Sold Bronze Bonnie and Black Betty now BS and random questions

Truck rolled over to 117,000 last night on the way from NY to MI. Have some pictures from the White Out Blizzard we drove through (I'll throw those up later). Also 3 years ago I picked up my new to me Taco . 85,000 miles later she's still going strong

 

Some during and aftermaft of last nights drive. Truck turned white from all the frozen on snow and salt. Took it To the car wash and feels like it lost 200 pounds of snow/ice from the underside. Tucked it in tonight since it's supposed to get below zero tonight
Driving through 200 miles of total whiteout conditions and Tacoma didn't skip a beat. Sometimes I think about trading up for something a bit nicer with more features, but the truck is like a Sherman tank and goes through everything.

 

So got the driver side ditch light installed. Just need to button up the wiring and it's all set. Just waiting on passenger side to show up

 

Long time no update... Truck rolled over 120k miles recently from last weekend's road trip.

Passenger side CBI Ditch light bracket finally showed up so going to finish up that this weekend.

Wasn't the happiest with the BAMF CB Antenna mount off the tailgate. Bracket had a lot of movement with the 4 foot fire stick hooked up, so going to figure out something else for that.. Might cut it apart and then weld it to my pack rack

Swapped out all of my drive train fluids last weekend (Diffs, T-case, and Transmission) and truck is riding so much better. Was having some issues getting into gear and thought my clutch was going. Turns out a fluid change was all that was needed. So everything is good for another 40k i think.

Also got my rear diff breather relocation finally put together. Ended up going into the driver side storage box. There's a bunch of guides for this, but if anyone wants I can walk you through it. Throw some pictures up this weekend. Had some issues getting the old breather out, and ended up welding a bigger nut onto it and taking it out that way. Probably some flare nut wrenches would have prevented rounding of the nut, but a good weld tack on it and a 5/8" nut got it done

Parts on order:

Total Chaos Alignment tabs are on order from Wheelers so I can fix the broken off tabs, as well as new bump stops for the front. That project is going to be tackled over Easter with replacing the front Uniballs... Debating swapping out the rear leaf packs since they are looking a little whooped and I am pretty sure the bushings are shot after 90k on them.

Other than that truck is running great, not the best at putting up install guides and taking pictures since I generally do most things by myself, but if anyone needs more info or help feel free to let me know!

 

For the antenna, might want to think about getting a Wilson flex. They are not as good but the are really light and won't move that bracket at all. I have both antennas and swap out for the Wilson on trails

 

Thanks! Yeah it is heavy especially with a spring and quick disconnect. Had everything tightened up and just didnt like just by moving the antenna a bit and the whole bracket moves more than i would like

 

Yeah it sucks cause the firestick is such a good antenna. I have trouble getting great swr readings with the Wilson but the firestick is dead on. So while the Wilson works its not the best solution. I am trying to build a bracket to mount on the rail that has less play. Problem is the rail itself has play!

 

I did a quick mount to the top of my pack rack. rock solid but the damn thing is now 10 feet off the ground. I'm going to ponder it a bit more but i think just welding a bracket to the side of the rack will be best option. and it will still have the same height as if it was off the tailgate

 

Sooooo been a few months and figure give some updating. Have all of my ditch lights wired up now and really do like them. Took a while to get the Plastic Valence back in place since I only wanted to trim a little bit of plastic at a time. The CBI brackets are pretty stout so should serve me well. Got my tool box welded back together and back in. Purchased some T-Nuts that slide into the bed rails. Have some spares so might do some custom mounts for an ax or something. Truck is in some desperate need of TLC. Also got my Ram Mount in place for my cell phone. Vibrates a little bit hitting potholes but i think it should be ok (kind of see it in one of the pics).

Frame needs to be re-painted as well as the rock sliders. I'll be moving back to NY next month so this summer its gonna get a some serious maintenance I think.

Plan is take the bed off and re-paint the frame, Oxide coat the sliders and the skid plate, rebuild the coilovers, rebuild the camburg arms (maybe get the adjustable ball joint ones, the name escapes me at the moment), get the CB radio finally put in, and probably a few other odds and ends as they come up.
Was thinking about selling the truck but now looking like I'll hang onto it.

 

So did a thing today. Traded Black Betty in for this beauty. 2015 Trd Sport with the 6 speed manual. Gonna miss the memories I had in the old girl but looking forward to the new ones

 

So the AVS bug guard showed up the other day, just got it on last night and thing looks good. Hopefully does the same protection as the last one on the previous tacoma. New seat covers should be coming in tonight, so I'll have some pictures up after everything is done.

Fiancee has me on a tight leash for mods till after our wedding, so trying to only get the essentials and things to help keeping the truck look like new.

Come up with an interesting idea for the sliders so will work on that this weekend

 

So got the seat covers on. Of course they send me 4 headrest covers and none of them fit. So just stuck them on for now till the new ones show up.

So had my first road trip in the new Tacoma this weekend. Did a run up to Maine for a friends wedding. Averaged 22mpg doing 70mph and some stop and go. And the fiancee approves of the new truck to!

 

Long time no update.
Got my sliders blasted and repainted. Figure I try my hand at color matching them to the truck to get a bit more stealh look to them. Paint is dying now, Try to get them on later this week I think

 

Got the sliders on last night. Only got the non-drill bolts on. Going to have to drill the rest on them in later.
Not 100% color matched but I think close enough for what I wanted

 

So just got back last night from visiting my Fiancee in Michigan and starting the move of all our stuff to New York.

Tacoma did great. Lot nicer driving the 2015 versus my old 2010. I don't know how I pulled it off but averaged 20-21mpg on the way there for almost 700 miles. But on the return leg yesterday it was in that 22-23mpg mark. Not sure what witch magic was going on but guess the truck was in it's sweet spot.

I am starting to notice its getting a severe Taco lean to it. Not sure if from being loaded up or I hit a serious pot hole or two. Going to measure everything tonight to figure out what's going on. Truck just clicked over 20k miles so be a little annoyed if suspension will already need some looking into.

Of course stock tires suck on it and have worn like nobody's business, and drove home that fact last night as I arrived in a rain storm and it was a little squirrely. Only nice thing about the Bridgestones is they are quiet on the highway. Looking at replacing them with some new Falken ATW/3s once Discount Tire Direct come out with their Labor Day sale since I'll need something better for the winter.

So my to do list for the upcoming months before winter hits:

New Tires (265/70R17 Falken ATW/3s)
Suspension Diagnostics
Frame Paint and touch up
Finish hooking up the 4x4 S-Pod Switch kit
Finish mounting the sliders (needs the bottom holes drilled)
General Maintenance

Possible Side Projects:

Bed Rack
Actually start working on Expo Trailer

 

Well another Labor Day sale another set of tires ordered from Discount Tire Direct.

Going with 265/70/R17 Falken Wildpeak A/T3Ws
Been hearing some good things, so hopefully they perform in the snow for the winter

 

Got the new tires on!
So far extremely impressed by how quiet they are. See how well they do and hold up

 

Update: Not much has changed...... But actually have to do my 25k service since its just overdue now, and may do the 30k a little early and change the spark plugs out since I have a feeling it will be due in the middle of winter and really don't want to deal with it then.

So plans for next two weekends are mount my new wheels spacers, rotate tires, full oil change, diffs, t-case, engine oil, frame paint, drill the holes for the sliders and fully mount them, make some fill plates to the sliders to make them a better step, and try to hook up the old LED lights

 

Also just ordered a center console switch panel from @Iggy. should have my Spod kit wired up next weekend then to