BigMike’s Big Journey: New 2016 Tacoma

March 11 - April 15, 2020: On Board Air System (continued)

And finally something I've been wanting to share with everyone for sometime now: Here is one assembled & mounted to a front shock tower!



This is using a 3/8" swivel elbow, high temp version shown but I also am using lower cost nylon-plastic types elsewhere.

Here it is plumbed & finished!



Driver front



Driver rear



And finally, Passenger rear



Back at the tank I used these pricey but really nice dual 90-degree 3/8 x 3/8 NPT push-fittings on each side, running same-length tubes for the front and rear chucks which is why there are excess tubing wrapped above the tank.

I didn't use the expensive high temp FEP chemical tubing for the entire system, as that was only needed near the compressors. Instead I used this much less expensive Polyethylene 3/8" tubing for everything else. The protective sleeving used through-out the system is 3/8" Alex Tech wire looming. This looming has an impressively high melting temp exceeding even the FEP tubing!

Below shows one of the dual 90-degree fittings visible at left, and the High Temp 3/8 x 1/4 NPT swivel push-fitting at center is the inlet coming from the ARO moisture separator through medium-heat & medium-cost Hard Polypropylene 3/8" tubing.

So the tubing break-down is:

• 400-degree F FEP Chemical Tubing (clear) about 4-foot running out of both compressors,
• 200-degree F Hard Polypropylene Tubing (clear) from there to the moisture separator then air tank, and finally
• 140-degree F Polyethylene Tubing (black) for everything else downstream out of the air tank

All are 3/8" push fit tubing, links provided in previous paragraphs. Finally, the change in tubing type is connected with 200-degree F medium temp brass and 170-degree F lower temp nylon-plastic straight connectors where applicable.

As a fail safe should any line get ripped or something else occur, I carry a couple extra ft of tubing, extra straight couplers to repair sections, and these 3/8" push-to-connect plugs in case I need to plug off a fitting somewhere so I can still have other fittings operational.

 

March 11 - April 15, 2020: On Board Air System (concluded)

And here's what it looks like with all four tires plugged in!!



So all I have to carry are those four short lines and my OBA is complete. Also, I now have air access points at all four corners of the truck, can air up other rigs no matter where around me they are, or could even air up four rigs simultaneously!

For daily driving I keep one of the short yellow air lines under the passenger seat in case I get the opportunity to find someone in the city with a flat



And here come the results!!

Drum roll pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease!



From 5 to 30 PSI in all four 40" tires simultaneously in a grand total of ONLY 7 MINUTES AND 52 SECONDS!

You can see how I connected the driver front tire first and made my way around clockwise. That first tire got most of the blast from the air tank so it finished well ahead, and by the time you're unplugging each tire the last one fills up exponentially quick!

Here are reasons why this result is much faster than the time previously discussed:

• Most importantly, my garage is only 350 feet above sea level which means air compressor performance is much better. At 7,000 ft elevation the 8mins will probably turn into 12 or more, but still that's for all four tires!!
• For this test I filled slightly less: 5-30 PSI in my garage vs 4-33 PSI when I was at 3,500 ft elevation with the portable unit
• I'm now using a 1.75 gal tank instead of the smaller 1 gal unit in the portable, so the initial blast into the first tire is better
• Finally, the inlet fitting of the 19-foot hose ARB supplies only has a 5mm ID, so most of that system is restricted whereas my system is mainly only restricted at each valve stem.

So that's it for getting my first OBA system working. As Marlin said, "Well it's about time!" I couldn't be happier with how everything turned out.

There are a few tweaks I'm aware of that will improve performance a bit more. For example, the idle voltage drops from 13.6v to 12.8v with all three compressors running so I'll be working on a way to idle up slightly to help the alternator get more compressor RPM. I'll be posting progress on that plus a couple other tweaks as I get to them in my 2020 updates

Oh, right before posting this I realized I didn't cover electronics. I'm running CH4X4's Single Compressor Switch to run the single H.O. compressor and their Twin Air Compressor Switch to run the twin compressor. The Single H.O. turns on below 70 and off at 100 PSI, and the Twin 135 off and 150 PSI on.

So when I'm just out wheel'n, I only have the single compressor switch engaged and the air pressure stays between 70 to 100 PSI. Then when I'm nearing the end of the trail I'll turn on the twin to get the tank charged up to 150 PSI prior to airing up. **I've tweaked and improved this configuration since and will be discussing it soon

This is the only "recent" pic I have of the switches that show their current layout of | Rear Locker | Front Locker | Single Comp | Twin Comp |. This is a different layout from when I first installed my custom switch panel back at Reply #866, with the locker switches moved to the far left which feels more natural to use.

I can't show a present-day photo because I have something incredible installed in that lower-left shiny corner (the reason why I even took this pic) that I am dying to post about. I have 8 more topics to get updated and then I'll be sharing something incredible

I still have not installed the Rock Lights



Regards,
BigMike

 

Forgot all about the caps!!

To keep dirt out of the air chucks, I picked up these 1.5" tall vinyl caps and they work great. I also carry a few extras of these with the other spare parts mentioned in case I lose them. I don't have any original pics so here is a pic from the truck just now:



Regards,
BigMike

 

Nice. My wife is also Japanese and I have been to Japan a 10 or so times as well.
My Japanese though is horrible. We have two daughters ( 4 & 7) and they speak Japanese fluently for their ages.

Wife is also from Sasebo in Southern Japan.

 

Dude! That's awesome!! I've driven through Ureshino on my way back to Kumamoto from Nagasaki which is very close to Sasebo. Can't say I remember much from the area but what a small world ^_^ It's crazy how quickly kids pick the language up. When my niece was I think 4 she could already talk better than me haha I suppose they'd say the same about us at 4

I'll ask my wife if she's ever done anything in Sasebo

 

April 24, 2020: Balanced New Tires

The next week I decided to get the new shoes balanced. They hadn't felt as smooth as the outgoing ones, or, maybe I had become complacent.. The moment I realized something was amiss was when I carried about an 800 pound load of metal across town. The return drive on the highway was instantly smooth!

So I had them balanced and... well.. I can't tell a difference? A little better maybe? Bent rear axle? No leaks from the rear end and the truck rolls very smooth at surface road speeds. I've had a project planned for the rear end so I'll check out the axles and wheelbearings when I've got them torn apart again.

Anyway, looking at the number of weights the shop installed the tires definitely needed this. That, or, the shop didn't do a good job? That's possible. For the first 15,000 miles or so of my first set of 40s I never even balanced them, they felt great the moment I put them on. Has Cooped lowered QC since these tires have become popular? I'll know if my fuel mileage increases if the balancing worked or not.

Lastly, I should plan to rotate the tires which would also tell me more about the situation







Not saying these aren't a lot of weights, but it may look worse for those living outside California as lead weights became banned here some years ago, replaced with Iron that requires about a third more for the same affect.

 

June 6, 2020: Installed Cab Air Pressure Gauge

About a month later I finally installed an OBA air pressure gauge. I spent extra time trying to hunt down a white faced 40mm 0-160psi gauge that had an LED backlight and finally gave up, settling on this el cheapo gauge from Amazon. I've always liked white face gauges plus its color-keyed with the truck. (I'm also one of those weirdos who writes code without using dark mode ) I wanted the small 40mm (~1.5") formfactor to keep it out of the way.

After a lot of deliberation I decided to place the gauge to the center console, forward-left of the shifter



The install went smooth. The gauge has a center rear 1/8" NPT male output so I drilled an undersized hole and force-threaded the taperd NPT in, continuing to rotate until it became both firm and the gauge was upright.



Happened to bottom out onto the console nicely. It is very stiff and held firmly in place.



Here is the backside detail. Before installing I Dremel'd space for a Female 1/4" tube X 1/8" NPT push-fit fitting.



Here is that fitting installed with teflon tape and verifying it's sealed with soapy water.



Look'n good!

 

June 6, 2020: Installed Cab Air Pressure Gauge (concluded)

Here is detail of the routing. Used the same looming as before, this time their

$14 Alex Tech 25ft - 1/4" Cord Protector Wire Loom Tubing Cable Sleeve Split Sleeving For USB Cable Power Cord Audio Video Cable – Protect Cat From Chewing Cords - Black

1/4" version and flexible 1/4" push-fit Polyurethane tubing.

Once the console is reinstalled the angle of the tube is greatly reduced from what you see here.



Routed up high over the top of the steering column and through the main driver side firewall hole



Once in the engine compartment it was a simple path to the driver front shock tower, premeditated in advance using a 3/8" main line X 1/4" Tee push-fitting tapped into the OBA. There's probably some delay and/or % error between here and the tank, especially if that chuck is in use, but no problem for the intended purpose.



All done! This turned out really well. The gauge is nice & small and out of the way from everything. My leg doesn't touch it nor obstruct the view, and the gauge doesn't get in the way of moving items to the storage tray area. The only bummer is no backlight, but I have good cabin LED lights that illuminate the gauge just fine if needed



The Max Compressors are designed to shut off at 150 PSI and it looks great from here!



And that's it!

 

June 12, 2020: Longer Lower Coilover Eyelets

The following week I was on to Step 3

Front end suspension tuning progress
Step 1 of 4: Softer rate coils, completed
Step 2 of 4: Body & bumper tire clearancing, completed
Step 3 of 4: Longer Lower Coilover Eyelets

Quick background: RCLT HD V1 prototype had uptravel limitations which I resolved in V2. V2 had downtravel limitations which I resolved in V3. Now that I'm running V3, back in April while flexing with the forklift I discovered my limit straps could be lengthened, but if you noticed in some of the above pictures (ie. Reply #1,121) I had ran out of adjustment at my upper strap clevis mounts so it was time for longer straps.

With longer straps fitted I found out I had reached the full extension of my Radflos! So I could either add a shock tower spacer, which is goofy, or extend the lower eyelets. The original eyelets measured 2.50" long and are much shorter than the ones on my old Fox coilovers. I really like Radflo's design of a shorter eyelet with longer coil, in my case, 18".

Removing original Radflo eyelets. Man those suckas were on there!



I found out that Radflo only offers eyelets in 1" increments -- which equates to a ton of suspension movement at the hub -- so I spent some time working with them to get just +0.50" longer eyelets made...but in the end they wouldn't do it so I settled on a pair of 3.50".

As expected one-inch longer made a huge difference: Just fitting the coilover positioned the LCA so far down you'd need to drop the front diff like 3" to get the CV angle to jive. So my coilovers are now definitely too long and discovering if I already had a spare 1" of remaining shaft compression to begin with, unlikely, remained to be seen.

New one-inch longer 3.5" lower eyelet at left, original 2.5" on right



I guestimated how much spring tension to remove and started with 0.30-inch. This ended up not being anywhere near enough so I had to remove & pull both coilovers apart and removed another 0.80-inch on the second go-around for a combined total of 1.1-inch less coil compression which ended up being about right. I studied forces in college including Hooke's law. I was surprised how much coil tension had to be removed -- the compounding angle change of the LCA makes a big difference. It was good news: It improves Step 1 of 4!!



Before the second reassembly I measured the Radflo shaft bumpstops and was happy to see they're nearly the same length lost by the new eyelets! (Side note: They are made from an incredibly high durometer material)

Ahhh phooey, off they came without hesitation! This is a Rock Crawler and I'd love to retain the original uptravel



Finally back together with longer straps, adjustment remaining at my clevises, and slightly more downtravel! (My RCV shafts were reinstalled before I finished; I was measuring clearance of factory outers in this pic)

 

June 16, 2020: Fork Lift Flex

With Step 3 of 4 completed it was time for some

Got your answer @Team_Jake! This is per each front tire:

Uptravel from ride height: 10.5"
Downtravel from ride height: 4"
Total front end travel: 14.5"

Not too shabby for only a +2.75" LT setup

This is why we are stating our "industry-first +2.75" kit "out-flexes & out-performs wider +3.50 kits."

Flex like a wider desert race kit but in a more narrow package that won't get you jammed and screwed up in tight technical trails.





The uptravel is a 1/2" improvement from before, despite having the longer eyelets. Removing that shaft stop and less coil compression work'n their magic!!



The coils are very close to but not quite full bind yet and I can't see how much stroke length is remaining. So either it's already fully bottomed out as shown or my fenders are gonna get one hell of a massage next trip. I don't have plans to install the Air Bump yet so we'll have to find out!





As you can see from above I only have 4" of downtravel, so my final step, Step 4, will be improving this but it won't be for a while. If I had smaller tires I'd lower the ride height a bit. With things coming along nicely on the front I began second-guessing the rear setup...

The coilovers are 12s and if you recall from the last pic of Reply #925, I lowered the axle mounts to gain (a lot) more up travel as shown in the animated GIF image of Reply #990.

The thing is, the mounts are now at the axle centerline and could drop another 2 inches without altering ground clearance. This would then allow me to fit 14" shocks without any change to uptravel for a net gain of +2" drop.

I still advocate for up-travel being more important than down-travel, but my rear up-travel is already maxed by the bed which I don't want to cut (very happy with the body line) so if there is an easy way to get more down-travel that doesn't alter up-travel then whynot?
Might be something to look into in a year or so.

Regards,
BigMike

 

June 17, 2020: New Improved Silicone Boot!

While my truck was still in the shop I _finally_ got one of RCV's new Heavy Duty thick-walled Silicone boots installed!!

Myself plus many other RCV customers have been waiting for this for a long time!

Quick recap with RCV and their outer CV boot issues:

• RCV comes out with their Patented "Spherical Sealing Technology" boots for Dana 60 CV joints providing greater resistance to punctures and tears than rubber CV boots
  • These innovative design extends over/engulfs the CV bell leveraging suction effects to maintain a seal without the need of clamps
• RCV tries unsuccessfully for a long time to get this technology to work with their Ultimate IFS Shafts which use their same Dana 60 outer joint design
• RCV gives up on their patented boots and as an interim solution supplies ordinary rubber boots with their IFS shafts
• RCV finally releases their own IFS boots made from much thicker walled and more durable Silicone material!

Kudos to RCV! I am excited to finally have a durable CV boot option! I think I've had four of their rubber boots fail and cleaning up all that moly CV grease has been annoying. Hoping that can finally be a thing of the past now!



Woohoooo!! Let's go baby! New Heavy Duty boots!

 

June 19-21, 2020: Final Prototype's First Test, and first time taking the Tacoma to Coyote Lake

We have what I believe to be the best network of destination off-road trails in all of California, with 14 trails within an hour and a half drive from our building. Thirteen trails are over 7,500 ft elevation, 11 trails have lakes (one trail itself has 8!!), and many were established over 50 yrs ago.

Despite all this, since having my own rigs I'm rarely found on local trails and always complain how I need to wheel local more often. So when the opportunity came to take the Tacoma to Coyote I jumped, especially as many events were cancelled due to C19.

I was invited to join a group of long time wheel'n friends who had already been camping up at Coyote Lake since the previous weekend. This is a group of locals who each year spend back-to-back weekends vacationing at Thompson Lake on the Dusy/Ershim trail. This year with everyone having cabin fever from strict California lock-downs, the group decided to get out before Dusy opened and picked Coyote Lake.

Quick desc. of Coyote:
I'd argue this is our 3rd most difficult trail and as an extra bonus is only accessed after first completing our Red Lake trail. Both trails combined is just over 4 miles. Coyote is nice and quiet because 1) most people will turn around at Red Lake and 2) the hardest part of Coyote is the gate-keeper at Red which prevents yahoos in Ford Rangers and Nissan Pathfinders from getting in.

Nice trail write-ups and info from TrailsOffroad:
Red Lake: https://www.trailsoffroad.com/trails/1185-26e212-red-lake-trail (rated Difficult)
Coyote Lake: https://www.trailsoffroad.com/trails/1184-26e213-coyote-lake-trail (rated Difficult to Severe)

Topping off before leaving Fresno



Last minute grocery shopping up in foothills



This is the Hwy168 turn-off near Huntington Lake and I took the photo because it was the furthest the Tacoma had ever gone up the highway. I've had this truck for 4 yrs... Unacceptable!!



Pulled off to air down a bit before jam'n the fireroad into the Sand Flats.



Final Prototype ready for it's first shake down!

 

June 19-21, 2020: Final Prototype's First Test (continued)

This was around noon on a Friday and there was no one out here





Made it to the Sand Flats in incredibly short order because this truck STRAIGHT UP RIPS IT ON FIREROADS!! It feels like my MR2 transformed into a Rally car. High RPM powerband + 6spd manual like my MR2, and 0-40 MPH in 2WD stock low range is an absolute blast rolling through the gears! I need to take video of how surprisingly quick this truck is on dirt roads!

 

June 19-21, 2020: Final Prototype's First Test (continued)

I remember the first time here in my 1981 I stopped on this same rock to inspect flex so I had to do the same with the Tacoma

 

June 19-21, 2020: Final Prototype's First Test (continued)

This rock is about halfway through the trail and I still hadn't seen another vehicle.

I can crest this if I'm a truck-width over to the passenger side, otherwise only short wheelbase rigs can breakover this one







It was too good a position to not do an impromptu video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEry4P6KH4M

I thought I would take many more pics and videos but ended up just kicking back and enjoying the relaxing solo day on the trail.

 

June 19-21, 2020: Final Prototype's First Test (continued)

This is a fun uphill rock squeeze that high centers a lot of rigs.... including the 130-inch wheelbase Tacoma



Red Lake was absolutely empty!



Cruised through Red campground and proceeded towards the Coyote Gate Keeper. This was my first time attempting the Gate Keeper without anyone around and the Tacoma went straight up it without any struggles.

About half way up the trail turns to the left at a large tree. There is a very difficult line on the far left, a medium-difficultly line up the center, and a much easier line to the far right around the tree. I took the middle line which involves climbing over a large boulder with loose sand and rocks while making a sharp up-hill left turn to clear the tree. The front suspension loaded a lot and the Tacoma crawled right up it like a champ. These 40s hook up well at 4 PSI. Man this truck works good!

 

June 19-21, 2020: Final Prototype's First Test (continued)

Not too far after the Gate Keeper there is one section on Coyote that concerned me which is a tight rock squeeze that larger rigs struggle through. I wasn't sure what I was gonna do. I knew I had my Farm Jack and I knew I could stack rocks, but with careful tire placement I was able to squeeze through with room to spare on both sides. I definitely went slow and took my time here





Later down the trail I got a chance to inspect rear tire clearance



Looks like I should lengthen the rear links a bit



This is the same stop looking down at the truck. Even through I've reduced both front spring rate and spring compression, I'm still seeing areas where the rear is fully stuffed yet the front isn't. It's hard to complain about it here since the front is unloaded facing uphill, but it's hard not to wonder if the 50 lb-ft spring rate drop I just did was enough, or should I have dropped 100 lb-ft...

 

June 19-21, 2020: Final Prototype's First Test (continued)

Made it safely to camp! I only saw ONE other rig on both the entire Red and Coyote Lake trails!! It was so peaceful and quiet... I cannot remember the last time I got to relax this much out on a trail. Plus the Tacoma has a radio (can you believe it?!) so I was enjoying slow bluegrass music. It was very refreshing. Very relaxing. I love the outdoors. I need to do these simple trails more often.



Eating breakfast Saturday morning. This is the second campground from the end of the trail, remote and peaceful.



Immediately behind where I am standing in the above photo is Coyote Lake! Coyote is about three times larger than Red and the elevation is 9,000 ft. Fishing is good here early each season. Fishing in the Sierras is limited to 5 fish per person and requires a new $50(!) license annually

 

June 19-21, 2020: Final Prototype's First Test (continued)

While I was taking the above photos there was talk of a shopping list going around for some of the people who had been there the whole week and needed resupplies. Butch, who is a club member with a Jeep YJ and one of Marlin's closest local friends, volunteered to take his YJ out both trails and back to Shaver Lake City. Knowing I'd be much quicker than his leaf sprung Jeep, I interjected offering to take him in the Tacoma which he was happy to hear since he wouldn't have to do any of the work and I was happy because I'd get to run both trails again


I straight-up biltzkrieged both Coyote and Red without stopping all the way to the Sand Flats in just over an hr! That was some of the quickest off-roading I've done in the Tacoma. This truck is surprisingly smooth over rocks at speed




..





But, guys, check this out...




...

This happened dropping down the Gate Keeper on our way back through Red Lake. I was definitely going too fast and while being articulated down the center line and turning into the corner hard-right the inside passenger front tire flexed all the way into the fender!!




I also briefly flexed the driver front tire into it's fender but it wasn't nearly as bad. When this one happened it sounded worse and I was thinking the fender had been blown up. Was relieved to see it wasn't that bad.

I am so excited to have so much flex but hot dang this sucked haha I've been running big trails and have zero body damage! I don't want to call this body damage! This wasn't driver error, it was self-inflicted! What do you guys think?? haha

I'm sure the metal of the passenger side fender has stretched so it'll need to be replaced entirely. I've needed to add supports to the fenders since all I ever did was just trim them. At least now I have a reason to redo them with extra clearance and get some bar stock welded along the leading edge so this won't happen again!

 

June 19-21, 2020: Final Prototype's First Test (continued)

From there I aired up slightly and jammed back out to the pavement. Butch was blown away at how fast the Tacoma is on the open dirt road, saying my speed was double what his Jeep could manage. Back at the highway I aired up all the way and drove back down to Shaver Lake. The new OBA system work'n PERFECTLY! Butch was also impressed by how convenient it was to air up all tires at the same time.

In town we checked off the shopping list and turned around, drove back up the hill and fireroad, aired down for Rock Crawling, and returned back in through to Coyote. It was my first time ever spending this much one-on-one time with Butch which was awesome and we got to chat a lot. As a result I didn't take a single photo!

Back at camp in one piece and parked next to the Crawler Truck. With issues from V2 Prototype out of the way I'm starting to learn details of wheeling with RCLT HD, actually getting able to focus on performance instead of worrying about issues and stopping to take measurements and collect data. (Note from the future: I'll be discussing wheeling with RCLT HD in detail during my next trip report.)





Camping next to the lake



Sunday morning. Beautiful.



This is my profile photo on my Garmin Connect account