da Green Thunder Mod Garage

In Work: Victory 4X4 sells these panels in pairs, but was lucky enough to grab one from a forum member. I just wanted one for the driver side. This is an easy mount, but I want to pull the center console off first to make sure I'm not drilling into anything important.

 

My center console creaks when I lean on it. Especially when it is cold out. I cannot stand creaks and this seemed to be coming from the latching mechanism area. So added a thin border of weather seal and this seems to have solved the problem.

 

I'm in the same boat (wire's too short) with the under-seat mount (only I need a bit more than 12-18"). I just pulled the trigger on some wire from Bezos and his minions that should arrive tomorrow. I noticed my harness has two 10-AWG power and two 10-AWG ground at the connector, but they splice the two grounds together in the loom and it is a single 8AWG at the other end. Since it's a bitch buying two sizes of wire, I bought all 10-AWG and I'm going to do the splicing inside the cab (which I'd prefer to do for weather tightness anyway).

As for a switch, you're probably best off going the route of a CH4x4 or AOB switch. AOB has the light blue that more closely matches (but not quite) the factory blue. CH4x4 has the ability to order custom switches in custom colors.

If you go the Desert Does It route, that has a spot for the ARB switch built into it. I did have to modify my mount slightly - I'll have details up in my thread soon.

Finally, the wiring loom for the switch is a hot mess if you don't plan on adding air lockers (which I don't think are available for the Tundra anyway). I ended up hacking the whole thing apart and making up my own using some pigtail off the factory connector to wire up the switch. Of course, with the DDI mount the switch is only about 6" from the compressor so the "harness" is pretty short.

 

What didn't you like about the switch wire harness? It looks pretty straight forward to me but I'm probably missing something. I'm not planning on adding lockers but was just going to coil up and stuff the locker switch portion. Guess I could just strip that portion out and save on a few wires having to be passed thru the firewall...

Thank for the switch idea. I was looking at the AOB switch and pondering one from them, but wasn't sure if it would work Wished the posted a picture of the back of the switch to see if it is common. I'm not planning on wiring the light portion anyway. I don't want to add any unnecessary light to the cabin and if it doesn't color match perfectly it will annoy my "sensitivities".

So the power(red) is 10ga and the ground(black) is 8ga at the battery side but 10ga at the other end? WTF? And since we're talking about having to add wire....wire this thick should be soldered right and not just joined via a crimped connector? I figured a crimped joint would overheat quickly with the amperage.

As always, thanks for your insight!

 

With the DDI mount under the seat, the switch is literally 4” from the compressor (unless you still decide to dash mount it)…so that 8ft+ harness is way too much. For doing it in the engine bay and running the switch control into the cab, yeah, it’s pretty well set up.

The compressor has a relay built into it for turning on the compressor - the switch is simply triggering the relay coil. The ARB switch is 5 spade connectors, while the AOB switches are four pigtails off a connector. At the end of the day, there are only two wires you need - ignition power source to the switch and continuing that to the compressor. If using the AOB switch, you’d connect ignition power to the red lead on the switch, and the green lead on the AOB switch to the red lead on the ARB harness. The blue is your illumination (you don’t want), and the black is the illumination ground and common ground for the air locker solenoids (not needed in your case). That ultimately means only one wire through your firewall if you use an AOB switch.

They have two 10ga black wires at the compressor but combine them to a single 8ga to simplify connections at the battery. The power leads are kept separate so that each compressor is independently fused (in theory if one goes out, the other can keep going). I’ve seen plenty of crimp connections at this size, but I plan on soldering just for good positive connections. I have a love hate (mostly hate) relationship with most butt-joint crimp connectors

 

Installed a set of Baja Design XL 80's mounted to ditch light brackets from CBI Design. Got the light covers as well to throw in the truck in case I get some LEO taking issue with extra forward-facing lights. Never heard of this happening but I'd be the first…

Refinished the mounts from CBI and got the lights mounted. Did a test run and everything works nicely. Wish there was a wire from the BD harness to tap into the fuse panel so the lights only worked when the engine was running.


Getting the wiring thru the firewall was a PITA but got it done. I appreciate the longer wiring that Baja Designs offers for the switch. With it, I was able to put the switch in the center console.


This was as "buy once cry once" purchase, so many thanks to forum vendor @memario1214 for answering a lot of questions and fast shipping!

See post #140 for the light tests

 

Feb Update - Added fresh pics to the catch can post (Page 4, #93).

 

Can’t wait to see how they look and perform in the A-pillar location. I’m either going to replace what came in my Smitty built bumper or add some a-pillar lights eventually.

 

Me too. Have to wait for a sunny weekend unfortunately. Think I'm going to install my ARB compressor, the rear window switch relo and the BD lights all at once. Going to need warm, dry day (or two) to pull all the wires...

 

We need to teach you how to hyperlink
(FIFY)

 

So…late June?

 

Agreed. I did this, but opposite. It’s on the console lid. One of the best mods honestly.

 

Lol. My attention span for figuring that out is too short…

 

Yeah, probably.

 

Sliders!

I had four criteria for sliders. First, they needed to work without drilling/welding into the frame. Second, they needed to have protection under the pinch seams along the underside of the truck. This is the "drop off an obstacle" protection. Third, they needed to extend out from the truck to provide side protection. Not only for off-roading (sliding into something), but door ding protection (nasty city people). And fourth, I transport short/elderly people so needed a real step. When all my research was complete, only CBI Off-road and RCI met all four criteria. Since CBI had the better step and was $400+ cheaper (total...out the door and shipped), it was a no-brainer.

CBI's wait time was listed as four weeks when I ordered. The sliders arrived after 8 weeks. The powder coat on the ditch lights I got from them was thin and had gaps, but the sliders looked great. I was worried about how they shipped them, but a custom pallet provided great protection. There was a small bit of damage to the powder coat from rubbing on the wood, about 1" in size. Given the weight and size, I was happy with the very limited damage. Easy to touch-up myself.


After repairing the damage, I got a bit inspired. I have a can of Dupli-Color in Toyota TRD red. So I used a narrow (1/4") strip of tape to create a straight line along the side of the slider, then ran painters tape along either side of the small strip to trim out the line...
Sanded the finish, then rattle rattle rattle...two coats of primer, 3 coats of paint and 2 coats of clear coat
.

Time to install! Total time was just over two hours. CBI's install videos are decent, but it still took some time to figure out the alignment on the first slider. Since they're 65lbs each, I used buckets, coolers and wood to shim them up so I didn't have to lift them too far. Plus if they fell off while I was under the truck, they wouldn't bust my ribs. Had to get the wife to help with one bolt since my average-size hands were too big. No guidance from CBI, so I torqued everything to one-grunt.

All done...The Dupli-color match is close to the wheels, but not exact. It is definitely a shade (or two) darker. Maybe it's the light-gray primer I used, but even the Dupli-color cap color looks darker than the red trim on the wheels. Maybe it will fade in a year or two. It is close enough for me, although when it comes time to touch-up the slider paint in a few years I'll probably grind/sand it off and just go straight black.

Overall I'm really happy with the sliders (build quality, welds, design, etc.) the look, the protection and function.

Hard to tell from the picture, but the sliders stick out about 1" beyond the truck/wheels. Perfect.

 

Dude, looks awesome! Honestly I wasn't sure about the red stripe when you first mentioned it but I love it, great touch.
I'll have to keep these sliders in mind, I do not want to drill or weld on the truck either.

 

Looks great!

 

I agree. The red like is just subtle enough to pop without being an eyesore. Well done @Green Thunder ! It runs like a connection between the wheel rings.

 

Finally got time to find a long dark road to align my ditch lights. The output is Nucking Futs!

Standard headlights with the fog lights

Now with the XL 80’s…

I know having the trees just off the road helps reflect the light back to my camera, but the light output really is this stunning. Furthermore, I’m really happy I went with the yellow/amber color. I was pretty exhausted when I aligned the lights and my eyes were very tired. Turning the lights on, the yellow just didn’t require my eyes to adjust, nor did it ruin my night vision when I turned them off. Very impressive.

Wanna learn more on why yellow works so well? https://www.thedrive.com/guides-and-gear/how-do-yellow-off-road-lights-work