Recovering Jeep addict

[Biohazard]

General Grabber X3's. Load rating E. 285/75/16.

First impression: solid tire, very planted, good traction on the road. Tends to "rail road" on pavement imperfections like every other MT I've run. Noise is much louder than I expected, with a much higher pitched "whine" more towards the jet engine tamber compared with my previous KM3's (37's on a JL) or MT/R's (33's on an XJ).

 

[Oc Taco Charlie Beach Bum]

just bring some cheese along for that Road whine.

 

[mundytrails]

Westcott lift installed. $600 total for parts and labor. Cheapest option in town, rides a bit stiffer, but for the price can't beat it.
Accutune icon/fox set up hopefully in the future, but for now this will do nicely.

How's the Westcott lift treating you after some miles? I'm interested in this design for a quick level and a little extra clearance.

 

[Biohazard]

Westcott lift:

Pros: cheap, ~$550 for parts/labor installed
Paired with the trdpro suspension, still rides better and handles high speed bumps and such better than trd off road, stock sr5, or limited.

Cons: gave up some of the "floating" comfort of the higher speed stock trdpro suspension (which is really quite good). With my Decked system in the back, loaded with about 75lbs of gear, the rear sits a hair lower in the than the front (with a 1 inch rear block lift from westcott). Add the 100lb rack and RTT to the bed and it visibly sags, any bump of consequence hits the bump stops.

I plan to save up a bit and put some deavers on the rear, and that should take care of the rear for now.

Bottom line: very happy with what I got out of minimal investment. Extra ground clearance, room for 33's, and a slightly stiffer ride for my trdpro suspension yielded overall improved capability.

 

[Biohazard]

General Grabber X3 update:

After 3000 miles, and these are the 33 inch, load class E version:

On Road:
Road "whine" has descended the musical scale to a pleasant "drone" typical of most mud terrains. They are quite stable on the road, and after idealizing my pressure (28psi) to make solid contact over the entire tread width, the "rail-road" tracking of pavement defects stopped. They are wearing evenly, and are reasonable for a daily driver.

Off road:
These things really shine off road. Rocky climbs find them sticky and rarely losing traction unless my truck just can't get them on the ground. Mud is an after thought for these guys, multiple times expected to get stuck in a hole, and a little throttle spun me right out of deep pits. In one particular off camber situation in a loose rock and muddy hill climb, was able to turn to the wall and drive up the wall with the front driver's sidewall lugs. Multiple sharp rock hits and sidewall impacts barely caused scuff marks.

All in all, very, very happy with these. Not sure they don't perform better than the 37 inch KM3's I had on my previous JL.

 

[Biohazard]

Icon RXT's leaf springs installed on the rear. Got me out of the "sag" with the decked system, RTT, three kids, wife, and weekend gear. Rides great, not stiff at all. Paired with my trd pro shocks, they work great.

Feeling a bit frankensteinian (a part here, a part there) but upgrading as needed rather than splurging on fancy stuff.

 

[Biohazard]

Slee off road's arb twin air compressor mount with manifold extension. Step one, paint with primer, let dry for a day or two. Do a surgery or two. Then come back and paint with matte black paint. Repeat interval activity.

 

[Biohazard]

Fit the platform into the passenger side of the engine bay, with the two bolts for the manifold mount loosely tightened. The green circles note the locations of the bolts that need to be placed or loosened then fitted with the mount.

All three of these need to be loosened (10mm), the manifold bracket slid behind the most passenger/rightward bolt, then all tightened again

This screw at the top of the wheel well didn't have a screw, but slee off road's kit has a nut and washer that fits.

 

[Biohazard]

Using these two places to fit your arms, screw the twin air compressor's four bolts as far driver side as possible.

I don't think it would be possible to get all the screws for the platform in place with the air compressor already installed, though this method did require me laying across the engine bay to get my arms in the right position. Also have a pretty bad bruise on my right arm from all that.

 

[Biohazard]

Attach the manifold as shown. I did not change the twin compressor's output direction at all, and the metal braided hose just clears the hood when closed.

Use ptfe tape or other sealant when screwing on the manifold connections.

 

[Biohazard]

Wiring is pending. Hope to get to it this weekend. Stay tuned.

 

[Biohazard]

My sneaky wife snagged a picture

 

[TCOTUE]

Looks like me checking my oil I'm 5'5" lol

 

[Dirtboy2009]

My sneaky wife snagged a picture
View attachment 50636

When good Tacomas go bad!!

 

[Biohazard]

Wire up the battery harness.

Then plug in the switch harness and route it to the cab through the firewall. Hanger bent to appropriate shape, taped to the *unfinished* switch harness works best (don't put the wires into the plugs).

Then you'll need to run the wires into low profile fuse additions, and plug them into "panel" (5amp, top left) and "ignition 2" (4 down on the right, 10 amp).

Then route the wires to your choice of panel, I chose this one:

Take off the panel, enlarge your switch position. I've found a soldering iron works best for melting and shaping the black plastic, as long as the results are out of sight.

Polish the wiring a bit...

And voilà!

You've got air.

 

[Biohazard]

Bed top tent was too heavy for me and my wife to easily remove and replace. Added a winch to my garage ceiling, now it's a piece of cake.

 

[AdventureDan71]

Brilliant! Where do you store it?

 

[Biohazard]

We camp quite a lot (once or twice monthly,) so the default place is on the bed. I need the bed open occasionally for truck-y things like hauling building materials, logs, or landscaping stuff.

So for now it'll stay on the garage floor until I put it back on next week.

Brilliant! Where do you store it?

 

[Biohazard]

Bruton Branch, Pickwick Lake, TN

Hi. My name is Nate, and I live in Northeastern Mississippi with my wife (Joy) and three kids (Abigail, William, and Isaac). We like camping, specifically overlanding. When I was a teen, I purchased a 97’ Jeep Cherokee XJ, and started off-roading both for it’s own sake as well as to get to all...

tacoma3g.com

Putting this here for history's sake.

 

[Biohazard]

The Road Goes Ever on and On: MS to MT and back

The long awaited day finally arrived. I awakened early, while the sun was still nestled behind the trees, and drove to the hospital to make rounds, discharge a patient, and tidy up things for my return nearly two weeks later. Heading back home, all the munchkins were up and excited, and we...

tacoma3g.com

And another trip write up for history's sake.

 

[Biohazard]

Added a prinsu rack. Loved the one I put on my wife's GX460, so now I've got one too.

 

[ct__tacoma]

Added a cbi hidden winch mount and smittybilt 10k h2o winch.
Had this winch on my JL previously, love it. Waterproof, great line speed, wireless function works great at over 50yds from the vehicle, backup wired function just in case, and the best thing of all: $500 bucks ($650 with synthetic line). Warn is $1000 more, and have heard various reliability issues.

these attached instructions are for their full bumper, but there is a little frame trimming, a power steering cooler relocation mount, and frame supports that mount at the sway bar sites that are a little tricky unless you have some explicit instructions which are the same for the bumper as the hidden winch mount.

Followed the breadcrumbs from hidden winch thread to build thread to this post. Bookmarked for a rainy day in the somewhat near future. Thanks for the info!

 

[Biohazard]

Leitner designs bed rack. Installation a little tedious but very solid components and very well designed. Have a gear pod coming for the drivers side and a couple universal mounts for passenger side for gas tanks, bikes, fishing rods, etc.

 

[ct__tacoma]

Leitner designs bed rack. Installation a little tedious but very solid components and very well designed. Have a gear pod coming for the drivers side and a couple universal mounts for passenger side for gas tanks, bikes, fishing rods, etc. View attachment 55571View attachment 55572View attachment 55573

Love those lines. Flows nicely with the prinsu.

 

[Biohazard]

Added a bike mount on the passenger side. Leitner doesn't make one for their rack, so I ordered Rebel Off Road's after reviewing the options. A little tweaking of the mounting bolts and it worked!

 

[Biohazard]

Current photo as he stands. Re-gearing scheduled in a few weeks, and rear bumper followed by wheels are next in the list. Planning for 35's next time I need tires, hence the planned upgrades.