Burt, The Old Man With friends Daryl and Donna

With the last couple of weekends being dedicated to working on the truck, it was time to get out and enjoy it.

With my first couple plans foiled by either weather, fires, or traffic it came down to just a quick overnight and exploring some local trails that seem to be forgotten.

Nothing super special but a few roads that just barely seem to be around based on the MVUM maps and OnX.

This area seemed to have a big rainstorm in the last few days resulting in some heavy rutting and a good amount of off camber. Reminding me that my driver seat has less and less foam in it, and zero support to the side.
We did have to cut a couple trees out of the way as well. likely due to the wind storm we had the night before.

With a couple overhanging trees I don't think many truck can still fit down here. Anything taller than the cab would hit, even my Ham antenna at 7' tapped a couple of trees.

Nor would you wanna be any taller since it was a constant side hill on the driver side.
The New suspension felt great, I really like how well is soaks up the embedded rocks compared to the previous set up. I air down a bit less than usual to 12 instead of 8-9psi. and it felt way better than before.

Areas that were more open were much more over grown and I think only see a vehicle a couple dozen times a year during hunting season.

A few miles later we found a nice patch of grass to make camp.

First night in the RTT of the year. Its been busy this year so we have only really made time for the big trips in Daryl up until lately.

Cooked up one of out favorites, Spam fried rice. Its easy, quick and makes a lot of food.

The weather couldn't have been better, high 50s and zero wind. Cool enough to put the mosquitos away and let us hang out by the firepit.

The next morning I more or less forgot to take pictures on the trail but we spent the morning on a couple hardered section of trails, that were more or less just rock gardens, nothing super hard, but a couple skid plate hits.

On the way out we came across an ATV that had run out of gas. Since we were only out for a night I didn't fill my Jerry, but just was using it to fill in the space in the holder with the water can. But I offered to pull him out, he was very thankful and I towed him a couple miles back to his truck.

And with that we headed home from a quick weekend away.

 

nice to see burt out and about!

hows the ole ford been treating you so far?

 

Its good, I drove it this morning as I am messing around with the tune on the truck to try to reduce the EGT I see up hills.
I plan to put the Banks Intercooler on the truck as well as the BulletProof Diesel Cooling system upgrade with the 7.3 fan, bigger water pump and probably swap in an aluminium radiator at some point just to make sure the truck stays cool and as a good prep for Alaska next year.

 

Is that one of the engines that benefits from more boost to reduce EGT? I know some of the older Toyota diesels the easiest fix for overfueled high EGT was just more boost.

 

very nice man! are you guys planning to go to dead horse? if so that will be an awesome trip!

me and a buddy have been wanting to do it for yeeears now! but never had the money nor time to do it sadly! (that and with me swapping trucks so often as late i dont have a truck for it lmao)

 

More boost does help and the EGT as most affected by RPM. This truck has the most issues at highway speeds on the passes here in Colorado, If the truck stays in 5th ~2100rpm at 70 the EGT can get above 1300℉ easily, If I get the struck to drop into 4th around 2600Rpm that EGT will drop to 1150℉. Its done that regardless of the tune, Stock +75HP +50HP Tow etc. I think it comes down to airflow. So going to the larger Intercooler and larger piping seems to see a 150-200℉ drop at all Rpm.
I run around 8 psi on the highway cruising, and at WOT I can hit around 32psi, but the sweet spot it around 15-22 in most situations and most hills.

 

The Plan is all the way to Prudhoe Bay and be up in Alaska and Canada for 6 weeks going all over Alaska and the Yukon territory.

 

On Tuesday I had the day off so I decided to remake the exhaust from the CAT back, I had noticed some rattling at low rpm with high loads and high rpm with low loads. I had a

$81 DynoMax 17741 Exhaust Muffler for Toyota Tacoma

DynoMax 17741 that I bought earlier in the year and decided to pick up a 2.5'' exhaust pipe kit. I had ordered a new O2 sensor mount but it got delayed and so I reused the one from the old exhaust.
This did solve my High RPM Rattle but it looks like the Low RPM is coming from the CAT, so I have a new one on the way to be here next week.

I didn't end up taking too make pictures but doing the exhaust was actually pretty fun.


With the lack of a spare underneath I just make it go straight back for now. This might change in the future.


I also picked up a set of 5 285/70R17 Falken M/T that are brand new for $100 from a Jeep that took them off.

I plan to Grab another set of OEM Wheels, and swap them between Donna and Burt for trips requiring a more aggressive tire.

 

Day 1 of Return to Wheeler.


This weekend we loaded up and headed down to southern Colorado

Delaney wanted to try her hand at planning a trip since by the end of the year I can be pretty burned out on it. So this was one that was in the backlog for a few months.

We made our way down to Creede and headed north on dirt, the goal for the night was to get a Campsite just outside of Wheeler. A place I had been just about 10 years ago with my dad but hadn't made it back since.

Making our way up Adler Creek it followed various valleys the trail wasn't hard with just a few rock ledges and rock gardens.
It had rained an inch before we got there so puddles were plentiful.


It gently rained as we made out way up the trail as well.

Marrmots were everywhere as we passed 10k feet.

Did I mention there were puddles?

Before we knew it we hit 12,000 feet for the first time on the trip.

The far plateau is were were were headed.

Weather was perfect up high.

Then we went down, straight down. 1st low barely held the truck from running on even with the 4.88s.

This is a area of high volcanic activity. Which results in steep canyon walls and log open valleys all descending down to the Rio Grande river.

We cruised through the next 10 miles of trails through the wilderness area to Wheeler. Found a nice camp and leveled out the truck.

And this is why we came.

A small taste on the way in.

Deep in the bellows of Wheeler.
Wheeler is a Volcanic Tuff pile that forms in the La Garita Volcano. Its Ash and Pumice, that had a capstone rock form on top of it, this allowed for erosion to wear down certain areas but not all.

Water slowly eats away with from the soft Tuff.

Its really a unique place to walk around, with some climbing required to see the depths.

From Above the depths you can see the Cap rock and different lays of sediment that has formed to "protect" the Tuff.


Its worth the trek out the area. This is a 4wd access only area, either 4wd in or backpack in.

Hiking out we ran into a Moose, it was cool to see one up so high at 11,500 feet, but were there are willows there will be moose. We carefully hiked past making sure she knew we were not a threat. Its far from my first time hiking up on a moose.

Back at the truck it was getting late, and cooling off quickly.

Beef Burrito night!

Were is where we set a new record, for the highest percent humidity we have ever camped in, previously held by North Dakota a 89%.
We hit 96% just before bed, at 11,500' and not actively raining. We stuck it out by the fire pit for a little while but called it a night around 10pm.

 

Day 2 Return to Wheeler

After a very quiet night, I woke up a little after sunrise.


It was still as wet as the night before. There was minimal condensation inside the tent, but everywhere else was another stormy.


It was wet...


No rain had fallen but everything looks like it had been in a down pour.


It was a good chance to clean some of the mud off the windshield.


Not a bad place to wake up.


Frost still present in the shade from the colder temps.


Blue sky's were out and the sun was breaking through the trees.


With the warm of the sun, Delaney and the dog came out to see what was going on.


After letting the tent dry as best as possible, about 90% we headed out. Lots of miles to cover today.


Not without stopping and seeing where we had been just the night before.


Some of the mud from yesterdays rain was still present.

The Ruts were cut deep but the mud wasn't very deep.


Some Locals were hangout out as we made out way down.


I had to stop and check out a place that I had camped before, the previous spot being just a few hundred feet up the valley.


Back in my 4Runner, October 2015.


Into Creede and up the Bachelors loop.


If you are in the are its worth going up the east half of the loop but the west half can be skipped if desired.

It always amazes me what was built out here for such short term high profit times.


Once pasted the main section of mine you wind through a cool canyon along side a small stream.


Once off the loop we hit a short section of highway, making our way west to the base of Stoney Pass, our first pass of the day. A quick lunch stop of wraps and we were back on the road.





Stoney is a fairly easy trail, with a few sections on the west side with rock garden and ledges, but nothing too major. It wasn't too busy but we did pass a few SxSs coming down, presumably back to the trailer to take them home. One huge advantage of the a 4wd over them.



Up we go.


Breaking through tree line.


The weather couldn't have been better, high 60s low 70s with a breeze.


Just on the edge of the San Juans we started to see the typical steep mountain sides, and large volcanic domes that are common in the area.


Across the valley I spotted a mom and calf moose on there way to eat some lunch.
The mom is just in the willows to the right of the calf.


Up at 12,592'


The scree field behind the was full of pika and marrmots running around.

The other side of the pass drops straight into the San Juans, just above Silverton.
And it goes straight down.

Switch backing its way down at times but also going what felt light straight down the mountain.

We made it back into the trees.

To the base of Aminos Forks, Engineer, California Gulch, Cinnamon, and the Alpine loop.

Our route was taking us up and over Cinnamon Pass to Lake City, hoping for a quick run up the pass we headed north.

Its a steep climb up from the river, and overall easy trail but I would say slightly harder than the rating says. There are a couple ledges that were a bit taller than expected on a 3/10 while also being a steep loose shelf road.

Up at 12,640

Dropping down the east side.

It was getting later into the evening, we came down the pass and made out way into lake city around 7pm. One thing to note, Lakes city closes early, specifically gas stations, if you are rolling in after 5, you better hope you have 60 miles of range to get to Gunnison where there are 24hr pumps.
We had 57 miles of range, and were heading off into the Blue Mesa Plateau to find camp and fishing.
Luckily I had filled up my Jerry can when leaving home so I chucked in 5 gallons and was back at a bit under half a tank.

Siphon hoses are the best way to transfer fuel. But only once you rip all the stupid plastic anti splash filters out of the fuel cans.

Off into the Golden sun we drove, heading to an area I am familiar with since I lived in the area a few years ago. At this point we had finished Delaney's awesome route for the trip.


Washboards, Dusts and Sunsets in Burt.

Just ater the sun had set we made it to the an overlook of Blue mesa, tucked away on some old power line/BLM roads.

It was Pizza night!
It was a warmer 55° night and lucky for us, 14% humidity. Allowing anything that hadn't dried out to dry.

 

Day 3 of Return to Wheeler

After another great night we woke up over
looking a small section of Blue Mesa.



It was nice to wake up to the sun again, the tent slowly warming up as the sun got higher in the sky.

I had planned to wash my lights off at the gas station the previous night but with it being closed and no other reason to stop, Delaney wiped them off while I put more gas in the truck at the trailhead.

I wanted to get some fishing in. So we headed down to an inlet of the reservoir.

I noticed when down there the river was actually crossable and it lead to a road I had wanted to do without a ton of backtracking.

A quick crossing later, we made it to the other side, it wasn't deep or too fast, but was enough to clean off some of the suspension.




I fished for a bit and managed to pull a nice rainbow out.

It was a great way to kill some time in the morning. And nice to pull a rainbow out of the river.

Layla played in the water and had zoomies in the open field next to the river, she was a happy pup.
We headed out, climbing on of the steepest hills I have ever experienced outside of Moab. even steep enough I threw the locker on a few times since it was loose dirt and rock.

After that it leveled out and we cruised through sage brush into the town of Gunnison.

While Airing up I noticed some dripping, and gear oil smell. It appears the diff breather might be clogged so its forcing some gear oil up the air line for the ARB Locker. THe Locker holds pressure no problem for 5-10 minutes without ever cycling the compressor, but I have seen them blow oil out if the diff breather is clogged and pressure inside the diff is building. I put it on my list to fix when I got home.


In town we finally got fuel. As well as stopped in a favorite Nepalese Restaurant I used to come to in college.

Full tank and full bellies we started making our way back home.

Not without checking off another pass first, we had time to kill, and I have always wanted to do Old Monarch Pass, Its by no means hard, of anything more than a graded road.

But the views were great.

Passing over a pass I have always wanted to do.

The only casualty of the trip. Door handle #3 finally let go on Old Monarch when I was getting back in the truck.

 

I've broken a few handles before and it was time to try the metal ones, They aren't the Be all end all but I am hoping they last a little longer, plus they were the ones I could get the fastest.

Door handles are an easy swap.

I'll miss the chrome handles in all honesty, but if these last longer I'll take it.


I have also been chasing a P0446 code, based on my findings it seemed like my vent solenoid was sticking. As it happened almost daily on my 20 minute drive to work, I would drive the highway for 15 minutes, then get near the shop, I would get stopped at a light for a minute or two and it would throw the code. It would be pending most of the time. However, I didn't get a light the entire 750 mile trip this weekend. I looked up getting the OEM solenoid and found them to be around $120, but I found a OEM Charcoal canister from a dealer in Japan, that came with Both the Vent Solenoid and Purge solenoid attached. All for $165 shipped. I figured I might as well replace all 3 pieces and see if that helps. I have also seen this code be caused by small cracks in the Charcoal Canisters at the top around the 2 circles.
So far in limited driving I haven't had anything come back even the pending code is gone which would come up after the truck had been running for a minute or sat at an idle for any amount of time. Fingers crossed this solved the issue.

 

Back to some work on Donna.
In preparation for this weekend where the suspension and winch are going on I needed to get the Winch cutoff switch installed.
After messing around with some placement I figured that the easiest place for it was next to the air compressor. But it meant remaking the compressor mount. Since we will be putting a 20" light bar in the front bumper I also started mounting the switch controller.
I am using a Blue Sea 6006 Mini cut off switch since they are cheap, easy to use, inexpensive, and small.

I kept the design the same, but just added in another 4" for the mounting of the 6006 unit.

I left enough space between the two to account for any flex in the bracket of if I need to clock the Manifold more.

The Auxbeam is mounted on top of a 20mm extrusion, allowing the wires to enter from the bottom and is bolted to the fuse box lid.

 

34° in Northern Utah this morning, my toes got cold!

 

I am looking forward to the cooler weather coming in the next couple months!

 

Last weekend we torn into Donna to replace the crazy soft suspension. The rear end sagged if you put groceries in it and the nose dove under any amount of breaking. So it we time to rip that out and get a replacement set in. We picked the Stage 3 Ironman Foam Cell Pro Kit, we've done a few at the shop and I've been impressed with the ride quality and bump absorption that they provide.
Being a non KDSS 4runner the suspension was easy. We had it completed in about 3 to 3.5 hours.

Stock 76k miles suspension coming out.

Coilover In

Upper Control Arm in, with sway bar relocation to clear the much larger coilover. These are around 2.8" in diameter since they are a twin tube style shock.

4Runner and Toyota IFS is so much quicker than the big trucks like Daryl.

Shock Comparison on the rear end.
Then Yesterday we threw in a set of Perry Part bumpstops. After having them on Burt I am extremely impressed with them.

Rear Bumps in.

The Stage 3 kit includes an adjustable Panhard/track bar depending on your background.

As well as adjustable sway bar end links. I had made a set of extended ones on my 4runner a long time ago and did notice a difference in the flex and ride with the sway bar leveled out. So it was fitting to add them in on this one as well.

After an alignment and a couple days of settling here's how it sits on the stock size tires 265/70R17


We kept right around the factory weight which is perfect since its unloaded right now and we have plans for a rear single drawer with Fridge slide and a bit more weight in the future. Plus it often is what we tow dirt bikes with.

Its much nicer on washboard roads, and doesn't bottom out on the train tracks at the end of our road like it used to. we can put a couple hundred pounds in the back without is sagging out and wallowing like a boat around turns and on bumps. Its a firmer ride than factory but that doesn't take much.

 

On Saturday once we finished up the suspension we also threw on the winch and bumper so that we could get the front end to sit where we wanted before the alignment.

Starting off by ripping Donnas entire face off.

Mounting up the ComeUp DV-9s in the winch mount. Like always it takes some messing around to get the control box to sit where you want and to clear everything.

The Winch was clocked to 90° for the best access.

I did a rough trim and we set the winch plate in place and then started test fitting the outer shell to fine tune the fitment. Its important to pull the bumper shell off, since right along your upper cut line is the wiring harness for the fog lights that needs to be moved.

Once I was happy I put the edge trim in place.

And in went the face plate, you can see the solenoid is front and center for the easier access possible.
We do have the 20" light bar on the way but it wont be here for another couple weeks so we wanted to get this all done and install it after the fact.

The final step. Lets address the elephant in the room. The Old Ironman logo, the one above, is incredible ugly. But the imprint of not having it on the bumper is worse. Luckily the new logo is much better.

The next morning at home I tensioned the winch line and made sure it had nice even wraps.

The Winch was then hooked up to the Blue Sea 6006 Cut off switch so it won't be powered during normal driving but will be turned on when needed.
This allows for the minimal amount unprotected cable.


All Wrapped up.

The plan is to get a Come Up Boss Hook for the front to the line isn't wrapped across to the recovery point.

Its nice and tucked up to the front of the 4Runner. And after doing the install, I think it has one of the most secure winch mounts I have seen on a Toyota. It uses the 4 main bumper mounting bolts like you see on most Tacoma and 4runner bumpers. But also then uses the 3/4" recovery point with 4 additional mounting point, 2 on the winch tray and 2 further back on the frame to spread the load further down the line and not rely on those 8 main bumper bolts like it common. Its something I have notice on ARB bumpers as well, and some others like Backwoods has an option extra brace if you are using the bumper for heavy winching, but those typically only add one more frame mounting point.

Plus there is no interference with the TSS sensor.

 

A couple weeks back I got a deal on 5 brand new Falken M/T C Load 285s that I couldn't turn down.
I really like the look of M/Ts and the off road performance, I do a lot of snow wheeling and winter driving and neither I or Delaney wanted to have them as a permanent set up. I figured I would find an additional set of wheels to mount them up and have it as a spare set for summer for either rig. I looked around locally for some 4runner Trail Wheels and FJ cruiser 8 Holes, but most were either completely destroyed or way overpriced, as well as the 15mm offset would have pushed them into the UCA on Burt. Methods were also on the list but were on the heavier side for Burt as well as without machining wont fit the manual hubs. So I looked at the TRD Sema wheels and the various companies that makes them now. I picked up a set of 5, in a Matte Bronze, and with the 5mm off set its just enough to clear my UCA and not enough to need a BMC on the 4runner. As well as the way the hub bore is designed it hits manual hub trucks just fine.

They showed up yesterday.

I got them mounted up.

One of the lighter wheels available. 22lbs 6oz. These end up at 83lbs, just a couple lbs heavier than both the current setups. It would be nice to have it lighter but in the M/T world that's really hard.
Tundra wheels 25lbs, Toyo 34x10.50 54lbs Total 79lbs.
Method 701 31lbs General ATX 47lbs 78 Total

I love my Gunmetal wheels but the Bronze looks really good.

Falkens run fairly true to size in height and a little narrow luckily. Without weight on them its almost the same height as the weighted Toyos. Just a little wider.
They balanced A lot better than expected, 1oz, 1.50oz, 1.75oz, 2oz, and then one was 4.75oz which is closer to what I expected.

At home I threw them on Donna to see how much cutting would be needed. It clears everything including mudflap at the back, so there is a little over 3/4" to the body mount so I don't believe that will need any trimming. The advantage of self alignments, and low offset wheels. This same size rubbed badly on my 4th gen since I ran a -12mm wheel. The front lower section of the bumper will need some trimming and the inner fender needs to be pushed forward.
Alignment was 4° of Caster, 0° Camber, .07° of Toe per side, which helps to push the tire forward in the wheel well.

Its going to be a good looking setup for both rigs.

 

I had been having a lot of rattling from my Cat for the last couple months and it continued after after the new exhaust. It was especially bad when wheeling, in traffic or backing into a parking spot, low rpm but high load it bounced around.
I ordered a new direct replacement and swapped it in this morning before work.

Turns out it had completely fallen apart inside and the internal media had shifted sideways.

It was al extremely loose and rattled like crazy when shaken around.
Its all fixed now and Burt is rattle free under load again.

 

That happened on my old 4banger too. Was crazy how much better it performed with a feline removal.