Michigan Tacomas

This is definitely another great option and totally slipped my mind.

 

Thanks. I’ll give them a shout

 

We have any mountain bikers here? I was blindsided by a Costco closeout on an Intense 951 Trail, but at the end of the day it's 100x the bike that I am rider, I already have a nice bike that is 10x more bike than I am rider...and we're doing some remodeling too so that's a wad I probably didn't need to spend. I feel bad returning stuff, but especially this since I am not sure if they'll deem it used or not (it has about 8-10 minutes of time riding around in my yard). This is a screaming deal I will regret letting go of but if anyone here wants it I will pass it on for what I paid - $2120.

 

Wow!

You win internet high score for impulsive purchases!

Good luck with you sale and thank you for your honesty.

Kirk in Midland.

 

If anyone is looking for a shop to do just about anything..

Expedition Vehicle Outfitters
Located in Fowler

I recommend. They are good people.

 

The bike is gone. And I already regret it.

I won't say who got it to protect the innocent, but...enjoy!!

 

Having too much bike isn't necessarily bad. My first real MTB was something that was way more capable than I ever will be but I knew it was going to develop my skills to better use it.

 

Yeah, if I didn't already have one that's still more than I need, it would have been a better argument. But in addition to our house work and shop build, I'm also staring down the barrel of finally replacing my laptop from ~2012, and a couple weeks in the land of aloha coming up too so I know it's the all around best decision for the moment. There will be more deals down the road - plus for the reality of the local riding, I'd just assume get a hardtail to replace my (now probably bordering on vintage) full suspended XC.

 

Fair enough. Just replaced my 2010 and 2012 laptops recently too. Since I do most things on my phone I wasn't super picky. Been to the land of Aloha twice. Definitely expensive but very beautiful. Although somehow still cheaper than California.

 

Expedition Vehicle Outfitters is a known shop for outfitting Toyotas. They have the most experience with Toyota, especially Tacomas/4Runner in the West Michigan area by FAR! Lift, gearing, cab mount chop/relocation, etc.

 

After being unable to decide on a laptop, or Mac vs. Windows...I actually decided to just try an iPad with a keyboard folio after realizing I just used that laptop when I didn't want to stare at the small screen. I've got a desktop that's almost as old but still has enough grunt to run a little CAD for personal projects, etc. so it essentially needs to be a browser/email machine, anything else is gravy..

And I lived in SoCal for about 7 years. It was kind of funny going to Hawaii for the first time and thinking, "Gosh, this really isn't THAT bad..gas is actually cheaper here, interesting.."

 

Yeah we thought about the Mac but decided to go with a Samsung since we already were familiar with Windows and I have a Samsung phone so they play nice together.

Definitely truth there. We did a trip to Mammoth Lakes and paid $5.19 per gallon for gas in 2021. Then drove to Vegas a day later and paid under $4 there. Yet somehow the cheapest gas we paid for all trip was around $3.71 in Maui. Granted I'm sure the lack of tourists at the time probably played a factor, but I don't recall it being too bad when we went in 2019 either.

 

Good morning all! Jumping from a '21 F-150 to a (likely) 2018 Taco very soon. Looking forward to throwing money away on widdle wadders etc very soon.

 

Morning

 

Just following up on my post-lift + bigger tires alignment. After I installed my new RXT leaf springs (option 1), Bilstein 6112/5160, FN f(x) wheels, and Falken Wildpeak AT4 275/70/17 tires I drove for a few days before alignment. No rubbing and probably did about 200 miles of various roads, etc. Got my first alignment done at Mr. Muffler in Belleville. I didn't give them any special instructions, since I wasn't having any rubbing or issues. Just thought it was good idea to get alignment done and figured they'd know what to do since lifted/larger tires. They didn't give me a copy of the alignment printout and I didn't think to ask for it.

The next day after alignment, I drove about 60 miles (highway) to Toledo to get OTT tune done. Pulling out from tuner's driveway (angle and sharp turn) to test the tune, I got my first rub in typical spot on fender liner near cab mount. After that, routine rubbing in angle/turn scenarios (e.g., pulling in/out of driveways). I figured the suspension was just settling, so I heated and pushed back fender liner and cut small piece of fender lip at contact area. This helped some, but still got slight rubbing on cab mounts. After a couple weeks, figured I would suck it up and try to find a shop the do a "custom" alignment and try to mitigate rubbing.

Went to Cook's Automotive in South Lyon, MI. Talked to the desk person and tech that would be working on my truck, but neither were sure they would have enough adjustment to resolve rubbing and keep good alignment. Turned out that my existing alignment was way off, with only camber(?) being within specs. The caster was out of spec in negative direction, actually making the rubbing worse. Technician spent a couple hours getting everything sorted and no rubbing or other issues since. I didn't do any hard driving after my first alignment, so only conclusion is that Mr. Muffler must have botched the alignment somehow. I have the alignment printout if anyone is interested, but not handy right now. Cook's basically just put alignment back into spec. I paid ~$143 for "custom alignment," but I think they usually charge $69 for regular alignment. Honestly, I'm just happy no additional work/mods were needed to fix the rubbing, so didn't argue about price (since they allocated additional tech time/expertise with expectation I needed custom). Not sure what happened at Mr. Muffler, but shout out to Cook's Automotive.

 

What ORV tags should I get for going into state and national forests? Only the ORV "License" or should I also get the "Trail Permit"?

It's my first time doing off-roadish stuff, so not sure. Didn't even think about it until I saw this post. My buddy has land near Roscommon and I may have already violated something going through the local DNR land and national forest a few weeks back.

 

This page from MI DNR is a pretty good resource

 

Thanks! Just found that site a few minutes ago also. Looks like the table on that page gives me my answer. License+ permit if I want to go on anything that a conventional car can't traverse. The 50" wide vehicles on "ORV trails" thing threw me off (I thought only that required the permit), but seems that non-passable "ORV routes" also require the permit. From another DNR page I though it was $26.25 + $36.25 for both, but only $26.25 + $10.

Last time I had ORV sticker on a vehicle was when I was a kid and we had it on an old red Land Cruiser. Didn't really appreciate that vehicle as a kid, with sideways jump seats in the back, but would love to have one now (without all the rust).

 

Sorry to hear about Mr Muffler. Glad you got it cleaned up.

Any pics with the new set up?

 

Just a few quick pics. Getting ready to raise my RXT leaf packs from option 1 to option 2. I always carry a few hundred pounds of tools, etc., in my bed. When I measured height at all four wheel positions, they were almost exactly the same. I want a little bit of rake in the back and to help accommodate towing my camper without visible sag (also have WDH and SumoSprings).