Ryan's Tacoma Build and Adventures Thread

So after my last post, I parked my truck til the following Friday. Wanted to unload the camper to take it in for an oil change so hopped in to move it... Nope. Rear end was locked up. Week later, I finally pulled it apart with some help from Mike. Multiple bolts backed outta the ring gear. One found loose along with hunks of metal. Another is loose jamming up the carrier from rotating. Hopefully not to $$$ a failure... But not looking good, that's for sure.

 

Ooof…that sucks.
I had a ring gear bolt come loose and punch a hole in the rearward part of the rear diff.
I was super luckily that was all the damage.

 

I'm just glad it gave up where it did, and not on a trail or miles from home with a trailer behind me.

 

didn't you just get those rear gears less than a year ago? Any luck with warranty?

 

Quick 2 night trip out to the Matlock area to get away from it all






Love having the griddle. Pancakes came out great






Nicole was trying out her new Google Pixel 6 at night. This was moonrise.




This was 3 or 4 minutes exposure straight up (I just set it face up on a stump)



That is 42 nights in the Scout.

 

Had a blast at another Avants - Offroad event out at Snoqualmie. Thanks again to Kyle (@turndownforchucks on IG) for the great photos. Here's a fun one of my rig. Was the first time I had been around the track in the truck without the camper on. Usually just using my SxS.

 

Mike Gatch Photography snapped a pic of my rig leaving the Lake WA cars and coffee yesterday. Was invited to check out Otis Porsche's new Overkill Trailer (no pics, oops). Was a beautiful morning to be out and about.




Here's a pic I took of the nice lil Audi that wasn't scared to park next to me.




Here's what a google pixel phone can do (wife just sent me this edit, haha). Definitely not perfect on this image, but *POOF*, the people are gone!

 

After the Avants Offroad event the other day I had to look into the intermittent clunk that became a full time clunk in the front passenger suspension.

Pushed and pried on everything on the suspension and seemed tight. Noticed the front body mount bushing looked sad and after watching some vids it sounded like that might be it. Bought and installed the

$28 9.4101g UNIVERSAL MOUNT

9.4101g bushings. Super easy install. Sadly, that wasn't my clunk. But after installing those I found my sway bar linkage was loose. Was parked just right and it was unloaded and could push and pull it through the spindle. Threads were destroyed for about 1/4 inch. Bought a couple washers and tightened it down and NO MORE CLUNK!


My Buy-Nothing antique Handyman Harrah hi-lift jack came in handy, too.




Those bushings were shot...

 

Glad you found the clunk!

I had one that took forever to locate. It turned out it was my driver side fender hitting my ARB bumper. At some point I tore the ends of the frame off.
After welding new frame ends on and adjusting the bumper's position no more clunk.

 

My arb just rubs on my fender when I articulate a bit. Just enough to keep the paint rubbed off and no rust on the bumper since it's always polishing it. No noticeable sound there, but will keep it in mind next time I have a new sound to dig into!

 

Fun weekend out with friends. Was a bit of a mess getting in to Buck Creek / Ranger Creek Friday night, though. Multiple boy scout troops were apparently meeting up for a big campout. They were woefully un-prepared for the compact snow and ice leading in. Multiple rigs, some with trailers, were stuck and sliding all over the place. Couple rigs and one trailer in the ditch while I walked up to see what was going on. We stopped at the trailhead just off 410 to get out of the way and make dinner. There were more than twenty rigs all in a line waiting to get up the hill. A couple mini buses even had to turn around to leave. Luckily an hour or so later things cleared up and we made it out beyond the runway to our spot.



Sent our location to 3 people. Only one made it without help. Google maps sent one person about a mile away. Another ended up getting stuck for nearly two hours about 200 yards from us. Literally took a left 100 feet before our campsite. Quite the adventure.





Two more nights brings us to 44 in the Scout Yoho.

 

I think it was two years ago, when I did the Monkey run, I took a rock and cracked one of my headlights really good. Cracked the other sometime later. Bought new OEMs and got them in January. Finally installed them. They look great. This was another project that went super smooth. Only took an hour or less. Thankfully my ARB bumper made for super easy access to the bolts. Most difficult part was figuring out how to twist the light just right to get out between the body and the bumper hoop.






This one easily had 1/2 cup or more of water in it.

 

Headed out to Moses Lake for some camping and riding with friends. Was my wife and I's 6th wedding anniversary on Saturday, as well.

To get all our toys out, we played musical trailers. I ended up hauling my friend's travel trailer, while he towed his 20 foot trailer with my wife's quad, his rmax, and our friend's quad. That friend with the quad carried my Teryx4 in his trailer, which took some fab skills










The trailer had a pretty low roof, much lower than the stock height of my Teryx4.




Turned it into a low rider in the rear to make it fit.




My new "Fox" rear shocks worked perfectly.





On the way home, I had made it all the way back to Cle Elum and was just pulling into the gas station at the Safeway when the TT's leaf spring gave out. Just super lucky it didn't happen on the freeway. Added 6 hours to the trip, but it was all good. Friend hauling my Teryx had headed to the Tri-Cities to see fam, and was able to pickup a leaf spring and drive it out to us for an easy parking lot install. And off to home we went!







That's 46 nights in the Yoho.

 

Originally figured we didn't need to camp this weekend since we were leaving the coming Friday for a week long trip. But hey, this is why we got this thing. Didn't really even know where we were heading, besides central WA around Vantage. I had never been to the Frenchman Coulee area and saw some people had posted about it recently on some FB groups I'm in. I figured it would be packed, but it was relatively empty on this side of the canyon.




Grainy photo since I was zoomed in so far on my cell phone, but you can sorta make out the water fall towards the center of the image. Had no idea it was there until I walked out away from the truck.



The falls started making its way downhill just ahead of my truck a couple hundred feet, if that.






Our pre-kayaking breakfast of blueberry muffins. Our little air fryer only holds three at a time, but they came out perfect. Just needed to drop the temp about 100 degrees from the recipe. And sorry, we ate them all before a pic was taken of them finished!






Relatively short drive from our campsite down to Crescent Bar. Had actually booked a camp spot there back before COVID, but it shut down so we cancelled it. Was our first time down there, and will likely be back. But honestly not sure if we'd pay to camp down there, or just make the drive back and forth up to the canyon. Nice enough Day-Use area right next to a little beach where it was easy to put in our inflatable kayak.




Leaving Crescent Bar, Google said it was only 7 minutes longer to head to Cashmere and then south on 97 instead of just heading back to I90 near George. Never taken that stretch so headed towards Wenatchee and home. Was a nice drive before getting stuck in traffic around Cle Elum.





And there is 48 nights.

 

Decided a fun trip would be to head down and hit the Lava Beds National Monument in the north-eastern corner of California. They have a nice First come-First served campground (no hookups, just cold water and flush toilets) with about 40 spots, I think. Says online they never fill up unless it's a long holiday weekend. I had totally forgotten it was going to be Juneteenth... Luckily, we got one of the last 3 or 4 spots. The campground did fill completely that Saturday evening. The next day though, people started clearing out and we moved to a spot with a better view.






The monument has a number of caves you can explore, all on your own. Only one right near the visitor center is paved and lit inside. Their is a pdf you can download on their website that lists all the available caves with a chart of difficulty and what to expect. Things like length of cave, if people can walk upright, duck sporadically, or crawl. They give you a copy when you enter the park that shows which are currently open and which are closed for protection of the bat population or other maintenance.










We were actually having such a great time with the caves we decided to leave early. Weird, right? We are hoping to talk some folks into going back with us another time. That way we'll still have some new-to-us caves to explore. We also want to bring our knee pads for easier crawling around. I shredded the toes of my shoes on the sharp lava rock, too, so heavier shoes, or perhaps another pair I don't care about ruining will also be needed.

That made 4 more nights in the camper for a total of 52 nights, but the trip wasn't over yet.

 

Originally, the plan was to hit Lava Beds, then head to Eureka on the California coast for a night in a Bed and Breakfast, but we didn't want to lock ourselves into a reservation so decided to leave it more open and just head to the coast whenever we decided to leave the monument. Days before we headed out I was looking at miles/time driving to the coast and up 101 towards Bandon, OR then home. Decided instead to head straight north to Bend, OR. It would save us nearly 1 day of driving, so more time to actually enjoy a locale.

Here's our first random campsite outside of Bend. Plenty of free camping if you are willing to drive a bit on some rough, DUSTY roads. The camping was nothing to right home about, but mainly just due to all the dust.




Decided to swing by the last Blockbuster. Didn't rent anything. No TV/VCR/DVD player in the Scout.




Two different sets of friends posted up that CVT was having an 80% off sale as they ready for their move. Since I was on my way to Bend, we stopped to check it out. It was sad, and pretty much a waste of time. Walked in for them to say everything in the store was 20% off, and there might be higher discounts on some stuff. The showroom was just about EMPTY. A few roadshowers, a couple chairs, lamps, sleeping bags, a few tents, and few other misc things. I bought a hat, cause why not.




One of our better meals in the camper during the week. T-bone steak, Broccoli and Cauliflower, Mashed-Potatoes, and fresh Cornbread muffins outta the air fryer. You're supposed to microwave the lil potato cups, but boiling water is all you need. Heated up in the kettle and poured in. Voila', delicious instant mashed tatoes.




We drove up to Paulina Peak on the way in towards the campground to check out the view. It was pretty good!




We brought our inflatable kayak, thinking we'd hit Eastlake but the weather was a bit colder than we like, and windy. So after a night in the Cinder Hill campground, we headed back to Bend to find another free campsite and to relax.




Overall was a great trip. We're now at 56 nights in the Yoho. ALMOST as many as we got in the AT Habitat. I'll probably get that tied up this coming weekend, and will surely keep climbing past.

 

Didn't want to forget to mention this. A year or so ago, I was monitoring the app as I drove down Blewett pass and was blown away I was getting 155 watta outta my Scout's 170 watt solar panel. That was pretty darn efficient!

But down at Lava Beds, my wife climbed in the camper and wanted to check how our charge was doing, she hollered to take a picture. I logged into the app real quick and was able to screenshot the below. Pulling 179 watts from a 170 watt panel. She said it was 185 when she hopped in, and I watched it at 180 for some time with peaks up to 183.

All I can figure was that it was just a little cloudy with a LOT of sun, and it was WINDY. Temps were right at 50-53, and it was super windy. I think it was keeping the panel cold, but still getting all the sun that's possible.



That just meant that, once again, I had brought my generator and didn't it. I sure coulda used the extra space. It was crowded back there. Was joking with my friends with kids that it's a good thing I didn't have any. Nowhere to put them.

 

Sunday we headed out for a little day trip with the SxSs up to Gallagher Head Lake. Was dusty, and the mosquitos were horrible, but overall a fun day. Might need to head back to do some other trails we didn't have time to explore.

 

Headed out to Squilchuck Campground for the weekend. Friend's family does a week out there every year, so I headed down Friday night after work. Was gonna stay the weekend, but wife couldn't make it, so I cut it short and left Saturday night around 11pm. Nice little campground, especially when everyone in it is in your party. Was a wonderful, lazy day just hanging out. Now I just have to decide how long to join them next year.



57 nights.

 

Back out to Sun Lakes-Dry Falls State Park for 4 nights. Having the truck camper made it real nice to drive down to the water front from our campsite. Only about a 3 minute drive.


The day use area got packed within an hour or so of us showing up, but we definitely got the prime parking spot. Early bird got the best spot!


This floaty cabana thing was awesome tied to a buoy out on the lake. Also made a great shady couch when out of the water!


61 nights.