[the great him]

Originally Posted by Road Bull

That's some pretty brutal luck with the transmission woes. But... Now that THAT'S sorted, it is one less thing to have to worry about. Do you think the rust is due to water crossings where water got into the trans fluid?

say what?! ...nooo how could that be?

[the great him]

Did a little backcountry traveling to avoid pavement as much as possible. Had a great time.

[the great him]

So I did a little bit of mixing up on the lighting, made new mounting locations for the amber squadrons and put the new clear squadrons up top next to the PIAA bar.

[the great him]

So I have noticed for quite some time actually that my rear bumper has been sagging could it be from towing way over the trucks capacity!? Say what!? No, no way... Ok maybe. Yeah no this is a me problem and not a faulty CBI design or poor build ect., I just towed a trailer a few hundred miles * ehhm thousand*, that was maybe a bit to heavy like on the bump-stops the whole way to heavy. So yeah anyhow it bent down my rear bumper. So today I had the day off work so I decided to maybe try and do something about it. I crawled under there and sure enough there were two holes already there for me in the bumper brackets actually there was four, two on the bottom and two on the side. So I got out the drill bits and drilled a couple holes in the frame. Ran down to the old hardware store and bought some new bolts. Got home, put my floor jack under the back of the bumper and used a 4x4 block of wood and jacked up on the bumper to suck it up the the frame as close as I could. Installed the bolts (I bought shouldered bolts to help spread out the load and used a big thick washer on the frame side as well as a shouldered lock nut) and man it worked perfectly. -Now had I only done this when I first I stalled the bumper like I remember thinking about (remembered thinking about it as soon as I crawled under there and saw those holes again today, like FML damnit) the night I installed it. The other two holes are on the side of the brackets and frame at the very back as well. I'm going to drill those holes tomorrow and go get more of the same hardware and do the same all over again. Next up is replacing the brass bushing in the spindle for the swing-out.

[the great him]

So to fallow on with yesterday's post, got two more bolts and got them in on the sides. Everything is a lot more secure now and there is way less movement back there on the bumper and tire.

I also sourced a 98+ steering wheel complete with airbag, and the wheel appears to have had a cover on it most of it's life. It's in almost perfect condition and its a leather wheel from a limited. The stitching and leather is not ripped or toren at all, there is one slight wear spot on the top but it's very very minor. I had to pull the airbag igniter out of my original wheel and use with this one, they are slightly different but it fits(tightly) and that was the only way to keep the wiring plug and play. Everything else like cruise control plugs right in perfectly and works as should. I wish I had done this years ago. I have always hated the 96-97 steering wheels.

[SeaDug]

How are you liking the arb bumper? I've been eyeing one myself. Worth the $800?

[the great him]

Originally Posted by SeaDug

How are you liking the arb bumper? I've been eyeing one myself. Worth the $800?

I love it, it suits my needs very well. Yes very much worth it.

[Scramble]

Does this website have your permission to use your truck?

ARB 3423020 Front Deluxe Bull Bar Winch Bumper Toyota Tacoma 1995-2004

[the great him]

Originally Posted by Scramble

Does this website have your permission to use your truck?



ARB 3423020 Front Deluxe Bull Bar Winch Bumper Toyota Tacoma 1995-2004

Nope, and I have attempted to contact them a couple of different times to no avail... But unfortunately I also don't really see the point or value in telling them to take it down... It's not like I can gain royalties from the photo that I'm aware of, as the photo isn't what's being sold... And I have no claims or vested interest in ARB. Besides I look at it as imitation is the greatest form of flattery... So they want to use my truck and make it famous we'll go right ahead, while they are at it can they help bump up the resale value?

[Scramble]

I hear ya, I saw a pic of my truck on a website displaying my engine skid for sale. It bothers me that they didn't ask but I didnt ask them to take it down. Anyone from here knows it's my truck anyway.

[the great him]

A little bit of trail therapy the other night. Needed to just get away from things for a bit and decided to go for a quick drive. 40min later this is where I was watching the sunset.

[lobo_feroz]

Awesome sunset pics!

[the great him]

So I realize I have been a little absent from the forms and with corvid19 here I have a little more free time, so I figured I'd update you all on a few things with the 4runner.

First off in those last pictures you might have noticed that I added some lights (is it really a surprise though, I mean really?). I put a set of Rigid Ignites up on the Yakima rack and am using them for camp lights and immediate area lighting, they are the defused lights and honestly they are ok, though I can't seam to keep water out of them. I also picked up some amber covers for pod lights on Amazon and modified them to put into the Ignites for less harsh lighting at camp. I also installed some KC Cyclones (2 amber, 1 white) on the inside of the back hatch so when it's opened up they are over head. I wired them into a SAE connector that I put in the back, as well as 2 other amber Cyclones I put on the underside of the RTT for when it's opened up.

I also put 2 other Rigid Ignites on a magnet and put like an 8' cord on them with an SAE connector to also connect into that plug for work lights out on the trail. While u only have the one SAE outlet in the back of the truck I have several extensions and "Y"/splitters that I carry with me now so that I can run multiple lights at one time should I need to. So far I have been very happy with all of it. I used it a lot this last hunting season while at camp and it made things very nice and easy.

[the great him]

Speaking of lighting (it's a sickness I know ) I installed some flush mounted flood lights with turn signals in them, in the sides(wings) of my bumpers. These will also help with camp lighting but mainly for seeing out to the sides of the vehicle at night either looking for a camp site or just at the area around my vehicle also will double as scene lighting at rescues to be used with the Rigid Ignites up top.

Along with those side lights I installed a set of Baja Designs S2 flush mounts in the face of the front bumper to use as DRL/driving lights. These required a little more finesse to Mount up because I wanted them aimed super low so as to not blind other drivers. The best I could do was to shim out the top of the lights about 1/4" to aim them down and it's still not what I'd like but it does the trick. I'm just hoping BD will come out with an SAE/NHTSA approved S2 like they did with the squadron.

In the back bumper I have a set of old school PIAA 1500 backup lights that are halogen h3 lights with a defused lense. I love those lights but they are getting super hard to find as PIAA no longer makes them and hasn't for about 8-10 years now. Anyhow I have gone through 2 set already and they would always get water in them and start rusting. Well up here in the PNW with all the rain we get that's not surprise honestly, especially with how they are placed, at the back of the truck collecting all that road spray from the wet roads as I drive, I did my best to seal them up with grease but they would always get wet inside, so when I put this 3rd set on at the end of this last summer I tool some section of left over gutter I had from an addition we did on the house and cut out two splash guards for them, basically a "L" shaped bracket that I bent a little past 90° probably closer to 120° and then drilled and couple of holes in each one and mounted just in front of the lights to deflect any water from splashing on them while driving. I painted them black and then installed them and so far they have worked flawlessly, the lights are still as clean as the day I took them out of the box and installed them. Not a drop of moisture has gotten in.

[the great him]

Another thing I did this past summer was get rid of my 97 2spoke steering wheel and get a 98+ 4spoke wheel, I even managed to find a full leather one like I had that was in better condition too. I ran into some challenges with the airbag however and tried repinning the connectors but in the end I simply pulled the whole ignitor and bag out of the 97 wheel and installed it into the 98+ wheel. While it was a little smaller physically in the 98+ wheel I was able to squeeze the older bag in there and fasten everything down like factory and it's working just fine. Honestly this is another favorite modification for me, because it's something I see everyday and I like much better than the old wheel. I had for a short time found a non leather 97 wheel and got it for free my original wheel was pealing bad at the seams and with my OCD I was dying a little bit everyday.

I also updated the speakers to Alpine type R components when I thought I had a speaker issue, turns out I had a ground issue from a really bone-headed thing I did... So last spring I installed C track in the back of the 4runner to secure cargo and anything I had in the back. What I thought would be a very easy install turned out to be a royal F up and major pain in my a**. So there I was, waving by to the UPS driver holding my new shinny C track while opening up the back of the 4runner. I was so excited to put this in and be able to have a way to secure cargo and keep things from sliding around back there. I grabbed the drill, a couple of drill bits and my tape measure. I laid everything out and marked my holes and got to drilling... Everything was going great. About 6 holes in the drill pops through the floor of the rear cargo area and then stopped dropping down only about an inch. "Huh..." I thought, " must be a floor pan brace, I'll need to get through that too so I can get the nut on the screw, so I kept going... drilled the rest of the holes with no issues, or so I thought. Well I forgot that I had run some excess speaker wire from my amp to the front doors under the carpet in the cargo area before sending it up front, yeah I drilled right through one leg of that wire and it turns out it nicked both positive and negative wires and crossed them. So when I turned on the stereo all I got was this loud popping sounds for like 10-12 sec and then the amp shut down. I'd have to reset it and start again well at first I didn't realize what was going on because of my drilling through what I thought was the body brace... (spoiler alert, it wasn't a body brace or floor pan gusset or anything like that). But I'll get to that in a minute. I was able to narrow it down to the front drivers speaker as the issue so I pulled apart the door panels and took out the new speakers I had had for a couple of years now and replace the type S speakers that were in the 4runner. Turneyon the stereo and same thing "POP POP POP POP...." then nothing. All I could figure was that one of my RCA cables took a crap, so I ordered new ones, and when those got there I installed them, only for the same thing. WTF!!! I had a brand new Kenwood amp, brand new Alpine head unit, new Alpine speaker, new RCA cables the only thing left was speaker wire. So I undid the wires at the amp and what do ya know, no more popping! So I cut that section of speaker wire out and thankfully it was still long enough to reach the amp.

So that drilling..., remember hole I drilled that I hit a little resistance and decided to push through thinking it was a body brace/floor pan gusset, well that was a big mistake, while what I thought was a body gusset/floor brace was actually the fuel filler tube FML! I found this out right away when I got under the truck to put all the nut on the screws holding the C track down.i was going along with the nuts and some stainless siding washers and had the wife inside the back of the 4runner with the drill and I had a box end wrench and she would run the screws down as I held the nut with the wrench. Yeah as I went to put the nut and washer on I cut my hand on the sharp edge of the hole in the filler neck left from my drill bit SON OF A B*TCH! I yelled, not hurt by the small cut but by the now screwed up fuel system I have. Yeah a filler neck isn't something I just keep around for a slow Tuesday evening. It's Friday evening, we are supposed to be at the beach with friends tomorrow for the weekend and I now have a 1/4 hole in my fuel filler tube. Well I do what any red blooded American would do with a 4x4 and a 6pack of beer... You're damn right I did!, Yeup I grabbed the duct tape (actually it was the Gorilla tape but I digress) "I can't believe I'm about to do this" I think to myself, "what have I become..." This is so wrong, "have I ever kissed one of my cousins? Is my wife my sister and I just don't know it? Is my dad my uncle too? How many dogs are living under my porch?..." Those and so many more questions ran through my head as I carefully wrapped several layers of tape over that, after I carefully cleaned off any sharp or jagged edges around the hole.

I'm sure you can all understand how after that fuel filler tube issue I didn't think that the stereo was anything more than a coincidence, especially being that I didn't even turn on the stereo till like Sunday. It took several months for the gasoline to finally start eating through the Gorilla tape, infact I had almost forgotten about it when it did finally eat through, and then I smelled it, at the gas station one day pumping gas. Obviously I didn't have the filler neck with me then either so another couple of wraps of the ol Gorilla tape (I was getting used to this hillbilly crap and I didn't like that. So I made it my mission to find a wrecked 4runner and get a new filler neck. And I did. But let me tell you, what a pain in the a** that job is, if you ever have to do it, do yourself a favor and just unbolt the body and lift it up off the frame a few inches to give yourself some room. I finally had to after several hours of fighting it.