In other news, last night I had to replace my alternator again. I don't recommend going with the cheap re-manufactured ones. Get a denso, this re-manufactured one only lasted 35k miles. If the second one I just put on gives me any issues I'm going to get it warranty replaced, sell it on craigslist, and buy a denso. Good thing it has a lifetime warranty on it. The bad news is it died super fast. I left for work in the morning and had the battery light barely flickering, but the dash lights seemed dim. I switched my scangauge to read voltage and I was under 12V with the truck running. By the time I drove to work and back home after stopping at advance auto I was at 9.5V...

Now it charges back over 14V

I also picked up a dashcam. Hopefully I never have to use it. I got an A119 from Amazon for $90. Hoping to install sometime this weekend.

And like Bijan said, I finally have a new gas tank skid on the way from shrockworks, hopefully this one has enough clearance for the driveshaft to not cause issues.

And a picture from down by the river this weekend.

DSC04880 by Unner Unner, on Flickr

Dash cam is installed.

One of the easiest things I've done to the truck yet. Opened the box, plugged it in and turned it on to see where to position it on the windshield, stuck the mount to the windshield, mounted the camera, ran the cable along the headliner, down the passenger A pillar, through a gap between the dash and the A pillar trim, along the AC tube for the passenger AC vent, then out through a gap at the back of the area for the ash tray, then just plugged it into the cigarette lighter and it's all good to go. The only tool I needed was a screwdriver to take out the glovebox. It took like 30 minutes and I spent most of the time figuring out where the optimal position for it was on the windshield and how to run the cable.

In the end a satisfying cheapish project that could pay off large dividends in the end, but I hope it never has to.

Here's a few pics from inside. My phone died before I could get a pic from outside, but it isn't hardly noticeable unless you're looking for it. I installed it to where it isn't even hardly noticeable from behind the rear view mirror.

IMG_20161014_182453033_HDR by Unner Unner, on Flickr
IMG_20161014_182440349_HDR by Unner Unner, on Flickr

How is BMW treating you so far this year Unner?

Did you have to pull the headliner down and remove the A pillar cover? Never had to remove those parts before so was just curious.

So far so good. It's been going by super fast, this semester is over halfway finished now. Saw a beautiful E30 in the parking lot Friday.

IMG_20161014_153703559_HDR by Unner Unner, on Flickr

Nope. There's a small gap at the headliner and windshield that you can push the wire into, and the same for the A pillar. I just pushed the cable into the gap by the windshield and then fished the wire through the dash.

I had read before about people having a really hard time removing the A pillar cover because those grab handle bolts are locktited in and tend to round out when removing so I wanted to avoid that if I could.

[QUOTE=Unner;2395090]Here are the grill pics. Came out really good I think!


[URL=http://s1094.photobucket.com/user/gbgrove/media/Hawkpride%20Fathers%20Day/DSC04188.jpg.html]

@Unner , what paint did you use for the grill? Textured? Brand?

Sorry about the lack of response. Haven't been on in quite a while I suppose. It's Line-x. So far I love it. No chips or anything whereas when I painted it myself it chipped immediately from bugs and stones.


I also got my new Shrockworks gas tank skid plate painted and installed. I still have rubbing issues. Not nearly as bad as before, I think this time I'll try and take care of it with a BFH and a file. I don't want to mess with them anymore. I only need a tad more clearance when I hang the passenger side rear tire. If I have time this weekend I can finish this and hopefully put this whole thing behind me...

Gorgeous build! I'm just starting out with mine and I really like what you did early on with the light bar on the plasti-dipped fat lip bumper. What kind of light bar is that? Do you have some sort of mounting instructions I could go by?

It was an AVEC light bar, but there are so many options now. To mount it just fab up some brackets with aluminum bar stock from lowes. It's easy to work with and shape however you want it.

No updates on the truck really. My clunking noise that I thought I fixed by replacing the transmission mount came back shortly afterwards. Come to find out it was the transfer case still hitting the transfer case skid plate. A couple washers and the noise was finally gone. She's running perfect. Over 210k miles now.

Still debating on what tires to go with next. 255/80/17 in an E load, 255/75/17 in a C load, or 255/75/17 in a "metric rating" like the Duratracs in that size. The weight savings would be nice, but I'm not sure how strong the tires would be offroad. I would think somewhere between a C load and a P rated tire.

Few pics from the last several weeks.
IMG_20161109_165204205_HDR by Unner Unner, on Flickr
IMG_20161120_204803993_HDR by Unner Unner, on Flickr
IMG_20161203_171057619_HDR by Unner Unner, on Flickr

[QUOTE=Unner;2548018]





Where did you get that Yellow Armor All? That's shlt's hot!

Nice pics as always man. I recently bought a set of 255/80/17 km2's and have been really impressed by not only the tire performance itself, but the size. I personally love the look and function of a tall "skinny" tire and get compliments on them all the time. I noticed almost no difference in engine bog when i moved away from my 265/70/17's. They're a load range E. I had a local rock crawler guy with the same tires tell me he's put them through rocks and thorns left and right and never punctured one. Hope my 2 cents helps a tough decision!

Build thread: http://www.toyota-4runner.org/showthread.php?t=219718

I would go for the 255/80r17 if I were you...

[QUOTE=Scramble;2548085] Haha the entire truck was covered in it, but most if it blew off on the interstate, except for the tires. Thought it was a pretty cool picture.

Yeah I like the skinny tires as well, whatever I go with it will be a 255. The only thing with the KM2s is they're a Mud Tire and I'm almost positive I would rather go with an all terrain this time around, or something that is at least siped.

That's the size I want, but I also don't want to make this rig any slower. I'm debating how much worse my gas mileage and acceleration would be with the extra .6" of tire diameter and 8 lbs or so a tire.

Also rented a 2017 Ram 1500 Hemi this weekend to move some furniture for my girlfriend. The Ram moved so effortlessly on the interstate, especially up hills, but even driving a truck with 400 hp, heated seats, heated steering wheel, air conditioned seats, and every other feature under the sun I couldn't help but miss my truck.

I daily my rig with mostly in town and some highway. With mostly in town driving i see about a 1-1.5mpg reduction over my 265/70/17s. Keep in mind however that i have no armor, and am still 2wd at this time. I do however haul a fair amount of tools due to my job and have terrible gears.. Not even 4:10s. So, I'm not sure if that was all that helpful, but here's for trying lol.

Build thread: http://www.toyota-4runner.org/showthread.php?t=219718