Florida AF Build Thread

Just ordered the Retrax Pro and a 4Knines setup for the truck. Picked up a foster doggo and he is both getting the ladies and destroying my interior.

 

Just got home and could not be happier. I love the guys at the shop and their work ethic. Next up, dig the RTT back out before I head West.

 

Spent time in the rain getting the tent on and dry fitting some of the stuff. About to head out on a cross country road trip before I was ready to. But, live once right?

 

View from the hotel bedroom. Larger group of people so I moved her to where I can see her.

Maybe my tint is dark

 

Last night I took the truck out to see the Northern lights and am still recovering from that experience. I think the two biggest things I noticed were how dark it gets out in the mountains and how easy it is to get somewhere and not see people. Truly awesome...

Anyway, was trying to see if I could get a photo with the lights behind my truck, so I figured I would share the efforts...

this was me using the flash on my phone to line the camera up:



And here is the raw photo that I was able to capture, and I plan on using it to play around with an editor to see if I can lighten my truck and keep the accuracy of the colors.

 

Been quiet for various reasons since the return from my trip. I close on new property next week up in North FL. Been dumping most of my Tundra money into my 97 ranger to get her up and ready for property work.

Bought a chalk bag and need to get around to putting it in. Also, just ordered a Westin front bumper for install after closing. One step closer to getting rid of the Chrome. But currently, money is tied into the house purchase and getting the Ranger work ready.

 

Closing is tomorrow the last few weeks have been crazy. About to take over 5 acres more North in Florida. Still cant believe I am leaving the home area yet again.

I have some stuff laying around needing installed still and next Wednesday I get my Westin ProMod bumper installed.

Most of my fun money has been tied up into the closing, followed by that adult stuff we all know and love so well. man fridges got expensive in the last couple of years.

What fun money I did have for the Tundra moved over to my dad's ol ranger. When he passed I took it over as a local Sbox to run around in. But, I decided to get it ready for prime time on the property instead of buying that 22k 4 seat sxs.

Anyway, some of the fun before I run the next gambit of expenses.

 

Meso Customs Map lights are finally in!

As others have mentioned, they are bright! Red and white, but I wanted them mostly for the red lights on day to day with the ability to go to white if needed. A few times on the trip I wanted brighter lights so I am looking forward to these.

before:


after:

 

Dongar is in! I have some wire cleanup to do still, but mostly i just wanted to test it. I was surprised at how hard I had to work to get access to the plug, but once i did it was quick and plug an play. Heading to the new property tonight, so when I am out there I will clean it up. No more wires running down my dash!

 

Started the day today with getting my Westin ProMod installed. My local shop killed the install as they always do and had it back to me before I could even finish work. Unlike the photos online, this thing does stick out a lot more than I expected, but overall I am pleased with it. After seeing it in person, I went ahead and ordered the skid plate to hide all the newly visible stuff. Unfortunately, I couldnt figure out (quickly) how to wire my existing fogs into the new bumper and with the dark roads I am on, I went ahead and ordered the promod sqaure LEDS for the corners.

I am in no rush, but I will get around to a light bar when things settle down over here...

 

And just like that, things escalated quickly.....

The truck made a trip across the bridge and it was decided after being used across the country and making some amazing memories in between relationships, the RTT is coming off and it is unknown what its future will hold.

Why? Because the fam deserves a better nights sleep. So Wednesday I pick up this bad boy.... time to do more research on weight distribution hitches and potentially adding road active suspension... Damn I do not want to raise the bed height...

 

After some towing of the new camper and long discussions with the Misses, I have decided to put most of my plans of the truck on pause and focus on some safety for us while traveling. I pulled off my RTT and put my frame back on my bed so I can use it for work and play. I am currently looking into the dash mount I want so it can hold the tire pressure and back up camera monitors for the camper. The wheels will be a while, but things are progressing nicely. Just to many irons in the fire at one time.. from the project ranger, the house, the property, the camper and the Tundra. Time to slow down and just enjoy some things a bit.

 

Misc update:

A couple months ago I had this issue where my auto mirror would "just turn on" and darken things up. I got into the habit of getting in and turning it off. It was so obvious, that even my GF would turn it off for me when I wasnt quick enough.

I scowered the forums and tried to figure out why it magically started defaulting to on and dimming everything.

A forum member posted on here (sorry, I cant give you credit since it was a late night phone search) about his not working and with some influence from the comments, I figured it could be the sensor.

Then, yesterday I was jumping in the truck and the mirrors started dimming. I reached behind it to find the sensor and found that my gate sensor had heated up and slid down over the mirror sensor. The florida heat got me on this one! I ripped the stuck on piece off and the mirror immediately lightened back up.

So basically, it was always defaulted to on but never an issue until this piece slid down. For future readers, the sensor is on the left side of the mirror, below the half way marker. make sure you do not block it with a camera or anything else.

 

Pretty exciting on the ol farm lately.

I sold my RTT and helped install it. Watched it drive off to get more use, which is awesome!
Picked up a back up cam for the RV, just need the time to install it.
Picked up some TRD Pro headlights to install, but havent done it yet.
Recieved the iHacker harness to make it work...

Got in a slight wreck, but the truck took it like a champ and has minor damage, so I wont even pay to fix it.

Picked the location for the new barn, which we decided is now 2 years out.

And used the truck to do all the things to plant our blackberry bushes.

Loving life!

 

Buffed out the paint damage and took off my bed rack setup. Working to move it over to my Ranger so I can lighten the Tundra a bit before summer.

 

I think this works.... I may need to talk to a painter now...

Thank you for the assist @TaquitoBandito

 

Confirmed I am ordering SCS Ray 10's tomorrow! Wanted 18's, so I couldnt go with the blazes as planned; but the wait is finally over!

Now the continued and annoying search for tires. Torn between weight management and how much to care. I drive a lot.... like I have already put over 12k on this thing since I bought it. Truck came with Goodyear Eagle LS2's, which weigh 41 each. Leaning towards Cooper Discoverer AT3 which weigh 54 each. Terra Grapplers will keep my tire size the same, even with the rim change, but they weigh 53. So... it will be interesting to see what I do.


Also, on the back port waiting for install:
- TRD Pro LED headlights
- iHacker harness
- backup cam for the camper
- FRAC harness
- front cam

Soooo.... it will be an interesting couple weeks, especially now that we are already in the 90s

 

Terra Grappler 2 has 295/70r18 in SL load index that weights only 51lb, I also had G015 from Yokohama before and those lasted a long time while being quiet.

I'm all for keeping weight reasonable, I actually love my KO2s with C-load index, I actually shaved 10lbs per corner with the lightest 37s and 17" wheels I could find.

 

DT is showing those Terra's discontinued... I had them saved, so thank you for the input!

 

Took the wife to watch the sunset at my favorite spot while back in the home town, love these type of nights.

 

I guess also how big do you want to go?

the new AT4W has a lot of SL tires at almost 33s, like 285/65r18, its 51lbs, they also have 35x11.5r18 in C load index, which is 62lsb.

another one for lighter tires is Goodyear Territory AT, 325/65r18 is only 62lbs, and the 275/65r18 is only 38lbs.

 

This is it right? The annoying tire conversation that takes place all over every truck forum in the world.

I am trying to go America, which only leaves a few brands, and as much as I love the tough and offroad look.... I dont want to lift my truck and I tow a camper most times. I do drive off pavement, but its packed gravel and semi packed sand most of the time. I carry an air pump and traction boards for those random times I lose traction, but mostly I dont risk the daily driver on anything "fun." So I think I will be staying with 32's and going AT so I can get traction when needed. next year will be another road trip, but I cannot buy tires for the randoms. Its why I think I will be going with Cooper Discovery or if I can find Nittos in the right size. Two very different tires, but *shrug. I am mostly curious to see what I end up doing as I dont even know lol.

 

In our heads our drive is like this:



In reality it's like this:



Sometimes we need reality check lol, I actually think 275/70r18 is the sweet spot, it's an OE size so spares are plenty, and Ram Rebel used that size so used ones are dime and dozen, solid 50lbs weight range, even E load index is only like 55lbs.

 

The accuracy in this photo is painful LOL. And I am with you, my searches have landed me on that size more often than any other tire size. My wife got a good laugh too, and said, yup, that bottom photo is us a lot. I will try to grab a road pic when I head to town here in a bit.

 

My daily off roading....

 

Very happy with today so far. We got a break from the rain, at the expense of heat advisories. I used a gap in between work functions to install my TRD headlights.

Before:


After:


Realized quickly that I need to order more of those push connector PITA's. And am now hoping I do not need to buy a new grill:





And I even got to see how bright these are in the daylight.

Lowe Beam:



High beam:



Happiness:

 

Decided to work the partners lights today too and that opened the door for a whole lot of things.

Upgraded her her lights to... well, current:





Then put my new tarp on the dump trailer:



Then I finally got the farm truck tightened up with the Tundra's inventory. This way it wont sit in boxes or on the ground and rot. I may end up keeping it all off the Tundra as a whole, but havent decided yet.

 

upgraded the shoes and tread today! Very happy with the ride and overall change in the truck. Looking forward to loving these and putting the miles on them.



And now:

 

Misc update after several miles and some towing....

These tires have been quiet, good grip in the rain and the big thing I was looking to change, did.. Which was I dont get the teeth shattering jolt with every large bump like I did on the 20's. So I am significantly happier with them. After two trips to its usual stop...

Non towing - highway - 14.75 - about 1.5 mpg more than before.
towing - minding my speeds and not being in a hurry - 10.63 mpg - roughly 2 mpg more than last time.
towing - tired and wanting to be home - 8.162 - roughly the same as before. I did dip into the 7's on the previous trip, but we will call it the same.

All to familiar view:

 

The Tundra did her job well this week!

I was taking off on Sunday to go out of town for work and as I was turning off my phone, I found out we lost power. I left the truck with the wife and she was able to evacuate south and be with her family during the hurricane. Our neighbor helped her load supplies and she is coming home tonight. I was informed, that i may have lost my truck to her now... lol... But this weekend it will be used a lot to run downed debris to the dump and bring back some calm around here.

She decided not to evacuate when I asked her too, so she drove through some hazards that her car would not have made it through. Lots of lessons learned this week... but the house is finally cooling down.