Am I nuts? Paying for end cap swap?

I just received my TRD Pro Grille, bulge, and end caps from Roman (awesome service, and the parts look fantastic). Cold weather has set in, and I don't have a heated garage (I do have a barn and my unheated garage), but I'm short on time, and feeling lazy, so I contacted the company doing my Linex next week to see if they would do the end caps. They said they would, but it would be an 1.5hr-2hr labor charge at $75/hour. Yikes.

I know I can do it, it's just a matter of time (one year old at home and both of us working full time), plus the lack of heated spaced to work in.

Maybe I'll wait until spring...

Did anyone here pay to have them installed? How much did you pay?

 

Paid almost $50K for the guys at the factory to install them.

Honestly though;put on some long John's, man up, and then take your wife out for a nice dinner with the money you saved.

Oh, and post pictures when you are done.

 

Haha, I suppose. It took me a few weeks to install a winch and plow system on my Rubicon working around my schedule and my kid's naps. Granted some of that was downtime having to have parts custom machined and custom ordering new hardware that didn't come in the first shipment of the kit. Luckily I was working in my basement next to the woodstove.

Projects that I used to be able to start and finish in one session are now broken up quite a bit.

Man up it is.

 

Just wait for a warm day and do like BRNG ITT said. What was the total bill for the parts? Just in case I have to settle for a plain TRD with all the chrome crap.

 

I know exactly what you mean.

After 14 years of marriage and 3 kids, I'm not turning wrenches like I used to. Thankfully there's no need/desire for me to do an engine swap like on my previous vehicles.

 

Just wait until you have time to do it yourself. Because you know you'll do it right. Almost every time I have someone work on my car or truck they either strip a screw or lose some screws or scratch something in the process. Just wait. I get free rotations from the dealer and or America's tire but I prefer to do it myself because they always scratch something. Typically the Lugnut holes and the center cap get messed up. Basically I'm saying people are always rough with other people's stuff and you know more than likely something they will do will be unsatisfactory.

 

Just curious, when did you order all this? Did you have to get the end caps painted?

 

I do have a question about the removal process. Some have said the grille needs removed as well as the headlights, others say you can drop the whole front valence/bumper without removing anything else. Is there a better/best method? Youtube didn't turn up much, nor did my searches on here, TT, or TS.

 

I ordered during his Black Friday promotion and I ordered them custom painted.

 

Ok, just curious. I ordered my end caps during the Black Friday promotion, had to get them painted, but I haven't heard anything from him about when I'll be getting them.

 

You just have 1 kid? Please... you've got more time on your hands than you know what to do with but you just don't know it yet. Tell me about time management when you have 3 kids and a full time job.

 

True, but that's why I have no intentions of having three kids

I was (still am to a certain extent) very active, and have to stay as busy as possible. I have my hands in too many things as it is. Wife and son are #1 priority, so most things get pushed to the back burner and then I go into panic mode trying to get things done after putting them off forever.

 

End caps only take about 30 mins...yes remove the grill and then the rivets and screws on the leading edges of the front wheel wells and along the bottom of the bumper cover (I think...its been a while). It slides off...don't forget to disconnect the fog light and sensors if you have them. Sensors are easily popped out and reinstalled in the new end caps.

There are good vids on utube for this...Tundra Talk has threads on this too...its what I used.

Man card could be revoked if you pay someone to do this...even if it is raining, snowing, 30 below...and no garage...

 

I hear you. When I did my retrofit it was all while my family was sleeping. Not enough time in the day.

 

It's a 30 minute job, do it yourself. I have taking my grille off down to a science (literally <8 minutes.)

I only took the end caps off once but it was fast. 2 hours of labor? Amateurs.

 

Haha, me too. 3 kids, 2 dogs, wife, and a full time +gig. Doing stuff to my vehicles is my alone time.

 

I rarely pay someone to do work on any of my trucks. i just love doing it all myself...sometimes people just have no time to do things because of family. but i will find time sooner or later....BUILT NOT BOUGHT

 

No worries man, I know how you feel. I only have one 1 year old too and boy have things changed... Time alone to do things is just non existent these days.

 

I have to install the same as you it's been super cold here in the NW the past few weeks, today's high here was 24 degrees and been putting it off. Here is a great video on removing the bumper, I was told to definitely remove the bumper to replace the caps.

https://youtu.be/d4TfUk_fHhM

 

To everyone with one kid. It is indeed a big change going from no kids to one. But it more than doubles the work when you have a second. You'll wonder how on earth you thought you had no free time with just one. Enjoy it while its still just one.

 

Yeah, but it's ok to neglect them if they have each other. Can't neglect an only child.

 

I have 3, my nick names in order by age, 991, 964 and F80 , which all would be sitting in my garage right now but these kids are so Dam expensive!!!!!!

 

so what was the cost of the parts in total?

 

Who wants to work out in the cold? Beside I may break something while doing something in this 0 degree weather...My LED fog are here a week ago and I have NOT even open it....Maybe I should check to see if there are any broken parts.....

Pay the shop to do it if you can. However, I like the idea of Built NOT Bought.

 

I continue to struggle on the end cap question -some say bumper off, others say no. I guess when my painted ECs arrive with my grill, I will have to take a look at the new ones and just slowly tear down the truck (after removing the grill) to get the ECs swapped. I"m very excited to read "30 minute job". That mean 1.5 hours if I do it slow and easy, documenting everything so i can put it back together.
A video would be great for sure - just saying....

 

Figured...

 

Ok, during a nap today, I tackled the grille and bulge. Got it swapped relatively easily. The grille didn't pop off as easily as anticipated, and pulling up didn't release it. I had to pull up but then push down a bit to release.

Anyways, it's done. There's a small difference in a gap by the upper left corner compared to the right. Not super noticeable.

I plan to take the bumper off following the tutorial on Tundratalk that doesn't require the grille to be removed. Seems easier that way.

Sent from my Turbo 2.

 

I'm that efficient, haha.

I meant to type during "his nap," lol.

Sent from my Turbo 2.

 

I though you dreamt it.

 

So did you dream it or do it, lol I'm confused