Atlastrekker's 04 Taco build and trips

I do have the locker. I haven't had a chance to run any serious trails. But it's mainly going to be used for snow wheeling and the rocks if I ever get to Moab or other rockcrawlig for fun.


Would I do it again? Hard to say. It's fun to say I have a locked rig. But a grand gets you along way into a trip for fuel.

 

That is all very true.

To this point I have opted to go rather than spend the money on parts. Luckily I have not had any time yet where I wished I was taller or had a front locker. It was a little fast in the rocks the other day, but considering my last truck had 4.7 to 1 gears in the transfer case that isn't too much of surprise that I would feel that way. I have only been stuck one time in this truck so far, in the snow and it was not really the trucks fault. I took a bad line and paid the price. The winch pulled me right out and I was on my way.

 

Spend the grand on bigger brakes. You will want them after 33s and lots of weight

 

It was my plan to do the brake upgrade when I wear these out. Thanks for the good advice.

 

I made a couple new videos.




I'm also considering sticking with 265-75-16 tires and forgetting about the re-gear and other stuff. I really don't think that I need a bigger tire.

 

Another new video.



Also thinking about bigger tires and gears again. The truck is just so fast in even mild rocky terrain.

 

I would go 4.88s. I had them in my old auto doublecab. It was probably the best mod. It's not much difference really, maybe 200rpm between 4.56 and 4.88. Im going a different route this time. I bought a parts truck truck for my swap that had 4.56s in it. I stole the front end for my 4x4 conversion. Rear diff was making noise and needed a rebuild anyway so I put some 4.56s in the to match. I'm running 285s with the auto now but am working on a manual conversion as we speak. I may look into a doubler at some point but only time will tell. Hopefully the 4.56s are deep enough with the manual. It's alot of cash but gears are the best mod for these trucks, they are geared tall stock

 

I agree, it is worth the investment. I'm hoping to get this done soon.

I also need to replace the rear leaf springs, the drivers side is sagging pretty good now and is an inch or more lower then the passenger side. Who makes the best replacement leaf springs now?

 

Ive always had good luck with dakars plus they are cheaper. You can get an aal of you need more capacity

 

That's where I was headed, with the OME dakars. I probably won't need heavy duty springs, it's looking like my plans for a popup camper aren't going to happen. This truck will probably never have too much weight in it.

 

Another thing that I need to get busy on is some type of air compressor. Does anyone have recommendations on that?

 

Definitely not the norm but I run a dewalt cordless pancake compressor. I can use it around the house also and it uses the same battery at my electric impact which I always carry

 

As long as it fills the tires up.

I have an older one of these guys, I might just start with that and see how it holds up.


https://www.aircompressorsdirect.com/Puma-PD1006-Air-Compressor/p13972.html

 

This set up works ok for the time being. It would be nice to have a dedicated on board air system, but that will have to wait for a later date.

 

I might have fried my winch yesterday. If anything I learned why fuses on both wires to the battery is a good idea. I was winching and the dash gauges went dead. I thought I might have been killing the battery so I stopped and ran the rpms up for a minute. The gauges started working again. I decide I had better open the hood, so as soon as I popped it up I noticed the wires were smoking.



I'm going to pull the winch off today and see what's up. Has anyone had to rebuild the motor on a warn winch before? Is it worth it?

 

What model winch? I use a local starter and alternator shop. Last one they removed the brushes and tested for 60 buck

 

I just called the local electric motor shop, they said they can fix it. The winch is a xd9000 that I've had for 15 years or so. I see that there are new motors on Ebay for $200, so as long as it's cheaper than that I guess I'm ok. The insides definitely stink like burning electrical.

 

I use a Powertank I won at a raffle. I never would have considered buying one - but now that I own one I wished I had one long ago!

 

How is is filling it up, is it a hassle? Have you run out of co2 at a bad time ever?

 

Costs $15 to fill at any fire extinguisher place. My first fill lasted almost 2 years! I had plenty of warning from the pressure gauge when it was getting low.