The Oregon State Edition Build Known as #BeaverYota

got ya. well it sounds like its a decent start anyways. getting info and in good hands. hopefully its not as bad as they suspect.

 

Ended up being almost $1500 to get it all fixed. Think I need to get it aligned though, cause it's got a nasty steering wheel shake between 53-65mph. Boy was it nice to get all our stuff home though.
The weird thing is my brakes have always felt really soft and squishy.. and I've always passed it off as just crappy Tacoma brakes, but even the head service tech who bled the brakes said he couldn't believe how spongy my brakes felt and wanted to make sure that's how they were. That's the third time someone else has bled my brakes and told me they couldn't believe how spongy they were. Is it really just crappy Tacoma brakes, or do I actually have something wrong somewhere..? I can't help but wonder.

 

Got the recall done for the leaf springs... and didn't get my AAL back, so now my rear is drooping a little bit. It's depressing. I want to fix it, but don't have a lot of extra cash right now. I could probably squeeze out some cash for a progressive AAL, but it wouldn't really fix the flatness of the new springs Toyota put on.. so I'd rather do a full leaf pack replacement. But I definitely don't have the money for that right now.
So do I bandaid with what I can afford for now, or deal with some rear droop until I can hope for enough money for a leaf pack?

 

Here's some recent pictures from summer adventures. Realized I hadn't updated any pictures lately.
This was at Bethany Beach, DE for the 4th of July parade.

My Dad is photobombing.

This is after I finally got the truck back from having the wheel bearing replaced. Upgraded the taillights to black Depo lights. So much better looking and so much easier to see.

This is my whole family.

This is my whole family for the parade. As many as could fit rode in the bed while some others walked, handing out candy.

 

Here's the wheel bearing that went bad..

 

Just ordered these Falken AT3W in 285/75/17

 

Nice, that is probably my next tire in 40k miles. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

 

I've heard a lot of really good things about them and not really any negatives yet. I'm excited to try them. Hopefully they grip better on wet surfaces than my General Grabbers do.. cause they have horrible wet traction.

 

yeah I imagine they wouldnt..

I swapped from Toyo ATII's to Cooper ST Maxx's for that same reason. so far so good.

 

ST Maxx were my other option. Thought about doing the tall skinny on those, but these Falken tires are almost 34" and I felt like going big.
So long gas mileage.

 

that was my dilemma too! lol was going to go with 34" ATII's.. but the wet traction reviews of the Coopers and their more aggressive tread is what sold me. heavier and pricey, but I'm really liking them so far.

I have heard great things about the Wildpeaks too and they look great!

 

I'm hoping they'll be great. I'll let you know.

 

So the 285-75-17s are in backorder.. so I've got to either wait a month or get 285-70-17 instead.
Should I wait for just get the slightly smaller tire?

 

Got my new tires in yesterday. Saturday they'll be mounted up. I'm pretty excited. Falken Wildpeak AT3W LT 285/70/17. They look really good in person and have nothing but solid reviews. Plus there were some amazing rebates going on right now with DiscountTireDirect that couldn't be ignored.

 

Well I blew a little cash today. Bought some Dakars to fix the crappy leafs Toyota put on. Low Range Off-road for the win on great prices and cheap shipping.
Also got my new tires installed today. They look fantastic and ride pretty quiet. Can't say much else about them yet. Haven't been able to drive much with them on. Just back from Discount Tire and around town for a minute.

 

Are those stock fender flares with bedliner? Or aftermarket?

 

There are actually no fender flares. I removed them and then had the whole rocker panel and flare area bed lined.

 

Replaced my crappy leaf springs!!! I had them replaced as part of the recall from Toyota and they were so horrible.
So I finally bought some Dakars and got them on yesterday with the help of @MatthewMay1 bless his heart. Haha. Bribed him with Raising Cane's. Works everytime.
Brought the back of my truck up probably a good 3 inches or more from where it was at. Finally looks like a truck again.
Here are some comparison photos.
Shock compression after versus before, just sitting in my driveway.

Fender height with the new 285s, after is on the left vs. before on the right.

This is a little more difficult of a comparison, as the left is a before picture with my old 265s, and the right is after Dakars with the 285s.

Still, I got a lot more height back. I can feel it just by the way I sit in the truck.
Install wasn't too difficult, didn't even take the shocks off (partly because the top bolts were so seized on we couldn't).

 

Looking Good! How are you liking the At3w's?