September 15, 2019. It was 2:00pm when I parted ways with Pops in eastern California - our relaxing trip into the Sierras just the start of a 3 week journey for me. The next two weeks would be adventuring to - and then through - Wyoming and Colorado with some of the normal folks - Mike @Digiratus and Monte @Blackdawg (and his dad Steve), and also a new face to me - Brett @Squeaky Penguin. I've been wanting to meet Brett for quite some time now, so I was definitely looking forward to the opportunity. But here I am getting…
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When you relax all day and know that the next will be more of the same, there's really nothing to do but sleep well at night , so that's just what we did - the only sounds around us, the rustling of a light breeze through the trees, and the tumbling of as it spilled through its channel a hundred-and-fifty feet below. Only the warm morning sun woke me from a restful night, my tent - a gleaming advertisement for @Cascadia Tents, the view - to rival any other. It was - as far as I'm concerned - one of…
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Well, it's not every day that I get to go camping with my dad, and it's not that often that I camp in the same spot for more than one night. I mean, I guess we camped in the same spot two nights in a row on the Idaho BDR when a brake caliper seized up, but that was clearly an exceptional situation! Plus, after last year's adventure - my first time experiencing one of Pops favorite spots in the Sierras - I knew this was a place that I wanted to return. Likely, for years to come. It really…
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I don't know how useful this post will be, but it's not uncommon that people ask me some version of how I got comfortable going off into the great outdoors as much as I do. Sometimes it's about how I got started; sometimes it's about how I am able to do so many trips; other times it's about how I developed the ability to feel confident in dealing with anything that comes up on the trail. So today, I'm going to try to talk about how I got started with all the adventuring that I do, and a few things…
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When it rains, it pours! It was only a few weeks ago that I replaced the rear axle seals on the 3rd gen 4Runner. No good deed goes unpunished however, and it was only a couple days after doing the job that the same failure happened on the Tacoma - only this time, I was in Canada. Luckily for me, I already had a well thought-through step-by-step list of exactly what to do, and the muscle memory of doing it once twice already. Step-by-Step: Replacing Rear Axle Seal & Bearing on a 1st gen Tacoma w/ABS (or 3rd gen 4Runner)…
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August 30, 2019. As expected, there wasn't much sunrise to see and we all had a good sleep-in on the edge of Whitehead Reservoir. Turns out it wasn't just the fact that we had a hill to our east, but also the fact that it was reasonably overcast - a few minutes of light rain even falling on our tents about half an hour before 8:00am. Still, I could tell it was going to be a beautiful day. In no real rush, but also with no reason to hang around, we ate our breakfasts and packed up our stuff. Oh,…
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It was 5:00am or so when I awoke after a shockingly chilly - yet pleasant - night’s sleep. I could see Monte @Blackdawg hanging out behind his truck, waiting for the sunrise from my tent door. Figuring I'd let him enjoy the peaceful solitude, I donned my clothes and made my way to a spot 50' or so away to capture the morning, the colors joyfully doubled by the surface of Wells Lake. I'd later hear from Monte that I'd been ninja-like in my approach. As he told the story to Dan @drr and Mike @Digiratus, he described completely silent…
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August 28, 2019. The day had been hot, but it cooled right down overnight - much nicer for sleeping, we all agreed. And sleep we did - it was 8:30am before the last of us finally climbed down from our tents, having missed the sunrise entirely - a cloudless sky transitioning from deep blue to orange, then to pink and finally blue again. We all set about making our breakfast - coffee for Mike @Digiratus, cereal for me, an amazing looking breakfast burrito for Dan @drr, and - of course - Donettes for Monte @Blackdawg - as the sun beamed…
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Not technically my truck. Mine might be heavier.
TL;DR - the truck is heavy at 5800 lbs loaded, and I need to find a way to shed weight. That's now on the project list for this winter.
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TL;DR - I have oil leaking from the transfer case where the front drive shaft attaches.
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TL;DR - The skid plates are holding up, but the mounting strategy could have been better. For the 3rd time, I'm modifying it.
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TL;DR - it's been about a year and my spherical bearings are getting squeaky; time to replace them.
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TL;DR - Moving the resis to the top of the frame means there is no more rubbing and I have my turning radius back.
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TL;DR - if you get cold hands/feet at night when it's cold outside, and would like to be warm and toasty in bed, these work great as long as they are exposed to air/moisture.
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TL;DR - The rear axle seal replacement seems to worked beautifully and there is no more leaking at all.
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TL;DR - the hard brakes lines are working fabulously and I'm happy to have installed them.
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August 27, 2019. Most of the trips I do require a full day - or more - of freeway driving just to reach the trailhead, so you can imagine my delight when we decided to do a trip on the west coast. Sort-of. At least, our meeting location was only four hours away - in the tiny little community of Mazama, WA. From there, we'd head north - to British Columbia, Canada - where we planned to run The Whipsaw Trail and then make our way north and west to Molybdenite Peak - before turning south again for the United States.…
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I've built a couple of storage platforms in the past - a slide-with-a-slide style platform for my 1st gen Tacoma, and a fridge-slide style for my 3rd Gen 4Runner - so when a buddy of mine asked for help building one for his 5th Gen 4Runner, I was happy to help. The goal was relatively simple for this build - a simple platform with some L-track to secure loads, and a way to level out the back of the 4Runner to sleep at night. No fridge slide (yet), but the ability to add it in the future. And, lastly -…
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Well, as I mentioned previously, our last family camping trip was both a success and a failure. I mean, the camping part was all success, but noticing that my rear axle seals were leaking when we got home - that part was definitely a failure. The telltale oil streak of a blown axle seal. My first order of business was to address what I hoped was what caused the seals to leak in the first place - by relocating the rear diff breather. With that out of the way, it was time to address the actual problem - so I…
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If you're just here for the brake line kit, you can pick one up here: Guide to the Tundra Brake Upgrade for your Tacoma or 4Runner: We all have to eat crow sometimes. We've all made mistakes. The most important thing is how you react in those situations. So, "give me a fork!" A couple years ago, as one of my early modifications, I added Tundra brakes to the Tacoma. This isn't anything out of the ordinary - it's one of the more common mods in my opinion. In doing so, I had a decision to make - the same decision…
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