New England B.S. Thread

[jdkilroy]

I'm thinking of going with 1/4" aluminum to reduce weight and rust in winter salt.

First, I have to put in the time to get the middle skid off as two of the four bolts are stripped and will require drilling out and re tapping.... I'm just not into going backwards before I can move forward.

 

[emelianenkov]

I'm thinking of going with 1/4" aluminum to reduce weight and rust in winter salt.

First, I have to put in the time to get the middle skid off as two of the four bolts are stripped and will require drilling out and re tapping.... I'm just not into going backwards before I can move forward.

One of my front skid bolts sheered off so I need to drill and tap those two front bolts. For the tranny skid, one of the bolts pulled the metal so it isn't flat anymore. I need to pound that out too! Whoopie!

 

[rfuree11]

Just an FYI, a lot of the aftermarket skids don't use all of the bolts. Mine only uses 4- the two on the bottom of the radiator support and the two on the crossmember that the rear of the factory skids mount to (not sure if it's the transmission or transfer case crossmember). I'm just trying to save you guys some unnecessary drilling and tapping

 

[emelianenkov]

Just an FYI, a lot of the aftermarket skids don't use all of the bolts. Mine only uses 4- the two on the bottom of the radiator support and the two on the crossmember that the rear of the factory skids mount to (not sure if it's the transmission or transfer case crossmember). I'm just trying to save you guys some unnecessary drilling and tapping

Oh cool! Thanks!

 

[Hyde802]

Got a motor for my 4runner yesterday. Only 60k on her. Pulled it from a 84 ex trail truck that the frame was broken in half from rust. Didnt have a tranny in it, so we had it pulled in 2 hours flat which left the rest of the day for wheelin..

Also managed to snag a clean gas tank...

Welp.. I had a sweet weekend.. Howd everybody else do?

 

[emelianenkov]

Phone pole at 1 AM

Ironically picked these up the morning before I hit the pole -_-

Sliders should be on their way soon!

 

[rfuree11]

ewww, are you going to get the bodywork fixed?

 

[emelianenkov]

ewww, are you going to get the bodywork fixed?

Yep!

I would have been fine with destroying the bumper and tail light... What sucks is I hit the CORNER of my truck, so all the metal got f*cked up.

The tail light is sitting where it should be (it's a little off to the left cause the metal behind it rippled, so it's getting pushed into contact with the tail gate a little bit). All the metal behind the tail light got pushed back.

As it sits now, I'm most likely getting a steel bumper because Toyota quoted me roughly $700 for a bumper cover and painting it to match (disregard the quarter panel for a second), but I got a quote for $700 on a plate steel bumper. I'd rather get that and maybe paint it to match my truck so it doesn't stick out too much, like what this guy did!

I would powder coat it black, but I feel that having a black heavy duty rear bumper and then a silly Westin brush guard would make my truck look kinda ridiculous... Probably gonna go with a Demello bumper down the road.

I just really like the idea of color matching bumpers! This guy is a friggin genius!

 

[Hyde802]

Spend the $$ on the bumper. Your gonna want it eventually any way. Function over fashion. How did you hit the pole anyway?

 

[rfuree11]

$700 is OUTRAGEOUS for just the side bumper cover and paint. If the quarter is included, then thats a little more reasonable. You can get a CAPA aftermarket side bumper cover for like $130 plus a little paint. You're looking at like $3-400 max for just the cover.

 

[emelianenkov]

Spend the $$ on the bumper. Your gonna want it eventually any way. Function over fashion. How did you hit the pole anyway?

That's what I'm doing.

And I hit the pole at 1AM backing out of a parking spot in Salem, MA. The pole was at this angle to me (pic from the pole's perspective):

So while looking out the back window and turning the wheels passenger, I swung right into the damn thing. It was a dark night, dark parking lot, and the tinted windows definitely didn't help. If you look into the truck from that angle, you can't see the driver's seat or the wheel. So it was in my blind spot.

Honestly, I didn't hit it that hard either! I was crawling backwards.... :happens:

 

[jdkilroy]

Phone pole at 1 AM

Ouch... !!! I really hate that noise ...

 

[Qjake]

It probably sounded a lot like the noise made by the rocks tearing up his tin skids followed by Alex saying "wtf is stopping me" while he floors it :lmao:

Seriously though...That really sucks Alex! Agreed the bumper cover and tail ain't so bad but with the rear quarter pushed back and in like that it's going to need some professional help.

 

[emelianenkov]

Ouch... !!! I really hate that noise ...

Of what? Hitting a pole? Its a horrible sound! Haha

 

[emelianenkov]

It probably sounded a lot like the noise made by the rocks tearing up his tin skids followed by Alex saying "wtf is stopping me" while he floors it :lmao:

Seriously though...That really sucks Alex! Agreed the bumper cover and tail ain't so bad but with the rear quarter pushed back and in like that it's going to need some professional help.

Hey, those skids had it coming for them! They shouldn't have resisted my actions lol. I like pretending my skids make my truck a bulldozer!! I'm just trying to flatten out the trails for you so we have good work areas the next time your front end tries to kill itself.

Nah, it was more of a glass shattering sound cause the tail light shattered on impact. Then some good plastic crunching!

I think I'm just gonna have the quarter panel straightened and painted. I'll keep the broken bumper cause it's not that bad, and just keep the torn cover until I get a steel bumper to replace it.

Weirdly enough, I bought new tail lights that morning.... Was just gonna swap out the old ones and sell them to recoup the cost of the new tails... Now not so much! But thank God I'll have new tails soon.

This is what I got

 

[Qjake]

On A lighter note...

Got my Gobi Stealth and ladder and also my BudBuild sliders installed this past week. The rack and ladder are awesome, very high quality and workmanship throughout, it's really too bad that Gobi's customer service sux so bad. The sliders, well they are BudBuilt's, nuff said!:bigok:

Rack and Ladder:
Had to replace the rear hatch struts too as the weight of the ladder won't let it open all the way.






BudBuilt sliders:
I have removed the rocker panels for now but will replace them with the Trail Edition rockers.






The final product:
Looks good eh...I like to think so! :boink:

 

[Qjake]

Hey, those skids had it coming for them! They shouldn't have resisted my actions lol. I like pretending my skids make my truck a bulldozer!! I'm just trying to flatten out the trails for you so we have good work areas the next time your front end tries to kill itself.

Nah, it was more of a glass shattering sound cause the tail light shattered on impact. Then some good plastic crunching!

I think I'm just gonna have the quarter panel straightened and painted. I'll keep the broken bumper cause it's not that bad, and just keep the torn cover until I get a steel bumper to replace it.

Weirdly enough, I bought new tail lights that morning.... Was just gonna swap out the old ones and sell them to recoup the cost of the new tails... Now not so much! But thank God I'll have new tails soon.

This is what I got

Ha-ha a bulldozer! That's fitting for your style :thumb3:

What's wrong with the tails you have? Well I mean before you broke one! Not that I don't like the ones you picked out but i'm thinking you have more pressing items, like some armor for the trail groomer.

LMAO, Trail groomer ha-ha that's going to be your rigs new name....Alex's Trail Groomer

 

[Qjake]

I know most of you guys here don't venture into the 5th gen forum so I'll post this here also:

Anyone planning to attend the Vermont Overland Rally September 20-23?? There will be 4 hour guided tours of class IV roads on both Friday and Saturday as well as clinics on driving techniques (for Alex!) and recovery techniques. They'll also have vendors on hand showing off their goods and hopefully lots of info and maps for Vermonts class IV roads.

TitanPat, Joneseyyy and a couple others are going and I'm almost positive I will also go, will know for certain tomorrow. If you are interested check out the links in the above thread.

 

[emelianenkov]

Ha-ha a bulldozer! That's fitting for your style :thumb3:

What's wrong with the tails you have? Well I mean before you broke one! Not that I don't like the ones you picked out but i'm thinking you have more pressing items, like some armor for the trail groomer.

LMAO, Trail groomer ha-ha that's going to be your rigs new name....Alex's Trail Groomer

Trail groomer.... I like it!! Gonna rename it in my sig when I get home!

And I wanted the bezel black inside the light. Like the black headlight mod, but for the tails. And you can't take apart the headlight housing so I bought these. They were $120, and people buy the OEM tails for just about the same, so it would have been a wash. I like my red and black theme! It looks evil (when it doesn't have damage)

 

[emelianenkov]

I know most of you guys here don't venture into the 5th gen forum so I'll post this here also:

Anyone planning to attend the Vermont Overland Rally September 20-23?? There will be 4 hour guided tours of class IV roads on both Friday and Saturday as well as clinics on driving techniques (for Alex!) and recovery techniques. They'll also have vendors on hand showing off their goods and hopefully lots of info and maps for Vermonts class IV roads.

TitanPat, Joneseyyy and a couple others are going and I'm almost positive I will also go, will know for certain tomorrow. If you are interested check out the links in the above thread.

Sounds good! But I'm going to the cape for the taco beach meet.

And I have my techniques honed now.... I was just learning the first few times! I'm good with geometry and angles, so I see trails as big puzzles. It's fun! I just needed to work on my two foot driving, and now I have that down. I can crawl with the big boys!