RileySB's 2013 OR Build

greased my drive shaft zerks today. only found 3. Took about 7-8 pumps before the black old grease came out. Used Royal Purple. Once I get back from camping this week, it will be full on maintenance- change sparks, change front and rear diff oils, synthetic oil change and rotate my tires. Mileage 33750.

 

Rotated tires yesterday. 34,500 miles. A little bit late as I haven't rotated them for about 10K. Next up is synthetic oil change. Next week gonna tackle the changing the rear diff fluids. Was at the dealer and the guy told me that my Off Road model has limited slip and needs the additive. I thought that was strange since everywhere I've read on here says the Sport only has the LSD and therefore needs the additive. Also got some spark plugs to change out too. Just got back from the week in Death Valley- tore up my skid plates running over a large boulder that I didn't see hidden in a small flower bush. Photos to come...

 

Went camping: stayed first night at Lone Pine campground just below Mt Whitney after gathering info on Death Valley at the Inyo Visitors Center (we got lucky and had a fun helpful young park ranger from DV give us the scoop)

Went up Lippincott again. I didn't think it was quite as sketchy as the first time I did it back in January. But this time I had my Dakars installed and had aired down to 20psi.


Lippincott Mine

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Lost Burro Mine




Ubehebe Talc Mine

Cabin along Saline Valley Rd

Lee Flat

Beautiful layers of mountains

Looking down into Panamint Valley and the Dunes


Headed down to Panamint Valley and camped just South of the junction to Furnace Creek

Creepy Clouds

One tired dog. We slept in the back of the truck because the wind was howling.

Went up to Osbourne Cabin and Sunshine Mining camp the next day. Thrashed my skids on a hidden boulder (it was masked by a large wildflower bush that I thought I could just go over with my skids- WRONG! Smashed up my 1/4" aluminum IFS and 3/8" steel mid skid before launching the truck up in the air, then we realized what had happened. Luckily no real damage, thank God for the skids. And under the giant boulder was a giant scorpion. So we hurried on).

Osbourne Cabin

 

Just finished changing out my spark plugs. All six of them came out at 35,000 miles and the gap on every single one was 0.50. The new OEM ones I got from the dealer came gapped at 0.45. In the week since I had 3 of them finished, I've noticed a slight improvement in gas MPG, maybe it's a coincidence.

In other news, today I got my new Built Right UCAs I purchased through a GB on here. Well done product, same design as the top line brands (Camburg, TC, Icon) but at a discount, something about TIG vs MIG welding. Looking forward to getting these guys on the truck and getting a badly needed alignment. Kind of shook things up on my last off road trip to DV, it's been pulling hard right since.

 

Got my Built Right UCAs installed today. Did them all by myself! Took about 4 hours. The driver's side was a breeze using the youtube video install by Total Chaos (They claim you can do coilovers and UCAs in 14 minutes which is total BS). A few bolts needed a good soaking with some PB blaster to get off. Seems crazy that they were so tight because the truck only has 35K on it but then again plenty of off road miles. I ran into some more trouble on the passenger side getting the bolt out, and then back in. It's tight over there, way tighter than the drivers side with the brake line thingy to the left of the UCA and the extra layer of metal in the fender well to the right. After about an hour of tapping the bolt with a hammer and a screwdriver, I managed to get it slid in correctly. Got them greased up and looking forward to an alignment this week!

 

Riley, I just finished reading your build thread. I really like what you have done. You've got good spirit, grit and courage. Good job on the UCA install. I watched the same video before I did mine by myeslf, and yes the passenger side UCA bolt was a mother! Lots of stuff in the way.

Thanks for sharing pics of your travels and the Tacoma.

 

Thanks for the kind words Crom! I must say I would still be driving around, trying to do trails in a stock Tacoma if it weren't for this site! So many great ideas, so many great people here... yeah, kinda BS that it will only take 14 minutes to do coilovers and a UCA (Total BS is what it should be called) but very informative video that helped me. Just nothing on my 35K truck came off that easy!!

 

Very productive day. Got me a Lifetime Alignment at Firestone, told them I wanted to see their work before I decided on the Lifetime and asked them multiple times if they would align my truck if I were to go up in size on tires. They promised me that what matters is the size of the rim because their alignment tools can only do so big a rim. So after an hour at Firestone, I got these readings

Before (after I added Built Right UCAs):

After alignment:

The tech was nice enough to come up to me and explain that he couldn't get the caster down to 2-2.5 OEM specs (even though I asked the guy signing me up to get caster closer to 3 per what I've read here). He went back and got it as close to 3 while getting the toe to almost 0. Good work buddy! Now it drives so much better- no more crooked steering wheel! And no more steering wheel wiggle-n-shake when slowing down from hwy to about 20-30mph, oh man that wobble was horrible!

Also, once I got home, this baby was waiting for me- Tailgate reinforcement in aluminum and black powdercoat from Relentless (nicely packaged with wrap and some foam blocks. and they threw in a free sticker. More bling to add to my tool chest). Can't wait to install it!

 

Awesome pics as always! The tailgate reinforcement is def a solid investment!

 

I tried but they must be swamped since he never called me back

 

Installed my Relentless tailgate reinforcement today. Black powdercoated aluminum.

 

Nice build and pics! How have you liked the 887 and the built rights so far?

 

Thanks! I'm enjoying the lift that the 887s offer. Pretty smooth ride, much better than stock, and using the 887s helps me to avoid preloading the coils, I have the 5100s set at 0. The Built Rights are awesome, the truck has never articulated and steered better than it has now, once I added the Built Rights! They are beefy and so far no squeaking!

 

Awesome good to know I'm thinking of going to the 887 when I get new UCA!

 

Finally got around to changing my rear diff fluid. Needed a good soak with PB blaster to get off. The first 5 seconds or so of the draining process, the fluid was black, then after that it turned the color of dirty dishwater and had a gnarly sour nasty smell. After getting it fully drained, cleaned off the magnet of the diff plug which was mostly sludge and really fine metallic dust in the sludge, about 1/4" thick. Put the plug back in, then filled it back up with 3 qts of Royal Purple 75-90. Now I can go back to the dealer and return the LSD fluid they told me I needed, even though I told them I read that Off Road models didn't need it. Well anyways, the Royal Purple comes with the additive already.

 

Mmmmm diff oil. Nothing quite like the smell. Are you doing the recommended 30K mile service?

 

Yes I am. And yes the smell was nauseating!! It just took me about a month and half to finish all of it. LOL. But it taught me a lot about my truck, made me proud to get some grease on my hands, and saved me some $$. Did tire rotation, greased the zerks on driveshaft, changed oil, changed spark plugs, inspected undercarriage. Only thing left to do is retorque the driveshaft propeller bolts? I havent decided if I want to change the front diff and transfer case oil. I have been reading around on here and I've read that you shouldn't use synthetic in your diffs? What do you think?

 

Right on. I enjoy doing all the maintenance on my truck as well. The experience helps makes me confident that I'll be able to do some emergency field repairs if necessary. I would do the transfer case and front diff at the same time, to keep them on the same maintenance schedule. You can use synthetic gear oil if you want. It works absolutely fine. I have Mobile 1 Synthetic gear oil in all mine right now, I got a good deal on price. Chase the owner of East Coast Gear Supply has been quoted in this forum as stating that for ring and pinion applications, synthetic oil is not necessary. Because it synthetic costs more, and the potential benefits are slimmer, it just adds to the overall maintenance cost of the truck. That's why Chase recommends dino oil for the diffs, it's just a cost thing. As long as whatever you put in there is SAE

$30 75W-90 Synthetic Gear Lube - 1 Quart (Pack of 2)

75W-90 or better, it should be good.

 

Thanks for the tips Crom! Much appreciated

 

Thanks to rileySB and Crom, I read both your postings