Queen Elizabeth's Revenge

6-1-2010
Well, I was going to show our awesome patio video from the day we finished it. We hauled 2300 lbs (yes, 1.15 Tons as billed on the invoice) of grey pea gravel from just north of DC, to the house (just south of DC). I topped out at about 40 mph, taking it as easy as possible and I do not recommend the trip to anyone....admittedly foolish, but when all the pea gravel locally is orange you do what you have to. If you can you might be able to watch this here if the link works. We were within an hour of finishing the patio when a storm blew up and we had to take a respite in the house....

 

7-13-2010
No fanfare for this one, but the truck crossed the 150,000 mile mark on Saturday......

 

I want your truck! Haha So I guess I'll just live through you by following your build

 

I don't know why, that's a pretty trick Tacoma you've got there....

 

10-14-2010
It's not much and I have no pictures to provide but I do have a quick (not really I'm a windbag!) update since our camping season (ie wife's out of vacation time) is over. Not in any particular order but:

1)The wireless VR3 backup camera died in the spring. I bought an el cheapo Pyle bullet (wired)camera and mounted it in the back bumper. The VR3 monitor wouldn't interface so I bought a 3.5" monitor that would and mounted it on the sunglasses door on the overhead. Works pretty well, but you can tell the camera is cheap and not long for the world....

2) I was getting some bad tire wear on the front (June). Turns out the steering rack bushing (donut on the pass side) was toast and letting the rack move far enough up or down that I could put a finger between the rack and the bushing! Fixed that with a Total Chaos poly bushing set......just the one I still have to install the other two for the drivers side, but they seem tight still so I'm in no hurry.

3) The tires were just shaping up nicely again and the front of the truck seemed like it was sagging a bit (end of July) they began wearing funny again (alignment is set for the 1-1/2" lift from the old Daystar puck) so they were tilting in as the Donahoes (over the course of a month or so) sagged down to about stock ride height. I was still in trip mode so I fretted and used them as is for the Earl trip and the Elk run. Right before the Elk Run the drivers side let go a pile of oil onto the driveway, but I creaked and squeaked my way along until I had enough spare time to deal with the issue. No way I'll get 50,000 out of this set of tires now! I'll be lucky for 40,000, but I've already got 35,000 on them.

4) Once we got back from the Elk Run, I was able to reinstall the old Bilsteins and Daystar set and shipped off the Don's to Icon. Just got word today that they are rebuilt and in the mail!

5) the water tank and gear rack are off and in the garage, waiting there till spring


6) that doesn't mean we won't get out, but from it'll be daytrips or hotel overnights when we go....I can deal with that....

7) We're working on a plan for our year long trip (counting down about 7 years yet to go!), since we got talked out of a trailer/tent combo (thanks Jay!) we're leaning toward something homebuilt and teardrop shaped...

8) I managed to bend a skidplate bouncing along Dictum Ridge on the old Bilsteins....you'd think a shock with over 100,000 miles on it could control a fullsize truck with a winch hanging off the front!

 

10-14-2010
We took our friend Jay's experiences to heart and discussed the problems with an RTT on a trailer....things like trying to set up or tear down in the rain and wind.

We still want something to set up as a basecamp so we can use the truck to explore whatever area we're in for any length of time.....so an FWC or Flippac is out.

We decided that since we were going to be in such varied climates over the whole of North America that something hardsided and insulated might be the way to go....but it still has to be small enough to go where we want it to go. Then we got to looking at homebuilt trailers on the net, and things like ATs Teardrop...

The retro 'drop look is cool and the offroad versions are sweeter, and since we have a few years we may as well build exactly what we want! That's the plan so far at least.....

 

10-21-2010
Just a quick note: When I first got this truck I started tracking gas mileage....I filled up the little book I carried, then lost the book. On Tundra Solutions I noticed some users had a badge for the website Fuelly, so I started electronically tracking mileage. If your interested in what kind of mileage this V8 pick-up gets, looky here(click the banner) yep, that last tank really does read 18.9 mpg, (yeah, you'll have to look back to see that high mileage now - fuelly banner updates every fillup) that's it's 3rd highest in 7 years....



on a secondary quick note: My Donahoes arrived! It takes me about 2 hours to swap out coilovers on a first-gen Tundra now, that includes putting all the tools away! Wow! The ride is soooo much better than the old Bilsteins. A BIG THANKS to Mike and everyone at Icon Vehicle Dynamics for the rebuild. It's a great company that will rebuild old and secondhand equipment to like new condition....not that anyone at ICON will read this thread; but if they do...Thanks a million!

 

4-15-2011
Yeah, I get 2 years out of a set of tires.....that runs 40-50,000 miles in those two years.
This time it was just barely over 40,000 out of my second set of Cooper Discoverer ST (255/85/16 ExPo approved size).

I was going to get a third set but pricing issues locally held me back and I went shopping online, and with Cooper coming out with a new and improved version (ST Maxx) I thought I might try them out. Of course they don't come in 255/85, but I think they'll fit. I have to to a 285/75 (non ExPo approved size) to get these

I got them from Tread Depot and with shipping and handling and m&b locally I still saved about 200 dollars total over what every tire shop in town wanted.

They do fit, it's tight and I think I'll have to do just a little more flare trimming to keep them from rubbing when it flexes.

They certainly give the truck a different look. and they're quieter than the old tires. Can't wait to see how they fair in other conditions.....








...and yes I know real offroaders only put blackwalls out but the truck has too much black from the side and I think it looks really nice with the white letters.....yeah I know they'll get dirty and I'll have to clean them, but so will the truck.....

 

5-17-2011
My new treads are getting a very good rating now!

At Rapidan WMA (Blakey Ridge Rd) we travelled on gravel (minimal stone throwage), mud (cleans the tread easily and the off camber lateral grip is excellent), rocks (no problemo, just set your tire on a rock and climb on up - even the wet ones)



Only two issues cropped up. The first is a front flare rub when the winch is on. Easily fixed in one of two ways....
The second is my OBA decided not to operate (luckily I tried it out before letting half the air out of my tires....

 

5-23-2011
Here's a quick pic of the truck decked out before heading off to the Little Juniata Float trip. We're nearing the 165,000 mile mark quickly and that's already about 2000 miles on the new treads.

 

5-28-2011
Latest mod to the truck (well not so much to the truck, more like the wallet and the rack) After we had so much fun on the Little J float in our canoe, we couldn't stop talking about how maneuverable and quick those darned kayaks were. As it was when we got home Dicks Sporting Goods was having their annual boat sale and we drove away with these Trophy 126 kayaks strapped to our rack.

 

6-30-2011
In a vehicles never ending quest for entropy, I actually had a real part failure last month. The little parking brake cable inside the passenger drum snapped in two. The drivers side was still intact but it couldn't hold enough by itself to hold the truck on a hill. And since the parking brake is also the rear brake adjustment, I was getting no self-adjustment (since I quit using the parking brake) and I could tell the fronts were working a lot harder to stop the truck.
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Yes, you can manually adjust them by crawling under the truck and spinning the star wheel.
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I picked up two cables from Toyota for $21 and replace both sides.

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Easy repair, and the brakes self adjust again!
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167,000 miles now....

 

9-22-2011
What does someone do with 2 days of vacation left to use, and the rest of the family is tied up with work/school?
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Rebuild the front end of the truck, of course!
New: Upper Balljoints, Lower Balljoints, Inner Tierod ends, Outer Tierod Ends, CV Axles.
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Sorry, I can not oblige you with gratuitous photography. It's a bit of a job to play mechanic and photographer at once.
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I will say that I learned something: Having a reliable vehicle can be a hazard in and of itself. Case in point. The Tundra has 171,900 miles on it. All of the front end parts are original except fot the lower balljoints which got replaced under a recall at the 50,000 mile mark. This time span and mileage has left all the removeable parts in a nearly nonremovable fashion.
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Everything from cotter pins to castle nuts were frozen to the point that I emptied an entire can of PB Blaster in the process. It was work to get this job done and it took me nearly the entire 2 days.
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In retrospect; our exDakota (lemon) was being repaired so often that replacing parts was easy. The bolts never even have time to develop a patina before they were being removed.
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Tools that saved this job from a tow truck to a real mechanics shop? Pickle fork, hammer drill (for beating the pickle fork with) and a 12 ton press. All of which I had the foresight years ago to purchase just for this job.....well not this job specifically.
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Did I have to do this job? Not really. The truck still passed inspection last month. Passed my wiggle test for the balljoints. (although one of the uppers had very little grease left in it). The inner tierod ends were getting loose. The truck still drove well and the tires wore well.
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Why did I do it then? Well, frankly I was getting nervous wondering just how long those parts would last. I don't know what the lifespan is on wear items like these, but I think 170,000 is close enough.
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1-24-2012
Egads! Look what happened to my truck!


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I've got photographs of my truck that are bigger than this thing is!
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Not much ground clearance!.....................................Cam ping gear will never fit!
The name is even silly! Sounds like a constipated pirate, methinks! "Yar!issss.....
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The is the rent-a car that Toyota set me up with for a few days while the truck is in for the frame rust recall.....at least I don't get charged for it!

 

1-30-2012

Rosner Toyota didn't care that I still had the skidplates up and the air tank in the framerail. They removed the bed (I noticed one shiny new bed bolt) and the skids, replaced the gas tank straps, and sprayed whatever that black guck is from front to rear. After it finally cures fully, I'm sure it will be protected nicely. The only thing I did before taking the truck in was to disconnect the power wires to the bed light and 12Volt outlet, and drop the extended diff breather into the bumper.....I figured they might have trouble with that.....
Take it in, the worst they can do is laugh you out of town.....
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As for the Yar!s.....it's a handful in a crosswind, gets decent mileage but the tank is so small you never get anywhere, the seats are comfortable - but the seating position sucks. My legs were bent up to the steering wheel and it was still a stretch for my arms. I know my legs aren't unusually long - so my arms must be unusually short.
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I was ecstatic to get the truck back! Skids, bed and air tank all in place.....
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mileage is 177,095....

 

6-15-2012
I just did a tire rotation on the truck. Since I've purchased the Maxx's I've put on 23,106 miles on them.
Tread depth is at 14/32. I've worn off 5/32.
23106/5 = 4,621.2 miles per 32nd

At this rate, if I keep these to just legal tread depth I have a potential 74,000 mile tire!
Even keeping them to a reasonable 6/32 gets me 60,000 miles.......

Of course, the majority oif these miles are road miles (its a DD remember?) but hopefully that will change now that the trailer is built......

currently sitting at 186,427 miles.....slowly edging up to the 200,000 mile mark......

 

10-3-2012

photo courtesy of Mtnbike28

The truck survived another ARSES gathering! Of course since this was a float trip, all it had to do was tow the trailer to camp and lead a big bunch of ARSES through Fredericksburg.

 

4-23-2013
As we've been slowly nearing the 200,000 mile milestone on the truck, we've been talking about improvements "necessary" for its continued service. A few thousand miles ago, I noticed the truck was listing......well, it wasn't; rather, I was listing. Maybe I've gained weight on my left side, maybe my brain has grown disproportionately analytical over the years.....maybe I just "sit left". Regardless of the reason, the drivers seat of the Tundra has done a slow collapse. Beth noticed it quickly when she drove the truck and decided an interior upgrade was in order.

Coolio. New stuff for the truck! I'm down with that. We acquired the necessary components from various sources over the last year, and the less snowy weather of the last two weeks gave us the ability to do the install.

The old interior: front and rear bench seats, fold-down console, carpeted floor. All charcoal grey.


The first order of business: Empty the truck. How much stuff can you fit in an Access Cab Tundra?


A lot! The console, doors, rear storage hatches, under the seats, and in the "corners" beside the back seats holds a ton of crap, as you can see.

The seats came out easy-peasy. Just unbolt and lift. A few little extras had to be unbolted - the seat slide, seat belts, sill plates, etc




Beth pulled the seat belt latches from the old seats, while I was removing the few little extras


The old carpet pulled out. You can see the 10 years of kid spilled soda, mud stains, beach sand, oh...and the watermelon we took to Cape Lookout - it busted in half at some point and sat in the August sun for about 3 days before we realized we had brought a watermelon to the beach. What you're not getting in this picture is the smell of the carpet padding......no wonder I was using a lot of air fresheners....

 

4-23-2013
The floor itself was clean, and quickly ready for some attention


We installed a small layer of ThermoTec insulation/sound deadener over the bare metal portions


Then came the flooring. The one item I wanted from day one purchasing this truck was a vinyl or rubber floor. No Way Jose. An internet search for vinyl flooring for a Tundra was nearly fruitless. WLS Headliners was the one place I found. We laid it out in the sun until it was nice and warm, placed it in the truck, and after some time moving, trimming and cursing, it was in. Granted, the molding does not perfectly conform to the trucks myriad of bumps, curves and outcroppings, but this was as close as I could get.





Beth recovered the rear seat with a neoprene seat cover we ordered from Cabelas, and I installed the new Rugged Ridge center console from 4Wheel Parts.


I did have to modify the front cupholders. The originals are not deep enough to hold a bottle, or drink from a fast food place at all. A bump in the road would tip them right out. A few pieces of wood, some glue and black paint made a cupholder with depth, enough to hold a real drink while actually driving down a real rough road.

The front seats were also from 4wheel Parts.....what can I say, they were having a Christmas sale on everything and free shipping.....can't really go wrong there. They are the Corbeau Moabs, along with Corbeaus "made for Tundras" seat brackets. The seats are nice, the brackets are less than impressive. The welds are boogers, the bracket legs are misaligned. Enough to cause trouble, not enough to cause a product return. After the not-so-easy-peasy install, they look nice. And they match the rear seat cover nicely.



After reinstalling the seatbelts and sill plates, it looks like everything is new again.







The seats have a nice feel to them. They sit nice, and level. The brackets make them sit lower to the floor than the original seats though. It's not uncomfortable. They don't put you in a straight legged, boy racer position; they're just not as tall and chair-like as the Toyotas. They feel like a cross between a Tundra's seat and a first gen Tacoma's seat.

That's that. A new interior at 195,500 miles. Hmmmm.......I wonder how long these will last?

 

6-9-2013
The Tundra Refurbishment Project is still underway. Today was resolving an issue the truck had from day 1 of ownership and I had no idea of how to deal with it.

The first gen access cab Tundra comes with 1 sunglasses holder. It's between the sunvisors and holds 1 pair of sunglasses. I don't know whose sunglasses it would actually hold, because it is so shallow it bent every single pair of sunglasses I ever tried to keep in it - another good reason for spending 10 and not 100 dollars on sunglasses. As a matter of fact, the only glasses that ever fit have been my "hey old man, you need these to read a map" reading glasses. I needed something or someway to carry real sunglasses, and more than one pair at a time; there are 4 of us in the truck at times.

After a mere 10 years I finally figured it out.

Allow me ask a question.
Can an overhead console from a 2004 Sequoia fit a 2003 Tundra? Why, yes. Yes it can.
Is it an easy bolt-in operation? Why no. No it's not. Not easy at all.

After hours of fitting, refitting, making an extra bracket near the back, rewiring a 4 wire plug to a 3 wire plug, more refitting, cutting templates for filler panels, more refitting, cutting filler panels, more refitting, recutting filler panels, insulating the roof, and finally bolting it all up, only to discover the wiring I redid was done correctly on the first try (ie the lights come on when the door opens, automatically shut off, and come on when you flick the switch!). It's finished, all in one day. Whew!

I need to give a great big shout out to my wife Elizabeth without whom I'd still be struggling with the second or third fitment. She's awesome, talented, and beautiful!

Here you can see the original holder/light combination, along with the stick-on "console" I picked up from Grainger to hold 2 pair of sunglasses together.


And here is the after shot. 2004 Sequoia overhead console with multiple sunglasses and other miscellaneous storage. The black filler panels (which match the new interior nicely!) are black anodized aluminum leftover from our teardrop build.

 

7-7-2013
After spending 9 days on a camping(Coopers Rock State Park, WV) and family visiting trip (NW PA) the Tundra crossed another milestone. The odometer rolled over that magical 200,000 mile mark on the 1st of July.

 

10-6-2013
Quick tire update: The truck is sitting on 205,000 miles. That gives me 42,000 on the ST Maxx tires. Not bad and they are not done yet. The tread depth on three of the tires is 10/32", the fourth tire is at 9/32". Why the difference? Well, that tire was on the right rear. With 200,000 on the LSD it just doesn't transfer power quite like it used to, allowing that right rear to spin more when I get a little aggressive with the throttle.....lol.

Here's what the the tire looks like with 9/32" of tread. Even wear and the siping is still there, just not quite as full as it was new.


The depth gauge I use with each rotation.


Pretty good wear for such a heavy, rugged tire. If I go to a merely legal tread depth I could make over 60,000 miles on them.

 

....and that my new friends, brings us up to date.....

 

12-03-2014

What's going on with the truck? Not much really. It's been daily driven as always and has also taken us and the teardrop on 2400 miles worth of camping fun. Merchants Millpond NC (Alligators!) ARSES Pine Creek Float in PA, Greenbrier River Float Trip in WV, and several smaller closer camping trips.

The only issues that arose:

One brake caliper froze up. I bought two remans and replaced them both. It stops great! One notable thing about this job. I bought (of course) a right and a left caliper. The boxes were labelled as such, but I received two rights. Didn't notice that until I went to put the drivers side on. Big pain in the ... had to reinstall the old one (it wasn't the frozen one luckily) bleed the brakes and wait two days for another one to arrive at the parts store.

New tires. At 6/32" of tread I called it quits on my 59,800 mile set of Cooper ST Maxx tires. I replaced them with Cooper ST Maxx tires. They are awesome! You'll notice a new set of rims in the picture. I took the trailer wheels and tires (which had almost zero wear by the depth gauge - 8000 miles in) and bought two new tires and two new wheels, for an instant savings of the price of a tire. Cheapskate, I know but the trailer can run the old set for a while until I can save some money to replace them....)



Tundra mileage: 222,900

 

4-18-2015

227,600 as of today. On a side note it's not going as strong as it should. Just found out today my 4WD isn't working. It worked during the snowstorms this past winter but now all I'm getting is some buzzing noises under the truck. So now I've actually got to work on the truck. ....

Here's the real discovery story:

Hey! Our 4WD Isn't Working!
Beth and I were preparing the CrowsWing for its first trip of the year. We were going to Merchants Millpond State Park for a long weekend of alligator "hunting". We decided we should hook up the trailer and test drive it to make sure everything worked well. After a short highway jaunt we returned home satisfied everything was working well. Our kids had friends over, and their cars were on either side of the drive - now mind you our drive is steep (think difficult to stand steep). I haven't backed the trailer since November, so I was a little rusty. Happily I made it between the cars and the trailer dropped into the drive (mostly). One wheel was on the grass (level with the drive and just as steep), so I just followed it with the truck to get it all on the drive.

This put the drivers side back tire on the grass too - which was soaked with a recent rain. I wanted to go forward a little to straighten the trailer - I had to because there is a stone wall preventing me from swinging the nose of the truck in a way that would straighten the trailer down the drive. Guess what? Forward was a no go. That tire just spun like mad. No problem. Push the magic button. BUZZZZ! That's an odd sound? Why is my 4WD light flashing? push button. BUZZZ! light flashing. push. BUZZZ! light flashing. Put the truck in drive. Ease on the gas. Back tire spins. Dang it!

OK. I can do this, simple. I'll back up just a little more. This will put both tires on pavement. Of course in that backing the trailer jack knifes in the driveway dropping its tires off the drive and down a steeper (you need 4lo to get up this when you're down in the yard) hill to the yard. OK. Rear tires are on the pavement. Trailer is jackknifed in the yard. Gas on, brother. ER ER ER Er ER (can the laughter, that's tire spin on pavement, you know what it sounds like - just try to type it)

OK, I can do this. A little parking brake action and the other tire will grab some torque and pull me out. Left foot modulating parking brake, right foot on the gas. ERERERERERERERERERER! (in stereo!) Yep, that worked.....sorta. Now I've got both tires melting rubber on my drive, but I'm not going up. About this time my wife and three teenagers come out of the house.
"Watcha doin'?" she asks
"Trying to park the trailer"
"You're not doing that very well...."
"Yeah, I know that already"
Then I think I explained how the #$@%^&&*&^%#$ 4WD isn't working, and my wife understood we had a problem.

OK we can do this. Getting the keys to our new Tacoma, I pulled up beside the Tundra. With Beth spotting along the rock wall, the Taco just fit between the two with tires brushing rock on one side and the fender on the Taco missing the Tundra by a mere half inch. Once through the gap it was strap time. With Beth in the Tundra, I put the Taco in 4lo, locker and ATRAC on (taking no chances now) I told Beth to ease on the gas when the strap started pulling on the Tundra......and we rolled right up the drive. I pulled until the Tundra was back on the road (trailer still in the drive - but hey, it was in the drive this time).

Park the Taco in the road, back the Tundra/trailer down the drive (correctly this time), put the Taco back in its place - hit the net for info. Whew! Fun day!

All this and no one took pictures or video - I thought teenagers insta-you-tweeted everything!

 

6-01-2015

Checked both actuators. The front ADD actuator was not actuating. The little motor was shorting out and getting super hot when the 4WD button is pressed. I sprung for a new actuator. The whole unit includes the slider fork, but I cheated and just used the electronics from the new one, since my slider fork worked fine. 20 minutes of messing with a screwdriver work and 4WD is back in action.

229,500 miles

 

Pretty awesome thread. Legendary quality. Like your truck!