n0rth's Tacoma build

That'll look pretty damn good behind that sexy CBI bumper

 

...yep pretty much! Haha

 

What Monte said!!

 

Finished mounting the winch control and ECM behind the glove box Friday night then went riding in Stanley hauled 3 Dirt bikes on the trailer climbed Galena really well with the S/C.









Here's a video from this evening.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4u4X9pn9e-M

 

BOV

sweet man!

 

No trailer or bikes, that was after I got home.

 

Here is the cruise set @ 55 my speedo is off by 5mph, I reset the ultragauge after the install that's the average even after towing the bikes all weekend.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BX02CAfw4Sk

........

 

Wow dude! Beautiful job. That truck is just the epitome of capable, in all respects

 

Okay so the video made me curious, so I ran and got fuel to check it and came up with 18.7 MPG calculated. I think its pretty good considering I pulled the trailer for about 200 miles of this tank.

 

I love your taco, and don't take that the wrong way. Haha. A bit jealous but not too much. I was stationed up in AK and drove my brand new 05 up there but picked up a 95 YJ to wheel with. Had a small 2.5" lift on that with 32" TSL Radials and had a blast. Those tires were awesome even in the winter which surprised the hell out of me. Just read through this whole thread in one sit down and damn do I miss wheeling.

Right now I'm sitting stock height on LT245/75E Duratracs w/ a Truetrac in the rear and DT header while only seeing 18-20 mpg. I do have a lot of hills in my commute and tend to drive excessively fast at times (80-90 mph) so perhaps that's the issue. If I could maintain 65-70 mph without requiring downshifts I might drive slower but since even going 75 I sometimes need to downshift to 4th I just go fast to keep the rpms/power up. When I've gone slow I might touch 21 mpg if I'm lucky. Brutal compared to the 25-27 mpg I saw driving to Alaska in the first 5k miles on the truck while bone stock with a 1000 lbs load.

Future plans are a small lift (OME) with 235/85s and at most 33's of some sort. I've been craving that S/C since it was mentioned. I look forward to your thoughts over time on it as next year may bring about a purchase. Just turned over 103k miles myself. I'm wishing there were some local wheeling spots nearby though I do have some flat trails to run through in the woods on my property.

I've been contemplating gears before S/C but 4.56s would have me screaming stock size(now) or on 235s and I would need a 33 and still be running higher rpm than stock, barely though. Decisions to be made for when money comes. Any thought on gears or S/C first if I don't plan on rock crawling and won't be on really big tires? I'm in the North East now but hopefully will end up out west again sometime in the near future. I loved my time stationed in Vegas though I did prefer Alaska.

 

Thanks. I don't know if gears are what you need with high speed driving, a S/C would work to stick with the stock gears and up to a 33" tire with no problems I would think. Its hard to say exactly what would work best I'm new to the S/C but will say it has made an incredible difference on the trucks drivability on the highway and hills.

 

Where are you in CT? Im in the NW, Goshen. Real small town.

 

Also NW, Torrington, on the line of Harwinton. I commute down to New and West Haven 5 days a week. Sorry to take the thread off topic.

 

I just watched your most recent video again. Seems like you're running around 2k-2.1k rpms around 58 mph indicated. Have you messed with speedometer adjustment at all? I checked tonight and I'm at ~1900 at 55, ~2100 at 60 and ~2000 at 58. Which size tires is that video with? I'm curious because with me at "stock size" you seem to be identical with the 4.88s and whatever size tires you had on.

 

I'm running 36" TSL radials, to me it feels geared lower than stock. It's about 3-5 mph off @60 its actually 55mph checked with GPS so it should be very close to stock it runs 2000 @ 55, 2500 @ 65. I should go test drive a stock one and see the difference.

 

Ah. I was just looking up info on the speed sensor pickup for these trucks and apparently they are pulled at the transmission, not the wheels. That would mean we should be identical regardless of changes. With the removal of the 4wd ECU that was done I'm curious if you show ridiculous speeds when in 4lo and crawl mode while actually barely moving.

 

I think they are pulled at the transfer case, I remember switching it out when I did the FJ case. It doesn't have crazy readings in 4wd/low/compound low, I think the difference is the 4.88 gears. They also have speed sensors at the wheel although I'm not sure how they figure into the equation, I know I tore apart the wires on one and my speedo/odo quit working in Montana in 2009.

You can see it on the right near the flange, black plug at this point it wasn't plugged in yet.

......

 

That picture reminds me I need to build a cross member for the crawler, I haven't had the skids off in a long time.