The Getaway...Crom's build and adventures

I hear that. Saline Valley is a great torture test. I remember encountering a big washout there and I was not sure I'd be able to negotiate through, but I took my time and did it.

I have to say, you chose your suspension right the first time. Milowili is an excellent resource, you were wise to seek his knowledge / recommendations / assistance, etc. Part of me wishes I had done the same thing. On the flip side, I've gained a lot of experience working on the truck, and wife hasn't divorced me, lol So

I saw your comments in the mid-travel b.s. thread. Good questions by yourself, and some good answers by some...

I don't know how the 5100 would do with 886 coil, but I'm reasonably certain, the ride would be light years better than the OME shock.

Something else I noticed... When I compressed the 5100 manually, it expanded normally in a controlled manner, maybe 5 seconds to fully expand. I did this same test with the OME and it took about 20 seconds to expand, maybe even longer, I'll time it and report back, lol... Anyways, this had me thinking, it's entirely possible something is defective in the shock. But both are like that, and even if both were defective, it does not account for it being too short. Milowili once said that, he would never recommend OME on an IFS truck, lol, I agree! He also said that the shock is valved too light. At the present time, I am ignorant when it comes to internal shock mechanics. Do light valved = slow expansion time? I dunno. I got lots to learn.

I do like the 885 coil though. I think it's great for my present setup. Good ride height, slight rake, and flexed well enough yesterday on the trail.

Like yourself I was going to jump from the OME to a Fox/King/Icon extended travel setup. I still plan to do this one day, but I'm thinking it will be last on my list of truck building now that I've solved the issue at hand.

 

Hey Crom. I have Billy 6112s, and my experience with ride mirrors yours. I wouldn't be surprised if 5100 and 6112 are valved in a similar way. I'm thinking the only relevant difference may be the larger diameter on the 6112, which may, I'm guessing, translate to longer life.

 

Nice outing with your girls but I did notice that one of them 'disappeared' for a bit. Think about getting emergency whistles on a lanyard for their necks. Let them practice every once in awhile so they understand that the whistles are not toys and are for emergency use only.

 

Thanks Bruce. I'm thinking I'll run the 5100 and OME coil for as long as they last... Adding a bumper and skids will add some weight to the truck, my plans are to use aluminum to save weight... Will cross each bridge next year sometime.

I think the 6112 coil has a spring rate of 610 lbs. It's somewhat difficult to find specs from Bilstein on their product. Either way, I'll definitely give them a look, I like their price point, and I've always been happy with their products.

Thanks John for the idea. I'll explore that option. Yeah the 3 year old is only 3 feet tall, so when she sat down the shrubs concealed her, lol.

Kinda reminded me of back in July when she went off trail, cross-country through the grass. lol She got mad and complained about the too tall grass! It would be like an adult in a corn field, or bamboo forest.

 

awesome dude!

 

Good call on the aluminum. I have the CBI alum Moab 2.0 and like it very much.

 

While your at it, get whistles for you and your wife too - and wear'em. The girls might even think it's cool to be like mom & dad.

 

@Crom reading through you have swapped UCAs a few times, going to be adding LR ucas soon any tips>? Im confident in the install and have done many lifts just always ask before i make my first move.

 

Sure.

Remember to loosen UCA nut while truck is under it's own weight, or while the castle nut is still threaded onto the ball joint, either way is fine.

Best tool I found for separating ball joint was the $15 pitman arm puller thing. Makes it cake. Don't use a hammer on the spindle, unless it's a god damned emergency on the side of the road.

If you don't have some, I recommend the for bending the sheet metal outta the way so the UCA bolt can pass through into the engine bay. I don't see the point in bending it back, nobody can tell, and if you ever got to swap again, it's still outta the way. The passenger side on my truck had some AC lines in the way, I just gently popped them out of their retainer clips and move it outta the way a little bit.

I recommend greasing the bolt to guard against corrosion. I always install the bolt the same orientation as the factory. I know some guys will put it in reverse way (so it's upside down), but that's a risk I did not feel comfortable with. If you choose to put the bolt in reserve way, double nut the bolt.

Other than that, Michael Allen does a great job of showing the process for a drivers side UCA install.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbsTJgb6S_c

^ But i strongly disagree with his use of the hammer on the spindle when the pitman arm puller tool (free rental at auto parts store) does it like cake.

This post, has a pic of the pitman tool in action.

Remember to torque UCA nut when vehicle is under its own weight.

That's about it. Have fun!

 

Thanks !

 

Second that. I had a buddy of mine help with mine because he had access to a lift and once I told him about bending the sheetmetal, before I could say anything else, he was in there with big 'ole channel locks that gouged the paint and left teeth marks. It's really not a huge deal as nobody can see them unless you point them out, but it could have been avoided with a little caution. A little rattle can black and I'm ok with it.

 

Well done as always. Even though I've been fairly satisfied with my OME stuff up front the way you describe the 5100s makes it sound like you're riding on a magic carpet off-road. Great little test run with the ladies too!

 

Thanks. Good idea as well. Anytime the wife and I separate we use VHF radios to stay in contact which is great. Plus we have the Kenwood rig in the truck. Both kids can operate the radios as well, of course the 5 year old is much better with it, better manual dexterity, etc. And I feel bad for anyone who hears us on the radio as we're going down the interstate because sometimes they just want to play with them, which can be a riot.

Thanks. Some percentage, of that comfort was due to airing down to 15 PSI. I loved it.

 

My build thread is woefully deficient in the firearms department. Time for some guns!

In addition to a boat load of camping and exploring I love to target shoot. And the Tacoma is great for reaching far away places for shooting. Pics from earlier this year.




My friend



Helium tank, fun to shoot.








Yours truly.



Look, I'm in hell!

 

Pew pew!

 

...

 

This was a fun trip with two of my friends who are retired. So great to hang with them.

 

Awesome pics Nick, looks like a nice and safe area you go to. I am currently training my 11yr old daughter on a 10/22 and she loves it over the red ryder. She does struggle with the weight a bit so i'm thinking of finding a lightweight synthetic stock for it. I originally bought her a Ruger American .22LR bolt action but it's a bit too long for her to handle comfortably.

 

Rob, Thanks! That's great to hear! I can't wait to teach mine as well. I'm all ears on the subject. I need to allocate some time to research the subject, this link looked like a good place to start. I was thinking of starting the oldest on the pellet gun sometime in 2016, and when safe handling techniques are dialed in, maybe graduate to the the Crickett .22 in 2017.

 

Those Crickett's look great, they remind me of the old 22's that we learned on in Boy Scouts. I am by no means an expert on the matter but here is how I went about teaching my kids. I started my daughter out on a Daisy Buck bb gun at five. It has a shorter OAL than a Red Ryder, weighs a lot less and has a lighter trigger pull (to me anyway). She used it for many years then I moved her to the Red Ryder aaround nine. Finally this year at 11 all of the safety measures that I'd taught her finally clicked in. At that point I moved her up to the 10/22. I know some people start kids on .22's way earlier than I did with her but she just wasn't ready in my eyes. I bought a .410 Mossberg youth pump last year that's just sitting in the safe. I'm hoping to let her try it out this winter if the kick doesn't intimidate her. The Daisy Buck got passed down to my 7yr old son who is quickly following in her footsteps. I'll tell you being able to teach my children gun safety and how to shoot is another great reward of being a parent!

I set up a short bb range set up in my garage that they get to practice on. I built a DIY bb target trap out of pine and used a bunch of duct seal bars inside of it to catch the bb's with, it works great. I'm sure our neighbors must wonder what that popping noise is coming from the garage when they walk by haha.