Another new guy

[snipecatcher]

I've found that as long as you stay away from the national board of TTORA, the ********** talking and general rudeness is all but gone. I've been to one meet (Texas Takeover 2007) and while it was fun, most of the stuff they do is a little more hardcore than I care to put my daily driver through. Over the years my '04 Tacoma will be built to handle most anything I can throw at it while still having a low COG and good street manners, something that I seem to have in common with most of you guys. Here's some pics of its current condition with SAW 2.0's, 265/75 Goodyear wrangler silent armors, and my kayak rack/fishing platform. The next thing I plan on doing is adding some sliders and a front and rear bumper, but the front and rear bumper will probably have to wait until I get a good tube bender, because my bends turn out pretty bad with the Harbor Freight bender.

About to unload my tools to fab up a High-Lift mount:

Close-up of the rack:

Fishing at Padre Island National Seashore

 

[erod]

nice rig, welcome, thanks for posting and look forward to hear and seeing more of you adventures!

 

[OldSven]

Has your truck ever been drug out to sea I like the rack.

 

[snipecatcher]

hey

Haha, not yet, but I have had the rod jump free from its holder. Had so much pressure on it from a 5' bull shark that it landed a good 15 feet behind the truck and I practically jumped on it. Got the fish though.

 

[OverlandZJ]

Wewlcome to EXPO!

I spent a few summers on Padre Island, have family in Corpus Christi. Remember one summer in particular when i fell fond of Z cars and a cute young Blonde.

 

[Willman]

Welcome to the ExPo!

Nice rig!

Did you make the rack setup?...Hook the shark and drive off?????....I want to see some more pictures of your fish!!!!

 

[imagodave]

Nice Rack!!!!

Welcome to the Expo!!!!

 

[snipecatcher]

Welcome to the ExPo!

Nice rig!

Did you make the rack setup?...Hook the shark and drive off?????....I want to see some more pictures of your fish!!!!

Built the rack set-up myself. Main thing I don't like about it is there is a noticeable difference in the ride. At highway speeds the truck sways pretty bad, even with my 675 lb. front springs. The rack probably weighs about 80 lbs. I will re-do it one day when I can figure out how to weld aluminum with a MIG. This should bring the weight down considerably, plus I won't ever have to worry about rust. The main reason for the flip up rodholder is that the seaweed gets bad down here at times, and will pile up on your line and drag it down, causing problems. Keeping most of the line up out of the water alleviates this some. Here's a picture of that particular 5' bull-shark that pulled my rod-holder down and almost took my rod into the surf:

EDIT: One other thing I thought you might find interesting: Notice all of the rocks and big shells laying around on the beach? We found a fossilized mammoth molar that day. It was a little bit bigger than your fist and weighed a couple of pounds. Pretty neat. I've also found a perfect arrow point down there on a different day. Somebody that knows about that kind of stuff said it was from the Paleo era, which is pretty old.

 

[Ursidae69]

That is a cool setup, very original and functional and it looks damn cool. Nice work. Those bull sharks good to eat? Never been shark fishing, it's on my list of things to do in life yet. :chowtime:

 

[snipecatcher]

hey

Thanks! I release most of my sharks, but every once in a while a young shark (2-3 feet) will end up on one of my big rods and drown without me even know he is on there. Those I take home to eat. They have a firm white meat, and a different taste. Some have described it as a metallic type taste, I don't really know how to describe. They are ok though. If you wanna take that lifetime shark fishing trip, let me know!
-Dan

 

[p1michaud]

Now that's a fish!

Welcome to ExPo!

Very nice truck with functional mods.

Cheers :beer:,
P

 

[datrupr]

Welcome to ExPo!!!:beer:

 

[morerevs]

...sorry to go off subject, but...

I'm considering buying that same tire and size. What load rating did you opt for, and what are your impressions so far?

 

[snipecatcher]

hey

I'm not sure what the load range is, I think they are "D," but I'm pretty sure the max pressure for them is 50 psi. I'll check tomorrow if I remember. I love these tires. They have ridden great from day one, work excellent in the sand, good in the mud, and haven't let me down yet. They are wearing very evenly and I haven't had any flats yet, which is great for the stuff that I drive them through. They are pricey, but I would definitely buy them again.
-Dan

 

[Accrete]

Hi Dan, nice roof rack, looks quite functional for your kayak and rig. I know what you mean on weight. Sometime back i posted a ramble on my father-in-law borrowing our old fj40 and putting what was affectionaltely called an Oil Derrick of a roll cage on the thing. I don't know how much weight the cage added to the cruiser but it did make a difference in the ride!

Very nice pics of the truck down at ocean side. I've yet to venture onto the sand with our TACO here at the beach (a couple miles from our house) on the Oregon coast. I think i'm chicken cuz of possible corrosion since it's still so new.

Happy trails,
Thom