AdventureTaco - turbodb's build and adventures

It's difficult to go wrong with a particular manufacturer for full frame mirrorless at the moment. Canon, Nikon and Sony all have excellent offerings. All have sensors that perform nearly identically as far as image quality goes. Really its down to the specifics of what's important to you as far as features go combined with are there any native lenses you consider important enough to steer you to one mount or another.

Any of the three will support adapters for your Hexanon lenses. One of the nice things about mirrorless FF is that you can adapt just about any old manual focus/manual aperture lenses to them as the lens mount flange is so close to the sensor. You can even mount rangefinder lenses on most as well.

Probably the main thing to pay attention to if you are looking to use your Hexanon lenses is how well a particular camera user interface supports using manual focus aides easily on "dumb lenses" with no electronics. Manual focus on mirrorless can be amazingly easy and accurate - assuming the camera doesn't get in your way. The two common aides are a magnified live view and focus peaking and some folks prefer one or the other depending on the task at hand. A lot of street and people photographers like focus peaking because it can be very fast to use and potentially track with and left on continuously if it doesn't distract you too much from evaluating a composition. Landscape and studio folks often prefer magnified live view because it is extremely accurate. Which you prefer and which camera makes it easiest to use is worth doing some homework on.

On my Z7 for instance you can program any of a number of buttons for a single press for either 50%, 100% or 200% magnified live view which makes manual focusing with zoomed live view super easy (and when combined with IBIS is a delight for precise manual focus). In comparison some of my older mirrorless cameras (Olympus and Panasonic) required multiple button presses that were awkward to get to a magnified live view which made manual focusing much more annoying than it needed to be. For focus peaking (this is where the camera highlights the sharpest edges in the scene in a bright color) on my Z7 this can be assigned to a button but as it is an adjustable setting (from OFF to three different levels of sensitivity) it requires hitting the button and then twirling a control dial. This can all be done with a single hand with the camera still held to the eye but it is more awkward than the single press for magnified live view. It might have been smoother if they had made the button just toggle between OFF and the last focus peaking sensitivity setting.

For a system that has been around as long as Sony pay particular attention to what exactly the specific model you are getting does or doesn't do. Some folks really like to complain about the Sony user interface but they have been changing and improving it with each new model and they've had a lot of models of course so there is no universal answer as to if Sony is good at something or not - it really depends on the exact model.

Right now all three offer a good stable of lenses but Sony being around the longest has the largest selection of both Sony and third party autofocus lenses to choose from by far. Nikon and Canon are both relatively new to the scene in comparison and are filling out their lens line-ups each with their own particular emphasis but both also offer perfectly functional adapters to use their SLR lenses with autofocus. Nikon has done a great job making some very compact, light weight but excellent quality zooms great for landscape and travel (14-30/4, 24-70/4 and 24-200/4-6.3) but so far as little to offer on the telephoto side of things beyond a 70-200/2.8 with teleconverters though there are the usual suspects on their roadmap. They've finally completed their F/2.8 trinity as well. Nikon has taken a different tack on the primes side producing a line of primes that are "just" F/1.8 and "big for a F/1.8" but also absolutely stunningly good quality wise that are razor sharp right from F/1.8 but leaving folks waiting for any sort of compact or pancake primes (they have two on their road map). Canon has made two really nice collapsing designs for the 70-200 F/4 and F/2.8 that are unique well suited to the mirrorless ethic and unlike Nikon has produced some lower cost and lower IQ primes to choose from. So far Canon doesn't have a F/4 ultrawide angle zoom (just a larger and very pricey F/2.8) but it is just a matter of time until they do.

And the price competition is fairly insane. Both Canon and Nikon offer FF bodies new right about at $1000 and of course Sony has many of their older models still available on the market at these low price points not to mention a very well stocked used market because they've been at it so long.

The number of good choices is almost overwhelming at this point.

 

I generally run ~16-18psi on dirt and 40 on pavement. The gauge is just sitting on the rear tire. I don't recall if it was @DVexile or @Crom, but I stole my fill-up mod from them, so I don't have to squat down the whole time I'm filling up the tire.

story: ARB Tire Inflator Gauge Old-Guy Mod

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ok..get the gage location now. just bought myself a new ARB gage with good valve clamp. previous lever action Vi-air had to be held on valve stem otherwise...blows off..extension looks good.

 

Another great DV report. Very sad to hear the monument sign is gone. I guess I could say that I hope the park service removed it rather than selfish humans. I'd prefer it had been left in place.

 

Finally ordered one of these Exped MegaMat Duo 10 LW+. I was wondering what type of fitted sheet you use on the mattress? I won't be putting it in a RTT, most just ground tent camping and maybe in the back of the truck. Your review was one of the reasons why I decided to get one. Just seems like it will last a long time and be super comfortable. Also easier than bringing an air mattress.

 

Rig Review: Death Valley x2 - What worked and what didn't?
December 1, 2020.

There've been a few tweaks to the truck, and two trips to Death Valley since the last rig review, so it's a good time to take stock of how things are going. First, in case you missed the trips, check out:

• Retracing Panamint Valley's Nadeau Trail
• Death Valley Loose Ends

My Headlights are Too Dim (partially resolved, but not totally)
TL;DR - the headlights are better, but I still have work to do to make them work well in inclement weather.

I tweaked the headlights in several ways after returning from The 3C Trip - I replaced the headlight bulbs with LEDs, upgraded the Hella 700s with HIDs, and fixed the interaction between the Hellas and DRLs when the hi-beams are switched on and off (see HIDs and LEDs - Finally, I Can See Again! and *Fixing* My First Mod - Really Disabling the Daytime Running Lights). I'm very happy with two aspects of this work: first, the HID upgrade for the Hella's. The light output from them now is simply amazing - it's like running in daylight (ok, not really, but it is SO bright). Second, the DRL/Hi/Low/Hella interaction is now perfect - the Hellas come on when the hi-beams are on, and are off at all other times.

What I'm not so happy with are the new LEDs, and that deserves a bit more explanation - because it's not for the reason I thought it would be. My review of the BEAMTECH H4 LED Headlight (9003 Hi/Lo) is actually a mixed bag. In good weather, they actually seemed quite nice - significantly better than I'd expected after I'd seen the bright white light they emitted when I'd first turned them on in the garage. In fact, after about 8 hours of night driving on the first trip down to Death Valley, I was pretty sure I was going to keep the LEDs.

• While the light is a little white for me, their brightness is so much better than the stock bulbs that I actually REALLY liked them when we were driving for hours and hours at night and the weather was good.
• The cut-off seems really good. I never got flashed by oncoming traffic when the low-beams were on. Even with the cut-off shield, I was worried about whether it would work, and I'm really glad that it seemed to work well.
• The hi-beams seemed just OK. This surprised me bit - they were not dramatically brighter than the lows (though perhaps this indicates how good the lows are).

On the way back from Death Valley, we hit bad weather - snow. Heavy snow. Even though they didn't perform as well as they had in good weather, this wasn't enough to change my mind on the LEDs.

• The low-beams were darn good in snow, even the heavy snow. I didn't get too much glare and yet still got enough light to see well. We ran this way for nearly 12 hours on the way home - essentially from Bishop, CA to Eugene, OR.
• The hi-beams on the other hand were terrible. The light scatter with them on made the snow blinding - I literally couldn't see more than about 10 feet in front of the truck. Part of this was due to beam pattern, but a big part of it was due to light color. A yellower would be a lot better in this situation.

So, overall I was quite happy with them from a light performance perspective - happier than I thought I'd be, even with the poor weather, hi-beam situation. After all, I knew that I wouldn't be able to use the Hellas in the snow, and hi-beams seem somewhat similar.

But then - something I totally didn't expect. I noticed on the way home that when the headlights - low- or hi-beams - are on, my ham radio "busy" indicator is always on. Like full on. On both channels. So, the ham thinks that it's receiving a transmission all the time. So, the RFI the headlights put out is terrible. I don't think they are shielded at all. And, they are on a completely separate electrical system (air gapped) than my radio, so there's nothing I can do to fix it. ...And for that reason, I'm going to at least try some other non-LED bulbs.

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ADS 2.5" Coilovers - Need Limit Straps (resolved)
TL;DR - why didn't I install limit straps earlier. These things make the suspension so much more enjoyable.

After the trip to Colorado, I installed some Kartek limit straps, to protect my shock towers from the enormous changes in force I knew they were experiencing when my suspension fully unloaded over certain types of terrain. The difference on the trail was more dramatic than I could have imagined - this is perhaps my most favorite suspension upgrade of all time. It used to be that over whoops, or dropping down from large rocks/shelves, I would hear the front suspension unload, the coilover fully extending and a "clunk" as the control arm movement was limited by the length of the shock. Because I knew this wasn't good for the shock tower, I would frequently find myself slowing down significantly over terrain that I knew would cause this behavior. Even then, I'd still get a handful of "clunks" a day, and I'd cringe every time.

With the limit straps, that problem is gone. No more clunking, ever. Because the limit straps are transferring the force to the frame, rather than the coilover transferring it to the shock tower. So that's a great thing.

Or is it? On our trips down to Death Valley, I found that I was able to travel much faster than "normal," because I was no longer worried about the front suspension. But, I'll need to be careful - that faster travel will move stress to other parts of the truck, and that could mean cracking of other components. Damn you limit straps!

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Relentless Skid Plate Attachment
TL;DR - The middle two mounts on the mid skid broke off again. I need to come up with a new way to secure the mid-skid at the crossmember.

Back when we ran the Whipsaw Trail, I had some issues with the Relentless skids, which I addressed in the Rig Review. Two of those issues have been resolved for some time - the front mounts were re-drilled and tapped, and I added rivnuts to the rear-most mounts for the mid-skid to keep the bolts from ripping out of the thin frame. But the third issue - that the crossmember mounts keep shearing off - is the one that is still a problem. I've welded those mounts back onto the skid three times now, and over the last few trips, they ripped off again.

Time to find a different mounting strategy - perhaps some bolts that go up through the crossmember. Ultimate design TBD.

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Front ADS Coilover Spherical Bearings (again)
TL;DR - The spherical bearings were completely shot again. And, it happened after only 10,000 miles this time.

I've replaced the spherical bearings several times now, so I'm getting good at it. This time, though they lasted 4 months and 5 trips, they lasted only 10,000 miles. I'd taken a different approach than with previous sets, not directly pressure washing these, but it doesn't seem to have made much of a difference.

I've already replaced the bearings, but I've also ordered some stainless steel versions. Obviously I won't get to test those for a few more months, but hopefully after this next set wears out, I'll end up with a set that last much longer.

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Seemingly solved from previous Rig Reviews

1. ADS 2.5" Coilovers - Need Limit Straps - resolved as noted above.

Unchanged / Still an issue from previous Rig Reviews

There are some things that have been featured in Rig Reviews that are - as yet - unchanged from when I originally reviewed them. Rather than highlight those things again, I'll simply link to them here.

1. My Headlights are Too Dim - this is partially resolved in that my headlights are brighter now, but the interference with the ham radio means I'm not done yet.
2. Oil Leaking from Transfer Case - I haven't done anything about this yet, though I seem to be getting less leakage.
3. The Windshield Has Seen Better Days - I plan to wait until summer to fix this, just so winter rocks, sand, etc. don't immediately destroy the new one.

 

Yeah, it was a bummer; that was a cool sign. I can't imagine that some selfish human would have removed it (after all these years), but I guess anything is possible. I wondered if increased visitation this year, the Park Service wanted to remove "incorrect" signage, so that people couldn't make an argument that they "weren't in the park" if they were doing something "wrong."

You'll love it. I know Exped makes a fitted sheet, but it's $65. I made my own by:

1. Grabbed an old flannel flat sheet and laid it on the floor.
2. Put the Exped, centered, on top of it.
3. Folded the sheet around "head" half of the Exped and pinned it. Slid the Exped out the "feet" half, and sewed the folds for the "head" end.
4. Repeated the pinning and sewing for the "feet" end.

It's not perfect but worked well enough for me, for the cost of an old sheet and an hour of time.

Also, if you're going to be in sleeping bags, I wouldn't do a sheet at all. I only use a sheet because we sleep under comforters, directly on the mattress.

 

I read reviews of the sheet and they are pretty bad. I actually ended up finding a good deal on a Kelty Tru.Comfort Doublewide bag, so I think I found my solution already.
Thanks for the input!

 

Have you thought about a choke for the headlights? Maybe move the antenna farther away?

 

RFI is a bear to track down for sure, but it probably isn’t the LED module itself that is radiating. Most likely it is the wiring running to the headlights that is radiating. Those modules are going to have switched mode power converters in them that can put lots of switching current onto the cables back to the battery. Filters/chokes at the headlights might make a huge difference. If you’ve got a handheld receiver that can do AM at VHF/UHF you can use stubby antenna as an effective RFI probe to confirm and trace what is radiating.

 

...speaking of signs...i was realizing the reality that Crankshaft got a new sign!

totally bitch’n..i could not read the old sign

 

speaking in tongues about signs...dredged up the previously extant version

 

So... this was my first thought as well, and I had several ferrite chokes around from the last time I ran into RFI with my Blue Sea USB charger, so I gave them a shot. Unfortunately, they didn't help much (well, at all that I could tell).

...and of course, you may have noted that the Rig Review was from December 1. I know it's a long time ago, but I've had a backlog of posts to get published, and there was no way to publish this one before the trips it covered. Anyway... tomorrow's post will reveal my solution, one that I'm quite happy with!

Hey, that's cool! I'd heard of crankshaft junction, but never really knew where it was until I happened to drive past it on my way to Eureka Valley in early 2020 - on the same trip where I met @DVexile for a wonderful hike. Nice to see it getting a bit of love.

 

Out with the LEDs, Back to Halogen Headlights

If you've been following along for the last couple of months, you'll know that after 18 years of running my original halogen headlight bulbs, I finally had enough of running blind at night and replaced them with some LEDs - allowing me to see again!

Now, after a mere 6 weeks - and really, within two weeks of the switch - I'm changing it up again.

I knew as soon as I installed the BEAMTECH H4 LED Headlights that I had some reservations - mostly around the much-bluer-than-halogen light color that was emitted from the housings. It turns out, however, that color wasn't so much of an issue - in fact, the lighting performance of the LEDs was quite good! I reviewed them in a rig review after the trip, which I'll include here as well for completeness.

While I'd previously hoped that the LEDs would be a cheap way to solve my light problem, in the back of my mind, I knew it wasn't the right way to do things. After all, there were no LED headlights back in late 1999 when my truck was built, and the reflector housings for my lights were obviously designed to optimize performance of a thin halogen filament as opposed to a larger square diode. In fact, this design is likely a major factor in the less-than-stellar performance of the LED high beams. The right way to do things was to spend a bit more time with a multi-pronged approach:

1. Clean the headlight lenses to make them clear again. I had only minor yellowing, but yellowing none-the-less.
2. Install higher-wattage halogen bulbs. More power would mean more light output.
3. Upgrade the wiring to the headlights. Necessary to support the additional power requirements of the higher wattage bulbs.

I'd also discover a fourth item - one that I think many overlook - and that was cleaning off the reflectors themselves in the housings. But I'll get to that a bit latter in the story.

To get started, I gathered everything I thought I'd need for the project. This included:

• To clean the headlight lenses:
  • Sylvania Headlight Restoration Kit - this kit got really good reviews on Project Farm, so I figured it'd work for me.

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• Higher-wattage blubs:
  • OSRAM Super Bright H4 9003 90/100W bulbs - German made Bilux H4 100/90w bulb rated at 2900/1700 lumens, these are only available from the UK, but are still priced competitively, with free shipping. They outperform any state-side 55/60W bulb from other major manufacturers. Lastly, they don't have a blue coating on the bulb - another plus!
  • I also purchased two Toyota OEM Headlamp Socket Covers (81139-16610) for the headlight assemblies, since I'd cut my originals in order to install LEDs.

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• Heavier-duty wiring harness. Note: Because I already have a Bussmann installed with available relays, I was able to make a simple harness using the following parts. See below* for an off-the-shelf solution.
  • H4 Ceramic Plug (female) - five in the pack, only two needed for the harness. Used to connect the heavier gauge wire to each of the headlights.
  • H4/9003 plug (male) - two in the pack, only one needed for the harness. Plugs into the existing female H4 connector to trigger the relays for the heavier gauge wires that power the lights.
  • 12 Gauge Wire Red & Black (100 ft each) - I only used about 7 feet of each, but this is good wire to have on hand.
  • Heat Shrink Tubing (Glue Lined) - used as necessary over soldered connections and braided sleeve ends.
  • 1/4 inch braided wire sleeve - to protect and organize wires in the harness.
    
    
    ​
  
  * If you don't have a Bussmann, you can also purchase and pre-made wiring harness to power the headlights directly from your battery, while continuing to trigger them (on/off) using the existing controls on the steering column. You'll need to know if you have a:
  • Conventionally switched headlights - Headlight Services H4 Headlight Harness (Conventionally Switched)
  • Ground switched headlights - Headlight Services H4 Headlight Harness (Ground Switched)

Installing the Bulbs

With everything in hand, I set about the part of the project that I felt was more fun: building a new harness and installing the new bulbs. I won't go into too much detail on the harness construction as I suspect that most will purchase the pre-fabricated one, but mine was simply three lengths (lo-beam power, hi-beam power, ground) of 12 gauge wire that ran ~84 inches from my Bussmann to each of the headlights.

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With the harness in hand, I routed it along the same location as the stock harness - between the core support and radiator - making sure that each of the connectors would reach their respective headlights, and that the end of the harness reached the Bussmann. Note: fitting the harness here required me to remove the four (4), 12mm bolts that secure the radiator to the core support. Because the radiator is supported by metal clips, you can remove these bolts without worry, then lift the radiator slightly, and slide the harness in. No disconnection of the hoses, removal of the fan shroud, etc., necessary.

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To make connections to the Bussmann a bit easier given the tight space in which it's installed, I removed it before plugging the lo- and hi-beam power wires from the harness into two of the 30A relays on the Bussmann.

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The next step was to replace the LED assemblies in the headlight housings with the new OSRAM halogen bulbs. Having just done the opposite a few weeks earlier, this was a simple process and I replaced the dust boots at the same time

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The last order of business was triggering the lo- and hi-beam relays in the Bussmann whenever the headlights were turned on/off at the steering column. To do this, I plugged a male H4 connector into one of the (now unused) original female connectors, and ran two wires back to the Bussmann. This way, when power was sent to either the lo- or hi-beams from the steering column, that 12V signal would trigger the relay on the Bussmann, causing additional power to flow through the new harness I'd installed.

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Note: the off-the-shelf harness works the same way, it simply connects to the battery for power and has its own relays, rather than relying on the Bussmann for that functionality.

Cleaning the Headlight Housings

My headlights were now "mo brighter baby" - a good thing - but the housings still needed some attention. I started with the Sylvania Headlight Restoration Kit, following the instructions on the package - essentially sanding, polishing, and applying a UV film to the plastic lenses in order to clean them up.

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Note: if the GIF above is flashing really quickly for you (which is weird, it doesn't do it in edit mode of the post), here's a link to it that works correctly: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50810940912_5a5962e06f_o.gif


The cleaning process went smoothly, but as I was doing it, I noticed something interesting: not only were the outsides of the lenses in need of a cleaning, but there was a thin layer of dust on the inside of the housings as well. In fact, the entire reflector was covered with dust.

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This is probably to be expected after 20 years - given that the headlight assembly is not sealed - but it wasn't something I'd thought about prior to starting down this path. Still, I decided that the right thing to do was to remove and clean the headlight assemblies - lest my work so far be for naught.

Removing the headlight assemblies isn't the most straight-forward process, but I'd done it for some A/C work earlier in the year, so I followed the same process to extract them from the truck. The process starts with removing the grill by releasing all the clips that hold it to the core support.

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Next, it's necessary to remove the side marker light. First, remove a single Philips screw from the top of the light, and then pull the housing toward the front of the truck to remove it from the clip on the headlight housing.

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Next, remove the small filler plate below the headlight. This is secured with a 10mm bolt, and a plastic clip. Remove the bolt first, then the clip. Note that the plastic clip is just barely visible poking through the bottom of the filler near the end closest to the outside of the truck. Carefully push it up with a flat head screwdriver, so the bottom edge of the filler can be slid forward over it, and then rotate the filler up and off of the top part of the clip.

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With the filler removed, removal of the headlight is easy. A 10mm bolt at the top inside corner, a 10mm bolt along the bottom of the headlight, and two 10mm nuts on the side of the headlight are all that hold it in place. As you remove the headlight assembly, don't forget to unplug the wiring harness from the rear.

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With the headlight assembly removed, I removed the dust cover on the back and extracted the bulb from the housing before rinsing out (several times) and drying the housing for a couple days inside the house - I wanted to ensure that I didn't have water trapped in it that might cause condensation in the future.

Not so sealed it turns out.​

Then, I reinstalled everything on the truck, my fingers crossed that my headlights would be better than ever.

Original low beams. Bleh.​

OSRAM Super Bright Halogen lo-beams.​

OSRAM Super Bright Halogen hi-beams + Hella 700 HIDs.​

I was not disappointed. The lo-beams were terrific, and the hi-beams were great as well - though it's clear that the Hella 700 HIDs are above-and-beyond bright, since they almost completely overpower the OSRAMs in terms of color.

Still, compared to stock, and even to the LEDs I'd installed previously, the light output and color were much, much, better in my opinion! Note: this is not a perfect comparison, as I'm parked further away from the trees with the LEDs, giving them an advantage of distance to gain additional height, but it still shows a reasonable comparison of light quantity and color.

LED lo-beams (left), OSRAM Super Bright Halogen lo-beams (right).​

LED hi-beams + Hella 700 HIDs (left), OSRAM Super Bright Halogen hi-beams + Hella 700 HIDs (right).​

Plus, not only was I getting better light in all situations, there was no longer any interference with the ham radio. In fact, the only drawback of this setup - in my opinion - is that the bulbs are only rated for ~200 hours of use at full power. They're unlikely to burn out for many hours after that, but performance will begin to degrade at that time. Still, replacing bulbs is a small price to pay for the kind of visibility I have now!

 

Now all the old people suffering from cataract will be blinded at night from your non DOT approved higher watt bulbs...

 

So it's you causing all the UFO sightings in Death Valley?

 

Not sure if serious. Either way, I bet you have fun over on the Ultimate Headlight Upgrade thread.

More light doesn't meant that it's blinding, when it's focused properly. Especially on a 98-00 which has perhaps the lowest light output of any Tacoma housing that I've seen...

Bleeder is on the slave cylinder, which is mounted to the driver side of the transmission, up above the steering rack - you'll see it down there if you just look up.

Bleed with brake fluid. Calls for DOT3, I used DOT4 which is backwards compatible and just has a higher boiling point, and is what I had on hand. Before you bleed, make sure to take the weird plastic float thing out of the master cylinder reservoir.

 

I recently swapped put my lower coil/over heims and found my misalignments all flared out.


Most likely from this wear on the lower coil/over bolt.


So I upgraded all the front end hardware to some fancy bling bling grade 9 L9/F911 bolts

 

Hey, I resemble that remark

 

FTFY. Give the dude a break, he can hardly see.