Build indycole's 2016 200 Series Build and Retrospective

[indycole]

There hasn’t been much to add to this build thread for the past couple years as we’ve been enjoying the truck as is for the most part.

Now with two kids, a one year old and two year old, our trips and setup has changed a bit. Overnighters, long weekend trips, and day trips have taken over longer road trips and backcountry camping. The kids are just about at the age where we’ll hopefully get back to more frequent camping.

We’re heading out on a road trip of the west in a couple weeks.

I swapped in the heaviest Dobinson springs (C59-549). I’ll keep the 547s on hand. I also did a full brake job while the tools were out. Fluids are topped off and overall the truck is doing well at just short of 110k miles.

I have been monitoring some minor oil (I think) seeping around the driver side of the engine. I can see it through the wheel well. Toyota checked it out but didn’t come up with anything conclusive. I’m guessing it’s one of the standard issues on the 5.7 and probably have a bit of a project in my near future.

There’s a bit more prep to do before the trip. I did enlarge the TT jerry can tray a bit to fit an Alubox. I’m back to one spare after nearly a decade of running two spares.

A few other items from recent memory…
* replaced heater hoses after noticing a minor coolant leak
* another charcoal canister replacement a few months back
* swapped a servo in the rear HVAC
* welded in a new captive nut after one of the captives utilized by the skid plates broke after a hard hit
* had some significant issues with my Baja Boss tires and decided to give the Falken AT4W a try
* replaced the cowl cover as the old was moving all around… turns out it had no tabs left after multiple windshield replacements
* replaced the engine bay cover

 

[linuxgod]

If you don’t lose any oil between oil changes just ignore the oil seepage. My timing cover has been seeping for 100k miles, and I have a slight valve cover seep as well. Neither seems to require adding oil - I probably lose a few tbsp but with air blowing across the engine it looks like hell

 

[indycole]

If you don’t lose any oil between oil changes just ignore the oil seepage. My timing cover has been seeping for 100k miles, and I have a slight valve cover seep as well. Neither seems to require adding oil - I probably lose a few tbsp but with air blowing across the engine it looks like hell

Thanks! Did y'all end up doing a big trip this summer?

 

[radman]

I have a set of Toyo R/T Trails that i'm going to replace my MT Baja's with. They sure did look great, but can't believe they fell apart and MT's official response was "don't air down"

 

[indycole]

I have a set of Toyo R/T Trails that i'm going to replace my MT Baja's with. They sure did look great, but can't believe they fell apart and MT's official response was "don't air down"

So many pieces of my Baja Boss tires fell off they’d no longer balance. MT did replace my first set and then offered a discount on the second set.

After 3 sets of failed tires I gave up. Performance was great… durability not so much. I also got the “don’t air down” direction from them.

 

[linuxgod]

So many pieces of my Baja Boss tires fell off they’d no longer balance. MT did replace my first set and then offered a discount on the second set.

After 3 sets of failed tires I gave up. Performance was great… durability not so much. I also got the “don’t air down” direction from them.

I’m still a Nitto Ridge Grappler fan, though you’ll recall I chunked up a set on top of the world a few years back. I’ve heard good things about Falken but my experience was not that

My Falken Wildpeak RT01 were very durable and had 60-70% tread after 30k miles. But they were not as grippy on Moab slick rock as the Nitto Ridge Grapplers. And the sidewalls had become oddly weak which left me with a LOT of wander and sway on the highway. Maybe that was an artifact of towing on C load tires at nearly max PSI but they should’ve handled that load just fine.

 

[HSTexan]

I’m still a Nitto Ridge Grappler fan, though you’ll recall I chunked up a set on top of the world a few years back. I’ve heard good things about Falken but my experience was not that

My Falken Wildpeak RT01 were very durable and had 60-70% tread after 30k miles. But they were not as grippy on Moab slick rock as the Nitto Ridge Grapplers. And the sidewalls had become oddly weak which left me with a LOT of wander and sway on the highway. Maybe that was an artifact of towing on C load tires at nearly max PSI but they should’ve handled that load just fine.

I've had nearly identical experiences with the Nittos and Falkens--loved my RG's for a less aggressive tire. Great grip and I probably got close to 45K of life out of a set. Falken RT01's felt like they took 10-15K to break in enough for the sidewalls to start deforming when aired down. Slipped on stuff I never had an issue with the RG's. I've been on Toyo RT Pro's for ~4K miles now with a couple wheeling trips and they have so far been stellar. Looking forward to seeing how they do in CO at the end of the month, but so far great on road characteristics and off road grip has been solid

 

[indycole]

Helpful notes on the Falkens. Mine haven't seen much varied terrain or really been stress tested yet. I'll keep an eye on them. I've never run Falken before... it was one of those situations where I had severe sidewall damage on 3/6 Baja Boss tires and needed to replace with something available within 24 hours. I was leaning toward KO3s but they were unavailable in the size I wanted.

I've run RGs before. They were probably the tire I've had to think the least about. Ran them from brand new until they needed replaced. Probably should have stuck with them