Wishbone Runner's Build

The GC that was with usended up bending the shit out of his steering link in the front so we had to stop and bend that back using winches, highlift and good old fashioned trail ingenuity, but wasting an hour, so we did not get off of the trail until 6:30, back to Johnson Village for gas, and then out to the Grizzly Lake trail head at close to 8:00, and staring to get dark. The first LC took a stab at the first obstacle out of the creek, and took him a while to get up, then the next LC was struggling even more, and with daylight dwindling, we pulled the plug on GL and decided to head up to Hancock area to camp for the night. Pic of the LC coming back down the first obstacle.

 

Got a nice camp spot right as it was getting dark and woke up to a beautiful view out of the tent.

 

Sweet didn't know you had a build thread!

 

Went up to Hancock Lake.

 

. . . and then up to Hancock pass.

 

More of a trip report at this point, but yes. And again, thanks for the videos.

 

An actual build update, I installed a full set of RCI skids and BAMF LCA skids and have been beating the snot out of them all summers, holding up great so far.

 

Rig's looking good man. Skids have saved my ass on a couple occasions.

 

Now for more trip report and pics!

7/27: Argentine Pass and McClellan Mountain

 

Thanks! Yup, they have definitely changed the way I drive, a lot less worried about hitting shit, I have found myself getting stuck high centered more often now though . . .

 

7/28: Radical Hill and Saint Johns

Saw this sweet rig as I was heading up:



The most difficult sections of Radical, not really all that hard of a trail, but a few ledges that get your blood flowing.

 

Finally got to see some mountain goats, these guys have been like unicorns for me, lived in CO for 12 years and these were the first ones I have seen in person! These guys were not shy at all, I drove within 5 feet of the group in the last pic.

 

Corona Pass 7.25.13

 

A few pics from this past weekend's Red Cone run.

 

Front end is looking a bit leaky and loose, so I am going to do an overhaul on the front and get her feeling nice and tight again (insert joke). Going to do the following, probably in this order:

• Tie rods
• LBJs
• CVs
• UCAs and coilivers

First up was the ties. I had bought a set of Moogs before the Moab trip earlier this summer for trail spares, but given the leaks showing from the rack boot as well as the ball joint on the outer tie, I decided to swap them out. There was a fair amount of oil inside the rack boot that was causing the oil spots on the outside, not sure if this is normal? But I don't recall seeing that weep before, it was pretty thin oil.

 

Got the old ones off without too much trouble, had to use a pickle fork which tore up the boot on the old ones, which I was hoping to avoid, but became a necessity to get them off! Then I ran into trouble. I needed to reuse the rack boots from the old ones, which requires separating the inner from the outer rod. I was able to break one of the sides free (not before counting the number of exposed threads to match on the new ones to get it back in alignment), but the jam nut was not budging, tried the other side and it was not going anywhere either. So, out came the angle grinder and chopped em in half to get the boots off, not ideal, but after calling a few parts stores, the boots are only offered as OEM, and I needed to get the truck back on the road that night.]

One of the ties looked like someone had taken a pipe wrench to it prior, probably the alignment shop, so the fact that they were seized was not too surprising.





Old and new:

 

Went back together fairly painlessly after getting the old boots off, still need to get an alignment, as the wheel is pretty far off center. So, all in all a pretty easy job, maybe 2 hours including wasting some time deciding if I was going to cut the old ones off or not.

Very grateful I did this in the driveway rather than on the trail, as I would not have been able to get the old boots on the new rods on the trail, next time you are out poking at the truck, I suggest seeing if you can break the inner and out rods free.

 

Relocated my CB mic and ran my aux cable a little cleaner while I was punching holes. Picked up the mounts at Radio Shack and used 20ga for the wires.

 

Phase 2 of front end rebuild: LBJs . . . What a PITA!!! This was one of the most frustrating and time consuming maintenance items I have undertaken. I followed this guide, and everything on there was spot on, went with the same Moog replacements, and cutting threads for the zerks was needed.

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/su...oint-replacement-2005-tacoma.html#post3691540

Getting the old ones out was very difficult, first I rented the press from Autozone (grey one in the above link), and started trying to pull the LBJs, but the kit did not have the correct sleeve as shown in the thread, so off to Harbor Freight to pick up the kit in the thread as well, which did have the correct sleeve. My 24" breaker was not enough right off the bat, even with the torch, (I was pretty sure I was going to break the press). So, I cranked on it as much as I could, doused it in PB Blaster and let it sit overnight. Luckily the prolonged force and PB was enough to get them moving a bit to break free, and then they came out fairly easy. Up next, CVs.