Tampa Bay Area Tacomas BS Thread

Ditto here, down for group meets even if smaller groups. Hit up the Soggy Bottom truck and Jeep show today in Dunedin but was only one of two Tacoma’s who showed. Jeep yahoo’s out in force literally parking on each other. Different breed of people…

Maybe a Citrus meet up in the future?

 

This is nice we have like a few people here already I’m not very familiar with Tacoma world it’s the only reason I haven’t started an event maybe one where we throw up a couple of dates and see what’s best for everyone. And come up with a time and place. The only this is for me it’s hard to be out for more than 2-3 days. Work is nuts lol. But I think 3 days would be ok.

 

So what’s the closest trails worth riding? I’ve heard of Ocala, Croom, and Citrus. they seem about the same distance but it seems like Ocala looks better. I’ve seen a lot of Jeep videos at Ocala. wasn’t sure which is better or if there’s another I’m missing.

 

im pretty busy with work and family, but I can give up an occasional Saturday for shenanigans

 

Citrus is okay for light wheeling through washouts, deep sand, and the not-fun kinda mud, but I've heard they have a lot of the best spots blocked off now. It's free and open 24-7.

Hardrock in Ocala I wouldn't recommend if you don't have rock sliders. It can also take a big bite out of your wallet if you get too daring. Last I was there it was $25 to get in plus your passengers have to pay. I don't recall what that cost. It's anywhere from intermediate to expert in terrain. Lots of rock gardens and steep hill climbs. It's a lot smaller than Citrus though so it you just want to go ride some trails and not beat on your rig too much, Citrus is a nice place to commune with nature.

 

@Taco No Baka trying to hit a gun range soon? Really need to sight in this ar-10 and wanna do it at a 100 yard range, preferably indoor

 

Indoor? That could get pricey, lol. I'd love to go with ya, but I'm so broke right now I can't eve afford to pay attention, plus my A/C just took a shit on me. I'm hoping it's just a hard start cap, but it could be the condenser fan motor. Luckily for me, there are window units in every bedroom because if it's anything more expensive than a cap, I won't be able to get it fixed for a while.

Unfortunately, being nocturnal by nature, my body decided now was a good time to revert to my natural night shift cycle. I found out that's an actual genetic thing programmed into us. I'm the guy in the tribe that sits up all night on guard with the spear while everyone else sleeps.

 

Need money for other hobbies, if any of you guys are interested in the following firearms/parts let me know.

CZ 455 .22lr bolt action
CZ Scorpion Evo 3 - sb tactical brace(s), PMM safety selector, Pakse grip.
AR-15 7.62x39 Upper (FDE) - Aero Upper, Aero HG, Faxon Barrel 16", Cryptic BCG, can include Primary Arms Raptor1-6 or sell separate. Various c-products mags 10/20/28 capacity.

Probably forgetting a few things and haven't priced anything out.

 

Shit, wish I had some cash brother. I'd like to have the Aero upper and HG (is it the one that takes the big barrel nut with the HG attached with the 4 screws around the nut? That's the one I really want for my .458 SOCOM build, but if the price is right I'd compromise...unfortunately the only right price right now is free to a good home, lol). Even the 7.62x39 bolt is interesting if I ever build a 6.5mm Grendel.

 

Yeah, im not in a hurry to sell anything. I know ill eventually regret it, haha. And yes it is the quantum hg.

Somewhat Honey Badger inspired.


And the Scorpion:

 

Well shit. That's pretty much exactly what I'm looking for. I'd have to have it re-ceracoated in MagPul Stealth Gray though, lol.

 

I hear ya. I can do 100 yards for the free at the hunt camp, but I just really wanted to take the wind variable out of the equation when sighting this one in. But with that said, that’s where I’ve sighted in all my other guns in at and they’re lethal when hunting so I’ll still have good luck with doing it there lol

 

I managed to fix my A/C...after an initial diagnostic error which ended up costing me $54. I got focused on the hard start/run cap since that was the problem last time. So I watched a youtube video on how to check a cap, a setting I can honestly say I never thought I'd use on my multimeter...and I guess still haven't. Anyway the cap the guy in the video tested only had two poles. Mine had three. I figured I'd get some kind of reading if I tested the various combinations. I got nothing so I Assumed the cap was shot. So I carried it down to Lowe's thinking I could pick one up, only to discover Lowe's doesn't sell parts down to that level.

So who'm I gonna call? My uncle, of course. He said he knew where to get one and if I left it with him he'd go grab one for me the following day (it was about 8 PM at this point). I was like , I have an awesome uncle and putting his Heep back together is actually starting to get more fun.

Fast forward to about 11 AM today and I have my new cap in hand and excitedly go out to put it in! Only it didn't work. So out comes the multimeter and I start probing wires. At one point I probed the low fan wire and what do ya know the fan comes on and things are working! Yay me! I found a corroded wire and that's the problem...except when I killed the power and replaced the terminal ends, the fan was dead again. At this point, I had already made a trip to NAPA because the Pep Boy's behind my house has shut down their retail store...service is still going full swing...because of the million wire connectors I have, I didn't have the right one to fit the blade on the fan speed controller. So after much wailing and gnashing of teeth, I started probing with the multimeter again. I managed to find an anomaly--there wasn't 24v at each wire going to the fan relay. I removed the relay and continuity checked it and got nothing. By this point it's about a little after 3 PM. After another call to my Uncle--great guy, BTW--I rushed down to the place he got the cap from and the man at the store (Troy, I think was his name) said he could get me one but I'd have to pick it up at a different location if I wanted it today. I said that was fine and while he was arranging that, I suddenly realized I left my wallet at home in my rush. Sooooo...I had to "rush" back home catching every possible red light, then "rush" back, also catching every possible red light--also ened up stopped beside another 3rd Gen T4R with a receiver hitch full of red clay and red clay liberally spattered on the body, so I had a nice chat about Citrus (go figure), gave a homeless guy a buck, and off I went. I arrived back at the store at about 4:15 and paid $54 for the part. Troy told me I had to had to hustle because the place I was picking it up from closed at 4:30.


He tried to give me directions and lost me after about the third turn since I don't frequent that area much. He did write down the address and I figured the ol' GPS would be my guiding star. What he didn't do was write down the name of the place and I was so discombobulated at that point anything you said to me was going in one ear and leaking out the other along with my brain. And so this led to the discovery of there being at least 3!!! A/C parts stores within 100 yrds of each other, and the one I needed was the hardest to see because it was set back in the trees with a long driveway. So after some help from the other two stores, I finally had a name to go with the address and directions I could remember...go north on the main road and turn right after the Penske rental place. I ended up pulling into the parking lot at 4:30 on the nose. So I got out and rushed up to the door...and it was locked! But then I caught my first break all day and I saw some employees in there, I knocked and they let me in and gave my my shiny new fan speed controller. (If there had to be only one break after this comedy of errors, I guess this was the best one to get.)

After a jittery ride home in heavy traffic, it took my about 2 minutes to plug the new control in and test it. I now have working A/C and a great deal more knowledge of both my A/C compressor and south west Tampa than I feel is strictly necessary.

So that was my day today. Had I had any hair left, I would have surely have pulled it out, but dumb luck and perseverance carried the day.

(Oh and had I ever looked at the back of the fan speed controller, I would have known right away it was the problem. The relay post on the circuit board was burned up.)

 

And no pictures of the CZ 455? Tsk tsk.
Drop a post in the Florida Classifieds as well to boost your signal.

 

Glad you got it fixed, not having AC is uncivilized.

I had a cap go bad one time and I just drove around my neighborhood looking for someone who did AC work. Their trucks and vans tend to stand out. Knocked on one door, the dude was super cool. Sold me what I needed for 20 bucks and I was on my way.

 

A broken A/C is probably the most annoying thing that I have yet to experience as a homeowner. I completely replaced mine a few years back and it's some of the best money I have spent, even though it hurt at first. I say that as I am getting ready to get a new roof by the end of the year and that is going to really hurt. I just can't decide if I want to spend the extra coin for a metal roof or go the cheaper route and get the normal setup of asphalt shingles. I have had the money set aside for it since the beginning of the year but I've worked a total of 12 hours of overtime since the last week of April so money is pretty tight right now. Hopefully by the fall/winter time I will have some money coming in to where I can do the metal roof and not be broke completely lol

 

So how did you guys like my gut-wrenching, dramatic description of my day of stupidity and triumph (triumph over stupidity?) yesterday, lol?

Honestly, I somehow got lucky and the A/C picked a couple of coolish days to take a crap. It never got higher than 83* inside the house and the bedrooms have window units in them. My bedroom in an addition and it's ever been 5-10* hotter in there than the rest of the house. I think it's due to all the electronics. Mom's old bedroom is on the west side of the house and it gets hammered by the afternoon sun, so rather than turn the central system down to where you could hang meat in the rest of the house, we put in window units to help out and then turned the central unit up to offset the power bill.

But yeah, no a/c in the summer sucks hugely. Whenever there's a power outage from a storm or something, it really sucks.

That is a pretty damn good idea about finding an a/c guy around the neighborhood and seeing if he has the part you need. I might try that next time. The ugly part of the whole situation is that the system is living on borrowed time. It's 19 years old and an a/c guy told me that the typical life expectancy of a central system is only about 16 years. I can say my evaporator is looking pretty rough, but the condenser looks like it's in pretty good shape. Can't really say how the compressor is doing other than it's chugging along. What I can say is that between the time I installed the new fan speed controller, kicked the breaker back on, put the access panel back on, and put my tools away, it felt like stepping into winter when I came back in the house.

 

Progress on the most boring Jeep build in the world...



All though I do have to admit that was the easiest engine drop in that I've ever done, lol.

Edit: Honestly, it pisses me off just a bit. Aside from doing the body-off rebuild, nobody has taken a single word of my advice on what parts to put on the thing and what not to use (like the stupid shock boots). And I'm the only 4WD enthusiast in the mix, the only one that has a prayer of knowing what's going to give the best ride with the best performance for a reasonable price. Oh and did I mention I'm the only trained tech on the project?

 

sounds like you need to take up night hunting

 

Someone was selling a DBAL in the FL classifieds. That and a PVS-14 would make for a lot of fun.