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

Glad you posted your experience with the factory tie down points right now. I'm planning a trip and need 100% assurance a load will be secure. I guess I need to take a closer look at this issue.

 

I feel like the finger jockey would love this.
What did you secure the strut to the bed rails with, self tapperionos, or some bolt on nut action?
Also, any reason you didn’t use shallow strut?

I added these at the rear of the bed and made fatty beef cake plates (flat stock cut at 6” or so) to help spread the load. The eyelets can be removed and a flush nub is all that’s exposed, is flush nub even proper? Is it flush or is there a nub?

PROGRIP 822920 Truck and Trailer Bed Cargo Tie Down Anchor Removable Bolt, 3/8" diameter x 2" Shank (Pack of 2)

https://www.amazon.com/PROGRIP-8229...+&+Anchors&qid=1629263869&s=automotive&sr=1-3

 

I went to McMaster - Carr, best & easiest place to order hardware ever. I used them almost exclusively when I worked at ABC.
I ordered 18-8 Stainless Steel Button Head Hex Drive Screws 70,000 tensile strength, also
18-8 Stainless Steel Serrated Flange Locknut 20 of each, spec 5/16 - 18
So no rust, and if there's ever an issue, it's because the bed has been compromised.

I used the 1 5/8 X 1 5/8 because it came in 12 Ga, whereas the shallow was only 14 Ga. almost the same price, more meat, more better!

Drilled multiple many holes, mounted everything up. Tomorrow I pull everything apart and rework the black plastic top bed pieces to a nice jet black refinish! I also will mill a couple of aluminum 1/8" shims to stop the top of bed tie downs from crushing the plastic...
Put it all back together, enjoy.
The Eye bolt assembly's will live in the cab, pull 'em out when I need them, keep it neat back there!

 

Bold move cotton!!! Pretty sure the hand model just ordered all of that, get it big gurl!!!

I didn’t know the shallow was……….thinner than the regular strut!

Also, I’m a strut fan, thin or thick. I know

@bmf4069 is a strut enthusiast……..

 

It's very versatile. I always keep a stick of each on my van.

 

I wish I'd learned about that deal 20 years ago. I found out about it maybe 10ish years back while replacing tires on my MKIV GTI (pics). Came in so much handy, and made me an exclusive customer of Discount Tire until the convenience of TireRack with at-your-home install won me over in 2018. I seriously must've replaced 4-5 tires over the course of the life I had that car, ATL roads (intown) suck balls, especially with 25-35 series tires.

 

I love Discount Tire but I personally don't think the certificates are as great a deal as people claim unless you are one of those people that gets frequent flat tires. I've had 1 non-repairable flat tire in 18 years of driving. For me, the cost of certs for 5 tires was equal to the price of one tire. So I'd have to get one flat just to break even. If I got two flat tires it would be a good deal.

Think about it, would Discount Tire really push those certificates so hard if the odds were in our favor?

 

Here in Atlanta, absolutely. For example, from that same car I just linked, they couldn't repair this. I caught this piece of rebar straight thru the tire merging from I-75/85 onto I-20 eastbound. They replaced the tire. Pot hole bubbled the side of another tire. They replaced the tire. Had two different cases where the sidewall was penetrated. They replaced the tire. No questions asked, just paid for mount and balance and tipped the guy who worked on it.

The tires on my car at the time were around $265/ea IIRC. Definitely got my money's worth.

PS - still got that piece of rebar in my toolbox. GD MF'er!

 

Tire protection really depends where you drive around. When I worked construction for a brief time it would have been worth having. I only got one flat during that time (God damn framers leaving nails around) but friends of mine who stayed in that business for years had flats pretty frequently.

Since then, 15 years ago, it wouldn't be worth the cost to me. I have only had one tire punctured irreparably and just bought a replacement. Pretty often I get screws in my tires and sweat it, but when I get home and unscrew them there is no puncture.

 

Yup, this is it in a nutshell. Although I will say, I've gotten to the point where I just patch my own tires these days. I haven't purchased from Discount in at least 6-7 years, and I rarely ever buy tires anymore, mostly because all the miles go on the family vehicle (Highlander). I aged-out the tires on my last truck and used TireRack with mobile install. I didn't bother with the warranty because I've been - knock on wood! - lucky enough that all punctures were at least pluggable and at worst inside-patchable and I'm kinda turning into a cheapskate with certain things.

 

Here's what I did for bike transporting in my truck. I previously had the steel version of their chocks, either will work fine. My heaviest street bike is under 500lbs, one of these chocks and a bike tied on all 4 corners should prove to be 100% stable even for a much heavier bike.

https://www.tundras.com/threads/wha...-gen-tundra-today.2558/page-1001#post-2299373

 

Long shot here, but does anyone know if I can replace the HVAC controls in the DC with the automated controls in the sequoia? The only reason is my cable for the dial that switches between defrost/face/feet is broken where it mounts to the box under the dash. New part is $600, junkyard part is $300 and it seems like a common enough problem I'd be worried about the junkyard part. The sequoia uses motors so it seems like it would be less problematic (except for the motors). I'd need the box, the motors and the dash piece with the dials, but probably still cheaper for all of that from a junkyard.

@empty_lord any ideas?

 

I used to think like that. But $150 in certs is still less than one 33 inch tire

 

Plus the certs cover any damage to the tire for the duration of the tire life expected by the manufacturer. In this case, 60k miles. Even of the tread wears unevenly, I can claim em. So if you wheel your rig on rocks they're well worth the price of admission.

 

I used I think 4 on about 7 sets of tires over the years and still find the value as an insurance policy. Hell just a few pages back I used one to replace a 285 75 sized Wrangler Duratrac that had only 3k miles on it. Paying 30.00 for a new certificate and getting a total replacement w/mount and balance had never felt like such a win. To have paid the tires off Friday and had to shell out for a replacement the next week would have SUCKED.

 

I bought five 33" K02's when I upgraded tires and I don't remember the exact price for certs but it was definitely more than $150. In your case, it paid off in your favor. Unless I destroy two tires it wouldn't be worth it for me.

 

Now I could be wrong, but I think I only paid $30 per tire for certs and I have all 5 as well. Now you got my wondering. Either way I'm happy with the investment this time around. The last two sets of tires I bought I didn't get the certs and didn't need em.

 

Sounds about right to me, Like, for my GTI, I'm fairly sure mine were $35/tire but I only bought 4 tires. I didn't have a full size matching spare, just a donut. $140 was a no-brainer for all 4. It paid for itself easily 4x over once you factor in the few bucks I spent at each tire change. I got at least two free tires out of it after all was said and done, saving me about $500.

 

My certs were 30 each and the tire I replaced is currently 251.99 on tire rack. Less than cost of 1 new tire, already paid for themselves for me.

 

I also heard after the fact that they will sometimes negotiate with you on the price of certs. I may have to try that next time.

 

Actually, you just reminded me. When I got an irreparable puncture on the Element, they let me buy the warranty after the fact and pay for disposal/balancing. I think I was out the door with a new tire for around $70. I don't know if they normally allow that, maybe they saw the history of tires I've got from them and played nice. That saved me about $100.

 

Can't help ya there but that does seem like a long shot. Does the DC have the Front/Rear combo switch for the HVAC?

 

I believe @empty_lord investigated this for his RC but there was a difference. Possibly electrical vs mechanical flappers and the like.

 

thank you!

with a sequoia donor likely. But yea

 

Finally threw my AFE filter in... that I ordered during their 4th of July sale (and got about a week after).

 

Off to paint!

 

Thanks for the additional insight.

 

Just aired down my tires. For some reason when they were mounted I never checked pressures. Well, I did the other day when I mounted my replacement tire back up and they were at 40psi...felt like that was a bit much and went to 35psi all around. I'll do the chalk test tomorrow and see how they are wearing...

 

Grandpa ran his tires soft, so i keep em at 34 on the tundra, but when the titan way my highway hellraiser i ran 55psi. And the goodyears lasted 100k

 

life hack. Put the coin holder to use