Buddy and I did some trail exploring by Kachness Lake over in Snoqualmie Pass. Found some trails with big humps and dig outs which made it quite interesting to get through. N-fabs were horrible as they dragged on every mound we went over. The N-fabs on the Taco's hang a bit lower so my buddy's steps were digging deep into the dirt. Don't wanna imagine what it would look like if we were going over rock piles. One particular trail had quite a vertical climb that required ATRAC and locker. Definitely a little scary, next to a cliff, getting up there for novices like us.
In addition, my Addicted Offroad bumper has zero adjust-ability as mentioned in my previous install post. When I was articulating over some obstacles, frame was flexing and pushing hard against my fender. You can see in one of the pictures that the bumpers finish has rubbed off due to contact with my fenders. These were just mild mounds we went over so I will bet that more "extreme" obstacles will result in bent or popped fender flares. I'm going to have to take this bumper off tomorrow and drill longer mounting holes.
Here you can see where the bumper wings is making contact with my fenders causing the finish to wear. I will need to remedy this by elongating the existing holes so I can adjust the bumper down 1/2" for flex room.
Then after a nice 6 hour trip I took it to a touchless car wash to get most of the caked on mud and debris off.
Buddy and I did some trail exploring by Kachness Lake over in Snoqualmie Pass.
Great looking build!! Love the decals.
Just drove by there last night heading to my parent's in Entiat. Would love to go play out there sometime. See you on the trails!
Prev: 2009 Tacoma TRD Off Road Double Cab, 2007 Black on Black TRD Off Road FJ Cruiser(totalled), 2005 Tacoma TRD Off Road Access Cab, 1994 Nissan 4x4-4cyl(beat the crap out of it 4 wheeling in NE Wash/Northern Idaho)
You build is awesome. I especially dig all of the awesome design flair, i.e. red skid plate and logo on the doors. Sweet ride and many beautiful pictures of you using this beast as it ought to be.
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2016 Toyota 4Runner -- Trail Premium
Icon Stage 2 suspension; Budbuilt Skid plates and rock sliders; Demello three-hoop front bumper with winch;
CBI swing out bumper with jerry cans, camp table & light; Goose Gear drawers & sleeping platform; Alu-Cab RTT/Shadow Awning; Prinsu rack with Heretic 40" light bar; Raingler nets; BF Goodrich AT K02 285 70/17; Dirty Parts dual battery kit; Prestigious Society Navigation Enhancement
Thanks! Threw in a little bit of red to get that extra "pop" among all that silver and black. Love taking this thing out for short excursions, beats looking at it on my driveway. haha.
Took off the bumper. Plasma cutter then reamer to elongate the holes. Now I have some gap, though not much. Before this, the bumper is tight against the fenders and I would get this knocking sound coming from the left side wheel well. At first I thought it was my suspension like something was loose. Re-torqued every single bolt in that area and was still getting the knock whenever I went over potholes or bump with a little speed. After I lowered the bumper the knock was gone. It was actually the bumper wing banging up against my fender.
A buddy with his 4th gen guided us to Tahuya ORV State Park . What an awesome adventure and a great exercise for our trucks. Got the body and suspension at full flex at times. The trails we went on weren't very technical but definitely can cause body damage without experience on these trails or with a good spotter. All we came out was with some nice deep pinstripes and my door handle scraped against a tree. Some of the trails are very tight and I felt my 5th gen felt too big at times. We did the main loop and played around on some hill climbs.
The Nfabs were a pain in the ass as they were constantly causing me to get hung up on boulders and stumps/roots. I did bang on them pretty hard several times but luckily I didn't cause any damage to the under body of the truck. So today, I took them off and gave the rig a good wash and a polishing to get the pinstripes out. Some of the deep stuff couldn't get buffed out, but hey, it comes with the fun! The ARB locker made crawling over some areas with ease where just 4LO and ATRAC required a bit of back-n-forth rocking to get over.
Looks like a fun time. I'm curious about all the exposed wiring/plumbing in front of the front wheel. Is it supposed to be that way? It seems like it's very vulnerable.
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2014 Trail - 5100s at .85, 265 KO2s