09 DCSB 3link

Patrick, was that you near Los Altos TJs (Homestead/Foothill) one early morning (8am) last week? I saw a silver 2nd gen with a linked rear suspension. I couldn't recall whether your new truck was dark or light colored.

 

Yes. Sometimes I drive my kids to school in it. They go to Monte Claire off of St Joseph’s and foothill. I stop at that Starbucks pretty frequently in the morning. I’m not linked in the rear but that was most likely me.

 

Nice! I like hybrid rock sliders. Wish they were a popular thing to do when I welded my sliders back in 2005 (dang it has been a while lol). I ain't cutting and rewelding at this point, but hybrid is the way to go.

Separate topic...how do you like those tires? I need to get new 40"s, so I'm looking at options. Many people use those pro comp tires here in AZ, mostly jeeps. I assume they must be good in other platforms too. They are a bit cheaper than other 40"s, and the thread pattern is interesting.

 

Can't speak for @Pdugan6 but my buddy had 40" procomp xt2. They did well on rock and have good road manner but don't last for sh1t. Maybe because it was on a heavy 4r.

 

I like them. They work well they aren’t too hard and they are a decent price point. They aren’t loud road driving either. Unleashed4x4 wheels with them and says good things about them. Not sure if your on instagram. George builds a bunch of rigs and runs pro comps a bunch.

 

My reg cab is a bit heavy. Unloaded it seats at 4,500 pounds even on a scale. Fully loaded with a passenger it goes up to 5,000 pounds easily and more if add extra camping gear and other crap. That's really heavy for a reg cab! I mostly drive the truck on the roads to go wheeling and most trails here are within an hour or less, so the tires should last a decent amount. Different story if it was a daily driver!

I'm behind the times and don't have an instagram account yet lol. Good to know the tires are good overall. I think I will go with them for my next set. I have the Nitto Trail Grapplers now. It is a very good tire, the thread pattern remind me of the old school BFG mud tires. But they are very heavy and have a very hard compound as well. I air down to single digits (no bead locks) and the side walls don't even bulge. But they are really tough tires. Would get them again, but kind of wanting to try something different.

 

I love my pro comps! They flat work in everything I have thrown at them, muddy rocks, snow, dry rocks, wet roads, handle nice on the street. They wrap around things nicely at 2psi, awesome tires. I would buy another set in a heart beat. My Tacoma is around 5klbs setup for the trail and I drive it to the trails.

Get beadlocks while you are at it, no excuse not to have to have them.

 

Thanks for the info! Good to know the tires work great in multiple settings. That pic showing how far you are pushing the side walls on that rock speaks volumes. I do not think I could squeeze the side walls that much on my Nittos even at 0 psi lol. The side walls on those are just way too hard. It seems like my truck is the same wight like yours when fully loaded...which is sad since mine it's a reg cab.

You know, regarding bead locks, one day I helped a friend install new tires and bead locks in his truck. Half way through the install I decided that I did not want bead locks LOL. Which ones do you have by the way?

 

I got the sidewalls nice and broken in indeed!!

I have the pro comp vapors. Love those as well, they don't leak and the ring is beefy as hell. Yea they kind of suck to install, but worth it on the trail.

 

Awesome. I'm going to check them out!

 

I went camping this weekend. I drove in 4 wheel drive for 5hrs on the freeway… I didn’t realize it was engaged. I ditched the electric actuator on the stock case for a manual setup and I must have bumped it. Hubs were open and it didn’t really matter but smoked my gas mileage on the way up.

 

It looks like that water jug on the bed could fly out at any moment lol.

Very nice pics, beautiful area.

So how did that happen? I am only familiar with 1st gen manual transfer cases with the J-shift pattern. If I recall correctly (I've had an Atlas for the past 6 plus years), it was not possible to engage those by simply bumping them.

 

I rigged my stock case ditching the electric actuator using an advanced adapter shift lever kit. It’s connected to the shift rail that is typically housed in the electric actuator. It moves in a straight line from 2wd all the way in and then 4 to 4 lo. I didn’t have 4 lo on the stock case cause all the sensors were cut out with the front end. It works. I just need to not bump it like an idiot. It could’ve been my kids though. I’ll probably give the the shift cable a little more attention when I get some motivation to make sure it has a very rigid tension for a more crisp transition to each position.

 

Ha I drove 300’ to my dads campground to drop off that water.

 

Some pics of the rig job. It works. It’s functional. There’s definitely a better way of doing it but I’m happy with it.

 

If it works, who cares!

I've never seen that mod before. It looks clever. Any concerns about water/debris getting inside the case through that opening?

 

No it’s the same diameter of the shift rail so it would be really hard to get water or debris into it. Maybe if you left the tcase underwater for a long time and there was some pressure difference with heat or something but even still it would be negligible IMO.

 

Forgot to mention. The surrounding diameter is slightly larger than 1” but on the inside it goes right to the shift rail diameter.

 

Some wheeling pics

 

New wheels.