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DISCLAIMER - I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I'M DOINGThe Auto Shop 101 part is not fiction - I am a lovely mechanic and it generally speaking takes me 200% the amount of effort/time it would take anyone competent, and I nearly always hurt myself in the process. Hello AI! I've been meaning to make a thread about my truck (and maybe other Tacos too!) Here is my Taco truck! A little bit of backstory, and maybe some insight towards what I'm trying to accomplish with this truck. I've had and used 4 wheel drive since I was in high school. I've had a Bronco 2, Nissan Hardbody, Nissan Frontier, a JKU, and now a Tacoma.  A few months after I bought it. New wheels, new 255/75/r17 tires, Faux Pro grille Its been an interesting ride with this truck. I came to a Tacoma after driving a fairly built JKU across the country and back, because a- the JKU fell apart. I can provide a lot of details if anyone cares to learn from my Jeep mistakes b- I don't need to off road that well/much, but I absolutely must have something that rides better on the street so I traded it on on a Tacoma in August 2019, and its been a well, uh, a ride I guess. In retrospect, The only / biggest option regret is going with a 5' foot bed to get a manual transmission. Otherwise the Trd Off-road trim with leather, sunroof, and a locking rear end is   Joshua Tree 2019 sometime The truck has gone through several iterations as I try to build the ultimate overlanding machine, and I've done a lot of custom poo poo to it  Soundproofing - Worth it  Fox 2.5 Factory coilover with remote resevoirs and DSC controls, SPC upper (since upgraded to Uniball UCA)  OME Medium duty leaf springs with BAMF leaf spring hangers and crossmember. Since upgraded to Deaver Stage III leaf springs  First topper was a Craiglist special that AFAICT came off a Ford Explorer Sport-Trac at some point...  Fiberglass topper. Looked much better, but very heavy, and sleeping diagonal in the 5' bed was like a coffin...  Almost everything attached to the truck here specifically sucked rear end After researching effectively every single option on the market possible, and being put off by quality, price, or both, I ended up ordering the current camper from Bel-Air. Note - Bel-Air is just a skeezy shop that resells USA camper shells, which notably doesnt' have a website but Martin @ USA Camper shells is pretty easy to work with.   The finish quality on the camper isn't the best, but it seems very durable. Also, most importantly, its wide enough to sleep sideways above the rails of the bed, while being tall enough to also sit straight up like a normal human being. Bel-air claimed the shell weighs ~550lbs, but I'd guess its more like 600  Where we are at today. 285/75r17 tires, 5.29 gears, a Volkswagen worth of extra poo poo For those of you who haven't followed along with my BS in the 4x4 thread, right now the truck rides like poo poo because my ChonkyTaco™ is too heavy for what a Taco can realistically carry (also because of the loving  air trapped in the driveshaft). What needs to be done - I am making arrangements to buy used factory suspension off another Taco so that I can get heavier springs for the coilovers and get all of the shocks revalved. I need to get the custom driveshaft balanced so I can use it and stop loving around with the fart-yoke. I need to build out the rear camper so I can actually use it. I have a mountain of electrical poo poo to install. Vampire Panties fucked around with this message at 18:28 on May 29, 2023 |
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May 23, 2023 23:13
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poo poo I DID RECENTLY The whistling across the 8020 in the roof rack was awful, so I ordered a few rolls of the trim they use on 3d printers. It fits snug without using tape, but I added some for extra measure. When I figure out what/how I'm going to put up there, I'll cut the trim to fit around it and glue it all in place.  Secondly, w/r/t the ongoing ride quality issues, I realized today that my  rock sliders were basically a 120 pounds of costume. They looked sorta cool, but they rattled a bit, and ChonkyTaco would totally crush them if they were ever used. Off they went!Discrete  Clearly not strong enough to support ChonkyTaco  Shaved  I'm not sure that I actually need rock sliders; loving up rocker panels suuucks but I don't really do that kind of off roading  I already have the full RCI metalworks skid plate setup (not currently installed ATM) which protects the important parts anyway. Originally I'd thought that rock sliders would add some stiffness to the wobbly rear end frame on the Taco, and maybe some weld-on ones would, but these certainly didnt. For the price, and for a regular weight Taco, these are a pretty good deal but they won't work for me. One positive - it instantly made an improvement on ride quality, so I know I'm moving in the right direction.
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May 23, 2023 23:24
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I'm so sick of this loving truck. I'm going to close this thread; I'm loving done dealing with this truck and everything from here is going to be mitigation to trade it in and get something else EDIT put the front sway bar back on today, after having to swerve across a lane on the freeway yesterday and it got a little interesting. Ofc once I put the sway bar back on, truck rides like utter poo poo again. I'm not buying another loving sway bar, and I'm not driving around without one with a 600lb camper. I called the lovely mechanic to get a quote on respringing + revalving the shocks, they haven't called me back but I'm guessing its over a thousand dollars. A thousand dollars, or I'm going to be limping around in the truck for two weeks while also have to put take off / put on the shocks twice. i'm just done. Yesterday I believed that heavier springs + valves would make a difference, but honestly I'm fooling myself. 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. I'm so loving upset about all of this. This is the worst moment in my life to have ruined a perfectly good truck. I don't know what I'm going to do, but this is grim as gently caress. Vampire Panties fucked around with this message at 19:33 on May 24, 2023 |
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May 24, 2023 19:24
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cursedshitbox posted:Cool you unlocked your thread.  thank you CSB. I have so much respect for you and the other truckfucklers on these forums. My grandfather owned a mechanic shop and my dads a Teamster, so I should know fuckling, but I'm the worst cursedshitbox posted:Your rear sway is doing more work with the slide in anyway.  Agreed. The situation yesterday was the actual worse-case scenario - someone tried to merge into me at freeway speeds, and I had to dodge over a lane. The truck didn't go up on 2 wheels or anything crazy, and it rides so much worse with the sway bar disconnected that I don't think it makes sense to keep it. Going forward my truck will have stronger springs which should keep it more stable in that scenario. Plus my truck is effectively naked right now, it'll have 240+lbs of skid plate and rock slider as ballast to keep it level after the spring upgrade. cursedshitbox posted:Off road shops dance to a different tune... give it time. Put together some notes about what's going wrong, share this with prospective shops. so I went for a walk and chilled out a bit. The mechanic called me back, its ~1200 bux and they can get it all done Friday. - get new 700lb springs - revalve all four shocks for the extra weight - replace seals and fluids on the shocks - they'll also check the alignment. Beyond the tires rubbing the shock reservoirs, I noticed the front driver side tire is toeing (I think? Where the inside of the tire is wearing really heavily) Doing it myself, buying the springs from Accutune and using the free revalve (doesn't include seals or fluid), it would cost me at least ~400 bux. ~200 bux to pick up the factory suspension (cost + gas), and ~200 bux for the springs. Rebuild kits on their website are 50bux+, so even if rebuild labor is included with the revalve it would probably still be ~600 dollars at a minimum to do it all correctly. Thats also two weeks of driving around with a factory suspension on 34s  Will new springs and revalved shocks fix my suspension issue? It should but I spent two years chasing a fart-yoke, sooooooooo. There are other 4x4 shops in San Diego, but I dunno if they'll be able to get me in before the weekend. Changing the springs on coilovers, rebuilding them and revalving them should be straightforward for any 4x4 shop, but I have no idea. I don't like them, but I talked to the owner of the shop today and he's always been reasonable, and I'm much better prepared mentally to fight with them about their bad work than to find a new place (and fight with them about their bad work).  IF ANYONE HAS A MECHANIC RECOMMENDATION FOR THE GREATER SAN DIEGO AREA I'M INTERESTED cursedshitbox posted:You are in amongst friends that have spent entirely too much on an old piece of poo poo. It's the nature of the beast. Jeeps do this too. It can be unfucked, for more money/time/parts/etc. it's forever moving the problem around. It in some capacity will never end. Excellent call on the Gopro I'm going to figure that out today. EDIT Just got a quote from Accutune and they want 800 bux. I can pay The Truck Shop an extra 400 bux to actually take the shocks on and off and have it done in the same day. Vampire Panties fucked around with this message at 22:10 on May 24, 2023 |
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May 24, 2023 22:01
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Hellwig front sway bar with Overland Design tie links.   This is some rando's factory sway bar, to give you an idea of how much chonkier the Hellwig bar is  still working on the GoPro mount
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May 25, 2023 00:28
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Raluek posted:idk if your shop is good or not, but if they are, approaching "the truck drives like this, and i wish it would drive like that" is a different approach and might get different results than "i want specifically these things changed in my setup". if they're clueless then you're better off doing your own diag, but if they deal with rigs set up like yours a lot maybe they can help you figure it out. in any case, don't get too short sighted / tunnel visioned into one specific solution. i like CSB's idea with the gopro.  This is v. specifically what I spoke about with the Truck Shop. I explained the truck rode like crap; its in the bumpstops all the time even with the DSCs cranked up. The owner recommended heavier springs, it was sort of an 'ah hah!' moment for him (at least to me, on my end of the phone ) I went back and checked my very original order with Accutune and I'd specified the weight of this build, but in retrospect I'm not sure Accutune really did anything with that info. When I take the truck in Friday I want to talk with the owner and go look at stuff on my truck; if I don't feel that this will specifically address my issue I'll leave. EDIT also I really want to hear about the fart-yoke and if they've encountered that before. I've been thinking about it, and there's a lot of complaints about 'thumps' from other Tacoma/4runner drivers, but nothing like that. The dudes had to disconnect the shaft from the rear axle to install 5.29 gears, none of them noticed the yoke was fart-loaded?  Life got in the way this afternoon but I have a solution to the Gopro thing so I will have some footage midday tomorrow. Food for thought - I have Deaver Expedition Stage 3 springs which are good for 700-1000lbs. With a ~600lb camper and ~200lb in tire carrier and spare tire, I need to conserve weight wherever possible. Originally I was going to build plywood benches, but I think that will be way too heavy for what I need. I was thinking about using nylon webbing, like a lawn chair, to make the seats instead, but I'm really interested in any suggestion as well.  DOUBLE EDIT is there a good program for sketching something out? I need something better than MS Paint over phone pics, but maybe not something as complicated as Revit Vampire Panties fucked around with this message at 06:13 on May 25, 2023 |
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May 25, 2023 06:07
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Yes I'm sorry, I've wrote about my truck at various points in the 4x4 thread but here's a quick synopsis - EDIT truck first impressions and why i messed with it originally - I bought the truck in the Bay Area, and during the test drive thought it was fantastic. On the drive back to SoCal, I got cramps in my legs from the weird seating position. (I think this is where I got it in my head that my truck is uncomfortable). This was August 2019 and I had both moved and started a new job, so I wasn't really focused on it. I took the truck out to Joshua Tree and Anza-Borrego and thought it was me?. I was thinking about getting bed bars and a roof top tent, but that was future considerations. After spending a frozen Christmas at Yosemite in a truck bed tent, I realized that I needed something more substantial. Of course COVID happened and everyone was looking for anything outdoors, but I was able to find the aluminum contractor topper posted on craigslist. I actually took that topper out to the Grand Tetons and Great Basin national park, and it worked fine, although it was claustrophobic to sleep inside. It was also ugly and didn't match my truck. During this time I decided to upgrade to a fiberglass topper, to match the truck, and (in retrospect) this is where the ride quality issues began. Specifically the little camping buildout I had in the rear, plus my extra stuff, along with the extra weight of the fiberglass topper made the factory suspension bottom out really badly on the concrete sections of highway 15. Specifically I had a disasterous thanksgiving where I tried to drive to Death Valley and spent six hours going a hundred miles with an aching back, basically screaming and crying in frustration. I got seatjackers and they helped, but the truck was still way too rough on the freeway. double edit I should add here that I had similar frustrations with the stock suspension on my Jeep JKU. A friend of mine who was a big Jeep guy effectively linked me a Rock Krawler kit and said 'buy this, find any dipshit to put it on', and I did, and it was a night and day improvement in ride quality. This set the idea in my head that aftermarket suspension would make my truck ride better, so approxmiately two year ago. I upgraded from factory Bilsteins to Fox 2.5 coilovers with SPC UCAs, Hellwig front sway bar, and Overland Design sway bar links, with OME Medium duty leaf springs, Fox 2.5 shocks and BAMF rear spring hanger + crossmember. I also had them install Durobumps at the time, but I had unknowingly ordered too large Durobumps for the rear. Even from day one, I felt like the truck rode like poo poo. When I say the truck rode like poo poo, specifically the truck handled insanely well, but it were as if every single bump were duplicated. Drive over a speed bump, and it would bounce up and down twice. The concrete sections in the freeway in SoCal would make the truck buck like a rocking horse - A McDonalds coffee cup would spill out the lid while in the cupholder driving 55 mph down the freeway. Tons of issues at any speed - bumpsteer knocked the steering wheel out of my hand turning left on a paved street. The truck was exhausting to drive anywhere. I took it back to the mechanic and complained that it was too bouncy/stiff, but they blew me off and said it was the Hellwig front sway bar. I didnt have any money to chase the issue further ( still dont, really)and the mechanic made it seem like it was my bad choices & I was being unreasonable on the ride quality (shop owner frequently said "well its a truck"), and I didnt know what the gently caress to do about it, so I went on the internet. After internet research, I reached the bad conclusion that it was the OME springs, and that maybe adding more weight would help? I went through various ballast solutions, even putting 200lbs of sandbags in the bed at one point, but it only sorta helped. The bumpstops were also too tall by 3/4", as previously mentioned, so with the extra weight I was hitting the rear bumpstops constantly as well. One of the ball joints on the SPC UCA started weeping grease, so I thought "maybe the ride quality is the UCAs?" and swapped those out to JBA HD UCAs. (It wasnt  )Meanwhile I was still trying to use the truck as a truck. The fiberglass camper shell didnt work out, so I bought the Bel-Air shell I have on the truck now. I thought it should've been heavy enough to settle the truck down, but I was still having the bounce issue. I decided it had to be the OME springs. I had Deaver Expedition Stage 3 leaf springs installed earlier this year. While the leaf springs were being installed I got to talking with the shop owner, and kinda/sorta got bullied into going with 5.29 gears and 285/75r17 tires. Yeah its my money  but I wasn't expecting to be fired from my job the next week  While I was doing this, the shop owner said that I would get much better ride quality from a uniball UCA as compared to a ball joint UCA (like the SPC or JBA I had). Since JBA had a year return policy, I went ahead and upgraded to a uniball UCA as well. I also had the rear durobumps swapped to the correct size at this time. While all that stuff helped some I still had the same basic issue - truck just bounced up and down the road no matter what I did. Took it back to the mechanic 3 different times and got 3 different answers. Ultimately they stopped returning my calls. Finally, grasping at straws, I reached the conclusion that it was maybe the driveshaft, like it was too short or maybe the carrier bearing was bad? Instead of ordering a replacement carrier bearing, I decided that I would do the smart thing and order a custom driveshaft that was the proper length. This ended up being complicated - a regular driveshaft would spin past critical speed with the 5.29 gears, so I had to find a shop that'd make a custom driveshaft retaining a carrier bearing. Custom driveshaft arrives, I put it on, and  WEIRD BOUNCING ISSUE GOES AWAY However the new driveshaft isn't balanced properly. The truck tries to shake itself apart from 40mph+. (Note: I've taken the driveshaft on/off four times now, and really hammered it on there, so I'm 98% its the driveshaft). Either way, the vibration was so bad that I didn't feel comfortable driving around with the new driveshaft on.This brings us to about two weeks ago, where I'm dragging the factory driveshaft down to my truck to reinstall it while I try to figure out what the gently caress is wrong, and I'm literally holding the factory driveshaft upright when I think "Hey, isnt the slip yoke on the driveshaft supposed to slide smoothly? this thing feels like its spring loaded". I tried to put my body weight down on the shaft and it would just pop right back up. I popped off a metal clamp holding the rubber boot over the slip yoke, and it instantly made this long slide whistle fart noise. I swear it was as if the truck were both laughing and farting at me.  Somehow an air bubble had been trapped in the slip yoke, and the seal around the rubber boot was strong enough that it turned the entire driveshaft into an air spring. Even with the metal clamp removed, if I slide the boot down into position over the driveshaft, the seal is strong enough to support my body weight. I drilled some holes into the rubber boot covering the slip yoke and the problem is sorta/kinda solved, although if the driveshaft compresses fast it will still get hung up. Circling back around, I cannot find a single loving instance of this happening ever, let alone for a Tacoma. I wouldn't believe it if someone else told me about it. Honestly I hosed with the driveshaft for like an hour because I didnt believe what was in front of me. A lot of Tacos and 4runners complain of a 'thump' from their driveshaft going over bumps, which is supposedly the air exhaling from their slip yokes, but I can't find a single instance of the air getting caught to support weight. At one point I had over a thousand pounds in the bed of the truck, and it still bumped around. I've taken to call it the fart yoke because I dont know what the gently caress else to call it. I'll take some pics and post them later today. EDIT where it stands today - with the holes drilled in the slip yoke cover, with the coilover springs cranked way up, the skid plate and rock sliders off, front sway bar disconnected, and DSC settings cranked up front & rear to nearly their stiffest setting, it rides OK but still not good. I still get some bounce from the driveshaft (I think thats the source) and I still frequently bottom out on the bumpstops. I think the front bumper, winch, and dual battery kit are too heavy for the 13" 600lb coilover springs. Its also possible that I'm nearly at or over the weight limit on the Stage 3 leaf springs. Furthermore, I know these shocks weren't valved for this kind of weight, but I dont know how much difference shock valving will make. I'lll record some footage this morning and post it ASAP Vampire Panties fucked around with this message at 17:14 on May 25, 2023 |
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May 25, 2023 14:25
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in-situ pics of the truck through the various adventures Kings Canyon  Great Basin  Grand Tetons  BLM land outside of Joshua Tree. Had the tent on the truck for months, finally get out there to use it, and realize.. how do I get up the ladder with the dog? then the real question - does the dog like being in the tent?  gently caress.No   Finally made it to Death Valley, nearly asphyxiated in the shell.  dog tax. You can also see how small it is inside the previous fiberglass shell; there's only 30" from the wheel wells to the roof. Not enough to sit up straight, and with the 5' bed I was forced to sleep across the wheel wells.
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May 25, 2023 17:02
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jesus loving christ this truck is cursed so i have spent the entire morning trying to record and download five minutes of GoPro footage of the truck driving around the block. The truck recorded the first section, showing that the front bumpstops dont hit at all (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) but the loving gopro crashed recording the 2nd and 3rd sections. As in, showed it was recording, acted like it was recording, the footage looks correct on the GoPro preview screen, but the footage only has .5 seconds of movement and then the video freezes. So far I've had to - manually remove Apple Photos from my phone - update the firmware on the GoPro - update stupid loving Dropbox on my PC  literally everything in my life is going wrong and nothing I can do slows or stops it EDIT I was able to recover the footage and am working my way through uploading it to Youtube. Here's whats interesting - In the 5 minute drive around the neighborhood pictured below, I don't seem to hit the bumpstops at any point, front or back. However driving around I would've absolutely sworn that I hit them numerous times. I recorded footage of myself driving, and you can see me being shaken around the entire drive. 
Vampire Panties fucked around with this message at 21:21 on May 25, 2023 |
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May 25, 2023 20:42
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UPDATE ok well I've been fighting GoPro/Windows 11/Apple/Youtube all afternoon, but I feel like I've made progress? Specifically, the truck is NOT bottoming out. I have footage of me bouncing around in the cab, but its clear that neither the front nor back bumpstops are hitting at all. I had the Fox DSCs at nearly their stiffest setting, I turned those down to 3/3 (the reference point from Fox) and drove around - didn't bottom out either. It seemed like the front sway bar may be binding up, so I pulled it back off, and it seemed to have made a slight difference? However its the same as it ever was - I bounce in my seat with legit weight shift 3-4 times before the end of the block. There seems to be less vibration in the cab but I feel like adding/removing the front sway bar should've made a considerable difference, and it doesn't feel noticeable. Right now I think the ride quality issue is a combo of two things - I think the preload is so high on the front springs that they effectively slam the tire back into the road after any bump, and I think the rear driveline has been fuckled for a while and thats whats causing the bouncing. I think its possible that I stretched the driveline while off-roading in the first couple months of owning it. There's dudes on the Tacomaworld forum talking about dry or excessively greased yokes from the dealership. If it got stretched out off roading, and there was a shitload of grease, an air bubble could've burbled in. It would explain a lot of the problems I've had with the truck consistently. I'm really open to suggestions though, because (to me) the ride quality is pretty bad, and I'm not really clear that a high preload and a hosed up driveshaft would cause such an issue. Not the most exciting pic, but here's the fuckled yoke. You can see where the rust sealed up the boot from the inside, although I didn't see any rust anywhere further in the yoke.  Yours truly driving around the block  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_V_51zaXsQ I should add - there's a short part near the start of the run, after the speedbumps, where the road is concrete sections. I dont think the videos capture how much you feel them through the truck, even at <25mph Front Suspension - DSC set to 7/7, sway bar attached (obviously) Not the best angle but you can see the bumpstop behind the CV shaft https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQXC35PM6JU Rear Suspension test - DSC set to 7/7, front sway bar on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZ33LcgdaY8 Rear Suspension Test - DSC set to 3/3, no front sway bar (you can see the lean in this one) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4GGeod46yE Vampire Panties fucked around with this message at 01:08 on May 26, 2023 |
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May 26, 2023 01:05
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cursedshitbox posted:Piles of old hard grease can cause sticking/queefing/etc. It doesn't need a ton of grease to do its job. The undercarriage looks pretty mint however. The truck has lived its entire life in San Diego. I've taken it off roading maybe a dozen times, almost all super easy peazy stuff. There's been some rainy rear end winters in San Diego lately, but I've never forded a stream or anything. cursedshitbox posted:The in-cab footage is stabilized but you're bouncing all over the place on surface streets. Unacceptable. That rides like the unladen farmtruck that's sprung like a dumptruck. cursedshitbox posted:Over near seaworld dr is some pretty busted tarmac near the waterfront to get your jounce on. I rode over in that area semi regularly when I lived downtown Yeah I've been cycling through the DSC settings.  not so much at this apartment, but at my previous place the hobos would mess with the settings when they walked past the truck at night. I had to set them back to my preferred settings like 1x a week. UPDATE As a science experiment, I pulled the factory driveshaft and installed the (potentially unbalanced) custom driveshaft I ordered.  The blue tape wore funny in the factory driveshaft. Also that grease looks very watery. wesleywillis posted:When I check and grease the caliper slides on my Corolla, when I put them back in I find that theres an air bubble in there that gets sealed by the grease and the rubber boots. Typically I can use my fingers and push it in and out a bunch of times and that will eventually cause the trapped air to dissipate and not keep trying to push the pin out. Typically it only happens if I put a big glob of lube in there. I'm not saying you can do that with this, though you seem to have solved the problem. But maybe its *supposed* to have just a light coating of grease in there and probably a lot of techs just ram grease in there until they can see it coming out of the seals. It looks like there's a grease zerk at the top of the yoke, hidden behind the boot. I think normally I could do what you said, but also I think the lift pulled the driveshaft out and created a cavity inside the yoke.  There's grease in there, although very red/brown  Arrows lined up, seems like all the dimensions match.  On flush, but also you can tell how many times these have been on/off. Auto Shop Truck indeed. looks straight? EDIT at one point when I was swapping out the driveshafts, I tried a carrier bearing spacer because some dipshits on Youtube said it helped. Not only did it make things worse, the bolts that came with the spacers stripped out the welded nuts. Now I have to string a bolt through the stripped out holes and put a washer + nut on top   The yoke has the tiniest of overhangs, so it looks like its not quite on there, but I hammered each corner pretty good. RESULTS Bouncing somewhat resolved? but minor vibration in the steering wheel from ~35mph+ . I didnt have a chance to test it faster (its rush hour in SD, I couldnt get up to freeway speed on the actual freeway). I think I need to reverse the driveshaft mounting on the truck before I can really confirm the driveshaft is unbalanced though. A lot of the previous vibration I thought was the custom driveshaft was actually the skid plates or rock sliders. CONCLUSION I think I'm going to move forward with some of the suspension work tomorrow. It really does seem like heavier springs that aren't cranked down so hard would dramatically increase the ride quality, and after replacing the driveshaft I think the bounciness has been resolved somewhat. I think with the longer springs I have to get the front shocks revalved, but honestly I dont see a reason to gently caress with the rear shocks one iota. Right now the truck has the camper, the tire carrier + spare, all that plywood and extraneous crap, and the extra driveshaft. If its not bottoming out at 3/3 with this much weight, why mess with it? Vampire Panties fucked around with this message at 03:58 on May 26, 2023 |
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May 26, 2023 03:11
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Raluek posted:idk if modern vehicles will complain about it, but if you think the rear driveshaft is a source of your bounciness, cant you just take it out and run in "4hi" (which would now be fwd-hi) I can't speak to every modern vehicle, but I did this on my Tacoma a month ago, when I was trying to confirm-confirm the issue was the factory slip yoke. cursedshitbox posted:
 the place is always slammed, and intuitively I never got the feeling they were trying to screw me, but I always felt like they didn't have time for me. I had a minorly salty, polite-but-firm conversation this morning when I dropped the truck off. After a conversation with the owner, I'm having them check the alignment (because I think its bad, also weird vibration at 10-20mph) and only replace the springs on the front coilovers. The owner insisted that I didn't necessarily absolutely have to revalve the shocks to go with a longer spring, and I also got the impression that they didnt really want to work on Fox shocks, plus I don't want to spend any more money on the truck right now . IMO fixing the springs on the front is the most effective money I could spend right now, and I still technically have a free revalve at Accutune if its really an issue? I'd rather spend 3-400 bux now and get to the truck back to relatively normal then spend more money I don't have trying to make it perfect-perfect (and potentially introduce more issues) cursedshitbox posted:helicoil  thats what the stuff is!!! I vaguely remembered there was a way to repair threading  I'll fix them this weekend. I still have the original bolts so I'll toss the Home Depot () hardware in the trashcursedshitbox posted:I didn't see weights on the replacement driveline, that's an immediate tell if its been balanced or not. If it hasn't, get the entire thing balanced. It's not a big job compared to say building the driveline itself. A reputable manufacturer should provide pre balanced drivelines imo.   There is the only weight on the driveshaft. When I read your post last night, it just clicked in my brain. I got up early and pulled the driveshaft and took it into the local driveshaft shop. I mentioned to the guy working that I didn't see any weights on the shafts and he made the 'oh.. oh yeah' face. He said he'll get to it early next week also I decided to throw the factory driveshaft back on there, mostly to show the issue to the mechanic and chat with them about it, but I shoved the yoke in flush and then drew it out slowly to the rear driveshaft, and holy loving poo poo what a difference. I wish I had the GoPro going in the cab, because that driveshaft now rides better than any solution I had previously. I'm sure air will eventually leak back into the cavity, and I have the custom driveshaft being balanced right now, but it was a really good feeling driving the truck around this morning (even with the bullshit ride w/ the squashed coils).  The mechanic had two RHD Prados out front. This one was
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May 26, 2023 18:37
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UPDATE Truck is back from the shop.  Front end sits about 2-3" higher. This will settle a bit when all the armor is reattached I know there's a Taco lean, but this is probably overcompensating  Either way, the work is done so I don't need them anymore. Ride Quality?  The ride home from the shop was soul-crushingly worse than the ride to the shop (although I sorta expected that ). However I think I figured out why the driveshaft keeps queefing - the mechanic puts it up on the rack every time, so the axle droops to max extension, which I think is enough distance for the shaft to cavitate inside the yoke. I disconnected the driveshaft from the rear axle and burped the yoke this morning - its better, but that problem is going to keep happening with that driveshaft. I'm going to check the grease on the yoke a little later when its brighter, maybe there's some dried stuff somewhere thats making it sputter. Alignment did nothing for the low speed / high speed vibrations. I kinda think the tires aren't balanced correctly, but I'm willing to check other stuff before I mess with that.After I burped/purged the shaft I went for a test drive and it was better, but I need to get the skid plates and rock sliders reinstalled to balance out the new springs. I set the Fox DSCs to the softest settings and drove around, and it was still pretty stiff. Ofc this is the literal, exact mentality on how I reached this point, but I feel like the rear end should be heavier?
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May 27, 2023 18:24
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UPDATE most of this:  is now on this  240lbs of steel/chinesium immensely smoothed out the ride Also there is one (small) advantage to Auto Shop Truck - since this is 2 1/2 time I've installed the skid plates + rock sliders, I was able to get everything on pretty much perfectly. No rattles, no shake, all fits like it should. Tbh putting on all that poo poo kicked my rear end so I'm going to gently caress off for a bit, but I hope to take it out to the desert sometime tonight EDIT When I sat two and a half times, I mean - I put on the rock sliders and skid plate initially, but I didn't do it correctly. Specifically I got the order of the spacers wrong on the skid plate stuff, and there two bolts/capture nuts that I didn't install on the rock sliders. (  Don't believe Youtube). When I was chasing vibrations/ride quality stuff, I realized that none of that stuff was necessarily installed correctly, so I kinda/sorta undid enough pieces to fix the spacer issue & get the additional bolts+capture nuts respectively. Of course that all came back off as part of the vibration/ride quality chase, but its all back on now Vampire Panties fucked around with this message at 02:50 on May 28, 2023 |
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May 27, 2023 22:49
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honda whisperer posted:If I'm looking at that driveshaft right... Pull the zerk fitting and test it. Should act as a vent. Idk if out forever would be a good idea but should give a very quick this is or is not an issue test. I'm still sorta/kinda getting the same issue, even after thoroughly flexing the suspension on Sea World Drive*  If anything, it feels like the driveshaft is binding. Good call on the zerk fitting - I will check that when I regrease the shaftShocks are dual adjustable, and I agree - it does seem like the shocks aren't set correctly, but after two years of YouTube and reading around, I personally cannot make heads or tails of the Fox DSC settings. Specifically there is a low speed and high speed compression, and I don't understand whats what. I've tried numerous combinations of the settings, but it never went anywhere (in retrospect, probably because the rest of the suspension/driveshaft was so borked) After doing a bunch of test driving today with various settings... results where inconclusive I'm working on uploading/editing GoPro footage to the pertinent parts, but I was wide open soft on all shock settings and doing 65mph across Sea World drive, and I dont think I hit the bumpstops front OR back    This isn't perfect because my driveway is tilted, the tires aren't perfectly centered, and I think the shorter height tire may be slightly up on the curb stop but  there's a pretty good chance that the mechanic randomly cranked one of the coilovers to 11*Sea World Drive, for those of you not familiar with San Diego, is one of the shittiest roads in a city full of lovely roads. There are dirt trails in the desert that are smoother. Depending on Memorial Day shenanigans, I'll try to get some video tomorrow Vampire Panties fucked around with this message at 04:41 on May 29, 2023 |
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May 29, 2023 04:35
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UPDATE  Truck mustve been up on the curbstop a little. Backed it up a tiny bit in my (slanted) driveway, and now they're pretty close. No need to borrow trouble here, I can circle back on this later.  Boring pic, but I spent the day reinstalling the front sway bar and the A-arm skid plates. After the test drives yesterday, I realized that - my ride quality issue isn't related to the front sway bar - I care way more about on-road performance than off - the truck handles like a dream with the sway bar on Earlier I'd removed the a-arm skid plates while chasing rattles ( mechanic had dropped an alignment washer into one and left it there). I went ahead and put them back on; I don't think I need them necessarily (they came as part of a Black Friday package deal) but I think they'd help in a mud/rock/snow recovery situation w/r/t sliding as compared to the A-arm dragging. There's some internet chatter about a-arm skid plates being bad, because they can trap mud and stuff against or in the frame, but really thats just an extra step at the car wash.EDIT I have the rear axle skid plate as well, but its not really compatible with the rear sway bar. I had disconnected the rear sway bar and installed the rear diff skid plate for a while, but driving w/o the rear sway bar suuucked. I'm sure I can figure out a way to make them all work together. I'd posted previously how 'Slipyoke Air Bubble' came up blank, but '3rd Gen Tacoma defective driveshaft' found a fuckload. I'd mentioned some people had complained about not enough / excessive grease in the slipyoke, seems like a ton of 3g Tacoma owners have been chasing ride quality, vibration, and noise issues from their factory driveshafts; even a few semi-notable Tacomaworld dudes gave up on the truck entirely. There is no definitive fix (a couple of guys claim the dealership swapped out their driveshaft <3k miles). Based on what people are saying there, my complaints about ride quality on the truck from the very start may be legitimate - there's a chance that I overloaded the payload in the first 500 miles, moving from the Bay Area to San Diego, forcing an air bubble in the yoke. 4 years of this problem... I dont have the right kind of teflon gliderite grease or whatever is supposed to be used, but I may try slathering the whole thing in red axle grease and see if there's an improvement. Honestly knowing that the driveshaft is most likely defective, and that I have a custom driveshaft literally in the shop that (should) resolve all of these issues.... I think I can limp along for another few days and save myself some  cursedshitbox posted:Fantastic Fox Information Thank you CSB. I'm going to read through this later today.I mean... I honestly don't understand how the driveshaft could be causing this issue but I'm nearly positive that it is? There were points yesterday (after airing it out on Sea World) where it started to feel OK, and then it went right back to poo poo again. Its like the top 1" of the suspension doesn't exist. Its beyond aggravating to be doing 65mph on a bullshit road and the suspension is eating it up and smiling, but the truck bounces up and down like poo poo on perfectly smooth streets. Alternatively I can set the shocks to racecar stiff and feel every pebble in the road. At this point I'm beyond anxious that the driveshaft wont fix anything but I mean... what the gently caress else could it be?
Vampire Panties fucked around with this message at 23:12 on May 29, 2023 |
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May 29, 2023 22:30
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Update (maybe the last) I loving despise this piece of poo poo Its loving with my mental health. I've put more time/effort into this truck than any personal project; probably more than all of my personal projects combined. Hundreds of hours, thousands and thousands of dollars, and I have nothing to show for it. Nothing. I'm like 30-40 hours deep in the loving skidplates I've never hated a physical object like this before. I've had a couple of primo shitboxes over the years, most notably a Bronco II in high school where nothing could go right (to be fair I beat the everloving crap out of it) and a Hyundai Sonata... which was a Hyundai Sonata - it ate a car payment worth of repairs monthly before I was able to get the cash to dumpster it. I hated both of those cars, and the situations I was in at the time, but its nothing compared to the seething toxic rage I feel towards this truck. Nothing matters on the truck. Nothing makes any difference. The fuckingpieceofwetdogshittruck bounces up and down, hard, at all times, at all speeds. Fox shocks set wide open soft, truck bounces up and down and rides like poo poo. Fox set as tight as it can go, truck bounces up and down and rides like poo poo. Drive 70mph across Sea World Drive, truck bounces up and down and rides like poo poo. Drive 5mph across a parking lot, truck bounces up and down and rides like poo poo. All I've ever wanted from this truck is to go on road trips, and driving it 5 miles on city streets is physically painful. I'm a middle aged man whose faced a shitload of adversity in my life, and I want to scream and cry and take a hammer to the truck before I light it on fire. Every bump hits my rear end, literally. I tore the existing driveshaft apart today and greased it - per Tacomaworld that made a big difference for a lot of people - truck bounces up and down and rides like poo poo, identically to the way it always has. There's something loving wrong with the truck and nobody can figure it out, and more importantly nobody will even take me seriously enough to loving look at it. Honestly at this point I think the entire loving truck is oversprung, because the loving assholes at the mechanic jsut loving refuse to listen to me and keep dialing the truck into some bullshit dirt monster, despite me emphatically telling them numerous times that I dont take it off road that much, but I dont even know how I go about finding another 4x4 shop without them either charging me thousands of dollars to start from scratch, and/or loving me around as well. Honestly I dont even know how I come back from this. Supposedly the custom driveshaft will be ready in a day or two. I didn't ask specifically, but they said they were working on it, so it seems like it does need to be balanced. (Of course with my luck, and because I didn't ask specifically, I'm going to assume that they haven't actually touched it and I'll get a call tomorrow saying its balanced and there's nothing wrong). I know I said itt that the custom driveshaft fixed the ride quality issues, but I dont know that I believe that. The truck vibrated so bad that the exhaust was hitting the skid plate, Im not sure that I just didnt notice the bouncing with all the vibration. Vampire Panties fucked around with this message at 15:36 on May 31, 2023 |
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May 31, 2023 02:15
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Update Spent the evening pouring over Tacoma-related forums (also got 12 hours of sleep😅). Searching '3g Tacoma bounce' brings up an avalanche of nonsense. Weird to say this, but IMO Tacomaworld/Tacoma3g/ExpeditionPortal are chock full of idiots compared to Pirate4x4 and IH8mud. However, for whatever its worth, it seems like a shitload of 3rd generation Tacoma owners have experienced the same ride quality issue I have. There's lots of perfectly spelled, grammatically correct, and completely unhelpful posts on Tacomaworld effectively saying 'welp its a truck'. From there, it seems like a bunch of owners did something and the problem went away. Lots of people threatening to sue dealerships, driveshaft and leaf springs replaced under 5k miles, upgraded to Bilstein/Fox/King/Icon shocks/springs/UCAs, but no single solution. Or nothing worked - there are also lots of posts where the profile hasn't returned in 3+ years. Also worth noting that I seem to be at the extreme end of modding w/r/t custom leaf spring hangers and 5.29 gears. Even the biggest names on the Tacomaworld forum stop at SPC UCAs and OME springs. There are a lot of Tacomaworld superstars who've gone further - popular dudes like Meso, who started mesocustoms - but it seems like they have all very quietly bailed on the 3g Taco as a platform. Also this is maybe confirmation bias, (or  ) but all of the real expedition people who built custom Tacos for world travel went with 2nd gens exclusively. By process of elimination, the only consistent hardware on my truck across the last few years has been - lower control arms, driveshaft, front mount for leaf spring hangers, BAMF rear leaf spring hangers, leaf spring shackles. The lower control arms and the front attachment for the rear spring hangers both look OK, although they're sorta flimsy. Checked the BAMF hangers this morning and they look fine and the leaf spring shackle is greased. The driveshaft causing the issue doesnt make sense to me, even though I know I've experienced smooth riding in the truck, so I'm going to just pull the entire thing today and drive around in 4hi. I should know instantly, and then I can throw that piece of poo poo in the trash and focus on the driveshaft in the shop. If problem persists than maybe its structure fire time I dunno.  Slipyoke grease from yesterday. Food Grade doing work. notched boot for airflow The yoke itself is in great shape. There's nothing visibly wrong with any of the splines, and there is effectively no play when I counter-rotate the shaft and yoke. Greasing the shaft/yoke eliminated a lot of noise but did nothing for ride quality. CONTENT https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0ReJBKzgb0 There is the aforementioned Sea World drive. Watch the chassis of the other cars. It was during rush hour, and they had a lane closed to trim the palm trees in the center divider, but I think the overall road quality is obvious. The 2nd half of the video in Fiesta island - thats a local recreational area with a 25mph limit. The road is easily smooth enough to rollerblade or skateboard on. Finally check the end where I drive across the broken dried-out ruts in the parking lot. I was going 15-20mph across bullshit and somehow it was an improvement in ride quality Now, as CSB mentioned, this is on my stabilized GoPro 11 so its not necessarily a perfect representation of the truck's suspension, but I was doing 60mph+ across a very broken and uneven road and (at least from the exterior) the ride quality was fine.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nIefc8g01U thats from the interior of the truck, on the road through Fiesta island. Its not perfect 1-1 footage as captured from the hood view, but the road quality is effectively identical. Same stabilized camera, same stabilization settings. You can literally see everything bouncing around the entire time. not to rant/rave, but I have to get this figured out. I should've been attacking this years ago (or traded the truck in, honestly) but here I am. One thing I need to consistently remind myself is even though I feel like this is a brand new truck that I butchered (its nearly 4 years old now ), and I feel like I've spent the entirety of the trucks worth in modifications and extra labor, its still less expensive than a Jeep Gladiator. Also this thing is the ChonkyTaco - the mechanic threw out 6700lbs as curb weight, which compared to the factory 4500lb curb weight, is nearly 50% body weight in additional poo poo. I have nearly 800lbs of armor alone. If I can get this bouncing poo poo figured out, this truck is actually a (weirdly) amazing bit of engineering.
Vampire Panties fucked around with this message at 20:20 on May 31, 2023 |
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May 31, 2023 20:09
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UPDATE Removed the driveshaft - no loving differenceI'll take some GoPro momentarily and begin the song/dance of uploading it Leper Go-getter posted:Are you expecting IED's out there? Get some RunFlat's too it cant hurt the ride quality much. With how much the truck bounces, intuitively I felt like it needed more weight. Right now I honestly have no idea though. Leper Go-getter posted:It was honestly pretty sharp on the street too.  I tell you, and the rest of the forums/world/God, that this Jeep outperformed my Tacoma in literally every single way. Way faster and better handling in literally every condition. Way more comfortable. gently caress even comparable gas mileage, and it still had stock 4.10 gears. I got rid of the Jeep because Jeep poo poo, but even after 4 years it still blows my loving mind just how awful the Tacoma is compared to the Jeep. Don't get me wrong, that JKU had some design choices that were so dumb they're evil (i'm looking at you, transfer case shifter linkage) but like, its not even close. Honestly I'm sorta done with this truck. Its beyond my ability to figure this out. I'm sure as gently caress not working on it more today, and there's no more money to be spent. Personally things are going to get very, very bad and weird because of all of this and I'm not sure what the gently caress to do
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May 31, 2023 21:50
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Leper Go-getter posted:Look your situation seems rough but how does it matter if you do NOT have the Tacoma? Sell it off, say you don't like how it drive, try not to go on a whole tirade about shops and shocks. (just do this easy thing that is easy for other people dummy) I'm currently unemployed, and also mega broke. The truck is right side up and I could unwind a bunch of upgrades before a trade in, but even if i strip everything off Carvana isn't going to buy it with 5.29 gears. Of course I can go to a used car lot and trade it in, but it'll be pennies on the dollar and probably something fundamentally worse. As an extension of being unemployed and mega broke, I absolutely must have a vehicle, because I'd say its 99.99999% likely that I will be homeless in the next 30-45 days, but also factually I'm going to have to move to find work. I dont have anyone - no IRL friends, no family, and even my coworker situation is hosed, so it all circles back to living in a vehicle. Emotionally, the last four years+ of my life have been an absolute loving shitshow of humiliation, extreme bad luck, and failure. I haven't had a real vacation in those 4+ years, and so I was hoping this motherfucking truck would/could redeem this whole shitshow. I could get some time away from this awful loving city, find a new good job, and even have some cash in my pocket from living in the truck for a bit (or not just straight hoteling it for months). However I make plans and God laughs, because TRUCK STILL RIDES LIKE poo poo It'll be hours before the GoPro footage processes but it's the exact same fundamental issue, even in 4hi and rear driveshaft missing. Outside of the issues of driving in 4hi on a city street, I could not tell a difference in ride quality with or without the driveshaft. It does feel like the stupid loving front sway bar is exacerbating things, but I dont have the emotional or physical energy to take the loving slid plate off again and take the front sway bar off again for it to ride fundamentally the same. Something is loving wrong with the truck. Could the shocks be hosed? There's grease/liquid around the shafts on the rear shocks. Vampire Panties fucked around with this message at 22:39 on May 31, 2023 |
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May 31, 2023 22:36
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Bajaha posted:Two things: First the thread title had me thinking you had a sexy goth themed Mexican food truck. I can't be the only one. Honestly I wanted it to be a sexy goth themed Taco truck. I have so many ideas for this truck, but Bajaha posted:Second, you clearly hate this thing,  I absolutely hate giving up like this, but there's just something wrong, and its driving me crazy.EDIT for content - I got rid of the Jeep because it was a dumpster fire of issues. First, the rear axle seal leaked and the tire shop I used as a mechanic could not get it right. Second, the same tire shop mechanic had hosed up when they installed the lift - Rock Krawler bushings use motor oil instead of regular grease ( ). The tire shop used Lucas Red, and it had been OK for a year or two, but after one bushing exploded I realized that I needed to replace every bushing on the Jeep. Third, transfer case shifter linkage, and finally Fourth -  I wanted something that had a smoother ride DOUBLE EDIT w/r/t shocks being bad, I just went outside and jumped up and down on the rear bumper of the truck. It didn't really move, and I could hear the shocks 'cough' I guess? also I just remembered something - a long time ago, I unbolted the rear crossmember between the leaf spring hangers, and it made a serious improvement in ride quality (or I thought it did at the time) I'd prefer to keep it on, since I have so much weight on the truck and it keeps the frame together, but I'm going to try removing that and see what happens. Its not like I care about longevity on this truck, I just need it to last a few months at most.
Vampire Panties fucked around with this message at 23:00 on May 31, 2023 |
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May 31, 2023 22:42
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wesleywillis posted:It might be too late now, but that super lube poo poo in your picture fuckin sucks poo poo. I'll throw it out. Seeing teflon in a Harbor Freight product made me real nervous. I don't want to accidently PFAS the poo poo out of myself (more )Leper Go-getter posted:This could seem offensive and I will take the timeout if it comes but are you supposed to be on prescription meds to maintain a baseline? No I'm not prescribed anything but extremely valid question. Besides this is the Something Awful forums - we're all a little crazy here . I won't go into the details of my life, especially the last four years, but I'll freely admit that I'm overly emotional and completely fried w/r/t to this truck. I want to get away from it, gently caress I just want to get out of the goddamn ZIP code, but I have to figure this poo poo out. I have (some) money, I don't have to be homeless, I do probably have to leave San Diego, but mostly right now I'm the exact right flavor of crazy that both can't leave a problem like this alone AND I tend to blow things way out of proportion. Sorry AI, I usually keep the crazy on the inside  The problem isn't just Tacos/Fox/The Truck Shop sucks (which I keep conflating saying ) Thats my mistake and I'm sorry. The problem specifically isn't that its bad per se, its wrong. Bad is just bad - wrong can be fixed. Once I figure it out, the truck is ready to go. I have lithium batteries and inverters and DC-DC chargers, and the interior of the camper shell is actually about as large as a office cubicle - but an office cubicle I can take anywhere. There's more than enough room to sleep, sit up and work, cook, and eat. There's enough room to stand up with my shoulders hunched to get dressed, and I have all the parts for a sink/shower with freshwater/blackwater tanks. I also have money to get a hotel every few days and sleep in a real bed + take a real shower. All sorts of crazy-good ideas and plans, and my five thousand dollar suspension can't ride down a city street.  Also - its extremely likely that my ride quality issues are cumulative. Maybe this leaf spring shackle thing explains part of the bouncing, but factually that driveshaft was hosed up and contributing to the problem as well. Its also very likely that the Hellwig front sway bar is too stiff and that it needs to be removed again. The previous springs were also cranked to 11 and it seems likely they weren't rated for the weight of the bumper and the winch (let alone skid plates and rock sliders) as I'd specified with Accutune in the original order. Also the original Durobumps in the rear had were 3/4" too tall. The Fox shock settings do matter greatly, and I do not have them dialed in correctly. It all adds up, and it all obviously drives me crazy, but All Cars Are Pieces Of poo poo please God tell me I'm not rationalizing UPDATE Progress?Backstory - I had the BAMF leaf spring hangers installed as part of the lift install, and I had the Truck Shop fabricate the crossmember because I'd read that people had problems with Tacoma frames splitting apart under heavy duress/weight. About a year ago I removed the winch (left the bumper because of the hole) and the tire carrier, to see if the weight at the very ends of the truck were causing the bounciness (they weren't). I needed to carry a full sized spare, and I was only 255/75r17 at the time, so I decided to remove the leaf spring hanger crossmember and remount the spare in the factory position. The ride quality improved substantially, but it still sorta rode like poo poo. I ended up putting 200lbs of sandbag ballast in the back at this time and it was ok but still wrong.(looking back, it was probably the air bubble driveshaft thing) I reinstalled the crossmember when the big truck camper was put on, because I was worried about the weight. The OME springs also got replaced with Deaver because they were not enough for the camper and tire carrier, and I didnt think about the crossmember until today. After 2+ years of research, I don't really know of any incidents of Tacomas splitting their frame unless they were doing crazy/stupid poo poo, but also I don't really know of anyone carrying a lot of weight in a 3g Tacoma so I removed the leaf spring hanger crossmember. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tn9MBRL9Cr8&t=125s Check out that video from the timestamp. This is with the crossmember attached (and in picture, top of screen). Watch the leaf springs and the camera - the truck clearly goes over a couple of bounces and the camera stabilizes, but the leaf springs dont move at all. I think the bounciness is the truck bouncing off the leaf spring shackles? Could they be binding? It seems like the angles on the leaf springs, shackles, and hangers could all combine just wrong enough that the leaf springs shackles dont engage correctly, and the truck just sorta bounced off the leafs themselves. I dont know the right words I'm not a suspensionologist https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSOZMvqsdiA Check out that video, with the leaf spring shackle crossmember removed. Look at how much the frame flexes within the first 5 seconds of backing out the driveway (at least I think thats what I'm looking at?)  If that's the frame flexing, is that bad? Is it possible the leaf spring hanger crossmember was pinching the leaf spring shackles somehow? It was very slightly wedged into place when I unbolted it, it could have been torquing the hangers and thus the shackle, but how would I tell? EDIT To be clear, ride quality improved with the crossmember removed. However with the truck driving in FWD/4hi, and the front sway bar on, its really hard to quantify how much better. The specific feeling of the top 1" of the suspension not working seems to be gone but its really inconclusive.  front leaf spring hanger looks good  front sway bar isn't hitting anything  rear leaf spring shackle looks good?EDIT I think that piece of plastic sticking out is an anti-rattle spacer.   leaf spring hanger crossbar when it was new  leaf spring hanger crossbar removed today Vampire Panties fucked around with this message at 04:46 on Jun 1, 2023 |
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Jun 1, 2023 04:10
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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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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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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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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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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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 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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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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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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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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builds character posted:On the other hand, all of this should also be ringing alarm bells in your head where you have to ask yourself seriously about what you're looking for, what's going on in your life and so on that this may not really be the appropriate forum for. not to turn this into a therapy thread (I mean, aren't we all waiting for our super-deformed anime statue to print out?), and I have been thinking #vanlife thoughts for years and years previous to this but right now isn't the time. First of all, I'm in my mid 40s. Objectively, right now in front of my PC, I may be OK with rolling around in a shitbox and sleeping on a cot in the back, but once I'm in-situ I think that will get old within days. Not to rule out van life at all - I just have to make a shitload of compromises because of my personal circumstances, whereas if I can suffer the truck until I'm working again, I could actually buy what I want. (or fix the truck so maybe its not so lovely )I could write a novel about my life and why I want to live out of my vehicle, but ultimately its not important and not realistic. I've romanticized the idea of being a nomad IT warrior to myself, but I cannot shake the feeling that I would be much better served by moving back to New Jersey/New York and going back to my old work, and going back to 2x vacation a year and the usual bullshit corporate grind. I genuinely do not want to do that, which is part of why I have been so frenetic in this truck thread - there's a way for me to pull off the nomad IT warrior, but I feel like I'm tunneling through granite when I move in that direction. That said, I have been applying for hybrid roles up and down the west coast and I'm very certain I'll get something, if only because I'm willing to go out to Eugene or Rancho Cucamonga. Once I'm back to work things will be different. Also to add - I'm not necessarily going to be homeless anytime soon. I may be technically homeless in September when my lease is up and I refuse to renew, but that will be a choice (and probably backed up by needing to move somewhere for work.)((Side tangent - I've been remote for 20+ years, and for unfathomable reasons every job I've applied for has a hybrid requirement. None of the poo poo I work on lives on site. ))so not to be completely schizophrenic, but I've decided to circle back around and focus on getting the truck comfortable. To that end, I followed the advice of the thread and went and picked up stock front and rear shocks for 20 bux, 2" spacers for 40 bux (that will get returned to Amazon asap) and a p. decent napa floor jack with jack stands for 40 bux. Its getting a little late to get started here, but I'm going to crack this out in the morning.
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Jun 16, 2023 00:52
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Bajaha posted:Best way forward still seems to be to sell the truck to an Instagram influencer This is the way. I have... ideas... on a foamcore hardsided pop up camper, but there's no reason to chase them on a 5' bed. And although I'm leery to buy another Tacoma again, because of the seating configuration, the 4g Tacoma literally addresses every single complaint I have with the truck, big and small. They even raise the seat two inches I think I'd also consider Nissan because I've had 3 Nissan trucks and all three of them were fantastic. If I wanted to take the lessons I've learned from this process and try to build a truck camper v2, I would start on a 6' bed without question, although after watching a couple of 4x4 vanlife Youtubes ( Primal Outdoors and ForestyForest) Vans are just so much better at the actual living part, as compared to the off roading part. I'm specifically jealous of ForestyForest's 2016 GMC 3500 van with the Quigley conversion. which kinda circles back around to why i'm trying to keep the truck for now. Accutune said they'd revalve the shocks for free, and I'm somewhat hopeful that I can get through that whole process without spending a penny. If the truck were to ride smooth, than I can deal with the lovely seat. Yes, a van is going to be more comfortable in basically every way... until a 20+ year old van with 100k miles has a major breakdown. If I finish up my truck (by finish I mean get the ride squared away and complete the little projects around the truck, maybe do a very simple interior build) then i could sell it on Instagram for pretty decent cash. Otherwise, I'm either trying to convince a shady used car lot on how they can sell that dream to someone else, or I have to part out everything and get it back to stock-ish for Carvana to take it. If I can be patient for a few more months, I can get exactly what I want. If I have to live in the truck for a month or two while things get worked out, .
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Jun 16, 2023 03:16
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Yeah... imagine if I hosed up the Fox shocks somehow, or somehow the truck fell off the jack stand, or at the most basic level - if the revalve doesnt mean anything. Accutune said they'd take the truck for a week in August and tune it for free, so if I still have the truck then I'll do that. for the thread - in your opinion, whats the fastest way to sell the truck? I'd think about just trading it in, because shady used car lots would be the type to take that truck & they seem to have the best selection of vans, but I'd have to assume they would rob me blind. Make an instagram post saying FOR SALE and tag smalltruckcampers? FB marketplace could be ok, but OfferUp or Craigslist seem like an exercise in frustration. I'm going to make a post on Tacomaworld as well, although the whole site 'd at my complaints about the ride quality (and the guy from Upland Outfitters chimed into the thread to say that they spoke to Fox about the valving, and Fox ended up sending them out Performance Elite to test.) Would autotrader be worthwhile?EDIT I know this is a loaded question, but how many miles is too many? Seems like Ford or Chevy V8s require a timing chain service between 80-120k. Assuming all the service has been done, is a 150k mile van OK ? (obvs depending on specific van) And another loaded questions - Are Sprinter vans worth it? the super high roof is a big attraction, but there is certainly a #vanlife premium, plus it seems like a lot of models have insane mileage. Also I don't know anything about diesels?
Vampire Panties fucked around with this message at 19:01 on Jun 16, 2023 |
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Jun 16, 2023 18:54
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cursedshitbox posted:Imo if Toyota tax scares you stay the gently caress away from diesels. I think I've driven a diesel on the road exactly once, some lovely delivery van from NJ down to Philly. I understand the mechanical concepts of a diesel, and I'm sure I could figure stuff out, but why. Even the E150/1500s V6 gassers have 500lb+ payload over the truck now, and thats without a 550lb camper shell. A V8 3/4 ton is literally 2.5x the capacity I have now. Also, I'm never towing anything, but I'd think about getting a good hitch motorcycle carrier and picking up something reasonable. I had a DRZ-400 a kerjillion years ago and while it sucked rear end on SoCal freeways, it would be a supreme grocery getter.
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Jun 16, 2023 19:14
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