To all So. Cali riders,

I found this book that has Off Road Trails in Southern California area. There are also books to other states I think. I have yet to purchase it.

http://www.4x4books.com/cas4wd.htm

Ken

 

Yep, Massey and Wilson's books are excellent. I have all 4 Colorado books along with the Utah and Arizona books of theirs. I think 7-rated (out of 10) trails are the highest they include. They cover other stuff in there like the history of various towns, and the plants and animals in the region. The trail history and descriptions are detailed along with mile-by-mile directions. They are a very well done series and I highly recommend them.

 

Thanks for the tip Kenn. I keep meaning to pick up a trail book of some kind and this looks like it will do nicely. It has some local stuff to San Diego area in there that might be interesting to check out if nothing else than to get outdoors.

Hey I work up here in Irvine.

 

I got one of those from Costco a while back. Haven't been to any trails in the book yet...
Down for SAS

 

Darx--

Around what area in Irvine do you work? I dont envy your commute. At least you are commuting in your Tacoma to Irvine.

Anthony 1--

Thanks for the Costco tip. I forgot they have a bunch of books there.

Ken

 

Kenn:

If you're not aware of this run...
https://www.yotatech.com/forums/show...5&pagenumber=1

Take a quick look and see if you're interested... This trip will be designed for the entry level members here so, we're welcoming everyone! Even the 2wd members who never see some dirt can have some fun too!

Lance

 

Thanks Good Times for the info.

I only have a small problem..... I dont think my 2wd Civic can make it up, unless you want to tow me the whole trip.

I have yet to buy my 4WD SE 4runner. I am hoping this year.

Ken

 

Hey you can do alot w/ those 2wd civic's

Well... good luck on your future purchase. Not sure if it's real wise to be here this early lurking though as you'll have too much on your mind.... I guess the good thing is that you'll be saving your $$ for the mods

Good luck!

 

Kenn

I have that book. It is really good. The only problem, if you call it one, is that you will find yourself looking through the entire book so you can find trails to go on.

I just got back from a trip where we linked a couple of trails together for a four day adventure

I would highly recommend it, also get yourself a Delormes Southern California Atlas and Gazetteer. Those have good maps of the trails and how to get to them.

robb

 

I just picked up this one tonight from my local bookstore--

http://www.4x4books.com/gtcas.htm

It is the same one Rob2k has. Tons of good info, from mellow trails to Crazy stuff. Hope it doesnt fall apart though

 

Ive got the Southern California Backroads & 4-Wheel Drive Trails book as well, funny you mentioned the book falling apart, the binding on that book is rediculous, pages fall out like crazy!

Marc, I got the manual hubs on. MAN what a difference!

 

Sorry for hijacking this thread but...

I was reading some other thread about manual hubs and they said for the Tacoma it was a very expensive project and not as simple as just taking off the plate and ADD stuff and then putting on manual hubs.

Marc or Phalanx: Do you know this to be true?

EDIT:

Bah I found another thread related to a 2002 manual hub convesion.

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/show...al+hubs+tacoma

Looks like it runs about 1K.

 

On my instruction sheet it says "TOYOTA TACOMA note: Wheel and tire may need to be removed for hub access, and hub cosmetic cover (if present) needs to be removed from wheel and discarded before re-installation, to clear Warn hub body."

Thats the only difference in the generic Toyota instructions for a Tacoma.

 

Darx:
I thought it was only 1K for the 4Runners
The Tacoma has manual hubs as a factory option, so swapping to that should be much cheaper than the 4runner. For the 4Runner alot of the parts have to be custom fabbed.
You should be able to just swap parts from a manual hubbed taco.
Do a search on the TTORA forum, you'll find alot of info there

 

Rob: Yeh I checked into it by searching their site for "manual hubs" and all roads consistantly point to this kit, http://www.offroadsolutions.com/products/tacomas.htm or buying the parts individually from Toyota to do it yourself.

Whether or not it's true I don't know. I did read that 2001 was the last year they offered manual hubs however in one of the threads. Maybe I can just swap them out. I think I'll bug TOyota Carlsbad tomorrow to get a definitive answer, hiopefully and then go from there as to where I should get the parts.

 

Here's a link to a partial writeup for the swap clicky
Also someone else wrote this in reference to the hub swap:By far the easiest way is to swap the knuckles and CV axles with a manual hub truck. The best deal is to find someone with a manual hub truck that has or is about to do an SAS and buy the axles and knuckles from them. Make sure that the donor truck has good wheel bearings. The spindles are different between ADD and manual hubs and pressing them out can be a real bear. If you go the new parts route and replace the spindles in your knuckles, you will need new wheel bearings and seals in addition to the CV axles and hubs.
and:
If you buy the parts from a wrecking yard (like I did) it is a pretty simple swap and requires no special tools other than a pickle fork aka a ball joint seperator (not really that special).
What you need:
2 Knuckles (make sure the bearings are good)
2 CV shafts
2 Locking hub assembiles (this consists of the hub body and the hub mechanisim)

I would also budget for a set of new CV boots. $40 per side from Toyota (incl grease). The boots do require a special CV plier to clamp, which is about $30 - NAPA carries it.

You should be able to get the wrecking yard parts from less than $500 and it bolts in pretty easy. No need to even remove the old axles from the orig knuckles - just leave 'em in and pull as a unit.

 

still hijacking...

phalanx quick question? why warns and not aisians(sp?)?

robb

 

I would recommend the Aisins over the warns anytime. The only plus with warn is they come with a lifetime warranty. I only paid $50.00 for my aisins-cleaned and greased them, and put them right on.

I did put warns on my old pathfinder, and they worked great.

 

It was hard to find the aisins online or in a local shop. The warns were staring right at me at ORW, so I just picked them up. If i had found the aisins i probably would have chosen them over the warns.