As seen in Toyota Trails!
Various articles written here have been published in TLCA's Toyota Trails magazine and on their website. After roaming around our site, click on the magazines to visit TLCA.
Tech and Fabrication
Electrical System Know How
By Tony K (with a little bit of help from Steve K)
I will be the first to admit this is the area I lack the most knowledge in. But I am learning more all the time and figured we needed a place for basic electrical what not.
Transfer Case Compatability
There were several variations of split t-cases available in our wagons over the ten years they were made. Some of these differences were important, others not so much. The most important one is determining whether a particular case will fit in your rig. And this in turn is determined by what tranny is in your rig. Because Toyota not only used more than one t-case variation they also used different configurations of the same tranny. Also worth mentioning is that there is no difference between the t-case for a diesel and the one for a gas rig. Same splitcase used for both.
Modified Trailer Jacks
By Eric
I haven’t been too fond of the trailer jack I am using. It served its purpose for the initial stages, but needs to be replaced for what i need.
The problems I have with my current one is mainly the mounting. It requires a bigger surface area to mount to than just the tongue. Sure I can make a plate on the side of the tongue and then have the appropriate mounting surface, but I don’t care to do that. The other problem is it’s not easy to remove when off-roading.
Backing Plates, or Not
By Tony K
I have seen this topic bantered about in several places so I figured to throw my two cents on the fire.
Realistically backing plates on a 60 serve a dubious purpose. They may keep dirt out but they also have the possibility of trapping mud and rocks against the rotor. Maybe even causing some heavy damage to the rotor. And the bad part about this is that there is no easy way to get a rock out from between the backing plate and rotor without removing the hub and lots of other parts.
Air Systems
By Tony K & Eric B
My original air supply was nothing more than a cheesy little compressor that plugged in to the cig lighter. While it did work it had severe limitations. I decided to install an upgraded air system and it is more than adequate for how I use it. It runs my lockers, airs up my tires, blows dirt out of places it shouldn’t be and will run some tools on a very limited basis.