Installing cat shield soon

I am having dealer put on a few items including shield since they are doing the lift anyways. I was told they will rivet them on instead of using the bolts which I have never heard of. Thinking to tell them no and just do it myself, but we have been hit three different times and I do not really want to wait until I have time, but seems like this would be a real headache if work ever had to be done under there.

Has anyone else had them installed this way? any opinions on this?

 

That could work, they only need to take off the TRD skid not the cat shield for service

 

I am going to be honest, it is going to be a few weeks before I get around to updating the install guide and get it back to me from our graphics design guy.

 

Is fine with me, won't install for a few weeks anyways. Thanks for your help Talon2006.

Can I float an idea by you? I'm a little paranoid about cat and trans heat dissipation with the large cat/trans shield. I know there are holes in it near the cat's. Got that. But here is a thought: I was thinking of putting a few steel washers between the shield and the truck frame only at the rear end of the shield. That would tilt it down a bit at the back, maybe 1/2 to 3/4 inch, making for an opening for more air to escape when moving. Seems that general front to back airflow would be improved. What do you think?

 

It wouldn’t hurt. The shield isn’t an air tight fit, so there is still ways for air to get in and around.

My F-150 has a similar designed shield on it. I have towed 10,000 pounds from
Houston to Austin numerous times without issues.

 

Another possible solution... if there is a problem... would be to pop rivet some shallow air scoops made of sheet metal or 3D printed, to force air into the eagle cutout or at the leading edge of the side vent holes.

I have a ScanGauge 2 that I plan to install in the Tundra soon and it should report trans temperatures in real time. I used this on my old Tacoma so I have a pretty good idea how these temps behave. I will have to check to make sure my SC2 firmware is up to date for Tundra and if not send it off for an update. I'll report my findings about trans temp... but probably won't be for awhile because I am pretty sure the device will need that firmware update and it has to go back to the mfg for that.

As far as directions to do the shield install, it is really pretty easy.

Remove the skid plate and set it aside. Bend the tab as shown in my photos, now or later.

Hang the cat shield with the 3 hanger bolts, washers and nuts as indicated in the general install instructions without the TRD skid. You can draw them most of the way up but leave them a little loose for now.

Temporarily install the 2 bolts in the cross member and snug them up. This puts the shield in the proper position.

Fully tighten up the 3 hanger bolts.

Remove the 2 bolts in the cross member.

Reinstall the skid plate after bending the tab if you didn't do that earlier.

Done.

 

Not sure how they would use rivets. The through holes in the frame where the hanger bolts normally go are huge so they couldn't be placed there. I suppose they could drill the frame and the shield in other places and rivet it like that. But if you ever needed work in that area they'd have to drill them out. IMO the security bolt set that Talons sells is just as good. Plus, the front hanger bolt is concealed by the skid plate so the thieves would also have to deal with that. IMO rivets are overkill and probably don't buy you much benefit, if any.

 

Just installed a Talon shield on my Platinum, easy install and great quality product; very secure, plus I'm always thrilled when I buy an after-market component and the holes line up perfectly!

 

Great news! My Talon is in the garage waiting to be installed (hopefully tonight).

 

It happens to the best of us! In our early days it happened to us on occasion, but we always took care of it.

Not everyone can start out with a high dollar CNC laser and all the fancy equipment. Sometimes you just have to make do with the equipment you have on hand, and hope you catch the mistakes before they get out. Sometimes they will get past you!

Glad you are happy!

 

The one thing I found to be a little problematic with my Talon shield was the little security bit was not available in other form factors, like a 1/4" or 3/8" socket drive. Those of us with TRD skid plates need to remove them for oil changes which means the 2 rear skid bolts that were replaced with the Talons security bolts have to come out. This is much easier with a fixed ratchet drive bit than a fiddly loose 1/4" bit. So, I got an extra one and made up my own, using a 3/8" drive 6 point 1/4" socket. Glued the bit into the socket with CA glue dusted with baking soda/graphite mix which pretty much welds the bit into the socket. Now I spin those bolts off with my cordless 3/8" drive ratchet... and the bit doesn't fall out and get away from me anymore like when I installed the Talons shield in the first place. Makes life... or at least Tundra oil changes... a lot easier.

 

I just used a socket like you for the bit. Bolts don’t need much torque.

 

good to hear, looking at getting the talons for our 23 plat maybe this summer/fall

 

@Talon2006 is there an extension to purchase separate to make the non-hybrid cat shield work on a Hybrid? I traded in my 22 Limited for the 23 Platinum HV and kept the cat shield off the 22.

 

Just bought me The Talons for my 21 Tundra , got some big trips planned and don’t want to get zapped, let you know how it goes

 

There was one that I had on the market, but pulled it off after making the Hybrid Shield. Let me look around the shop and see if I still have one.

 

Any overheating issues or heat retention with both TRD front plate and the converter protector?

 

Not seeing any problems. I just installed my ScanGauge2 yesterday, programmed it for transmission and engine oil temps and they are both running normal. I did not have the ScanGauge in place before I installed the cat shield so I don't have that direct comparison. But in my other thread about the Scangauge some other posters reported their trans temps which were similar to mine if not a little higher.

My take on this is that the transmission may come up to normal temperature a little faster in slow or stop and go traffic when there is little airflow, which might even be a good thing. But while programming my Scangauge with the engine idling for about 15 minutes... after driving the truck around to get it fully warm in the first place... trans temps never got above 150. At 75mph highway speeds on a 60 degree ambient day it maxed out at 201. Engine oil was similar but just a few degrees different. Coolant temps were also normal, of course.

 

This is very similar to what we have seen in our own testing on the Tundra, and on other trucks with shields installed. I was looking forward to your results have have been following this quietly.

 

Good stuff here, I like the scientific data, so yes I asked because we used to run into occasional heat retention issues while creating ground and most relieved by small NACA duct forms into the plates.

Thank you for the info, I have a shield in the Cart. Do the instructions include how to and where to install with a TRD skid? I read it is supposed to be straight forward.

 

I posted detailed instructions how to install with the TRD skid above. See post #36 for a good summary, and there are some pictures in earlier posts. Just don't follow the online videos for other shields, some of which look a little sketchy by skipping the front hanger bolt. I was also thinking about adding ducts if needed. I'll have to collect some more data like on the highway at 75 mph when it is 95 ambient. That won't happen for a few more months but I'll watch it along the way as spring springs.

 

Nice, very much appreciated. So yes, you can have the exhaust type ducts in the back of the shield( pics of flat bottom race cars), they are designed to draw out air trapped in the area, easy design. You do not want them to be on the front or the intake type so as not to draw dust and dirt into it.

 

Oh, as far as heat retention... On my highway drive yesterday, 20 miles up to the Toyota dealer for a part... the trans temp did not rise significantly while it was parked there for 10 minutes. But it probably wouldn't have cooled off as fast as it would have if not covered. Again, this may change somewhat when ambients are 35 degrees F higher. We'll see.

 

Towing or while sitting idling in traffic is the worst scenario

 

Idling may be the worst for heat retention, but load (speed and towing) far outweigh that. Load heats the fluid up very quickly from inside the transmission itself as opposed to from the external exhaust and cats. I drove at low surface road speeds until warm and then idled for at least 15 minutes and temp didn't rise much at all. But as soon as you hit the highway temps rise quickly. I saw the same behavior on my 2009 Tacoma 5 speed auto but at about 20 degrees lower overall. One thing that might be troublesome is towing, then pulling off a highway onto stop and go surface streets. That could make a heat soak situation worse where the shield will impair cooling.

 

Something to take into account, is the actual ambient air running over a surface, especially a surface not designed to give away heat is HORRIBLE at removing heat, where fluid in contact of a heat source, or a fluid to fluid heat exchange (think of the transmission cooler inside of the radiator) is great at exchanging heat.

There is a reason most applications use a water cooling system, and not air cooled systems anymore. The exchange efficiently is so much greater when you have a fluid component to take the heat away from a source, then release it.

Now, this is a very very basic explanation, and I am sure anyone in here with a engineer level of knowledge can probably come in here and make me feel very dumb.... but this is what I gathered years ago when researching a trans cooler for my old dodge diesel truck, and revisited when I was looking at air to water intercoolers for my car.

 

I was thinking of adding in a few washers as spacers between the Talon shield and the truck frame on the rear end of the shield. That would give (hot) air an easy escape when moving at least. Note that the Toyota TRD front skid essentially does just this, not sure why but heat escape seems likely to me. I don't like the idea of loosing ground clearance on the rear end of the Talon cat shield, but the Toyota TRD front skid would still be the lowest point it seems.

Any thoughts on this appreciated.

 

Exactly. And from my example above when running steady state within the capacity of the truck's cooling systems everything... coolant, trans fluid, engine oil, converges on the same temperature since the oils are essentially cooled by the coolant. Although I am not sure about our engine oil cooler, if that is with coolant or with a separate air radiator. Need to look into that some time. It is only when one exceeds that capacity due to load, extreme ambient, or cooling system degradation that temps will continue to rise. The main potential issue with the shield is heat soak at low speeds or even shutdown since it sort of creates a little oven chamber with the cats being the heating elements. But from my tests so far, I don't think any of this will really be a problem for most of us. Even the low speed scenario did not present an issue... but will revisit when it is 90+ degrees. Maybe a member in Arizona can get that done sooner? Guys that tow heavy in mountains under very hot ambient may need to be careful, however. They might need every bit of heat shedding ability they can get. Plus, it would be nice to understand what Toyota's design parameters are and what the acceptable max trans fluid temperature is.... information I do not have.

 

most excellent, yes. So a minor change could actively remove some of the heat. Plenty of ventilation has been nicely designed by Talon, but look at this video and go to 3:18

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbvnYQH_ZzA

no need for sophisticated design, nor large for that matter. I think laser cut about a 4 " long, 3" wide NACA design and bend the aluminum upward slightly would create an active draw out of heat while the vehicle is moving.

 

I need to do this