The Wild Crow - A Not So Wild Build Thread

[jim65wagon]

Take A Breath, Take Your Time, Spread Your Wings and Rise

Here is the latest truck project. A few years ago we gave the truck a Wild Crow graphic on the hood. Over the few years it was on, the vinyl wrap became brittle and cracked and peeled in places. We decided to paint it on, so I gave it a go and after watching how to videos and reading many articles I screwed up my courage and taped out the pattern, painted the Crow and stripes on in a silver metallic, then clear coated the entire hood. My first ever automotive paint project. Hand in hand with this I cut out openings to add hood vents to alleviate some under hood temperature when we are driving slowly through the woods. It turned out pretty well I think.

It took over a year to go from on the truck to finished, I got busy and this project got put on hold more than once.

Taped out for vents

Cutting!

One layer done!

Aaaaaggghh! I have giant holes in my truck!

All taped out, ready to spray

3 coats of silver metallic, then 3 coats of clear over the entire hood

Venus from under the hood.

Finished! I love it! It makes me smile and that's all that's important isn't it?

 

[jim65wagon]

I'M SO TIRED, AND I JUST CAN'T WAIT AROUND FOR YOU

7 tires. Yes, 7 Cooper Discoverer ST Maxx tires. 255/85/R16. Walmart had a price drop just before Thanksgiving, I was tired of waiting around for a sale so I jumped at the price. $196 each not bad.

Mounted and balanced

One for the spare

And a set for the trailer too!

 

[jim65wagon]

STOP! In the Name of......Stopping

We all need to just stop occassionaly. Stop hate, stop Nazis, stop sexism, and stop our trucksThe brakes on the Crow were doing OK but with 64,000 miles the pads were due to be replaced.

I've used EBC pads and rotors on the Tundra for years. They've always performed well for my needs whether I'm empty or loaded, towing or not. The rotors on the WC were in fine shape and all I really needed were pads.

Shopping around a bit and I found some EBC Extra Dooty pads. Yeah, I said Dooty.... not just regular dooty but extra dooty.

These are red, and shiny, but not to be confused with their regular dooty red pad. These are supposed to be better for towing. Time will tell. What can I say about changing brake pads? Nothing. Toyota makes it so fn easy. Here's the pics

They came with these funky shims to keep squealing and vibrating to a minimum. Never seen those before but they seem to be doing their job

After the break in period they stop the truck. I like that

 

[jim65wagon]

THANGS THAT GO BUMP! IN THA NIGHT That's me, Sam B. I gotta zombie army and you can't harm me. Who do you voodoo....... wait, sorry I got a little carried away.

While I had the wheels off to for the brakes I added a set of wheelers super bumps to the front. Modifications don't get easier.

Unscrew the old ones, and screw in the new ones.

Inexpensive and easy to install. I like it. And they work. When the suspension bottoms out over a zombie, or a pothole its smoother....

 

[jim65wagon]

Man, You've Got To Ac-Cenn-tu-ate the Positive
Eliminate the Negative
And LATCH on to the Affirmative

Since I bought one of the first double swing bumpers from SOS Concepts I found some incompatibility issues with my set up.

It had a simple and normal red handled latch to close the gate, and a secondary latch to firmly lock it with no possibility of it accidentally opening

The latch mechanism actually interfered with the flip up license plate when the hitch was installed in the receiver.

This pin (and its consequent locking mechanism) which is part of the security latch Eddy designed to positively lock the gate in those rough situations hit the license plate before the gates could get closed.

The easiest solution to this problem is simply having the plate somewhere else, like on the Jerry can holder. I don't like easy, the more difficult a project the better.

We ( and by we I mean Beth) found a latch similar to the red handled latch that came with a locking mechanism. All i had to do was weld it onto a plate and bolt it onto the swing gate.

Remember, I hate the easy way? Yeah, well the new locking latch needed a longer plate so the mounting bolt didn't interfere with the lock. Sure I coulda just drilled a new hole and slapped it down, but that's not me. I welded the holes closed, drilled new ones where i needed them and siliconed the heck out of them to prevent water intrusion

And since I liked Eddie's idea of the secondary latch I added one with my spin. One plate on the end of each swing gate. When closed one plate rests on top of the other and a simple pin drops through and keeps it extra secure.

Daily driving were just run the locking latch, off road and trail rides, the pin goes in and keeps that gate closed.

NOW, with all that said. DO NOT think I'm ranting or complaining about Eddy or SOS Concepts. He's a stand up guy with great products and I would buy this bumper again. He has since changed his design to accommodate the use of the tow hitch with the swing gates.

If you need a dual swing bumper (or single swing, or no swing) buy @SOS CONCEPTS it's so solid and well built it wasn't easy to modify.

 

[jim65wagon]

COOL BABY! STRANGE BUT NOT A STRANGER, I'M AN ORDINARY GUY!

Long Tru Cool. I'm no stranger to these. I installed one on the Tundra yeeeaaars ago. I decided I wanted to add one into the Tacoma to alleviate any transmission issues towing in the desert or mountains.

It comes with every thing you need for the install.

I took out the grill and began bending those thick metal straps into brackets

Once bent into shape (unlike the out of shape I usually am) I painted them all black, ran the lines to the oe cooler send tied it into the system. I changed the fluid in the process, just changed not flushed, the old fluid still looked really good and smelled like, well, transmission fluid.

With the grill in place it looks like it belongs

This is one cool baby that won't be burning down the house anytime soon