Featured 100: Farnhamstj (1 Viewer)

[farinvail]

In 2004 my first child was born. I had recently purchased a 2003 Tacoma x-cab. Sure you can fit a child seat in the back of the Tacoma. Total PITA. And with my wife pregnant 4 months after the birth of our son, it had to go. So I searched for about 4 months for a low mileage 80 locked and green. I have a thing for green trucks. 1978 FJ40 was green, tacoma was green, Sequoia was green. Searched with no luck, Then I found a broker in Crested Butte with a '98 UZJ100 green, rear locker. I did some research but not that many people in the US were taking theirs off-road(I prefer the term off-pavement, I Stay The Trail) I had been on a few trail runs with Rising Sun Toyota 4x4 Club * Denver, CO At the time built 80's were still not that common. No one had any real advice other that,"it'll certainly be better than a Land Rover" We traded the Tacoma and $1,000 for the 1998. V8 power, automatic, power everything heated leather seats. You name it, it had it. My wife liked it, enough said. I sold the FJ40 for enough money to add 295.75r16 nitto TG, Slee lift w/866+diff drop, ARB Deluxe bar, Slee step sliders. I don't recall driving it stock for long, few months maybe.

 

[farinvail]

I took it on Old Tin Cup pass, and hit a rocker about a week before adding sliders. It hit at the front mud flap and couldn't be seen. Dent #1, I'd owned it maybe a month. Armored it up with the money from the 40 and joined the Club to run Chinaman's gulch. This was the 1st real challenge the 100 had seen. TrailDamage.com - Chinaman Gulch It was non stop sharp pointed rocks everywhere. I slid backward into one. Smashed DS tail light and rear quarter panel. I had removed the factory rear bumper, so the rear end was naked. I think it probable saved me some money. I ordered a new tail light and did my best to hammer the dent out. It's still fubared to this day. I put the factory rear bumper on, apologized to my wife that I was now 2 for 2 son smashing the truck each time I went out. But I did buy it the wheel safely with the family and it was working out well. The annual Father's day run at Spring Creek rolled around TrailDamage.com - Spring Creek I had done it the year before in the 40. I struggled in the rock garden, about the same amount. But my son didn't have to breath fumes all day. I did however bend a lower control arm. I took it off and hit it with a BFH when I got home, reinstalled it slight bend side down in hope of hitting it again and having it end up perfectly straight.

 

[farinvail]

My daughter was born and we were pleased to have the extra space for the family and camping gear. My family has always been into camping. I grew up camping in northern Minnesota. My wife and I had been taking the kids camping before they were born. We have a hunch our daughter was conceived in a tent. The 100 was the ultimate family camper. Until the kids got old enough to ride bikes and trikes. Camping gear fit. Bikes fit. Camping gear and bikes for Mom, Dad, and 1 and 3 year old, not so well. Stuffed the roof rack, Thule box stuffed. It all fit but I couldn't see out the back window. The wind on the way to Moab can be fierce. The roof full of stuff often meant the wind pushed me around like a VW bus. So we bought a camper. Fleetwood Evolution E1, no inside toilet, but a 24" deck to carry the toys.

 

[farinvail]

Ok techie stuff. I had Irbis Offroad build me a rear bumper. He had done some nice work for the guys in the club. I felt I had spent enough money with Slee getting the lift and sliders. (little did I knowI had just scratched the surface with them) I had read an article in a magazine about cutting the rear frame off a Lexus 470 to gain more clearance. This apealed to me. So I had them chop the rear and build me a custom swing out and repair my now broken lower control arm mounts. (Zane did a great write up on how) as well as fix my bent LCA's.

 

[farinvail]

My leather was getting kind of gnarly inside. Worst was the passanger seams. every time my wife sat down she was affraid she was going to fall through the seat. The DS had a hole that was getting larger by the day. I got some cheep People of Walmart: a collection of all the creatures that grace us with their presence at Walmart, America's favorite store. seat covers and ran with those for a while. Asked for a few leather samples but never recieved them. I decided to pemove my seats, cut the hog rings and take the leather to a local shoe repair place. (I live about 100miles from Den) She sewed the seams back together and patched the holes. Seats are much better than they were and it's on the list of things to finish properly one day(we all have them right?) The entire project was under $100 and one of the better 'upgrades'

 

[farinvail]

I kept a few things from my 1978 FJ40, like recovery gear, Warn XD9500 winch, ARB air compressor. Those went straight into the 100. I didn't yet have and air locker, but the compressor had come in useful refilling tires after airing down. For anyone that doesn't air down, it's night and day difference in quality of ride and traction. I usually run at 34psi on th pavement and 16psi off pavement. The ARB 12v compressor is slow as molasses. I often bum CO2 off my friends or just fill the tires to 25psi and drive to the nearest gas station. I'm lucky enough to live in the heart of th Rocky Mountains so I've got good trails, within a few minutes of my house. Often I just drive home at 16psi carefully and like an old grandma. Some of the Local trails are TrailDamage.com - McAllister Gulch and TrailDamage.com - Holy Cross. There are 10 I can think of off the top of my head. Guess I'm lucky, Smart? no mostly lucky.

 

[farinvail]

I've also broken a few things over the years. I've had the read drive shaft retubed to .125 wall thickness. then had it rebalanced on another occasion. I broke the front diff a couple years ago on TrailDamage.com - Poughkeepsie Gulch We were trying to drive up it. I did get part way up, heard a loud snap as I slid back down. I winched up the obstacle. Thought I'd broke a CV. I bailed out an limped back to camp. I pulled the front drive shaft and drive plates. Locked the center diff and rallied back home, camper in tow. Spoke with SLEE, they were kind enough to build a ARB locker equipped used front diff with 4.30 factory gearing.(I have a hunch it's the one that came off the Blueberry) Pending the condition of my R&P the charges were assessed. I already had the wiring in place for the locker through the firewall. Christo left the switch hanging out for me to make look pretty. I prefer the ARB to the factory rear locker as the engagement and disengagement are much faster. I don't have pic's of anything interesting regarding the front diff. Having locker's makes such a difference, I can drive slower and more controlled. I've also had Slee redo the Front and rear seals of the T-Case after a trail run up Battlement Mesa. Deep mud hole with something sharp at the bottom gave me a nice tear in the sidewall of my Nitto TG's. Thanks to Discount tires, I got a new tire for $20. SCORE. But the mud had buggered the seals in the t-case. Other stuff that has worn out are the Lower ball Joints, Starter twice, ignition coil, radiator. And a bunch of stuff I've forgotten about. I has Slee do my 100k service a while back too with an idler pulley as well as the usual stuff.

 

[farinvail]

When I first started running with Rising Sun. I kept wondering why we were stopped. The I got a CB radio and I could communicate with everyone. Uniden someting, It's currently in the 100 mounted to the plastic center console in front of the passanger seat. Then about a year and a half ago. On the anual Ghost Town Run. Again there was no communication. Turns out just about everyone in the club ahd switched to 2 meter radio. The club put on a class and hosted an exam. I got my HAM license. I'd been using XM radio pluged into the tape deck and into the cigarette lighter. One on the stipulations my wife put on the install was there needed to be less wires on the dash than before. My CD player had stoped working on a number of accations due to my children feeding quarters and other coins into the slot. I did some searching and decided to get a XM ready pioneer single din radio. And put a Yaseau 1802 in the now empty spot. I get rid of all the wires and was much happier. I'm still not great on the 2m. In the words of Martin,"my geek speak is not yet worthy"

 

[farinvail]

My latest upgrades weren't exactly planned. I've grown tired of dealing with the swing out tire carrier. In the winter I park outside. The swing out was frozen solid most of the time. SO I pretty much never opened the rear. I'd throw everything over the kids heads and climb over the back seat to retrieve it. SO I removed the tire carrier last winter. What an improvement... I just have the spare sitting in the truck along with my toolbox and recovery gear. It's strapped to the 3rd row seat mounts. While it takes up a bunch of space, I can actually put groceries and such in the back on top of the tire. I also found that the 866 spring sagged huge under the weight of the trailer. I considered air bags but I liked the simplicity of just springs. Also I was worried the airbags would limit the articulation in the rear. The added height of the 863's is awsome for ground clearance as the lower controls arms and mount hit regularly. Hell's Revenge has a ledge that I always got hung up on. With 863's I clear it. Good thing my driveway it slanted so my bitching Camero rear end looks normal.

About Dec 5th I was driving to the grocery store. The check engine light went on, truck stuttered a little but seemed fine. Then 100 meters later. It felt like the rear axle locked up and I slid like 40ft on an icy road and up onto the sidewalk. I though to myself,"maybe I hit a pothole and stepped on the brakes too hard" Put the truck in reverse. It didn't want to move, so I gave it more skinny pedal. It backed up but something didn't sound right. I drained the diffs and sure enough the front was full of metal flakes, like as much metal as oil. It sounded loud too. I called Ben at Slee(by now we're on a 1st name basis) 3 weeks before Christmas. "Hi, Ben my truck's making this strange noise, any chance you have time to look at it?" Ben replied,"Farnham, we're totally booked until Jan 5, But for you we'll make time" I dropped it off the next day. Christo called me few days later,"Farnham your front pinion is welded to the bearing and we had to cut it out. (They had replaced this bearing a couple months earlier) So offered to install a used 4.3 gear set that he had in stock. I figured If I'm gonna get a new front R&P I might as well regear now that 4.88 are buy able. I get a call the Friday before X-mas. Truck's done Joe is driving to Copper to snowboard for the day, "want him to bring it up for you?" Hell's yes. So now I have 4.88 gears. They brought back the zip that my UZJ100 had 90k miles and I'm estimating and extra 800lbs, ago. AWSOME!!!!

 

[farinvail]

Lastly Things that I'd like to have. in no particular order.

New leather
Steering wheel
Scanguage
John Deer low beams
Synthetic winch line
Stripper pole (to mount spare to inside the trunk)
Booming stereo amp and speakers
Snorkel (my wife says I can have one when I move to Australia)
Nice looking rims
A body panel that's not dented and scratched.
Good enough memory to remember all the other stuff I've done.

I hope you enjoyed the read.
See you on the trail.

 

[spressomon]

Gr8 post, Gr8 photos and a Gr8 read Farnham! Is the first photo in your #9 post above on the Pearl Pass trail by chance?

Hope its OK now to make a post here

 

[Travis351]

So we finally get the rest of the story! Enjoyed the read for sure. Do you have any pictures of that stripper pole? You are usually the camp DJ...how do you manage that without dual batteries?

 

[farinvail]

Thanks. Pic 1 on post #9 is FrenchCreek on Holy Cross City trail.Holy Cross 2009 - Rising Sun Member Forums
I've been over Peal pass a couple times. It's a nice trail. Tomichi Pass in the 1st pic below was the most scared I've ever been in my truck. 2nd pic Pearl, 3rd Pearl Pass

I get a new battery about every 2 years. I carry a optima red top in the truck on long trips and my camper has a giant Marine battery, So I have some options to jump start if needed. Yeah real dual battery setup is on my list too.

 

[farinvail]

Here's a link to to Slee's pole for the 80 Slee - Interior Products

 

[farinvail]

Here's a few more pics. Wheeler lake CO, back when my paint was shiny. I had a hard drive meltdown back in '07 so I don't have too many pictures of when it was still new to me.

 

[farinvail]

Pics from Chinaman Gulch last spring with 1Loudlx. The giant rock on the DS is what took out my rear corner a couple years before. Loud slid down into it. Slee bumper saved him for sure. My high-lift was super rusty and we had a hard time using it to get him unstuck. Reminder to everyone to carry a high-lift, maintain it, and practice with it.

 

[1loudLX]

see digital picture image below for a good visual on how exactly it busted how his taillight.

 

[farinvail]

Yep that's the spot. I thought the 2nd pic was you stuck, but it's some where else on the trail.

 

[farinvail]

Fins and things, Or Hell's revenge 2008 I forget.

 

[2000UZJ]

Great write up farnham. I like the rig and where you have taking it. Takes some guts to take a 100 where you have.


A question on the rear bumper. A buddy of mine were talking about the effects of cutting the rear crossmember off. And that will cause the frame to twist more. I told him I have no clue but he told me it was correct.

Any observations on how much the rear moves at articulation VS a frame mounted bumper? if my question makes any sense lol