Top Heavy 3rd Gen Tacoma on 37's take on the Rubicon Trail for the Marlin Crawler Roundup '23 Part 1

I head up to Loon Lake side of the Rubicon trail with ​⁠‪@overlandx4x440‬ to meet up with a bunch of dudes from the Marlin Crawler Forum to attend the MCR 2023. This is the first roundup in awhile as the last 3 years got cancelled due to Covid and fires.
We start off the trip with 6 total Toyota rigs. We have an array of Toyotas on this trip. One second gen Tacoma on RCLT's, a 2nd gen 4runner on SAS, an FJ cruiser on doublers, an 80's Hilux, and a 5th Gen 4runner on RCLT's and doublers. The second gen Tacoma had to be turned around due to a steering sector shaft issue but he was able to get out of the trail. I was wondering how the trailer would make it up but I guess it wasn't meant to be.
We left on Friday, August 19th morning and was able to make it up to Buck Island. We were met with pouring rain and mud once we got past the Granite Slabs. Right before we hit Buck Island, we made a quick stop at Soup Bowl. I gave it two attempts. The first attempt was a no go as I didn't have the approach angle. I get a lot of help from the group and some spotters during my attempt. Big shout out to all of them for the support! It is very tough to get traction with the rain and mud. Check out the end of the video to see how I fared against it. Enjoy!

[@ayontubemitra]

Bro that was the most fun day on the trail! Watching you conquer Soup Bowl gave me goose bumps 🤜

[@epicone2449]

Rather hear trail sounds than the loud music. Sick vid tho

[@lit_taco4x4]

Yup definitely need to work on that on my end thanks for the feedback.

[@kinoslopez6425]

You are my hero!!! I have the same color turd pro as well, building it up to be like this beast!

[@UrbanOpsOffRoad]

Brooooooooo the end was epic! Well done!!!!!!!

[@josephmyers64]

Great video ! It's one thing to ifs Tacos on the Rubicon but I have never seen one pulling a trailer

[@lit_taco4x4]

It didn’t make it past the slabs. Not due to the trailer though. It had issues with steering.

[@thetrailoutthere]

Bad ass video! Subbed!

[@kristineguan6451]

Idol! ❤

[@UrbanOpsOffRoad]

Bro about to watch the whole thing! Keep up the good work bro!

[@lit_taco4x4]

Thanks brotha!

[@landspeedsteven]

Great vid !!! Such an awesome trip.

[@lit_taco4x4]

It was an epic trip!

[@grantkim4062]

sick video ❤

[@lit_taco4x4]

Thanks!!!

[@t.o.f.t.s.]

🤦really...some dude pulling a 2500 boat anchor of a trailer through the trail?. would suck to get stuck behind that crew.

[@lit_taco4x4]

he was unable to make it very far and only took about 10 minutes to get out of the gatekeeper at Loon side. We did see others with trailers as well but they had bigger tires and a higher lift.

[@BW918_]

Would rather hear the vehicles and the spotting than nonstop music. Some music sprinkled in for your B roll is totally different than what’s here. Love the crawling content though.

[@ramleigh3818]

What work did you do to run 37s? I’m running 35s with a CMR. I wanna jump to 37s and am looking at Marlin Crawlers RCLT but I’m not sure.

[@lit_taco4x4]

I have a video on that. Look at my channel and please consider subscribing. 🙏

[@ramleigh3818]

Ok thanks

[@sjbmx]

1. Glad we were able to get your brakes patched up Saturday. Guessing that your disc brake conversion must be installed by now. 2. Get yourself a BAMF diff skid to replace that RCI that you broke, if you're not swapping rear axles. Way beefier, with better mounting and pinion/rear U-joint protection. Saved me a lot of trouble. 3. Definitely did not expect you to have done Soup Bowl. That's killer. I eyeballed it when we passed by it on Sunday and figured that it wouldn't be doable with our wheelbase, even double-locked, but I'm guessing the LT helped a lot.

[@lit_taco4x4]

You guys were awesome. I wish I captured that on film but there was so much traffic and everyone was just in a hurry to try to get out of the oncoming and incoming traffic. Plus ensuring to clip that break line. I am grateful for you guys donating that vice grip. I’d be happy to mail it back out. No disc brakes yet. It’s just sitting on the driveway right now. You absolutely read my mind on that diff skid. I was looking at other ones and had BAMF and DRT in mind. Something that protected the u-joint area. Ultimately went with BAMF. And thanks for the props on Soup Bowl. Super lucky that day, that’s all. But I believe you could do it even without LT. I think I should’ve been more driver’s side on that huge rock in front then go hard passenger once tire placement is correct. There’s a guy Buc Mac on IG and here on YT as well that I believe did it on stock front first time.

[@robertyoung8289]

Would love to subscribe but way to much annoying music for me.

[@lit_taco4x4]

Thanks for watching. Damn if I do damn if I don’t. Got complaints that my music sucks or it sucks without music. So I’ll just keep on keeping on 😊

[@josephmyers64]

It's way more boring without some music. Just do what you think is best

[@panoramaestatecmgogohe3050]

🤩🤩🤩 @savage hobbies