What have you done to your 2.5 gen Tundra today?

It was just stock rear axle, I think the driver was a little heavy on the skinny peddle, that hill has claimed several toyotas before, lc100's front cv and diff, sequoia's cv, haha.

 

Quoting myself from another thread here. This may help you get just enough space to get your arms up there:

 

Yeah I have heard of GX diffs blowing on hills like that, especially if they went to 4.88s or 5.29s...

 

Converted my truck into a reverse plow/grader =)

First off, had to Massachusetts-proof Valhalla's cat shield and its mounting bracket:


Apparently, Fedex was kicking it all the way up from TX to MA Two layers of zinc, two layers of paint. That piece was not painted at all and would only last a couple of winters up north. No jokes.



Installation was not very bad, didn't even put the truck on ramps.


In 20k miles I'm going to drop it off for ATF and transfer case fluid change. Meanwhile, need to think what to do about the rear edge of the plate protruding far beyond the frame:


It will complicate winter offroading in snow. Perhaps, weld on a couple of 3/16" thick strips, to prevent the shield digging into snow while going backwards?

Next summer I may need to drop both RCI and Valhalla's shields off, sand blast them and repaint properly. They are painted w/o primer, the paint flakes off way too easily. Which is a big rust problem in North East. RCI is already rusty.

Otherwise, both shields are heavy, quality products. I like them.

 

Powdercoat will get some rust. You could always Line-X them.

 

Yeah, I guess it does depend on one’s body make-up and flexibility. I’m not old, decrepit and senile yet, but I’m in my mid-50’s and with a bad left shoulder. I was still able to get in there, but at 6’ and only 165 lbs, I’ve got relatively long and lean arms which probably helps. Also, my front suspension sits at 1.9” of lift and with 34” tires, so that helps a bit. I’m guessing it might be a bit more difficult to lay underneath with a truck at stock height and having thicker, meatier arms.

 

It looks steep even in the pic, which is rare since pics don’t usually do justice to how steep and angled a trail is. Even more impressive your Tundra dragged that up the hill!

 

It was super steep, and the tundra had trouble towing it up when there is tighter turns and rocks in the way, I was surprised how hard tundra struggles at some point, but again, anyother vehicle would not even make it up I think. the GX weighed somehwere around 6-7k lbs i think and it was a dead weight since it lost its rear diff, so now power other than its winch. It was a combination of winching (using tundra as anchor) and me tugging him up. It was also scary when tundra was literally pulled backwards under winch due to the incline angle, not much was needed to pull the tundra back down.

 

Up here POR-15 is your friend, but even that is questionable without the right prep. Mine has held up find for a year now but I'm expecting to be cleaning and reapplying every couple of years.

The shields are def a solid product.

 

Paid her off 7 months early. That’s a good feeling.

 

Looks beautiful there and gotta love the fight in a smallie

 

Congrats!

 

Awesome feeling! Congrats!!!

 

I haven't installed the cat guards yet. I believe the little piece with the two clips replaces the front two carriage bolts. You the attach with the new long M8 bolts that can be tightened with a socket.

 

This. I skipped the little piece first and had to redo the whole setup Also use Valhalla's hexagon head bolts, have to torque the bolt from the guard side.

 

Congrats!! Best mod ever! Hope to do the same thing soon.

 

Moved the rear window switch over to where it's supposed to be via harness adapter from accessorides.com. Much better!

 

Sounds like it was an awesome, yet pucker-inducing, trail experience. And yeah, those GX’s are a bit heavy for their size. Couldn’t the rear driveshaft be removed to allow the front diff and CV axles to at least provide some assistance? Granted, I know being in front wheel drive only wouldn’t have helped it climb up the hill, but maybe it could’ve helped while winching/towing it up? I admit, I’ve never tried that, but just wondering if that might be an option if I ever find myself in a similar situation on the trails.

 

that’s a good point. Maybe we will try that next time. Haha.

 

My son brought this one in a couple minutes ago - his first river bass.

 

Updated the rear lower shock mount and bump pads. Needed more clearance for the suspension. Should be good to go now. A lot more room for activities. Also added longer rear brake lines from the caliber and to the axle.

 

Haha nice tell him congrats. Gotta love fishing with the kids. My youngest helped me bring in this largemouth just a couple weeks ago.

I was joking with him telling him this one could almost eat him and to hold it up by his head to see if it could swallow his head. Keep making memories, definitely a great sport to get them involved in. My kids love it too. Enjoy and good luck.

 

Bringing a well used picnic table home for my wife. The seats just barely don’t clear my bed stiffeners, so I had to remove the outer boards to make it fit. This thing is going to need some new wood in places, a lot of sanding, and a couple coats of sealant. But my wife says it’s “free”

 

Nothing like something for "Free" that carries with it a ton of work for you!

 

I'm the first one to notice in that pic that you are teaching him well.....guys.....zoom in and check out his t-shirt!

 

Thanks for the suggestions. It sucks that we have to go through this and I’ll be damned if I’m gonna go through this every time I have to drop the skids. I’m gonna do my best to get them tightened to protect my cat converters and place my second order for Valhalla Shield. Should have never canceled my first order. RCI is a great vendor but I am realizing they they tried to add on to their current transmission skid and improvise with the cat guards. Did any of them try to install their own products during R&D? If they did then they used a little kid to do it because normal sized arms are gonna get shredded like yours did.

 

Reminds me of the great line from "On Golden Pond" when Henry Fonda says: "What's the point of having a [small kid] if he doesn't do chores?"

 

Drag boat hat, Tundra shirt. Kid will have lots of fun and no money.

 

He will fit in with the rest of us if he gets the mod bug like some of us have.

 

Cars and other toys are right at the front of his mind. He wants a Tacoma for his first car bad.