So about the build and the Cruiser.
I have built a lot of trucks in the past. Usually though they get some test time before a big trip and any issues or quirks worked out. I had so much going on leading up to this trip and the build was rather big on the truck that I really had no time to test the Cruiser before I left Wyoming. When I got to California I went to Valley Hybrids, there both e-lockers got installed and I had the whole front end torn apart and the diff out of the truck. New brakes went on all around too. Just a whole bunch of last minute stuff was done in their shop. Big thanks to
@orangefj45 for that and the use of the shop and lift. I worked pretty hard on the truck there for like 4-days and then I just jumped in it and split, again with no test time.
By the time we got to Guanajuato we had put 4,000 or so miles on the truck and a lot of those were hard miles in Baja. The Cruiser was performing well with no issues at all. So I was happy about that but also feeling good in my ability since none of my work on the truck was causing issues or problems. Confidence is a good thing when you are on a trip like this.
I did have some things I wanted to do to the truck before we continued. Most of that parts wise I needed to get sent from the USA to Guanajuato. I bought the parts, like rear air bag kit and had them shipped to a buddy in the USA who would then ship the parts to me in Mexico. The truck was actually handling the weight well all things considered. I had OME heavies in the rear, the heaviest you can buy. My Tacoma for these trips would weight 6,000lbs and you could really feel it. Without air bags in the rear is was not happy at all even after a set of custom made Deaver springs for the weight. The Cruiser was doing much better and I didn't have air bags. I wanted to put some in though just to help the rear springs and give me a little control back there too.
On top of this we started thinking we wanted to buy a cheap little trailer or build one ourselves. We just had to much gear and everything would be so much easier if we had a trailer, besides some driving that is.
The next video I am finishing up and working on is of the truck. Four trips outside the USA in Toyotas for me in three different trucks. All of them set up by me. So it has been a good learning experience, I think I have it dialed and could build any truck now set up just right for these kinds of trips. Any ways, there is a lot to doing these kinds of trips and having the right truck set up for the individuals uses makes all the difference in the world. I always consider every build to be different and in my world there is no such thing as "cookie cutter".
Cheers
