Hardrock off-road April trip

with that said I got you on the list

 

Hey I didn't back down either!

 

@allenfab , copy this in the OP when you get a chance

 

Did you put this in Florida tacomas?

 

I was just going to tag me. Cool

 

I just had to find a line that worked with open Diffs, which I did. I stayed at the top the whole time!

 

Lol yea that works!

 

No, debating on it. I guess if we have a big group we can split into two

 

I'm still a "maybe", haha. Still haven't gotten the OGT in for an alignment. Gonna try to take care of that this week and then I should be able to commit one way or the other. Lily White said he can't go. I think the wife forbid it because we make him spend more $$$ on "that damn truck". So no dedicated videographer for this trip.

BTW, Frank, I'm diggin' the new sig pic.

 

Lol thanks! It has something to do with another thread

And although I liked your post I dislike the fact that Rick can't come

 

Ya, I know. His wife forbidding him was just me reading between the lines since he gave me the same excuse--pretty much verbatim--as he gave me when he bowed out of the Annual Meet. At least I tried.

 

Done

 

Welp...I bit the bullet and took the OGT in to have it aligned. I was a little nervous because I took it some place new...The Tire Choice in Carrollwood...but they seemed to have done a decent job. No more nasty pull to the right.

Haha, I'm sorry to say I was slightly reassured to find the guy working on it was old as dirt. I know that doesn't mean anything. Old guys can be hacks too, but this one apparently wasn't. Even better, I paid about the same as I was paying the other place and the alignment is good for a year where as at the other place it was only good for 90 days. They also got it in as soon as I got there and they got it done fast.

As an added bonus, it seems that the work Todd and I did on my rear axle corrected the alignment on the rear axle which was about 2-3* out. Now it's only .3 out of square. So huzzah! for me and Todd! We rock!

Now I just have to put that heavy ass skid plate back on and I'll be ready for Hardrock.

I still have an issue with my left front brake grabbing, but I think I'm gonna have to get new rotors and pads to correct that so I'll probably have to live with it for a while.

 

I've got my stock rotors, and calipers on the shelf. I am not sure how old the rotors are but I am fairly certain they are newer. They are yours for nothing if you want them.

 

Cool, I'll take ya up on that. I still wanna upgrade to some drilled and slotted rotors, but in the interim those will probably make my life a little more comfortable...and the calipers would definitely be welcome since there is an outside possibility that one of my calipers might be sticky and might be the source of the issue.

Throw'em in the truck and bring'em to Hardrock and I'll grab them from ya.

I got an interesting ideer for a tire gate I wanna run by ya as well. It's something that should make it easier for us old bastiches with effed up joints and backs...and for folks that like to work smarter not harder. It may make you wanna redo yours...yet again.

 

Put me on as a maybe. If I'm not working I'll be there.

 

Remind me again when the time comes closer. I am tired of stepping over these things

I am actually thinking of getting rid of my tiregate. I am about at the point where this will be mostly a trailered rig, so I won't need to carry a bunch of parts and coolers and stuff in the bed to where I have to mount the tire on the gate. But you know me, something is right if I ain't tinkering with something constantly lol

 

I wouldn't get rid of it, especially with the sort of stuff you want to do with it. If you slice the sidewall out of your tire when you're halfway up the mountain and your tow rig is down at the bottom, 2 or 3 hours away, it'd be nice to have your spare right there with ya...along with your spare u-joints, driveshaft, and axles--just in case.

I'm working on drawing the idea up a bit. I'll PM ya if I manage to make a decent rendering.

And will do on the reminder.

 

Oh no, I will still be carrying the spare, it will just be laying in the bed flat instead of on the tire gate. Since I won't have my boxes of camping shit and a huge cooler taking up that space anymore.