FJ Summit XII Live! (2018)

WOOHOOOO!! I _will_ remember this! Promises promises! haha

Our booth, like last year, is adjacent to the dinner line (which is awesome), but when we arrived the dinner line was already fully formed rendering it not possible to bring our trucks into our booth. So we walked around, did some networking/meet-n-greet. The event looks great! At least as large as last year. Here are a few pics I took in between talking with people:







I got this sweet pic of Karl from Nitro downing some Pizza while chatting with Marlin lol

 

The sun was setting fast and we still needed to eat, so we took the Toyota Land Cruiser Association's latest inductee to the Hall Of Fame out to dinner!

None other than the founder of IH8MUD himself Brian and his wife Heather

Brian recommended O'Briens. Found this initial parking spot which gives a good idea of how cool this lil city is, aka "The Switzerland of America"



Once inside we not only got a front window seat but two parking spots opened right up! So Marlin and I swooped in for a great dinner view

From left to right: Heather, Brian (TLCA Hall Of Fame inductee 2018), Marlin (TLCA Hall Of Fame inaugural inductee 2006 -- more info), and Christine (aka Mrs. Crawler)

 

It wasn't long until this began happening







Marlin even had a few long-time customers see his truck and then walk into the restaurant to find him! How cool is this?? So awesome! Marlin the Toyota rock star!

 

Back at our hotel for the night! We are very tired and will get to sleep on time for a change. Looking forward to posting up some trail pics!





Good night from Ouray, Colorado!

Regards,
BigMike

 

That's awesome @BigMike. I'm very impressed with those mpg and 40s. I'm on 35s and 488s. When I made my trip home to Truckee from Montana i averaged 12 mpg. Makes me want to go up to 5.29s seeing how well your truck is doing.

 

32 bfgs ko2s stock 3.90 gears

65@1658rpm 6th
65@1976rpm 5th

70@1789rpm 6th
70@2119rpm 5th

75@1907rpm 6th
75@2267rpm 5th

Have fun wheelin!

Edit one wrong rpm.
Edit two wrong gear ratio lol.

 

I was drafting behind a tow rig so definitely was cheating, but the 17 MPG that I make when running solo at 67 MPH is the real deal. I'm a manual (more efficient than auto) and also have an improved flow exhaust which I believe helps (details on my build thread @ reply #582). Each wheel and tire combo weighs as I recall around 115-120 lbs so once you get all four of em up to speed they store a lot of energy and help buffer acceleration losses such as overpasses and an unsteady foot. But the fact that I'm still making good mileage even pulling grades is whats most surprising to me.

90yota.... This moniker sounds so familiar. Aren't you a long-time member on our forum?

@PB FAB Thank you VERY much for this data! Before I respond, I thought 6cyl autos came with 3.909:1? When and what models came with 3.73:1? Thank you!! The data provided is not what I was expecting.. >_<

It was an AWESOME day today and sorry for the lack of updates! I began working on this and then realized I am too wasted to type everything up (it's past midnight) so I'm gonna have to postpone updates until tomorrow evening when we plan to get back to our hotel much more early.

We ran Imogene Pass and had a great day. Looking forward to sharing a really neat experience we were a part of. Marlin and Christine were both super impressed with the trail! They are amazed at how beautiful it is out here!

I can't leave the thread hanging without at least one pic, so here comes one from nearly the top of Imogene Pass!



Good night and will post up two days worth of trip reports tomorrow evening!

BigMike

 

Here come some updates!

We got up and left for the Artisan Bakery to grab some coffee when we ran into Kirt Williams from cruiser Outfitters (one of the biggest names in the Land Cruiser industry) and who did he happen to be with? None other than Corporate Toyota themselves!!

It turns out we ran into the Toyota marketing group that is doing a multi-event marketing campaign with the TRD Pro Tacoma, TRD Pro 4Runner, and TRD Pro Tundra (all three white). Here is a photo of some of the journalists and Toyota employees grabbing some breakfast. In Japanese this would be known as かくしどり笑:



That was super awesome and we got to catch up with Kirt who had just returned from Greenland where he took Toyota Hilux trucks from one end of the polar ice cap to the other, a feat that has never been done before, and it was done using all Toyota trucks and Kirt got to be a part of it! How cool is that?! He told me the article will be coming out later this fall.

Next we drove back to main camp to figure out what run group needed some tail-gunners and support vehicles (Marlin loves to be last and has an on-board welder, every tool you can think of, and between the two of us we can handle any trail repair).

Parked near main camp



I decided that the first trail my parents try is Imogene Pass. Imogene Pass is the highest pass the event offers and has most all iconic features: High elevation, Drop offs, Rivers, Waterfalls, Mine Shafts and Abandoned Mining Equipment, and some optional (small) Rock Ledges.

We were then advised to join the 9am run group for Imogene Pass for a very special treat...

Imogene Pass

...and that was because Corporate Toyota was also on this run group!!

Here is our run leader going over the trail with all the Toyota employees and journalists! Ok this was awesome!





And what's more is that because we were the tail-gunners of the main group, the Toyota group pulled in right behind my Tacoma!

A journalist from the Corporate Toyota group grabs a pic of the Crawler Truck



Marlin was excited

 

Up the road to the trail head we go!



Their camera guys were going nuts behind me taking all sorts of photos of the TRD Pros driving in the dust.





Someone got a pic of my truck (I know who it was *waves*)



New TRD Pro Taco in my side mirror. Toyota, PLZ stop with the goofy snorkel and JUST BRING US THE 70-SERIES LAND CRUISER ALLREADY!!!!

 

Neat overhang







Regrouping for our first water crossing..



...which can be a fun one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9jbethGEfA

Made for a nice car wash photo

 

Not too far after the water crossing there is an optional small rock ledge climb that some got to play on.

Last year I posted this short Walking the Crawler YouTube video of my truck on 37s + Dual Ultimate + 4.88s for a final drive ratio of 235:1...

July 22, 2017

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1jompFf2bw

And now, one year later, I took another short Walking the Crawler video, now with a few more mods to share The difference in gear ratio when I select Dual Ultimate is due to my new 5.29:1 R&P

July 20, 2018

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv78SwLahUE

In case you're wondering, gear ratios this close will be entirely undetectable by the naked eye. Even with the drastic difference in tire size, the usable torque and added control they provide are practically identical. Leaving the A/C on for this year's video was a goof by me

edit: I decided to embed both videos for a one-year transformation perspective

 

Next we stopped to check out this nice waterfall



TRD Pro vehicles grouped up



Rest of the group



Marlin and Christine chatting with an editor for Four Wheeler Magazine

 

Continuing on..



Couple pics from the beautiful country out here

 

About 2/3rds up the trail there is an optional route you can take to check out a mine shaft with this warning at its entrance

(In all honesty guys I don't know who they're trying to fool, there is nothing difficult about this trail)



We love seeing these old ruins and just thinking about what it took to get all the materials in to build structures and the challenges of hauling out all the ore







Couple pics of the elder Crawler truck mingling with the young buck FJ Cruisers

 

More scenic pics

 

Near the top is this very popular rock perfect for some excellent truck photos! As we saw earlier, Marlin did not disappoint!

 

I was next and I asked the trail leader to place me as close to the edge as possible. When he said, "Go as slow as you can", I said, "No problem!" haha Reverse, however, is only 494:1... Gotta compromise somewhere



Thank you Marlin for the pics!

 

And last but not least, the Crawler family!



Continuing up and up!

Regarding at least this trail, if a bone stock full size GMC can make it then you've got nothing to fear good buddy!

 

Finally made it to the top!

 

Now back down the other side of the pass! The Marlin Crawler is also quite useful here because amongst all our different gears we can find one that matches the slope and pull by gravity perfectly with the increased engine compression braking for a smooth, steady, and safe speed all the way down without touching the brakes even once



Once down a bit we regrouped to check out some more ruins



(we only took this one picture of the many ruins apparently )