After some minor breakage in Pismo the 45 is back, beter than ever. We, and I say we lightly, had a little mishap involving a shock and a radiator. Apparently the 1/4" thick shock mount bracket was not enough to handle some air as it tore off putting the shock right through the brand new radiator, taking a perfectly good shroud with it. The upper shock mounts were made from 1/4 strap and work fine in most offroad stuff but I never put on bump stops thinking I would never be jumping this thing anyway. Wrong. I beefed up the mounts and will be making bump stops in the near future.
Now with new radiator, shroud, fan, etc., fixing all of the typical Toyota leaks and getting the tires balanced, the truck actually drives down the road really good at 70mph. Amazing. All that with a new windshield courtesy of Toyota Trail Teams, I am really beginning to enjoy it now.
The newest edition is I used all of my AMEX points to get the new GPS system from Garmin called the 7200. It has a 7" touch screen, MP3 player, XM radio and remote and will handle all electronic issues that I wanted in the 45 in one unit. I also found out that Cambridge Soundworks, the maker of some killer sounding speaker systems, makes a computer speaker system that has the ability to run on 12 volts. Works great with a IPOD or MP3 player. I am using some Logitech speakers for the mids and highs that are almost hidden between the roof and rollbar, and the subwoofer is on the rear packge tray out of the way. It sounds better than most car s I have been in. It also has aux audio inputs that are used for my CB to run through the amp and speakers so now I can actually hear it. That with some new cup holders, I am stylin' big time.
Very cool.
It wasn't made for jumping. Butch called me as I was on my way from SEMA to ask how to get the front spring back in. It seems that although on the trail you never really unload both front springs....you do when in the air Its all back together now so I am happy.
G
didn't get time to adjust the lighting on the camera phone before i got the pic of gary trying to discard the eggs that were poured in the radiator didn't even think to get pics of root towing us back to camp.
we were walking around sema when butch called gary to tell him about the first breakage...was kinda interesting listening to gary and filling in the blanks
You know...I did think about bump stops but the shocks have them built in and this truck was to be more of a slow goer than a jumper, so I let it pass. Oh well....live and learn. I am thinking about the air stops inside the springs just like factory.