The Dirt Taco: From Mobile Meth Lab to Righteous Rock Crawler

I’m fine with it

it’s your thread, not mine.


@chris4x4

 

https://youtu.be/fkbqke_E_rU

 

Thank you @Samuel.Rowland !

 

No problem

 

https://youtu.be/QJR9QhlcViQ

 

Thank you for the post again @Samuel.Rowland !

I just got back and I’m still unpacking from a week long trip in the truck.

A couple things I’d like say

• I went on this trip solo! Some people think this might be “risky” or lonely, but I feel like this was a good way to get away from the world, and spend some time doing what I wanted for a change!
  I did bring my Garmin Inreach, so I was always able to message if I was out of range, Not to mention I have a TON of tools, first aid supplies, water and provisions incase I seriously messed up.
• Fuel prices are painfully expensive (especially premium), as we all know too well.
• I camped in the truck everyday , and was able to find some fresh water to bathe in every night! No need for a hotel (although I was beat at the end)
• YOU DON’T NEED ALL THE FANCY GEAR TO HAVE FUN! Believe it or not people have camped before the invention of a Dometic refrigerator and a skottle.
• I’m absolutely willing to share any of these camping sites if someone would like. I also posted them in my YouTube video that is shown above. All I ask is that you make them cleaner than you find them!
• My speedometer is off exactly 10% from the 35s. I usually was keeping the truck at a true speed of 75-80 on the highway. MPG was abysmal.

I cruised just over 2,400 miles, spent $915 on gas, stopped for fuel 15 times, and of course had my fair share of tasty beverages along the way.

super fun trip!

So here it goes, my route started in NorCal, and I followed I-80 through my normal stomping grounds in the sierras. Here is a picture stopping by Donner Lake to take a leak…



onward I continued, for quite a long time. The drive through Nevada I would describe as miserable… I stopped once I reached bonneville salt flats. (~11 hours from home) Here I took the truck for a run, and it fell flat on its face at 100MPH.

This was strange, although I don’t need to go any faster, it just seems like less than it should be limited at? Beautiful area nonetheless, and the truck got covered in cancer causing material!



Onward, my plan was to make it to Moab in one day. While this was more than possible, I decided to pull over just after sunset (830-9PM) in the Unitas south of SLC. I found a sweet little campsite and setup for the night.

Here’s my dirtbag “overlander” setup:


No frills here, my buddies (who are better at woodwork than me) helped me make this little bed setup. It worked perfect for my trip. The bed is some Amazon memory foam setup , not a twin size but a little smaller. The fit is perfect for a 6’ bed. Oh and the top piece of plywood contours to the bedside. Also WTF is up with these lumber prices?

You can see the cooler fitment is unbelievably perfect. Pure luck. Everything I need fits nicely in the back and when I pull up to a campsite, I just pull out the cooler and my camping supplies bin to have enough room to hang out back there.

Here is my campsite in the Unitas Natl forest.



I always forget how much altitude can change the temperature. It got pretty cold, but I sleep in that fancy Ozark Trail (Walmart special) sleeping bag. I stayed warm for the most part!

The next morning I finished the 3~ hour drive down to Moab and immediately tried to wash off as much of the salt as possible. I didn’t get it all.

This would be my 4th time in Moab. I try to make it out once a year, so I know the town and trail layout fairly well at this point. I decided to hit “The Spoke on Center” for some lunch. I highly recommend the barbecue burger!



After lunch I took to the famous Hells Revenge for some YouTube footage and whatnot, and God damn was it windy.



that’s the price we pay though, otherwise this wouldn’t even be here!

I knew I wanted to run “Top of the World” the next day so I set out to find a campsite on the way. Top of the world is pretty far from Moab, around an hour to the trailhead it’s self. I headed that direction and found an open site along the Colorado river at Hittle Bottom campground. This is $20 a night. First come first serve basis.



I even took a dip and cleaned up in the river while I was there, and boy was it cold! (later I found out the water temperature was around 58°)

I forgot to mention, the majority of my meals are super simple. A favorite of mine is to get the pre-made meals from Raleys or such and just heat them up over my Coleman stove. Makes me look like a pro chef! Although I will say making tacos and breakfast burritos is my usual specialty.

What can I say about top of the world? Well this would be my second time on the trail and I have the same opinion, it’s a LONG , BUMPY, BORING trail, BUT the view makes up for it in the end. The full loop adds a pretty cool decent and the rock ledges are sizeable.


(cue the “BrUh YoUr PaInT”)

I had my first couple “issues” with the truck here , though I’m not sure you can call them that.

• The Pass UCA bolt came loose and was making a racket
• The 35s were becoming friendly with the firewall on tight turns under compression. Normal rubbing, I’ll fix that with a sledge.
• The taillight fell off! Apparently the brackets on the taillight were previously broken (previous owner, who knew!) but I was able to find it and tape it back on! Gorilla tape FTW!

Anyway, after I got done with the trail I drove back towards Moab, and found an awesome little road called “Onion Creek”. About ~15 miles into the trail and a little exploring into some BLM land (btw I use OnX Off-road) I found this spot.

it was beautiful, and desolate. This was my favorite camping spot of the trip!

I leveled out the truck with a nice rock and cooked dinner. Al Pastor Tacos!



We Love tacos.

The wind that night was rough. It was blowing 30 knots and gusting up to 40. Luckily, I had fully extinguished my fire and the wind set in later in the evening. The sleep wasn’t the best.

Leaving camp, I wasn’t sure where I was going to be heading, but remember having a great time in Sand Hallow area, so I hit the road.

On my way I took I-70. I made sure to take a few random exits to if I could find anything cool. I feel like every time I drive through, I don’t have the time to stop, I’m glad I did this time though!

I found a few cool trails and spent the majority of the afternoon exploring.


( one of the exits had this cool trail with an overlook. Unfortunately the trail got very narrow after this point, hence the narrow vehicle warning. Cool view of the highway in the distance though!)

The drive to sand hallow was about 6 hours if I remember correctly, though it took longer due to my shenanigans (again, awesome to be on your own schedule)

I spent the next 3 days in this area, enjoying the wheeling, beach, and Zion national park! Hurricane,UT is an awesome place to spend a few days, not to mention virgin is right next door with some seriously awesome mountain biking( didn’t take mine this trip! ).



(sand hallow dunes) Peep the flag!



My own little beach! Water was a little warmer here, maybe 60°-62°?



Zion. Beautiful is an understatement.I will say this though, i wasn’t the only one who wanted to see the park. Prepare yourself for many people and very few hiking trails (recent rock falls). Social media has blown this place up like you would not believe. Similar to Yosemite’s half dome hike…. You need a permit to hike Angels landing. Oh well, I had a great time anyway.

At this point I was pretty tired of driving, and living the desert bum life. I was ready to get back in my own bed! So I headed home. I’ll spare you from pictures of that. I-5 is death by boredom.

overall, the trip was a ton of fun. The truck worked absolutely flawless, and I wouldn’t hesitate on driving across the country tomorrow (metaphorically speaking). For now, I’m going to take a little break from the road

thanks for reading, more to come soon

 

Thanks for the details Mike. Also watched your video. Thoroughly enjoyed your content and the direction of your channel. Really appreciate your reminders about packing it in and out. The freedom and the adventure, oh to be young again. Enjoy your time making memories and thanks for taking us along.

 

@thedirttaco thanks for picking up that trash!

I hate people who litter.

 

me too.

but I do clean up when I can. I believe it gives some positive trail karma and makes me feel better!

 

The tail light cracks me up. I’ve got a ton of wires and what not behind my drivers side lamp. At some point I shoved the light back in there and one of the plugs must’ve been in the way. Long story short is I broke the bottom tab, but that thing stays on.

 

Thanks for the update Mike. Really enjoyed the back story on the truck. I’d still like to see more adventures with that truck on your channel.

https://youtu.be/sjObgkYPkvU

 

Yes, fyi the Tacoma comes limited stock at 100mph, or roughly that. You can delete it. I’ve gotten mine to 135mph. @thedirttaco

 

@thedirttaco I recently watched all these. It was a cool series! Hopefully you keep posting.

 

Thanks @thedirttaco for this. I am about to tackle this throw out bearing job on my 2nd gen and now know my HF jack can handle at least the trans and tcase...hopefully a crawlbox on the end too.

I am planning to do a TOB, clutch, flywheel, and pressure plate together, and I have all except one part I need for an adapted Tilton hydraulic setup, but I am having trouble getting the last part, and am debating between that and just going with the OEM bearing I got in my kit. I got 120k out of the original. Send it again on OEM?

 

Crawl box will be fun! Oem seems fine to me, I couldn’t find anything which would be an upgrade, so I just went with what I knew. 120k isn’t bad!

 

My thoughts exactly. Slap another OEM one and not worry about it again in another 100k and stop trying to piece together this hydraulic solution.

Have you looked at the NWF crawlbox yet? I have mostly positive things to say about it coming from the marlin setup I pulled out. Hardcore NWF fan boy here. Not many other options out there for us manual trans guys at the moment.

 

they look pretty awesome, I would say dual cases are needed for sure if you want to run rocks with the 6speed. It’s a chore otherwise.

 

anyone see his last 2 videos? rolling his jeep in the snow then fixing it. fucking lol. excited to see what he does to his jeep next

 

Bummer that the Dirt Taco sold. But his new project should be pretty cool. New projects are probably the best direction for his channel. Cool that his next will be a first gen. I can dig it.

 

Just watched his latest videos. Sucks about rolling the jeep but I laughed my ass off watching the repairs. Looking forward to seeing what he does with the 1st gen.