AdventureTaco - turbodb's build and adventures

Great write up! I do enjoy your style!

While it's nice to have those tools, the only special tool you really need is a spanner wrench which can easily be made.

 

Thanks, it's fun for me to write them up so I'm glad folks enjoy reading them!

For the tools, I think it comes down to the same old thing - time, money, and familiarity. In our case we knew it was already going to take us a long time to do the job, and neither of us had done it previously - so we wanted to make it as easy on ourselves as possible.

Plus, I know I'm going to use these tools over and over - at my current rate of adventure I'm looking at every 3 years to do the entire job again. Not to mention, I'm sure I will help others with the same job in the future now that I know I can tackle it!

At that point then, spending a few hundred dollars on the right tools to decrease frustration is totally worth it to me.

Totally recognize that not everyone may be in my position though, and I'm supportive of getting the job done however you want to do it!

 

It's worth mentioning, since people will find this thread, that you can thread drywall screws into the cam seals to pull them out, it's ghetto but works haha

 

what i did haha

 

I did my timing belt in an afternoon with no special tools.

Crank bolt is easy with a manual, just put it in 5th gear.

 

Yep. Held just fine while tightening and hasn't been an issue for the last 25k miles.

To loosen it I used an impact gun, but you can also put a breaker bar up against the frame and tap the starter.

 

Totally agree.

 

I'm getting ready to do this job in the next week. OK, so you can use drywall screws to get the cam seals out, and put it in 5th gear to get the crank bolt off. But how do you get the crank shaft pulley of without a puller, if it doesn't want to come. Most parts have come off my truck easy, heck the front bolts came out of my leaf springs, which I gather is kind of rare. How often does the crank shaft pulley need a puller to get it off?

 

Pullers are pretty cheap and are handy to have around. I'm not positive on the crankshaft pulleys, but many times there will be threaded holes that you can put bolts through that push it off. But, you have to have the right bolts handy, so might as well just get a puller.

One of my favorite tools is a small block of 2x4. Good for knocking in bearing races on mountain bikes, have used them on wheel bearing races as well, tapping in seals, etc. A lifetime of driveway maintenance, lol.

 

Can't believe I just now found your build thread. Tons of great info in here! Truck looks awesome too. Thanks for sharing.

 

Glad you enjoy it! Just back from three adventures in three weeks, so should have a good number of trip reports coming soon!

 

Oregon-to-Canada on the WABDR (June 2018)
Day 1: Joe and Daisy's First Big Dirt Adventure
June 24, 2018.

It's not often that we end up on a trip in our own backyard. There are many reasons for that - there are amazing sights far and wide, adventurous friends are located states away, and of course the weather in Washington makes snow-free exploration tough much of the year.

But when Joe got a 4Runner and mentioned that he and his wife (Daisy) wanted us to get them (and their 16-month old) out on their first trip, it seemed like a great opportunity to do something a bit easier and a bit more local.

The WABDR (Washington Backcountry Discovery Route) fit that bill perfectly!

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Dirt roads (mostly) from the Oregon-Washington border to the Washington-Canada border, it'd take about a week and would be relatively easy going - definitely something that Joe and Daisy could handle - I hoped!

Of course, being their first trip, they had lots of questions - so for a few weeks before the trip, @mrs.turbodb and I did our best to answer them - sharing how we travelled with @mini.turbodb but always trying to let them find their own way.

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Eventually, departure day was upon us - and @mini.turbodb, @mrs.turbodb, and I all packed ourselves into the Tacoma and headed south.

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By lunch time we'd met up with Joe, Daisy, and their daughter somewhere south of Tacoma, and we'd eventually reached the starting point of our journey - Cascade Locks, Oregon - @mrs.turbodb and I remarking how nice it was not to drive two days to a jumping off point!

With little kiddos in tow, we decided it'd be a good idea to eat lunch before hitting the trail, so we pulled over just before the Bridge of the Gods for sandwiches, chips, and a bit of a leg stretch before continuing on.

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The "I want your lunch" look. hahahaha

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By 1:00pm we'd finished lunch and headed (back) into Washington over the Bridge of the Gods, excited to start the adventure. This bridge is interesting for a couple reasons - first, the Pacific Crest Trail crosses the Columbia River using this bridge; second, this bridge was originally much shorter than it's current length, and was raised and lengthened in 1940 when the Bonneville Dam was built.

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We immediately entered a tree tunnel - a feature we'd see our share of over the coming week! Beautiful, but at times frustrating - the tree's blocking the grand views that would have otherwise been visible.

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Soon we were on dirt - headed north towards Canada, anticipation ahead. We aired down, and @mini.turbodb climbed into the bed of the truck - she wanted the wind in her hair and bugs hitting her face - in other words, she wanted to have an absolute blast! Joe and Daisy were excited to be bouncing along on dirt - keeping close behind despite the dust, presumably a bit nervous about losing us.

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It wasn't long before we were stopping for photos. The views were nice - if a bit territorial at this point - but more important was getting the new family accustomed to the pace, and the practice of taking in and enjoying the scenery around us as opposed to "just driving through" and missing the glory of the adventure!

@mini.turbodb and Daisy were clearly naturals at this.

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As always, I like to look over the truck at various stops, and it was at this point that I noticed quite a few drops of oil on the bottom of my skid plates. Investigation ensued, and I was pretty sure that the front diff had burped up some oil - perhaps oil had gotten caught in the breather line, forced out by expanding air - so I wrapped a bit of toilet paper around the breather to see if it'd happen again; thus confirming my suspicion.

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We continued on! Our goal really for the first day was twofold - get a few miles behind us, and find a nice campsite somewhere in the woods (hopefully with an amazing view of a big volcano).

As we ventured north into the afternoon we were making good time - so a stop at the Guler Ice Caves was definitely in order. @mini.turbodb was especially enthralled by the caves - wanting to explore deep into and through them...as long as someone else would go with her .

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Someone is seven. Though, I think our entire family is a fan of this goofy pose.

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As we'd find over the course of the week, "big view" camp sites aren't really the strong suit of the WABDR, so it took us a while before we stumbled upon the place we'd call camp for that first night. Obviously a former pit mine, we ended up at Babyshoe Ridge as the sun was setting and decided it was "good enough." Though rocky, it was flat, and the adults set about deploying camp and cooking dinner while the kiddos explored the surroundings.

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Camp setup and dinner done, we got @mini.turbodb squared away in her tent, and while Joe and Daisy put their daughter to sleep in the tent for the first time, @mrs.turbodb and I decided to explore the hillside above camp a bit. The evening had gotten cloudy, mostly obscuring the view of Mt. Adams to our east.

Still, as it poked through the clouds and the moon rose, it was a breathtaking sight to behold.as it poked through at times as the last of the evening light waned in the sky.

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With that, we too decided to call it a night - it was getting chilly and we'd had a long day. As we climbed into the tent, we wondered what the coming week would bring in terms of excitement and adventure, fun and views.

Little did we know that we wouldn't have to wait long to get our next taste of the amazing beauty Washington had to offer!

 

Photographs are locked on Flickr.

 

oops, fixed. thx.

 

Love your trip reports and photos as always. This one is fairly close to home so I may have to give this a go sometime.

 

Thanks both, glad you're enjoying! This is just the beginning - there was much more over the rest of the week, some really amazing views and lucky that we didn't hit any fires, etc.

 

Regarding the oil from the front diff. It happened to me as well when I regeared. The shop told me it happens once the diff gets hot. Then the oil expands. It need a place to go. Better the breather than the seal. I was thinking about a catch can but haven't gotten to it. Hasn't happened since. That was 15,000 miles ago and about 5,000 miles after the regear.

 

It can happen when too much diff oil is in there as well. Had toyota overfill mine by .5 a quart and had .5 quart come out my breather. Nothing to worry about, but worth it to check the level after a trip.

 

I don't see how it is possible to overfill the front diff, especially by that much. In fact, the shop where the regear was done, Just Differentials in Cashmere, recommends getting it as full as possible with the diff drop installed because the pinion bearing is a tad bit higher compared to when no diff drop is present. I know this because they told me the same thing.

IMO, put as much gear oil in there as you can. A burp once in a while is no big deal and does not represent a substantial loss of fluid. Just a bit of a mess to clean up.

And smme folks are running 85w140 weight. I would not do that in the front either. Yes, probably a good idea for the rear, but not the front. And the higher viscosity may contribute to the trapping of an air bubble in the breather line.

 

Yep, thanks both; I'm aware of the same which is why I wanted to make sure that was what was happening - and that I wasn't leaking engine oil or some other fluid (which would have been a problem). I later confirmed it was the diff, which was great, and of course my other fluids were showing full all the time, since they weren't leaking!

You can definitely "overfill" the diff - that's to say, you can fill it "above" the fill hole by using a pump and a hose that fills the fill hole so no oil can come out as you pump it in. Then, when you pull the hose, you insert the plug quickly before the oil all comes out.

Ask me how I know. Or rather, don't. hahahaha

BUT - I had a bit of extra oil in there because Just Differentials told me the same thing (which I still think is good practice) - overfill a bit if you have a diff drop. AND - I'm with you 100%; a bit of burping is no big deal (though it's a bit messy).