Some good stuff u got there also like the TJM bag

 

The bag is great however the material is very thin. I do no expect the handle to last long, if I were to carry it by the handle that is. And I bet a sharp pencil could poke through with no problem. It is convent though

The stauns are sweet. I used my spare to notch them to 15psi and two came out at 16 and two at 14 so I need to try again… darn

Sent from my iPhone using YotaTech

 

Hey fellas! I just got back last night and was extremely tired but i'm here to share some pictures So the Winter 4x4 is a guys only, once a year a trip. For the past three years, I have only gone twice, you need to represent your vehicle and show your worth in a series of games you play, basically just driving games. I'll get to that in a minute

So the first night we all headed to the cabin of one of the drivers and stayed there for the night. The driveway in is a long, rut filled narrow strip that you need to keep your speed up or you're going to get high centered. You're getting thrown left and right with trees on either side of you that you come within inches of hitting. Pretty scary, but I made it through all the way down and ended up getting stuck right in front of the house Everyone wanted to go wheeling so I left my truck where it was and the first night we headed up to the Fordyce trail head. If you have ever heard of the Rubicon and it's difficulty, the Fordyce makes it look like ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. This trail is insane. Luckily, I did not drive, I rode passenger in my buddies Discovery. We were behind a jeep that was getting stuck left and right This trail was a steep, narrow hill on a cliff and the snow did not help.

So the next morning we played one of our first games. You had to drive down one part of the driveway, do a doughnut, come back up and hop out of your vehicle and shoot some targets with a 22. Out of ten, every target you missed was a 3 sec. penalty to where you had to sit there and wait to continue going. You then had to race up the driveway, (it was very gnarly, everything in the back was bouncing to your roof,) and pull a 3 point turn and come back down. Every single truck that went came within inches of tapping trees and high speeds while completely sideways. I wish I had taken some video of it but I didn't however someone else did so i'll try to post it.

So off we go to fill up and then head to the trail head. We ended up going to Texas Hill near Nyack. Completely unpaved with mass amounts of snow. II was having clearance issues and unfortunately had to leave my rig behind . I hopped in the Discovery again and off we went. Our goal was to not be setting up camp in the dark. These guys all have 35s and some sort of rear locker and they were even having some clearance issues so I would have been struggling quite a bit. The funny thing was that we still ended up setting up camp in the dark.

The next morning, we played two more games. One was "Stear and Smear" where you have to drive down the trail with a welding helmet on and run over as many cones as you can. You have a passenger that can only tell you "hit" and "stop". The other was a tripod game. You hang a water balloon under a tripod with spikes on the bottom and spikes on top and tie a string to your truck. Driving in a circle, the balloon will rise and fall and your goal is to get it to NOT pop and cross the line. This is such a challenging game. Kind of hard to explain, i'll see about getting some pics.

After that, we headed out and picked up my truck to drive out. It was a very fun trip however I lost my pride. I ended up driving a Jeep in one of the challenges. I think I'll have to go clear my sins, but don't worry, I got it stuck! I also had to be towed up a hill by the same Jeep . Bring on the flaming!!!





















And my carnage of the weekend. . .


I slid into a hole and had to be winched sideways.

About the games, the winner gets a plaque with the title rotated so the winner's vehicle's emblem is right side up. Sadly, Jeep won, leaving Toyota upside down


These are just the pictures on my phone, as soon as more are posted on facebook, i post them here

 

Some more pictures




.jpg[/IMG]

 

The Jeep hit a tree and still won?

 

He had a welding helmet on

Sent from my iPhone using YotaTech

 

Looks like fun. The Discovery and Bronco look fantastic!

Great work on the truck.

 

Looks like you had a great time with some cool people.Im jealous.kickass cabin by the way!! Looks like theyre rigs were a little more prepped than your runner. Minor cheese on the bent towhook. those things werent meant for alot of tugging. Sorry if im not up on your thread but do you have lockers??

 

Yea the Disco is a monster and the Bronco is so incredibly capable!

Thanks man! Next on my list are some manual hubs from Mark and either a CB set up or sliders. The Bronco driver said he'll help me weld them on and reinforce the ARB for better recovery points.

The truck has been running well lately. I just replaced the battery with a good ol' Duralast Gold! I changed it right in the Autozone parking lot

I plan on heading off to college at the end of summer and have no intentions of bringing my truck, just time and money I wont have So I am still contemplating a BJ lift with some 33s and POSSIBLY an LSD in the rear. Seems kind of pointless to spend the money on it just too let it sit in the driveway, huh? Well i'm thinking that I have 4-5 months to spend as much money on it as I can before I need to start saving for school. The logical thing would be to start saving now and leave the truck the way it is, right? Oh well It'll probably bite me in the butt when i'm starving, but whatever, at least my truck looks good sitting in my driveway, right?

 

My best suggestion is to find out what gear ratio you have and find a complete rear third member with a locker (set up by someone that knew what they were doing) You could install in a weekend for half the $$ it would take to have o disassemble yours. Find out your gear ratio and look for one. For the terrain you were going through with some lockers a little lift and good tires you would be in good shape. The lunchbox i put in the front on my build thread is perfect for mild wheeling and EASY install.

 

Well i've got 4:56 gears and a kid in my town just did a SAS and he told me he'll sell me his third, same ratio. I might just send that it in have a LS installed so that way I can simply just swap diffs. Seems doable in a day, right? I then might sell my third for some reimbursement or keep as a spare. A TRD E-locker might be an option. . . I'm kind of biased about automatic lockers, I hope to stick with LSDs and selectables.

 

BA PICS! Wow, that Bronco brings back some WICKED memories! lol......

I had a 74 Bronco, 351 4spd lifted on 33's with Deaver Springs, HD Power Steering Kit from a 4WD VAN or something, haha... And eventually we put a Paxton On it and then sold it a month later... That thing, SC'd, would TOTALLY come off the ground! haha.. Miss it, badly...

Right on, Stew!!!!! SO cool to see other snow monkeys out there!!! I used to hit the Kern River every Winter a FEW times to sit in the hot springs(Hobo Campground) while snow fell on our heads! lol.... Thus, the "Snow Monkeys" name got started (they do exist, btw, lol... And THEY DO chill in hot springs... Smart Monkeys, eh?) ....

HAVE LOTS OF FUN?

 

So here's a video of the first game we played. Very fun! If only he had filmed me

 

So for the past couple of days I have been getting a slight vibration/grind in my front end, when coming to a stop and accelerating or just going slow in general. It's very quiet, and I can only hear it on the passenger side but feel it under my feet while driving? They contradict each other, I know.

I am thinking one of a few things:
1) Sand or dirt in between the brake pad and rotor. Being winter there is sand EVERYWHERE, seems logical it could get stuck in there. However I never thought it could be stuck in there for that long? I figured it would fall out or grind down by now. .

2) I know my pads are getting pretty close to useless, maybe they are worse than I thought and are down to metal? Not sure what is behind the pads. .

3) Maybe my spindles are running dry? If my pass. side hub starts grinding is it possible it could vibrate all the way over to the driver side? I have read many times that dry spindles can cause all sorts of noises and vibrations.

4) I know my driver side CV is already on its way out, maybe those? I don't think so. .

I think 1-3 are all very good possibilities. It's not necessarily an issue. . . yet but it is noticeable. What do you guys think, am I on the right track here? Unfortunately there is snow forcasted for the next few days so I can't look into it, darn! The one area of my truck that I know my way around, kind of, and I can't tear into it.

 

Trust the feel not the sound. It is common for sounds to seem like they are on the opposite side from the cause. Granted of course most people can't get thier feet onto both floor boards

 

Well I was coasting down a hill going maybe 25MPH, foot was on neither pedal and I heard it and it ALMOST sounded like a grinding transmission

It's an Automatic, and my understanding is that once they start to go out, it's too late. . I'm gonna go check the fluid level and smell the dip stick, hopefully it's not burnt

 

Alright so I just checked the dip stick, the fluid is not low and it smells "used" not burnt. Or maybe I'm in denial. One thing that did catch my attention is that the ATF, when wiped on my finger, was more clear than red? I don't know if that is good or bad, I think maybe I should drain it and change the filter and see what comes out. .

I was hoping to check out the spindles but it got really cold really fast so i'll have to wait. .

 

Yikes, sorry to hear man.

It seems to be 50/50 on the autos as to whether they come out ok after a flush, more often the good news comes when they still have fluid. Not sure why the more clear than red would happen, other than maybe too much heat/or just being spent... But, I wud think clear'ish is better than murky and brown'ish.

They get old, sadly.. would u do a 5spd swap or just slap another in, IF it came to that?

 

I would love a 5spd swap, however that is down right impossible with the "times." Anyways, i'm not going to think about the transmission and stay positive and hope it's something simple like a lack of grease somewhere I have created a list of what I would like to do to to try and fix this issue;

Brake Pads
Resurface the rotors
grease the spindles
grease the front and rear drive shafts
change transmission filter (It wont do anything but it needs to be done)

Not too bad, hopefully it's one of those haha. My mom was wondering if when I was winched out of that hole maybe something broke lose? I was pulled completely sideways but not for very long IIRC. I was able to get my wheels turned and moving pretty quick. Not to mention, I just started hearing/feeling this on Monday, ironically the same day I found a cigar under my windshield wiper damn kids....

 

Subscribed!