Colinb17's kinda sorta build thread - now with 4-link and long travel

I got made fun of on saturday for taking your phone call right here.....

 

"oh hey yeah can i call you back? i think one of the front wheels just slipped of a rock. no no im not mad at you im serious i'll call you back"

 

I told you guys the call was automotive related lol. can't leave a brota hanging when he calls with a question about his front suspension

 

lol, no worries, you did very well for a "first timer". i was watching my cameras the whole time, so if i had any hesitation about your direction, that's when i popped my head out the wondow and asked.

actually doing it is the only way to learn how to spot. and better that you learn by spotting a truck with armor, than someone who could blow a hole in their transmission if you mess up

 

I got pretty good at spotting real quick on my trip out to Hell's Half Acre with just me and shutterbug a month ago. We were trying to protect his bumpers... haha not an ideal first time spotting experience but like I said I got good really fast. I'd much rather have spot my rig through there. Haha. You can't really hurt it much. Although I'm pretty sure I was good at spotting before I just lacked confidence in it so I was hesistent to try before.

And I got him through with out touching the bumpers! Couldn't save his trailer plug though... haha but that was more lack of care. He doesn't use it much so he didn't care.

 

i'm surprised every time i see a tacoma with stock bumpers out wheeling. they have decievingly good ground clearance for giant chunks of material hanging off the ends. that's why i always tell people to get sliders and skids before worrying about bumpers.

 

But bumpers look sick bro!

 

and that's why you see people with bumpers and rocks through their trannies

 

Only reason I have my front bumper is because of hitting a deer. Sliders and skids are definitely more important than a rear bumper and will take precedence unless I find a smoking deal

 

Photos from the Barnwell Mountain trip this past weekend.

it was the first run with the 35s, and i am very pleased. only rubbed a little in the places i already knew about and expected, but it was very minor, so i won't be doing anything more to clearance for the tires. glad that saga is over

great place to wheel. lots of challenging climbs, articulated washouts, a decent amount of rocks, and a great rock course.

we had a pretty wide mix of trucks. first and second gens, and an older 4runner. all 4x4s, some open diffed, some locked, with 2 first gens and one second gen on solid axles.













































































Bent slider

 

that makes sense for sure. my comment was directed at wheeling.

 

I'll neg peR the first person who quotes that post with the pictures! lol But seriously looks like a blast! Are you locked?

 

you may benefit from investing in one for a winch though

 

not locked yet

 

I feel like when I get some money I'd like to lock the rear. Don't think doing both would be worth the $1k

 

Do it once and be over with it... At least that's what I'm doing.

 

no no, calm down lol. i don't make fun of people for needing recovery. there's no shame wanting to preserve yourself and your vehicle. i'll will however, make fun of people who need recovering because they were stupid. you were doing everything right at that point though.

reason i said you should look into a which is for climbs and getting up and over the larger sheer faces. your wheelbase helps you on the flatter rock gardens, but puts you at a disadvantage when we start going up.

it's easy to hilift and stack rocks to free yourself on rocks and washouts (where oyu do fine), but stacking rocks doesn't quite have the same affect on climbs. we saw that happen on that first trail, saturday morning with the slider incident and all of the other folks who had trouble. stack and stack, but in the end, it was a line change that worked.

 

Um, yeah. Its def worth way more than $1k to be locked Fr&Rr. Trust me.

 

wheeled with a leaf sprung SAC 2nd gen this weekend. not nearly of the quality that yours is, but fun to watch, none the less.

 

Depends on the areas I guess. He was on the same trail I did this and even being as careful as we could it would still really really close. Some of the rocks were less than an inch from his rear bumper... The front bumper isn't a big deal though, because it just flexes and pops back into place.