Expedition-ifying a 2000 Tundra

[devinsixtyseven]

Since it's only about 4 1/2 weeks to the trip and I obviously still have a bed, a couple things are winging this way to make packing easier.

For the spare tire--it rides low in the bed--four toggle anchors. With a couple 'biners and a ratchet strap, the tire will safely stay put.

For coolers, the toolbox and the small recovery ladders, some light duty toggle anchors.

I'll be able to reuse these later.

Also got a pair of 2.5g Dromedary bags. There is a recess to the seat backs, I'm going to try and sling them low and slightly inside the seat backs. We used one of the bags last weekend, they work great.

Quick Fists are on the way as well, should arrive today! Also got a backup regulator for the CO2 tank (many thanks to Brian at Ultimate Air). Side project is plumb a fixed 150# (or so) regulator to the 12oz CO2 bottles as a backup/emergency compressed gas source.

Last weekend I found that 35s on 4.5"bs rub the side of the bed, inside the stock wheel well at full twist...the cage plan continues.

Next: All this stuff goes on the truck, along with another can of Herculiner.

 

[ChuckB]

I just saw this thread today... and I was just thinking to myself yesterday it would be pretty cool to set-up a Tundra. I can't wait to see how it goes. Good Luck!!

 

[devinsixtyseven]

Sigh...soooooo bored at work. Nothing like babysitting a long code run and poking at the code to make it run faster.

In the mean time, like those of you who sketch in the terminal or poke at your laptop in the hotel, writing down all your mod ideas, I'm writing down a couple more here .

The battery box is something I can do now, even though I still have a stock bed. With a deckplate and some dzus fasteners, along with a dimple die, I can make a flush-mounted deckplate over the battery box and continue to use the stock bed. I also suspect I could make small plates located over the new locations of the upper shock mount bolts...those things are always so !@#$ hard to reach.

As for the tiedowns, they are recessed, and I thought about shaping small holes in the bed with a reinforcement plate on the backside...but that's overly complicated. It would be much easier to just make a cutout from some 1/8" (or so) polycarb (which I picked up yesterday) and make a spacer between the rim of the tiedown and the bed.

Thinking back to water storage, there's a lot of room under the captain's chairs. I'm not sure how much room yet, but I think a clever guy could put a couple gallons under each seat. The CG of the setup would be lower than if they rode in the bed.

The carpet needs to come out. Anyone know someone with a Tundra who needs to replace their carpet? Maybe I'll keep it for another project. The carpet, and those goofy hanging flaps of foam behind the rear seat, will disappear and be replaced with several coats of Herculiner. Eventually I'll take care of the sill plates for a completely grunge-resistant floor. I think the result will be a little noisier, and more influenced by outside temperature and the temperature of the space between the cab and the belly skid, but I'm ok with that.

On the subject of temperature in the powertrain, a few holes in the belly skid will lighten the load and allow the space to breathe. JDM dimple dies aren't cheap, but will dimple 3/16" plate.

The carnage and chaos begins Monday.

 

[devinsixtyseven]

Chaos in the garage!

The carpet is 3/4ths of the way out. There is an incredible amount of red dust around the rear cab vents, I'm adding a small filter--even if it's just a piece of thick gauze--to the vents. Yuck.

I'm amazed at how many of the bolts for things in the cab penetrate to the outside of the cab. Perhaps it's just surprise that the cab is so thin, or that some of these things would be bolted to such a small section of sheetmetal, or that such small attachment points hold up in a crash (Tundras' crash resistance is well documented). Several of the seat, seatbelt, and rear seat lower frame bolts go right through the cab. They'll get a good cleaning, Green Grease and loctite before they're reinstalled.

The deck of the cab is a good eight inches below the level of the bed. There is also a generous amount of room under the seat, extending behind the seat to the bump over the exhaust and fuel tank areas underneath...enough room to easily stash five gallons on the passenger side, not sure of the available space on the driver side but it's a lot. Not only does water storage in this area keep the center of gravity over half a foot lower than water stored upright in the bed, it frees up a huge amount of space in the bed by using otherwise blank space in the cab--space that would be poorly used for tools as it's hard to reach.

Without the back seat in place, the cab of a Tundra is cavernous. With potentially fifteen gallons of water stored in and around the cab (between the sliders and the body there's ~2.5gal space each side), vehicle dynamics will be much more stable. Because of the location of the fuel tank, there's less space on the floor of the cab on the driver side, however I think with two equal sized water tanks, the additional space on the passenger side would be a good place for small hand tools--things like tire deflators, screwdrivers, pressure guages, tire chuck, blast nozzle, and other small bits that normally live in the center console. In addition, the drivetrain will keep the water in that location warm--thawed in winter and shower warm in summer.

Tundra seats are a little different than Tacoma seats. I haven't quite decided how to mount flashlights...they may mount to the tub. The orientation of the seatbelt mount and the lack of plastic area on the outside of the seat would lead to interference between the light and the seatbelt tensioner pod--no bueno.

There are several very beefy attachment points in the back of the cab, not associated with the back seat. Not sure what I'll use them for, yet, but they'll come in handy I'm sure. Simple use would be to hang a mesh bag for dirty clothing, better use would be lashing down a storage container...not a cooler, this area gets too much heat from the drivetrain with a belly skid (I need to get some dimple dies for the belly skid). It's a good area to lash down backpacks, drybags and other things that probably shouldn't ride in the elements. Eventually, there will be a fridge there, but not for a while.

Also, the rear axle is finished :jump:. I get to pick it up (and the deflator tool and the exhaust jack!) next week, when the truck is back in one piece .

I haven't even started on the bed yet...

 

[ChuckB]

We NEED picts!!!! :chowtime:

 

[RoundOut]

We NEED picts!!!! :chowtime:

:iagree:

 

[devinsixtyseven]

My roommate has the only digital in the house, and since's hes gone for two weeks, I get the garage to myself.

Of course, he has the camera . Katie might be able to check one out from school...

The rear seat of an Access Cab Tundra weighs fifty pounds. The carpet weighs twenty pounds.

A can of Herculiner weighs two pounds.

Between the fiberglass fenders and bedsides, integrated low-profile rear bumper and receiver, "carpet mod" and removal of the rear seat, the truck is probably a good 150#+ lighter. 150# is a lot of steak and beer.

It's really easy to take everything out...even the seatbelts, tho the pretensioners on the front belts have me a little psyched out, I'm not going to detach them from the belts, just pop the wires loose to the assembly and support them somewhere. The rears don't have pretensioners wired to the accelerometers, so they're already out. The floor of the cab is bare metal, all I need to do is pop the wires loose, support/cover them, then clean everything and I can paint it up...should be able to start tomorrow. There is some garbagey tape running along under the back window, it's not attached to anything, nor does it appear to serve any purpose at all. Also, the black electrical tape wrapped around most of the wiring is a little tangled in places and hanging loose here and there.

The main wiring harness leading from the dash to the drivetrain electronics is under the driver's seat and passes through a huge rubber grommet in the floor. Also, there are two power leads...one under each seat, neither is being used since I have manual seats. Haven't decided how to use these yet (or even at what point they're hot), but I'm sure they'll come in handy later. In addition, the rubber grommet on the driver side is probably the same size as the plastic cover filling the hole on the passenger side. Either side would make a good location to run lines for rock lights, since the lines can follow existing wiring channels under the door sill trim.

The weight I'm removing will go back in eventually as water--ten gallons is about 80#, and it should fit just above floor level in the cab, with the CG 2-4" off the deck vs roughly a foot (or more) higher if it's riding in the bed in 5gal containers (tho I will still carry a Scepter can JIC, so I can use a grav filter setup like the Badgers--see their pics). In addition, I think another 2-3 gallons will fit in the space between the sliders, body and frame, and access could be routed through the grommets on either side of the front seats. Combined with the two Drom bags (haven't looked yet at the backs of the seats, been busy with the carpet ), that's 20gal water in dedicated onboard storage, with a spare 5gal Scepter to be filled with filtered water if desired. With a Katadyne grav setup I think that'll be plenty! And NONE of it will have to go in the bed or on the roof .

More tomorrow, hopefully pics at some point before it's covered in Herculiner .

I'm hoping if I can get this done at the rate I think is possible (liner done by Friday), I can pop the bed off and have a proper look around under there...plus mount all the goodies from Polyperformance and the Fire Store .

Also I was incorrect before in my estimation of whether or not a 4D Maglite will fit against the captain's chairs...it'll work fine.

 

[devinsixtyseven]

Katie just told me I have to keep this short because it's late and there are only so many ways to say "I put a whole lotta pieces of tape in the truck."

The cab is stripped bare except for the dash and the upper A-pillar trim.

The vents at the back of the cab can't be removed except by taking the bed off, but the clips can be pushed in so they're loose, enough that they won't get sealed in place by the Herculiner.

With the under-seat metal box structure removed, the passenger side near the rear (the front of the rear bench) is very weak and deforms easily. Be careful sitting/standing/etc on this spot...it needs some sort of structural support or something bridging/covering it that can be stepped on...like a baffled stainless steel water tank.

The spot welds in the stock jack location are kind of a pain, and it was a little sketchy running the grinder in the cab even though it's completely bare. Removing the metal flanges resulted in two small holes in the sheetmetal...not like there aren't more, but it's two I didn't intend to make. A spot weld drill would be better but I don't have one. Herculiner is fortunately a gap-filling material, and there are various grommets that can fill the holes if they remain after lining.

The OEM lining (it's painted over, three sections each side on the floor and two in the center, looks like Dynamat or similar but thin) comes out very, very easily. It doesn't appear to stick well to concave surfaces--the sections over the rear seat hump came out in one piece. The flat sections under the seats adhere better, tho I removed them as well as the area is fairly corrugated. The sections in the footwells remain as they are well perforated and more or less flat...I'm not worrying about the concave surface at the front of the tub.

The big rubber grommet in the previous post...in the footwell on each side there is an identical hole. Behind the grommet there is another hole. On the passenger side, there are another couple holes the same size. Two of the holes drop directly in to a crossmember, haven't looked to see which one, but the exit from the holes is protected by the inside of the crossmember (it's U-shaped). On the rear surface of the cab, there is a smaller--maybe 1.5" dia--hole with a rubber cover inserted from outside the cab on each side low to the floor and near the rear doors.

The front seat belts are held to a bracket by a single bolt. Once the bolt is out, the belt is still attached by the pretensioner wiring, tho the bracket can be removed by pulling the two bolts at the bottom. The wiring can be removed from the plastic guide without pulling any tabs or tape. The seat belt pretensioner wiring is easily removed by rotating a small clip gently downward, then gently pulling directly outward on the yellow wire tab. I actually used a very small screwdriver to slowly move the tab out until it moved freely and could be separated by hand.

The rear door wiring separates at a connection just inside the wall of the cab from where the wire loom runs between the door and the cab. I used the screwdriver trick again to separate the connectors, pulled every tiedown loop, bracket, clip, etc., and hung/set/zip tied it all to the dash/roof/handles/steering column.

The door trim is easy to remove. Start at the rear corner and pull up from the bottom of the trim (not the soft top section). I went almost to the upper rear corner, and to the bottom of the upper A-piller trim. This gives enough length it can be tossed over the roof and the two sides clipped together and out of the way.

There is a single large bolt in the center of the rear cab panel. I don't know what it goes to, it's still in place since I didn't want to hear a "clunk" between the cab and the bed and not know what came loose. It might just be a blank bolt.

The bolt holes all have a cone of tape pressed in to place inside them. I wish I had a camera handy, it looks like the cab is sprouting little blue flowers (blue masking tape)...there are a couple dozen holes, at least, not even counting the larger grommet/plug holes which are also taped off.

Painting starts tomorrow. FWIW it's possible to reach across the centerline of the cab with the brush, so no monkeying around trying to reach the middle when it's still tacky.

-Sean

 

[ArchaeoTaco]

Can't wait to see your rig, Sean. It sounds like a huge project, and I have to admit that I don't fully know what's going on, but it'll all make sense when I see it.

Good luck!

 

[devinsixtyseven]

Didn't get anything done last night except the last bit of taping, and then the rear axle arrived and I spent the rest of the evening drooling over new toys.

This axle is just massive. Other than providing "outlast the truck" capability for a 3T vehicle with a V8 and large tires, it doesn't have much to write about expedition-wise, except that it pretty well breaks the curve for reliability and capability, and will help balance out the weak front end. Can't wait until I get the front axle to match! tho it will be quite a while.

The Nupla D-handle shovel and two dozen Quick Fists also arrived yesterday. Once the cab is lined, I'll install all the little toys ...driver/passenger D-cell maglights, Hilift, shovel, CO2 tank...plus tire and cooler tiedowns.

Along with the axle came an ARB deflator. This is the kind (same as the Currie unit) that pulls and retains the valve core, with the guage for checking pressure. The instructions are very, very Australian .

The goodies also included a Bushranger X-jack. It actually looks tall enough to lift the truck off the ground, which is unusual . I'll be playing with this and the deflator before the trip in March, just to make sure I don't bugger anything up..."Buggah!".

The mini ARB compressor looks like a great little unit. It's about fist sized, just tiny, looks like it'll fit anywhere. It's only meant to run the lockers, nothing else. The CO2 tank provides more efficient liquid storage, and while I'll eventually plumb the system to use CO2 or air for the lockers (actually I'd like to be able to run the lockers from a 12oz CO2 bottle if necessary), I think completely separate systems will work fine for now. BillaVista has an excellent writeup at the PBB on this compressor and his full pneumatic setup...he has some great suggestions I'll probably follow. The best part is all the pictures of the abused compressors, still fully functional, and the video of the one running completely submerged.

Sorry, still no "in-progress" pics...but I will get some pics when it's all in place . Lining the cab tonight...it's all ready for painting . If any of you Denver guys want to drop in this weekend, I still have a couple glasses' worth of Moab beer left ...if I don't drink it tonight :beer:

That reminds me I still need to get a 5gal Scepter H2O can...

 

[Pskhaat]

Dude, I'm so confused with all your mods, you have to post pics. How did I miss your rig at the DEN HH? No more excuses, post some pics of this thing...

 

[devinsixtyseven]

We drove Katie's car .

Got the QFs (Quick Fists) attached to the Tundra seats. The plastic sides of the seats are easy to remove, all that holds them in place is two small phillips head screws and the seat release lever; there's a clip on the back of the lever that's easy to reach with a flathead screwdriver when the lever is pulled up.

The plastic sides have a strengthening moulding on the back, with some circular hollow sections in there. They're larger than 5/32nds by a bit, and drilled out were a great place to put the 10/32-18 allen bolts I used to mount the QFs. With a nylock nut on the back and the rubber compressed a bit, they're not coming loose, and the nuts clear the adjusting rails. I used the second hole back from the front, and the first hole to the front of the pair that's side by side...it makes more sense when you're looking at the plastic piece.

I also found the seatbelt sensors were unplugged. Not sure why the P/O did that, not that it's of concern to me as I'm always belted in the truck. FWIW the Wet Okole seat covers are easier to deal with when the seats are out and the seat bottom is removed...it's just four bolts and the seatbelt sensor wire needs to be unhooked from the seat bottom, just another wire loom clip thinger that's easy to release with a screwdriver. It was FILTHY in there...

The 38" D-handle shovel fits great above the left wheel well (in the bed, not outside the bed), below the bed rail, sort of tucked inside everything. It clears jerrycans stored in the corner, and it fits better if the shovel is pointing backwards and facing the bedside.

I was going to mount the Hilift to the bedside, but decided against it. It's heavy, I don't have a structural bedside anymore, it would fit best on the left side anyway due to the orientation of the nose and moving parts and making the foot face the cab rather than the tip of the rail, and it would take a bit of a standoff from the bedside to clear the foot. The Hilift is going to ride where it usually does, between the tailgate and the recovery ladders, this time strapped to the ladders...they are strapped to the bed and the tailgate is locked.

With three jerrycans in each of the front corners, there's room for the CO2 tank front and center, tho the lip of the front bedrail means I'll need to put something in there as a standoff...piece of wood or something.

I'm thinking one cooler (the "standard" one) in the back seat, strapped down, and one cooler (the "marine" version, all white) strapped in the bed.

I also took off the CanBack (we're taking the tent)...that's 80#...and took out the bed mat...that's about 20#.

I think between the additional trail armor and all the weight reduction, the truck should be close to the same starting weight as the last trip (added ~330# of trail armor, removed ~250# of dead weight), but the weight is biased more toward functionality and the load will be organized better...30gal fuel in the front corners of the bed, spare tire forward or centered over the axle, one cooler in the cab and another at the end of the bed, recovery ladders and Hilift at the tailgate, 5gal (at least) H2O in the cab (haven't got to taking apart the seats yet ). The weight is also lower on the truck than last time, by a good three feet--the sliders and belly skid are not far above the hubs.

I plan on Herculining the outside edges and faces of the recovery ladders as well, it will protect the fiberglass. They're looking a bit thrashed.

The cab is coming along well. It's better to just get the gallon of liner from the start, it'll probably go four thin coats.

I think the new rear axle weighs about 350#. Not sure offhand what the stock axle weighs.

 

[jim65wagon]

OK if anyone has a small digital camera they're not using, please, please, please send it to Sean. We really need pics and he is spending all his cash on mods and cannot afford to buy one for himself!:hehe: At least his truck sounds like it looks cool.

 

[BajaTaco]

OK if anyone has a small digital camera they're not using, please, please, please send it to Sean...

LOL!

:lurk:

 

[devinsixtyseven]

Got the shovel mounted...though it would benefit from a small spacer between the QF and the bedside...I'll just use a piece of wood. Finished the second coat of liner in the cab, it's looking good.

----

Hilift rebuild, no manual necessary:

Unbolt the flat at the top of the rail. Pull the cotter pin at the foot. Pull the cotter pin at the bottom of the handle. Hit the reverse lever and slide the climbing assembly off.

Pull all the bolts out, remove the handle, reverse lever, the connector between the two climbing assemblies, and the slug inside the upper half of the connector attaching it to the upper climbing assembly. Separate the lower half of the climbing assembly from the upper, it's very easy, just kinda falls right out.

Use a pair of needlenose pliers to compress and remove (not twist or deform) the large vertical spring in the upper climbing assembly. Then take the small stemmed cage and rotate about 270 degrees and slide it out the bottom, then back up again...kinda like those bar puzzles with all the metal rings and whatnot. Makes more sense looking at it, basically the angled flanges need to clear the retaining crossbar on the climbing pin. It just slides right out once it's rotated the correct way.

That's it. Nothing else to it...replace rusty bolts with the same thread and grade (mine were all fine), hit rusty parts with some Rustoleum "Rust Reformer" from a rattlecan, lubricate, reassembly, test. No more rust, and it works great . Total time maybe an hour, including washing everything off, but not including time to let the paint dry.

I like Herculiner. I think I'll add a couple coats to the business end of the handle. BTW the inside of my handle appeared never to have been painted...shot some Rust Reformer down there too.

----

"Expedition seats":

The idea of putting the Dromedary bags in the cavity in the Tundra seatbacks works great. To get to the necessary bits, pull the seat out of the truck, turn it over, and look for two wires at the bottom of the seat back holding the front and back of the seat cover material together through three small wire loops. Bend one end of both straight (they are U-bent at the ends) and remove. Now look in side the seat back. Plenty of wires to attach things! The Drom bags have six attachment points, one at the top and bottom, and two each side. The top of the seatback is padded. Right at the bottom of this padding is where the first wire is. I made a small cut through the foam and the seat back covering, and attached a small carabiner that pokes through the seatback. The next point down is actually the first U-pattern spring, I attached carabiners through small cuts in the seatback fabric again, one U in from the edge to stay away from the sharp parts. There are a couple points below on the edges which look good, I used the lower section of the flat section of metal at the bottom of the seatback, but need to examine the other spots with a full Drom bag. The lowest grommet on the Drom bag attaches to a carabiner linked by a keyring to the center ring from those two wires holding the front and back of the seat cover together. With some sewing skill, a competent sort of person could make the cuts for the carabiners look like they were meant to be there. Since I have seat covers, I don't care about making cuts in the back of the seat fabric, and the fabric protects the Drom bag from abrading against the springs in the frame of the seat.

In order to easily get the bag on and off, I put keyrings through each grommet on the Drom bag, then the keyrings hook to the carabiners. The Wet Okole seat covers go over the whole thing to protect the Drom bags from sharp or abrasive gear. I intend to refill the Drom bags in place, gravity feed, through the on/off nozzles.

The flashlight mounts seem pretty sturdy . Now all I need is to attach a hose and a magnetic mount nipple to the Drom bags.

-Sean