TCMach's Build Thread

[TCMach]

Part 2

Here is what went down today.

A while ago [MENTION=81047]farmerjon[/MENTION] made a decal for his truck.



Aaaaand I liked it. So I pestered him for a couple weeks until he would make me one. But bigger. I have always been a fan of windshield banner style stickers. I think you guys know what comes next.







I couldn't be happier with it. Once again, thanks Jonathon!

 

[EatonKyleH]

Really nice work and good idea with the mount for your tools in the cargo box (might have to steal that one).

Probably my favorite windshield banner I've seen as well. Get your :toilet: back to Colorado so I can try and keep up with this beast.

 

[farmerjon]

That turned out AWESOME!! Thanks for the recognition, I appreciate it! Lies, actually - you didn't pester me one bit, it was YOU who was patient while I designed it and took it to the shop and everything! You didn't have to do much to get me to agree to do it, I think it looks awesome, and like I said, I'm humbled that you want to run my design! It looks sick! Curious if the wipers hit it?

It looks to be just the right height, and you spaced it out and angled everything - I can't get over how great it looks!

I like the angled LCA skids! A lot less surface to meet the rock... The metal holding your sockets in place is good too.

Thanks again mate!

 

[TCMach]

Really nice work and good idea with the mount for your tools in the cargo box (might have to steal that one).

Probably my favorite windshield banner I've seen as well. Get your :toilet: back to Colorado so I can try and keep up with this beast.

Haha thanks man! Well as of yesterday I'm officially in FoCo so we gotta meet up sometime soon. May be going wheeling this sunday if you feel like tagging along.

That turned out AWESOME!! Thanks for the recognition, I appreciate it! Lies, actually - you didn't pester me one bit, it was YOU who was patient while I designed it and took it to the shop and everything! You didn't have to do much to get me to agree to do it, I think it looks awesome, and like I said, I'm humbled that you want to run my design! It looks sick! Curious if the wipers hit it?

It looks to be just the right height, and you spaced it out and angled everything - I can't get over how great it looks!

I like the angled LCA skids! A lot less surface to meet the rock... The metal holding your sockets in place is good too.

Thanks again mate!

I dunno about that! But either way I'm super stoked about it. The wipers do hit it but just at the edge. I went through some rain on my way up to CO and had no problems.

Thats the goal with the skids. It helps with contact, will let it slide easier, and because of the gap between the LCA and the peak on the skid, if I hit it hopefully the peak will dent down before the whole LCA skid assembly.


MOAR ARMOR!
I just finished up welding, grinding, painting, and mounting my RCAM skids. Made out of 3/16 steel and mounted with 7/16 hardware.

Decent welds for not welding in 2 years




All cleaned up


Painted and mounted

 

[smkd13]

Haha thanks man! Well as of yesterday I'm officially in FoCo so we gotta meet up sometime soon. May be going wheeling this sunday if you feel like tagging along.



I dunno about that! But either way I'm super stoked about it. The wipers do hit it but just at the edge. I went through some rain on my way up to CO and had no problems.

Thats the goal with the skids. It helps with contact, will let it slide easier, and because of the gap between the LCA and the peak on the skid, if I hit it hopefully the peak will dent down before the whole LCA skid assembly.


MOAR ARMOR!
I just finished up welding, grinding, painting, and mounting my RCAM skids. Made out of 3/16 steel and mounted with 7/16 hardware.

Decent welds for not welding in 2 years
View attachment 95823

View attachment 95824

All cleaned up
View attachment 95825

Painted and mounted
View attachment 95826

View attachment 95827

Welds look good bud. And love the way they come out. Those are something I am definitely looking into doing

 

[Fishwerks]

RCAM skids look real nice! Plus the red matches your TRD sticker. All the freshman ladies on campus will love it. :behindsofa:

 

[TCMach]

Welds look good bud. And love the way they come out. Those are something I am definitely looking into doing

Thanks man. They're real simple to do if you have the tools. Worth it in the long run too

RCAM skids look real nice! Plus the red matches your TRD sticker. All the freshman ladies on campus will love it. :behindsofa:

You know it!!! I need all the help I can get with the ladies

 

[EatonKyleH]

RCAM skids look real nice! Plus the red matches your TRD sticker. All the freshman ladies on campus will love it. :behindsofa:

Sounds like I've been hanging out with the wrong crowd! :girl:

 

[TCMach]

Sounds like I've been hanging out with the wrong crowd! :girl:

We ball hard.


Short notice but I'm Hittin moody hill tomorrow with my roommate and maybe [MENTION=78892]FR4R[/MENTION] if he doesn't wuss out. Wanna come?

 

[EatonKyleH]

We ball hard.


Short notice but I'm Hittin moody hill tomorrow with my roommate and maybe [MENTION=78892]FR4R[/MENTION] if he doesn't wuss out. Wanna come?

What time? I work until 5 and could leave from work but I'm guessing you guys are going earlier than that.

Otherwise I'm going to be in Steamboat Springs the rest of the weekend. I'll be in touch though hopefully we can figure something out in the near future. I have a sweet condo available to me as a work benefit in Steamboat all year. Someday maybe I can show you and your freshman lady friends what ballin hard is all about lol! But seriously if you guys ever want to wheel in that area let me know its kind of a long drive otherwise.

 

[TCMach]

What time? I work until 5 and could leave from work but I'm guessing you guys are going earlier than that.

Otherwise I'm going to be in Steamboat Springs the rest of the weekend. I'll be in touch though hopefully we can figure something out in the near future. I have a sweet condo available to me as a work benefit in Steamboat all year. Someday maybe I can show you and your freshman lady friends what ballin hard is all about lol! But seriously if you guys ever want to wheel in that area let me know its kind of a long drive otherwise.

We've been tossing around after breakfast or lunch one of the two. Either way we have plenty of daylight. Sure you can't get off at lunch? Haha

Hahaha it's gonna be a challenge for me to pick up freshies now that I'm in a townhouse. But maybe I can use that to my advantage and we can throw a project x party at the condo! Ill shoot you a PM with my number so just shoot me a text whenever your free or want to chill

 

[TCMach]

So I went wheeling last Friday at Moody Hill and Crystal Mountain. It was my first real test of the locker and I was not disappointed! Here are some pictures but the rest of the trip can be found here http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-gen-t4rs/127250-fr4rs-photo-build-thread-5.html.

Some of my favs









Locker Review
I've had the locker in almost every situation except snow which will hopefully be coming soon. So I'll try to address each situation individually and add to it the more I go on.

Highway: Didn't even know it was there. Doesn't affect it at all. Merging onto on-ramps also doesn't make any problems.

Town: You can hear it clicking in turns. The tighter the turn the more it clicks. I've gotten maybe one or two loud bangs in almost 2000 miles now. I've never had it lock up in a turn no matter how much throttle I apply.

Trail: Absolute perfection! I no longer have to throttle up to get over an obstacle. Easy throttle and up we go. It also unlocks great on a trail. I can go over a rock group locked and 5 feet later make a tight turn unlocked. Also on the dirt feeder road (packed dirt with loose gravel in places) I attempted to get the locker to lock up in the corners and it wouldn't go.

In all I haven't seen a single downside to this kind of locker. If I had to do it again I would do it this way no questions at all.

 

[Fishwerks]

[MENTION=82211]TCMach[/MENTION]

And..boom goes the dynamite.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/92196326@N04/9647278002/" title="DSC02064 by FR4R, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7430/9647278002_f6e9442f63_c.jpg" width="800" height="532" alt="DSC02064"></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/92196326@N04/9647269928/" title="DSC02106 by FR4R, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3685/9647269928_97a552da27_c.jpg" width="800" height="532" alt="DSC02106"></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/92196326@N04/9644085637/" title="DSC02170 by FR4R, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2836/9644085637_c29e27787a_c.jpg" width="800" height="532" alt="DSC02170"></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/92196326@N04/9644082013/" title="DSC02180 by FR4R, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3670/9644082013_6d99cf1bea_c.jpg" width="800" height="532" alt="DSC02180"></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/92196326@N04/9644073321/" title="DSC02230 by FR4R, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7286/9644073321_762b318638_c.jpg" width="800" height="532" alt="DSC02230"></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/92196326@N04/9647304880/" title="DSC02268 by FR4R, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3683/9647304880_6646c869d4_c.jpg" width="800" height="532" alt="DSC02268"></a>

Next time we will go when it's not going to rain so you can handle Heart Attack Hill.

 

[TCMach]

[MENTION=82211]TCMach[/MENTION]
Next time we will go when it's not going to rain so you can handle Heart Attack Hill.

:flipoff: If you hadnt taken so long getting up the hill in the first place we wouldnt have had to worry about rain! Sweet pics as always!

 

[TCMach]

Little update here. Got two bits of damage at Kelly Flats. First is a nice scrape along the bottom of the rear diff (down to metal). This place is thick as hell so I'm not too worried but it was near the drain plug which I'd rather not bugger up. I may look into getting a diff skid such as a Budbuilt or B.A.M.F.

The second is a little more obvious. A branch decided to be a little meaner than I anticipated. Not sure if this will buff out.....lol






Also, I'm not as stoked with my tires as I previously was. I have maybe 6-7k on them and they're looking like this. I like the way they hook up and as far as tread depth they are doing pretty well, but not stoked about this. [MENTION=58830]JWaldz[/MENTION] have you ran into this junk yet?

 

[EatonKyleH]

Little update here. Got two bits of damage at Kelly Flats. First is a nice scrape along the bottom of the rear diff (down to metal). This place is thick as hell so I'm not too worried but it was near the drain plug which I'd rather not bugger up. I may look into getting a diff skid such as a Budbuilt or B.A.M.F.

So I was washing up and painting my frame today since I plan to put my sliders on tomorrow after work. I realized when I had it up that I actually did hit my rear diff skid probably on the same rock you did lol. Anyway I must not have noticed it because the shape of that skids belly is like a big ramp and it apparently allowed me to just slide over the rock without hanging up. Just left a long scratch with no real damage but missing paint on the skid. Now that it has been officially used I'd recommend it.

 

[TCMach]

So I was washing up and painting my frame today since I plan to put my sliders on tomorrow after work. I realized when I had it up that I actually did hit my rear diff skid probably on the same rock you did lol. Anyway I must not have noticed it because the shape of that skids belly is like a big ramp and it apparently allowed me to just slide over the rock without hanging up. Just left a long scratch with no real damage but missing paint on the skid. Now that it has been officially used I'd recommend it.

good too know. It drains real well too. I was watching you go through the water a couple times and it all drained out of the rear diff really well. Now to stomach the cost.

 

[NateMob]

Honestly buddy, any tire you use offroad in the rocks is going to do that. Some brands and patterns resist cutting and chipping better than others but i wouldn't worry or be upset about that one bit. After a couple more trips put that one on the passenger rear and vice versa to even it out a bit.

My BFGs are getting destroyed, but you gotta pay to play, right?! Ill grab you a couple photos tomorrow to show you what i mean. I am missing half a lug on one of mine.

What a mean tree, did you break the branch off afterwards?

 

[TCMach]

Honestly buddy, any tire you use offroad in the rocks is going to do that. Some brands and patterns resist cutting and chipping better than others but i wouldn't worry or be upset about that one bit. After a couple more trips put that one on the passenger rear and vice versa to even it out a bit.

My BFGs are getting destroyed, but you gotta pay to play, right?! Ill grab you a couple photos tomorrow to show you what i mean. I am missing half a lug on one of mine.

What a mean tree, did you break the branch off afterwards?

Yea I expected them to get rough, just compared to the Duratracs [MENTION=78892]FR4R[/MENTION] is running its a decent difference. Although I guess thats the mud tire vs somewhat AT difference too. Plus back in OK at Disney its all just hard, sharp granite so I imagine that took a toll on them. Its ok though, quicker I go through these the quicker I can step to 35s:nod:

You dont want to know what I did to that branch....:loco:

 

[JWaldz]

Also, I'm not as stoked with my tires as I previously was. I have maybe 6-7k on them and they're looking like this. I like the way they hook up and as far as tread depth they are doing pretty well, but not stoked about this. [MENTION=58830]JWaldz[/MENTION] have you ran into this junk yet?

Yes, mine look similar. I also have a good few chunks out of the tread but not anything extremely horrible. I think the type of terrain we drive on like the gravel roads, loose rock, rocky hill climbs and so forth will cause what we're seeing on any tire whether it's designed for this stuff or not. Considering the amount of stress we put theses tires though I'm pleased. Imagine what they would look like if you bought 150 dollar tires. Might have already punctured one by now.