'10 Tundra CrewMax

[Loubaru]

I have the same stereo but the lower level without apple car play, they are definitely reviewed well....same reason I bought mine because I don't know **** about car stereos. Its quite nice, I think you'll like it . I don't think there is enough room behind the seat for a sub on the G1 DC so looking at buying one of those under the seat self powered subs. Let us know how the sound denting works out.

 

[Redline]

You are a modifying machine!

 

[zidaro]

Just saw this build. Lawd jesus its purty! Dude nice job and love what you did with the truck. Best looking tundra I've seen in a while.

thx. I love my truck, and love messing with it.

You are a modifying machine!

it is seriously a sickness.

 

[zidaro]

some progress pics of my infirmary :drool:

JL Audio 5ch. 900W amp.
Image Dynamics 6.5 components in each door, electronic crossovers x4

decided to run all new wire for the doors, and everything else

pulled the grommets to run wire thru them. On the rear doors, this requires drilling thru the molex? panel on each B pillar.

molex behind the grommets on B-pillars. And positioning of the drill to avoid destroying your wiring and electric connections thru the door. TacoTunes.com has good write-ups and tube videos on doing this.
The A-pillars are simple grommets like other vehicles, simple to pull wire thru.

full commitment. drilled to www.tacotunes.com specs

and then i took it next level to pull a pair of 12G and a pair of 16G cables thru

pulled them with coat hangers. super pro!!

butyl tape between everything.

used taco tunes HDPE prefabbed mounts for the rear speakers, perfect fit and finish. Wont rot or distort with heat/moisture.
For the fronts i got a wild hair (and a cheap ***), and decided to cut my own out of a 1" sheet of HDPE. Wow, what a mess that makes.

not as clean, but fit everywhere perfect, same-same!

While i had the whole interior shredded. Under center console- thru some shim washers under my "whatever thats called" leveling sensor that causes the ABS to fire off around corners all the time. Supposedly shimming it to thinking it is still at that OEM rake might help?? we shall see.


Also replaced that crappy 12v acc. plug in center console rear with a dual 2.2V USB plug. And added a constant on 10G 20A 12V plug to rear wall to power my fridge ALL the time!

Baby Steps!!!!!!

then I went wheelin!

chewed on some frozen sticks, my Fav....

wired up a TON. No wonder this crap cost so much when you have someone else do it

A Super Blue Blood Moon Eclipse happened!
on my Birthday. I must be super special

more to come, Tons of wiring for lighting, compressor, etc.... cleaning up some rats nests and making that dash look NICE!

 

[zidaro]

Better update this! Don't want everyone on the edge of their seats for too long :********:

Stereo, wiring upgrade, fuse panel, switches--- all in. And ........ it all works and sounds amazing!! Quite proud of myself. Never considered myself skilled at wiring and this was quite the project. Anyhow, done with that for now!!

So. I moved onto the next lil project!
Onboard AIR!!!!

Originally i thought, because of my airbag system, that i wanted a full air tank and compressor mounted under the bed- able to auto-fill bags, hoses running everywhere, etc.... Viair style. Too complicated and too many places to develop small leaks. All i need is to be able to plug in an airline to fill tires or blow air into something, and to run my ARB. It needs to be protected from the enviro./elements and not be in the way.

So, naturally i chose the engine bay and the ARB Twin. Ever looked under the hood of a 5.7L Tundra? Not much space. Really only 1 obvious spot above the brake master and fuse box- I already filled that spot with a big fuse panel.
Other possible spot is in front of the airbox besides the washer bottle. Well, i already added a small obstruction there too, my Secondary AIB breathers. so this was not going to be so easy. I saw me eating up LOTS of free time test fitting over and over to shoehorn this ARB compressor in.

LUCKILY! Someone has already done all the homework and built a mount to fit an ARB under the hood- JUST for our Tundras!!!! My Savior XFAKTR Fab https://xfaktr.com So i bought one!

It is a solid piece of machined steel. Premise is it relocates the PS reservoir and slips the Compressor vertically beside the washer bottle in a very tight spot!
Now- I happen to NOT have a stock truck- Surprise!! So, the aFe CAI box happens to be larger than the OEM box. The mount would have slipped right into place easily and simply if not for my mods. Their directions/phots make it an easy follow.
For me, the front of the mount overlapped by 1.5" into the outer corner of my airbox. This was a problem, but i resolved it without qualm. Break out that heat gun and a spatula!!

Formed it till the mount and compressor dropped in without issue or rubbing. All Good! No effect on the airbox, aside for some cosmetic

TIGHT!!!!!!

Wired into my OBA switches, compressor and Locker finally a complete system! no more hoopty.
Simple plumbing so far. The VIAIR manifold that i had mounted right up to the XFAKTR ARB manifold tab they have. NICE!! then i used an "inline pressure regulator" set at 100psi to limit the air into the ARB Locker solenoid, other line just goes to an adjustable regulator with gauge and has an airline connection. Later i will run a line to the rear bumper to make it easier to fill the airbags and have air at the rear.

So far so good! One more off the list

 

[zidaro]

bumper time!
clean front to start

tough decisions

 

[Adventurous]

Building your own this go around?

 

[mtnkid85]

Planning on provisions for a winch up front?

 

[zidaro]

Building your own this go around?

Planning on provisions for a winch up front?

Yes and YES!!

 

[zidaro]

So.
I had an Expedition 1 plate front bumper. Awesome design, looked great, protected great. Heavy as hell and larger profile than i was looking for.
Didn't fit body lines (fenders wider than the bumper) and front tires rubbed the back edge when fully compressed- with the new glass and long travel. Made that decision easy- sold it.

Gonna make my own.
Went the cheater route- AKA its way nicer than i could have done, and bought a set of front bumper horns from Anthony at DTF. Desert Toy Fabrications outta SLO.
Super beefy, great starting platform. They came with bolt on tabs for the OEM Tundra bumper horn. I had mine made for 2" tube, 14" out and 17"up from base.


bolt on or weld on? that was the question. WAY back, when i first got the Exp.1 bumper and it was a new product (ill suggest even maybe "untested") I slapped my winch in and actually went out and used it- tore the bumper off at the frame horns! not cool toyota- i assume it was a design to allow a crumple zone for accident protection (of the other peeps). I did full repair, rewelded the bumper mount plates onto the framerails. All good, but....
One vote against bolt on, for a secure sturdy winch platform.
Weld on would be BOMBER! And might stiffen that frame up even a little more.
Bolt on would be nice, JIC i ever needed to EASILY remove it.

So i did this- to make my decision easier.

 

[zidaro]

DTF DIY bumperhorns! tons of info on him at https://www.tacomaworld.com/forums/dezert-toy-fabrication.154/

these are actually a set i also bought from Anthony to be used for my 4th gen T4R bumper. Tundra set is nearly identical

 

[zidaro]

Yesterdays progress--

Once i cleaned up the frame ends and had the front crossmember cut out-
had a piece of angle 4" x .25 thick, cut and fit it to cap and wrap the frame end.
cut a crossmember from 2.5"x .25wall receiver tubing. Should be burly enough to represent the front of a truck.
Leveled and trued the angle on the frame as best i could, tacked it on then welded the crossmember on.

Added the bumper horns in the same manner, setting the height so the top tube will ride ~ 3/4-1" below the fender line.
here we are:

now im trying to decide how to set the winch plate! using a Trail Gear plate (i know, don't say it- I HATE TG!!) that has a receiver built in already.

time to get outside, now that temps are above freezing!! and get some **** done!!!!!!

 

[bkg]

now im trying to decide how to set the winch plate! using a Trail Gear plate (i know, don't say it- I HATE TG!!) that has a receiver built in already.

time to get outside, now that temps are above freezing!! and get some **** done!!!!!!

not that my opinion matters... I'd move the winch mount up a bit... and maybe back... if you can. Looking at the "angled" lines of the bumper mounts and those of the winch mount... that's the only reason for the suggestions.

 

[zidaro]

not that my opinion matters... I'd move the winch mount up a bit... and maybe back... if you can. Looking at the "angled" lines of the bumper mounts and those of the winch mount... that's the only reason for the suggestions.

Haha, opinions ALWAYS matter! Esp. webpinions you must have knowledge if your trolling online. :drool:
JK, thanks for the ideas. I took it with me into the garage. I know what yer saying, about keeping the lines right. That is important, i do want their to look good. But, trying to keep the line of pull low is most important. I don't want to create a huge leverage off the front frame with with the winch too high.

 

[zidaro]

so couple days have passed, I've been banging out some progress.

Wanted my frame WAY stronger up front, and for the bumper to be attached behind all he crumple zone OEM Toyota designed for crash safety. Want to be able to depend on the bumper, and use the winch without pulling the bumper off the truck.
One of the biggest reasons i wanted to build my own bumper, and why i decided to have a weld on style as opposed to bolt-on.

made templates for front frame plating outta those sweet cheap cutting boards.

plasma'd them out! that is one cool tool. im no pro at it so still require cleanup from slag

Im also tying it into the engine crossmember, again for strength, and added leverage/dissipation of force across more truck. Idea is to have support bars tie into here from the bottom of bumper.
On the Tundra- As i am finding, Its almost impossible to add structure support on top of the bumper unless you have a full engine cage to tie into. Would love to see/hear ideas on this. I am considering adding an over-the engine bar for coiler support, and may tie into that at some later date.

Mounted the winch plate and started gusseting and planning out the rest of the tube supports for reinforcement.
got to use more cool tools.
bandsaw with the SwagOffroad table conversion! Coolest tool ever!

RogueOffroadFab tubing notcher! very cool and super easy to setup complicated notches. If you know how to measure

What it may look like if you DO NOT know how to measure, but are still completely OCD!!!

Have owned a Pro-Tools 105 bender for quite a few years. Hardly EVER have used it. so i, of course, took a 20 min. crash course online to figure out how to bend, and set up, my bender and top tube!! Oh-boy, was that stressful and time consuming (really only took a couple hours to get it right) but i assume a pro could do this in their sleep, i know i lost some sleep over 4 bends.
Came out surprisingly ALMOST perfect! Holy crap!!!!

Tie-in

Light bar and top tube. set it back instead of vertical cuz i like that look, somewhat different. Protects the bar well and keeps light from being "in front" of the bumper.

refit the winch and confirmed all other complicated fitment issues, like PS cooler. Now its back off and getting final burn in and some paint as of right now! Dang theres a lot of seams to burn-in!

Still have a lot to do before it is "done" --whew!!