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Dude I'd honestly be wanting to start from scratch and put everything back to stock because it honestly feels like your chasing your tail trying to figure out things. While not reasonable I realize because much of this is stuff you'd need a garage (or a dependable mechanic and money) to do, at this point you've gone past where I'd throw up a towel and reverse things because you seem to be tossing parts on and researching, but not really understanding the fundemental issue at hand, and likely causing problems your chasing to fix other issues. Like I said, I get that reasonably this isn't realistic, but at the same time you should try and do a breakdown of what's changed from stock, and when did the issues get worse, ie new lift, new shocks, ect. As is, based on what you've said I wonder if anything you had done by the one shop is actually decent, or if it might be done incorrectly and causing other problems.
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Jun 1, 2023 04:49
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honda whisperer posted:Any chance your upper or lower arms got their bushing bolts torqued at full droop? If it's not on the tires when that stuff gets tightened the bushings will all be locked at maximum give. Usually it shreds them in short order. Also makes it ride like it has no suspension. Potentially yes. I'll look at the bushings tomorrow morning. UCS Hellmaker posted:Dude I'd honestly be wanting to start from scratch and put everything back to stock because it honestly feels like your chasing your tail trying to figure out things. While not reasonable I realize because much of this is stuff you'd need a garage (or a dependable mechanic and money) to do, at this point you've gone past where I'd throw up a towel and reverse things because you seem to be tossing parts on and researching, but not really understanding the fundemental issue at hand, and likely causing problems your chasing to fix other issues.  if I could just wave a wand and turn this truck back to stock, I would. Then I'd sell it on Carvana and get a van or a full sized truck or something and never look back. And you hit the nail on the head - I literally have no idea what the underlying problem(s) are, I have no idea if any of the work was performed correctly, or if the parts were manufactured correctly, or if they even all work together correctly. I just went at this truck with a dream and a credit card, and naively thought a good mechanic and Google would see me through. Unfortunately my current mechanic sees me as a piggybank; I truly get the feeling they're currently loving me around on the suspension because they want me to get frustrated with Fox and buy Kings. And Google somehow totally failed me on Tacomas - I dont know how I blew past reasonable mods straight into coffin corner max performance poo poo, but here we are. I'm obviously stupid and crazy, but I'm also very stubborn. Part of me that thinks that tomorrow I could disconnect the sway bar, hopefully pick up the new & balanced driveshaft from the shop, get it installed, and the truck would be a night and day difference.
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Jun 1, 2023 05:49
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Vampire Panties posted:And Google somehow totally failed me on Tacomas - I dont know how I blew past reasonable mods straight into coffin corner max performance poo poo, but here we are. As an outsider with only some mild off-road in a stock SUV experience - this is extremely common 4x4 behaviour worldwide. Like sure, when you have specific needs and requirements, you're gunna want some mods. But look how many people immediately jump on the same rote list of mods regardless of requirements. Someone jumps on say the Jeep forums asking what mods they need for their new Wrangler, to be told you NEED 37's and this lift to go with them and these shocks and these sway bars and now you're set to roam everywhere short of King of the Hammers in a truck that now rides like poo poo, owes you a pile of money and the owner never intended to go any further than a run down the beach or maybe some fire roads or whatever, stuff that a perfectly stock vehicle can do. But the internet insisted you need these mods! I have no idea what your course of action is but agree with others - you're fired up and worried and pissed off. Take a bit of a breath and walk away for a few days, then try to come up with a logical plan. Me, I'd start with the shocks since you got adjustment all up the wazoo there. Either DIY or find some other reputable shop since you seem unsure of the current guys.
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Jun 1, 2023 09:18
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Your shop doesn't seem to know the weight of the truck or its individual wheel bias. Get that information. CAT scales at the minimum, use your phone, they have an app for that. No bets on it being every bit as heavy as my bricknose 350 which is ~ a ton over a taco's rated gvr. Fire the shop and find someoene else. Valving and tuning is where the magic lies. Wait till Hammertown is back open (feb '24) to business and go meet some faces. Valving and tuning said valving requires expert skill. Note that you're trying to do something very hard here. Offroad and speed involves moonbuggy soft suspension. Load hauling, is the complete opposite. Know that with vehicles set up to do "jack of all trades" type work there is "jack of all compromises" in some department or another. The brick rides like a spine-busting dump truck whether its empty, loaded, doing 5mph, or 80. The rovers all had lousy road performance but made up with it offroad. Any improvement in ride quality with removing the rear leaf shackle mount brace is probably anecdotal at best and at worst its frame flex introduced from all the extra weight. Being over the gvr? leave the reinforcement. The leaf mounts look fine. The shackles look fine. Other noteworthy things. Mentioning again to use a notebook and log each change. Much like tuning carburetors there's lots of wrong turns to make in this maze. It's a lot easier when you have a guide rope to fall back on. Start with the front axle and do your work there. It looks to be the most out of whack here. Set your sag for the front axle with the coilover's preload/ride height adjustment. The rear seems ok enough for RQ even if it's a little spongy. (maybe +1 for LS compression) Don't do this though until the front is dialed in. Make sure the front coilover springs aren't binding Make sure the front coilover isn't bottoming out before the bump is contacted. Video of this maybe? My hypothosis is that the front end is set up extremely stiff vs the rearend causing all of your problems. I don't know what the truck weighs or what its weight biases is. I could be completely wrong here when the weights are known. It should be noticeable in how it drives with the front bashing into everything. Wandering to the other parts of your post here. Are you planning to fulltime with this setup? It might be... small for that. With a composting crapper you're good for like 2 lukewarm days of boondocking before hygiene starts to get out of hand. Nevermind the extra half ton + of full time weight. The truck isn't ruined. You aren't ruined. It's just a car. It's also worth a loving fortune, even if the config is off like it is because it is set up with the right components. Life is bleeding into setting the truck up which is failing at every turn. This is a self reinforcing negative feedback loop. Sometimes it's best to step away for a bit and work on something else or nothing at all. This truck could be traded off for some other even bigger project to break in even larger ways. It could be returned completely to stock and sold. These have drop out thirds, just swap the carrier with the 5.13 gears for stockers, etc. Someone on IG would pay a loving fortune for a taco setup with a truck camper because these trucks aren't really built for that kind of thing.
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Jun 1, 2023 17:35
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ahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha First of all - thank you all for responding, sincerely. It really means a lot to me that I could stumble into AI and get help. I'll write up a more detailed response later tonight, but I had to post this - looked at pictures of the front sway bar bushings last night, and they looked pinched. Took off the bushings on the front sway bar this morning, they were bone dry. Pulled them apart and used that lovely Harbor Freight grease because it was convenient. I also removed the sway bar relocation kit - its only necessary to keep the factory sway bar from hitting the larger coil springs. The fitment is stupid tight w/o the drop spacers, but AFAICT its not actually binding on anything. Ride quality improved? I think the sway bar may have been binding in bushings slightly when it needed to rotate - picked up the new driveshaft from the shop.  not only was it not balanced, the manufacturer didnt install the carrier bearing correctly. The driveshaft shop called it out (but didn't fix it?  ) they said it would make a 'noise'. Driveshaft is improved, but 'noise' is more like crazy rear end vibration/horrible grinding noise decelerating from freeway speed. Its not acceptable the way it is now. I have an Inland Empire carrier bearing (ordered that 6+ months ago and never returned it, when I thought part of the issue was the factory carrier bearing)  Guess I'll pull the driveshaft and take it back to the shop tomorrow  EDIT do I even gently caress with this custom driveshaft anymore? I feel like I'm at the point where I can start contesting charges on my credit card and I could get the local shop to doctor up my existing driveshaft. Alternatively, I'm not even really sure that I need a custom driveshaft - while that air bubble yoke thing may have been an issue, after riding around today I think I would be hard pressed to say that a new driveshaft fixed anything. - Finally, I've been driving around in 4hi / front wheel drive most of the week. I hadn't noticed, but with the driveshaft back on and switched back to 2hi, the 10-20mph vibration I'd posted previously returned. Soooooo I just paid to have the alignment done because I thought that was the issue, However a grinding/vibration issue 10-20mph that goes away in 4hi on a Tacoma is notoriously the front needle bearing - something that I already paid to have replaced by the mechanic. Again, not an expert, but AFAIK this is something where it was either done, or it wasn't, and since I'm getting the vibration... it wasnt. So I called up the mechanic. The owner answered, I said they needed to send me a copy of every single invoice for all the work they had done on my truck ever, he starts to quibble and ask whats wrong, I said that none of the work they had done over the last two years had addressed my ride quality issue, and the truck still rode LIKE loving poo poo. Owner started to sputter about the new springs, I repeated Not a single loving thing your shop has done has improved the ride quality on that loving truck. Not.One.Single.loving.Thing then I said 'and now I have a vibration from 10-20mph which goes away in 4hi, which i know is the needle bearing, which I know I paid you guys to fix.' Owner says very meekly 'yes, you did'. I say 'So you need to send me a copy of every single invoice for every single bit of work you've done on this truck. I don't want to get lawyers involved, but I will. I'm done talking to you' and hung up. I thought the mechanic was ripping me off, but it seems like they've been straight up defrauding me. Honestly this has gotten way past me. I'm at a really weird point in my life, so loving around with sway bars and driveshafts has been novel, but I'm not a mechanic. More importantly, I have to get on with my life. I can't just sit around and work on this stupid loving truck for five hours a day while waiting for yet another mechanic shop to gently caress off for a week and give me back a subpar product. I've completely exhausted any interest in working in this truck, and all of this poo poo is wayyyyyyy out of my pay grade. Honestly since the only people who've worked on this truck has been me, loving Mossy Toyota, and the mechanic - its extremely likely that nobody whose ever worked on this truck either knew what they were doing or did a good job. What the gently caress do I do here? I have no idea how I get the emotional energy to move forward with this hunk of poo poo. It seems likely that I'm going to have to sue the mechanic. Meanwhile, truck still rides like poo poo. I bought a Tacoma because I wanted it to be reliable  DOUBLE EDIT all this poo poo about overlanding and fulltiming is nice, but right now I cant/wont drive the truck further than ten miles. Literally every trip I've posted here thats been after the lift, I've had to grit my teeth and bear it. I won't tolerate it. None of this is really that important to me. I could be roadtripping in a Sentra and be happier than this. What a clusterfuck. Vampire Panties fucked around with this message at 03:36 on Jun 2, 2023 |
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Jun 2, 2023 02:11
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Legit if it were me I'd get rid of the lift if possible (I have no idea how much effort it would take) and start there. Like legit it seems like almost every issue starts and ends with the lift you put on and it very likely is that the lift hosed something up either in install, or because the suspension changes resulted in it being more prone to bouncing harder due to being higher. Having never lifted, driven, or riding in a lifted truck I cant comment on how one done correctly should feel to ride in, but I can absolutely assume that one done sloppily would gently caress your suspension up, likely gently caress your bearings up, and make it so the thing is like riding on a pogo stick.
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Jun 2, 2023 06:22
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idHXLtg0f6Y check the last :10 of that video  I pulled the custom driveshaft and reinstalled the factory. all the Harbor Freight grease I put on has already spun off, but otherwise that driveshaft is fine. It has about 1 1/3" of yoke inside the slip at ride height. Could be longer, but that isnt an issue. Then I took the custom driveshaft into the shop and said 'maybe you guys balanced this right, maybe you didn't, but that bearing is hosed. Here is another bearing. Please fix'. Dude said they'd get it back to me today, surprisingly cursedshitbox posted:Fire the shop and find someoene else.  Tbh I think its a fraud thing now. They sent me a copy of every invoice they've ever done, and its literally 2 years of 'Customer complains of ride quality issues' 'Resolution?  '. I literally had the alignment done last week because I was complaining about low speed vibration, and its apparent that they never installed the ECGS needle bearing fix. I can see clearly where they charged me though!  I called them and left them a blistering voicemail this morning, effectively saying that they've obviously defrauded me, the truck bounces up and down exactly like it has from day one, and that I expect a refund for the alignment at a minimum, and that I also expect to drop the truck off and have it fixed. The owner tried to call me back but I was still too angry to talk to another human being about this. I'm going to call them back later this afternoon and schedule something for Monday. Maybe I haven't been perfectly clear when I said it rides like poo poo, but I'm willing to give them one last chance (for free, I'm not paying those shitlords another cent). I know a law firm and could get a lawyer, the dollar amounts are way past small claims court, but I think the real scorched earth tactic would be to simply take my entire saga and post it to Tacomaworld/Reddit/Tacoma3g/ExpeditionPortal. cursedshitbox posted:Valving and tuning is where the magic lies. Wait till Hammertown is back open (feb '24) to business and go meet some faces. Valving and tuning said valving requires expert skill. So I wanna address this real quick (politely  ) I'm not racing this thing in the desert. I've talked about going fast in the 4x4 thread, and for some reason the mechanic thinks I'm some silent desert runner, ( because there's sand in my truck all the time. I take the dog to the beach 2x a week 🤣) I ended up with crazy Fox suspension because I was listening to a buddy of mine (who owns a 100k Jeep) and I got sucked up in the 'buy once, cry once' mentality. I want to meander around on fire roads and go out to national parks. 4 wheel drive is simply to get past the #vanlife high water mark in BLM land. I got into this whole scenario because I think I unintentionally overloaded the factory suspension and thought i needed a little more. Also this started in May 2021, when COVID supply poo poo was still borked, so finding Bilstein 5160s for a Tacoma was nigh-impossible. I'm not trying to do crazy poo poo with this truck. I'm not just giving up and buying Bilsteins or whatever because I don't think it will fundamentally fix anything, ofc I'm on my 3rd UCAs and 2nd leaf springs soooooooooocursedshitbox posted:Any improvement in ride quality with removing the rear leaf shackle mount brace is probably anecdotal at best and at worst its frame flex introduced from all the extra weight. Being over the gvr? leave the reinforcement.  Its pretty clearly a non-improvement in ride quality with the brace removed. I'll reinstall it today. I greased the leaf shackles this morning, they both took 5-6 pumps until grease was flowing out the side. Its... possible... they were dry enough to bind slightly? Fwiw the back seems  better cursedshitbox posted:Other noteworthy things. I can't  my way through this. Second - I will get some Sea World drive footage today. I'm getting noise from the uniball in the front (  mechanic swore it wouldnt be an issue! #1 reason I didnt want uniball UCA) but I don't hear the coils binding. Could there be something actually wrong? Like with the lower control arm bushings or the leaf spring shackles? The bounce-up-and-down at all speeds seems like something is wrong. cursedshitbox posted:My hypothosis is that the front end is set up extremely stiff vs the rearend causing all of your problems. I don't know what the truck weighs or what its weight biases is. I could be completely wrong here when the weights are known. It should be noticeable in how it drives with the front bashing into everything. After greasing the rear shackles, it does feel like the front end is way too tight. cursedshitbox posted:Wandering to the other parts of your post here. Thank you. Here is my personal frustration with all of this - I used to travel 100k miles a year, before I moved back to San Diego. Yes, COVID  , but I went from p. much roaming the globe whenever I wanted, wherever I wanted, to being loving stuck in the lovely beach town I lived in during college 20 years ago. Every single personal and professional effort to get the gently caress out of this hellhole has been an abysmal failure. This may sound like an exaggeration, but I truly and honestly cannot remember the last time anything in my life fundamentally went 'right'. I used to be a director for an international video conferencing company, commuting from the Bay Area to Manhattan once a month. Now I'm an unemployed loser whose spent over a month working on my lovely rear end truck which still can't drive across town. There is nothing to step away from this, because somehow this truck has become all that I have left. I need to get the gently caress out of San Diego, and I need a vehicle to do it. I could've paid this truck off for what I spent on upgrades, but honestly I never imagined in a million years that I would be unemployed so much for so long. Despite working 100% remote for most of my career, somehow COVID happened and literally nobody will hire me from San Diego. And you're right - its become a cascade failure. I'm so hosed up about the work situation its loving with the truck, and I'm so hosed up about the truck that its loving with me finding another job. Honestly even thinking about the scope of all of this makes me feel insane with anger. Being loving gaslit about the ride quality of the truck, while being defrauded, along with the absolute total insanity of my professional career has eroded my mental health.  My poor dog is turbo-stressed, and I can't take him anywhere or do anything with him to unwind  BECAUSE THE DOG HATES THE TRUCK TOORe: Fulltiming - I'm so loving sick of living in this grey hell that spending a few months in a cubicle I drive around would be a welcome relief. I get that the maximum Range on this setup is probably 48ish hours, but thats ok. I'm super cool with state or national park campgrounds, truck stops for everything, or getting a hotel room every few days. I really only see this as a fancy camper shell, one where I can sleep and work comfortably. I have plans for a kitchen and a sink and whatnot, but even a 5 gallon jug with a USB pump would probably be OK. I've spent the last three years focusing on the camper aspect, designing it all out in my head, and now that I have the camper I just dont loving care because I can't deal with the truck ride quality anymore.edit Truthfully I just want to drive out far enough from the coast to see the loving sun. Vampire Panties fucked around with this message at 20:49 on Jun 2, 2023 |
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Jun 2, 2023 18:40
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Vampire Panties posted:I'm not trying to do crazy poo poo with this truck. Its probably impractical at this point, too big of a hassle etc etc etc but take everything off, find someone on Tacoma world or wherever the gently caress that wants to upgrade from either stock-stock or the "factory" (dealer installed) TRD lift kit, and sell/swap/barter/whatever the gently caress with them. You might not be able to carry all the poo poo that you have now, but the ride quality and your mental health improvement will be worth it. If going down fire roads and poo poo is all you want, the stock or trd upgrade poo poo is WAAAAAY more than you'll ever need. If you've got tires that are bigger than stock, you might need to trade out the gears and tires/wheels for something closer to stock but again, its more than enough for a lot more poo poo than people think. Not trying to tell you how to live your life, just a goon's suggestion.
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Jun 2, 2023 18:50
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wesleywillis posted:Its probably impractical at this point, too big of a hassle etc etc etc but take everything off, find someone on Tacoma world or wherever the gently caress that wants to upgrade from either stock-stock or the "factory" (dealer installed) TRD lift kit, and sell/swap/barter/whatever the gently caress with them.  Excellent suggestions. I've thought about doing that. I feel like I could post all the stuff on OfferUp (or whatever) and say 'will trade' and I could pretty easily find people willing give me a few $$$ and their stock/trd suspension. Honestly, since there's no-backsies on stuff like the cab mount chop, the tires/gears aren't even really an issue. I could put SPC UCAs, factory or Bilstein 5160s on with a longer spring (or even just blocks who loving cares) and return to factory leafs with like an add-a-leaf/airbags/Sumo springs to taste. I'm 50/50 that it would resolve the issue, and 100 that it would only be resolving the issue because something on the current setup is wrong. I've already replaced the UCAs and leaf springs a couple of times, so I'm doubtful thats it. The only things left from the first trip to the mechanic are the Fox shocks and the BAMF leaf spring hangers. I don't actually know that its not the shocks, they seem to work correctly everywhere else and I dont really see any fluid leaking from them? I'm going to confront the shop about the obvious fraud w/r/t to the needle bearing. I'll also insist that they refund me the charge for the alignment, at a minimum. Then they need to fix the loving needle bearing; I'm more than willing to believe that they just forgot but its absolute bullshit that I've been spending money with them to chase low speed vibration when that was supposed to be done six months ago. I'm willing to give them one more chance - I drop the truck off Monday morning,, they figure out what the problem is and text me, and I pick the truck up - without anyone saying a loving word to anyone. Whatever it is = shocks, springs, UCas, tthey need to loving prove it I still have a tiny bit of cash for things like Bilstein 5160s, especially if I sell the Foxes. (I will say that I fundamentally don't believe its the shocks) probably is then I also don't think they're malicious, or grossly incompetent, although I do think the owner is a snake. With how bad the ride quality is, and my gut impression / general fuckery of the shop, its easy to believe that not a single one of them ever test drove the truck further than 100 yards in the last two years. EDIT Confronted the shop, got some BS runaround  I'm going in tomorrow to meet the owner over the weekend and go for a test drive. If its any sort of manipulative bullshit, or anything less than 'yes sir we will get this fixed' than I'll leave. I'm not going to let them touch the truck until they agree that the truck doesn't ride correctly, and they have a specific plan of action to fix it (that isn't "sell Vampire Panties more poo poo"). From the text exchange with the owner, seems like he has some narc tendencies ( small business owner) so there could be some fireworks tomorrow. Does anyone know any good 4x4 shops in the greater SoCal area, preferably in/near San Diego? I'd almost rather take it to another shop and let them diagnose it before I let the current dipshits fuckle my truck again Vampire Panties fucked around with this message at 02:05 on Jun 3, 2023 |
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Jun 2, 2023 21:31
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UPDATE Drove the truck out to the Truck Shop in Mira Mesa, CA to meet with James, the owner. I recorded the whole thing and I'll upload it for maximum (at the end i literally told him  ) but it went about as I suspected - James denied everything, even after forcibly making him drive through the bad needle bearing demonstration, tried to quibble about the ride quality and said "oh this is only mid grade for stiff, lots of people want it this way " and then tried to blame the ride quality on the shock valves. Not an iota of ownership about my complaints, about the overcharging for work being done, nothing. Just wanted to find some specialist to valve the shocks and have me pay to rebuild them, thats it. I don't know poo poo about poo poo, but he had the audacity to blame Accutune - literally all they do is valve loving shocks, and its all they're known for, and they're literally known as the experts. Also as a former booze bag I'm usually not one to judge, but James loving reeked of old booze. He got must've gotten shitfaced last night. I'm working on uploading the video now, but this was a giant waste of time. I knew that he was going to gently caress me around and try to get more money out of me, I was just (naively) hoping I could scare him into taking some sort of responsibility.  If it really could be the shock valving, I'm all ears. Literally. At this point I have no idea what the problem is. I wish I had the money to drive it into another 4x4 shop and tell them to figure it out, but I don't. I have no idea what it is, but i know its not bearable EDIT if its the valving on the shocks, it would stand to reason that all the valving would be incorrect, right? so if I scored some rear shocks off Offerup and swapped those out real quick, because its stupid easy, I could, in theory, see some sort of improvement? Accutune still owes me a free revalve. I guess the next step is to procure a stock suspension replacement and install it. 
Vampire Panties fucked around with this message at 18:54 on Jun 3, 2023 |
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Jun 3, 2023 18:36
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IANAL however don't post recordings without their consent and pretty sure in CA don't take recordings without their consent.
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Jun 3, 2023 20:05
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cursedshitbox posted:IANAL however don't post recordings without their consent and pretty sure in CA don't take recordings without their consent. but also i'm not going to share anything, but the recording is in the cab of my truck, while he was driving. I also told him on camera that I was going to post the video on the internet and he nodded consent, but no need to borrow trouble here. I'm going to find another shop to check the needle bearing, and if they didn't do the work, then its lawyer time. Either way, loving at that rear end in a top hat riding in 4th gear at freeway speeds, grinding the clutch, and overall driving like poo poo because "he hasn't driven a clutch in a while". 20 minutes of some rear end in a top hat lying to my face about everything and he couldn't keep his story straight. Non-zero chance dude was actually drunk, or drunk from the night before. The best revenge would be fixing the loving truck, starting a YouTube channel, getting a million followers ( they fall out of trees, right?) and then give a 45 minute presentation about how those dudes have hosed me around. Right now all that I care about, and all that's important to AI, is getting the truck fixed so I can use it. I'm weirdly relieved by this entire encounter - in the back of my head, I've felt that this whole saga was pointless and unnecessary. I'm not some elite off roader; almost all of my 4x4 experience is in an d21 hardbody with a KAE 2.4 motor and torsion bars cranked up, riding on Wild Country 31"s. I was excited to be at a fiscal point in my life where I could have the name brand truck with the name brand parts, like the cool kids? So chasing through SPC then JBA and now BuiltRight ( ) UCAs felt stupid, even if The Internet and the jerks at The Truck Shop assured me it was the right move. Seems like its time to circle back around on very wise advice - go buy some other shocks and see if thats the problem. I had a decent line on Tacoma stock suspension a few weeks ago, but it was a hundred miles away. Now I seem to have found numerous places that are much closer, but nobody's rushing to sell 10 dollar shocks on a Saturday afternoon in San Diego  I was deeply uninspired about installing new shocks on the truck, but the encounter with that rear end in a top hat this morning has mega-energized me.
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Jun 3, 2023 21:30
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UPDATE (sound on) https://i.imgur.com/NMksGZw.mp4 Thats the drivers side CV shaft, where the needle bearing was supposedly replaced with the ECGS clamshell bearing. That behavior both contradicts all of the descriptions of the clamshell bearing I've seen online, and also exactly mimics the behavior of the passenger side - which in theory would still have a needle bearing. Logic says that if one had a needle bearing, and one had a clamshell bearing, and the clamshell bearing had been described numerous times as not having play, then one of the sides would be different than the other. I don't really trust a single bit of work The Truck Shop has done - it really seems like they defrauded me on the needle bearing and are willing to go to the mat over it, but I'm also concerned about the clutch accumulator bypass plate and the gearing. They're sure as gently caress not going to honor any sort of warranty after today. There's a TSB that addresses an issue similar to the needle bearing, but will Toyota honor it on my truck? I have an extended warranty, but will they take it? also i've never touched that warranty and was sorta hoping to sell it back. If its not the TSB, than I need to find another shop to figure out the loving needle bearing. Honestly if I knew Tacomas needed all this weird fiddly maintenance/aftermarket poo poo, I never would've bought it. Thats the sort of poo poo that made me leave Jeeps. edit i might do itFinally - the shocks. I reviewed my original invoice with Accutune, and I was supposed to get the Adventure rating, but I think I got the Trail tune . I looked over the most recent quote, and it includes the free revalving. Since The Truck Shop already sold me 700lb springs I don't technically need theirs, but its 600 bux to rebuild the shocks. I could buy Bilsteins for that much, and never have to think about any of this dumb bullshit again. The DCS clickers are fidget spinners. Those bilsteins will be going strong when these loving Fox shocks need another 600 rebuild in 10k miles. I cant say I would even miss the performance of the Fox shocks, because I've only taken it seriously off roading 4 times. Revalving the shocks myself is also out of the question. I should be picking up TRD shocks/springs with 1" blocks Monday or Tuesday. I think its a coin toss if I even bother with Accutune, or the truck at this point. Ignoring being broke, or moving, or anything like that - I'm not a mechanic, and this truck needs at least another thousand dollars worth of work. it could very well need several thousand dollars more, and thats not getting into if any of this stupid poo poo breaks Question for the audience - have any of you ever had to deal with any of this epic bullshit? Not to project, but I see a lot of total shitboxes with Fox/King/Icon shocks that look like they've been rode hard and put away wet, and it doesnt seem like those dudes do any maintenance. edit Thinking about it... way back when I received the shocks from Accutune, they came in two shipments. Not just separate boxes but they were processed as two separate orders, although from one sales order.DOUBLE EDIT actually IIRC the first order was for a 0-2" lift on the front, and they were backordered on the Fox springs or something, so I had to go with the 0-3". That may have been where the order went sideways. This may be my imagination, but I want to say that there was something about the rear shocks being "Trail Tuned" as compared to the front shocks being "Adventure Tuned". When this truck was first set up, I would've had a pretty decent amount of weight for the original OME springs, and the front would have been relatively light/soft valving and a short 600lb spring with almost no preload. What I think of as a bad ride or bottoming out, may have been the truck oscillating. Fwiw the truck opens up quite a bit going really fast on poo poo terrain, but remembering the one time I really did the high speed desert stuff, the front end really dove and bottomed out. The back was great. the day I picked it up.  First desert run, I think I shared this in the 4x4 thread. (I grabbed that trash)  actually forgot I had this video. Its handheld Iphone garbage, but this is from the very first desert run in the back side of Joshua Tree. As you can see, rough  https://i.imgur.com/6BJCGB3.mp4 Vampire Panties fucked around with this message at 05:39 on Jun 4, 2023 |
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Jun 4, 2023 03:43
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UPDATE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJEkSmewcQE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDOyx22_Nxk  Its funny/ironic that I have a white Tacoma that I've driven out those exact roads. I haven't been to Truckhaven specifically, but I've certainly driven right past the entrance a few times. The Youtubers experience is identical to mine. With that said, in theory the Fox shocks could be valved to ride perfectly on the street. I called Accutune this morning and laid it all out - in over my head, ride quality bad, think wrong tune, and I want to check with them that they can address my specific issue before I spend any money. They said their owner is the guy who does the actual valving, and that he'd call me back. I was willing to chat it up with him, but he never called back, and after thinking about it.. I'm done with these Fox shocks right now. While i'm certain I could with Accutune, nothing about them, their people, or their processes makes me think they would get it right on the first, or even second try. And I'd either be paying them or doing the wrenching myself.  So I ordered Bilstein 6112s and 5160s. Shock Surplus sells them assembled with the correct 14" 650lb spring I should use, but they say it could be anywhere from 2-10 weeks  Other stuff: I found a place that sells stock tacoma shocks for ten bux a piece. I'm going to head over there tomorrow; I want to replace the rear shocks and see if they're the culprit. 10 bux shocks should actually be fine for on-street stuff until the Bilsteins show up. if I air it out and they work as limit straps they'll get borked, but I mean... 10 bux. I could buy spares Needle bearing is a problem for future Vampire Panties. Custom driveshaft should be ready tomorrow. As much as the driveshaft had an airbubble trapped in it, I actually dont know if that means anything for the ride. Not sure if I'm going to sell the Fox shocks or keep them for KOH '24, per CSB's suggestion. The extra money would be nice, and they're awkward to haul around, but if I can find a Valving Sensei there isn't any real question that the Fox would outperform Bilstein 6112/5160. I could turn around and sell the Bilsteins for some cash to cover the revalving in the futur, even if they're a year old or whatever, Either way, I'm energized and motivated by all of this.
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Jun 5, 2023 23:40
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Unless there are large unposted chunks of testing happening in the background, your approach to diagnostics isn't going to work. As far as I can tell you bounce between the problem is shocks, springs, sway bars, the drive shaft, needle bearings, and ??? Then you do one change, throw your hands up in exasperation, and head off to a completely different part. gently caress it new shocks might do the thing but the parts shotgun got you into this mess. Tell us about the shocks you have now. Have you tried making one small change to their settings, test, small change, test, through the whole range? Or just slamming between max one way vs max the other?
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Jun 6, 2023 02:07
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honestly what honda said, along side that you just keep seeming to toss money at the thing when even you are telling us you can't keep doing so. I would honestly put the drat thing back to stock on everything possible, including removing the lift kit. You just seem to be chasing your tail and going nowhere. I doubt the fox suspension is a pos, it might not be installed right but it in general is a decent kit. And honestly if that video you posted of your trip to joshua is anything that looks fine imo, yeah its bouncing a bit but doesn't seem like its outrageous for a truck driving down a dirt road that has a bit of a washboard look. If that was stock I wouldn't even be batting an eye at that. I might not have much experience doing 4x4 that isn't a sidexside or atv, but compared to what your describing that honestly was fine. Like CSB said, you arent going to have it drive like its smooth as glass on the road if its geared up for offroading, and you added so much stuff that its impossible to tell even start at attempting to fix it to make on road driving more comfortable at this point.
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Jun 6, 2023 02:25
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I mean, you're adding a not insignificant amount of weight to the truck, running tires that add a good bit of unsprung weight themselves. Without going back to completely stock and building back one (set of) piece(s) at a time, I agree that diagnosing exactly what the culprit is will be very difficult. I've hauled and towed very heavy with that gen of Tacoma and 4Runner over lovely urban Florida roads. They are fully capable of doing 1/2 ton work with little fuss, although the 4Runners do ride on the bump stops a bit much for my taste. Still, they did almost as well keeping everything straight on the road compared to an old 1/2 ton Dodge with Monroe load adjusting shocks and Timbren bumpstops.
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Jun 6, 2023 05:52
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 in case you can't tell, I have a type I drove that Jeep across the country and back, living in it for almost two months on the return trip. IIRC It was running Bilstein 5125 shocks and I thought the ride quality was excellent*. I say all of this for the people chiming in "well thats how a truck rides!  " as the son of a Teamster, the grandson of a mechanic, and someone whose rode or drove a kerjillion miles in shitboxes across all fifty loving states, please entertain me when I say No, it loving doesnt.UPDATE New driveshaft is in. The truck is better but the bumpiness is not addressed. I'm getting some noise from the slip yoke; I think Lucas Red is the wrong grease and I need something with teflon (not the Harbor Freight trash). Low end shudder and noise specifically seem improved, so now its possible I was conflating the needle bearing issue with something being hosed up on the factory driveshaft. I need to drive it more to be sure. All I can say is I know that factory driveshaft was working like an air spring, and while that's weird, it's doesn't seem to be the root of my bounciness/jarring issue. Reached out to Fox and Accutune on Monday. Fox sent me to voicemail hell but Accutune finally emailed me yesterday. So far the exchange hasn't been endearing, and I'm really uncertain that they understand the issue. Not to radiate anxiety, but I have this weird suspicion they're looking at my truck and trying to find a way to make it fly across the desert As I've told Accutune numerous times - the USA/Bel-Air camper will literally explode if I drive the truck across the desert at speed. It is made of wood screwed-and-glued together. I've sent a picture of it, along with an extensive inventory of all the aftermarket crap, and links to all the videos. I've also asked Accutune about revalving just the rear shocks, because IMO (and based on the Overland Outfitters video I linked previously itt) they're the problem. The sales guy is real quick to say my bilstein solution is bullshit () but "wants to work something out" to get all the shocks in. Getting hosed around for an extra couple hundred bucks in service right now, with no guarantee or specific talk of improvement, is like a knife in the eye gently caress socalre: Bilstein vs Fox w/r/t to weight - Fwiw the truck is sprung correctly. 14" 700lb springs in the front (either with Fox or Bilstein) and Deaver Stage 3 leafs in the rear. The bilsteins would get a workout but having driven a wildly overloaded vehicle with bilsteins already, I can say that digressive valving is very predictable on a land yacht. I should add that my experience with the Jeep is playing into this (again) - I know Bilsteins would Just Work and I'm more than frustrated enough to do that, but I also know I'll be mentally comparing the ride quality the entire time. Selling the fox to buy mid-tier Bilstein to sell them again in a year is dumb, but loving around for another month trying to figure this out is  I'm mostly anxious about removing the front coilovers. I don't have a place to work, and I don't own jackstands or a floor jack. I dont necessarily want to do it once, but doing it twice - to remove the fox and send them in, and then to reinstall them - seems like a lot. EDIT I should say that I don't know if Accutune is trying to gently caress me around, or this is some perfectionist bullshit on their part. I'm wildly out of my depth here. I wish I could explain to them how cheap and easy I am. Yet another reason why I want to switch to Bilstein - I just don't want to deal with any of this anymore. They may ride bad but they'll ride right. I actually have really huge questions if I should've purchased linear valve shocks in the first place. Also w/r/t money - if I take the Fox off for Bilstein, I'm selling the Fox. That will easily cover the cost of the Bilstein and then some. If somehow I do end up wanting to upgrade in a year, and I'm starting from scratch, I'd probably upgrade to Bilstein 8112 anyway. DOUBLE EDIT re: Fox DSC settings - I've had the shocks for two years. Believe me I have tried every possible combination of setting with all 3 sets of UCAs and 2 sets of leaf springs. This truck is my daily driver, so I do put 5-10 miles on it almost every day. I've also taken it on numerous, numerous test drives around the local neighborhood. I'd even been testing on Sea World drive before recording  DSC settings do make a difference, but its more like sliding within a range based off the shocks valving (which makes sense). The shock valving now fundamentally doesnt work - its not engaging right for reasons . At this point the only thing left from the factory suspension is the lower control arms, and I just jacked up the truck ( with the factory bottle jack, and some plywood as a base) and the lower control arms drooped appropriately (1" of droop on the springs, I can provide pics if anyone cares). Through process of elimination, the only thing remaining would be the BAMF leaf spring hangers or if the mechanic straight loving something up. W/r/t the mechanic straight loving something up, I've personally un/reinstalled the front and rear sway bar, and the front UCAs and coilovers have been on/off quite a few times now. If they hosed something up, they hosed it up very consistently. *except for the highway to Glacier National Park. The Jeep tried to shake itself apart. I mention this because that specific highway contributed to purchasing an IFS truck. Vampire Panties fucked around with this message at 02:03 on Jun 9, 2023 |
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Jun 9, 2023 00:21
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UPDATE Remounted the leaf spring hanger crossmember. Chilled for a few days and didn't drive the truck while I tried to unwind why I'm so frustrated. Its partially my expectations were unreasonable, specifically I spent 5k on shocks so I thought my truck would ride like a Lexus, and partially the Fox shocks are insanely stiff. Re: insanely stiff shocks, as a science experiment, I loaded up 250lbs / 30 gallons of water in the bed of the truck as ballast. (a couple of the 5 gallon jugs are hiding behind the ice chest)  aired the tires down to 30psi  Also spent a few hours this morning going over Fox DSC settings and trying to understand what's specifically wrong and if it can be addressed (CSB's post itt was extremely helpful). AFter research and testing, the rear LSC (low speed compression, for small bumps) is set wide open to soften up bounciness on city streets, and HSC (high speed compression, for big bumps) set to 2 to prevent freeway oscillation. The front LSC set to 2 and HSC set to 3, which is pretty close to the default and seems to help prevent the front end porpoising. Doing all of this makes the truck ride ok Specifically the weight in the back makes a lot of the little bouncing go away, although I still get a lot of bouncing from very small bumps. Most notably the jarring to my lower back has gone away, although I get a weird rolling in the truck thats more like motion sickness. With my experience today, and my previous experience with a lot of weight in the bed, it seems like whatever valves are at the end of the shock are very very stiff, so when the truck gets loaded enough to compress the shock down a certain amount, it softens up. This also gives it the ponderous feeling because its p. loving heavy when this is happening, and the suspension will cycle back to full length on the rebound so the weight has to break back through the shock valving. Its not very comfortable but its not actively painful and it still handles ok. This isn't really a fix though. Which segues into my next point - I'm not sure that Bilstein shocks will do what I want, especially w/r/t the concrete sectioned freeway here in SoCal. For those of you not familiar with southern California freeways, a lot of them look like this:  They're 1-2 car length long, 4-5 lane wide chunks of concrete, wedged together like cobblestones. Riding on them loving sucks. Other places all around the world use concrete sectioned freeways, but they also pave over the top to smooth the ride and protect the concrete. Socal doesnt for many reasons - Traffic is poo poo here 24/7, so closing any freeway is a major production and it never rains so there's nothing to protect. The joints in these sections are a big problem with the ride quality. Previous to the recent coilover spring upgrade, the truck would porpoise really badly through any of these sections - i.e. the front would bounce up and down quite a bit. Right now, in the configuration described above, the ride quality is ~ok~ on the freeway, with some bouncing in the front end. However I'm concerned that Bilstein shocks would actually perform worse on these freeway sections. It seems like the joints are large enough to make the digressive valving stiffen up and really make the truck bounce. (My much-lauded Jeep was complete & utter trash on this sort of road as well) Fwiw I've read other people complaints about this specific issue with Bilstein shocks on SoCal freeways, although not necessarily in Tacomas. One thing is clear - the truck is certainly sprung correctly, if not oversprung. The droop from the 250lb of water in the bed is almost unnoticeable. Where the front end used to bottom out consistently, I don't think it has in weeks. The new 14" 700lb springs are cranked down pretty far to lift the truck level with the rear; I could lower the preload on them and the ride quality up front would be pretty solid. I could also get a spacer block for the "Taco Lean" so that the driver side doesnt have an extra 1" of preload. 250lb of water in the rear seems like a lot, but thats probably relatively close to the fully loaded camper weight when its built out. I would probably take 15g of water with me, not 30, but I have a hundred pounds in lithium batteries and inverters and poo poo. The plywood I would use to build out the camper is already in the back of the truck, if not actually built, so that weight is accounted for. I could probably add a lot more weight to the rear and be totally fine. So where does that leave me? Thoughts: Replacing Fox shocks with Bilstein will instantly fix the stiffness issue. Will it introduce other issues? Will I be frustrated losing the performance of the Fox shocks? Will I like them on the freeway? From the 250lb / 30 gallons of water experiment, its clear to me that the 'bounciness' issue that I'm currently experiencing is almost certainly related to shock valving. With that done, I could replace the rear shocks with Bilsteins and leave the front shocks, although that seems blasphemous? One thing that is pushing me towards Bilsteins - timing. The bilstein order is placed (not fulfilled, and I get free returns as long as I dont install anything) and will be here in 2 weeks. The truck would ostensibly be fixed in time for 4th of July. On the other hand, it seems doubtful that I'll get the Fox shocks uninstalled and over to Accutune tomorrow, which is what I'd need to do to reasonably get the shocks back by 4th of July. I could go into a long winded rant about why getting it done by 4th of July is important but its actually really simple - I've missed every single holiday for the last two years because this truck loving sucked. After jacking up the truck the other day, I feel comfortable using that parking lot to work on the truck. I could get jack stands and use the factory bottle jack and swap out the front coilovers twice if I needed to, although I certainly do not want to. I should probably get a big bottle jack for the truck anyway. I have so many questions and misgivings about revalving the shock that I don't know where to begin. First and foremost, I truly, genuinely, and honestly wish I had done all this research 4 years ago. I thought I had really grokked Fox and King and Icon and all that, but in retrospect I was basically memorizing sales brochures. If i'd understood how important valving was, I don't think i would have gone with these sorts of shocks. Either way, it seems likely that the issue could be resolved through valving, but will Accutune get it right on the 2nd try? or the 3rd? Accutune emailed me a bunch of technical questions, but they've never accepted responsibility for any issue, acknowledged that my complaint is valid, explained anything about the solution other than it would be '100% better', they've ignored my offer for a test drive, and I've only traded emails with a sales guy. Its clear to me now that I'd like to keep the performance of the Fox shocks, but I absolutely need them to ride better, and its a big ole on what it will take to get there. Otherwise I could swap to Bilsteins and fix the bounciness issue, but I'm assuming I would introduce other ride quality issues - issues that are not addressable because the Bilstein 6112/5160 are a mid tier shock.I'm going to call the Accutune guy tomorrow and try to get some sort of feel about how long this will take. Regardless of timing, its seems more and more likely that revalving is the right way to "fix" the issue, and not introduce more problems.
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Jun 12, 2023 06:27
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Chalk me up as another one disappointed by the lack of goth food truck content. Honestly though can you live with the truck as is (after your work on the settings) until after the holiday? Work a little on building out the camper?
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Jun 12, 2023 07:06
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what happened to the $20 stock shocks you were going to throw on there for a diagnostic? if your current rear shocks are over-damped, going to a stock shock is pretty likely to be under-damped for your new spring rate, so that should be a pretty strong signal if the shocks are a major source of your woe. if the rear still rides hard with the soft stock shocks, then that tells you something. seems like a good value for the price of a mediocre restaurant meal
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Jun 12, 2023 08:13
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So you changed the trucks weight, tire pressures, low speed shock settings, and high speed shock settings. Now it's different. I would do one change at a time. Starting with tire pressures. Set them to how the truck will be used the majority of the time. Test, take notes. Set the weight to standard use, sounds like fully packed? Test, take notes. Make 1 shock adjustment. (To be specific adjust one setting on one pair of shocks, front or rear) Test. Adjust. Test. This will slowly build a guide book for tuning your suspension. You'll have notes for different conditions, and what changes have what effect.
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Jun 12, 2023 15:05
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Oh cool, a thread I haven't read! I wonder what's going on in he.... oh. Oh, I see.Vampire Panties posted:my ChonkyTaco™ is too heavy for what a Taco can realistically carry Vampire Panties posted:I have never been happy with the comfort of this truck, and nearly 4 years later and investing like 50% of the value of the truck and its never going to happen. Vampire Panties posted:6700lbs as curb weight nearly 50% body weight in additional poo poo. I have nearly 800lbs of armor alone  cursedshitbox posted:
Vampire Panties posted:I dont have anyone  Vampire Panties posted:please God tell me I'm not rationalizing cursedshitbox posted:full time weight. Vampire Panties posted:
Vampire Panties posted:
Vampire Panties posted:Honestly if I knew Tacomas needed all this weird fiddly maintenance/aftermarket poo poo, I never would've bought it. Thats the sort of poo poo that made me leave Jeeps. edit i might do it honda whisperer posted:Unless there are large unposted chunks of testing happening in the background, your approach to diagnostics isn't going to work. UCS Hellmaker posted:honestly what honda said, along side that you just keep seeming to toss money at the thing when even you are telling us you can't keep doing so. Vampire Panties posted:as a science experiment, I loaded up 250lbs / 30 gallons of water in the bed of the truck as ballast. (a couple of the 5 gallon jugs are hiding behind the ice chest) Raluek posted:what happened to the $20 stock shocks you were going to throw on there for a diagnostic? Last, but certainly not least, we have another very wise suggestion that you will certainly ignore. honda whisperer posted:So you changed the trucks weight, tire pressures, low speed shock settings, and high speed shock settings. Now it's different. I haven't seen this kind of goon in a well for a while but it's impressive. I am impressed at the size of the well you are in. And as someone who doesn't impress easily let me tell you what you need. You need a van. 9500 for this express and it comes with a bed already. Or, if you feel you are truly bold and deserving of adventure, you can get this shorty t1n. And with a little gumption and some new tires plus an air mattress you can take it well above that #vanlife high water mark you've been aiming for (and, not to be too hard on you, attained at least four (4!) times over the course of ownership of the taco).
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Jun 12, 2023 21:32
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First, Accutune got back to me in a very positive way. I could take the shocks in and they'll tune them up and it'll be ready to go in 1-2 weeks. They also offered an on-vehicle tune, free of charge, where I leave the truck with them for a week and they go through and tune it right. That service isn't available until August, however. Raluek posted:what happened to the $20 stock shocks you were going to throw on there for a diagnostic? Great question. There was some miscommunication with the OfferUp seller, and I didn't chase it while I was contemplating the truck. As it turns out, the seller is a Taco-only mechanic that sells the stock suspension left over from people upgrading, but unfortunately they're closed Sundays and Mondays. They also have extremely reasonable pricing (300 bux) to swap out the front shocks. If they're available I may just have them swap them all out tomorrow because: builds character posted:Last, but certainly not least, we have another very wise suggestion that you will certainly ignore.  You're right. So funny story for the thread that literally just happened right now. Backstory - I got a banging black friday deal on the entire suite of RCI metalworks skid plate products. All of which I have installed, except for the rear diff skid plate, because its basically incompatible with the rear sway bar. I'd hung onto the rear diff skid plate because I was hoping to fabricate something to make it compatible with the rear sway bar, but about a month ago I realized that was just sorta dumb and gave up. Today I sold the rear diff skid plate on OfferUp to a nice guy who also has a 3rd gen tacoma with Fox 2.5 Performance elite shocks (the newer version of what I have). He came by to pick it up, and we got to talking and basically go through everything I had experienced with the truck - all the issues, all the dumb poo poo I had bought, what I thought it was and what I thought it wasn't. He has the same truck, I think his is a 2018 DCSB TRD OR (even with leather interior), he has about the same amount of armor I do, same size 285/75r17 tires although no big camper. Anyway, he offered to give me a ride around the block in his truck, on the exact same route I have linked here previously. His shocks were tuned by his friends at Fox specifically. Honestly I didnt think the ride was that great, and even with 250lb of water in the bed of my truck, I thought certain parts were superior in my truck . I took him in a ride around the block as well, and after building up the hype about how bad the ride quality was, he thought it was pretty stiff but I could tell they didn't think it was really a big deal. He doesnt have a front or rear sway bar so that makes a difference, but honestly I think the hard-as-rock Tacoma leather seats, plus the lower seating profile, and just the general truckness* of it.... I dont think i'm ever going to find that truck comfortable. Even if I valve the shocks perfectly, it'll be something else. re: being in a hole - yeah And I hate to admit it, but the dimensions on the camper are just sorta wrong. Its big enough to sleep in, and to sit up in, and to even stand up with my shoulders hunched.. but there's a lot of complicated juggling to make room to cook or to work on a computer for a while. Every other part of the camper is just off - the side doors are a good idea, but they're not high enough on the vehicle, so you can't see out of them fully while sitting up. I'd also hoped the side doors would be large enough to provide some sort of side shade and potentially be rigged up as an awning, but they're too small and awkward for that. The windows are mounted too low in the doors so you cannot see out while sitting up, but people outside can easily see in. The cab overhang is 4" longer than what I specified, which fucks with the roof rack and makes a lot of extra cab noise. I thought the back hatch would be large enough where I could string an awning from it, or hang up canvas curtains and make it a vestibule for showering, but the back hatch isn't really big enough for any of that, and the lift springs are lovely so I'd need to really overhaul all of that to make it work. If the camper shell was tough as nails I would make it work, but after the one 25-30mph drive through Stagecoach canyon a few months ago, I kinda think that desert stuff will shake the Bel-Air camper apart in no time. I'm going to take this afternoon and face this hard truth and decide what to do. I genuinely appreciate the van links, the one with the CRT TV is potentially a contender. The good news is I could probably sell nearly every single upgrade on the truck and buy that van outright.*this is the 5th pickup truck I've owned, from three Nissans (720, hardbody, Frontier) to a 80s squarebody chevy, and now this Toyota Tacoma. Also had a 4runner and a Jeep JKU. This is the only truck I've ever complained about the ride quality. EDIT Actually I loving hated driving the 4runner. The ride quality was great because it was a 2WD limited, but the leather seat was hard as a rock.
Vampire Panties fucked around with this message at 00:19 on Jun 13, 2023 |
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Jun 13, 2023 00:08
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UPDATE I'm going to attempt to sell the truck as a whole package on instagram or something. There's nothing wrong with the truck, its built out perfectly, and its at the exact right part where someone else could build out the camper the way they want. I owe approximately 15k, thinking to ask 45k? 2019 Toyota Tacoma Double Cab Short Bed TRD Off Road, approximately 40k miles, with leather interior, 6MT transmission, sunroof, electric rear locker, TSS, and all the other poo poo I upgraded - Fox 2.5 Factory race series shocks and coilovers, deaver stage 3 springs, Builtright uniball UCA, full RCI skid plate package, 285/75r17 Toyo AT3 tires on FNwheels Six Shooters, body armor hilline front bumper, warn evo-s 10k winch, Genesys dual battery kit with dual Optima yellowtop, Bel-air camper, Rigid armor tire carrier with full sized spare and matching wheel, body armor rock sliders, upgraded sound system, and basically every widget meso-customs sells. I dont know poo poo about vans or american V8s. I'm completely brand agnostic. What am I looking for, and what should I avoid? I know this thread has been a very poor demonstration of my mechanical and problem solving abilities, but I'm very willing and capable to do the van conversion myself. EDIT  https://sandiego.craigslist.org/csd/ctd/d/corona-ford-econoline-e350-cargo-work/7625872190.html something like that? my brother had a 02 F250 with that V10 (or maybe V8) and outside of being a gas guzzling bastard, it seems to have run and run and run. I also like the bulkhead. Vampire Panties fucked around with this message at 02:45 on Jun 13, 2023 |
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Jun 13, 2023 01:27
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Ask 50-55 for it then negotiate down.
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Jun 13, 2023 01:48
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Welp *slaps knees* I'm gonna head out. Good luck with your truck or van or whatever.
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Jun 13, 2023 02:55
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Vampire Panties posted:UPDATE quote:about vans or american V8s. I'm completely brand agnostic. What am I looking for, and what should I avoid? I know this thread has been a very poor demonstration of my mechanical and problem solving abilities, quote:but I'm very willing and capable to do the van conversion myself.  Ok then.
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Jun 13, 2023 03:33
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honda whisperer posted:Welp *slaps knees* Thank you. I'm completely serious when I say that I appreciate your input and its my fault that I never specifically responded to you. I've been trying to think of the right words to describe the issue, and why I felt comfortable changing a bunch of variables at once, but as it turns out, there aren't any right words. Its me, I think the truck is uncomfortable no matter what, and I think I would find any Tacoma uncomfortable. I test drove the truck and thought it was OK, but it wasnt and thats my mistake. Today is the very first time that I have rode in another 3rd gen, let alone one with such a similar setup, and yeah valving could go a long way, and rigorous testing is the right approach to dialing in the truck, but (and I believe i edited this part out of one of my earliest posts) this truck is a literal, physical pain in my rear end. I wasn't sure if its the leather seats, or the seat geometry, or the shock valving or being oversprung or what, but I just experienced the same pain in a separate 3rd gen that is absolutely unequivocally correct I freely admit that I am a total idiot in every regard with this truck. In retrospect I'm shocked and appalled that I dumped this much money and effort into a truck that just doesn't work for me. Its not the truck itself, its not the mechanic, its not the Fox shocks, or their valving, or the angle on the front sway bar. Its probably insane and stupid, but in a way I feel fortunate - I don't have to chase anything on this truck anymore, it will never be comfortable for me, and now the only thing left to do is clean it out & sell it. babyeatingpsychopath posted:
yeah i'mma close this, smell ya later AI EDIT how much technical knowledge does it take to build a van interior? I reopened the thread because I'd like help with my original questions, although I should qualify and say "I dont know anything about fuel injected American V8s." I have more than enough time working on 350s  Seems like a 00-05 E-350 van with the V8 is the most economical and reliable option, depending on the specific condition of the actual specimen. With a price range of <10k, is there anything I should be focusing on? Ford Triton V8 seems to require a timing chain service somewhere between 80-120k, so most of the vans I'm looking at would need that service in the next year or two.
Vampire Panties fucked around with this message at 05:18 on Jun 13, 2023 |
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Jun 13, 2023 03:37
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I can't say anything about American vans and v8s but regards building out the van, if you want it to look like a $100k Instagram vanlife model then no, just don't. If you're happy with putting up a couple of plywood shelves and keeping your stuff in plastic crates honestly that'll give you 95% of that functionality and you can improve it little by little as you go. E: this statement may be slightly unfairly based on the info I have, which is that you bought a pile of parts then look like you slept on them rather than install. If you have basic carpentry skills then crack on. E2: this is your chance to buy a Grumman LLV on a blazer chassis and make the thread title goth food truck appropriate tinned owl fucked around with this message at 10:51 on Jun 13, 2023 |
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Jun 13, 2023 10:45
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This thread is a hell of a ride
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Jun 13, 2023 11:28
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Vampire Panties posted:
There is a reason why I bought a waterlogged rv in 2020 to work with rather than try my hand again at doing a complete custom interior like I failed at in 2016 with the Gillig. The most important lesson I learned from the two projects is never live in a construction zone. Just because Kastein can do it, doesn't mean anyone else can. Now I could pull off such a project but there's no way in hell I'd do it while living in it. You've not lived till your underwear is laden with sawdust. To be honest it won't be any different than the taco project. You gotta follow the recipe. If you don't, you're not going to like the cake you've baked. We'll help you and show you the steps but if you don't follow and execute the recipe to the letter you're not going to get the results you want. It's not all bad. Your thread helped me with my own truck in some way. I'm a ways from posting about it though. In short: CAT INTERCEPTOR posted:This thread is a hell of a ride Edit: builds character posted:e: don't get sucked into #vanlife and buy a 50k+ van. I can't stress this enough. Don't get sucked into the hype machine. This all sucks so loving much 90% of the time. I've a page and a half of poo poo to fix on my rig's upfit and the rig is broken halfway across the country. If you're at the line that shall not be crossed with the taco, the van will cross that line too. The goalposts will forever keep moving. cursedshitbox fucked around with this message at 16:41 on Jun 13, 2023 |
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Jun 13, 2023 16:29
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Here are my thoughts on vans and build outs, but there are a billion vanlife builds out there. I liked these two for T1Ns. https://www.youtube.com/@madetoexplore and https://www.youtube.com/@goldenadvantures2573 Step one: do you want to be able to stand up in your van. If you don't care, then get the best example of an express/savana or an econoline you can find. Get a PPI obviously. I think either are good and you're better off getting the best one you can find for the cheapest vs. going with a particular brand. If you want to be able to stand up then it depends on how tall you are. Maybe you can get away with a wheelchair van. For example, https://sandiego.craigslist.org/csd/ctd/d/corona-ford-econoline-hi-top-raised/7627482442.html Otherwise, that puts you firmly in expensive transit or cheap T1N. I chose a T1N for various reasons, but it's really up to you to figure out what you want and then buy based on that. For example, this one is a little spendy but https://sandiego.craigslist.org/csd/ctd/d/san-diego-2005-dodge-mercedes-sprinter/7630505538.html that + an air mattress. And then? Put an air mattress in the back, bring a notebook, drive out to the desert for a couple days and write down the things you like and want/don't want. This seems like something you are really bad at. Try actually doing it. e: don't get sucked into #vanlife and buy a 50k+ van.
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Jun 13, 2023 16:30
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Not that I've ridden in either a taco or a tundra, but my FIL with a bad back went to get a Tundra and could not stand the ride in it, and doesn't like the ride in his wife's Rav4 either. He ended up getting a GMC Sierra instead which rides better for him. Some people aren't compatible with rides in certain cars and that's OK.builds character posted:If you want to be able to stand up then it depends on how tall you are. Maybe you can get away with a wheelchair van. How bad an idea are dog grooming vans for a conversion?
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Jun 13, 2023 18:03
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luminalflux posted:Not that I've ridden in either a taco or a tundra, but my FIL with a bad back went to get a Tundra and could not stand the ride in it, and doesn't like the ride in his wife's Rav4 either. He ended up getting a GMC Sierra instead which rides better for him. Some people aren't compatible with rides in certain cars and that's OK. Depends on whether we're talking real dog grooming van or something truly classic. For the former, I'd steer clear because they're probably just sitting idling for a lot more time than their mileage. For the latter? Absolutely. 
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Jun 13, 2023 19:13
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builds character posted:Depends on whether we're talking real dog grooming van or something truly classic. For the former, I'd steer clear because they're probably just sitting idling for a lot more time than their mileage. For the latter? Absolutely.  luminalflux posted:Not that I've ridden in either a taco or a tundra, but my FIL with a bad back went to get a Tundra and could not stand the ride in it, and doesn't like the ride in his wife's Rav4 either. Its this. I didn't get into exposition when I started this thread because "hey here is this truck I've dumped a ton of time and money and effort into, but I've had misgivings about the comfort from day one! " is patently stupid. Sitting in a Tacoma is like sitting on the floor of the truck. Your legs are out in front of you, not underneath you, and even with seat jackers the seat geometry moves the weight from my butt to my tailbone. If I had a better core, or shorter legs, I dunno but even if it weren't bouncy, I think the truck would still be uncomfortable. Also this is 100% my own personal thing, but after 20+ years, I loving hate leather seats. I've hated leather seats on everything I've ever owned with them. I think they can be good on Mercedes, but thats about it. I will caveat that leather seat warmers can be a total godsend if you live in the cold, but still. I can say this with complete honesty - I was as methodical as Honda Whisperer suggested when I wasfiguring out the exact right angle for the Seat Jackers. I bought a bunch of spacers for the front and rear of the seat two years ago, and went through and tried each one out for a day and noted the comfort, ability to each pedals, if I hit my head, etc. After about two weeks I ended up where I am now, but its the truck itself. In retrospect, this truck was sorta doomed from the start. I went to the dealership specifically to buy a Tacoma, and I ended up with a 5' manual and leather interior, which isn't necessarily what I wanted or didn't want, but looking back those are all total dealkillers. builds character posted:Step one: do you want to be able to stand up in your van. If you don't care, then get the best example of an express/savana or an econoline you can find. Get a PPI obviously. I think either are good and you're better off getting the best one you can find for the cheapest vs. going with a particular brand. Heh I looked at that specific van on craigslist. Standing up in the van is a must, but it seems like its ~7500 bux and a day at the shop to get a hightop installed. I don't want to get pushed into a van simply because it has a high top and I'm hesitant on wheelchair vans because I feel like the folding doors are a security/insulation problem, and I also feel they're very conspicuous. Ofc with #vanlife, every van that is not very specifically a work van is conspicuous. I'm not trying to stealth anything anywhere, but I just don't know about those doors. EDIT I... got confused with a different van I had up and thought this had school bus style doors. These are fine. This van is actually sort of a deal, and I think I can sell the wheelchair lift. Agreed on the air mattress, or a cot. Form follows function here. I've done enough home remodeling and built enough decks, patios, fences, and gazebos that I'm sure I could sketch something together with pallets if need be. Also very specifically to your point - as I've learned with this camper, I need to get out in the wild and use the stuff before I get weird building it out. Finally, absolutely not buying a 50k van. Even in the best case scenario my max budget for a van would be 20k, although I really think there's numerous 10k options available that would be great. Selling my truck for 20k+ in my pocket, and then buying a starter van for half of that makes a lot of sense to me. cursedshitbox posted:There is a reason why I bought a waterlogged rv in 2020 to work with rather than try my hand again at doing a complete custom interior like I failed at in 2016 with the Gillig. yes I 100% agree, if not 10000% agree. Not really the same but I've watched a shitload of sailing Youtube channels, and all of them are loving miserable for months because they're trying to live on the boat while they rebuild the boat, and those boats are way loving bigger than a van. Also why I stalled out on the taco build, and why I think I would be successful with a van - there's way more reference material. Anyone who has built something like mine in a Tacoma isn't sharing secrets, or they drilled a bunch of holes in the bed.  Also the few youtubers who built a bigass Taco camper all went dead after a year or so . cursedshitbox posted:To be honest it won't be any different than the taco project. You gotta follow the recipe. If you don't, you're not going to like the cake you've baked. We'll help you and show you the steps but if you don't follow and execute the recipe to the letter you're not going to get the results you want. cursedshitbox posted:Edit: After living in my Jeep for two months in the summer of 2019, I have an idea of what I'm getting into. It certainly has its upsides, but at a minimum there's a lot more effort in the day to day than living in a house. Also its a pain in the rear end with the dog, but the dog goes with me everywhere. However, its temporary - I'm certain that I will find work soon, and its very likely that I will have to move somewhere to be on site 1-2 days a week. The van is basically a vacation/escape mechanism while things come together. Honestly what tipped me on the truck was riding in that other guy's ride. It was a huge wake up moment for me - regardless if its possible to set up a Tacoma the way that I have, why the gently caress would anyone bother? People buy Tacos because they're dependable and they can haul mountain bikes and if you get the right suspension you can beat on them in the desert. I'm the moron whose trying to make it this weird camper. And i mean - for what it is, its somewhat successful, because it it would 100% work as a weekend warrior setup, but there's no way I'm fulltiming in it. Its just not happening in a 5 foot bed. My needs and plans have changed as I've learned from building this truck. thoughts so i'm looking at vans in the 10k-20k range. Needs to be made in the last 23 years or so, although I don't necessarily care about paint or body damage because I can 100% fix those. Ofc needs A/C. Really should be a 2xxx or 3xxx (unless there's a very compelling specific model) because I don't want to worry about capacity again. I don't care about 4x4 right now - it seems like its 15k in parts to make a 2wd van into 4wd, so its always an option, but a rear spooling locker and liberal use of the long pedal will do everything I need for the moment. Ideally i'd like either a Triton V8 or the 6.0l Chevy I think? I only care about reliability, and IIRC the Triton V10 / 5.4L Chevy motors arent great. I have never owned or even driven a passenger diesel vehicle in my life. I'm all ears, but it seems like there's a huge premium for them. I know nothing about Dodge or Nissan. I should consider Nissan because the Titan swap is easily the least expensive 4x4 conversion, and I will probably want it eventually, but I've heard the Nissan vans are sorta crappy, plus Nissan has discontinued them in the US. https://sandiego.craigslist.org/nsd/ctd/d/chula-vista-2006-ford-series-12/7621181200.html https://sandiego.craigslist.org/csd/cto/d/el-cajon-2011-ford-e350-van/7627495170.html https://sandiego.craigslist.org/ssd/ctd/d/national-city-2012-chevrolet-express/7621470877.html https://sandiego.craigslist.org/ssd/ctd/d/national-city-2007-chevrolet-express/7621471485.html I see people build these sorts out as well, sometimes. Seems like a lot more room? any major glaring drawbacks i'm missing? Vampire Panties fucked around with this message at 02:57 on Jun 14, 2023 |
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Jun 13, 2023 22:37
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I am very much looking forward to the vanlife build chapter of this story. Goonspeed Mr. Goth Tacos.
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Jun 14, 2023 03:59
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Vampire Panties posted:I don't care about 4x4 right now - it seems like its 15k in parts to make a 2wd van into 4wd, so its always an option, but a rear spooling locker and liberal use of the long pedal will do everything I need for the moment. Ideally i'd like either a Triton V8 or the 6.0l Chevy I think? I only care about reliability, and IIRC the Triton V10 / 5.4L Chevy motors arent great. Earlier you said you where about to be homeless. And even though you are getting rid of the cash furnace toyota, you're not wasting a moment before getting right back on your bullshit. I dont understand. How about spending 15000$ on rent?
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Jun 14, 2023 18:26
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Leper Go-getter posted:Earlier you said you where about to be homeless. And even though you are getting rid of the cash furnace toyota, you're not wasting a moment before getting right back on your bullshit. I dont understand. How about spending 15000$ on rent? Shhhhhhhhhhhh
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Jun 14, 2023 18:29
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Leper Go-getter posted:Earlier you said you where about to be homeless. And even though you are getting rid of the cash furnace toyota, you're not wasting a moment before getting right back on your bullshit. I dont understand. How about spending 15000$ on rent? Automotive Insanity, not Fiscal Responsibility I don't want to read about how someone put extra money into their TFSA, thats my normal life I want to read about bad, non-illegal non-immoral decisions (we have had enough of that already here) ... what if you bought an already van/RV thing? I am not one to talk, as I just bought a truck that needs everything done to it instead of buying one that already did it. Mine was due to bad impulse control and pressure from my wife, but you should have your choice of instagram vans without outside decisions. also what if you bought a used civic to daily (where do you go if you have no job?) while you sold the taco to have more cash to buy a finished van? just get something that will resell for the same price as you bought it, and you will be only out the sales tax or whatever there is where you live. I wouldn't have listened to any of these words either though, goonspeed
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Jun 14, 2023 18:50
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