Local Legend Taco Sauce

[Snowsk8air2]

Got so close but ran out of welding wire. Still need to cut out for the light bar and decide if I’m gonna weld on d-ring tow points or not. The factory tow points are easily accessible just below the bumper and I think it looks good keeping it clean and simple.

 

[Snowsk8air2]

Never posted the finished 4runner bumper so here it goes.



Also last weekend weather. Never fails to snow on NAU graduation day.

 

[Snowsk8air2]

Did a fun little photo shoot/filming with Tacomabeast after the expo last Sunday. Can’t wait to see the edited video. This was the sneak peak photo they posted.

 

[Snowsk8air2]

 

[Snowsk8air2]

Picked up some steel yesterday and made some progress.

 

[dwphoto]

Picked up some steel yesterday and made some progress.

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looks rad. you planning on having skid cover the hitch... where is the winch gunna ride when its not attached ?

 

[turbomonty]

twin cannons out the grille!

 

[Snowsk8air2]

looks rad. you planning on having skid cover the hitch... where is the winch gunna ride when its not attached ?

Yeah skid will straddle the hitch like this. Not sure if I’ll mount the winch in the bed or back seat yet. Need to add a few skid supports as well so it’ll have a little angle profile

 

[vcyota92]

awesome!

 

[Snowsk8air2]

Rental tow rig has been getting pulled back on availability.

Soooo…..


Now we’re poor again haha

 

[Snowsk8air2]

Been hot so bumper progress has been slow the last few weeks. Just about wrapped up. Just need to weld the tabs for the upper skid and then get everything painted.



Coworker has a small machine shop with laser so he helped cut the skid out of aluminum. This was the first attempt after some rough cad. Final product follows lines better and we moved mounting holes a little.



And while over there couldn’t resist using the forklift for a drop test.

 

[Snowsk8air2]

No real updates on the truck but had a few fun trips since the last post.

First up was the 2nd annual BLGT Labor Day trip. This year was in Sand Hollow. Weather was a bit warm but this is one of my favorite places.







My buddy decided to up the anti for our koh efforts and buy a 4400 car. So no more 4800, time to play with the big boys.




Acquired a camper for the tow pig.





And spent thanksgiving in cal city, then Johnson valley with the race team for some fun and to shake down the new car.






He needs to get some seat time and get more comfortable. But after I tweaked some of the bypass tubes he started to pick up some speed. New car is in a whole other leave from the old one.

 

[Klever]

Bitchen set up man!

 

[Snowsk8air2]

Was an awesome event as always. Buddy had the new race car woes this year so didn’t get out too much. Spent most of the early week working on the car getting it ready for qualifying.

Qualified 62nd in 4400 and then our co-drivers wife went into labor a month early at 9:30pm the night before race day. Fuel guy stepped in as backup codog and I became backup fuel guy. Unfortunately on race day new codog had an old back injury start to flare up and he couldn’t continue on about 3/4 through lap 2. With the unknown lap 3 and a leaking diff that we couldn’t fix in the pits, the team decision was to call our day and take the newborn on the team as our win. Save the car from further damage and save the team from a potential rescue mission for the driver on some trail we’ve never been on at midnight. Over all another great year but a bummer to not get the finish. Great shakedown and practice for next year.

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Some koh updates from the race team I help with.

 

[Snowsk8air2]

Also tagged a rock cruising through a wash during prerunning. Came out of nowhere and didn’t even see it. But ripped the wheel out of my hands doing 25mph or so.




Steering clevis for the slide rack left the chat. Thanks to the fab school in hammertown getting it welded back together and bandaided so I could still cruise around a bit. But I’ll remake them out of thicker material now that I’m home.

I’ve given the front end of the truck a decent prep the last few years always before koh. But this got me looking at things a little closer. Steering wheel off center which has not happened in all the abuse I’ve put the truck through in the past handful of years. I think things are just really starting to fatigue and bend to where it’s noticeable.

Noticed spindle gussets starting to crack, and lower control arms have taken a beating on rocks and probably aren’t straight anymore.

Did better on the tax return than expected and am a master negotiator with the wife when it comes to truck parts. So got some fully fabbed spindles on order and going to be ordering new lcas as soon as the refund funds. Hopefully should give the front end the refresh it needs after 6 years or so of abuse.

 

[badlinesgoodtimes]

oooooffff! The DNF boulder will get ya ever time... Time to Solid axle swap this thing. haha

 

[Snowsk8air2]

oooooffff! The DNF boulder will get ya ever time... Time to Solid axle swap this thing. haha

As soon as it rock crawls worse than the 4runner I’ll consider it.

 

[badlinesgoodtimes]

As soon as it rock crawls worse than the 4runner I’ll consider it.

FACKKKKKKK me... I think the 4 runners problems is the operator. - posted from resolution diffed out for the 3rd time in 17 ft.

 

[Snowsk8air2]

The hardest partying leaves in the business are about to part even harder. Big upgrade from the 2.5 prerunner series kings. Picked up these 3.0x5 tube ADS today and can’t wait to get them installed and tuned. Just look at the size of that resi port. All the flow. Just waiting on some front end parts and a wellness check up there and should be back in the dirt after koh.

 

[Snowsk8air2]

Flex test for clearance check. Clocked the top caps a few degrees to be safe but looking good now. And couldn’t resist at least a quick dash through some whoops and holy cow what a difference in flow on these vs the old shocks. Can really feel the difference right out of the box. Once front end parts are here and I get that all squared away it’ll be time for a proper tuning session and we’ll be eating all the whoops again.