BigMike’s Big Journey: New 2016 Tacoma

I've had the same happen to mine, expect when my line plugged with gear oil the locker wouldn't engage at all. Reasons like these are why I'm simply not a fan of air lockers.

But even with properly functioning lockers, you'll still get trace amount of gear oil lightly spraying out the solenoids each time you disengage, and that's where these 90-degree exhaust vent adapters work great to redirect the air spray down and out of the engine compartment

Marlin installed a regulator on The Crawler Truck and has been running them at 40 PSI for over two decades. He does this to be more stealth: Have a quieter disengagement so that it's harder to notice if and when he uses his lockers

Thank you very much for this. Due to how long and emotional this road has been I'll likely cry the first time I see RCLT HD out in the wild hahah

Then you'll definitely like some more I'll be posting once I get caught up to July 2020

 

Oct 17, 2019: Another nail in my tires

Holy cow I picked up another nail In all the years daily driving my 1981 Rock Crawler to college, work, and countless wheeling events in and out of state, I don't think I ever got a nail in my tires. This is now my second nail in the Tacoma in less than a year

Fortunately this one doesn't seem to be leaking, at least, not yet...

 

Oct 25, 2019: On display at a Fresno Unified School District Fair

The Crawler Truck and SlowestTacoma were invited to deliver cheer hopes and dreams to Fresno city school children at a small fair.

It was pretty cool as we were between PG&E (local gas utility Co.) and our Fresno City Police Department!

"So kids what do you want to be when you grow up: A fire fighter, police man, utility engineer, or ROCK CRAWLER?"

 

Oct 26, 2019: RC4WD West Coast Scale Challenge

The very next day Marlin and I were special guests at the RC4WD West Coast Scale Challenge event at Lake Kaweah near Visalia, CA and it was awesome!

The Crawler Truck was obviously the Rig of the Show because this is the company who came to us a few yrs ago for permission to create a 1/10th scale version of the world-famous Crawler Truck which you can find on our site here:

--> MarlinCrawler.com/rc-cars/110th-scale-rc-crawler-truck <--

Here are a few pics from the Product Page:

 

Oct 26, 2019: RC4WD West Coast Scale Challenge (continued)

So with that in mind, RC4WD definitely wanted the real 1:1 Crawler Truck to be on display and because my Tacoma is a built Rock Crawler yet fully comfortable and capable as a Daily Driver just like The Crawler Truck, why not invite bring it as well!

I used to be big into R/Cs in my 20s and remember machining and making custom scale rock crawling components that now are readily available. The hobby has come a very long ways indeed!

Here we are meeting at a Visalia diner with long-time close family friends AlohaDave and his wife



And the moment we arrived to the Lake campground people began swarming The Crawler Truck! Just check this out!









Always a good time seeing customers and fans taking a seat in the famous rig!

 

Oct 26, 2019: RC4WD West Coast Scale Challenge (continued)

Check out who was also in attendance! Anyone recognize this gentleman?



They had us line up our trucks next to the main booth...



...and setup an interview and autographing table where Marlin spent some quality time meeting a ton of Scaler R/C fans and signed a crap ton of 1:10th Crawler Trucks! They also had Marlin and myself do a few interviews on the PA system which was a lot of fun

 

Oct 26, 2019: RC4WD West Coast Scale Challenge (continued)

And CHECK THIS OUT!!! Just before the day was over, they brought out a 1:10th scale TACOMA for SlowestTacoma! Hahaha I was NOT expecting this and it was REALLY AWESOME of them to do this! This is one of their existing Tacoma scale models which is a 1st gen Tacoma double cab long wheel base version with four corner leaf springs and solid axles front & rear. So now I guess I have to 3D print a 1:10th scale RCLT HD and find a 3rd gen AC body!







Drove back to Fresno late that day and over the final 80 mile stretch I made another 20 MPG on the open road LOVE the 2GR-FKS + manual trans!

 

I just realized I forgot about a "Wrap Up" video RC4WD did of the event, so here it is!

There are a few shots of Marlin and The Crawler Truck from the 1:11 mark, and a shot of me on the microphone at the very end

If you haven't been paying attention to scale radio controlled vehicles then prepared to be amazed!

YouTube direct link: RC4WD West Coast Scale Challenge 2019 Wrap Up (2:58min)
Note: Lower your volume before hitting play

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyaZ9-F8KK4

 

Dec 13, 2019: Thoroughly washed Tacoma for the first time

I had been thinking of getting a pressure washer but our home has surprisingly high water pressure so I figured I'd try a car foaming gun first and went with

$39 Clean Car USA Foam King™ Foam Gun Car Wash Sprayer - Connects to Garden Hose - Ultimate Scratch Free Cleaning - Snow Foam Blaster - Foam Cannon Car Washing Kit

this one on Amazon, and let me tell you, this thing kicks butt! It provides serious kick, even the recoil of the hose back into my hand is very noticeable. It destroys 'Jet' mode of our adjustable spray garden hose nozzle.

I do regularly get car washes but this was my first time ever doing a thorough cleaning of SlowestTacoma

 

Dec 15, 2019: Central Coast Land Cruisers Christmas Party

For the past few years our very good friend Bob has been inviting us to attend the Toyota Land Cruiser Association's Central Coast Land Cruiser Christmas Party and this year I finally made it out!

I took many more pics of some really, really nice Land Cruisers including an imported Diesel-powered 70-series, but here come the ones containing SlowestTacoma

Passing through the beautiful Central California Coastal Range Mountains



Potty break in El Paso de Robles



And SlowestTacoma has returned to one of it's favorite home away from home!



Check out Bob's new project!!





Heading back home! I love nighttime driving



113 miles @ 18.6 MPG, which included going up and over the Mountain Range and the annoying traffic signals of Hwy 41 south of Fresno

 

2019 Wrap Up

And to round the year out, here come misc. 2019 pics from daily driving SlowestTacoma! Sorry if I've already posted some of these

 

2019 Wrap Up (continued)

 

2019 Wrap Up (continued)

SlowestTacoma with local service member Bryan's 2nd gen! Thank you for your service Bryan!







Silly Mall Crawlers

 

2019 Wrap Up (continued)

I'm a simple man. I see another 3rd gen, I park next to it.

 

2019 Wrap Up (continued)

 

2019 Wrap Up (continued)









Hey TLCA! What kind of cheap sticker material are you using??



My pair of ~275-hosepower 6-speed manual Toyotas

 

2019 Wrap Up (continued)

 

2019 Wrap Up (concluded)

 

yeah Mike if you parked next to me, I'd probably want to sell my Tacoma buy a 10 year old manual and stuff 40s under it.

It makes it look so small!

 

Dec 31, 2019: Prototype v2's End Of Life

On New Year's Eve I removed RCLT HD Prototype v2. Thank you very much v2! You served our RCLT HD development extremely well, you won't be forgotten!



Nevertheless, so glad to be done with v2 because prototype v3 will be a hell of a lot better!



And that's it for 2019!