Oct 18-20: Anza Borrego Trip

awesome pics Tad! I had a blast wheelin with you and the group

 

Great time!!! It was awesome meeting everyone. Special thanks to @sdde4n for leading our group!!! Thanks to @alwzdfiant for sharing the camp site with me and the great food and company!! @Marty McFly you are as awesome as I thought you would be and you have a great family and great morning hair!!! See you at the closest mall!! Monet @Pinay is was great to meet you and Lady Gaga!!! Francis @Porschetech29 is was awesome meeting you and hope to join a group you lead in the future!!! SGU and BASTRDS even with the mishap with Warren you guys all pulled it together with the help of the entire Tundra community to get him back and rolling and hopefully back home safely!!! @osidepunker we will have that beer soon. I know you guys were busy wrenching all night and morning!!! I’m sure there is a lot more people I’m missing and apologize but it’s late. Thank you again everyone!!!

 

whos white Tundra in that last picture......by the way nice cement Tundra there also bro..........cant wait to meet you guys as well hopefully you guys do another meet maybe next month or two but little closer to me

 

@Rica25 that is @Porschetech29 . I was trying to get a photo of Truck Haven but that bad ass Tundra was in the way!!!

 

what rear bumper is that?

 

with all this overtime im doing that is my next two mods is front and rear bumpers............front i want the Nfab Mrds

 

Hopefully we’ll get to meet on the next run. Had to miss this one.

 

Had a fun time on Saturday. This was my first time out and definitely not going to be my last. Thanks having me tag along. I'm glad my wife like it so long as she's not bouncing around so much lol. So that means upgrades and I'm for it lol.

 

@Porschetech29 has a 1 off bumper that is perfect, but the builder is out of the business now

 

anyone know where i can get a good deal on the nfab mrds front bumper

 

stop it and move to SoCal already...LT territory

 

Had a great time! Nice to meet everyone!

 

I don't even know where to begin. So many people went outta their way to help my sorry butt, I'm completely blown away. I've never before witnessed that kind of community action
First I wanna thank Sean, @15whtrd we've never met and he patiently waited at the dealership and laid out his own cash to buy my new steering rack. He even worked the sales guy to give him/me a better deal. WTF? Who does that for someone they've never met?
I'm not too sure what happened next but Sean took the rack to @nishibot, who took it to my bud @Porschetech29 who brought it (and about 5 other trucks) to our campsite. Francis also brought the ATF, rags and eagerly hopped under the truck to lend a hand.
But before any of this there was a ton of communication going on. @Vizsla purchased a rack and was gonna have it the next morning, @papasmurf had everything lined up to have one at 5:30 am the next morning. And I don't even know what else was going on? Seems @Sunnier was contacting people left and right to make things happen. Thanks Sunny.
I would never have gotten this done in the desert w/o Alex, @osidepunker. He had the experience and the axle nut socket to get this done.
Thanks @Pinay for finding us and lending us your Pro Eagle and jack stands
I know I'm forgetting people and I know there are people that made efforts I'm not even aware of. I want to express my sincere gratitude to everyone.
So, what we did, in the desert, was remove the axles, drop the front diff, remove and replace the steering rack then put it all back together and do an alignment. All told it was 21 hrs from broken to ready to mash. That includes Alex towing me 5+ miles, eating dinner, wrenching, getting drunk (for some people), sleeping, wrenching some more and eating breakfast.
So, we salvaged 1/2 a day a night run and a quicky camp to asphalt run.
Sincere thanks to everyone involved in the Anza Milagro.
Now for the much needed shower and sleep.

 

@831Tun I think I’ve got a good idea who you are around here. And you have enough people backing you that I knew for a fact that I wasn’t going to get screwed. A lot of good folks have your back so it only made sense to give you a hand since the only dealer who had the part was 2 miles from house. I consider you in my circle of friends. I knew you weren’t going anywhere. @Sunnier @Pinay @papasmurf @nishibot and @Porschetech29 all had a hand in organizing what the hell I was going to do with it once I got it LOL. I was literally standing right there when you were trying to purchase it. Then I overheard that they wouldn’t accept a credit card over the phone. Mind you, when I first came in they said they sold it. Then you guys worked your magic, and suddenly it was available again LOL. I just felt like I wasn’t gonna leave that place without it at that point! Then I just drove out to Cerritos and handed it off to Steve, he handed it off to Francis out in Riverside and the rest is history. It was kind of fun man!
Tundras ASSEMBLE!

 

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE INVOLVED ! ! !

Warren hit a wall or something and caused the seal to burst. Steering felt "funny" and he inspected; found a slow leak at the inner tie rod. He decided to take the strap and get towed to camp in order to save his pump. Racks are a weak link, but I dont see any good options for us. I'm not about to start carrying a spare rack.

Steering rack swap went pretty smooth. Floor jack and jack stands are necessary, thanks Monet! you need the floor jack to maneuver the front diff out. and jack stands for safety. However, I'm definitely not going to start carrying a set fck that haha

Dont try to pop the axles in with a metal hammer, use a dead blow. The axle end is very thick, but we bent it juuust a little and we had to spend some time filing the threads to get the nut on. I was able to align toe with a tape measure and got it close enough to where warren didnt bother adjusting after road test.

Its a two man 6 hour job with no breaks. We had all tools needed except jack/stands. Warren is gonna start carrying an axle socket now haha Started late evening and had everything disassembled before bed. Woke up and installed and was wheels in the dirt around 1pm.

I request a do over on this trip...

 

Also, I'm glad I got to meet some of you guys! I wanted to have a little more time to hang, but we'll just have to plan another one

 

Ooooh, I guess I can call dibs on chase vehicle!

 

We were glad you guys could join us. Hopefully, we'll see you at the next one.

 

Duuude it was so nice!! And hope you can make it out some day. Would love to catch up w you! It’s been what 10 years??

 

Yes, thank you!!

 

Kudos to @osidepunker for putting in work. That speaks volumes to the kind of guy he is. I’m glad I was able to meet you for a brief second too .

@831Tun you guys came such a long way, everyone was going to make sure you got home safe and wouldn’t leave you hanging

@15whtrd Sean, you da man homie for doing what you did brotha. That speaks volumes also for who you are as a person

 

Glad you made it home safely, Warren. This is a great group we have here in SoCal. Now, if only we could them all north of the Grapevine...

 

I second that do over Alex. My highway vs. dirt mile ratio was a little low.

 

It’s nice to not be the reason why everyone is waiting around. I guess that’s what happens when me and my bucket of bolts stays home.

 

Also a big thank you to @Bannock452 for taking me out on a night run. That guy knows the desert and his smooth riding truck like the back of his hand!!!

 

I’m game! NorCal road tripppp!

 

You also missed out on the fart contest. I was upwind so I don’t know who won

 

There was a foul wind blowing under that truck at times.

 

Yes, that and the unannounced nipple rubbing Or was it pinching? I didn't partake so I wouldn't know!