Builds indycole's 2016 200 Series Build and Retrospective (1 Viewer)

[indycole]

I'm looking forward to a change of scenery in the coming days. The event's in a couple weeks and I'm taking the truck to Colorado ahead of time to minimize my time away from home as we're expecting a new addition to our family in early August. I'm taking 4-5 days to get to Denver with a nice stopover in Moab to hit a trail with @linuxgod. I'll get the truck to the front range, fly back home, and return a week later for the beginning of the event.

This is a welcome trip after the winter we've had in the Santa Cruz Mountains. While this year's rain was certainly needed, we unfortunately encountered a substantial amount of damage to our property (but luckily not our home) during this winter's storms. We usually do a lot of camping during the winter but not this year.

The truck's odometer is about to cross 85,000 miles. Those of you who have been on the trail with me may recall that I've been chasing a metallic squeal / whistling noise on and off for a few years. Georg and his fine crew from Valley Hybrids were able to chase it down to the front output seal of the transfer case. We're not quite sure what caused the original issue, but it's hard to overstate how glad I am to have this figured out. The noise actually would get loud enough that it would turn heads on the street.

I haven't done any new mods for a while but did check off some maintenance items and miscellaneous fixes:

• Replaced the inner seal on the driver side CV. I damaged the CV boot a while back and probably screwed up when replacing the CV with a spare.
• Replaced the rear diff locker electrical run after the prior path got too close to the exhaust, melted, and shorted.
• Swapped out the sPOD 4x4 circuit board after I noticed some components had blown (probably from the rear diff locker wire).
• Replaced two broken wiper blades... no idea how this happened.
• Replaced front driveshaft. We intended to replace the rear driveshaft as well but none of the replacement Toyota OEM driveshafts fit the truck. This remains a mystery.

In addition to the fixes, we also put the middle row back in the truck for the first time in 4-5 years. Some family members of mine are going to borrow the truck for a trip to Ouray in late July and then bring it back to California.

 

[orangefj45]

Glad we got the noise figured out and taken care of.

The count-down is on!!!! Super excited for you guys and fingers firmly crossed!

 

[mcgaskins]

I'm looking forward to a change of scenery in the coming days. The event's in a couple weeks and I'm taking the truck to Colorado ahead of time to minimize my time away from home as we're expecting a new addition to our family in early August. I'm taking 4-5 days to get to Denver with a nice stopover in Moab to hit a trail with @linuxgod. I'll get the truck to the front range, fly back home, and return a week later for the beginning of the event.

This is a welcome trip after the winter we've had in the Santa Cruz Mountains. While this year's rain was certainly welcome, we unfortunately encountered a substantial amount of damage to our property (but luckily not our home) during this winter's storms. We usually do a lot of camping during the winter but not this year.

The truck's odometer is about to cross 85,000 miles. Those of you who have been on the trail with me may recall that I've been chasing a metallic squeal / whistling noise on and off for a few years. Georg and his fine crew from Valley Hybrids were able to chase it down to the front output seal of the transfer case. We're not quite sure what caused the original issue, but it's hard to overstate how glad I am to have this figured out. The noise actually would get loud enough that it would turn heads on the street.

I haven't done any new mods for a while but did check off some maintenance items and miscellaneous fixes:

• Replaced the inner seal on the driver side CV. I damaged the CV boot a while back and probably screwed up when replacing the CV with a spare.
• Replaced the rear diff locker electrical run after the prior path got too close to the exhaust, melted, and shorted.
• Swapped out the sPOD 4x4 circuit board after I noticed some components had blown (probably from the rear diff locker wire).
• Replaced two broken wiper blades... no idea how this happened.
• Replaced front driveshaft. We intended to replace the rear driveshaft as well but none of the replacement Toyota OEM driveshafts fit the truck. This remains a mystery.

In addition to the fixes, we also put the middle row back in the truck for the first time in 4-5 years. Some family members of mine are going to borrow the truck for a trip to Ouray in late July and then bring it back to California.

If you need a place to stash your 200 in Denver, I’m currently fostering a couple and can make room for another!

 

[indycole]

Welp, it's been a while since I had much to add to this build thread (thanks, parenthood). I did recently take small section of a leftover red elm slab to make a sturdy base for an iPad to entertain the kiddo and a camera to keep an eye on him.

I was doing a lot of traveling for work this winter while I managed to miss the deadline to smog the truck for its registration. Unfortunately, the 200 was throwing the full spectrum of codes after several instances of boiling fuel last summer/fall. I ended up going through the process of failing a smog test, getting an extension from the DMV, replacing the charcoal canister and some other evap parts (yet again), and then the truck passed smog. It took a few months to get all this done.

Otherwise, not much to report related to the truck aside from something strange happening to my driver side LCA. I think the most likely problem is that the alignment cam wasn't torqued appropriately during a previous alignment. This resulted in a popping noise that was pretty difficult to diagnose (it appeared to be everywhere with chassis ears) until I lucked out and caught this with a GoPro.



You can see the alignment cam move along with a noise at 0:49 and 1:08.

I went ahead and purchased new OEM LCAs and all the hardware, but ultimately ran out of time to swap before heading out toward LCDC last week. However, I did remove the cam to make sure it wasn't frozen, checked the alignment tabs, inspected the bushings (they seem fine at least from the outside), and torqued the cam to just a shade over the spec'd torque value of 206 ft-lbs. Hopefully that does the trick. I haven't noticed any noises since.

I will be installing Total Chaos alignment tabs on the new LCAs for whenever the time comes. I'm a little suspicious that the movement had to cause some kind of damage or at least premature wear over the months since my last alignment.

Here's the truck ready to go for LCDC. Still in one piece!

 

[TLC2013]

Welp, it's been a while since I had much to add to this build thread (thanks, parenthood). I did recently take small section of a leftover red elm slab to make a sturdy base for an iPad to entertain the kiddo and a camera to keep an eye on him.

View attachment 3685544

I was doing a lot of traveling for work this winter while I managed to miss the deadline to smog the truck for its registration. Unfortunately, the 200 was throwing the full spectrum of codes after several instances of boiling fuel last summer/fall. I ended up going through the process of failing a smog test, getting an extension from the DMV, replacing the charcoal canister and some other evap parts (yet again), and then the truck passed smog. It took a few months to get all this done.

Otherwise, not much to report related to the truck aside from something strange happening to my driver side LCA. I think the most likely problem is that the alignment cam wasn't torqued appropriately during a previous alignment. This resulted in a popping noise that was pretty difficult to diagnose (it appeared to be everywhere with chassis ears) until I lucked out and caught this with a GoPro.



You can see the alignment cam move along with a noise at 0:49 and 1:08.

I went ahead and purchased new OEM LCAs and all the hardware, but ultimately ran out of time to swap before heading out toward LCDC last week. However, I did remove the cam to make sure it wasn't frozen, checked the alignment tabs, inspected the bushings (they seem fine at least from the outside), and torqued the cam to just a shade over the spec'd torque value of 206 ft-lbs. Hopefully that does the trick. I haven't noticed any noises since.

I will be installing Total Chaos alignment tabs on the new LCAs for whenever the time comes. I'm a little suspicious that the movement had to cause some kind of damage or at least premature wear over the months since my last alignment.

Here's the truck ready to go for LCDC. Still in one piece!

View attachment 3685556

Glad to see and hear all is well. Looking forward to hitting some trails again and meeting the little guy. Any free time this summer to head to the MNF, or Tahoe area?

 

[indycole]

Glad to see and hear all is well. Looking forward to hitting some trails again and meeting the little guy. Any free time this summer to head to the MNF, or Tahoe area?

Can’t wait - we start to free up the second week of Sept.

 

[g rant]

Welp, it's been a while since I had much to add to this build thread (thanks, parenthood). I did recently take small section of a leftover red elm slab to make a sturdy base for an iPad to entertain the kiddo and a camera to keep an eye on him.

View attachment 3685544

I was doing a lot of traveling for work this winter while I managed to miss the deadline to smog the truck for its registration. Unfortunately, the 200 was throwing the full spectrum of codes after several instances of boiling fuel last summer/fall. I ended up going through the process of failing a smog test, getting an extension from the DMV, replacing the charcoal canister and some other evap parts (yet again), and then the truck passed smog. It took a few months to get all this done.

Otherwise, not much to report related to the truck aside from something strange happening to my driver side LCA. I think the most likely problem is that the alignment cam wasn't torqued appropriately during a previous alignment. This resulted in a popping noise that was pretty difficult to diagnose (it appeared to be everywhere with chassis ears) until I lucked out and caught this with a GoPro.



You can see the alignment cam move along with a noise at 0:49 and 1:08.

I went ahead and purchased new OEM LCAs and all the hardware, but ultimately ran out of time to swap before heading out toward LCDC last week. However, I did remove the cam to make sure it wasn't frozen, checked the alignment tabs, inspected the bushings (they seem fine at least from the outside), and torqued the cam to just a shade over the spec'd torque value of 206 ft-lbs. Hopefully that does the trick. I haven't noticed any noises since.

I will be installing Total Chaos alignment tabs on the new LCAs for whenever the time comes. I'm a little suspicious that the movement had to cause some kind of damage or at least premature wear over the months since my last alignment.

Here's the truck ready to go for LCDC. Still in one piece!

View attachment 3685556

MGM with HE wheels is the best looking combo in my opinion

 

[indycole]

The truck hit 95,000 on the way back home from LCDC. We had a great trip — a few days chilling around Santa Fe and a fun stop in Winslow, AZ along with @Markuson to hang out at the historic La Posada. We were especially glad to see our (now) one-year old enjoy the trail days and do well during our long-drive days.

During LCDC, I pre-ran Black Bear from the passenger seat while @Markuson drove. We kicked off the first official trail day with our personal favorite Poughkeepsie Gulch. About half the group returned to Ouray with us via Corkscrew for a shorter day while the other half followed @linuxgod on to Placer/Picayne and more gulches off of CR2 to Silverton. Mark and I took a large group over Black Bear on Wednesday followed by Brown Dog and Last Dollar Road. Lastly, we ran Red Mountain Mine Trails / US Basin / Brown Mountain followed by Porphyry Gulch for a relatively short day on Thursday. I had some family in town during the second half of the week, so we hit Imogene on Friday before heading out on Saturday.

The 200 did well on the trip. No issues to report aside from the LCA noise (mentioned above) returning... though I wasn't too surprised. It turned out the noise was indeed due to frozen alignment cams. I must've made a mistake when checking the cams a couple months ago... the driver side cams were definitely frozen as I had to cut them out with a carbide blade using the sawzall. I ended up replacing both LCAs; hopefully my driveway alignment is good enough to safely get the truck into town for a real alignment.

The LCA replacement job wasn't too bad. I replaced the outer tie rods as well since I had some spares laying around. I also replaced all the hardware that came out. I had considered picking up a puller kit or the SSTs, but opted for a large hammer to knock out the tie rod and LCA ball joints. I'd probably use a puller the next time around. I had intended on getting the TC alignment tabs installed, but the mobile welder flaked and I need to use the truck this week; so, I'll keep an eye on the tabs and will replace whenever convenient. The tabs look pretty good, TBH.

I removed most of the skid plates to provider better access during the LCA swap. I used this as an opportunity to replace all my skid plate hardware (a few pieces had to be creatively removed due to damage), grease the driveline, and service the front diff, t-case, and rear diff. I also found a few surprises along the way: 1.) my extended breather line for the t-case was melted in two places on heat-shields, 2.) one of the fuel tank heat shields (OEM, not part of the skid) was flapping around just above the rear U-joint... pretty weird but should be easy to fix once I get a replacement trim clip, and 3.) exhaust components weren't attached to the hangers in a few places. Strange.

I also did some light power-washing to the undercarriage since that hadn't been done for a year or so. Then, as one thing led to another, out came the full detail kit... clay bars, polish, wax, the works.

The Mickey Thompson Baja Boss tires continue to perform very well on the trail, but I'm not sure how long they'll last. The sidewall lugs keep chunking off. They also still rub a bit on the UCA and sway bar (even with it being moved 1.5" forward). I didn't notice the rubbing on the trail at all, though, but the marks are certainly there. I'm going to run these until they fail or wear out, but probably won't be buying a second set. I've heard that the M/T version is better but who knows?

There's not much on the horizon for modifications to the truck. We're definitely in optimization mode as we learn how we want to use the truck as a family of three. I do miss having a roof-top tent but there's nothing on the market that strikes our interest right now. In the meantime, we'll store some lightweight camping gear up top (sleeping bags, tent, etc.) in Aluboxes that we already own and/or an incoming Roam box.

Hopefully there will be more camping on the schedule this fall. We're doing our first camping "trip" with the one-year old next weekend at our house in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Fingers crossed that he does well as we're looking forward to doing some camping on the trail with @TLC2013 sometime this fall.

A few photos from the BB pre-run, Shiprock, and a stop along Route 66.

 

[Markuson]

The truck hit 95,000 on the way back home from LCDC. We had a great trip — a few days chilling around Santa Fe and a fun stop in Winslow, AZ along with @Markuson to hang out at the historic La Posada.

Nice report, @indycole (!), and a great narrative of what Julie and I thought was easily one of the best LCDCs ever. Also… Gotta love that Black Bear run with zero vehicles seen til the end. -Definitely worth the early morning…

Loved the gorgeous desert sky and mountain passes on the way to Winslow, AZ (queue the Eagles, ‘Take it Easy’ here…).

And…. We were amazed at little-man Gus’ handling of the bumps, bounces & booty-in-the-seat endurance… -An impressive first voyage beyond 13,000 & even cracked his killer Gus SMILE at the top o Imogene!

Just an awesome X to be sure.

-M

 

[linuxgod]

There's not much on the horizon for modifications to the truck. We're definitely in optimization mode as we learn how we want to use the truck as a family of three. I do miss having a roof-top tent but there's nothing on the market that strikes our interest right now. In the meantime, we'll store some lightweight camping gear up top (sleeping bags, tent, etc.) in Aluboxes that we already own and/or an incoming Roam box.

Hopefully there will be more camping on the schedule this fall. We're doing our first camping "trip" with the one-year old next weekend at our house in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Fingers crossed that he does well as we're looking forward to doing some camping on the trail with @TLC2013 sometime this fall.

Welcome to parenthood. First it's that car seat, next it's your entire living room with them and their toys

My $ is on you eventually going back to pulling a small trailer. I know the 55mph speed limits in CA when towing are really annoying, but the convenience of just throwing a plastic bin of dry food and a duffel bag of clothes in the truck or trailer, spending 2 minutes hooking up, and being ready to leave for a few days with the kid(s) was always a huge motivator (or at least a friction reducer). Before we had a trailer we would camp with the kids maybe once a year. Once we bought it we would go for the weekend 6-8 times over the summer. Everyone throws the term "game changer" around on this forum, but at least for me having the ability roll home from work at 5pm, throw in the cooler and clothes, jump in the truck, and be on the road in 15 minutes really was.

 

[indycole]

Nice report, @indycole (!), and a great narrative of what Julie and I thought was easily one of the best LCDCs ever. Also… Gotta love that Black Bear run with zero vehicles seen til the end. -Definitely worth the early morning…

Loved the gorgeous desert sky and mountain passes on the way to Winslow, AZ (queue the Eagles, ‘Take it Easy’ here…).

And…. We were amazed at little-man Gus’ handling of the bumps, bounces & booty-in-the-seat endurance… -An impressive first voyage beyond 13,000 & even cracked his killer Gus SMILE at the top o Imogene!

Just an awesome X to be sure.

-M

Yes! So glad you talked me into the 6am BB run.

Welcome to parenthood. First it's that car seat, next it's your entire living room with them and their toys

My $ is on you eventually going back to pulling a small trailer. I know the 55mph speed limits in CA when towing are really annoying, but the convenience of just throwing a plastic bin of dry food and a duffel bag of clothes in the truck or trailer, spending 2 minutes hooking up, and being ready to leave for a few days with the kid(s) was always a huge motivator (or at least a friction reducer). Before we had a trailer we would camp with the kids maybe once a year. Once we bought it we would go for the weekend 6-8 times over the summer. Everyone throws the term "game changer" around on this forum, but at least for me having the ability roll home from work at 5pm, throw in the cooler and clothes, jump in the truck, and be on the road in 15 minutes really was.

A trailer would certainly be awesome... especially if we could find one that bridges the gap between camping luxuries and trail-worthiness. The logistical challenge is that our current home doesn't have a good spot to store a trailer. I think I'd need to reclaim some hillside or build some kind of cantilevered deck to store it. We did enjoy the convenience of the trailer when we had one. Perhaps if nothing else just having a non-camper trailer purely for storage wouldn't take up too much space.

On a different subject, I forgot to add a note about our experience boiling gas this trip. Short version: we definitely boiled gas but only got one P0441 code the entire trip. We started boiling around Tehachapi and then again as we made the climb up the Colorado Plateau. I got the P0441 code while ascending Molas Pass north of Durango. On the way home, we encountered 115+ F temperatures and the fuel was boiling enough that I could neither transfer fuel from the aux tank nor add fuel from the gas pump until we let the truck cool down. I was glad that the other set of codes related to a borked charcoal canister never showed up. I did my best to never fill up the main tank to more than 7/8 both at the pump and when transferring fuel. Maybe that helped?

 

[linuxgod]

I got a P0441 twice in Wyoming this trip. No aux tank, and first times I've ever had the code. Mine was likely related to trailer loading leaving a reverse rake and a crappy super old gas pump which kept shutting off and probably resulted in accidentally overfilling the tank which likely allowed some fuel into the charcoal canister. I haven't seen the code return since Wyoming so hopefully it's a two-time thing. I don't think you have any reverse rake when you're fully loaded, but figured I'd mention it. I definitely think not fully filling the tank helps reduce the likelihood of overflow into the CC, so yeah that probably helped.

 

[indycole]

I boiled gas at the top of Imogene, threw a PO441 code on the way home from Ouray and then got the codes below this morning. Then over lunch, my truck completely seized. No power, rear hatch wouldn’t open, and fob was not working. Total blackout. Had to disconnect and reconnect the battery to get it to start. Now it’s sitting at Toyota………wish me luck.

Bummer — sorry to hear that. I've never observed a connection between the charcoal canister codes and a complete lockout, but who knows with this things?

(I neglected to mention earlier that we also had boiling fuel during the trail days per usual... the majority of trucks experienced this our groups)

 

[tincan45]

I got a P0441 twice in Wyoming this trip. No aux tank, and first times I've ever had the code. Mine was likely related to trailer loading leaving a reverse rake and a crappy super old gas pump which kept shutting off and probably resulted in accidentally overfilling the tank which likely allowed some fuel into the charcoal canister. I haven't seen the code return since Wyoming so hopefully it's a two-time thing. I don't think you have any reverse rake when you're fully loaded, but figured I'd mention it. I definitely think not fully filling the tank helps reduce the likelihood of overflow into the CC, so yeah that probably helped.

This is the first year I have NOT had to clear evap codes. I decided to try using lower octane as soon as I got over 6,000 ft this year. Can't say with certainty, but anecdotally it seems to have made a difference. I'll continue to use the "cheap stuff" at higher altitudes until someone proves otherwise.

 

[kcjaz]

I didn’t boil at all though I did notice a slower transfer rate from aux to main tank. I also ran no ethanol gas all week in Ouray. I also started the trip with 48 gal of no ethanol and only had to use E10 once out and once back. I can’t say for sure but I think none ethanol gas helps the boiling issue.

 

[Markuson]

I got a P0441 twice in Wyoming this trip. No aux tank, and first times I've ever had the code. Mine was likely related to trailer loading leaving a reverse rake and a crappy super old gas pump which kept shutting off and probably resulted in accidentally overfilling the tank which likely allowed some fuel into the charcoal canister. I haven't seen the code return since Wyoming so hopefully it's a two-time thing. I don't think you have any reverse rake when you're fully loaded, but figured I'd mention it. I definitely think not fully filling the tank helps reduce the likelihood of overflow into the CC, so yeah that probably helped.

I mildly boiled regularly once I was burning Utah gas (?) & mild altitude, but no geysers or drama…
Gas was sorta “simmering” on all trails like yours @linuxgod , but not bad.

Re charcoal canisters… (my experience with swapping, anyway)
-I replaced mine when my 24 gal aux tank went in via Georg & crew in 2018 (or 19) at Valley Hybrids (weirdest name ever for a Cruiser specialist shop…lol). Within a couple weeks after CC swap…my evap codes were back… so the CC replacement was a pricey bust for me. Since then (so 5+ years) I throw evap codes occasionally but clear them on the fly with my hard-wire (physically switched) OBD2, and its just something I don’t fret over… Just tgree button presses and gone. Aside from maybe adding a bit of heat shielding between my sub-tank and re-routed exhaust pipe… I no longer think of it as a problem. Just a mysterious annoyance.

One interesting

I boiled gas at the top of Imogene, threw a PO441 code on the way home from Ouray and then got the codes below this morning. Then over lunch, my truck completely seized. No power, rear hatch wouldn’t open, and fob was not working. Total blackout. Had to disconnect and reconnect the battery to get it to start. Now it’s sitting at Toyota………wish me luck.

View attachment 3706227

Wondering if the black out was coincidental (unrelated to codes). Blackout sounds sounds more like a loose or fouled battery clamp or extender, as evap codes have never done anything like that over the 6 or 7 years I’ve seen them. Hope they’ll sort that out in short order.

 

[Markuson]

Yeah, I was very confused myself. It definitely don't think it was an electric issue, but it all happened within 6 hours of each other.....

Well Toyota techs say they can’t find the problem….ill check battery connections but I told them to change the canister. Do you think it’s a waste at this point? I’ve heard so many say it’s not the solution.

My opinion on the power black-out:
It really and truly sounds like a fouled or loose battery clamp. Simple as that…with no codes—which would make sense that Toyota found no issue.

That black-out happened to me twice…
-First was a simple goof (forgot to tighten the clamp. Worked loose a bit…until it didn’t snd I realized the goof)
-Second time, clamp was tight, but road grime had worked its way into a terminal clamp extender, and needed a cleaning. Got the full black-out thing til cleaned (and I dumped that terminal extender and switched to a prototype Slee let me test… Now sold as their EXCELLENT single piece, coated extenders.
Zero issues since:

(Protype shown… Slee’s production version slightly differ from my loaded-up units)

Not saying you need these…(or the non-extended versions they also make)… Just that a loose or dirty clamp or extender can 100% cause the exact power “black-out” you described.

 

[Markuson]

I appreciate this insight! I’ll take a look when I get it back for sure.

Only thing I’d add to that thought is…that an iffy battery connection or even a loose connection can function normally…or not…as things bump around and make better or worse contact.

One other possibility…
In the main, under hood fuse box…you find everything from normal small fuses with Amp numbers…to large, boxy relays.

With the truck OFF… its worth pressing down on each large relay or fuse. I found a very odd (and would have been costly) problem recently…that was remedied ny simply pressing firmly down on each relay…where I noticed most of them moved down just slightly. This extra seating pressure literally stopped me 4Lo actuator “failure” because that relay had been fouled, or worked its way slightly upward over the years.

No way of knowing if this is part of your power “black-out” oddity (still guessing battery clamps), but it never hurts to make sure those big relays are fully seated.

In my case, it saved me feom erroneously dismantling my 4Lo actuator, or worse…pulling that all out and replacing. Simple relay push, and VOILA!! Actuator back in business!

 

[Markuson]

Ohh, I will definitely do that as well. Turns out I did have some loose terminal connections, so that was remedied. As for the codes, Toyota recommends a new canister. My dealer tried selling me the canister and the VSV at their price of about $750 plus labor. I found the same parts immediately through another parts shop for around $350, so I ordered them on my own. Now I just need to decide if I tackle it on my own or have someone do it.

Up to you on the canister, but as I mentioned earlier…my new $700 canister just fouled again with a few weeks.

My solution was to just leave a simple OBD2 plugged in, but with an inline power switch iso it doesn’t draw batter power when the truck is off. I do not know of a solution for the evap codes.

Toyota will happily replace a $700+ charcoal canister every few weeks, but meh. “Clear codes and move on” is my solution the last 6 years.

 

[FULL T1ME]

Hey @FULL T1ME … I just realized this is Cole’s 200 build thread. Now that the issue is resolved, how about we both tal the “…” at the bottom of each of our many now-unnecessary posts so we can delete them & clean up his build thread?

Done