smkd13
New member
It is a silica gel that you put in the connectors. It doesn't inhibit connection but seals out any dust and water. Just squirt it in the connectors (plugs) and then reconnect. A small amount with this stuff goes a long way btw
smkd13's Build Thread
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It is a silica gel that you put in the connectors. It doesn't inhibit connection but seals out any dust and water. Just squirt it in the connectors (plugs) and then reconnect. A small amount with this stuff goes a long way btw
txbonds
Senior Member
So you went through whole truck, inside and out doing this? That's not a bad idea while I have my interior stripped out just to insure against issues later.
smkd13
New member
You just need to do the outside honestly. The inside would be severely redundant. The outside is what sees most of the water.
smkd13
New member
Thanks bud. And it is a good mod honestly. More aggressive and it gets rid of the rub when you go to a 285. A tip by the way, if you do cut it, use a cut off wheel on a grinder. It melts the plastic and then use a sanding block to clean up the edge.
smkd13
New member
Well lost a turn signal housing so it was time to upgrade. So following in sync with DirtCo and CrazyDubMan, I decided to go with the marker light idea.
And connections done correctly (FYI always wire up LEDs in parrallel)
Put them in
Yep they light up nice and pretty but thinking I will add maybe two or three more to reach side.
]
And went wheeling in a lava flow in ID this last weekend:
And connections done correctly (FYI always wire up LEDs in parrallel)
Put them in
Yep they light up nice and pretty but thinking I will add maybe two or three more to reach side.
And went wheeling in a lava flow in ID this last weekend:
pdx650
Member
I was thinking about mounting the antennae on the forward driver's side quarter panel maybe a few inches from the driver's door. Somewhere around here:
Last edited:
smkd13
New member
Ok well here is the write up for the kick panel lights:
What you will need:
~18ga wire Black and Red
~LED of choice (I used these: Little Dot SMD LED)
~Soldering Tools
~Shrink Wrap
~Torch
Basically a good place to start is by getting the switches ready. The switches have a rubber cover on them. There are two bumps, the top one is the button switch and the lower one is the bolt that grounds the switch.
(This is a Ground Interrupt Switch which means that it interrupts the flow of current. This is better because it keeps a potential energy on the load. When the switch makes a connection, because the load already has a potential, this eliminates a current spike.)
Removed the bolt. Then you removed the trim that is on the direct other side of the B pillar. There is a switch there with a small black wire connecting to the larger red wire. Here is what the switches look like.
You have two options. You can either solder to the switch like i chose to do or you can solder to the small black wire. As i did not want to mess with the harness on the car and soldering in the vehicle would suck, I chose the switch. I attached 6 ft of black 18ga wire to the switch.
After the solder cools, slide the shrink wrap on and heat so that it seals the new joint
Next is where it starts to gets more intensive. Remove the kick molding, the door jam molding, and the B pillar molding. Install the switch and route the wire in the channel along the door. Reinstall the bolt.
Next we need to remove the glove box (two screws on the bottom) and the panel under the steering wheel (4 bolts in each corner). I chose to place the LED in these locations (LEDs have sticky tape on the backs of them):
Then you route the wires towards the center console. I chose to run my wires to the central location as there are two sets of lights. I twisted the two black wires together and likewise for the red, then soldered and shrink wrapped them to a 1 ft length of corresponding color.
I pulled a constant positive from my Blue Sea aux box (this can be pulled from the 12V constant on you stereo as well, these lights only pull 20mA). You have to have a constant positive as the lights need to come on when the key is not turned on. Run the wire from the power source to the center console. You will solder and shrink wrap the reds all together and the blacks all together.
I then tucked them all out of the way
If all done correctly you now should have something to this effect:
Hope this is helpful. I will make a thread about this so that it is easier to find it. It will be a little more intensive on pictures and explanation, as well some other wiring options that will make it more functional with the overhead dome light.
What you will need:
~18ga wire Black and Red
~LED of choice (I used these: Little Dot SMD LED)
~Soldering Tools
~Shrink Wrap
~Torch
Basically a good place to start is by getting the switches ready. The switches have a rubber cover on them. There are two bumps, the top one is the button switch and the lower one is the bolt that grounds the switch.
(This is a Ground Interrupt Switch which means that it interrupts the flow of current. This is better because it keeps a potential energy on the load. When the switch makes a connection, because the load already has a potential, this eliminates a current spike.)
Removed the bolt. Then you removed the trim that is on the direct other side of the B pillar. There is a switch there with a small black wire connecting to the larger red wire. Here is what the switches look like.
You have two options. You can either solder to the switch like i chose to do or you can solder to the small black wire. As i did not want to mess with the harness on the car and soldering in the vehicle would suck, I chose the switch. I attached 6 ft of black 18ga wire to the switch.
After the solder cools, slide the shrink wrap on and heat so that it seals the new joint
Next is where it starts to gets more intensive. Remove the kick molding, the door jam molding, and the B pillar molding. Install the switch and route the wire in the channel along the door. Reinstall the bolt.
Next we need to remove the glove box (two screws on the bottom) and the panel under the steering wheel (4 bolts in each corner). I chose to place the LED in these locations (LEDs have sticky tape on the backs of them):
Then you route the wires towards the center console. I chose to run my wires to the central location as there are two sets of lights. I twisted the two black wires together and likewise for the red, then soldered and shrink wrapped them to a 1 ft length of corresponding color.
I pulled a constant positive from my Blue Sea aux box (this can be pulled from the 12V constant on you stereo as well, these lights only pull 20mA). You have to have a constant positive as the lights need to come on when the key is not turned on. Run the wire from the power source to the center console. You will solder and shrink wrap the reds all together and the blacks all together.
I then tucked them all out of the way
If all done correctly you now should have something to this effect:
Hope this is helpful. I will make a thread about this so that it is easier to find it. It will be a little more intensive on pictures and explanation, as well some other wiring options that will make it more functional with the overhead dome light.
smkd13
New member
I was thinking about mounting the antennae on the forward driver's side quarter panel maybe a few inches from the driver's door. Somewhere around here:
That is a good location. My recommendations would be a 2' antenna and make sure that you removed the paint to get proper grounding. if you can put it as close to the hinge as possble as to keep it out of the way.
smkd13
New member
Went Wheeling with [MENTION=37079]GottaBeTRD[/MENTION] (photos curtesy of him as well)
Started off with two spick and span rig:
Got a little dirty
Full stuff and droop
And a little more:
Flexed out the rigs
Tried to go up Wayne's World (didnt make it)
Yep cant go that way
And finally got REALLY DIRTY!!!
Yep, Gadget was there for the whole ride
And got me a new toy (love this damned thing)
Started off with two spick and span rig:
Got a little dirty
Full stuff and droop
And a little more:
Flexed out the rigs
Tried to go up Wayne's World (didnt make it)
Yep cant go that way
And finally got REALLY DIRTY!!!
Yep, Gadget was there for the whole ride
And got me a new toy (love this damned thing)
KidVermicious
New member
Wayne's World is much harder than it looks. I haven't done it yet either.
smkd13
New member
I got my front up it but it has been getting dug out pretty bad at the bottom. I can get my front up but the rear just drops into the hole at the bottom. to even get up in the damned thing you need a GREAT break over angle or 37+ tires. I will make it up that damned thing some day.
KidVermicious
New member
Nose up to the first ledge, then turn hard passenger and back up. Straighten out and hug the cliff on your left so that your passenger tire slopes up the side instead of trying to climb the ledge - that'll get you up the first part. Then it gets damned tricky, because if you don't stay passenger you'll fall into the Black Hole between the ledges and if you do stay passenger you're on your side with rock about 6" from your driver window trying desperately not to flop your truck.
Clfrncwby in the Black Hole:
XJs have the perfect wheelbase for Wayne's World. I can't count the number of times I've watched bastards in stock XJs slide right up that obstacle. It pisses me off, lol.
SCRunner12
New member
How have I not subscribed to this thread? Nice pictures and work!
smkd13
New member
Thanks bud
and I do that all the time. I have a few threads I frequent and I always go look for them.
smkd13
New member
Well decided that the three LED turn signals was not enough so I added a few more. I need to go find some OEM plugs to use on this so I can make it removable.
Other news there was a Demo truck from Hobart at Cal Ranch today. So I or to play with their Handler 140. honestly impressed with that machine. As well I was able to play worth he TIG machine they had as well. I have NEVER TIG welded before. But I now know I really want to lean how to. Not bad for a first try.
Other news there was a Demo truck from Hobart at Cal Ranch today. So I or to play with their Handler 140. honestly impressed with that machine. As well I was able to play worth he TIG machine they had as well. I have NEVER TIG welded before. But I now know I really want to lean how to. Not bad for a first try.
smkd13
New member
Well last weekends trip was a success! Had about 10 rigs out with us and it was a blast. Helped [MENTION=37079]GottaBeTRD[/MENTION] and offroad_medic (Brad) remove thier rear sway bar. I have decided I don't really like wheeling on granite very much lol and yep took out a tail light thanks to a tree in my way.
After 8000 miles I was getting a weird noise from the front when I went over small bumps. Well after looking at every part of my front end I found this to be the culprit:
Contacted ToyTec about this, talked to Dylan and sent him the pictures. Because of the back order of Boss COs I will be hopefully getting new shocks in 2-3 weeks. Thinking there might have been a bad batch of bushings or something. But ToyTec is handling it so all is good.
While I had the COs out I decided to see what the actual travel of these 4runners are.
At full droop they are 26-7/8" to fender (had CV bind until the measurement was 26")
I then fully compressed for a "stuff" measurement (bump stop compressed) of 15-1/2" w/ no CV bind. My UCAs are about a 1/4 from my inner fender.
(No making fun of my jacking method. I work with what I got lol)
Essentially you that a theoretical total travel of: 11-3/8" BUT on have a usable travel of roughly 10". Most mid travel COs provide an extra inch of droop. So they extend about a 1/2 in more of shaft length.
After 8000 miles I was getting a weird noise from the front when I went over small bumps. Well after looking at every part of my front end I found this to be the culprit:
Contacted ToyTec about this, talked to Dylan and sent him the pictures. Because of the back order of Boss COs I will be hopefully getting new shocks in 2-3 weeks. Thinking there might have been a bad batch of bushings or something. But ToyTec is handling it so all is good.
While I had the COs out I decided to see what the actual travel of these 4runners are.
At full droop they are 26-7/8" to fender (had CV bind until the measurement was 26")
I then fully compressed for a "stuff" measurement (bump stop compressed) of 15-1/2" w/ no CV bind. My UCAs are about a 1/4 from my inner fender.
(No making fun of my jacking method. I work with what I got lol)
Essentially you that a theoretical total travel of: 11-3/8" BUT on have a usable travel of roughly 10". Most mid travel COs provide an extra inch of droop. So they extend about a 1/2 in more of shaft length.
mikebontoft
New member
The Hobart Handler 140 is a decent welder. it's the same as a Miller 140xp which I've had good luck with. miles better than my Lincoln weldpak 100 with self shield wire.
smkd13
New member
That is what I was told by several people as well. I like miller but this handler is cheaper and throws a pretty bead
someday I will actually invest and get one. But I wanna get a TIG welder and learn that so I can start TIG welding most things instead.