Thatbassguy's financially irresponsible build and record of where all of my money went

95,670 miles, oil change and tire rotation.

 

You go girl. Sneaking up on 65K here. First set of (aftermarket) tires, normal scheduled maintenance.

 

What tires did you choose?

 

Damn that’s a lot of miles for a 2019. My wife just broke 50k on her 2016 haha

 

It's hard to believe I'll be hitting 100K soon! This was my first new vehicle, and now it's already almost broken in.

It's funny that 100K used to be such a milestone years ago. Meanwhile, despite constant abuse, this thing still feels very much like a newer vehicle. I definitely feel like I'm getting my money's worth.

 

I'm still on my first round of KO2s since 2200 miles. Still have a fair bit of tread left on them. Sadly

 

You need to start doing some brake stands so that you can go get some new tires, lol.

I think I've heard of KO2's lasting 80 or 90 thousand miles with regular rotations.

 

Just saw this lol. Mine are at a little over 40k miles, and still are plenty usable. If I get 285s sometime this year, I almost thinking I could even sell them lol.

 

I sold mine to a friend with 29K miles on them in 2020. He's still using them, although he doesn't put on as many miles as I do.

 

Had 50% tread left on the Nitto Ridge Grapplers, found out one of tire busters needed some skins, on some hard times- so I donated to the cause.

Hope all is good - James, Carlos.

 

That was nice of you! And, a great excuse to buy new tires!

I'm doing well. Thank you!

 

Operation "Rock Slider Top Plate Removal" has begun!

I decided to get rid of the top plates because they mostly just create a spot for debris to collect, and create rust. They add no benefit as a step, but they do deflect gravel that gets kicked up by the front tires.

I planned on getting a set of nice sawhorses, but I got ambitious after work today and all I had handy were ladders.

The easy part on this one is done. Now, I need to grind the rest of the welds off, clean up the rust, and prime and paint. I suspect this is going to be a significant amount of work.













Now; what to do with the old top plates?

 

They look like they’d go well with your Samurai costume.

 

Oh geez glad I didn’t go with the top plate for my sliders!

 

Good call! There's just so many nooks and crannies for dirt, sand, slush and salt to collect.

 

This is a summer project for me too. Well, the painting.

How does the frame look under where the sliders were attached?

 

The frame looks good! Now I have to decide whether to do Fluid film again, or try Woolwax.

 

I’ve done both and prefer woolwax. It’s not nearly as greasy as fluid film is

 

Put the summer tires back on today. The slider project is getting neglected until I have a weekend that isn't booked up. Hopefully I'll get them done before Tigerton in August.

 

I really put the 4Runner to the test on Saturday.

My son broke down... In Indiana! I rented a car hauler trailer, and headed down there. We got loaded up by around 9:30pm and headed back to Wisconsin. We went 55-60 MPH and got home around 1am.

The 4Runner did surprisingly well for being on 295's with full armor, 4 passengers, loaded with recovery gear, and towing at least 700# over the limit. I obviously don't recommend it, but I was very easy on the throttle and brakes. I ended up getting 13 MPG , also, which I certainly won't complain about.

Picture from the oasis we stopped at for a stretch, and to recheck all of the straps:



Sunday morning.. we were too tired to unload Saturday night, so I just backed into the driveway and we went to bed.

It was definitely sagging, but I think this picture makes it look worse than it really was. I checked and had some room under the bump stops, and the steering never felt light or sketchy.



Well.. actually, I stayed up a bit to unwind and ended up BS'ing with my neighbor when he got home from work (bartender).

To make things better, the power went out around 1:30 am was out until around 3.

This is all on top of my Dad being in the hospital since Tuesday with some heart issues. He's in stable condition, but he could have been in trouble if he had procrastinated much longer.

 

Luckily you didn't drive through NC


Had to hit up the Carolina squat joke!

Sorry to hear about your dad and hope he recovers soon.

13mpg with all that ain't bad - actually a little impressive. My old stock JGC with HO v8 got 14mpg when I towed a moped on a tiny trailer or a fully loaded tandem axle uhaul - seemed to be more of an issue with drag than weight. It had about the same HP but was a little lighter and had 330 ft/lbs torque

 

Haha! I read about the squat law. Funny, but sad that it is necessary.

 

Like so many others on the books.

Find out what's wrong with the Element?

 

Radiator. We put in a new one today, and everything seems Ok. But, I'm still a little concerned about it. Hopefully I'm just being paranoid.

 

If it was leaking, better to loose coolant there than through a head gasket!

 

My son has that very vehicle in that very color. I hope this isn't foreshadowing for me... Unless it means putting 295s on my truck, of course

 

Hope your dad is on the mend!

Judging by what I’ve seen of bigger HD pickups, that 13mpg sounds pretty impressive!

 

Well, as long as your son doesn't rear end somebody with a trailer hitch, you're probably fine.

 

It's officially broken in!

 

The rock slider restoration is moving along with some help from a Friend from Tacomaworld! This sandblaster setup is sweet!