Keiko the Tacoma - An Evolution of Needs

[Toiyabe]

Well, it's time to start on this year's prep.

First, the stereo in the truck was only intermittently charging through its USB port, so I upgraded to a Kenwood KMM-BT312U, which has BT audio. This allows me to stream Pandora whilst having a device plugged into a higher rating charger. Works great, sounds better than my old stereo, is half as deep and weighs half as much–all because it doesn't have a CD player. The ability to fine tune the display and button colors also made me happy.



The rear springs are original, and very tired. One of the main leafs has a nasty stress crack, and even with the Wheeler's single AAL, it engages the overlord leaf way too much.
So I order new HD rear springs, and Wheeler's 3-leaf progressive AALs. When I get those, I'll remove the overload spring, and see how it rides and sits.



Also, it still has its original clutch, and it is definitely getting higher on the pedal. No slippage, but I ordered an Exedy clutch and LuK flywheel. Cheap insurance for this travel season at right at $200 shipped.




Between the worn clutch and springs, I hope to cure some of the takeoff judder as well.

 

[MTaco]

Wow! What an epic trip! You covered some serious ground and saw some amazing places. I've been to the Teddy Roosevelt NP a few times and it always amazes me that the buffalo will just walk around the camp ground. They are some massive beasts!

 

[Toiyabe]

So, further prepping.


The remanufactured brake calipers both started suffering from sticky pistons. The driver's side wouldn't retract, and was dragging, and the passenger side was weak to apply. So off to Advance for the Lifetime warranty, and i put a new pair on. Painted them, as well.



The rear springs are original, with that Wheeler's AAL. Time to change.


This shock was low on nitrogen, about 150psi, as opposed to the 190 of the other 3. It's been about 3 months since I checked, and there is no visible leakage, so I'll be keeping an eye on it.


The new leaves were disassembled, and the overload springs removed. Then the new progressive 3-leaf AAL were installed.




All hooked up. Then lowered and tightened when on the ground.



Now, these springs should actually be LOWER than what I took off, which had an AAL and the overload. These have the AAL, bit no overload.
However, they raised the rear of the truck about 1.5", so tomorrow I'll be cranking the fronts up an inch.

 

[TwoTrack]

I'd leave it for a week or two, the rear may settle some.

 

[Toiyabe]

I'd leave it for a week or two, the rear may settle some.

I'm sure it will, but it's easy to adjust the fronts. I figured I'd split the difference.

 

[Toiyabe]

Ok. pulled the front shocks, and cleaned them before cranking them up. Took them up about 40mm on the perches. The truck now sits just about right, with the front about 1" lower than the rear at normal load.

Then I towed a 3000lb generator to Asheville, which settled everything down nicely. I used the trip as an opportunity to get some waterproof storage containers for the bed.

I am going to put it cargo tie-down rails in the bed tomorrow.

Shocks getting cleaned and adjusted.




Better, ended up going up another 3/4":



Had to clean up the coating from the holes to get the screws to sit flush.


I'll take final pics of the ride adjustments soon. It also finally allowed me to get the alignment where I wanted it.

Interestingly, the ride is much better without the overloads, and with the progressive AAL, but the rear sags noticeably less under load. With the generator before, it was dropping about 2", and after it was about 1/2".

 

[Greenbean]

Amazing thread, Love the pics, Wow... Lots of good tidbits of knowledge here.

You have a great hobby there bud...

 

[Toiyabe]

I finished up the bed redo.

I built a box for jerrycan storage, and added some more rails.

Bottom of the box.



Coming together.



Basically done.



Spare set-up.



Rack installed.



Cans in place.



EOD transport waterproof locker.
It fits my compressor, tool kit, tow straps and cables, all the chemicals and spare parts I take, towels, rope, etc... With room to spare.

 

[Toiyabe]

Denver and back; more tinkering.

I recently did a trip to Denver for a week for work. Along the way, I did a few new things.

On the way out, I drove large distance on Old 40. Broken pavement and dirt. It was cold, windy, damp, and quite foggy through most of it.


Once there, I removed the LT265/75-16 LR E General Grabber AT2 tires and replaced them with the new BFGoodrich Comp T/A KO2 tires in a 235/85-16 LR E. The generals had about 35k miles, and were around 50% tread life, with some a little more. I recently drove to Tennessee in a driving rain, and experienced hydroplaning over 30mph, and decided new tires were in order. The General's have been excellent with great tread life, excellent dry gravel and pavement traction, good sidewalls, good towing performance, great ride for a load range E tire, etc... I never had a leak or puncture. But I've been a huge fan of the BFG ATs over the past twenty years, and looked forward to the new ones.


My only complaints initially were they all took fairly substantial amounts of weight and looked wobbly on the balancer (although all felt fantastic to 90mph) and the sidewalls are noticeably stiffer than the Generals. They actually remind me of the sidewalls on the old Michelin rally tires. I have no doubt that puncture resistance dictated this, but at 30 psi they road like the Generals at 60psi.

Here is 32psi:


And here is 6psi:





Size comparison.





I also picked up an M1101 trailer. The same guy has two more for sale - cheap. He had sold the Humvee wheels and tires off of them (good!) and replaced them with Chevy 16" wheels with crappy tires. I mounted two of my old Generals to those wheels after painting them OD green.









I also had the driveshaft rebuilt at 250k miles. They replaced the splined section, and both outer CVs. Thanks to Rocky Mountain Driveline. Good work, well priced.

 

[Toiyabe]

Truck and trailer ready to move out.




I always love the clouds in Denver. Not my favorite city, however.



I drove up 25 to Chugwater, and then cut across through the Goshen Hole to Scottsbluff, and then drove the Old Oregon Trail to Omaha.

 

[Toiyabe]

And then I got home to do some work.

First off, this is the oil after 3500 hard miles:


I have not been happy with my rear shocks after the new ride height. I can top the rear shocks out easily, and the truck drops out from under me. This is how much travel I used with the bed loaded like a normal trip (one spare, 4 jerry cans, a holder, all recovery and emergency gear, tools), and towing, over 3500 miles, at least 1000 of which were gravel and dirt at moderately high speeds, and probably 25 miles of which were very rough 4Lo trails. As you can see, the passenger side was the worst offender.



The immediate solution was some extended shock eyes, which have made the high speed ride MUCH better, but I can now bottom the driver's side, and I'm unhappy with the damping curves. The solution will be quite involved, and the parts are on order... Installing new eyes on Fox Shocks is easy; heat the eye with a torch, then clamp the shaft in a padded vice, and screw up with a strap wrench. Clean threads, apply Loctite, install new eyes. I recovered a bit of rear droop on the passenger side by finally cutting the exhaust. I now have much more droop travel, but less compression. With the new shock setup, I will get right around 12" of travel.

[URL=http://s211.photobucket.com/user/toiyabe66/media/TacomaExPo/IMG_7444.jpg.html]


At 250k, the rack finally started leaking. Time to replace.




Sparkplugs after 50k miles.


Diff drop, to cure a persistent vibration in 4wd around 50mph.

 

[climber-420]

I actually saw a guy this weekend at Home Depot that had a M1101 Trailer like you picked up down here in Denver. Pretty sweet looking, and very wide.

 

[Dibbs]

How much do you notice the low counters in the camper? Do you get used to it? We looked at an Aliner and noticed everything is low, didn't know if it would bother us or not.

 

[Toiyabe]

How much do you notice the low counters in the camper? Do you get used to it? We looked at an Aliner and noticed everything is low, didn't know if it would bother us or not.

Haven'r noticed at all, if anything it's more useful for us, plus, one of the dogs like to stand on them and look out the door.

 

[Toiyabe]

So, I got a bunch of plastic.

First task was to make some blanking plates out of regular 1/4" HDPE for the sides of the skidplate. I have always been irritated at the vulnerability of he open sides for branes and stones to get thrown up into the engine compartment, and the mud and dirt that gets in.

This was all done on CAD (Cardboard Assisted Design).

The shape drawn onto the sheet.


Mirror pieces.


The front of the plate needed a double thickness to seal, so I made small fillers and countersunk rivets to hold it together.



Mock-ups of install on plate.



Serrated steel riv-nuts installed. You can see how open the sides were.


All done.



Also, I currently have 12-1/4" of rear travel.