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

$242 Power Stop K2324-36 Front Z36 Truck & Tow Brake Kit, Carbon Fiber Ceramic Brake Pads and Drilled and Slotted Brake Rotors For 2001-2007 Sequoia | 2000-2003 2004 2005 2006 Toyota Tundra 6 Lug 13WL

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 Toyota Tundra Tacoma Camry RAV4 Corolla Nissan Rogue Titan Honda Civic Accord CR-V Vehicle Clarion Kenwood 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 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!