What have you done to your 2nd gen Tundra today?

Still have a more aggressive bed trim to do but got the new SS Built rear bumper installed. Just in time, we leave for home in OR Sunday.

 

Please talk me out of replacing my water pump.

I pulled the radiator. Here's the leaky old vs the new.



I preventatively replaced the thermostat, which looked brand new.



Now people say, "While you're in there, do the water pump." But now I'm tired and it looks like it's still a pretty big job since I need to remove the fan and like 15 hoses. Truck has 90k miles and I assume it's never been changed (I'm not the original owner). No sign of leaks.

If I leave the pump, am I going to regret it?

 

Only when it fails!

 

Agreed. If it doesn't show signs of weeping or makes noise, leave it alone!

 

with the radiator out, you might as well do it with the extra room you have.

 

I mean sound good my Miles are mostly highway so sounds right

 

Got the steelies rattle canned satin black…it’ll do! Tires are 295/70/18

 

I put away my laziness and pulled out the water pump. What a PITA to access! It WAS leaking; the gasket was dry and cracked. New/old:



I broke the thermostat housing by trying to remove it with a hidden bolt still present. So I'm outta commission for a few days until that part arrives.



I ordered a Haynes manual hoping it does a better job than randos on YouTube of illustrating all the bolts and hoses.

 

I had black steelies on my Taco. I loved the steelies. They are simple and look good.

 

And easy touch ups!

Bonus I already have the matching spare underneath!!!

 

It's a good thing you found the pump problem now, they're no fun when they go out away from home. The last one that went out on me (non-Tundra) did it on the highway and it took the radiator with it. The pump seized and spun the fan off the shaft into the radiator. As for the thermostat housing......

 

Swapped 35x11.50r20 Ridge Grapplers for 275/65r20 BFG’s. Got to shed 14 lbs at each corner. She’s feeling lively again.

 

Agreed do pump now.

 

Rear brake job: New pads, new shoes, new rotors, and new brake hoses, including extended length ones for the axle. Flush brake system rear lines. Was going to do the fronts, but since the pads are still at 40% I'll wait. But also replaced hoses, and flushed. Pedal is solid, much nicer.

 

I've seen the paint on the bed rails get progressively more chipped and worn down by the plastic caps. Was starting to rust pretty good in a few spots, and I didn't think painting would help much as it would just wear off again. Line-X didn't want to touch the rails, as they said the material would be too thick to place the caps back on. I sanded and Raptor-lined the rails, two thinner coats, and it came out great for a first attempt. I did a thicker stripe on the tailgate where its subject to a lot of bumps and bruises, and I kind of wish I had extended the liner material down further on the outside of the rails too.

 

JB WELD is you're friend!

 

Last week I had 3 different lungs nuts break the studs off when I tried to rotate my tires. They broke off at the base of the stud and after talking it over with a few friends and a trusted mechanic, I've concluded that the mag chloride CDOT uses on its roads all winter and spring could actually be my culprit. The corrosion was built up inside other lugs and on other studs as well. So I went to Amazon and ordered up a new set of lugs. This A.M. I cleaned all the studs and installed new lugs.

Before-you can see rust on my old lugs




After-color matched to boot.





The old lugs with the chrome coating coming off and rusting.

 

Damn! Hopefully that's the worst of it!
When I moved to East California (CO) a few years ago, a neighbor asked me why I was undercoating my Tundra and Land Cruiser (I spray the underguts of my vehicles with CRC Heavy Duty Corrosion Inhibitor at the end of the summer). I tried to explain to them that mag chloride is more corrosive than salt. They told me that "the stuff they put on the roads here is much safer." Bull sh*t! This excerpt is directly from a CDOT report:
"While CDOT specifications state that magnesium chloride must be 70% less corrosive than sodium chloride, experimental results obtained by SAE J2334 indicated that MgCl2 is more corrosive than NaCl to the bare metals tested. Corrosion varied from only slight differences for some metals to 13 time more corrosion for SS41O."

 

It's also electrically conductive. CDOT was putting it on so heavy that the spray from passing vehicles was alighting on the insulators of an adjacent power substation and shorted out the entire place.

 

In the winters I make a good habit of rolling through the spray wash bay's and trying to get all that crud off under all my family vehicles with a high pressure washer. I've heard horror stories of it deteriorating brake lines and other non metals as well.

 

The funny part is even with the "best" management of snow and ice, it doesn't keep the denverites from shutting down I-70 every storm due to multiple accidents trying to get to the mountains. Slow down when the roads suck folks. It's a simple concept no matter how lifted your mall crawler is, or how sporty your AWD crv and rav4 are.

I'll get off the soap box now and leave my rant alone. Sorry to derail the topic of fun stuff we like to tinker on. Let's continue to mod away...

 

Spent way to much on this

 

Sharp red color love it!

 

What brand did you end up going with?

 

Where does one get a set of steelies? I would much rather run 17-18" steelies than these 20" monsters I have now (at least make a few bucks in the process to put towards other mods)

 

I have not seen 17” steelies for our trucks but I do believe that 18” is still available from the dealership. I got mine used locally.

I believe this is it but check to be sure
https://toyotaparts.mcgeorgetoyota.com/oem-parts/toyota-spare-tire-426010c060

 

This will be for down the road, but scored a Sequoia transfer case for $50 yesterday.

VictorG and others have posted excellent threads on converting the Tundra to use this center diff equipped transfer case to have AWD and locked 4WD available. With my HP goals and PNW weather, I'm looking forward to this.

 

Geez that looks heavy AF!

 

I'll see when I get it separated from the core trans they gave me. At the drive line flange, it's only 1-1/2" longer than stock.

 

Just bought AJT designs 4x4 and climate control knobs.