05 Taco Build

Glad you found it helpful.

Which bulbs are you running in your reverse lights? You mention 50w fogs. H10s?

 

I'm running the 886 bulbs. This is the thread that I followed for that https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/886-backup-light-mod.209578/

I've been running the same 886 bulbs with no complaints at all. I haven't fried the housing or the wires lol

 

Today i decided to show my little kragen special air compressor some love. I replaced the annoying screw on tip with an air chuck. I cut the hose to get rid of the old one and inserted the new one and clamped it down with a hose clamp. The only downside is that I failed on buying an open flow air chuck. I bought one that was a one way. This particular compressor does not have an auto cut off to prevent the hose from bursting. This is what I did to convert it to open flow.

This is the finished product.



Here's an exploded view to get an idea of the insides. I trimmed the gold piece to allow air to flow through while the compressor is on and not connected to the tire.




Here is how I trimmed it with a dremmel.

 

I recently got the check engine light again. Ran the OBDII reader and it gave me two codes, P0157 and P0306. P0157 said low voltage o2 sensor for Bank 2 sensor 2. P0306 said cylinder misfire for cylinder 6. Every time I Google engine codes it feels like if I'm going on web MD because it always comes out as cancer lol. Internet said P0306 is leaking head and P0157 is never just a sensor. However, I replaced the spark plugs, cylinder 6 coil pack and that took care of P0306. Changing the sensor took care of P0157. So far the check engine light has not returned and it's been around 100 miles.

 

Out with the old, in with the new. One of the front wheel bearings went out so I replaced the complete hub assembly on both sides. I went with the Dorman brand from rockauto thanks to @itaro and @Airdog

 

The wife and I decided to take a last minute trip with no concrete plans. The only plan we had was to end at Yosemite. Thanks to suggestion from this site as well as co-workers, it was hands down the best trip we have ever had!

this is kind of how it went:


the first stop of the trip was Manzanar. I had never been there before and have always wanted to go there. You get this eerie feeling when you first pull up.


Inside this building was the museum where they had displays and showed a short film that briefly explained the way of life during it's active days.


The next stop was Copper Top BBQ that was highly recommended by fellow forum members.


this place did not disappoint! The food was gooooooood!!! I highly recommend it!


Copper Top BBQ has outdoor seating inside of like a storage shed. (It's nicer than it sounds LOL). This was the view from the table!


The next stop was schat's bakery in Bishop. The bread in there looked REALLY good but we were still too full from the BBQ so we just looked around and resumed our trip. Unfortunately we forgot our cooler so I did not feel comfortable getting anything to go.


Finally! After a pretty long drive we made it to Mammoth! That much closer to Yosemite. Our first stop was supposed to be Devil's Post Piles. Unfortunately it was closed and no one there could tell me when it would be opening again. At that point I was heart broken and did not know what to do since that was supposed to take up a good chunk of your day. With nothing else really planned for the day, we went down to the visitor's center and spoke to one of the employees there. They provided us with some great suggestions along with a map of all of the off road trails in the area. There were WAY too many options so I just had him point at the closest trail head to the visitor's center.


It was mainly well groomed "fire road" type trails but still fun since there were no people to be seen out there. The views were amazing! and everything is just so green. We decided to make our way to Yosemite so we cut through the dirt roads from town to the 395.


We were on our way to Yosemite... or so we thought... when I noticed that the road passed right next to Mono Lake. A quick peak on google maps and noticed there is a dirt road that goes from the 395 and passes right next to the lake then pops you back out onto the 395.


Even Pumba was having a good time with the unlimited supply of bugs on the grill!




The dirt road passes pretty close to the formations out on the lake.


we got soooo close to popping back out onto the 395 when we came across a river. It was not deep at all but it was rocky and the water was moving pretty fast. Being that I am in a prerunner I did not want to risk the water pushing me around. I had recovery gear so I am fairly confident that I could have gotten out if I got pushed around but that water is COLD and I did not want to risk it. Quick you turn and played in some dirt again. this time I took a different trail back then the original one. It was a little further from the lake and definitely tighter bushes. Came out of that trail with some decent pin striping.


We stopped at a gas station and that is when we found out that Yosemite was closed. Bummer! The 120 was only open from 9am-10am and again from 3pm-4pm. That's when we decided to go to Reno. We figure, why not! That's what this trip was all about. No plan. Just jumping around.



Once in Reno, we quickly found out that there really isn't much going on. We had dinner and found a hotel within Reno for our first night of the trip. First thing in the morning we shot back to Yosemite. We contemplated going to Tahoe but did not want to miss the road hours for Yosemite. We skipped Tahoe and made a straight shot to Yosemite.


The 120 passes right next to Tenaya Lake. It is a beautiful lake!


Rivers and waterfalls everywhere! I have never seen anything like this before.


This waterfall was down at Yosemite Valley.


By the time we were done driving around Yosemite it was right around 3pm so we decided to shoot back to Mammoth.


We did some more exploring in the Mammoth trails and came across a deer in the road. It was pretty cool sight to see. I stopped the truck. We just stared at each other for a while. The the deer took off into the hills. Later dude!




There was a down tree but there was plenty of space to go under it.


I couldn't quite squeeze under this one so I opted to go around it.




We booked our second night at the Travelodge in Mammoth. It wasn't the best place but it was the cheapest and the owner is a super cool dude. Right across the street is a killer pizza place, Nik-N-Willie's Pizza-n-Subs! Just down the street from the hotel with really good food and local beer.


The aftermath!


The next day for breakfast, we shot over to Base Camp Cafe. It seems like you just can't go wrong with food out here! Another top notch place to eat.




After breakfast we decided to start making the trek home...

But not before a quick detour!!!

Someone, which I can't remember who, told me about Laurel Lake. I remember looking up the lake on google images and one of the first images I saw was a picture of a sign that said "high clearance vehicles only". I remember thinking to myself, "my truck is a high clearance vehicle!"



4.5 miles of off road that leads to the lake. The "road" is just wide enough for one vehicle. It gets tricky when there are oncoming vehicles.


There were 2 tight switchbacks that headed straight into a rocky uphill. I did not feel comfortable coming to a stop to take a pic of that since momentum was key for me.


Unfortunately, we never actually made it to Laurel Lake. We got about half mile away. We came across some deep snow drift and downed trees. I felt like the snow drift might have pushed me off the trail and not even 50 feet passed that there was a downed tree. The tree was about 3 feet or so elevated from the ground so going over it was not an option.

At that point I did a 300 point u-turn in the narrow road with my DCLB. It consisted of reversing as close to the edge of the cliff that my gut would allow me. Then I would just gas it into the mountain side to get as high as possible to give me more room to work with on my u-turn.


I took my time on the way down to enjoy the views and to avoid cooking the brakes.




The BAM! back in LA traffic.

We spent a total of 3 days and 2 nights up there just exploring and bouncing around.

I can't wait to go back up there again. I really wanted to check out Devil's Post Piles as well as the ghost town of Bodi.

 

Love your trip report. How's the truck doing nowadays? Get a 4x4 yet?

 

Thanks man. Still just 2x but she identifies as 4x4. Haven't really had the need for a 4x4.

 

Very nice. I'm in the same boat as you. But often wish I had 4x4. Love my truck though. Got it for a great price and it hasn't failed me.

 

Same here. My previous truck died on me for the 3rd and final time and got a killer deal on this one. At first I was bummed it was only 2x until I found out how capable they are.

 

Taco down

we had a good run ...

At a complete stop on the freeway when another truck came to say hello

 

Wow. Glad you're ok. Time for a 4x4?

 

It's looking that way. If it's officially totalled I'll be on the hunt for a 3rd gen

 

I kept meaning to post that for anyone that has the P0500 code. A new cluster from https://www.taninautoelectronix.com/product/2005-2011-toyota-tacoma-instrument-cluster/ does the trick. Prior to the demise of my truck, I had ordered one and the P0500 code never came back. Tanin Auto adds your vin and mileage to the new cluster so you do not lose any of that info. Just plug and play. You also have the option to have them switch out the LED colors while they're in there. They have great customer service and a pretty fast turn around time.

 

Do you remember which lights you used for the bed lights ? thank you.

 

Amazon didn't have the exact ones anymore. These are the next closest ones that I saw

Partsam 6Pcs 4 Inch Marine Boat Light, Slim Line White 9 LED Utility Strip Light Bar, Sealed Waterproof LED Marker Lights for Truck Trailer Camper RV Pickup Car, Under Hood Lights, Dome Lights

$18 Partsam 6Pcs 4" Marine Boat Light, Slim Line White 9 LED Utility Strip Light Bar, Sealed Waterproof LED Marker Lights for Truck Trailer Camper RV Pickup Car, Under Hood Lights, Dome Lights

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073S6WRZJ

 

@LOLLY Thank you for the help

 

No problem at all