Derpiful's Build and Adventure Thread

aaaand done! (kinda!)

Got the swingout built, and it functions, now carrying my spare. It's awesome! A long two days in the garage, but well worth it.




It's a tad bit high, yes, but I'd rather have that over dragging it offroading. I noticed the dragging was very common while in Moab, and so I thought I would make something that didn't do that.
I still need to add an extra support beam to the main bar, along with properly attaching the license plate (it's very carefully ziptied to the tire right now).

The hinge idea was stolen directly from [MENTION=9139]steezemcqueen[/MENTION], mainly because it works so well for so cheap. My setup is not nearly as nice, though....




Also, I love the angle it makes with the hatch. It's a bit close though...




Lastly, the latch.




A few other notes:
- Goodbye rear window view.
- THERE'S SO MUCH ROOM INSIDEEEE
- I need my highlift on this.
 
Made more progress on the swingout recently! I looooove how it looks now!

Added some triangle supports, mounted my license plate correctly (it has a light, finally), and even stuck my Hi-Lift on there!








Drilling through that grade 8 bolt for the Hi-Lift lock was one of the most frustrating tasks I've ever done. Took over an hour in a drill press, along with many bits. I should have just stuck with standard bolts.
 
Off on another adventure I go!

Today a few friends and I are taking a quick road trip around Colorado, ending in Buena Vista for the Toyota Jamboree!

Each day is filled with trails and camping. Should be a great time.

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The past week was an absolute blast! I'm going to have two posts; the first is for our Colorado road trip, and the second is for the Colorado Toyota Jamboree!

Sunday
We got a late start on Sunday but ended up heading up to Boulder and running Middle St. Vrain and Coney Flats. This is the same trail that we ran just a few weeks ago (see this post), but it's a fun one and the water crossing is hard to beat. We ended up camping right near that little pond.





Also stuck a new sticker on and got it a bit dirty. Probably one of the only stickers I'll ever run, mainly because I really support what Stay the Trail is trying to do.





Monday
We packed up camp and headed to Caribou Creek, one of the first "offroading" trails I ever did. We ran it incredibly quick... seemed very short this time. It also looked like it had rained recently here, as the trail was quite muddy.





After that, we headed to Breckenridge and then Wheeler Lake. Getting my buddy's mostly stock TJ through that was a bit difficult, but we did it! The view at the top was absolutely amazing- photos don't do it justice. Wished we could have camped up there.









We ate dinner in Breck and decided to drive to the Glenwood Springs area to find somewhere to camp. When we got there, we got the brilliant idea to go to Moab... since we were only like 3 hours away. Into the night we drove, arriving in town at about 3AM.


Tuesday
Being in Moab, there was no better place to stay than Area BFE. We were the only ones there that night! After only about 4 hours of sleep, we woke up and headed to the dunes right across the highway.





It's just too much fun to drive there and mob around. Shortly after, we were on the highway again, heading towards Telluride! We arrived around dinner time, and simply ate dinner and found a good spot to camp.

Once at camp, we also found that my swingout broke. It started to flop around a little more than it should.. and sure enough, look what happened!





I think all of the hard driving put a beating on the heims- I really should have gone beefier from the start. (I've since ordered a spindle. A big spindle.)

Wednesday
On Wednesday, we decided we were going to run Black Bear Pass and Imogene Pass. We ran Black Bear first, coming from the Ouray side, then dropped into town and headed up Imogene.








Black Bear really wasn't as bad as everyone makes it seem, and the views were incredible from up there... I loved it. It is always fun seeing all of the old mining equipment and reading about the history of the ghost towns. Back to town, where we got dinner and headed back to camp.

Thursday
Slept in on Thursday, got breakfast in Telluride, rode the gondola multiple times, and then decided we should probably keep driving. Arrived in Buena Vista around 5 PM, packed all of the gear accordingly, and parted ways! Onto the Jamboree I went! Stay tuned!
 
Very cool! We went on the Toyota run at Chinaman last weekend and watched all the big toys run the top of Carnage. It was a blast looking at all those trucks up there.

I picked up my 97 w/elocker literally 6 days before that and it made it to the top of Chinaman with ease for the most part, the running boards got a little torn up and i squashed my exhaust tip lol.

I have the same spring/lift combo as you pretty much that I haven't put on yet. It's good to see that the 285's fit with the wheel combo because that's the size I want to roll with. Good looking truck and nice build.
 
Very cool! We went on the Toyota run at Chinaman last weekend and watched all the big toys run the top of Carnage. It was a blast looking at all those trucks up there.

I picked up my 97 w/elocker literally 6 days before that and it made it to the top of Chinaman with ease for the most part, the running boards got a little torn up and i squashed my exhaust tip lol.

I have the same spring/lift combo as you pretty much that I haven't put on yet. It's good to see that the 285's fit with the wheel combo because that's the size I want to roll with. Good looking truck and nice build.

That's awesome! I really loved that trail.

Keep in mind I'm also running spacers. Without them, they'd fit much better... haha. Right now mine rub pretty bad, but only because of the extra width. I need to trim...

Also, thanks!!
 
Well... What a mess.

I was driving home yesterday from running some errands and started to hear a clicking/thumping noise that was rhythmic with the tires, and the steering got pretty sloppy. Got home, did some hunting around for it, and found it pretty quickly... The entire steering rack was moving left and right, not just the tie rods. Also, my leak suddenly got much worse, and fluid was coming out very quickly. Alright, so time to finally get a "new" rack like I've been meaning to do.

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Got on craigslist and found one pulled from an '02. Went and picked it up, along with some new bushings, and got to installing. This was tough! I hadn't ever messed around with the steering rack before, yet alone replaced one, and the documentation was fairly vague on it.

13 hours later... here I am with a non-leaking, working steering rack! Sooo much work involved, but glad I finally got it all working. Alignment is very messed up now, as expected, but I'll get that fixed soon. Some new outer tie rods are also in the future.

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It's so shiny... (compared to what I used to have, that is)
 
Finally went through the pictures from the Jamboree! Unfortunately I wasn't able to take as many pictures as I would have liked to (I generally have someone with me to take them, but this time, it was only me), but I still managed to get a few cool shots.

I've got a few more on my Flickr that I didn't post on this page, so be sure to check those out!

Friday
On Friday, we ran Iron Chest.

Had a pretty big group at the beginning, only to get bigger...




[MENTION=95069]TBuzz[/MENTION] lighting the way



A little up the trail we ran into a large group of Jeeps (as All-4-Fun was happening at the same time), causing a bit of a traffic jam and a problem for everyone. The trail is too narrow for anyone to pass, and has very few pull-outs, yet is open for 2-way traffic. Luckily we met them at a small road, meaning that we were able to fit the first 7 or so vehicles of our group up it. However, this meant that the remaining rigs behind us, as well as any others, had to turn around and head down.

The remaining group to run and finish Iron Chest would be myself, [MENTION=67615]Dirtco[/MENTION], @%1;, [MENTION=78892]Fishwerks[/MENTION], [MENTION=88391]NateMob[/MENTION], @%1;, and [MENTION=94888]EatonKyleH[/MENTION].

About 2 hours later, the trail was finally clear for us to back down this narrow road and get going again. Things got a little messy when @%1; had the edge start to give way and a tire fall off the edge. After winching him to a tree, we got him, along with everyone else, safely off the road.




Group shot at the top!









The trail itself was tons of fun, filled with lots of challenging rocks around every corner, but the trail traffic was a mess.

Saturday
On Saturday we changed plans multiple times, but all worked out.

Entire group queuing up for a run



After everyone started splitting off to go fishing, run others trails, etc., it ended up being myself, [MENTION=82211]TCMach[/MENTION], [MENTION=88391]NateMob[/MENTION], @%1;, and [MENTION=94888]EatonKyleH[/MENTION].

We first ran Tomichi Pass, then Hancock Pass, and lastly headed to Chinaman Gultch! This trail was absolutely great. I'm glad we had a small group and ran it later in the day, as it went much faster than expected. I struggled a tad bit on some sections without a locker, and even had to get winched at one point.







Every wheeling trip I go on, a locker gets moved up farther in the priority list..

aaand that's all! I had a blast and will definitely be returning next year!
 
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Ah yes, that section of Chinaman the Tacoma is doing with the huge Boulder to the left wasn't an easy one. That was my first time up there, super fun trail. I still can't believe my truck did that without any lift and all that got bashed up was the running boards. After I get my lift and armor on I want to go try it again. I think the running boards have done all the self clearancing they can take lol.

Cool pics!
 
Friggin awesome truck man

Definitely some inspiration. And that trip looked like a blast.

Thanks!! It was so much fun!

Ah yes, that section of Chinaman the Tacoma is doing with the huge Boulder to the left wasn't an easy one. That was my first time up there, super fun trail. I still can't believe my truck did that without any lift and all that got bashed up was the running boards. After I get my lift and armor on I want to go try it again. I think the running boards have done all the self clearancing they can take lol.

Cool pics!

Thanks! Chinaman's was awesome, I loved it. Challenging, yet not too bad, and many optional obstacles; the perfect trail. Also, self-clearancing running boards... brilliant!
 
Did another thing yesterday!








New SPC Light Racing UCAs. They look great, handle much better on road, and will finally allow me to get my alignment in spec! I needed to replace my UBJs after Moab, and for the price and features, I think that this is a much better choice than stock.
 
So I just recently moved up to Fort Collins! Unfortunately for the 4Runner this means work will be slowing, as I no longer have a garage nor the time to do a lot. Regardless, I still got something done!





Got my swingout mounted back up with the Comp4x4 mega spindle. This thing is huge and beefy. The swingout is incredibly solid now, with zero rattle.

Also took a trip to ToyTec on Saturday for their customer appreciation day! There were many sweet rigs there (as well as a few from on here), and it's always great to be able to go to events like these to support great companies like ToyTec. I really do appreciate all of the help ToyTec always offers...
Their team is amazing.

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Fort Collins huh? I saw a rig that looked liked yours driving down college the other day but didn't think it was you since you live down in highlands. Guess it probably was haha
 

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