Doc's Daily: a '96 T100.

Doc_

Sammich!
I spent some time dialing this in with the extra lights, the new signals and accessories. I've hard-wired in an inverter for charging tools and laptops.

I also threw together a small sleeping platform to support an air mattress.
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This reminded me of why I hate air mattresses.

Finally sealed up the camper shell, replaced the butsed camper locks and got ready for a winter Tahoe excursion, until...
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Some jagoff reversed into me in the dark of the night and didn't leave a note.
jagoff.
 

Doc_

Sammich!
Thanks! I love this truck, it really is a childhood dream come true to own it.
I must say, the bike you've listed in your signature sounds pretty kickass! Do you have a thread for it?
 

Doc_

Sammich!
I ended up just kind of kerjiggering the front end of my truck back together and trimming the front bumper with my Sawz-All since it had been pushed all the way into the tire. It was enough to not cancel our winter Tahoe trip. It did not go smoothly, but it was a worthwhile trip, nonetheless. We got stuck in the snow in the dark of the night our first night, and the window on the camper shell busted the second day in. I'd still do it again.

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Doc_

Sammich!
Got back into town and met with the insurance guy, who cut me a generous check for my troubles, and began planning the next phase of this truck.
The fender and grille were replaced with cheapie LKQ parts that I'll paint and install myself this spring. I've sourced a black grille rather than chrome because I'm not a chrome guy.
The majority of my insurance check went to a bumper kit from North West Trail Innovations' T100 kit bumper. It's a DIY weld-it-yourself type bumper that my cousin, who is a metal fabricator, is interested in helping me put together. This is the option package I chose:
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Picture is from their website, my bumper is yet unassembled.

I also scooped up a set of CBI Offroad Fab's Ditch Light Brackets for a Taco and mounted them up. They weren't a perfect fit for a T100 (go figure) I had to trim down the sides and notch one bolt hole to fit around a screw head, but it was as seamless as installing a part for a model of a truck that isn't yours could be.
Added a set of high-intensity spot lights to the mix, and began the trail light package I've always dreamed of.

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I love seeing that lamp in the corner when I drive.

I wanted the install to be a pro job, so I sourced a three-gang rocker switch bezel from McMaster-Carr and a set of Daystar switches to match.
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The toggle and lamp are my clutch safety switch override. The lamp illuminates when you crank with the circuit open. Pretty handy.
I just carefully cut into the lower dash with a dremel, trimming the steel with my death wheel.

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Looking like a professional job.

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Installed!

My trail lights package plan will use the other two switches, one will be a set of flood lights, possibly set in the door mirrors, for lighting up the way around me, and the other will be high-intensity highly-focused spots on the tip of the new bumper for distance.
 

Doc_

Sammich!
This is from a fun little trip up past Eureka, up the Bigfoot Scenic Highway, over some dirt roads out to Fern Canyon.
In spite of the massive fires menacing us the first night, this remains probably the standout trip of this past summer:

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Doc_

Sammich!
Swung by the Eel river on the way back:
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Racing back to Booneville to hit the Brewery before the tap room closed, missed it by five minutes!
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Doc_

Sammich!
One of the most touching stories of 2017; my Special Lady Friend and I were cruising out along the coast. On out way inland, we found a newborn fawn scrambling along the roadside. We scooped her up and stayed with her until a local Fawn Rescue could meet us and take her from us.

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Doc_

Sammich!
Not entirely vehicle-dependent, but a few choice shots from our rainy weather backpacking trip at Point Reyes last spring:

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Fresh Miner's Lettuce salad.

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Peanut Noodles

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Doc_

Sammich!
Flights at South Lake Tahoe Brewing
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Stone pizza slice on Snow Mountain.
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I don't know what it is about backpacking, but the moment I'm out there all I want is pizza.
 

Doc_

Sammich!
FJ62-style Door Mirror with Signal Lamp Conversion Mod: Part 1

To preface this brief technical bit, my first Toyota Pickup was an 83 4wd pickup that I modded pretty heavily in my own way. One of my favorite mods was the power mirrors off an FJ62; the mirrors were tall and wide with great visibility, and they gave the truck a more square-shouldered look. Since buying Ventre I've wanted to do a similar mod. I also like having redundancy when it comes to signals and markers, so I figured, why not do both?

Step one was sourcing some repro 62 mirrors.
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These were $100 from Cool Cruisers of Texas.
My initial plan had been to remove the nuts from the bottoms of these, remove the nuts from the bottoms of my factory mirrors and Ta-dah! Mirror conversion! Unfortunately, that turned out to not be possible. These mirrors don't articulate in an orbital fashion like most mirrors, they move linearally from side-to-side, with the mirror panes themselves orbiting on a ball joint. There are no nuts or threads on these 62 mirrors, just a shaft, a spring, and a star clamp. Some mild kerjiggering is required.

Step 1: Cut the press-on star clamp off the main shaft and release the spring.
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Step 2 unpack the spring, remove the riser and remove the three tech screws holding the baseplate and shaft onto the housing.
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Step three, drive the shaft out of the baseplate with Linemans Pliers. Totally Disassembled:
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The plan for reassembly is to replace the shaft with an anchor bolt and apply tension to the spring as installed with a nylock nut and washer. It's inexpensive and allows me to dial in the tension as needed. That happens later.

My next step was to gently detach the mirror pane from the ball mount in the housing:
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For the signals, I sourced some small marker LEDs from SuperBrightLEDS at $5.00 each.
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Drill a Hole:
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Test Fit:
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Plan your wire routing:
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This is as far as I can go for this evening. This weekend, my plan is to fog these mirror housings semi-gloss black and finish the wiring. If everything works out, I should have these installed next week sometime.
More soon.
 

Doc_

Sammich!
I've always wanted to replace the chrome grille with a black one, and thanks to the jerk who backed into my truck it's becoming a reality.

This is the cheap LKQ replacement getting sanded down:
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First coat:
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Mocking up lights and new kickass CNC cut old-school Toyota emblem;
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I picked up a piece of scrap abs plastic for $1.09 that I cut down into a solid boss for the emblem:
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Boss installed:
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Installed and wired in:
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Doc_

Sammich!
Part 2 of the mirror swap.

Sanding and prepping for paint:
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Fresh semi-gloss paint;
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My first coat turned out great, but the next round shrank instantly, so I had to wet sand it down and start over. The finished product is far from perfect, but I'm happy with them.

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Routing wiring:

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Reassembled:
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Installed:

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Markers:

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Signals:
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