Install of ARB Compressor
So the morning that we were supposed to leave for a 2 week trip to the Yukon and the Dempster Highway, I decided I'd install the ARB Compressor that had arrived a week earlier.
I got up at 7am and gathered together all my tools and headed out to the truck. I'd already figured out where I wanted to mount the thing - on the driver side fender under the hood. Now I just had to get at it.
I figured I'd budgeted enough time (several hours) as I'd read from other posts that it was a pretty painless install with the supplied wiring harness and mounting plate.
Now I don't have lockers (yet) but they are in the future when budgeting allows. For now, I just wanted to have it for any tire issues that might arise on lonesome stretches of highway in the north. I'd picked up the ARB kit that includes the hose and fittings for tire inflation.
What I didn't count on was having a poorly machined fitting provided. I tried screwing the T-joint into the compressor only to discover that the threads were not sharp. This was, of course discovered after I'd made a mess of the internal threads on the compressor housing. I blame the fact that I hadn't had any coffee yet.
I was lucky enough to remember that my landlord had a tap and die set so I managed to clean the threads up a bit and hopefully with the application of teflon taping, provide a decent seal.
I wanted to get everything attached to the compressor before I mounted in the engine bay. I followed ARB's suggestion and used the mounting plate as a drill guide and put four holes in my fender. It was slightly annoying trying to get the four carriage bolts to slide through the four holes but they eventually did. I was then presented with the enjoyable task of tightening the nuts while the carriage bolts insisted on spinning. I found that prying the mount plate against the nuts provided enough pressure to keep the bolts locked in place so that I could tighten a nut enough to move to the next one and slowly work all four into final position.
The next nightmare (at least for me) was feeding the wiring harness connection through the firewall. The majority of the wires pass through in a big bundle that is sealed up tightly and I didn't want to disturb that so I passed the connections through the hole where the hood release cable lives. I give kudos to anyone who is an auto-electrician. I do not have the patience required for threading wires in tight situations. At some points, I realized that with a pair of long-handled needle-nosed pliers a lot of my issues would have been alleviated but I did not have a pair so I used another tool to get me through it - cursing, and loudly.
Eventually I got it through but at this point I had had enough of the job and gave up on trying to finish the job. The only thing left was to install the switch in the dash and splice it into a power source and a dash-dimming light source. I figured that with a major service planned the next day in Dawson Creek, I'd just get them to finish it off as they'd have a much better idea of what wires to be looking for.
I later regretted this decision as they did do a nice job of the install, but were unable to get to a dash-dimming light source without pulling out the dash. The other aspect that contributed to the regret was that the job apparently took them 1.4h at the staggering shop rate of $120/h. OUCH!
I now realize that it's always better to just spend the money on the tools needed for the job and invest the time yourself than to waste cash on the stealership. Don't get me wrong, I value the service that Toyota provides, it's just not worth it unless it's a major issue I couldn't eventually figure out myself.
