Burt, The Old Man With friends Daryl and Donna

trucks looking great man idk why tacoma world isnt updating me anyone on your thread thats annoying....

 

I've found that if you're sub'd to a lot of threads, that TW doesn't push out the notification for all of them consistently. Who knows.

 

i follow a few but i wouldnt say its a lot tbh

 

I thought about mounting mine aux panel on the fuse panel lid, decided to try the other side, that monstrosity of a charcoal canister is just too effing big!
Liking the build, 98s are just about right....

 

Yea I wish we didn't have the charcoal canister in the engine bay. Jealous of the space that the 01-04's have in that spot since it's under the bed on theirs.

 

The ARB is definitely the right fit for the early first gen Tacoma’s.

Hey Wyatt, I have a semi stupid question, are your switches hooked up to the dimmer-dash lights rheostat? Did you need to run a separate ground for that? I am hoping to get neck deep in my switch plate finalizing later this month:

and for the fog lights and moose lights:

 

That first pic looks like Many Parks overlook, so the rest were of Fall River rd? It has been awhile since I worked there- summer of 82’ Lawn Lake flood, that was quite a mess. Still a great place to check out, probably getting harder to find a time frame when it isn’t overrun with people though.
Burt is looking good..

 

So as far as I know, Toyota dash lights dim via a voltage changing GROUND, not a positive. I haven't had first hand experience but from what others have said about adding dimming switches to the factory dash rheostat as a ground. Double check that first but that's what I remember hearing from a couple people. So no my switches are not dimming, the light is only on when the switch is activated which is what I prefer.

 

The first overlook was up trail ridge road, right below the gate that closes the upper half during the winter. Its been extremely busy there lately (closed currently) but every time we go up it's hard to find a place to your self without hiking a few miles in on the trails. As for the Fan I couldn't find any real info on the damages so I am thinking its left over from the 2013 floods that hit the mountains pretty hard.

 

If my memory serves that is a hairpin curve with the gate after the overlook, you can see the gouge from the 82 Lawn Lake flood to the northeast(?) we called it Many Parks Overlook . Members of our projects crew did some rehab on the stone walls at the overlooks on the east side, as well as bridge replacements. That was back in the day for sure, I remember watching 3-4’ of water running down main st in Estes Park, the interesting thing was waking up to a silent main st that morning, very suspicious.... and looked out the window, and said that explains it.

Thanks Wyatt,

I am in the same boat, I only want the lights on the switches when they are on, too many things lit up in the dash area as it is.

 

Damn, looks like I once again forgot about a build thread. Shocker
Well I looks like last time I left off, I had just installed my fridge slide in the bed in April. So the fiberglass topper sold almost instantly upon posting a photo of the truck on instagram without it. As far as the replace well, Here it is!

A ditched the fiberglass topper for a soft topper.
Where's why:
Weight savings, The fiberglass topper with 3 sliding windows, carpet, and rear glass was in the 175-220lbs range. At 8k feet and a 4cyl its a very very noticeable amount of weight. So having a 20lbs topper is a huge weight saving.
Functionality, The ability to go from having a topper to having an open bed in less than 2 minutes anytime, anywhere, without having to grab the tools, I couldn't be happier. with my choice to switch.
Once I have it for about a year I'll write a bit of an update review, especially after the winter.
In preparation for the soft topper install I wanted to pull the be liner out and paint the spots on the bed that had been rubbed off by the liner. well that just turned into me painting the entire interior of the bed. But now I wont have to worry about water getting under it and rusting any time soon.

 

Some random photos from quarantine.

35s?
Probably could fit with a sawsall

 

A few nice photos down some dirt roads near where I was staying.

 

Then I helped build a famous instagram truck with Basil Lynch.
It started as a ugly but clean first gen tundra with 70k miles, 4.7 V8, and a perfect frame.
Then we spent nearly 30 days working between 8-15 hours a day to fully build the truck from the ground up to have a flatbed camper and be able to travel the transamerican highway once the borders reopen.
Here a few photos of the transition. I was responsible for most of the fabrication on the truck, including the fitting the second gen tacoma bumper to the first gen tundra frame which was a bitch and took 3 full days. But in the end it looks absolutely badass, and from research its the 3rd or 4th one that's been done. And of course a one off ultra custom dual battery system that I can't find a complete photo off. But You can see more on Basil's instagram page @basillynch.

 

Mid June I finally got out camping in Burt again. Before that I just was staying in a RTT that we have mounted on a utility trailer that hauls the dirt bikes on riding trips.
I do like the new topper but the sliding windows with screens were nice for camping with the fiberglass topper, but even in a pretty good wind storm I was able to get some good sleep with the softopper.

I also spent a morning messing around on the beach at Blue Mesa and then around Hartman rocks, since I hadn't been there since leaving school for the quarantine.
I definitely missed Hartman's.

 

Did a bunch of dirt bike trips during this time as well. Here are some of the better photos from those trips in no real order.

 

Since I also don't really have any Burt updates, I post some photos of some summer field based expedition courses I went on as well.
Backpacking in Fossil Ridge Wilderness and the West Elk Wilderness.

 

And then moving back to Gunnison for Senior year catches us up to current times.

 

Should be interesting with a soft top this winter, looks to be a snowy winter if the farmer’s almanac is correct. The rig is looking good. Enjoy

 

Burt has started to have a couple little issues so I have the things on order to fix him back up after the last year of abuse.
Basic maintenance things plus a fuel filter, coolant for a full flush, thermostat, and a new exhaust system since the muffler has been falling apart since I bought the truck, and I think its gotten bad enough to be blocking a considerable amount of flow.

I am in the process of sea foaming the truck, I have half a bottle in the tank currently and I did a 1/4 bottle through the intake, and it definitely feels much smoother, and brought my idle up from 600 to 750 with a better overall ability to start and doesn't drop down to 350-400 when I push the clutch in while driving. I throw the rest of the bottle into the oil about a hundred miles before I change it just to clean everything out.

But I have gotten out a but lately exploring Gunnison more and my girlfriend and I took a drive to Gothic this morning while looking at the leaves changing.