My taco is getting ready

[vanguard]

Just about every weekend I've been doing a little work on my truck. Over two weekends I installed my ARB compressor and switches, another weekend I beefed up my homemade sliders, another weekend I did maintenance, another I installed a hitch, etc.

Well this weekend was a big one for me. I had some friends over and we made it a wrenching party.

Friday
1) Took off front springs and had them compressed.
2) Took apart heater blower to solve the "tap, tap, tap" that was driving me nuts.
3) Played with the ARB switch lights to get the dimmer to work properly. (This was the weekend's only failure. When I attach to a dimmer I get the opposite of what I want. Interior on makes ARB lights dim. Interior off brings ARB to full brightness.)
(We actually stopped early so that we didn't take the fun away from the official wrenching day)

Saturday
1) Put front springs back on.
2) Pinch weld mod.
3) Took off rear springs.
4) Took off rear shocks.
5) Installed new exaust hanger.
6) Put on new rear spings.
7) Put on new rear shocks.
8 ) Welded supports to beef of stock skidplate mounts. (It's broke for Mark and for somebody on the web.)
9) Installed budbuilt crossmember for bellypan support.
10) Installed bellypan.
11) Installed skidplate.
12) Celebrate!!!

You can see pictures from this weekend here: http://www.ncttora.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=439. I'm especially happy with the skid plates.

I'm the guy with the blue sweatshirt (most of the time),tan pants, and short brown hair. Later this month I'm getting 255/85/16 BFG MTs installed (yes, I'm a copycat) and I'm having the gears/lockers put in.

 

[flyingwil]

Looking Nice! I just looked at the pics, and skiped the reading. Looks like a nice BudBuilt skidplate.

What are you going to use to cover the quick connect on the ARB under your hood?

 

[DaktariEd]

I love the backyard "Jeep" playhouse (?) !
Did you plan/design that yourself?
What a great toy for the kids!

Too bad my girls are 20+ now. I'd love to make something like that for them.
(Maybe for the grandkids...)

Ed

 

[vanguard]

I hadn't even thought about covering up the quick connect. I'll have to figure something out that fits under the hood. I think space is tight but I haven't measured it.

As for the wooden jeep, that's actually in my next door neighbor's house. It doesn't look like it could do very well on the trail but I guess I just don't understand jeep things. :shakin:

 

[edgear]

Later this month I'm getting 255/85/16 BFG MTs installed

I drove around for a few weeks after getting those exact tires, before trimming the fender flares / wheel wells. I finally got around to it yesterday, and it's made a huge difference. Cutting the plastic is fairly easy. The scariest part is taking a hammer to the pinch-welds

Expeditions West provided some good photos & instructions for this:
http://www.expeditionswest.com/equipment/tacoma/bfg_mt_km.html


Enjoy! Those tires are amazing!!

 

[vanguard]

Yep, I follow those same pictures when I did mine. The truck is ready for the tires now. I'm just driving around on the balding stock tires so that everything can settle before I get the tires and alignment. I'm looking to avoid driving around on the new rubber while waiting to get the alignment.

 

[Nullifier]

What OME springs are you running?

 

[vanguard]

I went with the 882 because of the weight of the skidplates. So far, I'm happy with the decision.