Author Topic: BigMike's 2016 Tacoma Trip & Trail Log (Read 37608 times)

BigMike · « **Reply #90 on:** Dec 04, 2018, 10:45:50 AM »

Here is The Wall

BigMike · « **Reply #91 on:** Dec 04, 2018, 10:46:21 AM »

This unfortunately FJ had a bit of an issue...

BigMike · « **Reply #92 on:** Dec 04, 2018, 10:47:19 AM »

This unfortunately FJ had a bit of an issue... (continued)

Rolled it. All air bags deployed. Top of body shifted. Total loss. They were able to drive the truck back to camp but I highly doubt insurance wouldn't just total this thing. Dang....

The spotter was non other than Woody himself, owner/operator of IH8MUD! Woody said that I was the ONLY truck to make it up without a winch!! He said the weather plays a huge role. Some days he'll see rigs on 33s climb it and other it'll be so muddy that no one can climb it. I got a lot of applause when I walked right up it. Thank you Roger Marquez for this photo!

Another low oil pressure lamp wooooohooooo! This was later on down the trail.

I could be wrong but it seems this V6 runs out of pressure more frequently than my 3RZ.

BigMike · « **Reply #93 on:** Dec 04, 2018, 10:51:29 AM »

BigMike · « **Reply #94 on:** Dec 04, 2018, 10:51:52 AM »

Really wet and really beautiful

BigMike · « **Reply #95 on:** Dec 04, 2018, 10:53:11 AM »

Ohh look, an ACTUAL Land Cruiser!!

Safe and sound back at my hotel!

That was AWESOME!!

The second night of the event is an off-night: No vendor show. They encourage everyone to mingle and get out and support local businesses. I got dinner with a couple friends, it was awesome. Really good food out here

BigMike · « **Reply #96 on:** Dec 04, 2018, 10:55:11 AM »

Trip #13 - Imogene Pass (July 22, 2017)

On the final day I asked what trail was the most beautiful, and while I'm not sure if this one is it, it was suggested I run it because it has a taste of everything the area offers: Almost the highest road in North America, water falls, rivers and river crossings, flowers, passes, vistas, deep forests, open areas, and so on.

This trail did NOT disappoint and so far it is my runaway favorite!

Driver's meeting

Airing down

There was an awesome but short river crossing at the entrance of this trail which was fun to blast through full throttle

BigMike · « **Reply #97 on:** Dec 04, 2018, 10:56:48 AM »

BigMike · « **Reply #98 on:** Dec 04, 2018, 10:56:58 AM »

Awesome rock outlook that you can drive onto. I probably took 50 pictures here!

BigMike · « **Reply #99 on:** Dec 04, 2018, 10:58:16 AM »

I kept marveling at the fact of never mind this being the highest I'd ever been outside of an aircraft, but it was also the highest I'd ever taken a vehicle! Very VERY cool experience, HIGHLY recommend this trail to anyone considering the trip!!

3,997 meters

BigMike · « **Reply #100 on:** Dec 04, 2018, 10:59:14 AM »

Some strange purple goo all around (I forgot to ask someone what this was / also I'm not a geologist or mineralogist

)

So cool

BigMike · « **Reply #101 on:** Dec 04, 2018, 11:03:42 AM »

After climbing up and over the pass, we exit on a road that drops down into Telluride with a nice view looking back at the famous switchbacks of Black Bear Pass

Dropping into Telluride

Another REAL Land Cruiser, and a Troopie at that!!

Puppy parking!!

...and that was it!

Again, there was another Vendor Show and also this time the main raffle, and the response that we received was simply overwhelming! I had soooooooo many people at our booth I hardly even had time to eat dinner. I never got any pictures, it was such an awesomely busy event night!

EDIT: I forgot! Someone shared this awesome photo to IG of a Double Rainbow with our booth and my Tacoma in the foreground!!

BigMike · « **Reply #102 on:** Dec 04, 2018, 11:07:13 AM »

In closing FJ Summit 2017 was AWESOME! Getting to wheel incredibly easy trails (fire roads) was surprisingly a very refreshing break from all the Rock Crawling we do annually. I will be back in 2018 for sure!!

The original is over 22 MP

emsvitil · « **Reply #103 on:** Dec 04, 2018, 06:17:42 PM »

OIL

Have you considered putting in an oil accumulator?

emsvitil · « **Reply #104 on:** Dec 04, 2018, 06:20:12 PM »

Oxygen.

When you're a pilot, and above 12,500 ft for more than 30 minutes you need supplemental O2

BigMike · « **Reply #105 on:** Dec 05, 2018, 05:33:37 PM »

Trip #14 - Private Bald Mountain Video Trip (Aug 7, 2017)

A few weeks after Rubithon I took the Tacoma up to Bald Mountain to test out new product, new camera equipment, and planning for upcoming video marketing. Not much to share as I only went in about a tenth of the trail and then returned home. Here come some pics!

Cleaned up my Tacoma and 6-speed Supercharged MR2

An update for my reoccuring Trail Condition Bulletin Board photos! Google Street view of location: https://goo.gl/maps/vwhvFobkjVw

We're now looking like this!

Truck looks nice cleaned up. I really need to wash it more frequently

BigMike · « **Reply #106 on:** Dec 05, 2018, 05:33:53 PM »

Here come my final pics, this is from a very popular local obstacle known as "V-Rock".

Marlin Crawler TacoBox visible at bottom-center

And that was it! I got a slew of notes for some awesome new video ideas that I am excited to share!

BigMike · « **Reply #107 on:** Dec 06, 2018, 05:32:30 PM »

Trip #15 - 1st Annual BigMike's TacoBox Run at MCR16 (Sept 14-17, 2017)

Back in Feb 2017, I announced my idea for a TacoBox-only run-group at our 16th annual Marlin Crawler Round Up event slated for Sept 14. Originally discussed at Reply #563 and Official Event Thread here, I embarked on the most unpredictable Rubicon trip I've ever done. I have typed up an extensive trip report which is about half way done, but I can't be bothered currently to sort through and finish it, so I'll just quote my summary from my build thread below:

Quote from: BigMike on Feb 01, 2018, 02:06:34 PM

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. 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. 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!

Ok, on with the pictures, and I'll try to quickly add description where appropriate

The Black V8 4R belongs to my great friend Nathan from The Gear Shop, Alberta, Canada https://www.gearshop.ca

Thursday morning, one day behind schedule and ready to take on the 'Con!

BigMike · « **Reply #108 on:** Dec 06, 2018, 05:41:04 PM »

Trip #11 - 1st Annual BigMike's TacoBox Run at MCR16 (Sept 14-17, 2017) (continued)

First time attempting Soup Bowl in @SlowestTacoma.

Combination of (1) not being able to get the truck aligned from my typical far-left entry due to having a plastic rear bumper (ie. I would have destroyed the rear bumper had I tried), which put the truck too far to right where (2) the truck's 9-inches of missing ground clearance (compared to older Hilux Crawlers on the same size) caused the passenger side frame rail to badly hang and drag and I couldn't go anywhere.

We tried about 5 or 6 times and I gave up. Looking forward to trying this again with different tires next year! *hint* *hint*

Passenger side frame clearly hanging. Truck too long, tires too small. Make what you will, this isn't the line I take in my '81. Looking forward to a rear tube bumper so I can get a better entry line

BigMike · « **Reply #109 on:** Dec 06, 2018, 05:49:50 PM »

Trip #11 - 1st Annual BigMike's TacoBox Run at MCR16 (Sept 14-17, 2017) (continued)

@SlowestTacoma's second trip through the Little Sluice!

...and this was where things began to go south! haha

I had already driven a ways up when I turned around after not seeing Nathan in my rear view and headed back to look for him.

Nathan is running 35" tires and wasted his driver side inner tie rod!

All he was doing was just trying to climb a ledge: Front end trying to pull with the rear end experiencing resistance.

These pictures are very, very important to me and for the prosperity of the Toyota IFS! (see Reply #641 here for more details)

Excellent trophies that I kept and will be used for future marketing! It even yielded in two locations

It was a long story. Nathan did not have any spares. I had both 1x Outer Tie Rod spare and 1 x Inner Tie Rod spare. We spent over an hour trying to get my spare Tacoma inner to fit his 4Runner's steering system when we discovered the two are not interchangeable.

So with no other choice, Nathan loaded up his sleeping gear in my Tacoma and we made a U-Turn to head back out to civilization. It was 6pm when we began to head back out.

BigMike · « **Reply #110 on:** Dec 06, 2018, 06:11:11 PM »

Trip #11 - 1st Annual BigMike's TacoBox Run at MCR16 (Sept 14-17, 2017) (continued)

Nathan loading up into the Tacoma before we said good bye to his 4Runner

...when precisely 4 minutes later THE SAME HAPPENED TO ME:

...with Nathan's 4Runner still in view!

This is on the bypass to the Little Sluice, as we just wanted to get out of the trail, I thought I'd go up and around to bail out of the trail.

What happened to me was the exact same as Nathan: Front end trying to pull while the rear end was in a bind.

For me if was pretty nasty as I had ran the rear axle housing directly into a rock. It was impossible to continue.

Here was the play-by-play. I remember it so vividly still to this day!

I was climbing open-open and doing good.
Suddenly I lost forward progress
Engaged Dual Ultimate TacoBox 1st gear
Still nothing
While idling and tires rotating very slow I slowly turned right, turn back left, then right again
Ok nothing working so I engaged the rear locker
Still just idling, turning left, turning right, still nothing
Engage the front locker
Turned left and then right as I was about to try to the right
BAM! Something let go and the steering wheel became very light
I hit the clutch and looked over at Nathan and he cautiously says, "oh no!!"
I turn the wheel slightly and there is zero resistance.
Look out my window and my tire is pointing right
Ask Nathan what side his tire is pointing...
...and he says "TO THE LEFT!"

For me, when the Inner Tie Rod let go, it deformed beyond the misalignment angle of the outer tie rod causing it to pop out of it's socket!

So I wasted both Inner and Outer tie rods in one AWESOME experience!!

So we had to install my only inner spare and my only outer spare

I am so happy to share as many embarrassing broken steering pictures as possible

BigMike · « **Reply #111 on:** Dec 07, 2018, 09:25:53 PM »

Trip #11 - 1st Annual BigMike's TacoBox Run at MCR16 (Sept 14-17, 2017) (continued)

What. A. Night. and What. A. Morning!!

I can't type full details here but we got out of the trail safely without any more breakage.

It was crazy: I was on my second time through the trail on 37s and Nathan and I were just doing normal trail riding when both parts broke back-to-back and our lone rescue vehicle used up it's only spares.

I felt that at any moment my factory steering would fail and we'd have to hike out to get parts.

We were well into the dark in a truck that still had no rock lights. I took many unusual lines trying to avoid known obstacles and ended up getting hung up in more places then I ever remember struggling in with my '81.

We wheeled back out without using the front locker, which is no feat in of itself, but in times I knew I would or had already become stuck, I still refused to engage the front locker and combined with being very tired, I hadn't felt that thankful to get off a trail solo without damage in a while...

Back in civilization

We aired up, headed back out to Hwy50, and down to Placerville. At 1am we checked into a small hotel and got up early to look for spare parts.

Finding parts for my Tacoma was easy (2005+ are the same) but for Nathan's 4Runner we probably went to 20 different part stores and FINALLY far off the 50 in an obscure corner of Folsom we found a Car Quest who had four 4th gen 4Runner Inner Tie Rods.

When it was all said and done, I had found and purchased 5 spare inner Tacoma tie rods and 6 spare Tacoma outers, and Nathan the four spare 4Runner inner and I think also 6 spare 4Runner outers. We were done playing games, we were more than a day behind schedule, and still needed to get back to Nate's 4Runner on the other end of the Little Sluice to resume wrenching on it with trail traffic greatly increasing by the minute due to Round-Up participants (over 250 rigs on the trail that weekend).

We pick up TRevv
So it turned out that one of my sales employee, Trevor aka TRevv, was still looking for a ride in so I gave him a call and told him to get his butt to Placerville stat.

After driving allllll over the place, we finally meet up with Trevor, now at 1pm Friday.

Listen. My first BigMike's TacoBox run was originally supposed to have 5 or 6 rigs that I was responsible to get to the Springs Campground Thursday morning. We were down to only 2 rigs. Back out in the city picking people up. In the afternoon, two days late. This is how far behind schedule we were

Picking up TRevv, 1pm

Heading back to Loon, Ice House Road was full of tow rig one after the another. It was a mess. It was a Friday afternoon and event participants were already on their way in.

Wentworth Springs

So I had the idea to take Wentworth Springs in instead to avoid traffic from Loon through to Ellis Creek, and this had the DUAL EFFECT of also a CHANCE of becoming the FIRST 3rd gen Tacoma to FINALLY CONQUER the RUBICON!!!

I have never driven Wentworth Springs myself but I know I've been in this way a few times as a young kid. We downloaded map data to our phones and we took off looking for the trail head.

Airing down

I have become the first 3rd gen Tacoma to begin the Official Rubicon Trail!

BigMike · « **Reply #112 on:** Dec 07, 2018, 09:30:45 PM »

Now with Trevor riding in the AccessCab Tacoma, this was officially my FIRST TIME EVER owning a Rock Crawler that had more than one co-pilot! Wow what an experience this was turning into!

Post Pile

First time I have personally driven Post Pile. Wow what a fun place! I wished we could have actually had time through here. We were pushing hard trying to make up time and I ended up taking out my passenger side tail light lens!! Next time I want to spend some time enjoying Wentworth!

First time in a very long time for me seeing this view across the way of the Granite Bowl!

It was already getting dark and we could see headlights of rigs making their way in on the Loon Lake side of the trail...

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