TL;DR - Having the Tacoma in Las Vegas is by far the best thing I've done for exploring, ever. The convenience of not having to drive forever at the start/end of a trip is worth it alone. Icing on the cake is that it's been even cheaper than I originally estimated (which itself was cheaper than driving)."Seems ...Unsafe."
TL;DR - For the last several months my clutch pedal hasn't been returning fully. Clearly, the plastic bushings on the torsion spring are wearing out (they're squeaky too), so I'll be replacing the torsion spring with a linear spring.This little guy will solve all my problems.
April 28, 2023. The big news on this Rig Review is that the Tacoma has been stored in Las Vegas, largely eliminating the long, 20+ hour slog to get from the PNW to the SW before a winter adventure. While this has definitely reduced the wear and tear on the truck - saving something on the order of 2000 miles per trip - it has also introduced other benefits and drawbacks that I didn't really think about when I decided to go this route. With that in mind, let's get down to it. This Rig Review covers the following trips:…
TL;DR - I'm not happy at all that the ARB fridge wouldn't cool on my last trip. I'm going to be reaching out to ARB support to (hopefully) get the issue resolved.My $1000 ARB fridge, now a glorified ice chest.
TL;DR - After considering a switch to Gaia, I'm (mostly) sticking with Backcountry Navigator for GPS software because it works better for the things I do.
TL;DR - having the Tacoma in Las Vegas and flying back and forth for each trip is one of the best things we've done for the setup in a long time from a quality of life perspective. It doesn't save any money though.
December 18, 2022. The final three months of 2022 have seen several more trips and the Tacoma has weathered them well (as usual). Interestingly, while the set of trips is large, the actual driving for these trips has been relatively small: Olympic Peninsula Passages (Sep 2022) Lake Hopping the Eastern Sierra (Oct 2022) Hart Homesteads (Nov 2022) Highway Hikes [on CA-190] (Nov 2022) Panamint City via Surprise Canyon (Nov 2022) Inyo East (Dec 2022) The Olympic Peninsula - while large - is located in our home state, eliminating the long drives to-and-from that have become so common. The Highway Hikes and Panamint City trips in Death…
TL;DR - I've begun to carry three, 20L Scepter military jerry cans full of fuel and despite the extra weight, it's been great.These are the best fuel canisters out there. They are hard to get in the United States, but if you can, you should.
TL;DR - The seal in the transmission that accepts the input shaft from the transmission is leaking and needs to be replaced.Is this cavity ever dry? In real life?
TL;DR - The zipper finally failed catastrophically. Both CVT and YKK had amazing customer service and solved the problem in different ways.End of the road.
TL;DR - I got my third Cooper ST/Maxx flat ever, all on the same set (my fourth) of tires. I still think they are one of the best tires out there.That's not right either. After running on this for two miles or so at 65mph, even though it looks pretty normal, the tire is toast.
TL;DR - I no longer recommend SPC upper control arms (UCAs) if they contain X-Axis bushings.Older SPC UCAs with SpecRide bushings vs. newer arms with the X-Axis joint.
September 2, 2022. Overall, the Tacoma has been doing great since my last rig review back in March, so I haven't felt any need to write anything about it. Still, there have been a few things worth noting on the last several trips, so let's get down to it. 250 Miles of Washboard - Bradshaw Trail (Mar 2022) Oh, So, (San Rafael) Swell (Apr 2022) Rock Art Overload - Nine Mile Canyon (Apr 2022) Owyhee Out-and-Backs (May 2022) A Tour of Cabins atop Steens Mountain (May 2022) Slowing Down in the Sierra (Jun 2022) Wyoming Backcountry Discovery Route (Jul 2022)…
