Black Diamond for everything climbing and skiing.    Dynafit -- Speed Up!    Tracker beacons, Stash packs, shovels, more more more.    Terrific deals on randonnee AT rando backcountry skiing gear.    K2 has the skis that stay true to earning your turns.    Garmont boots -- excellent choice for backcountry skiing.

Truck Time in the Rockies — Part One: Winch Swap and Taco Repairs

Bookmark and Share            By Lou

Let the motorhead games begin. After our big winter of backcountry skiing, we’d let some of our truck maintenance and repairs get back-listed. Our ‘03 Tacoma has been running well, but the passenger door window switch and key lock went to failure mode months ago (the key won’t unlock the door). I tore the door apart looking for a frayed wire or something easy and cheap to fix. No such luck.

Black Diamond Verdict backcountry ski
Busting snow with the Silverado and Tabor winch last spring.

Turns out Toyota parts are expensive — as in molded from gold bullion. A power window switch reamed us for sixty bucks! Oh well, the window is fixed now (though the key lock waits for attention). I’m just glad we didn’t need a mud flap. Apparently, if you rip off a flap and bracket that’ll set you back around a C-note!

Which leads me to our fullsize (and cheaper to repair) Chevy — the ‘02 Silverado TAV we’ve been running for about a year now. We recently upgraded the Silve’ with a huge ARB bumper and Tabor winch.

The Tabor is a budget unit made for occasional use. Even so, it’s plenty fast, powerful, and got us out of some fairly bad stucks last winter. But after we’d used ours a few times it quit on us (luckily it bit the dust while spooling in after pulling us through a snow bank, instead of in the midst of the job). Before it malfed, the Tabor made a lot of noise and was hard to switch from forward to reverse. It seemed to be defective, and sure enough Chris at CODE4X4 told me that indeed, some of the early Tabors had a problem that’s since been corrected. I’m good with that, as I like the price/performance ratio.

I picked up my Tabor warranty replacement at CODE4×4 yesterday. Install this morning went okay. Getting the thing up into the bumper is like bench pressing a dead cow. I finally rigged it up on my floor jack and got it close enough to shoehorn it into the winch pocket in the ARB bull bar. Will test it and seat the cable tomorrow.

Chevrolet Silverado with ARB bumper and Tabor winch.
Getting started with the winch install. It’s easier with the bumper off, but then, do I really want to take that big ARB bumper off by myself?

Chevrolet Silverado with ARB bumper and Tabor winch.
Install finished. I changed over to an aluminum hawse fairlead, which is lower profile and weighs about seven pounds less than the roller fairlead the Tabor winch comes with. The roller fairlead is better for heavy use with a steel cable, but for occasional use the hawse style (no rollers) should be fine.

Silverado tranny service..
While at CODE I also had the Silverado tranny flushed and filled with high quality synthetic fluid. According to mechanics I respect, most people don’t do this frequently enough. Transmissions are expensive, so if you’re holding on to your vehicle for a while it’s not a bad idea to make sure that tranny doesn’t get ignored. Doing the service with a machine is the way to go, as simply draining the tranny leaves quite a bit of old fluid inside — plus it’s a good way to create a huge mess if you try to do DIY it in your driveway.

Yep, it’s my big week of intimacy with automobiles. But we’ll get up in the mountains this weekend for some alpine hiking and perhaps a bit of fly fishing.



 

Posted by Lou on June 28, 2007 | Filed Under automotive 

previous post: First Production Dynafit Binding (AKA Low Tech)
next post: Truck Time in the Rockies — Part two: Silverado Gets a Diff Cover

Comments

2 Responses to “Truck Time in the Rockies — Part One: Winch Swap and Taco Repairs”

  1. Mark June 28th, 2007 7:46 pm

    Toyota ain’t cheap, but try Volkswagen. I really like my Golf, but if the alternator goes, it’s off to the poor farm for me.

  2. Hydroponics Supplies March 18th, 2010 10:21 pm

    Thanks for posting that article, it feeds the mind and eases the eagerness of the reader… In fact, my mind is greatly eased because I use hydroponics supplies from the company I spam for to grow amazing bud that relaxes me and keeps my conscious from intruding on my job being a criminal and posting spam on people’s websites that they then have to take time out of their day and deal with.

Got something to say?





Anti-Spam Quiz:

:alien: :angel: :angry: :blink: :blush: :cheerful: :cool: :cwy: :devil: :dizzy: :ermm: :face: :getlost: :biggrin: :happy: :heart: :kissing: :lol: :ninja: :pinch: :pouty: :sad: :shocked: :sick: :sideways: :silly: :sleeping: :smile: :tongue: :unsure: :w00t: :wassat: :whistle: :wink: :wub:

Due to comment spam we moderate most comments. Please do not submit your comment twice -- it will appear shortly after we approve it. Once you've had one comment published, your comments will be pre-approved and appear immediately if you're using the same computer and not blocking browser cookies. NOTE however that ALL comments with one or more links in the text will be held for moderation no matter what, again for spam prevention.
Welcome to Louis (Lou) Dawson's backcountry skiing information and opinion website. Lou's passion for the past forty years has been alpinism, climbing, mountaineering and skiing -- along with all manner of outdoor recreation. He has authored numerous books and articles about backcountry skiing and is well known as the first person to ski down all 54 of Colorado's 14,000-foot peaks, otherwise known as the Fourteeners! Books and free back country information here, and tons of Randonnee rando telemark info.

All material on this website is copyrighted. Permission required for reproduction, electronic or otherwise. That includes publication and display on other websites by whatever means. PLEASE SEE OUR COPYRIGHT INFORMATION.

Backcountry skiing is a dangerous sport. You may be killed or severely injured if you do any form of randone, randonnee and randonnée skiing. The information on this website is intended only as general information. While the authors and editors of the information on this website make every effort to present useful information, due to human error the information, text and images contained within this website may be inaccurate, false, or out-of-date. By using, reading or viewing the information provided on this website, you agree to absolve the owners of Wild Snow as well as content contributors of any liability for injuries or losses incurred while using such information. Furthermore, you agree to use any of this website's information, maps, photos, or binding mounting instructions or templates at your own risk, and waive Wild Snow its owners and contributors of any liability for use of said items for backcountry skiing or any other use.