On a cold winters day....A New Life is Born!
- Thread starter J_wings24
- Start date
J_wings24
Observer
A few new updates!
Well, It has been about 10 months since I did the original lift. Over the past 4 or 5 months I have been doing little things on the truck, but have not had time to post up the changes.
I had been wanting to re-finish the fender flares as they were starting to show sun damage & lots of scratches.
I started by dry sanding and then wet sanding the flares.
It took a good couple of hours to sand out the deep gouges & even them out. You can see that I go down to the original plastic in some places.
Next was the primer coat:
And finally the final coat. I put 3 final layers of paint on. the first two were with Rustoleom brand spray paint. I opted to use a textured or "hammered" finish paint. I figured this would help cover up my poor painting skills. :REExeSquatsHL1:
When I finished the first 2 coats I realized the hammered finish was too glossy. I bought a can of flat black and kind of "peppered" the flares. I didn't want a full coat of paint, just enough to take the shine off.
They turned out great. Much better than I expected.
Here is the final coat going on:
And on the truck:
More to come...
Well, It has been about 10 months since I did the original lift. Over the past 4 or 5 months I have been doing little things on the truck, but have not had time to post up the changes.
I had been wanting to re-finish the fender flares as they were starting to show sun damage & lots of scratches.
I started by dry sanding and then wet sanding the flares.
It took a good couple of hours to sand out the deep gouges & even them out. You can see that I go down to the original plastic in some places.
Next was the primer coat:
And finally the final coat. I put 3 final layers of paint on. the first two were with Rustoleom brand spray paint. I opted to use a textured or "hammered" finish paint. I figured this would help cover up my poor painting skills. :REExeSquatsHL1:
When I finished the first 2 coats I realized the hammered finish was too glossy. I bought a can of flat black and kind of "peppered" the flares. I didn't want a full coat of paint, just enough to take the shine off.
They turned out great. Much better than I expected.
Here is the final coat going on:
And on the truck:
More to come...
J_wings24
Observer
New Shoes
I had been running BFG All Terrains (31x10.5R15). I loved my BFG's & they served me well for over 4 years & 80K miles. I wanted a tread that was a little more aggressive & decided to try the Maxxis Bighorns. The new tires are 32x11.5R15's. I like the look of a slightly larger tire & they run very nicely.
I had Les Schwab sipe the tires as well. I've never had tires siped before, and I am very happy with the results.
Next I installed some Lighting and did some work on the factory headlamps.
First were a set of KC daylighters that were given to me. They were chrome & beginning to rust...Nothing a little spray paint couldn't fix! :bike_rider:
I also bought a set of Hella Micro's. These little suckers put out some light! If you have ever driven a late 90's taco at night you know how bad the factory headlights are. I wanted a light that I could run as a "driving light", but I needed it to be small and compact.
I Also wanted them to be out of the way & protected. I ended up mounting them on the inside portion of the highlift Jack hole that the good people at ARB provided on my Bullbar.
There is still plenty of room for the highlift in a recovery/tire change situation & it keeps my approach angle clear of dangling lights.
here is another shot:
I noticed once I got them mounted that the bullbar blocks the light slightly. I may modify the bumper so that they lights are not obstructed so much.
In the factory lamps I replaced the original factory bulbs with a set of silverstar bulbs. This by itself was a HUGE improvement. the old lights were yellow and weak, whereas the silverstars are a much whiter light.
I also got the opportunity to refinish the surface of my headlights. basically it's a sanding & buffing process that removes the damaged plastic on the outside of the headlight. I don't have any good before and after pictures, but before the lamps were yellowed and "hazed" from years of sun damage. Once we finished they looked like new! I highly recommend this for anyone that has old headlights with sun damage etc.
I had been running BFG All Terrains (31x10.5R15). I loved my BFG's & they served me well for over 4 years & 80K miles. I wanted a tread that was a little more aggressive & decided to try the Maxxis Bighorns. The new tires are 32x11.5R15's. I like the look of a slightly larger tire & they run very nicely.
I had Les Schwab sipe the tires as well. I've never had tires siped before, and I am very happy with the results.
Next I installed some Lighting and did some work on the factory headlamps.
First were a set of KC daylighters that were given to me. They were chrome & beginning to rust...Nothing a little spray paint couldn't fix! :bike_rider:
I also bought a set of Hella Micro's. These little suckers put out some light! If you have ever driven a late 90's taco at night you know how bad the factory headlights are. I wanted a light that I could run as a "driving light", but I needed it to be small and compact.
I Also wanted them to be out of the way & protected. I ended up mounting them on the inside portion of the highlift Jack hole that the good people at ARB provided on my Bullbar.
There is still plenty of room for the highlift in a recovery/tire change situation & it keeps my approach angle clear of dangling lights.
here is another shot:
I noticed once I got them mounted that the bullbar blocks the light slightly. I may modify the bumper so that they lights are not obstructed so much.
In the factory lamps I replaced the original factory bulbs with a set of silverstar bulbs. This by itself was a HUGE improvement. the old lights were yellow and weak, whereas the silverstars are a much whiter light.
I also got the opportunity to refinish the surface of my headlights. basically it's a sanding & buffing process that removes the damaged plastic on the outside of the headlight. I don't have any good before and after pictures, but before the lamps were yellowed and "hazed" from years of sun damage. Once we finished they looked like new! I highly recommend this for anyone that has old headlights with sun damage etc.
J_wings24
Observer
Well Christmas brought some fun toys that I finally had time to install! My lovely wife was good enough to find me some fun presents that have made great additions to my truck.
First off was the addition of a VIAIR onboard air system. I've always wanted a compressor on the truck, there seems to be an endless list of things that I use this for.
I decided to mount it under the hood to keep it out of the weather.
this part of the install took the least amount of time. I do not have any pictures of the routing of the air lines, or tank mounting yet, but it was all realativley easy.
I mounted the air tank under the bed behind the spare tire. I'll get photo's soon, but it's a pretty clean spot.
Next up was the addition of a Blue Seas Fuse Block. I have to say that this is a quality product that works Very well!
I mounted it on top of the OEM fuse block housing, I don't remember who i copied this location off of, but kudos to them!!
Before install...lots of random wires for aux lights, compressor & more:
Block attached & working on wires:
Final product... It looks so Clean!
More to come...
First off was the addition of a VIAIR onboard air system. I've always wanted a compressor on the truck, there seems to be an endless list of things that I use this for.
I decided to mount it under the hood to keep it out of the weather.
this part of the install took the least amount of time. I do not have any pictures of the routing of the air lines, or tank mounting yet, but it was all realativley easy.
I mounted the air tank under the bed behind the spare tire. I'll get photo's soon, but it's a pretty clean spot.
Next up was the addition of a Blue Seas Fuse Block. I have to say that this is a quality product that works Very well!
I mounted it on top of the OEM fuse block housing, I don't remember who i copied this location off of, but kudos to them!!
Before install...lots of random wires for aux lights, compressor & more:
Block attached & working on wires:
Final product... It looks so Clean!
More to come...
J_wings24
Observer
The next project was replacing my freebee KC lights with Lightforce Striker 170's! :wings:
These lights are awesome! They are so much brighter, and I love that you can get different filters etc.
I had previously moved my PIAA driving lights up under my bullbar. I really love this location for the lights, but I had to modify the bumper so that the lights were not blocked. Nothing a little grinding wheel & dremel couldn't fix.
before:
After:
Very stealth & now the lights are not blocked by the bumper.
All in all I'm very happy with where my truck has come over the past year. I'm not sure what's next. I've debated a swing out rear bumper that will hold my spare & hi-lift, but that will take some planning.
I have sliders sitting at a friends house and he is going to help me weld them on in the next few weeks. I'll bring you more picts then!
Thanks,
joel
These lights are awesome! They are so much brighter, and I love that you can get different filters etc.
I had previously moved my PIAA driving lights up under my bullbar. I really love this location for the lights, but I had to modify the bumper so that the lights were not blocked. Nothing a little grinding wheel & dremel couldn't fix.
before:
After:
Very stealth & now the lights are not blocked by the bumper.
All in all I'm very happy with where my truck has come over the past year. I'm not sure what's next. I've debated a swing out rear bumper that will hold my spare & hi-lift, but that will take some planning.
I have sliders sitting at a friends house and he is going to help me weld them on in the next few weeks. I'll bring you more picts then!
Thanks,
joel
! I like the new fuse block, I may have to look into one.