Eccracer104’s not totally stock 16’ CM 4x4

costco pumps do it for me all the time. Other gas stations no issues. Not sure whats up at costco. It will pump 2 or 3 gal then stop then i Have to fiddle around then again 3 gal..annoying

 

yeah me too. have to hold the nozzle up as straight as possible

 

Great news! Got my tracking notification for my skids! Woohoo! Only 202 pounds

 

what skids did you get

 

BudBuilt 3/16” steel

 

I was going to get those for the Fj but went with RCI. Not an easy decision

 

​

 

Skids have arrived!

Got them prepped, tomorrow after work I’ll lay down some paint

 

Looking good Mike!

 

I like it! Sick build btw!

 

Thanks man!

I retrofitted my Tacoma, was only a matter of time until I did it for the Tundra.

Your write up was key! I’ve never messed with Permaseal before and in your write up you said something like separate the adhesive and I was like “wtf” and proceeded to try and pry apart like my Tacoma. Wrong. Eventually figured out what you meant and made my way all the way around the headlight with a small thin flat head and basically scraped the permaseal from the lens and it started to become easier. From there worked around the whole thing and once I felt it was separated enough started to pry and it began to give way. Took three or four bakes on the first light, then 2.5 bakes on the second (kinda got the hang of it).
But that first light I was all “fuck this shit I’m over it” and by the end “I could probably do this again”

I have a “free” Mini H1 kit I’ll be throwing in. Once I sell the loaner headlights I picked up I should only be in it my time and a can or two of paint. #BudgetRetro

 

Decided it would be wise to replace fluids prior to skids going on.
Ordered Ravenol J1C1003 MTF-3 75w for the transfer case which will be here sometime next week.
I’ll run by the auto parts store for Mobil 1 75w-90 synthetic (with LSD additive) for the diffs.

With nearly 70k on the odo and unknown if the prior owner had it changed it’s a bit overdue as well. He claims to have done all required services as per the manual.

 

Update:
Got one side of the skids painted, and painted the headlights for the retrofit. Was shooting to work on assembly today but my soon to be sister in law got a flat, so went out and got that swapped out for her.
Just got home and now I’m tired haha.
Tomorrow should include painting the other side of the skids, and potentially some assembly of the headlights.
My previous retro was all satin black everything with tinted amber reflectors. This time going with gloss black signal and headlight bowl, satin black shrouds, and leaving the corner reflectors amber. Hopefully they turn out well! (And hopefully the retro parts are in working order )

 

Yeah it’s much different! I felt the same. Once you get the hang of it, it isn’t so bad. Can’t wait to see the final product! Once I finished that retro I wanted to do another one with different parts just to do it. Life has been a bit too busy though, haven’t gotten started on it yet.

 

Thanks! Don’t get your hopes up too high haha. It’ll be a very basic retro. Just the blackout + Mini H1. Wish I had better lenses to glue on, but I’ll see what I can do with cleaning mine up.

I helped retrofit my buddy’s 4th gen t4r and that was interesting as it was replacing a projector with a projector. Mounting holes didn’t line up which made for a unique challenge.

One day I’d like to use better projectors like DS2. Mini H1 is super easy with the H4 alignment plate. Only time will tell if it’s aligned correctly or not. On early 2nd gen tacos it’s practically plug and play, but late 2nd gen tacos Toyota rotated the bulb meaning the alignment plate needed modification to work. We’ll see what happens on 3rd gen Tundra headlights.

Still need to assemble, wire, set aim and rotation. Then scrape out the old permaseal, reseal, and put her together.

 

Roger that. The output will be anything but basic though!

 

Oh for sure! Night wheeling in the desert has been awful with the stock headlights. This will be a big help while I figure out where I’d like to add aux lighting.

 

Aux lighting may have been handled courtesy of @pbcolt

He’s hooking me up with an Nfab light mounting bar - funny enough I sold to him back when I was with AutoAnything haha.

Just need to save up and find some lights to mount to it

 

Seems those good deed discounts you did at Auto Anything are starting to pay dividends.

 

Who would have thought!

 

Heading to Grand Junction tomorrow morning for rear leafs. Rear ADS shocks showed up on Friday from DSM, just in time. Still waiting on the front coils so I'll drive home with a wee bit of rake like a buckboard...pics to follow. Not trying to thread-jack.

 

Sub’d for pics!

 

Got your goods in hand. Ready to hand off.

 

It’s too “crowded” here, meet you in the alley behind “the spot”





Wooo! I’ll shoot you a message and we’ll figure it out

 

Got the headlights in and set rotation.
Turns out on the 3rd gens the H4 bulbs are put in rotated so the alignment tab doesn’t work and needs to be ground down.

Next I’ll need to clean the housings and seal them up then they can go in for real!

Also got working on the skids.
These things aren’t as straight forward as they were on the Tacoma

First note - the front skid does not go on first lol. Start with the engine skid.

When I went for the trans skid the bolts provided don’t have a means to “lock” in place. They’re the button head bolts with a square flange, but they rotate in the slots soooo that’s neat.
Ended up only bolting on the engine skid and the front skid. I got tired. Trans and transfer can go on at another date.

Oh, and drained the front diff - to my surprise nice clean oil came out. So turns out the prior owner did do all the proper services. Filled it back up with new synthetic oil because no way I was using it after it mixed into my dirty oil pan.

That’s all for today’s update, time for dinner and a beer

 

Retrofit complete

 

Got Rake? Reverse Brodozer! Hopefully DSM gets the front kit out soon...

 

Damn Bob, save some rake for the rest of us

 

Scored a set of 5100s so I can get them installed with the new UCA's until DSM gets me the ADS's.