned to hire someone from Craigslist to come haul off the load, but the cheapest quote I could find was $550... I knew this would be a lot of work but figured with help I could do it and it wouldn't be too bad since we have a compost dump only ~3 miles from my house. I called up my best friend who came over and we began shoveling.

Since the time we removed the soil, it had rained quite a lot so I had the pile covered with a large tarp. When we began shoveling it to our trailer, the dirt was damp and although it didn't seem like "a lot" of dirt, it took us three hours to transfer it all onto the trailer

Check out the other 3rd gens in the background: Cement = neighbor's, White = my best friend's. Both of them purchased due to my recommendation of how cool the new Tacoma is



While loading our 18' car trailer we realized straightaway that this was a lot of weight...

I only had a 2 to 3 mile trip and so long as my rear bumper doesn't fall off I'll be okay (after bobbing [shortening] my bed 6-inches, my rear bumper is only held on my 6 bolts instead of the factory 10).

We spent extra time trying to avoid excessive tongue weight but there wasn't much we could do about it.



It rained again that night so I tarped the trailer and the next day headed off to the dump.

Holy smokes what a load!!

 

I had one of my Marlin Crawler TacoBoxes shifted into Low Range (2.28:1) to enable 2WD Low Range, which made disengaging the clutch much easier. The front end was really unloaded which meant the RCV's all-new Gen.2 CV boot design was going to get a workout. At least having the ability of a Low Range + 2WD (Thank you TacoBox!) meant the front shafts wouldn't be loaded and perhaps the boots could be happier.

The 3.5L had no power issues despite rolling on 40s (with Nitro 5.29:1 R&P). On larger roads I would shift 1st, 2nd, & 3rd before even crossing the intersection. Felt like I was a Big Rig with some huge load haha I only ran it up to 35 MPH in 6th gear and took my time in the slow lane. Brakes felt solid, however, I took advantage of downshifting/compression braking which was greatly amplified from being in low range. Of course I wouldn't have been able to stop in an emergency so I took my time and kept my distance.



My newly installed rear 3-link from Rock Solid Toys (RST) was nearly bottomed out!

 

I make it safely to the nearby dump and pull up on their scale. I find out that they do not assist with off-loading, and that I'd have to manually shovel it off my trailer. This would take sooooo long and beings we have another dump that does offer tractor off-loading, I decided to leave.

The bummer is that this other dump is clear on the other end of the city which would be ~ 20 miles of surface driving + morning rush hour traffic...but I had no choice now, I was committed!!

Before leaving the first dump, of course I asked what my Truck + Trailer weighed... AND ARE YOU READY FOR THIS??

15,160 POUNDS!!!!!!!!!

GOOD LORD!!! That is 7.6-tons or 6,876 kg. INSANE.

So now I was off for nearly a 20-mile trek across town... I took a video only to send to my friend. In hindsight I should have done a better job and actually tried to take good video. But it's better than nothing so here goes. This is in 2WD Single-case Low Range (2WD Low Range is a standard feature of a Marlin Crawler TacoBox):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cbzsXcbXyU

 

Made it safely to our alternative compost dump and got in-line with a bunch of contractors/gardeners



Finally, after 1 hour 36 minutes since leaving my house, I had this insane load ready to be off-loaded