1st Gen. Lunch Table - General Discussion

Had my first recovery in the Tundra today. No action photos as I was more concerned with getting the fiber guy (who ran and spliced a new line for two hours in the pouring rain) unstuck and onto his next call without the boss finding out.

The aftermath. Drug this poor guy and his 2wd 2019 f150 about 600' to the paved frontage road. Backwards. No options for hooking up the front, but he had a factory receiver in the back. My receiver recovery shackle came in clutch for that.


Tundra did great even in street trim with the camper loaded. Nearly got stuck once with him attached, but plenty of maneuverability and control while not pulling a dead load.


Couple of takeaways:

Traction boards would be really handy in our extremely fine soils. The top 4-6" turns into a thick grease, while below that is a mostly hard bottom. I could have leap frogged him back onto solid ground without even starting my truck.

I need to finally pull the trigger on a kinetic recovery rope and a pair of soft shackles. I was using an old school yellow nylon strap with forged hooks at both ends. I was making damn sure to only statically load the strap, but a little jolt at the start of the pull would have really helped with the no traction situation. Rope needs to be 40'+. The strap I was using is only 15' and that doesn't leave much room for error.

 

I’m 6’0, but real skinny. I fit comfortably- but it’s still a very Italian driving position, short legged and long armed. You also definitely aren’t driving it with boots on, the pedals are real close together. With an aftermarket steering wheel and a small wheel spacer, a taller or larger person than me could fit fine.

Definitely get one if you come across a deal. They’re such low-risk cars. Cheap to buy, cheap to maintain, cheap to drive. I’ve been thinking of putting together a buyers guide…

 

Did Dale do his due duty and properly supervise?

 

The most bugless my condenser & radiator has been in a while.

 

Running spotter from the passenger seat as usual.

 

The Yaris was pretty quick for what is was. I remember watching Yaris class racing on TV once. You can also swap in a 6 speed manual transmission from out of a jdm Corolla Levin that had the “blacktop” engine. You’d have to reuse the front portion of the Yaris bell housing, then bolt on the rest of the Levin’s tranny to it. I was this close to doing that exact swap in my 05 scion xB, but prudence got the best of me. No doubt it would have been a fun project…close ratio transmission along with the 6 gear that was just a tad taller (that would lower the overall RPM by about 200 at 60mph).

 

Now he’ll have to bring a skill saw with him every time he goes to pick up a sheet of plywood

 

I’ll let ya know how it is @bmf4069

thought you’d appreciate my coaster as well.

 

I'm gonna have to get some royalties from them or something. Coaster would be better if it was a Sig, but I dig it.

 

Dude is a great wrench, but couldn't general construction himself out of a cardboard box. If he needs plywood I'll probably get the phone call.

Or you know, drop the tailgate

 

I have these albeit I've only used them for setting the tension in the winch, but they reviewed nicely

$20 JCHL Soft Shackle Synthetic Road Recovery Rope 1/2' X 23" 56000LBS Breaking Strength Tow Shackles for Sailing SUV Off Road Towing ATV Recovery 2 Pack

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C3LL3W8F

 

I replaced my house batteries yesterday. 944 pounds behind the rear axle on my RCLB made oversteer awful squirrelly going down interstate 90. When I built this place, I made sure my battery box was at the same level as the FGT tailgate so I wouldn't have to lift these 118 pound batteries in my old age.

 

Max9?

Ouch. I resemble that remark.

 

You Montana boys are built different.

Battery specs and total system capacity?

 

Batteries are 420 amp hours each x 8, Solar is 2240 watts. No electric bill at my cabin. The main cost of off grid solar power is battery wear and tear...about $350 a year.