Dat 4Runner Life Doe - Adventures in a T4R

[Dbest]

Pics from the hike we found during that last trip, I figured I should go through them before we go back out tomorrow.

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[Dbest]

Another trip is in the books





















Solar!!






Chicken quesadillas are one of our goto meals

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[Dbest]

3am bathroom break, the brightest moon I've ever seen by far, pics don't do it justice!






Tip: cook breakfast meat in the pan with eggs and the eggs wont stick in the pan.






















Who doesn't have a quick cereal breakfast at a trailhead?

[Dbest]

[Dbest]

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My buddy and I decided to take the minions on a camping trip. It was... interesting. They don't normally camp and it definitely showed, but we had a pretty good time none the less. It was right in time for a cold spell in general, up at 9000 feet it was down in the 30s at night. We got a bit of rain as well. Exploring we found cave, that was pretty cool.


Having some breakfast on the way out (we got Kongs - eggs, bacon, ham, cheese, and hash browns on a sub roll). Some dude rolled up in a beat ass old lowered cambered out Subaru Forester and asked me if I would be interested in trading vehicles lol.










Find the climber


Easier to see him here








Rain was coming












Catching bugs


Collecting firewood

[Dbest]

[Dbest]

Rain with some light snow and hail (on June 30th)


Watching Captain America in the rain










That's all the smile he could muster up standing in fresh snowmelt lol








The RV leveling blocks are his responsibility, he packs and unpacks them, he sets them up (with help), takes them down, and cleans them off when we get home.


Tired kid, but he only got 1 full day to relax and recover before we were back at it again.

[SAWCE]

I got a tool roll from Adventure Tool Company and I've been working on gathering stuff for it. I don't want to take stuff from my actual toolbox so everything for the trail tools is new. This is my baseline to start with.

This is awesome!

[Dbest]

I got a tool roll from Adventure Tool Company and I've been working on gathering stuff for it. I don't want to take stuff from my actual toolbox so everything for the trail tools is new. This is my baseline to start with.

This is awesome!

To make sure I had my bases covered I made a list of sizes for my specific parts.

FRONT SUSPENSION
UCA bushing to the vehicle -19mm (x2)
JBA ball joint to spindle - 7/8" & 7/16"
JBA ball joint to control arm - 1/2 (x2)

Upper shock mount - 14mm
Lower shock mount - 19mm (x2)
King adjustable collar - 3/16" hex

Sway bar links - 6mm hex & 17mm

LCA bushing - 22mm (x2)
Ball joint nut - 24mm + cotter pin
Bal joint cap to spindle - 19mm

Outer tie rod nut - 19mm + cotter pin
Outer tie rod holding surface - 21mm
Jam nut - 22mm
Toe adjustment - 15mm

Brake caliper - 17 mm
ABS wires - 10mm
ABS and brake line brackets - 12mm
Brake lines and bleeders - 10mm

Durobumps - 14mm

Skid plates - 13mm

REAR SUSPENSION
Lower links - 19mm (x2)
Track bar - 19mm (x2)

King upper shock mount - 19mm
Lower shock mount - 17mm
BPF rock shield - 14mm

Brake calipers - 17mm
Brake caliper bracket - 17mm
Brake line to caliper - 14mm
Brake lines and bleeders - 10mm

Sway bar link - 6mm hex
Sway bar link shaft - 14mm
Sway bar link nut - 12mm

[wap]

Pretty that you're teaching the kid good stewardship of nature by cleaning up other people's campsites. What life lessons he's learning out there!

[Irish]

One awesome dad = One lucky kid.

[Dbest]

My best friend was coming out for his annual Colorado Adventure trip, but this year instead of just me and him, our kids, his now fiance, and her son all came along as well.

Day 1 - They drove through the night and arrived around 11 am Monday, we went and rode dirt on the front yard dirt singletrack, all the kids LOVED it. Then they played in the sprinkler in the back yard. My buddy butchered his cow, Optimus Prime Rib, so he brought fresh day old steaks for dinner, and then the adults hung out for the night while we packed up.

Day 2 - We loaded up the trucks and left first thing in the mourning, stopped for breakfast, stopped by RCI Metalworks, and headed out into the mountains. We did some off-roading to get to a favorite camp spot of mine, dispersed deep in a national forest 9000 feet high at the top of a valley with awesome mountain views and no active fire bans. We set up camp, had dinner, and got a fire going.

Day 3 - We had a deer stroll through camp in the morning during breakfast and then we went and exploring and hiking around. We found some remote hard to get to water and went in for a dip and found it was loaded with gold flakes! We collected a few big pieces with our fingers so we can test it to see if it’s real or not before going back. The boys practiced some bushcraft skills - collecting firewood, starting a fire, using different tools to break, split, and saw wood.

Day 4 - We got up, eat breakfast, and headed out. We had a couple of hours of dirt to get back to paved roads, we stopped at a waterfall and I picked a hike that’s scenic but relatively flat as it parallels a river. We were up high so I didn't want to kill them making them hike elevation. After our hike, we stopped at a calm spot on the river so the kids could dip their feet, then started headed home. The out of towners made the unanimous decision that they wanted to go do more off-roading so we hit a drive thru and headed back into the mountains for some close to home trail riding and we finally arrived back at home around 10 pm. Since my buddy and I only get to see each other a handful of times throughout the year we hung out in the garage drinking until around 3:30 in the morning before finally calling it a night.

Day 5 - Everyone was slow to get going but we had breakfast and went for another hike, my wife took the day off and joined us. It was slow going for some of the flatlanders but everyone made the summit, the rule is you have to make the summit in order to get a Dairy Queen Blizzard. We hiked down in some very refreshing rain then got our ice cream. We went home unpacked, cleaned up, helped repack, and then dinner. After dinner, they started the long trek home and I went to bed for the next 12 hours.

The minions used walkies to talk to each other during the drive














My buddy's pic of following me


Double rainbow at camp


Home for the next few days

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The deer that hung out for a bit during breakfast
















If that's legit gold were definitely coming back to pan it












Playing backgammon, no electronics necessary

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[Dbest]

I took him to the easiest trail I knew of so he could try to fit his big ass GMC Sierra Denali HD (2500) down the trail

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Funny story about these Osprey kid hydration packs. I got my son one so he can carry his own water (its 1.5 L bladder inside) and snacks. He uses it all the time for hiking and biking. My buddy's kid sweats like crazy and goes through a ton of water and a water bottle is never enough. So he orders one for his son and has it delivered to my house to ensure he will get it on time... so obviously I did what any sane person would do and I opened the package when it arrived, put it in a gift bag and then give it to his son as a gift from Uncle Ryan when they showed up lol


Pregnant mom made the hike




We started at sub-6000 feet so I didn't feel bad making them work for this one

[Dbest]

Some new mods...

Nevermind the disaster of a toolbox, soldering on connections for some electrical equipment


I got a powerwerx power meter, I put anderson SB50 connectors on it so I can plug it in inline to the solar panel and monitor live solar production. I wanted to do some testing on how much output I'm actually getting form the Bugout 130. In direct bright perfectly aligned sunlight it produces about half of its rated output, which is actually pretty good. However, for claiming it'll produce power during indirect light, shade, and even light snow, I can confidently call bull shit on that. Technically it produces **some** power but if one segment is fully shaded or if the panel is not in direct sunlight its more or less useless, like 3 watts of power output useless. If anyone is interested I documented a bunch of different scenarios of light n the panel along with actual live output on an intentionally discharged battery so the redarc will try to pull as much power as possible.

The alligator clips I put on a National Luna battery monitor. I don't want or need a permanently mounted solution, I can clip this on while camping and monitor power levels and it also has a low voltage audible alarm. I can't find a waterproof shunt based power meter so up to this point I haven't really had any idea how much juice is still available, this gives me a pretty good idea, plus it's informative to see how much the solar panel and/or running the vehicle will recharge the secondary battery.


Next up, Heat Shield sunshades all around. One of the best ways to increase electrical efficiency when running a fridge is to keep the heat away from the fridge to begin with. Reflective insulation doesn't lower the temp inside, in fact, I saw a really stupid test once claiming sunshade did nothing because the ambient temp inside was the same with or without the sunshade. Something sitting in ambient temps will eventually match ambient temps, however, sunshades will absolutely drop surface temperatures. That hurts to touch shift knob or metal seat belt buckle will not happen, the same goes for the fridge. Regardless of outside temp, something baking in direct sunlight will have higher surface temps. If you can keep the inside of the vehicle cooler longer and out of direct sunlight the fridge will be more efficient. I would like the vehicle specific fit to fit the vehicle better than it does, but whatever, they accomplish what they need to.






The attic net I'm a little disappointed with. She claimed it was going to be the same as the Raingler but it only has 4 mounting points vs 6 and came with no instructions and wood screws vs self tapping sheet metal screws. When it pointed out it was not the same as what we had discussed shes just said the Raingler is over engineered and to just use it anyway, her "out" was that she said hers was easer to install... she failed to mention its because 1/3 of the mounting points are missing. Not thrilled, had I known I would have just bought the actual Raingler for more money and gotten exactly what I wanted.


I didn't actually get a pic with all the pillar trims back on.



And finally, and this is the kind of embarrassing one... Finn Fab hood rack with traction board mounts.
It's flimsy, the powder coat sucks, it took forever to arrive, the traction boards mounts are a joke, so was the packing prior to shipping, the instructions are super generic and crappy, they say its all aluminum to save weight so the hood will still prop itself open... it won't. I couldn't find detailed pics of the product prior to buying and after doing so I'm far from impressed, plus its sooooooooo overpriced! Honestly its a pretty terrible buy. I'm not impressed with the product and it looks really stupid, however, once my bumper shows up I won't have any other real estate to mount traction boards so it is what it is, but I certainly wouldn’t recommend it if you have other options. For those wondering I'm 6'2" and from in the driver's seat, it does block some of your vision, from my testing it extended where you can see ground past the hood outwards about 6 feet. My sorter wife on the other hand was like hell no this thing is stupid.




All in all the most recent round of mods has been a little disappointing.

[Dbest]

This little guy just keeps getting faster and faster! A GoPro mounted to the handlebars showing a 4 year old’s point of view really puts it in perspective. I love having singletrack right out the front door.

[Dbest]

It was time to go back to work, I flew out and spent a couple of weeks in a hotel in quarantine before I was cleared to actually go to work. Before I left my son wanted to get one last hike in and he wanted to do a trail with a waterfall. So, no new adventures for a bit, I have to actually be productive for a while instead of just spending my time dicking around in the mountains.



















And there's our waterfall.... lol









Top of the waterfall

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We thought our weekend adventure was over...

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Heading out Wednesday night