What have you done to your 1st gen Tundra today?

I think it was in Arkansas.

 

This aint no place for arkansass.

 

Looked it up. It was on petit Jean mountain at the classic car museum. Cool spot. It was an ih8mud event or at least was communicated through them. Annual event, first one at this site. Site lacks hood trails though, have to drive a ways for that activity. Mostly just a truck show.

 

I've got family there. Find a link and i'll bring grandma & her cousin next year.

 

From the forum

https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/toyota-trucks-of-arkansas-petit-jean-meet-may-13th.1303237/

edit: which by the way, ih8mud is as bad or worse than TS with all the BS flashing adds and interruptions. We have an oasis here

 

I got tired of crawling through the passenger side door, so a new OEM door latch today. I've forgotten how nice it is to get in from the drivers door.

 

Sort of rethinking whether I should be using a sawzall with a carbide tipped blade for the rear shock top nuts. Tried a piece of metal I could use to put over the frame top so I won’t cut into it, but the blade is hard to hold against the steel without jumping around. Not good with the wires close by.



The diamond tip blade might be a better selection so it won’t jump.

 

Yeah those bolts holding the gas intake hose bracket aren’t coming off without breaking off…maybe I can just lift the bed a few inches without disconnecting the gas line?

 

Can you cut through the shock shaft below the mount and just pop the top piece off once its removed?

 

Unfortunately not, the upper metal shock dust cover is in the way. I could probably pick at it since it’s rusted through though.

 

Ok awesome. Now let's do speaker.

 

Cut the cover too? I'd probably attempt it with a die grinder/cutoff tool that uses abrasive disks.

 

I'll see what I can do tomorrow. An alternative might be to use a hacksaw to cut a groove into the top nut so I have somewhere to set the sawzall blade so it won't jump.

If I use a whizzer with a cutting wheel or a dremel I'd probably end up hacking at the shock tower which is what I want to avoid.

 

Reminds me I need to install my new driver door latch. I haven't driven the truck much since my last wheeling trips, but I used a long screw that I screwed into the stub of the interior latch. It worked great, but it's only a temporary fix. I'm sure it'll break too eventually

 

I like my speaker, it's got patina.

 

Work was closed today and full of pushers so I swapped in a new belt and water pump at home today. Also added some extra bling in the engine bay.

 

I had to cut off my originals, used a sawzall with some generic long metal cutting blade, I cut through the rubber, it melted the rubber of course but I didn’t have any problems with it jumping around.

 

Installed GTA car kit for bluetooth, installed back up camera in tailgate latch and installed auto dimming mirror with backup display. I have factory nav and I strangely like the old digital/analog look so I opted to forgo the aftermarket radio. I'll post some pics when I get a chance. too dark when I finished up.

 

In order to cut without your sawzall jumping, use a blade with smaller teeth. In other words, more TPI (teeth per inch). That blade you pictured is far too aggressive for what your trying to do. You want it to look like the teeth of a hacksaw blade, not a handsaw

something more like this. Don't waste your money trying to cut steel with a diamond blade. You'll burn it up before you finish your first cut.

 

Sorry for a late response. I'm bad about not checking the forum for a few days (if not longer) at a time.

The event was held at Petit Jean State Park, in a field behind the Automobile Museum. It was basically a "not a truck show" truck show. There were a handful of people that did group up and go ride trails afterwards, and some people camped before and after the event, but most people just showed up to meet others and for the giveaways. I spoke with the head honcho who organizes the event, and we're anticipating it to nearly double in attendees next year. It's probably going to turn into a weekend-long camping event.

 

I managed just fine using a 1" EZ-lock disk on a Dremel. Cut thru the nut at a diagonal, the heat not only seemed to help, but the split freed tension on the nut.

 

A lot of people here were going on about using a carbide tipped blade to cut the nuts, so I went out and got one. Not sure why they didn’t exhibit the same problem. I at least know the diamond grit torch blades work since I’ve used them to cut the LCA CAM sleeves. Unfortunately they don’t make them longer than 9 inches.

 

That seems like a good idea. So you could squeeze a dremel through that opening in the wheel well or did you approach it from the inside by removing the spare tire?

 

Yes, the carbide tip is great, but they come in a variety of TPI's. The reason you're having problems that 'they' didn't, is because they likely used blades with alot of tiny teeth, where yours has a few big teeth.

 

It wasn't memorable enough for me to recall angle of attack, but I do know my spare tire stayed intact the whole time, my truck remained flat on the ground, and both rear tires mounted. I think I went at it from outside.

 

I gave bmf's shock nuts a stern look and they basically unthreaded themselves. Might've held the shock shaft, but i dont think so, just scared em off.

 

Yeah, we had to hold the drivers side, but it was still super easy.

 

FML…didn’t get the nut completely cut off.




Dremel doesn’t fit in the space either. Time to lift the bed for better access.

 

When I did mine, I cut the nut/stud off like you did, then cut a slot into the top of the nut and stud that was left. There’s a washer below the nut, so you can cut deeper than you think without getting into the strut tower. I did resort to some caveman-like grabbing the shock and twisting and pulling until the remaining part of the nut fucked off.