Marv's Boring Black SR5

I have looked at the larger tank. Right now, When we’re towing I have an effective range of like 150 miles. It’s never truly limited where we can go, but there have been some close calls getting into gas stations in more remote areas. It would be nice to have close to double the range.

 

This is an awesome build! Makes me want to trade these wheels and tires (came on the truck when I bought it) for some steelie 18s!

How do you like the ADS compared to the Fat Bob's/Bilstein set up?

 

Steelies! They keep me covert like grandpa…

I only have the leaf springs and rear shocks installed so far, so not totally sure. Initial impressions are good, though. The system seems to perform better the faster I go and harder I hit stuff, but I haven’t gotten off road yet. Hopefully soon, though!

 

Got the coilovers and UCA’s installed today. I did the drivers side first then passenger side. As usual, the second side went much faster than the first. Took about 6 hours all said and done. The rake is much less pronounced now. The MCM kit gets a decent amount of lift and keeps rake around stock. I like it and the kids had fun helping again.

Also. Found an oil leak at the rear of the passenger side valve cover. I’ll have to get this addressed.

After install was complete we had to go break it in. This kit is pretty F’n sweet. The guys at ADS weren’t kidding when they said you can party pretty hard with this setup. I was hammering through some rough sections of muddy, snowy, rutted, rocky trail west of Boulder at like 30-40 mph. I was so happy with the performance. It really comes alive the harder you hit things. Kids had a blast. Daddy was happy. Good day for sure.

 

Rear hydro bumps went in today! Fairly smooth install, took a few hours and a couple broken drill bits

Also grabbed a propane heater for the garage and a new wheeled stool/creeper. Way more comfortable for working!

 

Spring is starting to come around in the Rockies and mama was on a retreat this weekend so I decided to cut out on Friday and take the kids camping! I’ve been itching to mash this suspension on some drier, rougher terrain to see what it can do so we went down towards Buena vista.

Weather was WINDY on Friday driving out! Glad to have a decent wdh with sway control, but still had to be on my toes with some of the crosswinds near the foothills.

We made it without incident and camped along the Arkansas river. Weather was generally pretty good for springtime but a little windy at times.

Ran some trails and even got into my rear bump stops a little bit on some bigger hits. ADS setup is pretty good, but I feel like some tuning would get it better. I’m pretty sure it has more performance that can be unlocked through some tuning/adjustment. Kids had a blast climbing rocks, digging by the river, and blasting some trails.

I need some new tires soon. I encountered some muddy, snowy sections and these coopers are petty much acting like slicks. I’m thinking about some BFG KO2 or Toyo open country at3 in a 35” C load flavor. These E rated tires are just too stiff on road for my liking anymore. Probably gonna go with some new wheels and drop down to a 17” rim for some more sidewall.

 

Finally got around to installing my ESP under seat storage bins. Install was pretty easy, i think it took me about an hour. Cut out the template, cut the carpet and insulation according to template, drop in place. Done.

I like them. I still have car seats in the back seat so it’s more of a pain for me to access them but they hold a decent amount of stuff. I’m trying to lighten things up and ditch my husky tool box in the bed so these will be good for storing essentials like tie downs, recovery rope, and air hose.

 

So that oil leak on the passenger side head turned out to be the infamous cam tower seal leak. Took the truck in to the dealership yesterday and they diagnosed it pretty quickly. Luckily I got the extended warranty so I'm covered. They started on the work right away and I'll hopefully have the truck back by the end of this week.

My warranty also covers a rental vehicle for up to 5 days so I got a tacoma while the tundra is being fixed. That thing feels like one of my kids matchbox cars compared to a real truck...

 

Love the build but curious about the cam leak. Did they say how bad it was? Whats your mileage? Were you noticing any burning oil smell or losing oil?

 

I found the leak a few weeks ago when I was installing the new coil overs and UCA's. It was bad enough that there was a visible drip hanging off the block and it was clear that oil had been leaking down onto the heat shield for some time. I never noticed low oil pressure or a detectable amount of oil missing via dip stick checks, but the dealership has been doing all my oil changes and service intervals. I also never had any leaks hit the ground. I never noticed any strong oil burning odors, at least not enough to make me investigate further.

Once my extended service warranty is expired in a few more miles, I'll be doing all my own maintenance or taking it to a local Toyota specialist mechanic. Dealership service departments can be so hit or miss. Whether or not the techs missed this leak in the past 85,000 miles of maintenance or they chose to ignore it is debatable. Either way, it doesn't inspire confidence in their service. I'm just glad they didnt try to wiggle out of the repair once I brought it to their attention and pointed directly to the cam tower seals.

 

I generally dont trust dealership service techs and you usually get the lowest man on the totem pole doing your work. Thats why I didnt capitalize on the 2 free oil changes as I figured there was a good chance they would do more harm than good somehow.

I was mostly curious to see if they tried to deny the leak or say it wasnt too bad so they wouldnt have to do the work. I still have another year or so before I have to decide if i want to get the extended warranty on my '21, this cam tower issues the main thing that would make me get it, otherwise, I dont think it makes sense for me.

 

I hear ya, been busy running my business and chasing 4 kids for the past several years. Weekend oil changes and maintenance just felt like another thing I didnt have time for but now that the kids are getting bigger, they actually like to crawl under there with me and see what's happening!

The dealership in question, Mountain States in Denver, did not give me any pushback on the fix. They seemed more than happy to take care of it, though it was clear to them that my extended warranty was covering the cost so there was no concern on their part about getting paid for the work or who was liable for it. I'm hopeful that this will close the book on this issue and I'll have many more miles of Toyota reliability out of this one. It's been a good truck so far. I'd say this is the only real issue I've had with it.

 

Thats good to hear, i always default to every dealership is terrible so its nice to hear one do the right thing.

I hear you on oil changes, i have Irish twins myself and they love coming out to help me with chores and such, at least for a while until they get bored or tired and go back to bugging mom. But I love it even though it takes way longer. Their curiosity gets me excited too.

 

New tire time!

The 295/70r18 Cooper’s were a decent tire, but it was time for something new. I got 50k miles out of the coopers and could have pushed them further, but we have a pretty big trip coming up and I wanted new rubber under us for peace of mind.

I also wanted to get away from E rated tires. I believe they are total overkill for 1/2 ton trucks and ride comfort suffers too much. To my disappointment, there’s about zero options for an all terrain, c rated, 35” tire for 18” rims. My options came down to the BFG KO2 or the Toyo AT3, both available in 35x12.5r17 config. I’ve never had Toyo’s before so I decided to give them a try.

This tire size obviously necessitated a change in wheels. I didn’t actually want to ditch my 18” steelies, but if I was going to make a switch I wanted something that would be an upgrade of some kind. I settled on method 703’s with a +35mm offset. This would allow me to ditch my spider trax spacers and keep my offset where it needs to be without having to BMC or trim more plastic. I also liked the beadlock technology and should be able to push these harder off-road at low pressure without worrying about popping a bead. Lastly, I didn’t want any more negative offset than I already had with my stock wheels and spacers. I think that combo netted me about a +25mm offset and I actually wanted to tick them in a bit more if I could. A little poke looks cool, but it’s rough on the truck sides as the tires throw mud and debris all over. I don’t have, nor do I want, fender flares.

I ordered the wheels, tires, and lug nuts through discount tire last week and they did the install today. So far, I’m very happy with the results. The fit is great. No problems with articulation or rubbing. They look awesome. Best of all, ride quality is definitely improved over the E rated Coopers. Much smoother ride.

Looking forward to getting them on the dirt and airing them down! Im hoping that the extra sidewall and softer rubber will help smooth out the choppy stuff on trails.

 

Favorite “build” thread for me. Love seeing your kids included in all the adventures and wrenching, I can’t wait to do the same with mine.

 

Nice work and well put together. So much of this is the same as mine, but our four kids are older. They range from 13 to 26…

 

That’s awesome. My kids are my life. They definitely drive me a little nuts sometimes, but that’s usually because I’m expecting them to act like a boring grown up I’m trying to soak up these years as best I can while they’re still little.

 

Hit some trails this morning! New tires and wheels are great. Definitely more grip and better control on road and off. Also, definitely smoother on and off road. More sidewall coupled with the C load rating is a noticeable upgrade in my opinion.

 

The wheel and tire setup looks solid! Are your tires the ATIII? I just got the Toyo RT Trail and yours look very similar.

 

Method 703 +35mm offset. Yea AT3’s. I like em so far.

 

Lookin good!

Have any more pics of your new wheel and tire setup? Maybe a side shot?

 

Very nice! I recently bought spidertrax 1” spacers for my ‘22 tundra. I’m debating on whether or not to install them. How was the removal of your spacers? Did you use the locktite when you installed them? I figure I’ll eventually replace my (5) 20” trd wheels when my nittos need replacing. So the spacers are temporary. I’m ocd on how they look with the new, wider trd pro fender flares. I’m regretting the 35x11.50 tires right about now.. lol

 

After a short hiatus due to an account hack, I’m back on the forum!

The month of June was basically a 5,000 mile road trip. I was able to get away from our business and spend some great time with my family. This trip was a ton of driving, but we saw so much. I think we were on the road for 26 days and stayed in like 18 different spots. The truck did awesome. I did have a trailer tire blowout in MT but I was expecting that so I got new tires on the trailer in Missoula.

Stops on our trip went something like this:
-Broomfield, CO (home)
-Green river, UT (Crystal Geyser is a neat gem here)
-St George, UT (with a stop in Capitol Reef on the drive)
-Buckskin Mtn state park in Parker, AZ (right on the river)
-Silver strand state beach on Coronado island CA (right on the sand)
-San Mateo state park in San Clemente, CA
-Santa Barbara, CA
-Morro Bay state beach, CA (I wanted to hit Pismo but it just didn’t work out)
-Monterrey, CA
-Henry Cowell redwoods state park, CA (Santa Cruz area)
-Yosemite Nat’l Park, CA
-Gualala, CA (super cool RV park in a redwood grove)
-Harris Beach state park in Brookings OR
-Depoe Bay, OR
-Castle Rock, WA (Mt St Helen’s)
-Puyallup, WA (wife’s dad’s place)
-Sandpoint, ID
-Missoula, MT
-Anaconda, MT
-Buffalo, WY
-Broomfield, CO (home)

Heck of a trip!

 

Great pics, man!

 

Good to see you back, partner. You had a heck of a trip, and made it pretty close to me when you ran through OR. I fish out of Depoe Bay a few times per year, but haven’t gone out of Brookings.

Kind of funny to see the Cam Hanes hat. He’s a local fella in my town. His brother Taylor and I go way back! Them boys like to run too much for me!!!

We’re currently dragging our Imagine through WA, hitting the national parks here. Will be home in another week, or so…

 

one of my hunting buddies got me the hat a few years ago to commemorate an archery hunt we did. I do like the motto of “keep hammering”. Sometimes that’s all you can do!

hope your trip is going good. We had a great time on our big drive. I ended up replacing the trailer axles and leaf springs when we got home. Trailer rides so much better now.

My Deavers are getting pretty broken in, too! They ride pretty nice and the squeakiness is pretty much gone. Night and day over stock.

 

Interesting on the trailer springs and axles! What did you do different?

I do have a set of the MORride spring carriers and heavy shackle sets with wet bolts, but didn’t get it installed before this trip.

Our trip is going smooth. No issues towing, and the whole setup just keeps working.
Glad your truck is settling down and all is working nice!

 

I hadn’t really done much wheeling before our big trip and when we got home I was itching to go get some dings in the paint!

A couple of buddies were doing an overnight wheeling/camping trip with the kids last weekend so I loaded my crew up (minus mama and my oldest girl) for a night in the tent. Been a while since I’ve done that and the kids were stoked. One guy has his Raptor and the other guy has a 4Runner.

The trail we decided on is called Coney Flats. It’s in the vicinity of Boulder and it’s definitely not the norm to see full size trucks up there but we can’t let Jeep’s have all the glory, right? There are definitely some moderately difficult obstacles to get through along with some water crossings. Not too many wide open sections of trail on this one.

After negotiating the first obstacle at the trailhead, I got a little frisky on the loud pedal and probably hit 30 or 35 mph on a somewhat open section of trail. I wasn’t paying super close attention to how rocky it was getting and rolled over a sharp edged rock that pinch flatted both drivers side tires. Ugh. The rear tire was hopeless but we were able to get a plug in the front so it would hold air. I can now very well understand the need for 2 spare tires.

luckily we were super close to a camp site when I flatted so we just pulled the truck in there and worked on it. The badlands jack and onboard air were a real benefit on this ride! After getting the tires changed I decided to leave my truck parked for the rest of the adventure. I didn’t want to trust that plug in the sidewall more than I had to.

We loaded the kids in the raptor and wheeled that for a while before enjoying a nice evening at a creek side campsite. The following day, I came out the trail the same way we went in and was able to get home on the plugged tire but I was glad to be back in the driveway because that thing wasn’t going to last forever.

My dumb ass didn’t buy the road hazard certificates from discount on these Toyo’s but luckily they let me get one retroactively so I only had to buy one more new tire. I also purchased certs for the rest of the tires so I’m covered now, which means the I’ll probably never have another flat again but I feel better with the certs.

All in all, another fun trip in the books. Kids had a great time and we all came out with 10 fingers and 10 toes. I have renamed that trail “Coney double flats” after this adventure. Hopefully I’ll get back up there sometime this summer and finish the whole trail. It’s no fun until you break something, right!?

 

Towards the end of our last trip I noticed how flat the rear trailer axle had gotten and it was totally destroying the inside tread of the rear tires. I think I had the hitch improperly adjusted for quite a while with the tongue riding a bit high. This was loading the rear trailer axle a bit too much. Those stock axles are a bit of a joke anyway, but I didn’t do it any favors. Since I needed to replace one axle already and the brakes were due for service/replacement along with a few other things I decided to just get new axles and leaf springs. I went with 3” 3500lb axles and they upgraded the leaf packs to like a 5 leaf spring. I kept stock wheels and tires since I had just replaced the tires. It rides so much better now.

 

Thanks!