Tundra2's lifetime project

Hi all, welcome. I figured with my up coming suspension work I should start a build thread. May as well, right? It will take me some time to peruse the What have you done to your 1st gen Tundra today? thread, and quoting my own posts into this thread. I don't really remember what days I did what so, it will take some time for this thread to flourish.

Before I joined the site I had already swapped out my old incandescent headlights for El cheapo Chinese Amazon specials. Headlight housing have been replaced numerous times due to deer, turkey, and various other impacts.

Spoiler: Spell check edit

Hi all, welcome. I figured with my up coming suspension work I should start a build thread. May as well, right? It will take me some time to peruse the What have you done to your 1st gen Tundra today? thread, and quoting my posts. I don't really remember what days I did what, so it will take some time for this thread to flourish.

Before I joined the site I had already swapped out my old incandescent headlights for El cheapo Chinese amazon specials. Headlight housing have been replaced numerous times due to deer, turkey, and various other impacts.

 

January 16th, 2020. I reinstalled my deer guard.
January 23rd, 2020. I ordered a light bar.
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A link to my light bar will be below this line. Amazon says I purchased this on January 23rd, 2020.

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I read reviews about this light bar before ordering. Some people said that it had developed moisture inside the housing. Upon receiving the item I touched off the leads to my battery to verify operation, and then promptly took it apart. Removed both end caps, and sealed with clear Flex Shot. Waited 24 hours before install, and then bolted everything up. Soldered the leads for bar into my high beam wires, heat shrinked, and it was good to go.

Spoiler: Amazon link

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N7P3GHX?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Spoiler: Grammar/Spell Check

Here is a link to the light bar I used. Amazon says I purchased this on January 23rd, 2020.

I read reviews about this light bar before ordering. Some people said that it had developed moisture inside the housing. Upon receiving the item I touched off the leads to my battery to verify operation, and then promptly took it apart. Removed both end caps, and sealed with clear Flex Shot. Waited 24 hrs before install, and then bolted everything up. Soldered the leads for bar into my high beam wires, heat shrink applied, and I was off to the races.

 

Feb, 16th 2020. Inside work, Outside work, Disassembly, Reassembly.
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Bolted up some loose exhaust cover/heat shields that had lost some of the original bolts in the life of my truck, replaced a lock lever mechanism on the passenger access door, lubed up the door handle mechanism, and fixed the passenger quarter glass latch.

Spoiler: Links to daily post

Daily 1st gen thread link.

 

Feb 17th, 2020. Plugs.
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180K-ish on old plugs. It was long over due. Verified gap before install.
After being under the hood again it has become clear I will soon be doing my vacuum lines. The ends of some are starting to crack.

Spoiler: Amazon Link

NGK Spark plug

Spoiler: Link to daily post

Daily 1st gen thread link

 

Feb 18th, 2020. Downstream 02 sensor repair​

The original boogered mess I started with.

The almost finished product lol. Heat shield is on order. I sacrificed two nuts to break up the remainder of the old nuts. Worked everything loose, and then ran an M8X1.25 die down the shafts. Cleaned up all the surfaces, and installed new 02 sensor. I thought I had a heat shield I had ordered, but couldn't find it.

Hopefully this fixes my P0420 code. It has eluded me for years.

Spoiler: Link to daily post

Daily 1st gen thread link

 

Feb 19th, 2020. Seat covers.​

With my going back to work tonight I thought I would gift myself seat covers. Very pleased so far. Feels great, and looks great.

$130-ish with shipping I think. I'm pleased with it. It has cubbies on the front of both seat bottoms and back of the back rests. Feels nice to the touch, and provided slight new truck smell.

The center console, and seat bottom of passenger were probably the hardest.

Today is April 19th, 2020. Still rocking the seat covers. Still liking them. 2 months of service as of right now.

Spoiler: Amazon Link

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007SX5UL6?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

Spoiler: Link to daily posts

Daily 1st gen link 1
Daily 1st gen link 2

UPDATE​

January 20th, 2021. Seat covers have been doing their job. They are filthy from work grime to bodily fluids, and everything in between. Will be time for a wash soon. I'll update with pictures in a new post about the condition of my seat fabric when wash day rolls around.

 

Feb 20, 2020. Light bar post​

Pleased with my light bar.

Low beams.



High beams with light bar tied in.


The pictures don't do it justice.

Spoiler: Link to daily post

Daily 1st gen thread link

 

Feb 24th, 2020. Dash quietening backer rod install.
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Well I went out today to install backer rod to quieten up my dash. Things did not go according to plan. Lol I found a single stick of 5 gum over my VIN plate. It had apparently been there for years. Since it was black I never noticed it. In the process of breaking it up, and vacuuming it out I split my windshield.

Spoiler: Link to daily post

Daily 1st gen thread link

 

Feb 27th, 2020. Windshield replacement due to my blunder.
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In the shop. Don't mind the little bit of dirt she's got on her.

I spent 10 minutes watching the tech here take my door panel off. It was painful. He swapped out the window, and I spent another 25 minutes watching this guy try to mount the door panel on from the bottom up. I finally asked if he wanted some help. He explained "Sir, I got this. I've probably done 10,000 of these."

I said "Okay, but the door panel mounts from the top down. Top window track goes in first."

He had it mounted correctly in 2.5 seconds. I'm gonna have to verify everything when I get home. No longer confident in this.

Lots of mumble-y cussing coming from the work bay also.

Spoiler: Link to daily posts

Daily 1st gen thread link 1
Daily 1st gen thread link 2

 

Feb 28th, 2020​

Went out and tried to put backer rod in again. This windshield is much tighter to the dash. I'll deal with the squeak for now.

Also noting a slight creak in the dash directly behind cluster now.
Hmmm

Edit: my drivers side wiper no longer rattles during operation at low wiper speed. I find this strange.

Spoiler: Link to daily post

Daily 1st gen thread link

 

Feb 29th, 2020. Backer rod part 3, electric avenue.​

Well, third times the charm. Sorta...
Since the 1/2 backer rod didn't fit, and no one at home depot or lowes knew what I was talking about I cut a piece of mine in half down the middle. I installed it, and it kinda fit snugly in some places. Kinda didn't. I guess I'll order the 1/4 inch backer rod because both stores I went to didn't have it in the locations the app said. Very frustrating. Drove an hour out of my way lol

Here are pics. We will see with road test tonight.



Sorry if there is a duplicate picture. It's hard to see in the sun. I'm not used to being in the brightness anymore LOL

Spoiler: Link to daily post

Daily 1st gen thread link

 

March 19th, 2020. Backer rod part four. 4th times the charm, Right?​

My 1/4" backer rod I ordered finally showed up. Direct from Wuhan China!

All installed. It is a much much lighter color than the 1/2". Since it's so bright you can really see where it is not evenly pushed into the crack. (I pushed some a little too far in. Oops.)

Now I just need to figure out what to do with the other 93 feet of backer rod.

↓↓↓Editing in a pic of an "oopsie."↓↓↓

Spoiler: Link to daily post

Daily 1st gen thread link

 

March 22nd, 2020. 1st deep clean.
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Time for spring cleaning. So far this job has paid me in satisfaction, and $1.79 in loose change.

I do not think my truck is worthy of being on this forum because of how filthy it has been on the inside. I knew it was stained up here or there, but had no idea how much was everywhere.

I will clean this up to the best of my abilities.

This is no where near hand model status.
No rain as of yet. So I'll stop for some photographs. Smells like its blowing over head, and by passing me. Whew





The robot weld that held the bracket with stud on for the trim piece that's missing broke some time or another. I'll have to drill it out, and bolt that back on. I do not enjoy a hole in my floor board going directly outside (pic above) Lol.
↑↑↑This piece.↑↑↑



I am especially proud of that partial finish pic.


I think that's all folks. Lol

Spoiler: Links to daily posts

Daily first gen thread link 1
Daily first gen thread link 2
Daily first gen thread link 3
Daily first gen thread link 4

 

March 25th, 2020. Window visors.​

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Pops bought me a birthday present! I did the install. I've never had these before, or installed them.

Spoiler: Link to daily post

Daily 1st gen thread link

 

March 27th, 2020. Prep work for deep dive.
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Did this today in preparation for tomorrow's power wash. Found one dirt dobber nest behind my rear seat. Lol must be all those days of windows being cracked in the summer. It's in need of good vacuuming. That will happen tomorrow before carpet removal.

I think my carpet will fit in the bed of my truck for pressure washing. It might be bigger than I am expecting with all the ups and downs it makes around the floor board.

I will look into sound proofing the rear later on now that I know how to remove the rear seat as well. Lol

I don't know if it's legal or not, but I'll be driving it to work tonight like this. It should make things interesting.

Also, I reinstalled all the bolts in correct holes so I wouldn't lose them.

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Spoiler: Link to daily post

Daily 1st gen thread link

 

March 28th, 2020. Deep clean.
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Truck is stripped. One more bolt to come out, but I will wait for daylight on this one.

(Another 40 some odd minutes.)​

The carpet is ready to come out. No seats, limited trim, and the pressure washer is set up. I will update with pics once its light enough outside. Mind you, this is after a 10 hour shift with a 2 hour commute round trip. The sooner I get this done the sooner it starts drying. I am concerned about how long that will take.

I'm beginning with the two original mats I found.



Upon cleaning, and closer inspection. I found little "rootlings" as I am calling them. Sprouting through the mat.


I think the picture isn't the best, but you guys will have to take my word for it when I say "if you hold this at the right angle in the sunlight you can still faintly read TUNDRA"

Onto the actual tundra in question.
I removed my tool box and bed trim(?), and blasted that too while I was at it.


I sprayed all that down, and started on the bed liner. Cleaned that up, and then laid down my carpet.
This a before.
Hosed her down, and sprayed on the dawn in generous amounts. Went inside, and fixed something to eat. Watched half of a show on the DVR box.

Came back out side and scrubbed, scrubbed, scrubbed.
Whistle while you work from Snow white came to mind. Needless to say the neighbors dogs in his kennel hate me now. Speaking of them since I am downwind of them... the strong stench of fresh dog dookie was ever present in the air.

I sprayed, and sprayed. Starting at the top I finally had sprayed out most of the dawn. That stuff is "Sudsier" than I remember. I worked my way down starting from the top. I kinda rolled up the carpet once in a while and sprayed out the sediment buildup on bed liner from "warshing." (As they say here) I would say I had at least 3-5 pounds of packed in dirt in places. Now I'm moving onto the carpet vacuum thing. Being that I live in Kentucky... this morning when I checked the weather the weekend forecast was clear. Now there are thunderstorms rolling in tonight, and will persist through the weekend. Apparently.




The top layer seems dry. Flipped it over, and left it in the sun.
Here is the bed so far.

Noticed a crack where the wheel well in the bed is on drivers side. Not sure how much of an a issue this is. What's yalls thoughts?


Bed liner is installed better than what it was before!
Here is where I'm sitting currently.

• The bed, and bed liner are 100% done.
• I am still curious about that broken weld/joint on drivers side though.
• Interior is gutted.
• Floor mats cleaned
• Whole carpet clean, and drying.
• Pressure washed "removable" seat belts from rear. Dried, and ready.
• Sprayed everything with a generous amount of odo-ban.

New grill emblem courtesy of mom and pop.

Itinerary for tomorrow.

1. Wipe down, and vacuum inside.
2. Dust floor mats, and carpet with a broom, and some trees.
3. Spray again with Odo-ban, and reinstall all components.

Weather permitting of course.

A friend stopped by with a 1988 Nissan D21. I thought "Hey, some LEDs will look good as hell in this instrument cluster." So she agreed to let me work on it. I pulled the cluster only to see an analog drive wire for the speedo that I couldn't get to seat back in correctly. Finally got it back in, and then went for a test drive in the nissan. The speedometer only worked when you were going above 25 mph. So I had to pull everything back apart and put it back together again. Finally got it right, amd let her go on her way after almost ruining her new to her truck.

Spoiler: Link to daily posts

Daily 1st gen thread link 1
Daily 1st gen thread link 2
Daily 1st gen thread link 3
Daily 1st gen thread link 4
Daily 1st gen thread link 5
Daily 1st gen thread link 6
Daily 1st gen thread link 7
Daily 1st gen thread link 8

 

March 29th, 2020. Deep clean Day 2, Electric boogaloo
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Started early this morning. Just before first light. I've wiped down, and vacuumed the bare metal inside. Lots of dust build up.

Strung up the carpet. It was mostly dry except small damp areas of insulation on the belly. I sprayed the belly with odo-ban. Hung, and drying in a constant light early morning breeze.

Once the insulation is dry I will flip, and apply odo-ban to the top.

Used stakes to keep the carpet separated from itself. I know the stakes LOOK dirty, but I wiped down, and cleaned all surfaces that touch the rug. Shortly after picture was taken I put in paper plates on the ends so it wouldn't cut it's way through as unlikely as that may be.
So as it turns out, if I have a decent amount of sleep I can actually figure things out on my own. As much as that might surprise some of you lol


Removed the pins from the socket, and then soldered them onto new led.

I had to make the socket fit the bulb. Soldering iron, a razor knife, and cutters later. I have something that loosely holds onto the bulb. Not the best, but not the worst.

Had to play around with this to get it to fit into the lighted ring for plug.

Since I did not bring all the pieces with me into the house... I forgot a piece when I super-glued the socket, and ring light together. Whoops. The trim piece I thought I forgot. Turns out the superglue never actually set. Must be the type of plastic.


A better fit now.
I feel like Johnny Cash. One piece at a time.


I'll come out tonight and take a picture for you guys. I nicked a tiny piece of the white on the trim. I'm not sure I'll notice it once it's all installed.

All back together again. No left over screws like IKEA furniture. This was a fight to go back. That's probably the hardest job I think I've done so far THIS weekend.

It's lit fam. I look forward to tonight. Time for a quick vacuum, then the carpet gets a vacuum, and then slap her rug back in.

Here is where I'm at.​

Looking at the gravel under the truck it's time for a few more loads.

Its LIT! Lol​

I am intrigued by the yellow light from the cargo lamp, and ring though.

I used the same bulb I had used for everything else. Cool white 4000k, 17 lumens. (I'm not 100% of the 4000k off the top of my thinker.)

Spoiler: Link to daily posts

Daily 1st gen thread link 1
Daily 1st gen thread link 2
Daily 1st gen thread link 3
Daily 1st gen thread link 4
Daily 1st gen thread link 5
Daily 1st gen thread link 6
Daily 1st gen thread link 7
Daily 1st gen thread link 8

 

Nice work! You’ve done a lot of good things. Your Sensor Repair helped me when I did mine.

 

June 5th, 2020. Rear drum service, bearings, and parking brake.
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Passengers side: noticed that the "peephole" boot was missing. Will need to order one.

Drivers side.

Parking brake now holds the full weight of the truck on an incline. Pedal feel is much firmer, and less travel. No waaaa waaaa waaaa noise. Rear end of the truck feels REAL NICE. Bruce told me that after he had everything buttoned up, and before his test drive he checked the axle fluid. Found it was a little low, so he added some. He never said if it looked good/bad. I should have asked, but was VERY excited to have my truck back.


I really should start posting according to the job, and when work is completed.

I have fallen into the habit of posting on the 1st gen threads because I forget about my own build page

Spoiler: Link to daily post

Daily 1st gen thread link

 

Bed removal, and frame touch up. First day of work post.

Four of the six bed bolts rusted through, or broke outright during removal.

 

Attempted to drill out, and extract the rusted bolt studs. They were stuck with Minnesota loctite. I think @lsaami was the originator of this phrase that no one locally seems to understand.







Eventually, I decided it was time to cut the welded pieces out holding the bed nuts on, or forcibly remove them with a pry bar, flat blade screwdriver, and hammer.

 

Decided it best to test the new ospho treatment on something easily replacable. The bumper support.

Wire wheeled the rust, applied ospho, removed ospho with wire wheel as a test, and then painted.


Finished product.


One coat of primer.
2 coats of semi-gloss black enamel.
2 coats of crystal clear enamel.

All rust-oleum flavor.

Here is a video of me putting the mounting arms on the bumper support.
https://youtu.be/9r-UAK1sX24

 

Started working on the bed.

The next picture is INSIDE the picture above this line of text.

Cut out the middle bed supports, and then wire wheeled the spot welds. (Remember the two brackets pictured below.)

The shiny spots below the light blue line.

Painted the bare metal spots, and attempted to paint the inside of the wheel wells between the inside of the panel, and inside of the bed. This was thanks to @NUDRAT for bringing up that idea.

 

Remember the two brackets I asked you to remember? Well they are back...

And now they're gone! Drilled these out, and removed to make way for @FrenchToasty's brilliant idea.

3X3 square tube for new bed supports.

The interior ones proved to be tricky. Ended up cutting some of the 3X3 square tube up into a U-shape to make it slide into the interior channels by the tailgate support.

Here is how I cut them. Clamped it down, and started cutting!

Here is a video of me SHOWING you what I mean.https://youtu.be/Yvxzt1FP89g

Video of me applying clear coat to the new bed paint.https://youtu.be/9NfkJlYbX9c

 

Drilled out holes in the new bed supports for the new bed bolts to slide through

Paint!

One coat of primer
Two coats of semi-gloss black enamel.
Two coats of crystal clear enamel.
All rust-oleum flavor.

I don't have a completed picture, but they looked the same color as the bumper support.

 

Started in on the nasty frame. Old, dirty, rusti-ness.

Installed the new leaf springs once I got done with washing, drying, wire wheeling, grinding, sanding, and painting. Followed the same paint recipe as mentioned earlier.
One coat of primer
Two coats of semi-gloss black enamel.
Two coats of crystal clear enamel.
All rust-oleum flavor.
The rust repair for JUST the rear of the frame was several days in the making.

Installed new slare tire lift by Dorman.
Installed the new Alcan leaf springs.
Here is OEM for reference.

With the help of @Darkness I was able to install mine correctly with the "rolled" leaf end facing the front of the cab.

^Rolled leaf end.
^Regular leaf end with my pup, Dixie.
Also, with @Darkness' I was able to successfully modify the new bump stops to sit over the center pin on the new leaf packs.

Drilled out some rubber on the inside of the "cup" in the bump stops. Before drilling they did not sit "flush" on the leaf pack. After drilling they now sit flush. Drilled out maybe ¼" of rubber.
Old bumpstop plate with new bumpstop next to it.
Upside down view of new bumpstop with "cup" pictured.
Drilled out in the light blue "Rubber" area.

 

Started the rear grease rub for water repellency. I think the idea was courtesy of @Professional Hand Model?
Finished the rear in about a day, and then moved onto the mid-section of the frame.

Wire wheeled, ospho treatment, paint, and then grease rub.

Found a hole by the crossmember that holds up the tail of the transmission.
Reached my arm inside, and investigated the damage. Felt pretty crunchy in there.

Removed some rust scale from inside the frame.
At this point I followed another of @Professional Hand Model's suggestions.

Jacked up the front of the truck, removed drivers side wheel to better access frame. Tapped on it with a hammer to knock loose any other scale contamination. Proceeded to wash out the frame, and let the big clumps of scale run out with it. Removed an ALARMING amount of rust.

Drived everything as best as possible, and then sprayed ospho inside, and outside the frame.
Waited for that to dry, and then began the grease rub for mid sections.

 

Installed my new coilovers, and did a grease rub in wheel well area also.



Where I could not get grease I spryed PB blaster inside the frame, and into other nooks, and crannies.

 

LEAFS/FRONT COILOVERS

Original suspension components had 313,601 miles. Hoping for many more.

As it sits right now. 2 inch lift all the way around.

Before

After


She was leaning quite a bit.

 

I have done a lot of work lately, and will try to post in order of job. Here goes nothing. LOL