Project Maya Hunter - Part 5

A Bit ‘O Rhinoplasty: Our Maya Hunter Project turns to our Toyota Tacoma’s sidekick — the Yamaha Rhino 4x4, Maya Hunter II

by Bruce W. Smith

During the past few issues, we’ve focused on adding factory and aftermarket parts to make our Project Maya Hunter Toyota Tacoma Double Cab 4x4 into an off-road adventurer’s dream truck, with reliability and performance well-balanced for on- and off-road use.

In this case, the Maya Hunter’s primary off-road duty is jungle travel deep in Guatemala, as Vanderbilt archaeologists, led by Dr. Francisco Estrada-Belli, will use it to uncover Mayan ruins that date back to around 300 B.C.

Rhino is secured to the trailer using RiteTie ratchet-style tie-downs and special double-loop straps wrapped around aluminum channel.

A second set of PIAA 1500s were mounted at the rear of the Rhino’s roof to aid in backing up or working in the area.

We’ve also talked about how the Tacoma has been outfitted and upgraded with performance and suspension parts — from the factory and project sponsors — and outfitted with tools and products useful in the wild. Now, with the Double Cab Tacoma nearly finished, it’s time to add the final touches.

We dropped the old exhaust and replaced it with a stainless Borla Cat-back system (a 15 minute job), slipped in a set of Husky Liner floormats, and let Tommy Barrett apply special lettering to let people know what the Maya Hunter is all about.

Tommy Barrett uses sign-making expertise to add humor to the Maya Hunter tailgate with the “Archaeologists dig dirt” lettering. He put “Archaeologists dig ruins” on the hood.

Maya Hunter II

That done, our attention turned toward the Maya Hunter Toyota’s stablemate: a new Yamaha Rhino Side-by-Side 4x4, affectionately called “Maya Hunter II.”

Yamaha Motor Corporation’s ATV department generously donated the new Rhino to the project as a way to extend the Vanderbilt team’s mobility when the jungle road and trail conditions deteriorate to the point where a 4x4 pickup can’t go any further.

The Rhino is ideal for such use because two can ride side-by-side while hauling gear in the tilt bed. Yamaha’s Rhino 660 SXS is a wonderful go-anywhere ATV right out of the box. It’s powered by a 660cc water-cooled engine and has more than a foot of ground clearance, a long-travel four-wheel independent suspension, and 2WD/4WD/4WD Diff Lock. The result is a two-person ATV that’s powerful, comfortable, and unquestionably capable. Those attributes and a price of $8,499 make it terrific value.

The Maya Hunter II, which will serve the team as its go-anywhere 4x4 once in the jungle, will be towed from Nashville to the jungle staging area in Guatemala — a 3,200-mile road trip — on a 16-foot tandem-axle aluminum trailer built by Forest River Trailers in Indiana. The trailer also will carry the Maya Hunter Toyota’s jungle tires/wheels (TSL Boggers on Rock Crawler wheels), extra fuel, equipment, and camp supplies. Loaded, it’ll be an extra 4,500 pounds for the Tacoma, which should be an easy pull to Guatemala and back with the truck’s healthy 245-horse V-6 and 6,500-pound tow capacity.

But, as with any 4x4, they can always be made even cooler.

A Little Rhino Plasty

Rhino’s nose job includes brush guard, expanded bumper protection, A-arm skidplates, along with fender flares, PIAA driving lights, and a Warn winch. ITP Mud Lite tires and special aluminum wheels round out the modifications.

Yamaha has accessories for the Rhino that make it even more capable, and we took advantage of its generosity and support of this project. We gave the Rhino a nose job — and more.

First, we removed the plastic roof and installed the aluminum one Yamaha offers. Then we added the Yamaha heavy-duty aluminum skidplates (stock are heavy plastic) to protect the transmission, differentials, and A-arms; Nerf bars to protect the plastic bodywork; and fender extensions to keep flying debris at bay. We also added Yamaha’s steel front bumper cover and brush guard to protect the nose, a rear tubular bumper, and a 3,500-pound capacity Warn winch just in case jungle goo got the best of the Vandy folks. All the parts are easy to bolt on without modifications and take about five hours to complete. We also added Yamaha’s cool neoprene seat covers, which can be easily cleaned with plain soap and water.

We contacted our buddies at Industrial Tire Products (ITP) about a tire upgrade. Craig Petersen suggested we use its ITP Mud Lite Kit, which consists of four 27-inch-tall (factory tires are 25s) Mud Lite tires mounted on C-Series Type 5 one-piece aluminum wheels. ITP’s premounted tire/wheel kit made it easy to just bolt on the tires when they arrived, saving time and money.

Painless Performance products dual-battery kit comes with a special solenoid isolator that allows driver to switch between batteries or use both at same time.

Not only does the Mud Lite kit give the Rhino another inch of ground clearance and far greater mud traction than the stock tires, Petersen says use of the new C-Series Type 5 wheel saves more than eight pounds of unsprung weight (per wheel) when compared with a typical mud-tire/steel-wheel combination. Less unsprung weight makes the Rhino easier to maneuver over rugged conditions.

Petersen also suggested we use the same tire size (27x10x12), front and rear, so we only needed to carry one spare. That makes sense when you’re a long way from civilization. We took his advice and got tires all the same size along with a spare.

Spare Mounting

Mounting the ITP spare tire/wheel took some creative thinking. ATVs aren’t usually set up to carry a spare — but in the jungle you need one.

Forest River Trailer’s all-aluminum tandem-axle sport/utility trailer will make the 6,400 miles an easy tow to transport the Maya Hunter II Yamaha Rhino from Nashville to Guatemala and back.

We used an ordinary galvanized boat-trailer spare-tire mount, turned upside down and attached to the Yamaha’s cross-brace. The trailer tire’s four-bolt pattern was close enough to the Yamaha’s that we made it work without modifications. Warren Spears hit it with a special primer and used rattle-can black to give it a finishing touch. The finished product looks every bit factory.

While in the bed, Spears built base brackets to hold the Craftsman toolboxes originally intended for use in a pickup bed just ahead of the wheelwells. They work great for secure storage in the Rhino’s bed.

Craftsman toolboxes, originally designed for pickup trucks, and a boat-trailer spare-tire carrier turned ATV spare-tire carrier add to the Rhino’s utility value.

Let There Be Light

No respectful off-road ATV can run around the jungle without lighting up the world. With that in mind, we added a set of four-inch-diameter PIAA 510 Series driving lights to the front brush guard.

We replaced the heavy plastic factory skidplates with Yamaha’s own optional aluminum under armor. These heavy-duty skidplates use the same mounting points and hardware as the stock piece, making the swap fast and easy.

Not satisfied that those were enough, we bolted a pair of PIAA 1500 Series halogen floodlights to the roof above the windshield. These would provide highlighting for narrow trails and bad weather. We also mounted a second pair at the rear of the roof for backup lights. Spears used plastic split-wiring loom as conduits to keep the roof light’s wires protected. He also squirted quick-setting two-part industrial adhesive (epoxy) along the front and rear roof drip rail and squished the loom into it to form a permanent bond. While he was doing that part, Jeremy Bauer, one of the Vandy archaeologists (who is also the team’s field mechanic), handled the Rhino’s dual-battery conversion — yes, dual batteries.

We were concerned the tiny Yamaha battery wouldn’t handle the draw of the extra lights. So Bauer took the stock Toyota Tacoma battery (left over from its dual-battery conversion) and plopped it in the storage compartment beneath the Rhino driver’s seat. Then he used a 250-amp weather-resistant Dual Battery Current Control System (#40103) from Painless Performance Products to make the connections between the stock ATV battery and the pickup battery.

Painless’ waterproof four-switch panel was mounted into the Rhino’s dash, making the installation look factory. Panel is prewired; installation is a breeze. Switches control roof lights and battery isolator. Push-button switch to left of panel controls PIAA driving lights.

While Bauer handled that three-hour chore, Spears and I installed another Painless product — the 4-Switch Waterproof Ignition Control Center (#50840). This neat switch panel has four toggle switches with a pre-terminated wiring harness to make connections easy. And, being waterproof, the switches and connections were safe from the elements. We used the toggle switches on this panel to control the front foglights, the rear back-up lights, and the dual-battery control. We mounted the push-button PIAA light switch for the driving lights to the panel. The remaining toggle switch can be used later for a CB radio or other component.

That’s A Wrap

We added a Yamaha rear tube bumper, plus its optional differential and A-arm aluminum skidplates for added protection against the hazards of jungle driving.

With the Maya Hunter II Rhino and the Maya Hunter Tacoma done, it was time to hitch up the trailer and head down the road.

The Rhino fits with ease on the aluminum sport/utility trailer from Forest River Trailer. We used tie-downs from RiteTie and its nifty loop straps to secure the Rhino. The trailer doesn’t have tie-down hooks on the sides or in the floor, so the RiteTie loop straps make it easy to secure the ratchet strap hooks to the aluminum chassis’s uprights — and to points on the Rhino without fear of damaging the ATV or the straps.

The optional Yamaha aluminum roof makes it easy to mount auxiliary lights like these PIAA 1500 foglights. We used plastic split-loom to run light wires and embedded the loom in industrial-strength epoxy to hold it in the roof’s drip rail.

This entire project was wrapped up in less than five weeks from the time the Tacoma left the factory to the time it was towing the Maya Hunter II. Most project vehicles take four to five months to complete. The accomplishment was due in no small part to more than 30 sponsors and to the endeavors of a small auto body shop deep in Mississippi. All those involved understood how cool such an undertaking was and how the end results would lead to more than just another vehicle project.

Maya Hunter and Maya Hunter II will head to Guatemala the first week of May. It’ll be a fitting maiden run to wrap up the project. We’ll let you know how it all turns out in another great “Off-Road Adventures” story.