theesotericone's Trails and BS Thread

[Wedgy]

We started driving down Crooked by mistake(wow, that would have been a big mistake) but flipped a B and headed to Wyman, saw a bunch of critters because I was a passenger and could look around. Kind of nice to be in charge of nothing for once as a passenger.
I wish I had such a capable vehicle to do it solo, great job !

 

[Black798]

The pro's are it's a plug and play harness and switch he made so install is easy. It also allows disengaging the front very fast in any situation. You also don't have to pull the t-case apart to remove the interlock pin.

The cons are everything is still spinning which can create a lot of heat in the t-case if you forget to lever back to 2hi when your done wheeling. It's also almost as much money as the twin sticks from Rad if you use RST's plug and play kit.

When I mentioned I was dual casing with no BL his first response was just twin stick the rear. Since that was the route I was leaning towards it solidified my thinking. So twin sticks it is.

Ok that makes sense. I think since my t case is the limited with push button 4wd rather than j shift the heat is a non-issue for me. To get 2 low all I did was unplug the low range sensor that tells the truck to automatically lock in the t case and hubs, so when I shift to low range it acts just like if it was in high range. So I believe when I turn off 4wd with the button it disengages everything regardless of if I am in low range. This obviously would be different on a J shift since the J shift manually locks everything in rather than with an electric motor.

 

[Flemster]

amazing as per the status quo on this thread. Continue on doing what it is you do. :happy:

 

[theesotericone]

amazing as per the status quo on this thread. Continue on doing what it is you do. :happy:

Thanks man. You too.

Every time I look at photo's of yours it amazes me. Mine are all shot with my phone. Yours are obviously not. lol

 

[Friday88]

Hey could you provide some details on how you made low profile mounts for your Rola Roof rack? I like the cost of those racks but I don't want to mount it high up off the oem roof rack rails...but I don't want it looking cheap either. Yours looks great!

 

[theesotericone]

Hey could you provide some details on how you made low profile mounts for your Rola Roof rack? I like the cost of those racks but I don't want to mount it high up off the oem roof rack rails...but I don't want it looking cheap either. Yours looks great!

Take a look at this post.

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/2665721-post90.html


It's super easy once you get into doing it.

One thing I didn't mention there is how to tighten the u-bolts to properly align the rack. Once the strut is bolted down to the factory roof rails you'll notice the rack doesn't sit evenly between them. It is about 1/2 wider. When you install the u-bolts hand tighten them till the rack is centered. They'll be at an inward facing angle. Then tighten them a few turns at a time alternating sides. They'll start to get tight and the rack will stay centered.

Once that's done give the rack a good shake side to side and front to back. One that's done and your happy with the bombproofness simply cut of the threads of the u-bolt at the nuts. My racks been on for a year and a half and it is still absolutely bomber.

Also make sure to paint the strut first. I didn't since it was a trial run. My trial run worked so well that strut is still up there in all it's galvanized glory. lol

 

[Friday88]

Take a look at this post.

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/2665721-post90.html


It's super easy once you get into doing it.

One thing I didn't mention there is how to tighten the u-bolts to properly align the rack. Once the strut is bolted down to the factory roof rails you'll notice the rack doesn't sit evenly between them. It is about 1/2 wider. When you install the u-bolts hand tighten them till the rack is centered. They'll be at an inward facing angle. Then tighten them a few turns at a time alternating sides. They'll start to get tight and the rack will stay centered.

Once that's done give the rack a good shake side to side and front to back. One that's done and your happy with the bombproofness simply cut of the threads of the u-bolt at the nuts. My racks been on for a year and a half and it is still absolutely bomber.

Also make sure to paint the strut first. I didn't since it was a trial run. My trial run worked so well that strut is still up there in all it's galvanized glory. lol

Oh wow that's super simple. So you have the unistrut attached to the oem roof rack rails right? My truck doesn't currently have the oem rails on there so maybe I'll need to go find those parts.

 

[theesotericone]

Oh wow that's super simple. So you have the unistrut attached to the oem roof rack rails right? My truck doesn't currently have the oem rails on there so maybe I'll need to go find those parts.

A member recently posted somewhere about a rack that he built using unistrut. I'm pretty sure he used unistrut in place of the factory rails. It should work fine if you can't find factory rails.

I just went out and measured and it's about 5/8" from roof to top of factory rail. If you use longer lengths of unistrut as the rails you can then just bolt the 8" pieces to receive the rack to those. They make a nut specific to unistrut called a strut nut. It's got grooves on two sides that contour to the upper part if the strut channel. There's no reason that wouldn't be plenty bomber. It would also only put you about 1/4" higher than using factory rails for way less money.

 

[psraff]

strut nut.

Or "Spring Nut".

https://www.google.com/search?q=spring+nut&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjLuNHDnsXbAhVAITQIHQ1WD7EQsAQIrQE&biw=2133&bih=1052

As an Oil Field Electrician, we use Strut for everything. And if you go to an Electrical Vender, they will be able to get more brackets and supports you could ever imagine. To lower my cargo rack, I used shallow strut as my cross members (it's in my build thread).

https://www.google.com/search?q=B+Line+strut&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjxseikn8XbAhXLIjQIHTPLCpsQ_AUICygC&biw=2133&bih=1052

 

[theesotericone]

Or "Spring Nut". As an Oil Field Electrician, we use Strut for everything.]

I was a plumber for a while before I went back to swinging a hammer. I've used a lot of strut. The company I worked for liked to save money. To do that they used strut nuts instead of spring nuts. There's no spring on strut nuts and they are about 15 pennies cheaper then a spring nut.

As you know, once you slot a spring nut there's almost no way for it to fall out of the strut. Strut nuts are a difference story. For overhead applications they stay in place cause gravity holds them there. For any other orientation you have to hold them in place then try and thread the stupid things. I dropped so many of those damn things I begged my employer to spend the extra cash on spring nuts. They never did. Between lost nuts and labor I guarantee it's more expensive to use strut nuts. lol

 

[Kotrin]

Used to be an electrician so I know all about the strut & hardware. Some crazy item's we've created out of the strut & hardware to hang transformers off beams and more. Love the thread as always

 

[theesotericone]

These showed up today. Big thanks to Rory at Rad Designs for getting them out so quick.

So I have almost everything I need sitting on the bench. The only thing missing is a stock t-case and some shafts. I have a lead from Craigslist to get the t-case. I'm supposed to talk to the guy who has it tomorrow and hopefully get that from him.

I also talked to Jesse at High Angle Driveline and he suggested waiting to get real numbers after install. He also suggested to use two front shafts to do the conversion. So I'm trying to get two front shafts drop shipped to him from a junkyard.

My wife also just let me know she's going out of town this Friday till Tuesday. That would be a real good time to get this dual case set-up in the rig. If I can snag a t-case by Friday I know what I'm doing Saturday. lol

 

[theesotericone]

So the other day I was talking about taking care of known maintenance item so they don't come back to bite you in the arse. I just found out I was guilty of not taking my own advice.

About a month ago I moved my ARB Compressor switch to a new location. That location was the factory locker switch location. When that moved happened I broke the cover plate. ARB makes them really hard to remove for "safety" concerns. Anyway I "slightly" broke that cover and it's fallen off a few times. No biggie. I just put it back on.

I've been meaning to get another one but haven't. So I get in the rig today and notice that little cover is missing. No biggie, it's gotta be on the floor. It's not.

My wife uses the rig as her DD. She must have not noticed the rocker cover being missing. After many enters and exits from the vehicle it must have gotten kicked out somewhere. FML. I was going wheeling tomorrow.

After a few seconds of thought it dawned on me. I'm the arse to blame for this. I knew it was broken. I knew it needed replacing. I knew I needed to order a cover. I didn't. Epic fail.

So I went about trying to find a solution to the problem. It's a pretty simple switch. Down is off, up is on. I looked around for a bit and noticed a tooth pick. Well, not really a simple wooded toothpick, but one of those new fangled plastic dental floss tools. Don't ask.

Any way, I went with my gut instinct and used it. I'll let the photo's tell the rest.

 

[96RedRunner]

Necessity is the mother of invention.
Would'nt dog myself on that one.

 

[theesotericone]

Coyote Flat(7S10) to Baker Creek(32E303 to 32E301)​

I had a plan this weekend. That plan involved catching some Goldens. It also involved going to two lakes to do that. One today and another tomorrow. Today's mission is done. Wheeling was had and fish where caught(and released).

Today started out with the usual 11 AM roll out. Not a big deal since I pretty much know Coyote Flat like most folks know there house. The roads actually in pretty shitty shape right now which just made it that much more fun.

I've done a few other reports for Coyote. It really is a special place. If you enjoy moderate(mostly) wheeling and solitude you can find both here. It should be on everyone's tick list.

Here's your first view of Coyote after the crawl up from the valley floor. It's a very nice color of green currently. That will change in a month or so. It's dry up there this year.

Where we just came from.

Where we are going.

After getting into the Flat you hit this left turn. 32E303. Coyote Flat Road continues South from here and eventually leads up to Coyote Lake and a few spur roads that take you to amazing camping and views. You'll have to make the trip yourself to see those. I was going fishing, remember?

The scenery around here sure doesn't suck. That's the Palisades in the background. One of the last remaining glaciers in the Sierra. It looks big this year. Yeah for winter of 2016/2017. We need another like that one. This is the turn to Baker Creek(32E301) as well.

That big thing on the right is the backside of Cloudripper. It's a great peak to tag from here or South Lake.

Here's the lake I went to fish. It's got more then a few Goldens in it.

For those that don't fish, this is why they are called Goldens.

No rigs or fish where harmed in the making of this trip report. lol

 

[96RedRunner]

[MENTION=143526]theesotericone[/MENTION], Dude how many times have you broke your toe's on your right foot, or is it that's why your so good at rock climbing? :high5:

 

[theesotericone]

Laurel Lakes(28E201)​

Having a plan to go to Laurel Lakes is always something I look forward too. Because it's 80 mile round trip from my house it's also something I get to do quite a bit. It has two things going for it. One, it's a fun, moderate 4x road for 4.5 miles. Two, it has some really nice fish. It's the only special reg golden trout lake in Cali that I know of. It's a 2 fish over 16" area. I've caught a lot of fish out of here that qualify but haven't kept a single one. It's a special lake. Let's keep it that way.

Here's the start of the trail.

After the initial 1 mile of steep uphill you get to a fairly flat and easy section.

After another 2.5 miles you get into some shale bands. Lots of tire cuts have happened here so air down. Those shale bands go all the way to the lake. Since the large snow drift is still present I parked here. The lower lake is 300 feet below.

I know Laurel very well. It's one of those lakes that's either great or really bad. One way I can tell within minutes what kind of day I'll have is to watch the water. If I see fish cruising the drop offs I know it's game on. If I don't see that I know it's game over. Today was the latter. I fished both lakes for 2 hours. I didn't see a single fish the entire time. They where deep and not feeding. Oh well. It's still an incredible day. This is the upper lake looking down canyon.

With the expected outcome I headed back down the trail. When I went to air back up I noticed this, again. I need to come up with another solution, My battery looks like this every tine I go wheeling.

There's also a "mod" I did to my truck on the Redemption Loop trip that I forgot to post up. Well, I didn't really do this mod but a tree branch was nice enough to do it for me. We all know of the taco whip mod. I think my current one contours to the vehicle nicely. lol

In other news I finally have a t-case on the way. It should be here Tuesday. Then I can finally get to ripping it apart and making the twin stick mod to it. It looks to be as simple as removing the interlock pin and grinding a bit off the shift rail. I've been looking forward to getting this thing on the bench.

 

[octanejunkie]

Get a battery tray base from a junkyard, which will be for a group 24 battery. Get a piece of 1" oak board from home Depot and cut it down to fit and snug in the battery tray. Tape, glue or Velcro the block to the bottom of the battery to position your battery where you want, spaced x far from the firewall. The wood block will shim the battery up to meet the stock clamp, locate and lock it in position (no wiggle) and act as an insulator. Boom easy.

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

 

[theesotericone]

Warning: F-bombs may be dropped.

So, after finally getting a t-case in order it arrived today. It was packaged with about 10000 foam packing peanuts. I f'ing hate those things.

After getting the box opened I found the t-case inside as well as the shifter and base. One good thing is they are undamaged. It must have been all those f'ing peanuts.

So with all the good things out of the way let's move on to why I'm so f'ing pissed off right now. I confirmed with the seller multiple times it was from behind a 98 Taco V6. I'm talking multiple f'ing times.

So tell me, besides the peanuts, what is wrong in this picture?

I'll give you hint. Click on the full size image and look closely for some writing on the t-case. Yep, it's literally written on the f'ing case.


If you haven't figured it out this shot will clear some things up.

Yep. It's a passenger side drop. That's right it's a f'ing passenger side drop. Now, I'm gonna go out on a really fat limb here and say it came out of a 1990 Toyo Pickup. So, that's why I'm just a tiny bit pissed off. I have a passenger drop chain drive case that's absolutely useless to me. FML.

I'm back on the hunt for a chain drive j-shift t-case from a 3rd gen runner or 1st gen taco. You know, the one this case was supposed to be out of. If I get one of those I'll be much happier than I am currently.

Thanks for enjoying the shit show that is my life. lol

 

[thezentree]

Yep. It's a passenger side drop. That's right it's a f'ing passenger side drop. Now, I'm gonna go out on a really fat limb here and say it came out of a 1990 Toyo Pickup. So, that's why I'm just a tiny bit pissed off. I have a passenger drop chain drive case that's absolutely useless to me. FML.

I'm back on the hunt for a chain drive j-shift t-case from a 3rd gen runner or 1st gen taco. You know, the one this case was supposed to be out of. If I get one of those I'll be much happier than I am currently.

Thanks for enjoying the shit show that is my life. lol

So are you going to get your money back or does the t4r mafia need to go break some legs?