the great him
Elite Member
say what?! ...nooo how could that be? :laugh:
the Rescue Runner build thread
- Thread starter the great him
- Start date
say what?! ...nooo how could that be? :laugh:
the great him
Elite Member
Did a little backcountry traveling to avoid pavement as much as possible. Had a great time.
the great him
Elite Member
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
Elite Member
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
Elite Member
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.
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.
the great him
Elite Member
I love it, it suits my needs very well. Yes very much worth it.
Scramble
New member
Does this website have your permission to use your truck?
ARB 3423020 Front Deluxe Bull Bar Winch Bumper Toyota Tacoma 1995-2004
ARB 3423020 Front Deluxe Bull Bar Winch Bumper Toyota Tacoma 1995-2004
the great him
Elite Member
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?
the great him
Elite Member
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
New member
Awesome sunset pics!
the great him
Elite Member
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.
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
Elite Member
Speaking of lighting (it's a sickness I know [emoji1784][emoji40][emoji855]) 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.
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
Elite Member
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.
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.
the great him
Elite Member
So this about 2yars ago now I finally got around to replacing all my wheel bearings, they needed it bad. I had a spare set of spindles that I put a set of Total Chaos spindle gussets on and then had a buddy press out and in the old and new bearings and hub flanges. -he got my old spindles to do the same with, and passed his spindles on to another local guy and friend of ours with a 3rd gen, and when he pressed my bearings out he said they literally disintegrated on him lol. Anyhow when I installed these I also cleaned up the upper ball joint stud hole in the spindles -apparently a little too much as the bushing/sleeve for the SPC UBJ dropped in with a little more ease than I expected but I didn't think much of it at the time because it had a snap ring at the base and there was no noticable play.
Fast forward two days later and I'm driving through a residential neighborhood and I get that feeling in the steering that something isn't right, I had also just heard what sounded like a washer fall off the truck and bounce down the road. Thankfully I was only going about 25mph and avoided a catastrophic failure (I had just been doing 75+ on the freeway only about 10min earlier). Well that snap ring wasn't designed to hold those kinda loads and it really needed that bushings/sleeve/adapter to be pressed it, not tapped in(yeah looking back in hind sight that makes a lot of sense). Anyhow yeah the whole sleeve and everything pulled out of the top of my spindle. Fortunately the spindle rested against the coilover and didn't fold in so I didn't break the LBJ or a brake line or anything else. I was able to safety pull to the side of the road and stop. Called a co-worker and had them come get me and had a friend come tow it back to one of their friends shops who was kind enough to do a late night repair ie like 2am. needless to say food and drinks where on me, I offered to pay the guy but he was happy to help (spoiler alert he will be the guy welding up the custom exhaust on the GX because of it). So he welded in both adapters on both spindles so now that upper ball joint mount is no longer the weak spot in the spindle, Winning! So that was my front wheel bearing saga...
On to the rears; well there was some play and it needed to be addressed so I did those as well for the first time. I used all OE parts though I did source the rear bearings from NAPA and not the dealer. The process was fairly smooth, I also replaced the rear shoes and related hardware at that time as well. Fast forward to a year later and I was rotating my tires and noticed I once again and more play than I should in the rear axle. I told myself if I ever had to do this job again I would order chromoly shafts from Nitro Gear. As I thought of this upon reinstalling the axles back into the 4runner. Welp now was my chance. I called got a set on order and the next day they were at my house. Bought all new breaks yet again this time wheel cylinders and drums too. I got everything ready and that weekend got to work tearing everything down yet again. The koyo bearings were shot, and idk what happened, I hadn't done anything hard or abusive and figured I should probably get more than a year out of them but what do I know(?). Anyhow I was talking with a friend, same guy who pressed my front wheel bearings and he said he went with sfk and they were way better. I decided to give them a try and side by side right out of the box they were definitely tighter and had less play. So I put it all together and all new everything. I was mixed on my happiness with getting the Nitro shafts vs having to spend a day redoing everything that I had just done roughly a year before. That being said I'm now looking at doing a rear disc conversion, and since I have access to a CNC plasma table at work and I have the dxf file so all I really need is the calipers.
Fast forward two days later and I'm driving through a residential neighborhood and I get that feeling in the steering that something isn't right, I had also just heard what sounded like a washer fall off the truck and bounce down the road. Thankfully I was only going about 25mph and avoided a catastrophic failure (I had just been doing 75+ on the freeway only about 10min earlier). Well that snap ring wasn't designed to hold those kinda loads and it really needed that bushings/sleeve/adapter to be pressed it, not tapped in(yeah looking back in hind sight that makes a lot of sense). Anyhow yeah the whole sleeve and everything pulled out of the top of my spindle. Fortunately the spindle rested against the coilover and didn't fold in so I didn't break the LBJ or a brake line or anything else. I was able to safety pull to the side of the road and stop. Called a co-worker and had them come get me and had a friend come tow it back to one of their friends shops who was kind enough to do a late night repair ie like 2am. needless to say food and drinks where on me, I offered to pay the guy but he was happy to help (spoiler alert he will be the guy welding up the custom exhaust on the GX because of it). So he welded in both adapters on both spindles so now that upper ball joint mount is no longer the weak spot in the spindle, Winning! So that was my front wheel bearing saga...
On to the rears; well there was some play and it needed to be addressed so I did those as well for the first time. I used all OE parts though I did source the rear bearings from NAPA and not the dealer. The process was fairly smooth, I also replaced the rear shoes and related hardware at that time as well. Fast forward to a year later and I was rotating my tires and noticed I once again and more play than I should in the rear axle. I told myself if I ever had to do this job again I would order chromoly shafts from Nitro Gear. As I thought of this upon reinstalling the axles back into the 4runner. Welp now was my chance. I called got a set on order and the next day they were at my house. Bought all new breaks yet again this time wheel cylinders and drums too. I got everything ready and that weekend got to work tearing everything down yet again. The koyo bearings were shot, and idk what happened, I hadn't done anything hard or abusive and figured I should probably get more than a year out of them but what do I know(?). Anyhow I was talking with a friend, same guy who pressed my front wheel bearings and he said he went with sfk and they were way better. I decided to give them a try and side by side right out of the box they were definitely tighter and had less play. So I put it all together and all new everything. I was mixed on my happiness with getting the Nitro shafts vs having to spend a day redoing everything that I had just done roughly a year before. That being said I'm now looking at doing a rear disc conversion, and since I have access to a CNC plasma table at work and I have the dxf file so all I really need is the calipers.
the great him
Elite Member
Welp today I washed and clay'd the 4runner and gave it a good coat of carnauba wax. Gave it a good shine, just in time for more rain [emoji23][emoji1787]
the great him
Elite Member
Thank you for the kind words. And yes I have done a fair amount to it, I also replaced the dash because I put a tear in it (long story and really stupid) but I repainted it because the replacement dash I got had some scuffs and scratches through the blue color. But for two years now it's held up great and not chipped or faded or rubbed away.
I have always wanted an outside temperature display for the 4runner. Sure there is a field monitor units from Japan and Australia but I'm pretty sure they are only in C° and not F° and I really don't want to spend $200+ to get one. A couple years ago this was pushed up to the front of the wish list by a accident that was probably the most scary accident I have ever been in and could have killed my whole family. We hit some ice in a curve next to a rushing river with no guard rail or shoulder ect. -it was the first time I have ever been happy/excited/thankful to see trees and be thinking and wishing about the prospect to hit them... luckily we didn't hit the trees and instead hit another vehicle. Our CBI bumper saved the 4runner and in the process sliced open the side of their truck like a can-opener. It totalled out their truck, but thankfully didn't hurt anyone, I felt so bad for them but there was nothing either of us could do, they couldn't stop, we couldn't stop I was in their lane, they were in ours it was just a bad situation and we are very blessed the no one ended up in the river. It was right around freezing out and there was snow all over the ground but the road was clear, and had been clear the whole way up to that point. It was in a little swale in a narrow point of the canyon where no sun light hits the road during the winter. Anyhow it was about 5-10° colder in that little section than anywhere else. So while a outside temperature gauge may not have prevented the accident, it could have given me a heads up that their could be ice on the road.
I have searched Amazon and eBay and always been on the lookout for a suitable unit that doesn't look tacky and or ricer or like a gimmick. Well a couple months ago I found one on Amazon and for $12 is decided to take the gamble. I got it but it only came with 6' of lead from the probe to the gauge and wasn't sure if that was going to be long enough. I also wasn't sure if it would be possible to lengthen the lead to the probe without causing issues in the reading, but again for $12 it was worth a shot. 6' of lead really limits the places it and be mounted and honestly I wanted it some place I can see all the time, without having to look her then there then over here and then back to the road... After a bit of looking around I found a spot I thought might work, right inside the gauge cluster. So out came the gauge cluster and apart it came. Very carefully I dismantled the entire thing, pulling the needles, and gauge face, then the the actual mechanisms for the speedometer, odometer, and tachometer. I carefully cut a hole big enough for the probe and the power source to fit through and used some good strong double sided tape to mount the display. This also served as a good time to clean out 20+ years of dust and crap inside the cluster gave everything a good cleaning with windex on a microfiber and once I was happy with how it sat I mounted and reinstalled everything back in the truck, ran my probe out side and mounted it to the underside of my CBI antenna mount. So far it has been working wonderful. And only about 1-2° off of the factory readouts in other vehicles.
I also found out over this last summer that my ARB twin compressor air chuck location is less than ideal, infact when the back of the truck has camping gear and or the dog back their it's almost impossible to access without removing a bunch of stuff, and honestly even on a good day it's a hassle to get to without the back hatch being opened up(what's the point of that super nice and fancy rear window that rolls down if I still have to open the back up to get to it). So I ordered ARBs extension and relocation bracket along with their chuck (included in the relocation bracket). I decided to mount it about half way up the back pillar so when the widow is down it's very easily accessible even with the back full of stuff or the big dog back there. And their quck release chuck is very easily operated one handed!, Major improvement [emoji108]
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