Fightman's Build Thread

[fightman80]

Once the tophat piece (mounting point) was in place, we turned our attention to the angle Iron portion of the revision.

We decided to butt 2 angle iron together and have them kind of box in the tube on the tophat mount. Don't mind the weldjob...I'm new at this stuff

The next thing to do was to weld it to the carrier:

To be continued......

 

[fightman80]

Alright, so here are the completion pics.....took me 2 or 3 more hours to finish, but I'm pretty happy with the result so far.

Here's a pic of the new mount point (aka Tundra Top hat) and the angle iron doing what they are intended to do. I drilled out holes in both the angle iron and the center tube so that I could put a Trailer Lock pin through it.

Here's a pic with the lock pin in place:

And a crappy shot of the rear with the tire on it.....don't look any different...but shakes alot less. I'll be completely honest, it still does shake a tiny bit, but at least I know that it's not going to come down on the road or on the trail.

I'm going to fuel it up in the morning and take it for a good 30km trip to work and back....and see how it does on the road!

 

[Smog-guy707]

nice work... great attention to detail as said like a billion times to you before

 

[fightman80]

Thanks Smog-guy! It's been the subject of my thoughts for several weeks now, and I'm glad this is done. I just hope it's going to ge as tough as I hoped!

 

[fightman80]

Small Update:

Well, I took the truck for a nice long road test today to and from work, and the carrier is working out great! My only complaint, is that it rattles a little because of the steel on steel from the pin and such....so I might try to remedy that in the days to come.

I'll keep you all posted on any changes. BTW, for those who haven't noticed, I have the completion pics posted on the previous page.

 

[fightman80]

Trying to get rid of some rattles......

Alright, so today's project involved getting rid of some of the rattles. One thing I did, was grind down the angle iron, so that it wasn't hitting on the New Mounting point. Second thing I did, was make myself a bushing to go inside the center tube of the Mounting point.

I used some Black Permatex, hoping that it's chemical properties would be stronger than simple sillicone.



In order to get started, I tossed in an old paint can cap in order to stop any of the Permatex from working it's way through the Top Stut hole in the old Tundra Top Hat, and into the rear hatch.

Then I added a second paint can cap, to Cap off the end of the tube, and drilled out some holes to allow for the locking pin to go inside.

Next I added the Permatex, but it takes 24hrs to cure....so I'll have to wait and see how that ends up. I also used the permatex inside the center tube that we had welded on the hitch that sits vertically. This way, when the quick release pin is there, it won't rattle around either. (this also stops any water from getting inside the center tube...)

After completing those pieces of the project. I decided to rid myself of that Honda Galaxy Grey I had painted on the licence trim plate. First I sanded it with some Steel whool, then wiped it all down with some Paint Thinner. Next I primed it with some Filler Primer......

Once that had dried, I wet sanded it with some 1000 Grit Sand paper and then shot it with the base coat Toyota Graphite Mettalic Color:

Then Cleared it all:

Once I get some decent weather, I'll post some outdoor pics, to compare...but the Graphite is much nicer looking than that Honda color!

Before:

After:

Sunshine pic to follow...sorry

 

[BigFishAllDay]

You've got some major engineering into this tire carrier now Fightman! You just need to figure a way to add a more convenient latch mechanism and you'd be golden.

Like I said though, your ingenuity and the fact that you are making it work with what you've got is admirable.

The only thought I would have to add is is an idea.... I'd be looking at a way to have a small tab of steel plate extending off the top hat, either to the driver's side, or the pass side, and a corresponding, parallel tab off the same side of the angle iron... then tack weld a small, strong spring onto one side or the other so that when you close the carrier the spring becomes compressed between the two tabs.

That would put constant rearward pressure on the carrier, holding the pin/carrier/top hat in contact with each other, and would probably eliminate most of the rattling. It would also allow you to get rid of the two rubber pads that press up against the license plate garnish.

But, it looks like you've got it figured out already.

 

[bak3rme]

Fightman...I think you and COB put alot of quality time and detail into your every move. I could never be like that. i'd start out good..but i'd end up messing everything up. You have great patience and some creative thinking!

great looking rig.

 

[fightman80]

Thanks for the comments guys! It's always great to get feedback from you folks! I post this stuff up on my local site, and they don't even bother to give any feedback!

Bigfish,

In response to this part of your comment:

"I'd be looking at a way to have a small tab of steel plate extending off the top hat, either to the driver's side, or the pass side, and a corresponding, parallel tab off the same side of the angle iron... then tack weld a small, strong spring onto one side or the other so that when you close the carrier the spring becomes compressed between the two tabs."

I like that idea, however, that would have to be a pretty strong spring in order to do what you propose....there is alot of leverage being applied by that setup when that 285 is on there......as the carrier flips down. What kind of spring would you suggest???

 

[fightman80]

Alright, as promised....sort of....it's been raining for days...and now it's -2 Celcius!!!

Before:

After:

I like the Graphite!

 

[fightman80]

Maintenance time!

Well,

I finally decided to bite the bullet and get my stuff ordered for the Timing belt replacement! While I was at it, I found a Poly kit for the Front Sway Bar Bushings.....so ordered those too!

Here are the links to what I ordered:

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/360357344620?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/170678936205?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649


I think those prices are more than Reasonable! The poly kit is $20.00 (give or take) shipped and the Timing belt kit....$131.39 shipped! The stealership wanted over double that for those parts!

Can't wait to get these in, and get that done! I'll keep you guys posted on that when it comes in!

 

[fightman80]

Well, I haven't received my TB and Water pump parts yet....but I did get these from Greg (aka: 01KY4R )

I'll install them tomorrow sometime and update this with some pics of them on the rig! Thanks Greg for the great experience and honest transaction!

 

[t4r4life]

those look great i live then better than leds for some reason, maybe its because of the curves

 

[Smog-guy707]

Eric wtf i thought you got banned!? lol

 

[t4r4life]

Eric wtf i thought you got banned!? lol

admin unbanned me

 

[blcktpgsr]

Those look nice, good choice...ok anybody else wanna get rid of their 01 tails? lol

 

[quicksilvr]

Those tails will look great, I want some too. The other thing I really need to do is paint my liftgate trim like you did. Mine is faded real bad, and needs attention. Your's turned out great, and seems pretty easy just doing it by masking it off.

 

[ryhi]

those tails are really gonna update the rear of your runner.

 

[fightman80]

Thanks guys for the comments! I ended up installing them this morning...but ran into an unexpected bump in the road....he he!

Turns out that my stock wiring harness had been tampered with in the past, and the electrical connector was not longer present. (most likely when the body shop rebuilt the driver side quarter panel, after my mom had smashed the truck years ago.)

As a result, I couldn't just plug and play my stuff with Gregs. Also, the bulbs and light sockets are slightly different, so I couldn't just unplug and re-plug.

See the Reverse light socket.....it's much smaller on the 2001-2002 model:

The signal light socket off my 98 wouldn't fit into the 01 - 02 lights either....

Anyway, after some re-wiring....everything seems to be working well....except a burnt passenger side brake bulb which I'll go and buy later today.

Here's a comparison pic of the old tail light beside my newly installed one:

Notice...the old light has a grey/white back up lens

and....

Before:

After:

And some outdoor shots:

Overall, I like the update...and it's not to Fast and Furious....lol!

 

[fightman80]

Oh....and replaced the bulb this afternoon...actually did both sides for good measure!