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
Quick Fixes
By Tony K and Eric B
Sometimes you just have to get your rig rolling again without making the complete or even proper repair. Sometimes it’s just to get off the trail and out of the way and other times it is done so you can get home. These are a few of the ones we have had to make and others that we have seen done or been part of.
Build an Oil Pan
By Tony K
A rusty oil pan is what started the partial rebuild of my diesel so I guess it would be prudent to tell you how I solved this dilemma. The only replacement I could find was used and a bit on the expensive side so I decided I would make a new one. All told the parts ran me less than a $100. One of the great things about making a pan is that you can change anything about it. You can make it deeper to hold more oil, you can make it out of thicker material and even paint it some oddball color….
Tranny Bypass Hose
By Tony K
As many people have found out, once the seal between the transmission and transfer case fails all the oil eventually pushes it’s way into the tranny, starving the t-case of oil. And this leads to excessive wear at the minimum and catastrophic failure at the worst. Fortunately there is an easy fix if you are not in a position to replace the main seal.
Helpful Hints
By Eric B and Tony K
These are things that you may find helpful and just might not have thought of prior to making a huge mess.
Bend a little foil trough for draining the radiator into a bucket. Works great and easy to collect the water compared to letting it run off the frame!
Hinged Console
By Tony K
I added a large amount of wiring and switches to my console and to make access better than the 5 screws that normally hold it down I went ahead and put a hinge on it. This allows me to just tip it up. Once it is up I have access the wiring for my air locker switches, aux light controls, 12v DC outlets, an auxiliary fuse block, interior 
winch controls and the negative buss that serves as the ground for all that electrical.