3rd gen Taco

[cnstaco]

Jim if you see this I can’t figure out why it adds those weird A’s every so often. Might be my iPad?

[cnstaco]

Nice day up there at 51*

[Jim]

Taco Chris previously posted:

[FINOCJ]

Like that bumper and integrated hitch

[cnstaco]

I can’t say enough good things about RCI. High quality and their shop is in Loveland So no shipping. They had that bumper ready in 2 weeks compared to some of these shops with a 3-6 month lead time.

[cnstaco]

I ran 68j today and finally tested the front locker which worked flawlessly. Only thing I’m noticing is that my stock steering rack struggles a little to turn these 35’s. If I end up going to 37’s that will definitely need to be addressed. I also swapped out my stock shackles and hangers for a set from archive garage, way more beefy. So for now phase 2 is complete but I have big plans for next year.

[cnstaco]

Here’s a couple pics of the shackles and hangers. It was a pita drilling out the frame rivets that held the factory ones. Also wanted to give a big shoutout to Jon Rice at ECGS for taking care of me and all my questions with the built diffs. If anyone needs gears, lockers, diffs or axles I would highly recommend these guys.

[cnstaco]

Well I ran Ironclads yesterday it was really nice and completely dry. It was also super crowed. Truck is working great and I finally cut enough to stop rubbing however I have my front bump stops spaced down 3/8” to limit up travel as a test. Also had a strange clank on the passenger side hoping it was just a rock that flipped up. I’ll probably just post my small solo trips here unless Jim objects. Speaking of Jim I’m pretty sure I saw him, Matt and Phillip on the side of highway 7 on my way up. Tried to get you guys on the cb but no answer and I was running late or I would have stopped. Hope all is well.

[Jim]

good progress!

That was us! If Phillip and his white jeep were there - we were busy getting him aired down to get to the trail and weren't paying attention to the traffic.

No worries posting trip into in your build thread - but there's also no issue posting any sort of run report in the run reports forum - your call.

[cnstaco]

Well I was hoping to run a trail this weekend until I found this. Front diff is leaking on top at breather more investigating tomorrow.

[cnstaco]

So it seems I accidentally overfilled it when I changed the gear oil before Moab. I filled it until it drained out of the fill hole which is standard but Toyota recommends a 1/4” under the fill hole which is hard to measure or 1.6 quarts when dry. So my guess is when it heated up it found its way out of the breather. Yesterday I drained it and found 1.5 quarts Of clean gear oil which is good. Put 1.5 quarts back in it which does not come out the fill hole. Took it up the hill today and rant it in 4lo for an hour, tested the locker and no leak.

[cnstaco]

Also tested my new front/rear anytime camera.

[cnstaco]

Here’s the switches the compressor switch if for a future mod. I deleted blind spot monitoring and parking sonar which didn’t work anymore.

[cnstaco]

Also moved my cb antenna to the rear and bought a 3’ to replace my 2’.

[cnstaco]

Also swapped back to the off road hood no more fake scoop blocking my visibility. Only pic I have of hood. Well that was my 3 day weekend along with a bbq and house work.

[cnstaco]

Couple pics from switz today.

[cnstaco]

Hung out with Austin for a bit at Tru Automotive today. He’s the only other guy I let wrench on my truck. I do all my own maintenance and work unless welding or gears are involved then I call him. We were both impressed by the rear droop without being long travel.

[cnstaco]

Found my loud pang and fixed it for free

[cnstaco]

Did some more suspension testing today at Slaughter house. The Taco is a happy crawler again.

[cnstaco]

Finally got a front bumper from Addicted Offroad. Now I can get a winch. First thing I did was cut the light bar tabs off. I only wheel in the day. Next up powder coat and install.