Author Topic: BigMike's Big Journey: A 2016 Tacoma Build Thread  (Read 561629 times)

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gnob

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Ive read in a couple of these threads.
Instead of hating on the fake hood scoop, why dont you mod it and make it real?
hold this. . .

toyotech

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Ive read in a couple of these threads.
Instead of hating on the fake hood scoop, why dont you mod it and make it real?

The fake scoop hurts visiabity for his type of wheeling. Besides it won't lead air anywhere useful if made real

gnob

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The fake scoop hurts visiabity for his type of wheeling. Besides it won't lead air anywhere useful if made real

Whatever you say boss.  The scoop actually working lets cool air into the engine compartment while driving and lets hot air vent when off. 
Both of my rigs are/were scooped.  Get a booster seat.   :smokin:
hold this. . .

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Whatever you say boss.  The scoop actually working lets cool air into the engine compartment while driving and lets hot air vent when off. 
Both of my rigs are/were scooped.  Get a booster seat.   :smokin:


hood scoops are ugly and you can't rock the 36" turtle logo. I guess it would be OK if he had a subaru with a top mount intercooler :gap:
:)bestgen4runner [12:45 PM]:   I am so stupid.

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Gnarly4X

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Hood scoops are cats-a$$ on ANY hood... I love hood scoops!!!  :best:

Gnarls.  :gap:
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gnob

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hood scoops are ugly and you can't rock the 36" turtle logo. I guess it would be OK if he had a subaru with a top mount intercooler :gap:

Youre right.  Thats why tons of people covet the scooped hoods.
And just to tick you off....i run a wrx scoop on my 1st gen Runner.   With the SR5 hood stripe. :smokin:   and for the record, my question was for big mike, not you clowns :hammerhead:

hold this. . .

ReformedJeeper

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Youre right.  Thats why tons of people covet the scooped hoods.
And just to tick you off....i run a wrx scoop on my 1st gen Runner.   With the SR5 hood stripe. :smokin:   and for the record, my question was for big mike, not you clowns :hammerhead:

Haven't you been trying to sell that for about a year? Maybe ditching the hood scoop would help the sale move along.... Just saying.

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BigMike [OP]

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Regarding the hood scoop, as toyotech mentioned I removed it purely for better over-the-hood visibility.

To chime in on the other Hood Scoop comments, remember cars such as the Impreza and others are specifically designed to have both a low pressure under the hood as well as proper placement on the hood incorporated with the frontal area's aerodynamic design for maximum pressure at the entrance of the scoop. Simply tossing a hood scoop onto a random vehicle does not guarantee a large enough pressure transfer to provide intended benefit(s).

On my 1st gen Toyota MR2 I incorporated a large full-under-body adjustable air splitter, 45° tilted radiator, and reverse hood scoop to redirect air through the radiator from beneath the car to over the car for increased front down force. According to fluid dynamics, the optimal placement of the hood scoop is between the pop-up headlights but this interferes with the hood latch mechanism so I compromised performance for practicality and pushed the scoop back a good foot. Here is how it turned out. The leading vertical flap creates a low pressure ridge passing over the front of the scoop to help prevent exiting air from getting sucked vertically upward which would cause turbulence and slow overall air flow. I should have also incorporated two or three inches of this flap along both front sides to prevent air from diving around and down into the scoop.



My point is that even if I removed plastic and cut a hole through the stock hood scoop there is no guarantee it would start working. It would benefit with slow Rock Crawling since hot rising heat would have a nice escape route, but on the highway it's possible the scoop would not function due to a net-zero difference in pressure. The MR2 needs a reverse scoop so the goal is to mount it in the lowest pressure zone over the hood, which shown below is closer to the bumper than where I ended up building mine.



For the Tacoma I imagine the ideal location for high pressure would be at the base of the windshield (cowl) which is not where Toyota placed the fake scoop. For it to be effective where Toyota placed it, there would need to be other systems in place to rapidly evacuate air under the engine and down the front of the firewall to ensure a low pressure region above the engine. I imagine a lot of work and tuning in this regard has been done to cars such as the Impreza to make sure air actually goes through it's TMIC.

BigMike
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BigMike [OP]

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July 14, 2017: TLCA's Annual Rubithon Event -- The Tacoma's first baby steps on the Rubicon! (continued)

...I am compiling on a new, separate Trip Report thread and will get this updated once I get that thread started. (Which means I must go all the way back to my first Moab trip and so on to get caught up before I can post about this Rubicon trip).

WHEW. That was a lot of work! Ok ladies and gentlemen I have now created a dedicated Trip Report thread titled, BigMike's 2016 Tacoma Trip & Trail Log. In 3 days I posted my first 9 trips which were previously posted to this thread except for Rubithon.

So without further ado please click here to view my full trip-report of the Tacoma's first time on the Rubicon!

Here is a sneak peak from the above link!














In total, I posted 85 images from the Tacoma's first time on the Rubicon to my new Trip Report Thread. Please give them a look and let me know what ya think!
« Last Edit: Jan 27, 2018, 06:16:31 PM by BigMike »
Check out our new Rock Crawling Videos!
2016 56-speed 580:1 Tacoma Rock Crawler   
1981 36-speed 511:1 3RZ-FE Rock Crawler
1987 6-speed Supercharged 4A-GZE MR2
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Things are only impossible until they are not.
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BigMike [OP]

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I am trying to get this thread up to speed as quick as possible because in nine days from now the Tacoma will be in our booth at this year's King Of The Hammers event showing off some pretty awesome updates which I need to get posted here before the truck makes it's next public appearance. :hyper:

This means I won't have time to post my full trip reports from the rest of 2017, but that's okay since I can post them later to the new dedicated Trip Report thread without having to hold up progress of this build thread :D (Separating trips from the build will make both easier to maintain.) Hopefully by this time next week I'll have this build thread 100% caught up.

Will be replying soon with more updates. Thanks as always for reading!

Regards,
BigMike
Check out our new Rock Crawling Videos!
2016 56-speed 580:1 Tacoma Rock Crawler   
1981 36-speed 511:1 3RZ-FE Rock Crawler
1987 6-speed Supercharged 4A-GZE MR2
Instagram: @SlowestTacoma
Things are only impossible until they are not.
"The worst of both worlds, the best of neither." -abnormaltoy
"An informed question. But difficult to answer. I am what you see." -Nanaki

gnob

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The taco is looking good.  I will quit littering with my nonsense  :smokin:
hold this. . .

BigMike [OP]

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The taco is looking good.  I will quit littering with my nonsense  :smokin:
Thanks and no worries buddy, all discussions welcomed :wave:
Check out our new Rock Crawling Videos!
2016 56-speed 580:1 Tacoma Rock Crawler   
1981 36-speed 511:1 3RZ-FE Rock Crawler
1987 6-speed Supercharged 4A-GZE MR2
Instagram: @SlowestTacoma
Things are only impossible until they are not.
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BigMike [OP]

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I'm gonna push through a few events (which I'll later post to my new Trip thread) so I can get on with the build!

After Rubicon it was obvious I needed more tire clearance, but that had to wait as only after one day I was off on a 2,000 mile journey to Colorado!

July 18-23, 2017: 11th Annual FJ Summit (Ouray, Colorado)

The week following TLCA's Rubithon, I represented Marlin Crawler in participating in our first-ever FJ Summit event! For event details, please see https://www.fjsummit.org. I ran Black Bear Pass, Poughkeepsie Gulch, and Imogene Pass and had one of the most relaxing times I've had wheel'n. Ever. Maybe I'm getting old but I thoroughly enjoyed relaxing on really, really easy trails for a change. I will post up a full trip report later; Until then here come a few teasers! :D







Thank you Roger Marquez on Facebook for this pic of me making easy work of the hardest obstacle called "The Wall".


Check out our new Rock Crawling Videos!
2016 56-speed 580:1 Tacoma Rock Crawler   
1981 36-speed 511:1 3RZ-FE Rock Crawler
1987 6-speed Supercharged 4A-GZE MR2
Instagram: @SlowestTacoma
Things are only impossible until they are not.
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"An informed question. But difficult to answer. I am what you see." -Nanaki

BigMike [OP]

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Because it'll be a few weeks until I get the trip report up, here come a few more ;)







Check out our new Rock Crawling Videos!
2016 56-speed 580:1 Tacoma Rock Crawler   
1981 36-speed 511:1 3RZ-FE Rock Crawler
1987 6-speed Supercharged 4A-GZE MR2
Instagram: @SlowestTacoma
Things are only impossible until they are not.
"The worst of both worlds, the best of neither." -abnormaltoy
"An informed question. But difficult to answer. I am what you see." -Nanaki

BigMike [OP]

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After FJ Summit I was down to about a month before our annual Marlin Crawler Round Up event where I'd be returning to the Rubicon.

August 7, 2017: Bald Mountain Day Trip

While waiting for some parts to show up, I took the wife on a solo day run to Bald Mountain to do some top secret product testing, you know, for science ;)

First things first, I was loooong overdue for a truck wash



Back up the mountain near Shaver Lake, central Cali at our Dinkey Creek Trail Sign!



Progress feels slow but steady

Check out our new Rock Crawling Videos!
2016 56-speed 580:1 Tacoma Rock Crawler   
1981 36-speed 511:1 3RZ-FE Rock Crawler
1987 6-speed Supercharged 4A-GZE MR2
Instagram: @SlowestTacoma
Things are only impossible until they are not.
"The worst of both worlds, the best of neither." -abnormaltoy
"An informed question. But difficult to answer. I am what you see." -Nanaki

BigMike [OP]

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As I was testing out some parts for product development, this wasn't so much of a trip that I can share from but I did take a few pictures. I'll probably post up a few more to the Trip Report thread along with some short videos later...







Check out our new Rock Crawling Videos!
2016 56-speed 580:1 Tacoma Rock Crawler   
1981 36-speed 511:1 3RZ-FE Rock Crawler
1987 6-speed Supercharged 4A-GZE MR2
Instagram: @SlowestTacoma
Things are only impossible until they are not.
"The worst of both worlds, the best of neither." -abnormaltoy
"An informed question. But difficult to answer. I am what you see." -Nanaki

BigMike [OP]

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August 9, 2017: In the Garage with my Hilux

My wife and I were still slowly moving into our new house and it is so awesome to finally have my own garage. Naturally, it looks best with both Crawlers in it ;)

Check out our new Rock Crawling Videos!
2016 56-speed 580:1 Tacoma Rock Crawler   
1981 36-speed 511:1 3RZ-FE Rock Crawler
1987 6-speed Supercharged 4A-GZE MR2
Instagram: @SlowestTacoma
Things are only impossible until they are not.
"The worst of both worlds, the best of neither." -abnormaltoy
"An informed question. But difficult to answer. I am what you see." -Nanaki

BigMike [OP]

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August 18, 2017: RCV Axles arrived!

Back on reply 486 I mentioned I was hoping to get full-Chromoly RCV axles before Rubithon. After four months since ordering them, RCV finally delivered!

300M Ultimate Axles!

Check out our new Rock Crawling Videos!
2016 56-speed 580:1 Tacoma Rock Crawler   
1981 36-speed 511:1 3RZ-FE Rock Crawler
1987 6-speed Supercharged 4A-GZE MR2
Instagram: @SlowestTacoma
Things are only impossible until they are not.
"The worst of both worlds, the best of neither." -abnormaltoy
"An informed question. But difficult to answer. I am what you see." -Nanaki

BigMike [OP]

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I was still waiting for more parts to get in before I'd be ready to hit the Rubicon again, so I spent some time tackling some smaller jobs

August 27, 2017: 29% Taller Crawl Ratio Sticker

When I made my back window Crawl Ratio sticker, I spec'd it at 7" tall. Well, that was just too small so I had another one made at 9" tall because Rock Crawler.

I replaced both stickers. It is now wider than the Stick Shift sticker which I like much better. Thank you Win243 for the updated photo!

Heights:

Check out our new Rock Crawling Videos!
2016 56-speed 580:1 Tacoma Rock Crawler   
1981 36-speed 511:1 3RZ-FE Rock Crawler
1987 6-speed Supercharged 4A-GZE MR2
Instagram: @SlowestTacoma
Things are only impossible until they are not.
"The worst of both worlds, the best of neither." -abnormaltoy
"An informed question. But difficult to answer. I am what you see." -Nanaki

BigMike [OP]

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August 27, 2017: Front Facing Camera! (Install progress 1 of 2)

After wheeling Rubicon in July as the trail leader, there were 101 times I wished I had better visibility out of this dang maibatsu monstrosity. I had known about the reverse camera anytime mod and was planning to utilize it with a forward facing camera. After reading a lot of posts and comparing methods, I decided to go with Abec23's diode method (link on TacomaWorld forum) due to it using only one three-position switch.

I first got the switch installed but didn't have time to wire-in/mount the camera. I tested it out and it works great. Flip the switch forward and a new camera circuit is activated (the camera could be mounted anywhere), flip to the middle position and the system functions as stock, flip it reward and I get reverse camera anytime regardless of vehicle direction.

Check out our new Rock Crawling Videos!
2016 56-speed 580:1 Tacoma Rock Crawler   
1981 36-speed 511:1 3RZ-FE Rock Crawler
1987 6-speed Supercharged 4A-GZE MR2
Instagram: @SlowestTacoma
Things are only impossible until they are not.
"The worst of both worlds, the best of neither." -abnormaltoy
"An informed question. But difficult to answer. I am what you see." -Nanaki

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Brand new feature at our annual Marlin Crawler Round Up

I had a busy summer/fall in 2016 and couldn't get the Tacoma ready for the 15th annual Round Up (MCR15), which was the first eligible Round Up for the Taco. To make up, for the 2017 Round Up (MCR16) I started a new Round Up feature called "BigMike's TacoBox Run", which extends our event with Wednesday & Thursday day runs exclusively for our customers who are running TacoBox Dual Case (ie. all 1995 and newer chain drive customers).

Here is the Official Thread for the 1st Annual BigMike's TacoBox Run with event details: http://board.marlincrawler.com/index.php?topic=102295

If you've got a TacoBox and would like to join me this September at MCR17, please keep an eye on this new thread which will be updated with info for the 2nd annual BigMike TacoBox Run!

I coordinated with our largest southern-California TacoBox installer Wyatt from Rock Solid Toys (RST) to bring 5 fully built and solid axle swapped Tacomas on this inaugural event. RST builds some pretty wicked Tacomas. For example, here is Wyatt's '05 automatic on 41s and a Dual Ultimate Marlin Crawler TacoBox:
Check out our new Rock Crawling Videos!
2016 56-speed 580:1 Tacoma Rock Crawler   
1981 36-speed 511:1 3RZ-FE Rock Crawler
1987 6-speed Supercharged 4A-GZE MR2
Instagram: @SlowestTacoma
Things are only impossible until they are not.
"The worst of both worlds, the best of neither." -abnormaltoy
"An informed question. But difficult to answer. I am what you see." -Nanaki

BigMike [OP]

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After the event, I typed up a full-on trip report (which is almost finished and currently at 300 lines of text) which I'll post up after I get the FJ Summit trip posted.

To say the least that was an incredible event! It's difficult to sum up and all will be explained in detail in my official trip report. Until then here is what went down in a large nutshell:
  • One week before the TacoBox run, 4 of the Tacomas had pulled out due to illnesses and scheduling conflicts.

  • Monday Sept 11: One day to go Wyatt had to pull out due to his front Currie unit bearings failing and his only replacement parts, Dynatrac free-spin kit, not eaisly compatible with his axle setup.

  • Tuesday: Earlier that summer I had invited our premier Canadian distributor Nathan from The Gear Shop to provide video coverage of both the TacoBox run and the Round Up. He drove his 4.7-liter V8 powered 4th gen 4Runner down from Alberta and on Tuesday morning he made it safely to our shop... The day we were supposed to leave... And I wasn't ready... Nathan and I spent the day getting last minute stuff done on the Tacoma

  • Wednesday: A day behind schedule and minus 5 trucks, Nathan and I finally left for the Rubicon!

  • Thursday: On the trail just past 5pm we were over half-way to our first camp when both our trucks broke down within 100 feet of one another. :o We were able to get my truck back together in the dark with spare parts I had, but none of my remaining spares fit Nathan's 4Runner. We abandoned his truck on the trail, loaded up his necessities into my Tacoma (LOVE THAT ACCESSCAB!), turned around, and drove out in the dark as gingerly as possible without any extra spare parts.

    All will be explained in my trip report. The breakage was simple, straightforward, and a real crash course for me and the strength of the IFS system. Nathan has been building and wheel'n late model Toyota IFS on trails like the Rubicon for about a decade and this was a first for him. The freak experience left us both with an eerie feeling; Felt like anything could break at anytime on the way back out. Getting back out took way longer than it should have as I kept getting stuck taking awkward lines trying to reduce loads on the front end. We made it back to pavement, aired up, and about 2 hrs later had managed to find a hotel room in the mining town of Placerville, CA at 1am Friday morning.

  • Friday: We drove back down to the valley and all over the place picking up multiple spare parts for both our trucks and was able to contact, coordinate, and pick-up one of my employees in the valley, who I had previously scheduled to leave the Springs campground this same day to meet our main Marlin Crawler group up at Lake Tahoe to pick him up and help carry in the massive amount of supplies that it takes to put on an event of this magnitude. I then drove back into the trail late that day with two passengers (first time I had ever wheeled with more than 1 passenger as I've never had back seats before).

    By this late in the week, we decided to avoid the rush of 300-something people all trying to get to our Round Up event by taking the Official Rubicon Trail Entrance discussed in reply #77 of my Trip Report thread thereby becoming at that point the first 3rd Gen Tacoma to officially attempt the Rubicon trail! The three of us entered the trail through Wentworth Springs as the sun was setting. This was my first time ever through Wentworth Springs literally since I was a toddler.

    We got to Nathan's 4Runner long after dark, got it back together, and then began a long sequence of getting lost in the dark and backtracking twice on the Slabs, then lost on the Rubicon Trail Foundation's new property as our first time there while trying to avoid an overcrowded Buck Island Lake campground, and finally giving up and continuing on to Buck and luckily finding a small campsite at 1am Saturday morning.

  • Saturday: *This is the main day of our Round Up event so we were now late to our own event* We hammered through the rest of the trail, encountered a lot of traffic, and made it to the Springs Campground before 2pm.

    It was quite the welcoming party at the Springs! As President it is my honor to kick-off the main Springs Campground event and wish everyone a farewell from the stage. Event staff were asking every other truck entering the Springs if they had seen BigMike, to which they had either (1) never seen a new white 3rd gen Tacoma anywhere on the trail, or (2) had only seen the broken down black 4Runner not even halfway to the Springs---as we were on the old, traditional trail entrance of Wentworth Springs plus only traveling mostly by night. So as you can imagine it was pretty cool rolling in when there were already hundreds of people at the Springs welcoming us to another awesome Marlin Crawler Round Up experience!!

  • Sunday: Because we are in charge of the entire Springs Campground it's our annual duty to remain in camp as the last to leave to ensure all trash is picked up and the 'Con left better than we found it after the 300-400 event participants have left. I had more issues with the Tacoma on my way up and out to Lake Tahoe and ended up warping my driver's rear brake drum from an on-going issue that was first experienced at the FJ Summit and which other Tacoma owners have reported that their rear brakes fail to unlock after the release of the e-brake. In the end, I got home just before 3am Monday morning! WHEW! Such an awesome trip!! Can't wait to do it all over again in Sept 2018!!!

I'm really looking forward to posting my full trip report. Definitely, the inexperience I have with this new Tacoma adds many brownie points to the epic meter. :D The last time I had such an epic adventure on the Rubicon was with Tim aka "TURBO" during MCR7 in 2008 where my lightweight 4cyl Hilux had to tow a heavy 6cyl 4Runner that had broke an axle and was experiencing charging issues on the Rubicon in the dark, not getting home until sunrise! These are the trips I'll never forget and I'm always grateful for having experienced!

To continue here, I'll just run through what I was doing that made me a day late to my own new annual Rubicon event.
Check out our new Rock Crawling Videos!
2016 56-speed 580:1 Tacoma Rock Crawler   
1981 36-speed 511:1 3RZ-FE Rock Crawler
1987 6-speed Supercharged 4A-GZE MR2
Instagram: @SlowestTacoma
Things are only impossible until they are not.
"The worst of both worlds, the best of neither." -abnormaltoy
"An informed question. But difficult to answer. I am what you see." -Nanaki

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September 12, 2017: Final Rubicon Trip #2 Prep (1 of 2)

Tuesday Sept 12 was the day we were supposed to spend driving to the Rubicon and setting up camp at Loon Lake. I, however, was still wrenching on the Taco

Time to get these RCVs installed! Pulled off the axles I was borrowing from All Pro which were stock Toyota outers with 2-inch longer Chromoly inner shafts. They got me through the Rubicon, FJ Summit, and Bald Mountain with 37" tires, however, it's difficult to compare with other experiences as I have a Marlin Crawler which greatly reduces the risk of breaking anything.

Comparison photo with a new 300M full-Chromoly "Ultimate IFS Axle" from RCV. They are guaranteed up to a 40" tire:



Dang sexy!



Once installed they interfere with All Pro's lower ball joint bolt which has to be ground down for clearance



Close up of the area that'll need to be ground down. The axle isn't fully inserted in these pics



As a temporary solution to my tire-to-fender interference issue I experienced on the Rubicon in July, I installed 1" total of spacers to the front shocks and added half an inch to the rear. I say temporary because despite already having a ground clearance issue I do not want this truck to get any taller. I'm planning to do a lot of trimming and ideally possibly lowering the truck an inch from where it is now. But to get through the trail without more pointless fender rubbing, I added some spacers.



Here is the front end back together and ready for another visit to the Rubicon

Check out our new Rock Crawling Videos!
2016 56-speed 580:1 Tacoma Rock Crawler   
1981 36-speed 511:1 3RZ-FE Rock Crawler
1987 6-speed Supercharged 4A-GZE MR2
Instagram: @SlowestTacoma
Things are only impossible until they are not.
"The worst of both worlds, the best of neither." -abnormaltoy
"An informed question. But difficult to answer. I am what you see." -Nanaki

BigMike [OP]

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I was rushing and didn't get a pic of the rear 1/2" spacers going in. I only have this pic of the driver rear spring pack being partially disassembled:



I owe a lot of gratitude and thanks to Nathan who helped me the entire day with this plus helping our warehouse guys pack the large number of supplies we have to haul in for the event. Here we are grabbing a late night dinner before our date with the 'Con. His 4R is on 35s:

Check out our new Rock Crawling Videos!
2016 56-speed 580:1 Tacoma Rock Crawler   
1981 36-speed 511:1 3RZ-FE Rock Crawler
1987 6-speed Supercharged 4A-GZE MR2
Instagram: @SlowestTacoma
Things are only impossible until they are not.
"The worst of both worlds, the best of neither." -abnormaltoy
"An informed question. But difficult to answer. I am what you see." -Nanaki

BigMike [OP]

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September 13, 2017: Final Rubicon Trip #2 Prep (2 of 2)

Wednesday Sept 13 was the day we were supposed to have an 8am drivers meeting at the Loon Lake Staging Area and hit the trail. That morning I was instead at an appointment to get my alignment done after the front suspension modification:



After that I returned home to finally get packed and by about 2pm we were finallllllly on the road heading off to one of my biggest Rubicon adventures of my life!

California State Highway 99



Grant Line Rd ARCO



Pollock Pines, CA



We made it to Loon Lake, CA around 11pm, set up our tents and crashed for the night.
Check out our new Rock Crawling Videos!
2016 56-speed 580:1 Tacoma Rock Crawler   
1981 36-speed 511:1 3RZ-FE Rock Crawler
1987 6-speed Supercharged 4A-GZE MR2
Instagram: @SlowestTacoma
Things are only impossible until they are not.
"The worst of both worlds, the best of neither." -abnormaltoy
"An informed question. But difficult to answer. I am what you see." -Nanaki

BigMike [OP]

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September 14, 2017: BigMike's 1st Annual TacoBox Run has begun at the 16th Annual Marlin Crawler Round Up!

We were exhausted: Myself from not being ready and having to scramble again with the Tacoma, and Nathan from driving 28 hours from Canada plus the help he did at our shop. We slept in until 8am before heading over to the Loon Lake Staging Area

Last pic after breaking camp at Loon Lake

Check out our new Rock Crawling Videos!
2016 56-speed 580:1 Tacoma Rock Crawler   
1981 36-speed 511:1 3RZ-FE Rock Crawler
1987 6-speed Supercharged 4A-GZE MR2
Instagram: @SlowestTacoma
Things are only impossible until they are not.
"The worst of both worlds, the best of neither." -abnormaltoy
"An informed question. But difficult to answer. I am what you see." -Nanaki

BigMike [OP]

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Front Facing Camera! (Install progress 2 of 2)

After breaking camp, I pulled out some zip ties and electrical tape and crudely mounted my front facing camera just before airing down for the trail. After playing around with a few different locations I settled above the front cross member which provides a wide enough view for oncoming objects while also providing protection for the camera.

You can see the camera mounted towards to upper section of this pic. The camera I used is a TTP-C12B from Amazon for $19.99 (at the time):



*Here comes an exclusive time-traveling sneak preview of the Camera in action on the trail!!

Anytime forward facing Rock Crawling Camera enabled on the trail with a bit of mud on the lens!! SAWEEEEEEEET!



The two black lines above at each side of the screen are pieces of electrical tape. They indicate that any object crossing the screen at that exact mark is 100-percent destined to contact each front tire. (ps. Currently [in 2018] I am working on a split screen setup with two independent cameras, one for each tire displayed concurrently ;))

And, the anytime Factory Toyota Backup camera enabled on the trail!! SAWEEEEEEEET!

Check out our new Rock Crawling Videos!
2016 56-speed 580:1 Tacoma Rock Crawler   
1981 36-speed 511:1 3RZ-FE Rock Crawler
1987 6-speed Supercharged 4A-GZE MR2
Instagram: @SlowestTacoma
Things are only impossible until they are not.
"The worst of both worlds, the best of neither." -abnormaltoy
"An informed question. But difficult to answer. I am what you see." -Nanaki

BigMike [OP]

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The Tacoma's second visit to the Loon Lake Staging Area along with Nathan's 4R ready to get down!



And I'll have to leave it here guys until I get my full report posted to my new Trip Report Thread!
Check out our new Rock Crawling Videos!
2016 56-speed 580:1 Tacoma Rock Crawler   
1981 36-speed 511:1 3RZ-FE Rock Crawler
1987 6-speed Supercharged 4A-GZE MR2
Instagram: @SlowestTacoma
Things are only impossible until they are not.
"The worst of both worlds, the best of neither." -abnormaltoy
"An informed question. But difficult to answer. I am what you see." -Nanaki

BigMike [OP]

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Two weeks after our Round Up and my second time through the Rubicon (including what I believe is the first 3rd gen to run the entire trail including Devil's Postpile/Wentworth Springs Gatekeeper) we were off to the largest west coast off-road expo!

Sept 30 - Oct 1, 2017: Tacoma Featured at the Pomona Off-Road Expo

At this year's Pomona Off-Road Expo (Southern California, https://www.offroadexpo.com/pomona-ca) we doubled the size of our booth and were able to fit one vehicle. As the first Dual Case'd 3rd gen in the World, it was a no brainier as to which truck got featured! :D :D

Setting up the booth... The Marlin Crawler truly is the Ultimate In Vehicle Control!



The show got underway real quick with people checking out the Tacoma!

Check out our new Rock Crawling Videos!
2016 56-speed 580:1 Tacoma Rock Crawler   
1981 36-speed 511:1 3RZ-FE Rock Crawler
1987 6-speed Supercharged 4A-GZE MR2
Instagram: @SlowestTacoma
Things are only impossible until they are not.
"The worst of both worlds, the best of neither." -abnormaltoy
"An informed question. But difficult to answer. I am what you see." -Nanaki

BigMike [OP]

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The event was plastered with 3rd gen Tacomas. They were all over the place both inside and outside the 6 large exhibition halls. It was like a sausage fest competition of who had the biggest lightbar and highest count of on-board gasoline packs.

But as the only Dual Case 3rd gen, the only 3rd gen on 37s, and the only 3rd gen tackling difficult trails it far and away stood out. It attracted many questions and product inquiries; The effect the Tacoma had on our booth was impressive.



Mirror showcasing the centerpiece of the truck





« Last Edit: Feb 03, 2018, 10:29:35 AM by BigMike »
Check out our new Rock Crawling Videos!
2016 56-speed 580:1 Tacoma Rock Crawler   
1981 36-speed 511:1 3RZ-FE Rock Crawler
1987 6-speed Supercharged 4A-GZE MR2
Instagram: @SlowestTacoma
Things are only impossible until they are not.
"The worst of both worlds, the best of neither." -abnormaltoy
"An informed question. But difficult to answer. I am what you see." -Nanaki

 
 
 
 
 

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