The Life and Chronicles of "AL TUNDY " 1st Gen Long Travel 4x4

"That is the problem with everything. They try and make it better without realizing the old is fine."
- Al B[T]undy

Introducing Al Tundy. A 2005 SR5 Tundra. Built by DMZ, personalized by the current owner.

Current form:

Hell's Gate.


Pahrump:


Somewhere along Hell's Revenge:


Night run at Fins & Things:


Day I purchased:



Previous to my ownership:








Click for Build page on DMZ



Front:

• 3.5" Camburg long travel with working 4x4
• 2.5 Fox coilovers, 2.5 bypasses, 2.0 bumps
• strapped at 13" of travel
• DMZ front shock hoops and engine cross brace
• Spindle gussets

Rear:

• DMZ rear SUA
• Deaver C-27 leafs
  
• TC shackles
• DMZ bed cage with 2 vertical spares and receiver hitch
• 2.5 Fox triple bypasses, 2.0 bumps
• strapped at 17" of travel
• Custom storage box
• DMZ skid jack

Lighting and Electrical:

• BD HIDs
• BD amber dust lights (front)
• RC 50" LED Black Series light bar
• MCM light bar mount
• Ballistic battery box x2
• Northstar NSB-AGM34/78 x2
• Matson voltage sensitive relay for dual batteries
• Siren/horn/PA box
• marine grade usb/cig adapter outside mount

Armor:

• DMZ front bumper
• DMZ rear bumper/cage
• Demello sliders

Wheels/Tires

• BFG ATs 315/75/16
• M/T Classic III wheels x6

Drivetrain

• 4.88 Gears
  
• Total Chaos 4WD Long Travel 4340 Axles +3.5
  
• ARB air locker (rear)

Interior:

• Pioneer NAV
• LED lighting
• Cluster converted to Blue LED
• Wired for ham radio
• Yellow Box speedo calibrator
• Corbeau FX1 Pro seats
  
• Corbeau harnesses
• Sparco wheel

Exterior:

• Glassworks fenders
• custom bed rack
• custom fit bed box

 

The Adventures of "Al Tundy"

Adventure Links:

San Rafael Swell - Utah 2019

Moab - Oct 2019

Mt Charleston snow run - Dec 2019

Wheeler Pass-Wash Target Practice - Dec 2019

North Rim - Grand Canyon - Jan 2021

 

Sick rig man! And welcome to the madness

 

very nice !

 

Nice truck. Welcome to the forum form Houston TX

 

Welcome from AZ

 

Super sick! Welcome from CO.

 

Love the name and the quote

 

San Rafael Swell - Utah 2019

On the way - I70. Weather was perfect.


Our itinerary was running Devil's Race Track starting through the tunnel under I70 from the camp area where we stayed the previous night.
Devil's Racetrack then becomes the Eva Conover trail which will then take you out of the valley and dump you out onto the west bound side of I70.


Our campsite the first night




Our entrance to the Devil's Racetrack


Cruisin through the meadow


An arch near the entrance to the Devil's Racetrack, and no tourist to see anywhere!


An omen of things to come...


The main obstacle closer to the entrance of Devil's Racetrack.




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The trail got tight in many areas. Al Tundy was about as wide as you want to go on this trail


Stopping along the way to scope out some cool rock formations


Plenty of cool rock formations to view along the way


One of several drop offs along the Devil's Racetrack descending into the valley


Lunch time on the top of the Devil's Racetrack












Another look at the map:



The cliff faces down in the valley of Devil's Racetrack were massive and directly accessible.




Where's Waldo?


About exiting Devil's Racetrack and heading towards the entrance of Eva Conover which takes you up out of the valley.






Now winding up the canyon on Eva Conover


One of the many gulches and rock formations along the route


Eva Conover is a bitch on tires. Thankfully I had two spares, a skid jack and helpers.




Leaving the Eva Conover trail and onto I70.
Eva Conover Trail can be accessed directly off west bound 70 about mile marker 120 I think.


Out onto "pavement" and aired up.


We then camped the night before heading out the next day.




A small clue about where our campsite was. It's well hidden, and incredible


Packed up and ready to go


Even our way out of the camp site was a fun trail

 

Nice truck. Any chance you know the track width on the front is? My truck is about 84" and my wheels are set in about as much possible. I'm guessing you are at least another 1-2" wider.

 

Welcome from SoCal!!

Very nice Tundra!!! And great adventures; thanks for sharing!

 

Thanks!

 

Not sure. I never measured. You wanting absolute track width, edge of outside tire to edge of outside tire, or outside of hub to hub? It's a 3.5" over kit. So, 7" plus the stock track which I think is 66" = 74" plus tires on the wheels which I think are zero offset.
Measured, and it's 90" outside edge to outside edge tire to tire.

 

Just rough outside of tread to outside of tread. No big deal I was just curious. Mine is 3.5" per side with basically a 35x12.5 and the narrowest setup I could have is about where I am at 84". I want new wheels though and that should push me to 85 or so.

 

Badass truck!

 

Very nice truck @AL_TUNDY

 

Likewise! How's your Champion radiator holding up? I just replaced stock unit with one just before Moab a few weeks back and I have no complaints so far.

It was the only full aluminum radiator I could find for the 1st Gen Tundra that seemed like it would fit properly. Wanted something that wasn't plastic that could potentially hold up to whomping in the desert.




Following install it was sitting about 1/8" above the lower supports of the tube bumper. I had to spacer it out away from the core support for more clearance. Actually, the radiator wasn't an "exact fit." I had to modify the support tabs on it a bit too, and spacer it out so it wasn't rubbing directly against the upper core support.






It helps to be able to fit a 5 gallon bucket under the drain without even having to touch a jack.


The main reason why I changed it out when I did. Pretty sure this radiator is original:

 

@AL_TUNDY There is no complaint with the Champiion radiator.

 

I am sitting at my desk

Hating myself right now.

Thanks

 

What coolant are you using? I see on Champion's website that they recommend standard green.

I purchased, but haven't installed a Champion & am unsure which coolant to use.

thx.

 

I used the Toyota coolant - ethylene glycol premix that's covered by Toyota warranty. I know. The truck is already out of warranty, but manufacturers don't like to do costly repairs for free, so I think I can correctly assume it's a good coolant. I didn't know champion recommended a coolant. But even knowing that now, I'd still go with the Toyota coolant. Never ran into any problems with it. I've read that it is good on aluminum engine parts. Probably because it is a premix which means it's a correctly mixed ratio and uses distilled water, which is what you want for an aluminum radiator. From what I've read, it's not so much the type of coolant, but the type of water used. You want distilled water. So, whatever route you go, make sure to either use a premixed coolant, or if mixing yourself, use distilled water and mix the proper ratio. Minerals and shit that's in tap water or well water can ruin an aluminum radiator or other aluminum engine parts it comes in contact with. The other ingredients on the label besides water and Ethylene Glycol are corrosion inhibitors. Basically there to counter the corrosive effects of Ethylene Glycol.

Also, it's harmful if swallowed. Says so on the label, so it must be true!

This shit:

 

Wicked rig dude! Welcome from Alberta

 

@AL_TUNDY


https://shop.championcooling.com/articles/What-Coolant-Color-Do-I-Use

 

Hm. Interesting. Thank you for the link. So, I'm curious though what the exact cause was for the failure of the radiators. Was it the coolant, aluminum radiator AND an older american engine? Or just the radiator and the coolant? It's not quite making sense to me right now: "But they aren’t really compatible with our radiators, and shouldn’t be used in older American engines."

The phrase "Aren't really compatible" is about as vague as it gets.

"While the manufacturers of these coolants recommend only using them in an aluminum radiator, as opposed to the copper/brass radiators, we still don’t recommend them in our all-aluminum radiators."
So what is it about their radiator?

They're not very specific about what's different about their aluminum radiator that makes it a problem. There must have been something else going on? Maybe a reaction with the metal used in their drain plugs?

This definitely deserves more research. As I'm digging more, people are talking about interactions with zinc parts, ground the radiator, and to NOT use distilled water, etc. There seems to be a lot of differing angles on it.

Thanks for bringing this to my attention!

 

Now you see my confusion

 

I am using BMW coolant since we have 2 BMWs and friend who own auto repair shop said its okay.

 

@AL_TUNDY does the aluminum radiator bolt right in to the original mounting slots or require customer modifications?

 

So the bolts holes line up, and it has the proper fittings for all the hoses. the only problem I had was the top of the radiator doesn't tuck under the core support, so I had to add spacers between the mounting holes of the radiator and the core support mounting holes. Also, the tabs on the radiator were a bit too low, so I had to chop the slots out a bit on the core support. Otherwise it fit fine, and wasn't too big of a deal. The radiator does hang lower since it's a bit taller than stock, but that shouldn't be a problem on a stock truck with a stock bumper.

 

Good to know. thanks!

 

We had some snow in the high desert. This was about 15 minutes up the hill from my house in Pahrump Valley. I was a bit shocked and excited to see a lot more snow than I expected.
Al Tundy handled the short excursion like a champ, and I was able to snap a few pics along the way: