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

A few little things here and there

Added some HP and torque:


Made fender liners out of ABS plastic to protect the DD lights from getting sand blasted by the tires:


Replaced the ancient 12V sockets - wired in a USB in the back and up front:


Ditched the custom bed rack I made last year and threw on the topper:


A sneak peak of a different bed rack I have in the works that goes under the cap:

 

Replaced my old tailgate shock on my truck.. it worked great.. here's the info to the exact replacement for it.
STABILUS 4B-256726 INV

https://www.newegg.com/stabilus-4b-...upport/p/N82E16889272442?Item=N82E16889272442

Forgot to mention it cost me ~$17 shipped...

 

Replaced my factory third brake light with the Evil Manufacturing assembly. Still have to finish wiring the spotlights. Happy with the end product, but damn it was a lot of work.

 

That third brake light looks great! It is a shame how much work it takes to simply replace that housing.

 

Thanks, and agreed on that it shouldn’t be that hard. I was heavily cussing the Toyota engineer responsible for that design. No reason for it to be that complicated.

 

I'm doing the same today!

 

Sounds like a lot of the things on our trucks. I was cussing them when I replaced the starter in the driveway in the middle of winter a few years ago haha.

 

Basically got a new truck today. Loving the Morimoto XB’s from @memario1214 at hotshot off road.

 

Morimotos?

 

Got 1/2 way through installing an aux transmission cooler. I have been unimpressed with the factory transmission cooling capabilities, even with the thermostat pinned open. My trans is in the 180-190s just cruising home from work. Given that we are going to be making some trips with our new 6000lb travel trailer this summer, I decided to add some additional cooling.

I bought a derale 13503 cooler from Amazon. It has great reviews, but it appears to be 5/16 hose. It was a bear to get it on the Tundra fitting which I think is 3/8 or the metric equivalent.

This thread has been an enormous help. I "fabricated" the vertical support with his dimensions from a 1x1/8 piece of aluminum painted black.




Still need to make some brackets for the left side. I also am waiting for a magnafine filter to put in after the new cooler, so the return line is not yet connected.

My only real concern (other than my so-so craftsmanship) is what appears to be at smaller hose diameter than factory. Obviously, I don't want to reduce flow. I'm going to start the engine for a second to make sure I have the flow the direction I wanted it. It should make me feel better to see how much volume it kicks out.

Shout out to @JohnLakeman

 

Finished the install. It's mounted about 3/4" forward of the a/c condenser.

So far, so good. Added an inline filter to the return line. I think it is working as the upper cooler pipe is much cooler than the bottom cooler pipe. The flow goes bottom to top to purge air. I also bled the filter before zip tying it in place.

The only permanent mods are 4 holes drilled, two in the hood latch support, one in the lower body member and one in the upper body member.

 

Finished wiring up the spotlights in my new 3rd brake light assembly. Took the opportunity to relocate the Tow/Haul switch under the steering wheel and replaced the shifter console light bulb with a T74 led.

Spots:



Tow/Haul relocate:



Shiny!:

 

Changed steering wheels, new grille.

 

Got to try out my new transmission cooler today with the thermostat unpinned. Towed around 2 hours to a canyon campground. 85-90 ambient. Highest temp I saw was 221 in the pan at the top of a summit known for causing overheating on older cars. (Parley's Summit for my fellow Utahans).

The trans seems to level at 200 degrees- it got there really fast and stayed there most of the drive. I suspect that is where the thermostat opens.

 

Optima Yellowtop and GM diode.

 

you have a link to the gm diode?

 

I think it's general motors diode 12135037-5

$9 GM Genuine Parts 12135037 Multi-Function Diode

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08WHLPQR3

This post made me realize I need one for my AGM battery, so thanks for sharing it!

 

99% sure I sourced it from eBay. Can’t seem to find the email now.

Maybe here: https://www.ebay.com/p/657887420

 

F*cked up my valve stem.

Installing pressure sensors on tires to work with Android radio app. Three tires had plastic caps, fourth had a metal. When trying to get it off, broke the valve stem. Pretty sure it’s the OEM pressure sensor too.

 

Metal valve caps are a no-go with tpms. They do make aftermarket sensors that they can clone to oem codes, so no trip the the dealer.

 

Replaced water pump. 9+ years over 140k miles on 2nd water pump before it started leaking. Hope to get over another 100k miles before I have to replace this 3rd pump. @ViktorG has a great vid on water pump diy.

https://youtu.be/aziHaB8qt8w

 

what kind of head unit is that? looks great

 

Looks like a Sony model.

 

Couldn’t get anyone to come out and get this tire off. Lifted truck problems I guess. Gotta do what you gotta do.

 

thanks to this thread, I installed the

$9 GM Genuine Parts 12135037 Multi-Function Diode

GM diode to trick my alternator into putting out more voltage, thus properly charging my higher-power AGM battery. Honestly I'm embarrassed I didn't know about this before! When the battery was new the voltage showed high but never got back to that level, and it's because this is the standard voltage output by our alternators:



That's perfect for standard batteries, but it won't fully charge my AGM battery, which I bought because I have packed so many electronics into the truck.

Replace the 5A yellow Alt-S fuse with the GM diode, arrow pointing forward:



That's it. Here's the alternator voltage now:



Instructions weren't very clear so if I did something wrong, please tell me now! I didn't have to trim the diode.

 

Looks right to me, and that’s about the same before/after reading I got, albeit from the Amazon China USB voltmeters I installed in the old 12V sockets. Looks like they read pretty close to true.

 

I had many ants end up in the windshield fluid reservoir not long ago. It turned from blue to greenish tint. There were many decomposing bloated ants swimming in there. Gross panic. I did lots of sucking action to get the fluid out and then flushed with regular water and then refilled.
Not sure why ants decided to end up in there.

Washed my truck plastic shell. Checked underneath, no rust 12yrs so far.

 

Was just looking at these tie rods that MotoIQ talked about. Feel any difference?

 

I’m wanting to say yes, but with new hubs and wheel bearings, a 12” lift and relatively new 38” MT Tires, it’s hard to say. Definitely looks well built and beefy.

 

I tore into my 1 year-old Morimoto headlight harness and also the tailgate...

Badass Morimoto, sequential turn signal decided to stop working yesterday. Messed around with the harnesses in the Lowes parking lot to no avail.

After removing the affected headlamp, I REALLY confirmed all connections and also the piggy-back fuse... Nothing.

Thought it might have been the flasher resistor pack, which is easily bypassed... Not that either.

Finally, while running the hazards, I happened to twist a the headlight enough to Illuminate the signal for a split second. SUCCESS!



Tore apart the insulative cover on the flasher harness to reveal a resistor which had separated itself from its feed wire.

Soldered the stranded and used a butt connector for the first time I've ever felt good about. Then taped everything up nice and secure.



Problem is solved and I am happy with my Morimoto headlights once more!

Had to get in the tailgate because my new pop&lock ceased to work after a few days.

When installing the kit, the mechanism did not at first contact the locking lever and I had to push the whole thing down a bit to engage... This was clearly not enough.

Upon inspection, the mounting screw would skew the whole mechanism when torqued down. Fortunately a couple of flat washers fixed the alignment issue right up, and a dab of lock locktite should keep the screw in place, even during exuberant trail-running.