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– The new rad
– ruined alternatorThanks! I’m pretty happy with the bed.
Latest changes to the truck include a new rad, thermostat, window visors and new 130amp alternator which has been sitting behind my seat for quite some time.
Bit of an interesting problem, my radiator failed a few weeks back on a fishing trip. Was driving along, my transmission fluid was being pumped into my coolant which naturally started blowing out my overflow tank. Left camp around 6:30 pm (unaware of the imminent peril ahead) to go and get firewood down the road, missed the trail entrance so I put the truck in reverse, nothing, barely no drive reversed 30 feet and pulled into the trail.I new something was really wrong. Looked under the truck, everything was covered with trans fluid, luckily not my manifolds. With only 1/2 litre of trans fluid I locked the truck and walked back to camp. Lucky for me I called Muskoka Auto Parts the next day and they delivered me transmission fluid, coolant and everything I thought I’d need to bypass the trans cooler in the rad to get home. Made it home without issue.
So when I got home I ordered a new rad, had a new thermostat and gasket in the garage which I didn’t install before Moab when I did the timing belt/ water pump.
Got the rad changed, new thermostat, all was well until the most recent fishing trip. No word of a lie as I was leaving the exact same place I get firewood from I lose all gauges, turn on high beams, high beams really dim, alternator!. I turn off everything, radio, lights, unplug phone chargers and make it back to camp on battery. The next morning changed the alternator and made it onto the lake by 5pm. Just enough time to get some fish.
I really wonder how old this alternator is, its an oem Toyota Denso and the alternator that was on the truck when I got it but it must have been replaced at the dealer at some point, I can’t believe I got 130,000km out of it through mud and water.– New window visors, stick-on style, can’t believe Ive gone so long without some
– The ruined and partially seized alternator
– tasty fishA friend notified me of a bed that was at a yard up in Pembroke last year. With my bed full of large holes(lost my stanley tape measure) and my wheel wells rusting out I had no choice but to buy it. Lucky for me the shipping cost to get it down here was outrageous so it was still there after so long. The only way for me to get it down here was to rent a car hauler and go pick it up.
Took the cap off and removed the bed, once again the cheap harbor freight hoist saving the day. Spent a few hours scraping surface rust underneath between the bed floor and cross braces and got to use up all my various spray cans of primer, rust primer, rust paint, self-etching primer… you get the deal. Also, the mount for the fill tube for the gas tank isn’t broken so anybody can fill the tank, lol. Also, put some foam between the bed rails and cap which is nice. The bed also came with spray in line-x. The bed also came with an unpainted new fuel door, lucky for me I had a can of dupli color 056 white.
Installed
Attachments:
So turns out non-oem center bearings are not the right move. After some research, I found out the oem spicer part number for my truck and found the part on amazon for $56. Apparently the “donut hardness” is what causes the cheaper, cough, $90 one to fail.
Made up some drivetrain breathers about a month ag0( trans, t-case, front diff, and A.D.D actuator)
Rear diff breather is still behind the driver tail light
I’ve had new tires on for about 4 months. I’ve been researching tires for probably the last 2 years and narrowed down my choices to the KM3, geolandar Mt goo3, and general X3s. I went with the geolandars in the end, I think they’ll last the longest(stiffer compound) and for our trail conditions are better than the km3s. I think the km3s shine better in drier environments and have heard they don’t last very long. I think the grabber X3s are also a good tire but in the end went with the geolandars because I read some reviews that they were surprisingly quiet at highway speeds, which actually turned out to be true. Oh and I decided I’m sticking to 285/75/16. 315’s even with the correct wheels (3.5″ backspacing) require footwell modifications to get full up-travel. I also think 35’s are the absolute limit for the 7.5 hp ifs, especially with v8 power. Not to mention ideally 4.56 gears, and since my front diff is newer from the truck donor frame swap and the rear is quiet, I’d ideally like to get 2 or 3 years out of these gears before I switch to nitro 4.56 and front and rear ARB’S $$, Maybe by then I’ll actually be able to afford them as well, lol. I also want to become a better driver and I think lockers make bad line choices work etc
You’re probably thinking why not go sas. Here are my reasons for sticking to the ifs. Cost of a proper sas, a lot$. Ride comfort for long journeys, repairability when far from home, already have a new frame, lower control arms, front coil overs, steering rack, and high quality inner and outer tie rod ends.
I think if I were to build a serious rig, I’d start with something thats already solid axle, and the only reason I’m planning on getting a front locker is that I’m already paying the labour to install the gears so it makes sense.
I’ve been saving up for skid plates all summer long, and since I’m sticking with ifs, I decided full underbody protection would give me peace of mind, more capability(sliding over obstacles) and also make servicing and doing oil changes easier so I ordered a full assortment skid plate set, front skid, oil pan, transmission and T case(shipped them to CBI). Don’t think anyone makes a gas tank skid and I don’t think its really necessary as the gas tank sits flush with the bottom of the frame. Coming up to my first oil change soon and won’t have to remove jerry-rigged homemade skids every time I change my oil and filter. There’s also cutouts to service the trans and t case.
I don’t have any photos of them yet, I’ll try and get some this week
I finally got to air down this past weekend see how the truck works with the new tires and skids, unfortunately (or fortunately) didn’t touch the skids on any rocks yet, pushed a bit of mud though. First impressions of the tires off-road, very happy, these things grip like glue. It was raining so I thought I’d explore a bit rather than fish my usual spot. I went into shoelace lake trail from the north end. I aired down to 20psi, made it literally all the way to the atv access without spinning a tire or reversing. Made breakfast on the tailgate, drove down the access fished for 1.5 hours on my kayak(no fish). Packed up and headed back to where my tent was set up at camp. Some observations about the tires, sidewalls are super strong, next time I’m airing down to 15psi which I think will be perfect.
Very pleased with how the truck works, drives, capability, versatility.
I think the only thing left on the list apart from gears/lockers is maybe a fridge and folding portable solar panel. (PS Yes, I know I don’t have sliders yet. If the cab and box were in better shape, I’d have probably held off on the tires and got sliders first). Kind of nice not having to worry about paint and dents though, just point and shoot, lol
^Breakfast stop before hitting the access to the lake
Update
Quick rewind back to September, turned out the rear third member I swapped in from the frame donor truck had a bad pinion bearing which was really annoying but it got me through the winter.
Also ordered and installed a new black hawse fairlead and a larger(safer) warn hook.
So I decided against a factor 55 prolink or flatlink+d shackle for a few reasons. 1. The hook I ordered easily fits both ends of my tree saver strap(or any size strap) for winch purposes, 2. when pulling someone out who doesn’t have a winch(or broken winch) but has an offroad bumper with snatch points for d shackles you’d have to use 2 d shackles together( unless you have a flatlink E version) rather than a hook and shackle 3. less expensive , 4. generally more versatile and one less d shackle when using a winch extension strap
Spring arrives
Long story short, planned to get the third member I took out rebuilt with new bearings, upon closer inspection there was nothing wrong with it, I suspect it was rebuilt at Toyota by the previous owner at around 300000km. So I put it back in and it’s just as silent as it was before.
Finally after a good year or so, mounted the top of the snorkel to the A-pillar
Today, figured I’d relax and make the custom switch panel I had in mind to fill in the gap under my single din radio.
First mockup
Time to test fit the dash
happy with the fit, now just put the other switches in
Ran the high-speed usb charger, aux cord and, hands-free speaker into the glovebox for less rats nesting
Very pleased with the finished look, kinda fighter jet style
Sooooo, when I win the lottery the switches will control from left to right, fog lights, aux 10-inch light bar, compressor, rear locker, and front locker for the red switch
Also painted the bumper black
Oh yeah, about two weeks ago
Other misc things, gas tank was leaking so I ordered a new one from rockauto as well as a new oem fuel pump and strainer
new fuel pump and strainer installed
gas tank painted and installed
Note: I’ve got the bed removal down to about an hour and 20 minutes
Also gave in and put a new PS pump in, couldn’t take the wining anymore, that plus the bad pinion bearings was extremely annoying.
Yep, the ultra grey, was happy with it last time, seems to have sealed perfectly this time as well
Bought a new battery yesterday, and a digital multimeter which was 70% off.
Alternator is charging well and the bearing spins smooth, put the battery in, everything is good.
Been looking around for a winch line retainer (little nylon strap that keeps the line from free spooling too far out). Once I find one, bumper and winch are coming out, sanding and prepping for paint. Really wanted to go with an oem landcruiser colour, galactic grey mica but figured with the way bugs explode all over the pretty much vertical plate and since I use the top flat part as a table for tools I’d make do with regular flat grey.
After painting the bumper I’ll be mounting my homemade skids after I clean up the edges and paint them black to match my frame :). Really wish I could afford the front skid and T case skid from skid row as my front splash guard is pretty mangled but still usable. I could then modify my trans and oil pan/front diff skid to work with them and everything in terms of underbody protection would be complete. http://www.skidrowoffroad.com/product-category/toyota/toyota-tundra-1999-2006/skid-plates-toyota-tundra-1999-2006/
Update: 469999km. Went to start my truck after it had been sitting a while, thought maybe my battery would be dead, nope started up just fine, let it run for a few minutes, turned it off. A few minutes later decided I’d head into town to pick up 2 40″ inch brake lines, some brake fluid and diff oil in preparation to swap in the lower km lsd third member from the green truck. Turn the key, crank, crank, crank, crank, crank…. nothing, won’t start. “That’s weird”. Look under the hood, pop the fuse box cover off, everything looks fine, pop the cover back on, turn the key crank, start, “hmm… odd”. Make it about three km from the driveway, turn onto the highway, step on it, made it to about 50km/h, truck sputtered and died, pulled onto the shoulder. Crank, crank, crank, crank. “What now”. Tow home and a bit of research, fuel pump relay, popped the one out of the green truck fuse box, popped it in, crank, start. “haha”.
So, picked up everything I needed to swap the rear third. Get everything on jack stands and pull the passenger side tire, brake drum covered in diff fluid, “great”, and the inside of my wheel about a half inch of dirt built up on the inside where the fluid settled. So the vibration problem solved now time to fix the leak, luckily I have a spare axle/wheel end, cleaned the brake shoes swapped them and the wheel cylinder over, put the third in, slid the axles in, redid the brake lines, bled the brakes and poured in the diff fluid. Everything is perfect now.
Today, figured I’d hook up my winch, free spool it out, and spool it back in to see how my new winch works. Turned the key, hooked up the controller, started spooling in the winch line, winch line about halfway spooled in, the truck turns off, “weird”, turn it back on, “oh radio was on, turn the radio off, spool the rest of the line in, “works good” turn the truck off. about an hour later turn the key, click, click, click “oh I must have killed the battery”, try to jump start it, click, click, click… nothing. “So I really killed the battery”.
So tomorrow is new battery day, going to check if my alternator is charging as well.
Oh yeah, and I tried to swap the spiral cable and guess what
2003 spiral cables are different than 2002 spiral cables, so I guess I’m not fixing my cruise, at least not in the near future.
At least the gasket maker sealed my rear diff, right?
Did a bit of general maintenance this weekend, wasn’t very productive with the heat. There were some things that needed to be addressed. Replaced one of the steering rack bellows, changed the front diff fluid, swapped the fill and drain plugs for the front diff from my other diff cause they were completely stripped, reinstalled the inner fender liner and finally got to adjusting the alignment. The driver side cams definitely weren’t torqued to spec when the frame was replaced at the dealer. I evened everything out and put a little more caster in and straightened the steering wheel. Got the front splash guard mounted, was debating redoing the engine pan skid plate, after some measuring and thinking I realized I wouldn’t be able to make it much better, also waiting for some cooler weather and want to spend a little more time drilling and relocating the bolt holes so that’ll wait for another day.
I changed the front diff fluid with amsoil this time around. The fluid I changed out looked oem toyota, clean but the particles on the magnet were coarser (Moab?) than those from my other diff which was using royal purple, I’m interested whether or not the amsoil is any better than royal purple, pretty much the only reason I use royal purple is cause it already has the friction modifier for my rear diff, otherwise it’s too expensive in my opinion. From what I’ve read the amsoil is good stuff.
P.S. It’s so nice having the fresh frame under there, no more rot
Got the snorkel installed recently
Enlarged the hole for the flex tube, I could have probably clamped the wood in place and not drilled into the inner fender but I’m a professional hack,
test fitting
Eyeballing where everything should fit up
The 100 series (ebay landcruiser 100 series) snorkel fits like a glove, except for the radio antenna which is relocated inside the topper, still not wired up though
new u joint and carrier bearing
Made a new tool
dinged the nut
Got the spark plugs changed, used my new “workbench”
And then out of the blue, I realized I had a 9 led third brake light, so I wired it up
Headlights and windows finally clean
Almost there
The most incredible trip I’ve ever been on, probably spent 3-4 days planning the route during the winter, the plan was to get to Des Moines, Iowa on the first day, and Denver, Colorado by day 2, then a short 5 hour drive to Moab. 1st day got all the way to Omaha, Nebraska. Stayed in a motel luckily cause there was a massive rainstorm, the warning siren sounded at 3am, don’t know what it was like outside that night and don’t want to, but it was really bad. 2nd day got to Grand Junction, and from there Moab was really close. I’d say if you’re planning to go plan for 3 days driving to get there, budget 2 nights in a motel cause you really just want to get there. Route plan was Moab (Arches, Canyonlands), Valley of the Gods Road, Monument Valley, then motor all the way to La Verkin(ended up going to the Grand Canyon on the way), then Zion and Bryce Canyon, up through Fish Lake back to I-70(ended up taking Scenic Rd 12 through Escalante instead, then 24 (passes by a cool ohv site) back to I-70,)
I pretty much drove the whole time, my Uncle was the navigator.
Here are a bunch of pics,
Campsite #1, near Canyonlands
Balance Rock, Arches Park
random view, Arches Park
Campsite#2, super eery feel at this site only stayed one night. Right on a knife edge, bordering the Navajo Desert, weird black clouds( I mean black, not grey, black), dead cow about 50 feet from my tent, weird sounds but nobody around for miles, and high winds at night…… aliens?
here’s those clouds, just an illusion created to hide the mothership trying to land, “hey we got a breach, humans, two of them on the mesa, captain: sh!t we’ll have to circle around”, haha
Monument Valley
Campsite #3 views, outside of Zion Park
Campsite#3
La Verkin Overlook
Kolob Terrace Rd views
72 foot canyon gap, Red bull rampage, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x76VEPXYaI0
Bryce Canyon
Rest stop on the way home, Colorado
Hard to believe but my 460000km work truck turned expedition build made it all the way to Moab, Utah and back, and all I did was check the engine oil and trans fluid which turned out to be a waste of time, haha.
The cap is even better than I initially thought, my mountain bike fits upright without even removing the front wheel which is super convenient. Had two bikes in there, cookers, folding table, two water dispensers, tools, shovel, folding chairs and more and still could have fit another 4 rubbermaids in with the other 8.
Saw a lot….a lot of cool rigs in Utah. A lot of new tacos with everything imaginable out of the expedition catalog, same goes for 5th gen 4runners, bumpers, tire carriers, sliders, roof racks, jerry holders, pretty much whatever you can buy or upgrade was upgraded.
Saw a cool first gen taco access cab with tube doors, an sas’d first gen 4runner with no front driveshaft crusin the streets, lol and here’s another sas’d pickup at the grocery store in La Verkin, Utah
Didn’t do much wheeling actually, I didn’t mount my skid plates while the body was off and it bit me in the end. Also, my cams on my driver side lower control arm were way off so the driver side tire rubbed quite a bit and frankly I was driving so much every single day that I couldn’t wait to get on the mountain bike. I also prefer not to run harder trails without another vehicle and didn’t feel like crashing other groups parties.
Just did the Gemini Bridges Rd (cause it was on the way to camp) which is a car road pretty much as far as I remember. Also drove into Canyonlands from the bottom at potash road and up the Shafer Trail which is super scary.
I figured since I was so close to the grand canyon I might as well go there
The highlight of the trip was walking the red bull rampage site
Night pic camping in behind Zion National Park
It was an awesome trip, got 8 mountain bike rides in and camped 16 of the 18 nights, 13 of which were free which is how camping should be.
Now that I’m home I have all the little things left to do and fix properly, like remove the probably 30 zip ties holding everything together, install the skid plates, put in the new carrier bearing, swap the rear third (I didn’t have time to change either), spark plugs, air filter, snorkel(you don’t need a snorkel in the desert, lol), wire the winch and change the engine oil and make the steering wheel straight cause it was pointed to the right the whole trip.
And one of my favorite pics
Everything is complete, well, almost.
Box and topper combo is mounted, front bumper is primed and mounted along with the winch, summer tires/rims on, and brake lines finished
So here is what I meant about the lower ball joints
02 lower ball joint tie rod hole
vs 03 lower ball joint tie rod hole
The bumper prepped for primer
dark green self etching primer
I was short on time sooo….
I threw the bumper on so I could get the box mounted
Today was a huge debacle with brake lines, bought all the brake lines I thought I needed, didn’t have enough, was driven back to the parts store (before I started) to get more. Alright, now I thought I was ready, bent up half the break lines and realized the abs system uses buble flares, great, so went back to the parts store to get all the lines for the master and abs which must both use buble flares, so I got my lines, bent up two lines, removed the fitting from the cut line from the master to the abs unit….. “you have to be kidding”. The fittings at the master are double flare, the only fittings that are buble flare are the 5 lines from the abs unit, so I had to buy 4 of 5 lines over again in imperial thread 3/16 line, then use an imperial to japanese thread buble adapter on one end and a double flare japanese adaptor at the other end.
In the end it worked out, drove to get some gas and brakes work well, a slight amount of air in the system still but I’ll deal with that tomorrow.
I think looks pretty cool in person, looks different, in a good way, haven’t decided on a colour yet but im thinking matte grey/battleship grey. I’ll be getting rid of the roller fairlead for hawse in black at some point.
