Project Gray Sky | 2004 DC 4x4

My first Tundra! After shopping for a while, missing out on a few, and walking away from one that had a ghetto frame splice I finally picked one up. It's a 2004 double cab with 275k miles and Oak cloth interior. It appears to have simply been driven by the previous owners and things were fixed only when there was a problem. It is a southern truck that resided in Alabama, Georgia and Florida before ending up in Arkansas.



A good friend drove me to Fayetteville, Arkansas to meet the seller in hopes I would be able to drive this thing 375 miles back home to Dorothy and Toto's Kansas. The project name "Gray Sky" comes from the trucks paint color and the lyrics of Home on the Range. When in Arkansas the only place to do trip preparations in one of Sam Walton's parking lots. The Tundra made it back to Kansas despite a massive oil leak at the front of the 2UZ that required a 1/2 quart of oil to be added every 100 miles I determined the oil use was a leak based on the rainbow effect on the wet ground everywhere I went and the oil burning on the exhaust.

The immediate plan for this truck is as follows:

• Degrease the engine and front chassis to determine the source of the massive oil leak
• Aisin Timing belt/water pump kit
• Toyota Fan Bracket
• Toyota valve cover gaskets
• Iridium spark plugs
• Denso Coils
• Denso or NTK o2 sensors
• Transmission fluid exchange
• Transfer case/diff's oil change
• Brake fluid flush
• Lower door weather stripping needs re-attached
• Toyota Ball joints
• Toyota or Spicer carrier bearing
• Treat the frame with Woolwax
• Polish the headlights

Things I don't know:

• Every single cylinder shows a misfire code. I am hopeful new quality plugs and coils resolve that issue. I will run a misfire counter in Techstream to try and isolate the condition in which the misfires occur.
• It is a sluggish dog between 65-75mph and has much less power than my 1999 Land Cruiser with 387k miles. I fully expected the lighter weight Tundra to do better. My hope is power will resume when the misfires are fixed.
  
• The steering rack bellows are torn. I am not sure if the rack is leaking, but it probably is.
• Previous owner installed new coil overs of an unknown make and the truck is real bouncy.
• Driver seat buttons are not intact for some reason so I'll need to assess and reassemble.

Future plans:

• Firestone air bags
• Level the ride with new shocks and coils
• Replace the stock radio with something else. It has the JBL radio but the volume and tuning knobs don't work.
• Redarc Tow Pro Elite brake controller

This former Southern Belle truck is in for a Midwest shock. I'll continue to share it's journey here!

 

Awesome truck. Glad she made the trip safe (as if there were any doubts). Keep us updated and feel free to also post over on the Best gen discussion page. That's where the action is.

 

Nice! Fellow 04 DC 4WD here.

 

The first order of business was to get a proper repair manual. I was shocked at how much thicker the Tundra manual is in comparison to my 100 series Land cruiser manual.


My first repair was the massive oil leak. I isolated the leak to the oil cooler housing.


I replaced the big oil cooler o-ring (90301-67004), oil filter bracket figure 8 o-ring (15692-50020) and the oil cooler relief valve (15695-50010). While working in the area, I found both of the bolts that go through the AC compressor to the fan bracket were missing.

According to the Toyota service records, this truck received the SSC 70B lower ball joint recall service 11/2009 @ 72k miles. Since there is no record of the lower ball joints being replaced again, I utilized the ball joint recall kit (04006-62134) as well as new bolts (90105-12316) to replace them.


While I was 'in there' I also replaced the front rotors and pads with

$239 Power Stop K2324-36 Power Stop Brake Kit For 2001-2007 Sequoia, 2000-2006 Toyota Tundra 6 Lug 13WL - Front Truck & Tow Brake Kit, Carbon Fiber Ceramic Brake Pads and Drilled and Slotted Brake Rotors Replacement, K2324-36

Power Stop K2324-36 Front Z36 brakes. I have had great experienced with this kit on my Land Cruiser so I decided to try it out on the Tundra.


I was eager to finally drive the truck around and even had fun in the snow.

 

As I continued to work around the truck I recognized it had more neglect that I needed to address.

The carrier bearing was letting the rear drive shaft flop around like a wet noodle, so it was replaced with Spicer 5002007. I replaced the lock nut (90179-18009) and bolts (90105-10085)/nuts (90179-10059) on the flange. Then I purged a lot of nasty grease from the u-joints.


I then replaced the PCV (12204-50030), PCV vent hose (12261-50050), clamps for the hose (90467-15021) and the crankcase vent hose on the passenger side (12262-0F021). The fuel vapor hose (23829-50070) from the TB to the purge valve was also replaced with fresh clamps (96132-51300).

With every 2UZ, the elephant in the room is the timing belt and water pump. After talking to the previous owner I determined the timing belt and water pump were replaced at around 165k miles with generic parts. At 275k miles, it needed done again. I tore into the timing belt and found the crank had skipped one or two teeth and was not in time with the cams:
To my surprise the actual timing belt wasn't in terrible shape! None-the-less I went to work replacing a whole slew of parts:

• Aisin TKT021 Timing Belt
• Aisin FBT-002 Fan bracket
• Tensioner (16620-0W101)
• NSK Idler (70SPPV0408DDUL)
• Gates heavy duty serpentine belt (K060908HD)
• Radiator Cap (16401-20353)
• Aisin THT-015 thermostat
• Lower Radiator hose (16572-0F011)
• Upper radiator hose (16571-0F031)
• Radiator hose clamps (90466-41003)

I even managed to time it correctly.


I wrapped up work under the hood with new Iridium spark plugs (90080-91180), Denso coils (673-1303) and Denso oxygen sensors (234-4169). I also replaced the battery hold down (74404-0C020) and hold down bolt (74451-0C010) since the battery was strapped in with a bungee cord.

It runs pretty smooth but is not near as quiet as the 2UZ in my Land Cruiser with 380k miles, but the Tundra definitely has more giddy-up. The sluggish nature and wildly inconsistent cruise control I experience with the truck at purchase seemed to have been fix with a correctly timed timing belt. This is an at idle video of the 2UZ in the tundra after a fresh timing belt.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/SvWqP5GCnKLSTAR38
*Yes, I know the brake fluid is still overfilled and gross!

 

Coming along nicely, Great looking truck, I'm not sure if I would tackle a timing belt on a daily driver Where in Kansas do you reside

 

Thanks! It is slowly coming back together. Honestly, the timing belt is pretty fool proof. It's just nuts, bolt and verifying a few marks are lined up. I am located near Junction City.

 

While spending more time behind the wheel of this truck I grew exceedingly frustrated with the malfunctioning volume and tuning knobs on the radio. My initial thought was to throw in one of the old 2DIN radios I had on the shelf. Since I am kind of an OEM+ kind of person meaning I like to keep things mostly stock, I went to ebay to find a replacement stock JBL radio. To my surprise, I stumbled across an auction for a factory E7006 navigation radio that hadn't taken off. I placed the first bid and won the auction with embarrassingly low bid.

I ripped out the old radio and dropped in the E7006 navigation radio with a

$9 Bingfu Vehicle Car Waterproof Active GPS Navigation Antenna Compatible with Vehicle Clarion Alpine Navigation

Bingfu GPS antenna and USA Spec BT45-TOY Bluetooth interface.






Now I need to get the backup camera installed and working. I have a UC100 cable and a camera that should make the install straight forward, but there are no guarantees.

 

Nice area, probably best in Kansas, I lived in Wamego for several years before getting moved to Wichita. I tend to be the same concerning OEM, in my mind just makes sense to stick with OEM, unless an OEM supplier has improved on the original design, Good to hear the your truck is running better after all the work you put into it

 

Even though I have been a little quiet here, work has steadily continued on the truck.

I ditched the old toolbox in the bed and installed a secondhand Extang Solidfold bed cover. This cover installs very quick and can be removed just a quickly so the truck can be used to do truck things.


I replaced the reverse lights with some Stedi LED's from Australia. These lights are extremely bright!


Continuing with boring maintenance, I replaced the completely worn out steering rack bellows with a set of Moog bellows. I opted to try the Moog bellows since it only takes about a 1/2 hour to swap them out.


I then installed a Redarc Tow-Pro Liberty brake controller, utilizing the switch bank on the dash.


The oil pressure sender decided it was time to stop working, so I replaced it with a new oil pressure sensor (83520-60051). It is kind of concerning when you see ZERO oil pressure while underway.


One of the most frustrating things about this truck was the drivers side seat foam. The outside bolster was crumbling away so the seating position was awful. My back and hips would ache after an hour in the saddle, so I replaced the bottom seat foam with a new cushion from eBay. The install was surpassingly easy considering this was the first time I have work with seat foam and covers. I was finally able to secure the seat adjustment switches that had been pushed off by the old collapsing foam.


I also put new gear oil in the diff's and t-case. Luckily the oil that came out looked and smelled like new, so there had been some attention given to the truck over the years. The rear diff (with LSD) seemed like it has Mystic gear oil in it based on the reddish color. I used Mobil 1 synthetic

$39 75w-90 GL-5 Limited Slip, Ultra Long Drain 500k Miles, Manual Transmission, Gear/Differential Lubricant (1 Gallon)

75w-90 for the front diff and t-case and Lucas 80w-90 for the rear.

 

I installed Bilstein 4600 shocks front/rear, 555 swaybar links, Daystar swaybar bushings and a 1/4" thick spacer (oh the horror!). The 4600's came preloaded with OEM style Moog coils. The shock assemblies I removed from the truck were a mismatched set. The silver shock is a Duralast from Autozone and the black shock is a Master Pro from O'Reilly. I think the Duralast assembly was recently installed since the fasteners were still shiny, but the lower bushing was already sagging. The Master Pro looked to be a couple of years old and the lower bushing had torn. Luckily both of the lower shock bolts were coated in anti seize.


The front ride height went from (hub to fender) 19.125" driver and 19.25" passenger to 19.875" and 20". And ohhhhhh buddy, it rides so much nicer now. No more bouncing over dips and bumps in the road.

I also reattached the drivers side door trim that was off of the truck since I bought it and installed a set of eBay hub covers since all but one hub cover was missing. To my surprise, the eBay wheel covers fit snugly and included the Toyota Sombrero!

I then fixed the last leak on the truck. The power steering hoses and idle valve has been leaking, so the first thing I did was remove the reservoir and cleaned it. The inside of the reservoir was so gunked up I couldn't see the fluid level from the outside. I used a few different chemicals to try and clean the tank, but the only one that made any progress was Maxima CleanUp Chain Cleaner that I usually use to clean grime off of my WR250R's o-ring chain. Once cleaned and dried I installed the reservoir along with a new fit suction hose and a trimmed to fit return hose with new hose clamps (90466-16002 and 90467-21010). The reservoir is still stained so my fresh Dex/Merc ATF looks dark. At least I can see the level!



I plugged the idle vacuum switch with a Dorman 090-033CD Oil Drain Plug that has M14-1.50 threads and routed the long vacuum hose back to the intake.


Scored a scAmazon warehouse deal on a knock off 2nd gen swing case.

I opted for the passenger side to help counteract the "Toyota Lean" towards the drivers side. The only mod I did was to flatten out the latch support some so that it would meet the bump in the bedside of my DC. I did have to remove the tie down loop in the corner as it made contact with the box. I will have to find an alternative since I do use the bed to haul things. The upper hole of the latch support isn't flush to the bump on the bedside, so I'd like to devise a spacer where the missing fastener is.


My wife and I then decided to take a quick trip to Colorado with our 7month old daughter. I asked my wife what vehicle she wanted to take for the trip and of the three choices ('16 Land Cruiser, '99 Land Cruiser, '04 Tundra) she chose the Tundra... because it has the most cupholders

Of course the truck performed flawlessly, even through a surprise late April snow.




Even the hostess at a restaurant understood how important the first gen Tundra is with preferential seating.


It seems the 50mph crosswind in Western Kansas was more than my headlight and side marker light tabs could take. The upper side marker tab cracked and the tab on the headlight that holds the bottom portion of the side marker light broke. This was my temporary repair.


I always keep an eye on my fuel economy during trips. Out of the 1,700 mile trip, the ol' 2UZ squeezed out 18.5 mpg on 85 octane in the mountains and 13.7 mpg during the 50mph crosswind in Western Kansas.

 

I didn't realize the headlights on this truck were in such poor condition. When I bought the truck I knew the headlights needed polished but I was unaware of the structural issues. The tabs that secure the side markers were broken, the upper tabs of the headlights that meets the fenders were cracked, the reflective material inside the light was delaminating causing weird light patterns and the adjuster mechanism was stripped out. I also discovered the side markers lenses were cracking and had separated from their housings. I decided to bite the bullet and replace them with Depo CAPA certified lights. To my surprise the Depo headlights came with ORSAM bulbs and the side marker lights came with some generic amber bulbs, so I decided to run them.





Woohoo! No more ugly yellow headlights and flopping around side markers.

 

The Tundra crossed 282k miles on the way to Colorado today!

 

Just want to say I've enjoyed following this thread! Nice shot of Gray Sky. No moth splatter on the truck, you must've just missed moth season!

 

Thanks! I did have to stop 4 times to scrub the windshield...

 

My trip to the Rockies was short and sweet, but I brought home a new (to me) camper! The Tundra also hit 283k miles on the way home.



The Redarc brake controller worked perfectly. My towing fuel economy was between 10 and 14 mpg, depending on the wind.

 

Is that one with a dinette slide? Looks great!

 

Yep! With AC we are excited to camp locally in the summer.


With a growing family it should be a bit more useful than the RTT trailer I built several years ago.

 

I love it! And the King bed slide too. Very nice.

 

When it rains, it pours... quite literally.

I went to a local drive up yesterday and heard a loud "pop" when I rolled up the drivers side window. I noticed the window wasn't fully raised so I lowered it to try again. It struggled to go up and I noticed the window wasn't sitting correctly in the tacks. Despite the rain that was falling, I drove the 20 miles home. Once the door was opened up, I discovered one of the bolts that hold the window to the regulator has fallen out. This caused the window to fall out of the tracks. I loosened the front track, got the window positioned in the tracks then reattached the regulator since the bolt that fell out was in the bottom of the door cavity. This was a simple process, but it was NOT fun in the rain. In hindsight, I should have back the 100 series out of the shop to make room for the Tundra.


I speculate the wonderfully smooth I70 corridor in Colorado (/s ) helped jostle that bolt out of the regulator.

I also managed to fix an aftermarket speaker the PO installed that wasn't working in the door. It wasn't hooked up

 

I had to put the Tundra to work hauling storm debris. 90mph wind and 6" of rain in 1.5 hours is pretty intense for Kansas.


I borrowed the dump trailer from a buddy who pulls it around with diesel trucks. After I used it I told him that the Tundra really noticed the weight on a couple of loads. He said that's because the trailer is 4,000 lbs empty!

 

The Tundra has been pulling daily driver status, kid hauler and hardware store run truck for awhile now. It had been trouble free until I was cut off on a 55mph county road and I stood on the brakes with every ounce of energy I had. While a collision was avoided the truck started to rattle. It was a full cab echoing rattle. Despite the fact I generally drive older high mileage vehicles, I can't stand a rattle! Even the Jeep I've had for 21 years is rattle free.

The rattle definitely was coming from the back part of the cab.

• I suspected the rattle was the jack tools under the seat jiggling around after the abrupt stop. WRONG.
• Is one of the rear seats not latched down all the way. WRONG.
• I then suspected the rattle was exhaust heat shields resonating in the cab. WRONG.
• The rear door weather stripping is worn out, maybe the door is rattling. WRONG.
• Maybe it was stuff in the rear door pockets. WRONG.
• Perhaps the tonneau cover is contacting the back of the cab. WRONG.
• Could the little floor hatches be rattling under the seat. WRONG.
• The rear wall plastic cover is a bit loose, that has to be it. WRONG.
• Maybe the JBL amp is loose. WRONG.

What in the heck. It still rattles!


It was time to dig in a little deeper and get into the backwall.


What in blue blazes is going on here. Why is rear the window regulator missing a bolt? Why are there cobwebs around the bolt hole? What happened to the bolt?

According to the Toyota service records, this truck did have the rear window regulator replaced by Toyota under warranty in 2006. I searched through the cab corners and rockers but never could find the missing bolt.

Luckily I have a box of Toyota take off bolts and found a suitable replacement.



Hallelujah the rattle is fixed!

 

I am sitting at 289,300 miles today. Since the last post, my wife and I had our second daughter. This event showed us how much cra...stuff two kids require when traveling and the small size of the Land Cruiser just wasn't enough room for kids, dogs and gear. Luckily I had been watching Facebook marketplace for nearly a year to pick up a somewhat decent DC bed cap. This particular cap had been listed for more than a month and was still available.




I contacted the seller, inspected the cap and brought it home for two Benjamin's. It had a busted window and ripped screens, but the fiberglass was not cracked, the corners were solid and all of the window framework was still in place. As a bonus, the town the seller was in had a sweet old train depot!



The first order of business was to replace the broken window. My plan was to pop out the good window and use it as a template to cut out a replacement on Lexan. I was not expecting to remove the entire window frame, but that was the only feasible way to get the glass out.



I traced the window and cut it out of a 1/8" Lexan sheet in #7135 dark gray. Using a 36 TPI jigsaw blade I made the cut quickly and smoothly. Getting the windows installed into the frames was pretty straight forward. I discovered I did not have the locking tab to mount on the Lexan window to prevent the slider from opening so I replaced a rivet on the lock mechanism with a screw to prevent the window from opening. The frames were reinstalled with fresh 1/2" butyl tape and secured on the cap.



Dang blasted. The Lexan tint is not a perfect match. The ARE windows have a bronze tint, but it's better than nothing.

I eventually plan to remove the cap, pull all of the window frames out and spray color matched raptor liner on the cap, but that is a 2025 project. At that time I will also carpet the inside and install fresh double bubble seal.

 

Looking good, looks like mine but yours is a year older. Planning on carpeting the cap or the entire interior of the bed? I was going to when I still had my camping platform in it. Still thinking of maybe carpeting the cap when it does get camping duty.

 

Thanks! I am only planning to carpet the inside of the cap to provide a barrier to the rough fiberglass. I may see if Raptor liner would be a viable option to be applied to the inside so I don't have to deal with carpet and glue. I have a nicely outfitted Land Cruiser that takes those duties, so I don't anticipate building this truck to camp from.

 

November 30th marked my one year anniversary with the truck. In the past year I managed to put 15k miles on the odometer despite being somewhat homebound with a new kiddo at home.

At 290k miles I figured it was time to freshen up the front end. New Toyota lower control arms (48068-34040 and 48069-34040), Upper control arms (48610-34010 and 48630-34010), 555 upper ball joint, LBJ bolts again (90105-12316) and LBJ castle nuts (90171-18003). I also added a FR33 Lance Fab prebuilt spindle with the upper spindle reinforcement added.

The first order of business was to install the upper ball joint. What should have been easy was a major PITA due to the spindle reinforcement. It took me a few hours to simply press in the new upper ball joint due to clearance issues with my ball joint press and the spindle reinforcement. I eventually got them in, but was beyond frustrated.


I started to take all of the parts off to replace the UCA and LCA's and was greeted with this marvel of ingenuity. The dang steering rack had to be unbolted and moved to pop out the LCA bolts. Curse you Toyota! It does seem like my rack is weeping as I had cleaned this last year when I replaced the bellows, so I will attempt to reseal and install new inner TRE's sometime next year.


I got everything buttoned up and torqued down... Except for the LCA, UCA and lower shock bolt as I wanted to torque those with the truck sitting on its wheels.


Once I mounted the wheels and set the truck on the ground I torqued the UCA, LCA and lower shock bolts. I noticed the wheel and tire were less than a 1/4" from the spindle reinforcement. That tight of clearance was unacceptable for me, so I clearanced both of the spindle reinforcements.


While some of the reinforcement strength was lost, the weakest link being the top of the spindle still has plenty of meat. I am satisfied with how this came out.

Next up is an alignment and new shoes (and new bleeder valve caps since those went MIA at some point)

 

At 290,600 miles I had new tires put on the truck and had an alignment done.


265/70r17 Goodyear Workhorse AT.

Holy smokes. The truck drives great! I suspect the alignment was off and the walmart brand all seasons that were on the truck when I got it were worn out.