TonyB66's Ownership -> Build Thread (2000 Limited)

[TonyB66]

With respect to #5 above, what I'll address soon...

I wanted a distance reference for the rear view camera.

The bottom of the screen, the edge of the blue bucket, is about 2 feet from the bumper.

Found these in the garage. Bought them like two years back. Unlike the high quality Baja Designs lights installed earlier, these were like 15 bucks. Great reviews though.

Amazon.com: Nilight 2PCS 18W 1260lm Spot Driving Fog Light Off Road Led Lights Bar Mounting Bracket for SUV Boat 4" Jeep Lamp,2 years Warranty: Automotive

Not on my "to do" list above, but I decided to make these my rear-facing lights. I already have a switched power lead waiting between driver side B and C pillars. Should be a quick install...

Spent some time working on the wires, 14 AWG. With much of the wires for the Baja Designs lights not needed, I made use of the extra sheathing.

I looked at mounting the lights up high on the rack, but decided against doing so, for a few reasons. The Savage rear bumper has ample locations for such lights. I decided upon a bumper tube that has a 1.75" diameter, and got these:

Amazon.com: GS Power's Bracket Clamp | choice of 1/1.25/1.75/2 inch. Mount LED Light Bar, Safety Flag, Antenna onto Bar Tube Rack Roll Cage Bumper on Boat Truck ATV Can-Am Bike (2 pc): Automotive

Here's one installed.

And with the light's bracket.

Light mounted.

Plenty of clearance from the swing arm above...

Both installed.

Hopefully I'll have time tomorrow to make the connections. Looks like the nearest ground in the rear is behind the side panel, a little forward the taillights...

EDIT/ADD: Yes, here's that ground location...

 

[Twan]

A keen eye would have noticed that I used one of those inserts. Here's a shot with the bag of 13. Less than 7 bucks...

Going to have to pick some of these up. Saves me the trouble of sourcing new door sills just to have the same thing happen again.

 

[TonyB66]

Going to have to pick some of these up. Saves me the trouble of sourcing new door sills just to have the same thing happen again.

Certainly nothing I should take credit for... Glad more folks are learning about these though!

The physical install of the ham radio is complete. I contemplated using one of these to secure the coax, and provide support to the cable, offering some strain relief through its range of motion (motorized mount up/down).

Decided to use this stainless steel insulated cable clamp instead.

Made a hole.

Painted-up the exposed metal.

6mm rivnut.

I added some clear 100% silicone around the rivnut. The water flow or path of least resistance is elsewhere though... Stainless steel bolt in place, and it's very secure.

Not the best shot, but I had to notch the light housing for the cable.

I forgot to say that I wrapped the length of coax and power for the motorized mount with black electrical tape (3M Super 33+)...

With that done, I made the connection inside.

I wrapped the union with Rescue tape (fusing silicone tape). Over that black electrical tape, and a scrap piece of 3/8" hose from the tranny cooler install.

And then that wrapped...

Antenna up.

Antenna down.

I will keep it up 99% of the time. It stays outside. When I build a shelter, it will have a 10' clearance.

Working on programming the radio in the evenings...

Anyone know what's involved in removing this box?

I'm going to relocate the drain hose, comparable to the other side, which will free-up more space. Two quarts of oil fits with ease...

Should have time tomorrow morning to finish the rear light install.

 

[spartacus]

This is a really fantastic practical build thread. . I've been buying a bunch of stuff to put on the truck like the 15 dollar lights for the back. balkamp clamps etc. thanks for the links.

 

[Lamer]

Anyone know what's involved in removing this box?

that box comes out where the original bumper side piece was. I had to remove that section of the bumper to replace mine. not sure how with an aftermarket bumper...

 

[TonyB66]

that box comes out where the original bumper side piece was. I had to remove that section of the bumper to replace mine. not sure how with an aftermarket bumper...

Impeccable timing! I just confirmed the same moments ago. No way I'm going to remove my aftermkt rear bumper. So, I'm going to kill it!

Thanks again.

 

[theesotericone]

Impeccable timing! I just confirmed the same moments ago. No way I'm going to remove my aftermkt rear bumper. So, I'm going to kill it!

Thanks again.

I cut a tile sponge to fit the hole and used that to block it off. It still allows a little airflow but keeps dust out. I clean it like I clean my air filter after every trip.

 

[TonyB66]

I cut a tile sponge to fit the hole and used that to block it off. It still allows a little airflow but keeps dust out. I clean it like I clean my air filter after every trip.

Clever Matt. I might do that, or something like it. I had previously just blocked it off completely with a trimmed piece of aluminum. What are the negatives of preventing such airflow?

Spent some time with my dad late morning, but I got it out beforehand. Made a lot of noise doing so too. The tools that I used...

I felt that a small reciprocating saw would work well, but the cheapo HF one I purchased years ago failed on me. Think I only used it once before.

Vacuumed-up the debris and remembered I had scrap pieces of 80mil butyl remaining...

Cut to size and rolled into place.

I relocated where the drain tube goes by simply enlarging an existing a hole.

I have a metal zip tie pulling the tube over so it stays in place. I also put a bead of 100% silicone around the tube.

While working, some big rats came over again...

Salvaged these two clips. Anyone else cut-off and save electrical cords?

I'll get back on this tomorrow...

 

[theesotericone]

Clever Matt. I might do that, or something like it. I had previously just blocked it off completely with a trimmed piece of aluminum. What are the negatives of preventing such airflow?

In a new car with perfect seals closing a cabin filter will force the compressor to work harder. In our rigs the weather stripping and seals in general are far from 100% efficient. I don't think it would make to much of a difference at all. I just chose a quick easy solution. It's a lot faster to cut up a sponge then to properly cut and form a piece of aluminum. lol

 

[octanejunkie]

I need to seriously catch up on your build, Tony. Great work as always!

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

 

[TonyB66]

Thanks Matt. I had sealed it previously with no ill-effects. I also have that one square foot hole in the floor too, and although closed, I'm sure it's not exactly air tight...

Mike, good to hear from you. Happy belated New Year to you. It has been a slow, methodical build with plenty of competing interests for my time. Quite happy with how it's turning-out though.

Got the aluminum cover back in place, sealed with 100% black silicone.

From the outside, I wedged some stuff between it and the bumper to keep pressure on it while it cures. One might recognize that doll as Elsa from Frozen...

A bottom view of the re-located drain tube.

While working in this area, I made a hole here to route the wires for those rear lights. I used the cable gland seen.

From below with surrounding seem seal removed with a sharp chisel.

Exposed bare metal painted.

Fits well.

The two wires from each light run upward into the interior.

Grounds secured.

And connected to switched power (F or the 6th switch).

Fired-up the lights and the driver side one doesn't work. What a pisser. Bought them over two years ago. I sent an email to them (Nilight), so hopefully they will help...

Removed that box from the inside of that panel.

Noticed that during removal I snapped-off a piece that secures it on top (about 2 o'clock in the image).

The part that busted is here on the right. Despite that, and somehow not using one of the white retainer clips, I put back the side panel and it feels well-secured.

Anyone know how many of those white clips should be on the panel? I believe I counted eight, so since I missed one, I'm guessing nine...

Whenever I plan to have the rear hatch door open for an extended time, I prop the door to take the load off the struts, hopefully extending their useful life.

 

[4Runner4Leon]

Whenever I plan to have the rear hatch door open for an extended time, I prop the door to take the load off the struts, hopefully extending their useful life.

Tony, there's no real benefit to strut life in supporting an open liftgate. Struts are at their highest pressure when the liftgate is closed, where they spend the vast majority of their life. The pressure is actually reduced when the liftgate is open, but gas struts fail due to life time rather than life cycles (unless you're talking millions of cycles), so the small variation in pressure from closed to open is inconsequential to their life expectancy.

Of course there's no harm in this either .

 

[TonyB66]

Tony, there's no real benefit to strut life in supporting an open liftgate. Struts are at their highest pressure when the liftgate is closed, where they spend the vast majority of their life. The pressure is actually reduced when the liftgate is open, but gas struts fail due to life time rather than life cycles (unless you're talking millions of cycles), so the small variation in pressure from closed to open is inconsequential to their life expectancy.

Of course there's no harm in this either .

Leon, thanks. If anyone knows about these struts around here, it's you! I'll likely not prop it up again...

Not too much new. I made some time to sand-down the low points on the rear doors.

They now clear the sliders.

I began to contemplate how to mount the tranny cooler fan. I found what looks to be a secure way, not using zip ties. I'll show more later. For now though, I cut a corner brace that will attach to the flange of the tranny cooler.

Cleaned it up, painted and with a 6mm rivnut inserted.

Oh, good news. Heard back from Nilight and they said they would send to me a replacement light/s for the rear...

 

[TonyB66]

Work was somewhat slow in the afternoon, and I made some nice progress with the transmission cooler fan install. That part above that I fabricated in place (lower left of cooler).

Fan installed with two mount points, both on the left side.

Top left and bottom left secured.

One more anchor point, and decided to go with the bottom right.

Traced around the mount...

Removed material and made a 1/4" hole for a 6mm bolt.

Painted the exposed bare metal.

Reinstalled the fan and it's rock solid with those three attach points.

Next, the grill, and clearance. No problem, with over an inch to spare!

So, no cutting necessary to clear the fan. I figured that might be the case, but didn't realize it would clear so easily...

However, a bit of a problem here though where the bottom center of the grill was not inserting. This was just a dry fit (clips removed). Looks like the bolt head for that fan mount is problematic.

I then also noticed that the cooler's flange is blocking the opening of the hole on the center support. I had not re-installed the grill since installing the tranny cooler a year or so ago, so I never realized that would pose a problem until now.

The Dremel and files took care of that though.

And since that bolt head was hitting the grill, I did some slight cutting there too.

All is good with the grill now. Once the wiring is complete, I'll finally secure the grill...

The fan is super snug against the cooler.

As far as the wiring goes, it will be very easy. I'm going to ground it about a foot way, below the radiator. The hot will go to switch/wire D waiting under the carpet, driver side...

Under typical operation (fan off), I'm convinced that the addition of the fan will degrade the cooler's ability due to airflow obstruction (the fan). The center of the fan is over 4.5" in diameter, with no path for air to enter there. Given that average cruising temps had been like 140-160 90% of the time, I imagine this will not pose any problems. If I need to turn the fan on regularly, I will remove it. I doubt that will be the case though.

 

[TonyB66]

A bit of finishing work on the ham radio install, namely the antenna.

When reclined, the tip droops and would likely bang against the rack.

I had previously cut some scrap aluminum for other projects that was ultimately not used, and I saw an opportunity here.

Much better.

I notched the top and marked spots on the rack where the antenna traverses...

Not wanting metal on metal, I decided to use Plasti Dip. Promised the family we'd go to the park, and I brought some work with me. I applied several coats, 30 minutes apart while playing frisbee with the little ones.

Once home, in front of the fireplace.

Turned-out pretty nice and should serve the purpose well.

I'm learning/using a free ham radio software called CHIRP to program the radio with various frequencies. These will include simplex communications (radio to radio), repeaters, and receive only (local fire, police/sheriff, NOA and the like) frequencies. The first bank of 100 will be for the Bay Area. There are 1,000 memory slots or 10 banks of 100. Each bank will be dedicated to a geographical region. I envision one for Tahoe and one for LA, with the rest to be decided...

I'll finish-up the transmission cooler fan install soon, maybe next weekend. Committed to work on taxes starting this week... out:

 

[thezentree]

I'm learning/using a free ham radio software called CHIRP to program the radio with various frequencies. These will include simplex communications (radio to radio), repeaters, and receive only (local fire, police/sheriff, NOA and the like) frequencies. The first bank of 100 will be for the Bay Area. There are 1,000 memory slots or 10 banks of 100. Each bank will be dedicated to a geographical region. I envision one for Tahoe and one for LA, with the rest to be decided...

I'll finish-up the transmission cooler fan install soon, maybe next weekend. Committed to work on taxes starting this week... out:

I like CHIRP a lot. I've only used it for my baofengs but it has made programming those things super easy. I love that it links to regularly updated repeater databases.

 

[TonyB66]

I like CHIRP a lot. I've only used it for my baofengs but it has made programming those things super easy. I love that it links to regularly updated repeater databases.

Cool, another CHIRP fan. I first found CHIRP in 2017, back when I became a ham again. I was a Tech+ in high school, but let it lapse, I think while in grad school...

When I went to re-open CHIRP a couple weeks back if failed to do so. I later learned that there are issues with Mac OS Catalina. Probably because of it's 64 bit requirement, but not sure. There is now a non-legacy Mac OS version of CHIRP that so far seems to be working well.

I have four Kenwood HTs (TH-F6A), hoping each in the family will get licensed at some point (wishful thinking), and it's really neat that one can mirror all of the programming performed on one to the others! I will mirror the same to this mobile unit (Kenwood TM-V71A), but since the TH-F6A is a tri-band, I'll strip-out those frequencies, with everything else identical. I found the programming cable, and need to try soon...

Did a ten minute mod today - small convex blindspot mirrors. A good 3-5 minutes for proper cleaning...

Being that I have the side mirrors adjusted very well already, for blind spot elimination, I really want these to help me see the roof rack, ham antenna (up or down), sides and rear corners of the 4Runner. These spots seem to do the trick.

Along with the back-up camera, the additional front and rear lighting, I find myself very satisfied with the increased visibility, and that includes me being seen too.

 

[TonyB66]

The tranny cooler fan install is done. Completed the wiring today. I was able to tuck the hot lead under the stainless steel zip ties.

Ground is about a foot way.

I sheathed the switched power up to where it enters the interior. The rust on the brake booster is an eyesore...

The wire labeled D from the switch box was under the carpet on the driver side.

I flipped the D switch.

And the fan did its thing (tissue paper test).

I'm going to meet-up with Tim this Saturday to perform some testing of the fan...

With that done, wanting to program the ham radio with CHIRP, I need to connect it to my computer. Really happy where I installed the unit under the driver seat. Access to the back of the radio from behind the seat.

I was able to get my hand in there to make the connection.

There is sufficient cable length to sit on the front or rear seat during programming.

I'll likely just keep it connected, roll it up under the seat...

A decently productive day.

 

[TonyB66]

Hi-Lift Jack mount ideas

Not sure how it happened, but I began looking at locations to secure the Hi-Lift jack. I've seen some lock them down in this area.

I'm not so keen on the studs used though, those sticking up. I would likely use a 10mm rivnuts instead. Then I revisited this spot.

It wedges-in quite nicely behind the rear seats. I'm visualizing using the tie-downs, maybe something like a turnbuckle (tie-down to a jack hole)...

Thoughts? Might be something better than a turnbuckle...

 

[TonyB66]

While I found a way to secure the jack with hardware, namely a U-bolt through a couple jack holes, then to a turnbuckle to a tie-down, I decided to use the Nite Ize CamJam XT's again (showed them earlier).

Althuogh rated for up to 3/8", I find that doesn't work so well. I went with 5/16" again.

With the figure 8 loop knot I decided to ultimately use, I cut those too short at 2'. 3 feet is better, but I'd recommend 4...

It's held in place very well. I just ordered more 5/16" paracord and I'll make the pieces longer next time. The stuff has a tensile strength of 3,000 lbs...

Not wanting for the ends of the jack to ruin the carpets on the wheel wells, I made use of some thick foam pads I saved from some packaging.

The rest of the jack, like the foot, will be kept in the recovery bag which goes in the rear storage space I created. Speaking of which, I've been wanting to remove the rubber "tits" on the bottom of the mat where it covers sheet metal. These things...

Took like 20 minutes. All removed.

Before there was a big hump there. Much better now...

And I finally shortened those thumb screws that secure the sheet metal. They were over 1/2" too long. I can now remove and fasten all four much faster...

Nice little wins today on things that I had been wanting to do. Tim came by today to do some testing on the tranny cooler fan. He noticed this.

Drat. I'll likely tackle this install after the Tahoe trip....

Those are the four Cadillac horns in that photo. I'm now thinking of selling those. Never installed. Not seeing much space for those now with this bumper, the winch and various lights added...