Switcheroo - 1 Bored Clerk's 2013 Tacoma Build

[1 Bored Clerk]

October Loop of Joyousness Part 7!

After Mesa Verde, we decided to hit up 4-corners. Well, once we found out that it was an expensive tourist-trap just to stand on a medallion, we carried on. It just wasn't that important to us after the wonder we'd seen so far. Instead, we bee-lined for Hoover Dam! I had been there when I was a kid...did the Dam tours and thought it was awesome! That was back in the '80's when the highway ran right over the top of the dam...everyone drove across it. Now, there is a huge bypass bridge and the dam has turned into a tourist stop with a border crossing style security checkpoint at the beginning and an airport style security system when you get to the visitors center. After all of that, we took our tour, walked across the dam, squished a penny and took off.

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This is the view of the visitor center with a parking garage in the background. None of this existed when I was here last time! It's all quite nicely done.

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Inside the Nevada side powerhouse. It's a pretty impressive operation down there. It's amazing how spotless everything is!

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There is a pair of these statues and they are pretty awesome. Notice how shiny the feet are. Everyone just has to touch the feet! Maybe it's good luck (Buddha belly style?)

We have a lot more pictures of Hoover Dam but, as usual with photos, they are a very poor substitute for being there. We were too late in the day for the Dam tour but we felt pretty cool about the whole thing anyway. Besides, it's always nice to have another reason to stop by again.

 

[1 Bored Clerk]

October Loop of Joyousness Part 8!

After Hoover Dam, we rolled into Vegas. My wife has been asking to go for a few years. As soon as we rolled onto the strip, she says, 'This is very overwhelming...can we just get a room now?'. So, we stayed at New York, New York and were late getting to the last reservation at Ruth's Chris steak house. I forgot it takes FOREVER to get anywhere in Vegas. It's just a huge damn maze designed to keep you drinking, gambling, and buying crap you don't really want. We had a lovely dinner, walked around on the strip a bit then went to bed. We were exhausted! I had been to Vegas many times when I was young. My dad had business down there and he would take us in the summer and drop us off at Wild Waves (R.I.P. ) and come back at the end of the day to pick us up...complete with sunburn blisters. After all, kids cannot be trusted to stay off of the slides long enough to let new sunblock dry! F that!

We left Vegas in the rear view mirror early the next morning heading North. We did a slight detour over to Rhyolite because...well...because it's Rhyolite and it's weird!

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The Last Supper in full panorama!...with that scandalous pink lego siren in the background. :drool:

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Ghost Rider!! Ghost Bike? A Ghost and a busted old rusty bike. :bike_rider:

There are other cool things there...history...blah, blah, blah. There is also a vault toilet which is awesome because you are guaranteed to need that sucker by the time you get here no matter what direction you came in!

After Rhyolite, we had plenty of opportunities to wonder about and discuss the booming (judging by the sheer number) and destitute nature of (based on the dilapidated and scary appearance of) the prostitution industry in Nevada. Lets consider 'The Shady Lady' as an example. This appears to be a slanty single wide mobile home with dark windows and a sign that appears to be more well cared for than the actual establishment. How does one end up working here (in any capacity) and why would anyone ever decide 'Yeah! This is the place to spend some hard earned money for some 'quality time'? Weird...just weird.

We decided against stopping in my hometown of Carson City because I would start down memory lane and want to spend the next week showing KoKo (my wife) all the cool stuff! Instead, I drove from Las Vegas to Mt Shasta in one day and was READY for a hotel room when we arrived. :smiley_drive: Next morning? Straight up I-5 to home in Vancouver, WA.

Boom! Vacation handled.

 

[zscott]

Great Reports. We were down doing TOTW not too long ago. It was my first real experience with rock and although mellow compared to other parts of moab I definitely puckered in few spots.

 

[tacoma_AL]

I sir, am jealous of the dinosaur track. Moab is at the top of the places to visit next year!

 

[1 Bored Clerk]

It was the most difficult trail I'd been on before. I plan on doing more wheeling like that but I've got time to ease into it. It really is amazing how much grip that rock has! Stuff that would be extremely difficult to climb here in the Pacific Northwest was a cakewalk. You get jaded in moab. You start rolling up to crazy steep climbs and just roll right up them without a thought. We walked a bunch of fins and things and couldn't believe how steep some of those climbs were. I wanted to drive to the bottom of hells gate just to get a real world look at that climb!


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[1 Bored Clerk]

I sir, am jealous of the dinosaur track. Moab is at the top of the places to visit next year!

I had read about that trail and have seen pictures of the tracks but that in no way prepared me for being there. That was the highlight of the trip for us. Such a cool thing to see! I allowed myself to put off Moab for far too long. I could see myself going back every year and never getting bored. We only just barely scratched the very corner of the surface and had a blast!


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[tacoma_AL]

Do you mind me asking, what trail was it that the tracks are on? Just so I can put it on my list of ones to visit.

Nvm, I saw it in your post, must have missed it the first time.

 

[1 Bored Clerk]

Definitely put it on the list! The tracks, for the most part, have been ringed by small rocks. Look for the rock circles and you'll find the tracks. Be careful though, some of the tracks are right where you may think you're supposed to be driving...or very close to it. Probably best not to run over them.


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[bknudtsen]

Love Moab. Been 4 times now. Hope to make it 5 this coming Spring/Summer.

 

[jeverich]

I was just out there from the 8th to the (I think) 14th..

Ran Lockhart Basin, Kane Creek, Top of the World, Hell's Revenge and Porcupine Rim..

Definitely a great time of year to go.

Sucks about your window! Our Tacomas have a lot of flex in the bed/frame!

 

[1 Bored Clerk]

Nowhere near as flexy as the frame on my Dad's 1987 F-350. That frame was made to twist...I think! The Tacoma frame is rigid by comparison. However, it seems that it has quite a bit of flex capability when forced.

We were in Moab from the 14-17th. I would have loved to have explored about 30 more trails but I'll just keep coming back as often as possible. In fact, the previously cancelled dirtbike trip is tentatively reschedule for this Spring. Going to Moab twice in 6 months sounds good to me!

 

[1 Bored Clerk]

Our Moab trip gave us a lot of time and a lot of varied use in the truck so it was great to evaluate everything. Here's what I think:

Bilstein 5100's with OME 885 (set at 0) - Great setup. I'm sure high end equipment rides better across the board. But, for something inexpensive that has close to (or the same as) OEM quality and maintenance requirements but provides lift (and more stroke than stock shocks), additional weight capacity and a better ride is a total win in my book.

Wheeler's HD 3-leaf Progressive Add a Leaf - It carries quite a bit of weight. It's a little stiff when completely unloaded but is quite nice with my toolbox (loaded with stuff) in the bed. If you are rolling around empty most of the time, the HD pack isn't for you anyway. This is a temporary solution (I knew that going in). I'll be upgrading to a full leaf pack next year (probably All Pro Apex Expo). You can really feel my leaf pack load up. It's soft for the first tiny bit of travel then stiffens up a lot...very quickly. Totally expected and I'm sure a full pack will be a nice upgrade but I'm happy with this for now. The added height in the rear (I'll have to grab measurements to compare to stock) hasn't given me any vibes until about 70mph...which I don't travel at very often. It was quite noticeable at 75-80mph going through Idaho. I have Carrier Bearing drop spacers sitting in the garage, I just haven't put them on because we just don't drive that fast in our normal daily life. When the weather gets nice again, I'll put the spacers in and see how it goes. I'm just happy that the vibes only show at that high of a speed!

Relentless Skids (3/16" Steel - front, mid, transfer case) - These are great. Mine have the exhaust crossover dip in them and it's awful. When the skid plates were new, I was able to get them all fit up where the exhaust crossover never touched them. However, after a ton of twisting and bashing in Moab, the exhaust rattled almost constantly. It was maddening! I took off the transfer case skid until I can get an exhaust re-route done. If you are considering a transfer case skid, just save yourself the headache and get an exhaust re-route first. Then you can have flat skids without the bump hanging down...and no rattling. It'll be worth it...trust me. Besides, that dangly bit on the transfer case skid took a lot of abuse when the rest of the skids took relatively little. It makes a difference.

Goodyear Duratrac (265/75 R16) - Other than wising they made them in a 255/85 R16, I just can't complain about these tires yet. They have about 22,000 miles on them now and they have been great! I hear people complain about their wet road grip but, from my experience, they are way better than mud terrains (BFG MT/KM, KM2's, Old Style GY MTR) and very close to BFG AT's...and better than the tires the truck came with. The Duratracs were great in the sand and extremely grippy on the rock. The softer sidewalls of my c rated tires probably helps float and grip in both of those conditions. I've recently been in a bit of fresh snow (8"), packed snow paved roads, and icy conditions and they have performed well. Again, they are not AT's and they are not MT's...they are designed to fall in between...which they do perfectly. I'm really impressed with them. They seem to be wearing well too, but I wont have them long enough to wear them out as they will be swapped out for taller tires this spring/summer.

Almost forgot!

My home made sliders!!: they performed flawlessly. We used them quite a bit; from the very front to the very back. No creaking, no apparent flexing, no issues with the frame plates. Everything is bliss in sliderville. I really dig them. There are a few tweaks I would make if I built another set like these but the changes would all be for dialing the aesthetics. Functionally, they're sweet.

 

[rickashay]

Awesome build thread. I've seen it bumped several time and just never clicked on it until now. I too went to Moab for my first time this year and actually sheered a rear brake line on TOTW. I was trying a difficult line when a rock rolled out under my rear axle, when the truck came backwards (spinning, couldn't get up the ledge) the rock impaled the brake line. Just seeing your photos reminded me of my adventure there earlier this year. Damn, I wanna go back!

Really enjoy reading the logic and commentary behind the mods also. It's cool to see other people's evaluation of parts and how they perform for their specific uses.

PS - those are some wicked looking sliders. Might steal a couple ideas for when mine get done for the Tundra.

Thanks for sharing, subscribed.

 

[JCMatthews]

Just rubbing it in, I live less than two hours from Moab, and have attended Easter jeep Safari 17 consecutive years. One year, I was in a Saturn wagon, but aside from that trip, I ran multiple trails each time. I also was a red rock 4wheelers club member, and helped guide for ten years during the event. I usually make it down in the fall for one more trip each year. It is wonderful to be so close, and I am glad you are all lovin' it. If anyone needs or wants suggestions let me know.

 

[1 Bored Clerk]

CB! Almost. Well, not really...just getting started

I've had a Midland 75-822 for 8 or so years. I've only ever used it in handheld mode. Which means battery pack and included little rubber antenna. I was fine for trail runs with other FJC's (back in my FJC days) but it's highest and best use would be with an external 'real' antenna. This weekend I finally started down the road to getting it set up. Thanks to Soonenough and his build thread for the perfect location IMO for the 12V power and antenna plug in an auto Tacoma! The cubby above your right knee where a proper emergency brake should be located (lucky MT guys!) is a great spot for the two connections you need for this type of CB.

This is the spot.

There is just enough room to fit both plugs through the open area in the dash behind the cubby. No mods to the dash at all. Just be sure about your locations. It's not hard...just pay attention.

They stick out a ways but there is plenty of room back there so don't worry about it.

Everything attached how it should be. You know, except for any power or antenna. Other than that, it's great. I can imagine the clarity and range already!

Photographic proof that a Midland 75-822 will actually plug into these connectors.

Plugs buried in the cubby. You can hardly see them and I'm sure I will enjoy trying to jam my flesh mitts in there to attempt to hook up my CB when I feel like being social with truckers and weird old guys on the freeway.

Step one is done! I'm currently working on my aux fuse block as well. Hopefully I'll have that mounted up in the next week or two. Then I can wire up the fuse block, 12V outlet and GPS. That will be nice to finish. I'm sure it'll only take another 4 months to finish up. I have no idea why it takes me so long to get anything done.