Crackhead resurrection

This is the kinda thing I only want to do once in a while not every other month so a little extra prep work is worth to me.

 

I had to drill my shell to get it to fit. I figure in 10 years we might have some fancy new version which is wifi connected or something? Hah.

 

The measurements I took of this one are only like a 1/16" off in length versus the one in the shell. Didn't measure height because I haven't taken the old one off yet...

Time will tell. I really don't want to drill into the shell as it's completely waterproof. Tested as off today. Rained all night last night, and all day. Not a drop on the bed. Pleased about that.

Hoping I can "cut" the old seal with a pocket scale or long razor blade. Either way it goes, I can figure it out.

Oh, and you high tech California's can keep your "integrated spyware." Haha

 

On mine the hole I had to move over a bit was for the wires. They have to go inside somehow right? The old one was offset and the new one had it centered. About 4mm or so, I just drilled a second hole and made an oval then gasketed over it.

 

Made for me by @Darkness. I love this.

 

So I'm openly admitting that I fucked up, and now I need advice. I used some of that dry lock lube spray in the Itty bitty aerosol can to try to clean the ignition.

Went from turn every time to a horror movie ignition. You know the classic murderer chasing the high school kids through the woods at night. They get away, and find a car. They put the key in the ignition, but it won't turn. They jiggle the key, and finally get it to turn over, and then the murderer is standing outside the window...

Yeah, I fucked up. I can still turn the key, but I have to play with the ignition for a few minutes to get it to turn now...

Any advice welcome.

 

Graphite?

maybe a blast of air?

 

Yikes! Wish I had some words of wisdom, but I hate to suggest anything that will make it worse. Here goes anyway, I would remove the ignition if possible, thoroughly clean, and then relube with graphite or lock lube. If not able to remove, thoroughly blast with compressed air to remove as much debris as possible. Also clean the ignition key. I noticed you keep your keys on your hip, even when rolling in the mud chasing 4WD conversion glory, so it's likely there's lots of dirt getting introduced into your ignition cylinder.

 

Pull the trim off, hold a rag under the ignition, spray a healthy dose of WD40 in there, insert and remove the key a few times wiggling it up and down side to side. Repeat until it frees up.

Works on most lock cylinders so I can't see why it wouldn't work for this. WD40 is mostly solvent so that's why it works well.

 

Maybe compressed air after the WD? would be worried about dust and debris sticking to the WD residue.

 

Thanks for the ideas all. I have WD-40, but don't have real graphite or cans of air. Heading to Walmart later on in the day to pick up those items.

I will probably get to back to cleaning up my mess after the snow quits falling it was literally 67°F yesterday, and sunny. Now snow.... crazy.

 

Same here. It was so hot yesterday we had to run the air conditioning before bed. Now we've got a 30% chance of snow tonight.

 

I concur with this, but I'd use PB Blaster, then blast with compressor air after to clear out.

Reason I reco PBB instead is because it's also a solvent, but it's killer at breaking down crusty grease and grime. I use it to clear out hard, brown grease when repacking hubs, headsets and other things on bikes and wheels.

 

Replaced the high mount stop light on the shell today. Pics of the old versus new before install.



And a part number off the old one. Haven't done a search yet, but will eventually.


The old light collected a ton of dirt and debrizzle. Featuring snow! All the dirt was frozen so I used a heat gun to melt the dirt, and then wipe it away. Looks like someone had replaced it once before. The scratches on the left side are not from me, but where the adhesive was on the front edge is from me.



@daveeasa my wire pass through hole lined up with my new one. Kinda regret not going with a red lens now, but kinda don't. Stuck in between I guess. Just happy that it's fixed. Ran a very small bead of flex shot along the top edge, and sides of the stop light assembly. Hoping to reduce the amount of crud built up behind it by the next time I change this out.


T-tapped into the brake light, and then I fished the wiring into the bed of the truck. Slapped a grommet on the OEM hole. Not real sure what size this is as it was just whichever one fit from my grommet kit.






I don't expect there to be any rubbing issues with the wires being run right here, but time will tell.


Finally, finished product pictures.



Pleased with this.

 

http://store.topatruck.com/product.php?productid=4602&cat=0&page=1

Save you some legwork.

 

How do you always just have a link for fucking everything at your disposal at all times? Please don't ever change @shifty`

Thanks!

 

Chalk it up to a lifetime of work requiring various incarnations of digital forensics, I guess. I can usually find almost anything if it's out there. Just be happy I'm on the good side of things there's plenty of people I've bumped into along the way who aren't.

 

I'm tempted by the red myself too. Hmmm...

 

As my papaw would say: Keep smiley.

 

Hey @Tundra2 I notice you have some dealer sticker residue on the tailgate.

This stuff uses citrus to dissolve it pretty quick without impacting your paint, wipe away with a paper towel, and should have it at Wally world but also at scAmazon, product is Turtle Wax T-529. Just don't get it on unpainted/black plastics, supposedly it will discolor them, though I used it to remove the clear bras on my rear wheel well flares.

If you don't already have a set of these plastic flat razors, they really make a breeze of removing decals from painted or glass surfaces w/o scratches.

EHDIS Adhesive Remover 1.5" Plastic Razor Scraper with 100PCS Double Edged Plastic Razor Blades for Scraping Labels,Stickers and Decals from Glass, Windshields,Doors

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XX7K7Z6/

 

Doesn't bother me that much. It's like a calling to home for the V6 (tailgate is from V6.) It was sold at Toyota of Hopkinsville ky, and has been commuting back to Hopkinsville every year since. Kinda crazy the story of that truck if you think about it so I like that sticker and kinda wish I could get another plain sticker like that one was.

 

Toolin around the backroads.

 

Looks like it's leaning because the parking lot isn't flat.

 

For giggles, I hooked up the old high mount light to a battery. Lo, and behold it did work mostly. Guess the old pins were corroded. Glad I replaced it anyways.



@daveeasa, I like the output of this one better, but you can see the sun damage on it. I can't imagine how it would be on your western side of the country.

 

Also, found a nice deserted gravel road for some 4WD testing.

4WD:


Truck:


2WD:


I'd say everything is working proper!

 

Man. Looks like that thing never got a dose of 303 to give it some UV protection....

 

Agreed. I kept scraping and scraping and scraping with my pocket knife to see if I could get down to some red plastic again. I couldn't. That's the little bright spot you see on the left side of the right hand strip that's lit up.

Next time I would go back with one of these, but not until the other one just outright quits or gets water in it.

303 FTW!

 

Any plans for dealing with the mis-colored tailgate or do you plan to ride ghetto indefinitely?

 

I say run it.
Nothing says you mean business in traffic quite like mismatched panels.
"I'm prepared to do what it takes to get where I'm going...and I'm prepared to fix my shit afterwards."

 

Eventually this tailgate will go back to the V6 and then a new to me tailgate will live on crackie.

This is exactly right.