RainMan's 2021 Lunar Rock TRD Pro Build

Not sure about @TRDFerguson ‘s Z rated Trail R/T’s are doing but mine have become really hard of late. Not sure if something happened to them when they sat for 12 weeks earlier this year but they’ll chirp if I brake too hard and are like driving on ice skates with any moisture on the ground. Anyway, just my experience..

 

Mine seem to be holding up okay, other than being beat to hell from driving over/through sharp rocks...

 

I get it man. The HEB and Costco parking lots have been hell on the Bifmobile's tires.

 

I've been needing to tear back into the backside of my Alpine head unit to troubleshoot why my backup camera has been intermittently working, as well as routing the cables needed for my Icom radio install so that the control panel and speaker can be mounted up on the Rago dash plate. I was also having a minor "creaking" sound from the radio mount on bumpy roads that I wanted to solve. So today I decided it was time to tear into things.

Original radio install post here.

First, let me say: Alpine, this cluster-fuck is absolute bullshit. There is absolutely no reason you need to have all those little connector harnesses that then require additional connector harnesses to connect to the actual thing they will connect to.


ANYWAY, back to the matter at hand. First order of business was to strengthen the mounting interface so that the creak would go away. My plan was to use the factory head unit brackets and "sandwich" the Dasaita radio trim brackets. Of course, the holes don't entirely line up. I also noticed that the Dasaita trim stood a lot taller than the actual head unit body, and there was some risk of the wiring that was stuffed in the opening rubbing against those side walls.

I started with the factory brackets - part numbers 86211-0C080 and 86212-0C080. I don't remember which is Right and which is Left, but you need one of each.

I first marked a where the Dasaita side brackets extended above the head unit, then I overlaid the factory brackets onto the Dasaita ones and traced that outline as well.



Because the factory bracket would only cover one of the existing radio holes I was using, I decided to layout a new hole in the Dasaita brackets that would sit within the outline of the factory one. I used some blue tape to do this by popping holes through the two existing holes and the new hole that matched threaded holes in the head unit. Then line that tape up on the holes in the bracket to mark the bracket.




Then, once the holes were drilled in the Dasaita brackets, I ground the little locator nubs off the factory brackets, lined them up over the Dasaita ones so that the dash mount holes were aligned, and marked the new hole locations in the factory brackets.




Then we moved on to a cut-off wheel to chop off excess bracket that wasn't needed from both the Dasaita brackets and the factory ones before finally mounting it all back onto the sides of the head unit.




Then I wrapped the edges with some Tessa tape for a little protection.


Then, I moved on to the Icom radio controller cable and the

$17 Keenso Car Radio External Speakers, NSP 100 Radio External Speaker Two Way Radio CB Radio Speaker for Yaesu FT-847 FT-920 FT-950 FT-2000

external speaker. I popped the center speaker grill (this is also a great way to reach in and help maneuver the cables behind the head unit while stuffing it into place) and removed the center speaker temporarily. Then I fished the speaker cable and controller cable down behind the glove box and into the center console hump and left them in there for now until I am ready to finish the actual radio install. At least at this point I don't have to pull the head unit out again to route that.




Finally, I buttoned everything back up, checking very carefully to ensure everything was properly connected, that connectors were double & triple checked for good connection, and that any "slip fit" connections were wrapped well with tape. The extra clearance from having the side brackets removed helped in fitting everything inside without pinching or cramming.

The drive home there was no discernable creaking from the head unit, and the backup camera seems to be working like it is supposed to.

Now I need to lay low on the mods for a little while and get some honey-do's done or I'm gonna be sleeping in my truck.

 

You can sleep in my truck. Bring all of your tools and feel free to mod it to your liking.

 

Keep putting it off and we’ll be installing it in camp in April!

 

That depends on what you offer in return…

 

Y'all talking like that makes Tundras 2 Sedona camp sound like the Olympic Village... Good thing I've got Taquito Bandito branded Vegan rubbers in production... Look for the Taquito tent at Sedona for your Taquito Tents.

 

"TAQUITO TENT! TAQUITO TENT!" - Mrs. Bandito every morning. Allegedly.

 

Any thoughts on the new suspension?

 

I would also like to hear feedback on those Bilsteins.

 

Absolutely love it
Haven’t gotten to go bang on much because of life stuff around here, but have been finding plenty of rough pothole-filled regular roads around here to try and hit harder than normal.

The back end with the RAS removed isn’t quite as tight as with the RAS, but still feels good. Enough so I’m not missing the RAS (haven’t put a big load in the bed yet though).

We have some notoriously bad sections of freeway around here with massive settlement gaps/uneven spots/holes (the state’s answer was to put up “Rough Road 50 MPH” signs for 5 miles) that are crazy how little you feel with the new shocks.

Still need to find time to get out and hit some old forest service roads, but not sure when that will be.

 

What are your low and high speed setting at right now?

I went full soft on both and will experiment from there. I don’t miss my RAS but I will be hooking up my dump trailer in a few weeks to test out the sag level without it.

 

I’m currently set where Bilstein sets them from the factory - which is 1-2 clicks “soft” from middle according to the instructions.
I’ve just been to swamped to do any playing around - I’m amazed I got them installed before 6 months had gone by.

 

Although the Fogster is super simple to install, I'm glad I read this post for a different idea of how to access the Headlight Plug. I had been looking from above and convinced myself I was going to have to remove the Headlight to access the completely inaccessible plug. Appreciate that you documented this super simple install.

 

I don't trust the dealer to install a gas cap, much less my oil drain plug. Free or not, no one does maintenace on any of my vehicles, other than myself. They just don;t give a shit about your property

 

@RainMan_PNW
What are your thoughts on using the CB spacer shim vs dialing up the adjustment on the shock bodies for more lift?

 

Leaning heavily on @memario1214 on this one - the consensus is to keep the shocks in the middle of their “sweet spot” as set by the factory for valving performance. Their default setting is offset to account for driver’s side lean but running them up to max doesn’t necessarily put them in their ideal position.

 

Ok cool. Thats what I assumed was going on. Are you running the 1/2” or 1” lift shim?

 

1/2" lift (the shim measures 1/4" thick)

 

what wheels are these?

 

they are Rays Gramlight 57x
https://www.tundras.com/threads/gramlight-57x-trans-w-tires.123343/

 

how did you get them to stick tried this with a patch couldnt get it to stay

 

Lots of mashing, smashing, and twisting…and even then they are precarious at best.