SaltyMethods
Well-known member
Pics from last weekend "Fiesta Prerunners" meet up.
T-Juan - `98 Toyota T100 4x4, 5-spd
- Thread starter SaltyMethods
- Start date
SaltyMethods
Well-known member
Getting ready for our yearly Death Valley trip.
Steering wheel upgrade.
Upgraded my radio with a speaker.
2.5" bypasses installed
Installed longer wheel lug studs
New Vision bead locks
How she is sitting as of today:
Next upgrade is to add in a small skid plate between the front crossmembers and a front skid plate.
Steering wheel upgrade.
Upgraded my radio with a speaker.
2.5" bypasses installed
Installed longer wheel lug studs
New Vision bead locks
How she is sitting as of today:
Next upgrade is to add in a small skid plate between the front crossmembers and a front skid plate.
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dwphoto
Administrator
looks good dude!
Motiracer38
Well-known member
- Joined
- Apr 27, 2022
- Messages
- 266
I love the way those wheels look, wish that had 5x5.5 in stock when I was shopping.
SaltyMethods
Well-known member
Another Death Valley trip in the books. This year we pushed back our trip by a month. Mainly because of work and last year's trip was hovering around the high 90's most of the days. So pushing it back a month worked in our favor. The day time temps were in the mid to high 70s or low 80s. Night time temps got a bit chilly. Froze the first night but luckily it warmed up a bit as the week went on. Since Hurricane Hilary did another 1-2 punch on the park with a historic 1,000 year rain fall in combo with last year's Winter rainfall, most of park if not all of the park was closed to traffic. Our area of focus was the west to northwest side of the park. 6-days, 5-nights (Weds. to Mon.).
Left San Diego and headed North. We dropped off our tow rigs at Boulder Creek RV Resort. $7/day per vehicle. A good place that's fairly secure and close by to Lone Pine. (3) Jeep Cherokees, (1) Jeep Wrangler Rubicon, (1) Tacoma, (1) 4Runner, (1) T100. 13 guys and 7 vehicles.
First spot right out of Lone Pine for air down, safety meeting and GAK Daniels pull. The plan was to stay outside of the park. Easy day to find camp since half of the day was burned just driving up. One of the Cherokee starts to experience some power loss so we attempt to do some troubleshooting at camp.
Next morning. Cold. Water on the tables is frozen and everyone complaining that their sleeping bags were not enough. Breakfast and we're on our way. One of our buddies decided to take the day off and go full retard for the day. Comedy ensued. Also, the official GAK 2023 cooly cups were handed out.
Heading further down the trail we made it down the mountain at to the entrance to the Reward Mine.
Left San Diego and headed North. We dropped off our tow rigs at Boulder Creek RV Resort. $7/day per vehicle. A good place that's fairly secure and close by to Lone Pine. (3) Jeep Cherokees, (1) Jeep Wrangler Rubicon, (1) Tacoma, (1) 4Runner, (1) T100. 13 guys and 7 vehicles.
First spot right out of Lone Pine for air down, safety meeting and GAK Daniels pull. The plan was to stay outside of the park. Easy day to find camp since half of the day was burned just driving up. One of the Cherokee starts to experience some power loss so we attempt to do some troubleshooting at camp.
Next morning. Cold. Water on the tables is frozen and everyone complaining that their sleeping bags were not enough. Breakfast and we're on our way. One of our buddies decided to take the day off and go full retard for the day. Comedy ensued. Also, the official GAK 2023 cooly cups were handed out.
Heading further down the trail we made it down the mountain at to the entrance to the Reward Mine.
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Bakoholmes
New member
Love the T-100, all the progress you’ve made, and the annual trip reports. Read every post in this thread and looking forward to seeing more.
SaltyMethods
Well-known member
So after the visiting the Reward Mine, we headed back down into town to top off our tanks and our ice. The plan was to not come back into town until the last day of the trip. That plan didn't pan out like we hoped. More on that later.
Heading down a fairly steep trail, we came across a water crossing. Fairly deep.
After topping off we headed back up into the hills. The plan was to drive up the back side to Cerro Gordo Mining Town. Years ago, we did this particular route, which is the long way to Cerro Gordo. There's two ways to go. The more direct route that drives straight up the mountain and into town. The back way squirrels around and up through the pines. IMO, it's one of the most fun trails. It used to be not that hard and more fairly steep but with all the rains, it washed away a lot of the sand and dirt and made the route more difficult. 4L was necessary unless you had a good run at it. The terrain changes (desert to pines) is awesome. Once it started getting dark, we decided to camp within the pines.
Once we got to the top, we did a congratulatory GAK Daniels pull. "Ched" kept the partying going and ended up on the deck.
Next morning the official GAK 2023 shirts were handed out then back to working on the Heep pile.
We were able to rub enough dickheads together and get that POS back on the trail and moving forward.
Then back to fiddling with the Heep. Once we patched that POS again with bubble gum, we headed further down the trail. Moving along downhill at a pretty good pace, we lost contact with the Heep. Once we regained radio contact, we found out he lost his brakes and had to use a tree to stop himself. More drinking ensued.
Heading down a fairly steep trail, we came across a water crossing. Fairly deep.
After topping off we headed back up into the hills. The plan was to drive up the back side to Cerro Gordo Mining Town. Years ago, we did this particular route, which is the long way to Cerro Gordo. There's two ways to go. The more direct route that drives straight up the mountain and into town. The back way squirrels around and up through the pines. IMO, it's one of the most fun trails. It used to be not that hard and more fairly steep but with all the rains, it washed away a lot of the sand and dirt and made the route more difficult. 4L was necessary unless you had a good run at it. The terrain changes (desert to pines) is awesome. Once it started getting dark, we decided to camp within the pines.
Once we got to the top, we did a congratulatory GAK Daniels pull. "Ched" kept the partying going and ended up on the deck.
Next morning the official GAK 2023 shirts were handed out then back to working on the Heep pile.
We were able to rub enough dickheads together and get that POS back on the trail and moving forward.
Then back to fiddling with the Heep. Once we patched that POS again with bubble gum, we headed further down the trail. Moving along downhill at a pretty good pace, we lost contact with the Heep. Once we regained radio contact, we found out he lost his brakes and had to use a tree to stop himself. More drinking ensued.
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SaltyMethods
Well-known member
Plaster City for New Years 2023/24
Not the biggest jump but it was fun getting the truck off of all fours.
We made our own little race with three different way points. Kids got to ride their quads and dirtbikes while the "big kids" got to drive our trucks.
Got her a little hot going over the grade.
Not the biggest jump but it was fun getting the truck off of all fours.
We made our own little race with three different way points. Kids got to ride their quads and dirtbikes while the "big kids" got to drive our trucks.
Got her a little hot going over the grade.
SaltyMethods
Well-known member
Felt some clunking and popping in the rear end after our New Year's trip. Finally had a chance to open it up and was presented with this fun crunchy soup.
I started looking into replacement differentials. I found a posi-traction one on eGay (https://www.ebay.com/itm/235169181548) $475. Do you guys have any opinions on this one? Also, I'm not really wanting to spend too much money on a replacement because eventually I'll be scraping this whole rear end with something more robust but I'm not ready to drop the thousands of dollars on a better rear end right now.
I started looking into replacement differentials. I found a posi-traction one on eGay (https://www.ebay.com/itm/235169181548) $475. Do you guys have any opinions on this one? Also, I'm not really wanting to spend too much money on a replacement because eventually I'll be scraping this whole rear end with something more robust but I'm not ready to drop the thousands of dollars on a better rear end right now.
SaltyMethods
Well-known member
While I wait for my replacement locker diff to come in, I figured I would jump on replacing my worn out and ripped shifter knob.
26-year old worn out and torn shifter knob.
Carefully cut the stock cover off on the seams and used one piece for a template
Cut out each piece and punched out small holes on the edges. Skivved the leather on the top and bottom so they would fold over into the knob easier.
Wet the leather and applied dye
PIcked a thread color and applied spray on glue to each of the pieces of leather and started stitching.
Once the sides were stitched together, I tucked in the top and bottom extra and JB weld the top cap back on.
Finished product
Took about 3 hours from start to finish.
26-year old worn out and torn shifter knob.
Carefully cut the stock cover off on the seams and used one piece for a template
Cut out each piece and punched out small holes on the edges. Skivved the leather on the top and bottom so they would fold over into the knob easier.
Wet the leather and applied dye
PIcked a thread color and applied spray on glue to each of the pieces of leather and started stitching.
Once the sides were stitched together, I tucked in the top and bottom extra and JB weld the top cap back on.
Finished product
Took about 3 hours from start to finish.
dwphoto
Administrator
looks good I appreciate the blood on the paper towel from you stabbing yourself while stitching it up.
SaltyMethods
Well-known member
smokeysevin
Member
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2023
- Messages
- 52
The lsd looks to be a clutch type similar to the trd kazuma / eaton one. I ran one for a bit in my truck and it worked well. I like the trutrack I have now as well but I don't have a good back to back on them. The clutch type supra lsd in my front diff is realllly stiff.
Sean
Sean
SaltyMethods
Well-known member
How did it perform on street driving? My concern is it locking up when it's wet and I come in hot on a turn.
smokeysevin
Member
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2023
- Messages
- 52
I had nitto dune grapplers at the time and they were awful in the wet, especially in that slick concrete made of oyster shells or the stuff in gas stations when it got wet. When I switched to bfg at kos it was a lot better and you basically didn't notice it unless you wanted to kick the back end out.
Sean
Sean
the bodj
Well-known member
The shifter looks so good! Leather working has always interested me.
SaltyMethods
Well-known member
Been working on the rear diff. Put in a lunchbox locker, replaced all the races and bearings. Check the backlash and the pattern. I'm going to take it in to my buddy who works on cars and have him give it a once over before I put it back in. The pattern isn't the greatest so I'm going to see what he thinks.
Replaced the bearings on the axles and new brake shoes also.
Replaced the bearings on the axles and new brake shoes also.
SaltyMethods
Well-known member
It bugs that I don't have cruise control. So I saw someone else make a steering column plate that added their CC lever onto it. So I stole their idea and made my own.
