Lambo's Daily Driver --> Trail Hunter Build (dbc trd) - Now I need a new daily...

I haven't even attempted to fix it yet. I imagine I'll do so at some point. My plan was to just pick up an abs motor and computer from a part out or something, however checking the wiring and testing it a bit more first is probably a smarter idea.

 

Got a front bumper and skid plates from All-Pro. I didn't realize how heavy these were... they might have to wait until after suspension



Anyways, I took them to the powder coated to coat everything black.



Met another taco at the powder coating shop getting his new bumpers coated.



<3

 

Nice build sub'd

 

Thanks! It's not much of a build right now... been enjoying it in stock form for the time being

However, that should be changing soon. I'm going to hit up Moab mid-May and suspension should be coming in June. That's the plan at least.

From this Saturday:

DSC_6125 by Phillip Keefe, on Flickr

DSC_6126 by Phillip Keefe, on Flickr

DSC_6162 by Phillip Keefe, on Flickr

<3

 

I got the bumper and skid plates back from powder coating on Friday. Unfortunately, Colorado decided to snow all day on Saturday. So, I started the install today, after clearing off all the snow. I didn't have time to get the skid plates on. I will need to do that before hitting the trails next Saturday. There are a few things I need to finish/improve with the bumper. I need to trim the front fender liners and that old bumper mounting bracket, and I need to figure out a solution for relocating the turn signals that I'm happy with. I'm thinking of grafting the socket for a dual-filament bulb so I can keep the parking lights along with the turn signal. I still have some research to do for that. One thing I wasn't super happy with was that not all of the factory hardware worked correctly, so I need to put an order in at Fastenal to get what I need (neither Ace or Home Depot had what I needed...) Also, one of the brackets needed trimming which I wasn't expecting... oh well, not a big deal. Anyways, here are some pictures from today:









I'm gonna need suspension here soon... Should be able to order it in late May after Moab. Then I'm gonna need 33's... Then I'm gonna need sliders...

 

Boy... the nice powder coat really highlights how faded my flares are. I need to fix that.

 

05/04/2017 -- Transmission Flush, Steering Rack Replacement, Alignment -- 138,667

Well a lot happened this week... I took it into the shop to have the transmission fluid flushed and replaced, just another one of the things I wanted to do to have a clean slate for this truck. However, the tech noted that the steering rack was leaking quite badly, something my BMW tech roommate noted last weekend. So, I decided to get that replaced because I don't want it to blow while out on the trails in Moab, or anywhere else.



In other big news, I ordered a full OME setup on Monday. It consists of:

- 883 coils
- Dakar Leafs
- Nitrocharger shocks
- SPC UCA's
- OME Shackles
- New OEM LBJ's
- etc. etc.

So, now the race is on to get all that installed before going to Moab on the 19th... Oh boy.

 

Hit some trails today. I went with my Frontier buddy again and we randomly ran into a rad group of Toyota guys. We ended up hitting the trail with that group, it was a ton of fun. It was tough trying to keep up with those rigs lol... I can't wait to get the suspension on the taco...

Here's a few pictures from the day:

DSC_6323 by Phillip Keefe, on Flickr

DSC_6297 by Phillip Keefe, on Flickr

DSC_6301 by Phillip Keefe, on Flickr




Anyways, I also got around to removing more of the original bumper mounts and trimming the wheel well guards, in order to make the bumper more appropriate...

 

Looks like this weekend is booked...

 

Well this weekend was a semi-success... I got everything in the front installed on Friday night. We wanted to get the rears installed as well, however... the bolts holding the the leafs to the frame in the front and rear are seized in place. Since it was close to midnight we decided to just pack it up for the night and install the rear shocks for now.

I'll need to get the rear leafs and extended brake line installed sometime this week before Moab. I don't really want to roll up to Moab with mad Cali lean hahaha......









Unfortunately I didn't get many good pictures of the install because we were kind of rushed...

 

Well I managed to get the rest of the suspension installed on Tuesday. Unfortunately it was such a rush that I didn't really get any pictures... And it's been a rush to get everything else ready before heading out to Moab on Friday. I'll definitely be taking lots of pictures out there, so there will be plenty more opportunities to make fun of my tiny tires

 

Looks great. 883s are the perfect height.

 

Yeah I'm really happy with them so far. I haven't noticed much a degradation in ride quality with the stiffer springs. I have noticed less noise being transmitted through the cabin when hitting bumps. I assume that's mostly because of all the fresh suspension bushings.

Anyways, I started getting loaded up to go out to Moab. Shoutout to Mother Nature for deciding to snow in Colorado...

 

Just got back from Moab. Now to start planning on going back...

Anyways, here's a quick picture from the trip. A lot more to come along with a trip report.

DSC_6440 by Phillip Keefe, on Flickr

The truck did really well but a few things did pop up after all the wheeling

 

So what's next on the list?

 

Definitely sliders and 33's. Sliders would have really helped this weekend. I got stuck on Kane Creek trail at a spot where if I went any further around the corner, I would have bashed my doors in. Sliders definitely would have helped there and they'd have definitely helped in other areas that gave me anxiety of bashing the body haha!

 

I won't ever do Kane Creek again, at least not for a long while. Love the trail, it's just getting too tore up. What tires are you thinking?

 

Hmm I got to just before you dip down into the creek bed so I didn't get very far.

I'm honestly not sure for tires. My buddy has Cooper Discoverer STT's in the size I want and he likes them so maybe those. Otherwise I just need to do more research.

 

05/17/2017 -- OME Suspension Installed, Alignment, Brake Bleed -- ~139,000

Just to play a little catch up, and to continue the documentation of this truck, I figured I should post what all actually went into the suspension install. I also updated the OP to document the mods that have been done to the truck.

As for suspension, I ordered a kit off of Headstrong Offroad. I'm quite glad I did. Not only was Marie SUPER helpful but the shipping was stupid quick. I will definitely be recommending them to other people, which is saying a lot because Toytec is local. I just couldn't argue with the ~$300 in savings from going with Headstrong.

I did have to compliment the Headstrong kit with a few other parts from other suppliers in order to get everything I needed.

Here's what went onto the truck:

• Old Man Emu 883 Coils w/ Nitrocharger shocks
• Old Man Emu Dakar leaf packs w/ Nitrocharger shocks
• Old Man Emu greasable shackles
• Light Racing (SPC) upper control arms
• Old Man Emu U-Bolts
• Toytec front diff drop kit
• Trail Gear BVP relocation kit
• Old Man Emu exhaust hanger relocation kit
• Toytec extended rear brake line

The install wasn't terrible. The fronts went together pretty quickly once I figured out a good system for taking care of the new ball joint hardware (pressing out the old one, pressing in the new puck thing, and pressing in the new ball joint stud.

The rears, on the other hand, weren't quite as friendly. The front leaf mount bolts were seized to the metal sleeve inside the leaf spring bushing. Once I grabbed the death wheel tool and a proper cutting disk, it was cake to cut between the leaf spring mount on the frame, and the leaf spring. I also had to burn out the shackle bushings in order to fully drop the leafs. From there I touched up the front leaf frame mounts with some paint and the new Dakar leafs bolted right on with no hassles.

The BVP kit went on super easy too. However the rear brake line was a pain. I ended up having to hit where the hard-line connects to the soft-line from the body with some PB Blaster in order to get it to loosen up. That is something I m definitely glad I did. The stock brake line looked pretty worn anyways, but also with some of the flexing the truck did in Moab, it probably would have burst... Not a good thing.

As for how the truck feels/performs now, it's night and day. It is definitely stiffer than stock, however it soaks up bumps so much better. You can still feel the bumps in the truck, obviously, but it transmits much less noise to the cabin, which is huge. The extra load capacity is also a huge plus. I would be afraid to see how the truck would have done, loaded with camping gear, on some of the trails I did if it had stock suspension. With that being said, it's definitely wanting more weight when it's not loaded with gear... looks like I'll need to add more skids and a winch haha!

Now with the suspension done, it's time to look for sliders and bigger tires!

 

05/19/2017-05/23/2017 -- The Tacoma's 1st Moab Trip

Day 1:

I met up with a friend in Evergreen, that morning, so we could head out to Moab. I was driving the Tacoma out there obviously, and he was driving a Suzuki Samurai, lifted on 30's. The drive out there was pretty uneventful besides the Suzuki being exceptionally slow up the passes.

When we got to Moab, basically the first thing we did was hit Gemini Bridges trail. It was kind of a warm up so we could get acclimated to what Moab had to offer. It was my friends first trip to Moab, and it was my first trip by myself. I had been there before as a kid, but not for four wheeling.



Gemini Bridges was a fun trail, we ran into a lot of UTV's on it. I didn't realize how insanely popular they were until I got to Moab... Not sure if it's a good or bad thing, to be honest. Along the trail we found a few places to do small ledge crawling. In one of the locations I noticed a guy on a bike watching us. After having our fun we drove up by him and of course it was Ken Block riding one of his liveried bikes.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BR_5FLshCBe/​

I didn't get a picture or anything because it was kinda awkward and because it seemed like he was on vacation.

DSC_6336 by Phillip Keefe, on Flickr
Tacoma on Gemini Bridges​

After Gemini Bridges we had to make camp. Unfortunately Moab was surprisingly busy for the week before Memorial Day Weekend so camping was tough to come by. We ended up making camp in the somewhat shitty Kane Creek Campground for the night.


Day 2:

We woke up, immediately packed up camp, and found a new campsite at the Ledges campground. From there we headed out to Seven Mile Rim trail. This ended up being my favorite trail of the trip. It had a bunch of relatively mild ledges to mess around on, along with some drops where I had a few trailer hitch love taps.

DSC_6380 by Phillip Keefe, on Flickr


DSC_6393 by Phillip Keefe, on Flickr​

After Seven Mile Rim we grabbed lunch and then headed for Hurrah Pass. This was an OK trail. In hindsight, I would have stopped at the cool overlook and then turned back for camp, instead of continuing along the trail.

DSC_6445 by Phillip Keefe, on Flickr
Tacoma overlooking Hurrah Pass


DSC_6464 by Phillip Keefe, on Flickr


DSC_6469 by Phillip Keefe, on Flickr​

Day 3:

We got an early start on day 3 and decided to check out Kane Creek trail. This ended up being a pretty technical trail for our mildy modified trucks. After about 2 hours down the trail, we found a spot that the Samurai could get through, but the Taco couldn't get through without either some fancy winch work (of which we didn't have a winch ), or some significant body damage. So, we parked the Taco and took the Samurai down into the creek crossing... which sucked because it would have been so much fun in the Taco...

DSC_6484 by Phillip Keefe, on Flickr
Tacoma near the beginning of Kane Creek


Where the Taco got stuck...​

After turning back and back tracking Kane Creek, we decided to take a break from wheeling for the day. We headed back to camp, enjoyed a few beers and the sunset.

DSC_6502 by Phillip Keefe, on Flickr
Taco and Sammy at camp feat. double rainbow


DSC_6517 by Phillip Keefe, on Flickr​

Day 4:

For the final day we decided to check out Sand Flats. Without sliders and/or 33's on the Taco we decided to skid Fins and Things for this trip (gotta have reasons to go back!). Instead, we decided to checkout the Porcupine 4X4 trail. It was a good trail with one tough climb that took some clever rock stacking to get the Samurai up. Instead of continuing on to the Porcupine Rim trail, we decided to take the bypass back to Sand Flats Rd. and head back to town for lunch.

DSC_6539 by Phillip Keefe, on Flickr


DSC_6545 by Phillip Keefe, on Flickr​

After Lunch we decided to do a quick drive through Arches. That drive just highlighted more reasons to make more trips out to Moab...

DSC_6550 by Phillip Keefe, on Flickr


DSC_6561 by Phillip Keefe, on Flickr


DSC_6565 by Phillip Keefe, on Flickr​

Now I guess it's time to start planning to go back...