trekker's taco and Melly's 4R

This week I replaced my lower control arms (ball joints were shot), tie rods, and did a quick alignment. Still needs a little work, but at least my steering wheel is a lot closer to being dead center. I hammered on my cam tabs a bit to give them a little bit of hope.

I also noticed some extra play in my driver side inner CV, so I swapped it out with one of my spares (and changed the gear oil in the front diff). I've been chasing down a pretty significant vibration in 4hi and was hoping the CV was the culprit, but no such luck. Might have to pull the front driveshaft and check its joints.

I got my locker wired up to the stock switch and dash light too. The OX locker actuator is switched by connecting it to ground, so all I had to do was use the switched power wire from the stock diff lock switch to trigger a relay which connects the actuator ground. The stock locker dash illumination circuit works similarly being a switched ground, so it uses the same relayed solution.

I'm waiting on ECGS to pay me for sending them my stock e-locker housing and then I plan on pulling the trigger on a Stoptech 6 piston brake kit. My brakes SUCK. Still need to adjust the rears a bit too.

I'll be putting the camper electronics back together next week. I took out the LiFePo4 battery to store it indoors over winter since my truck was stuck on jackstands in the shop. I had some decent performance from my battery heading setup toward the end of last Fall, but I think I need a little more heat for single digits and under. Would be reeeeal nice to leave the battery back there all year and collect free power from the sun.

Y'all please pray that my cheap diesel heater still works once I get it all put back together.

Is it camping season yet?

 

Making great progress! I've been looking at the BBK's for a years but havent talked myself into it yet, I warp my brakes way easier than before all the mods. The BBK should be nice once you get it! I need to give in and regear before anything else. I cant keep going with the stock gears, 4h has is practically useless for me.

 

After driving the 4R for three months and now getting back in my truck I really notice how terrible the brakes are. I bled them a ridiculous amount after the axle swap. Sent two and a half quarts down the master to flush out all of the old fluid and air in the lines at all four corners.

If you're going to re-gear then you might as well go big and make room for some real tires!

 

I'm good with my 33"(ish) tires. Going to a bigger tire is more work/money than I can blow on the truck for now. I would need to change my wheels(again) and/or have my firewall tubbed to fit bigger. I could always do suspension #3 go to LT/RCLT with a custom width rear axel to match the front. All of which is far more than I can to budget for right now. When I do regear I will be set to handle bigger tires for when/if that time comes.

and to your question about camping season, you've got a diesel heater its always camping season!

 

The time will come Jason, and it will be here before you know it!

Not gonna lie the diesel heater is pretty finicky and not too reliable, but we'll see if it still works soon enough! I need these mountain roads to open up so I can get out there. Damn these forest service gate closures in SE Idaho...

I may have to head to Moab in a few weeks to satisfy the itch.

 

I learned real early on with the truck that anything can happen if its something you plan on keeping. I've casually been looking at new DD possibilities to stop using the truck all the time now that its closing on on 100k. Once I destroy the 3.5lv6 it will get a v8 of some sort.(If a v8 is still possible to find when that time comes)
That sucks about the diesel heater, is it just a cheap one or are diesel heaters more so just finicky? I dont know much about them butt see a lot of people raving about them. I got a buddy heater for when its cold but dont usually camp in weather that its actually needed. My back gets angry at me when its that cold out.

 

Solid plan my man. Yeah, it's a cheap finicky heater. It works really well when it works though. I'm trying to move away from propane altogether to avoid that cost and the condensation buildup.

 

Thats right, I forgot all about the condensation making the diesel heater the better option. I dont run my buddy heater often and when I do its only used to warm the tent up for a bit before bed and then gets turned off until morning.

 

My diesel heater is awesome! Just used it this weekend for Mega Run (so yes, it is definitely camping season!). I think we've had it since 2021 and it's been a great addition.

I did the 4runner brake conversion for their 17" wheel setup and it's better than stock, but our trucks get heavy quickly.

 

Nice! I spent several hours shoveling show and ice this weekend... mega run sounds so much better.

I bet that 4R setup would work well for me too and probably be a lot cheaper. I should look into that more.

 

Got some more things done on the truck and camper the last few weeks. Camper battery has more heating capacity and insulation, and all of the electronics are hooked back up. Fridge is back in place and she's ready for camp. My diesel heater fired right up, too!



I also dialed in my alignment a bit better and then did a "definitely not a mid-life crisis" mod inside the truck. I figured I added a ton of sound deadening some years back, might as well make good use of it.



Not pictured are the speaker upgrades. NVX components in the front doors, 2-ways in the back doors. After tuning the amp it's a significant upgrade. Kinda mad at myself for waiting so long to ditch the stock audio system. Another slight mod I made that took me way too long to get to was the Honda Odyssey windshield sprayer nozzle swap. Such a better spray pattern to clean off the windshield! Highly recommend both of these upgrades if you're not satisfied with what Toyota gave us.

I hope y'all have a great Easter!

 

Looooong overdue additional trans cooler is ready to put in work in the mountains. Since we've got actual winter up here, I also added a bypass behind the passenger headlight.

I was worried it would be a pain in the ass to find a spot to mount these guys, but it wasn't bad at all. A few rivnuts and some scrap aluminum did the trick.





ETA, I also wired in a 180°F thermal switch for the fan. Didn't get a picture of that, but if anyone out there is curious I can share more details of the setup.