1999 Tacoma SR5 TRD Imperial Jade Build, Sweat and Tears

Trying to decide which route to take.

 

Was going to order more clamps to have 6 instead of 4 but didnt do it. Hope all is gonna be good. Tightened my 4 down extra.



Found out my hose clamp wasnt all the way on the hose. Was getting a drip. Fixed it.


Found out something chewed on my new trailer lights and to resplice before the night before leaving.

 

Fully loaded, cab, shell and box, pre runner status now. Noticed the rear tires still looked too low at 30psi, then realized I had my covers on, tired to drill a hole, realized I didnt have a big enough bit. Untied 2 of the holds and pried the plexi out. Ended up cracking one of the sides. Hope it holds its staying cracked.













Gonna be running 2 stroke mix again like my last trip across. A tiny extra compression bump and to lube the top end for all the long grades.

 

Left xmas eve, worst decision ever. Solid traffic all the out of LA half way up to the 15. Took 6 hours to make it to Vegas. Not really fun doing stop and go fully loaded down with no passing power to try and pass people sitting on their phones with a massive gap.

210


15 up the grade

 

Got some weird banding in the shadows, I think my camera was accidently in antiflicker mode.

 

So far so good with everything. Seems to pulls hills not too bad considering its massively overloaded. Could use a rear sway bar. The side to side motion in the rear doesnt feel good at all. The shocks are having a little bit of a hard time keeping up since there isnt much stroke left for it to reel it all in. All wheel covers are doing great even the cracked one. Gas mileage seems good considering. Need to see how the aero stuff is coming into play.











Went though AZ and camera wasnt setup in time to grab the photo but now Utah

 

Utah





This is one of things where you dont listen yourself and get screwed for it. Seeing how my truck was so low in the back I thought to adjust my headlights down but I didnt do it because I was too tired for getting ready. So then I hit a pretty decent snow storm and cant see shit, went snow blind a couple times since my lights were essentially high beams only. Not fun with 3 inches on snow on the road with no tracks to follow.

 

Ok so lets talk about the aero mods. I filled up at Terribles and went up mostly steep grades going 70mph, massively overloaded, top box on, super high winds, in pre runner mode, motorcycle and trailer stick out past the width on both sides of the truck. I got the same milage I get in LA on flat ground, empty, no top box, no trailer. 250 when the light comes on. It has to be making a pretty significant difference. Theres no way it should be the same.

As I was going through the rain and snow, I was trying to see as best as I could how the rain and show was reacting off the back of the truck and it def looks like the spray is getting channeled into a lower wake. I wish there was someone that could of seen from the outside, but besides that the mile should not be this high. For as many steep grades as I drop up I would not of been surprised if it was 200 considering all the stuff thats going on.


I tired my best to get a photo of the wake but theres no way. I could see with my eyes though.


The beauty of having a second tank, refill on the go. Even the milage on the dump seemed unusually high. I didnt end up going though both full tanks yet to get the whole milage. Cant wait to hit more flat ground and see where the milage lands.

 

Insane the CA pricing is was $5 a gal just a couple weeks ago.

Middle of nowhere Utah


Trailer/bike overhanging the side of the truck.


Couldnt stand going snow blind anymore, adjust my headlights and hellas down. Sheriff was wondering what I was doing.

 

Got obliterated by the salt truck for 30min. Cant wait to wire wheel the entire underside of the truck.


Then super dense fog. Turned my headlights off and just ran the hella's since they sit lower than my headlights, actually worked better.

 

Salty aero


Need to fix my bumper gap and my paint

 

Really digging the storytelling and framing with your photography in this thread. Beautiful shots.

 

\

Thank you, trying to make it somewhat interesting.

 

Its working! What camera are you rocking?

 

This is a little behind because I already posted a bunch of photos, but the plan was just to stay overnight in Moab. I got in super late, about 3am on xmas day. The guy there was nice and helped me check in, so I gave him a big tip and him ended up giving me the room for the me room for the next night free. Even when I woke up I wasnt sure. I kept the room keys on me just in case. Decided to do an hour drive around just too see the area. 10 min into driving I was like F it, Im staying. It was a little annoying driving around fully loaded down but it was gonna happen.

I drove around and took some photos, then went to go see what was in town. I was surprised to see the outdoor gear store was open till on xmas day. I stopped in checked some stuff out and left to drive around some more. The more that I seen that no one was out and about since it was X mas day I decided to call the gear store and see if they had a used folding propane double burner, they did. I drove back and picked it up. Ive been wanting one and didnt think to ask when I was there the first time. I even brought 4 cans of propane with me just incase I found one. Then found an organic grocrey store and picked up a couple things for the drive and some zucchinis for the grill.

Drove back to the spot I found that would be cool to make some food. I brought a Yeti with a bunch of New Zealand steaks with me for the east coast, and decided to get one out.



Wanted a green Coleman but for the used price the GSI will do.


The streak was brick from the dry ice but thawed in 20 min on a piece of 1/8 inch aluminum I had. Works as a good heat sink to suck the cold out.
Im actually gonna buy a large electronics computer heat sink for this very reason.

 

Multiple cameras all through out this thread.

Mostly
Sony A7RII
Sony A7RIII

-and-

Leica SL
Canon 5d MKII
Some films cameras
Some iPhone

Hard to remember, I have something like 40-50 cameras.

 

Not a bad problem to have! Enjoy the trip--safe travels.

 

Thanks, glad some people are enjoying it. Its a lot of extra work to document it all on top of doing everything off camera.