TL;DR - the dual battery system is working amazingly great. It was extremely nice to not have to worry about powering the fridge, even when the overnight temps were in the 50°F's.
TL;DR - If you don't carry a small 2'x3' door mat for the bottom of your tent ladder, or in front of your tent, you should. Keeps the tent clean and is a great mat to work on when something goes wrong with the truck.
TL;DR - One of my 13WL brake calipers seized on the trail and had to be replaced. The issue was that Napa no longer carries a workable caliper, and the 13WL caliper really wants a hard brake line connection, which Tacoma banjo bolts don't offer. I'll be switching out my lines.
TL;DR - The question for me when it comes to recovery tracks is, are they worth it? For me, I think the answer is still "not yet," but I'm more on the fence than I've been in the past.
TL;DR - I think I often overlook the little stuff that I take on trips that just does its job, or that may not be used every trip, but is really handy when the time comes. A few of those things saved the day this time and I think it's worth highlighting their value.
TL;DR - After rebooting my CV axles with Toyota OEM boot kits, I am extremely happy. I think this is absolutely the best way to go - even better than custom boots or extended boots from CVJ or doing the boot slide mod.
TL;DR - I recommend running front suspension with as little pre-load as possible. Having removed about a third of the pre-load from my ADS setup for this trip, the ride was much better and the suspension felt like it was able to work in situations where it was previously hitting full-droop.
TL;DR - I replaced the rainfly on the CVT Mt. Shasta tent with one that had no Stargazer windows. It is so much better, and now dries (relatively) quickly when it gets wet.
TL;DR - I found two cracks in the bed of the truck, likely from the weight of the RTT bouncing around up there. I'll need to fix them and come up with a way to reduce/change the stresses in the future.
TL;DR - To solve the problem with mud being flung everywhere with my SCS wheels that stuck out past the fender flares, I installed some new-to-me 1999 4Runner wheels on the truck, which sit under the fender flare. This solved the mud issue, but introduced a slight incompatibility with my new ADS front suspension - the tires rub on the shock reservoirs at full lock.Igor on the left, the Tacoma on the right.
TL;DR - the ADS setup is working great. We didn't do much dirt travel this time, but what little we did do was no problem at all. More to come in the future.Not only functional, but they look good too!
TL;DR - if you ever feel like your RTT mattress leaves a little something to be desired, don't buy a foam topper to try to increase it's thickness. Get an Exped MegaMat Duo 10 LXW. You won't regret it even though it's pricey - this is the most comfortable sleeping experience I've ever had.Those are a lot of promises in one marketing picture.
TL;DR - The zipper for the rubber cover got dirty (muddy, not dusty) and that made it really hard to get closed. I'm going to clean it well, and then keep an eye on it over time, since I've never had an issue with it before.
TL;DR - I love the look of these Stealth6's, but I'm on the hunt for new wheels; or at least some solution to the amount of mud that gets thrown into/onto the truck when I run around in wet weather.
TL;DR - These are some new containers that I got on a recommendation from Monte @Blackdawg, because they fit well in the bed of a first gen Tacoma. I've got to say, so far, I'm impressed. They are relatively light (for their size), waterproof, and durable. Oh, and they fit really well in the bed.The small and medium size boxes.
TL;DR - I've moved from the traditional two-burner camp stove to a one-burner + grill, and this works fantastically for the type of cooking I like to do on trips.
TL;DR - I'd like to find a ham radio antenna that is more flexible/floppy than the Diamond NR770HBNMO that I've currently got, and that doesn't have a small section of wound metal in the middle, since that gets stuck on trees and pulls at the roof mount.
