What have you done to your 1st gen Tundra today?

RnR - Remove and Replace.

 

Duh, I see I didn’t specify. I bought some of those 8x4’ faux beadboard panels. They’re durable, wipe clean a lot easier, and give you a defined area to paint if you want to refresh a room but not paint the whole thing. Installed those, ran power up to upper bunks (used @bmf4069 and @shifty`’s advice and ran new wire on the second one I did, much easier than Wago-rigging like the first one), and trimmed it in with a shelf at the top for a set of framed prints they have.

 

Day 2 (short day today...appointments in the afternoon). No pics today

I didn't quite finish on the starboard side last night. I had a difficult time fitting the front spring bushing into the front hanger. With a clear head this morning I figured it out...the space in between the two sides of the hanger should be nominally 3.000". Mine measured up at ~ 2.856". The bushing on the spring measures ~ 2.887, so I had to find ~ 0.030" somewhere.

First hour:
- Tried to pry the hanger open. This might have worked if I had the jaws of life, but alas...
- Ground away some material from the inside spaces between the hanger
- Ground away some material from both sides of the bushing.
- Applied bushing grease generously
This worked well. I was able to persuade the bushing into the hanger with a floor jack and a BFH. But I just could not get it to slide forward enough to see all the way through the bolt hole <sigh>

Hour two:
- Rummage through the basement to find the come-along (it's been ~ 30 years since I last used it).
- Rummage through the garage looking for a length of chain to wrap around the axle
- Drive to the hardware store (Ace is the place!) to buy 2 feet of chain ($12!!!!)
I used the come-along to drag the axle ~ 1/4" forward, and drove the last bolt home (yay!)

Hour three.
- Removed the front bolt on the driver side
- Cut through the u-bolt on the driver side
- Removed the rear bolt on the driver side
- Removed the driver side spring

This was the one that caused me to want to change them in the first place. I had an annoying "clunk" on the left side, that has only gotten worse over time. I was expecting the find a cracked leaf, or maybe a bad bushing, or perhaps the center bolt rusted out or broken...but so far I have not. I'll have to sleuth more tomorrow.

Off to my appointments. Tomorrow is another day. All I have left to do is install the new spring. Should be a piece of cake, right? Should only take an hour, right?!

 

Wow, way to persevere! Mine went very smoothly and did not involve removing my aftermarket (U-Haul) hitch at all. New leafs just fell right into the old hangers. Sorry to hear about all of these troubles your having! Sounds like you're close to the finish line though. Good luck!

 

Who would think a 30 mil discrepancy would be such an issue? Good job.

 

Ah, I thought RnR stood for Repair aNd Restore?

AH F-F-F-F-F-FOOOOLIN!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wKKQFQGGy4​

 

I have the two arm Rick Allen album.


https://youtu.be/9SnxBvH-0Mc?feature=shared

 

I love they used cowbell.

But I still prefer the CKY version.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akY2ztW5m1o​

 

Not bad progress for a Monday. I went out at 4:00 for "one more quick hour" blinked, and now its 7:15.

Got a lot of the boring supporting work done today, its looking like a good week!

 

So this is what it looks like when metal fab guys get bored.

I take it you'll eventually pop holes in the side walls for access to the shackle/hanger hardware?

 

If you like cowbell, Grand Funk Railroad likes to use it excessively.

https://youtu.be/s2EPvhjDcbc?feature=shared

 

I struggled with how to approach that. There is enough room to get a box end of a wrench on the hardware, but realistically the bed comes off for any spring work. It's just 6 bolts.

 

Packed her up and sent her to meet me 800 miles away in Texas.

 

Lookin clean

 

Installed my camper shell lights.



More info here

https://www.tundras.com/threads/ode-to-fgt-a-refresh-story.144308/page-4#post-3665044

 

Used these lights

Nilight 3PCS 60 Inch RGB Truck...

$41 Nilight 3PCS 60" RGB Truck Bed Light Strip Kit 270 LED Neon Accent Lights with RF Remote On Off Switch Splitter Extension Cable for Cargo Pickup Truck Camper RV SUV Boat

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B37HSZ8Q?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

 

This is what I thought of too

 

Where ya heading in TX again?
You interested in hitting any off-road parks with the TX boys this fall/winter?

 

im heading down to league city. Definitely interested in that if it’s close.

 

I didn't have the RGB, but those are wicked bright. Solid for the price.

 

A light hill country/centx weekend get together sounds like it needs to happen.

 

Oh yeah, you'll be on the Southside of Houston, like me, but about 30 mins away.

Close is subjective in this state.
The vast majority of the parks what are worth going to are in the hill country. There's some mud parks around Houston area I've never bothered with and probably never will.
There's the Lone Star Toyota Jamboree that's held near Dallas, that's a lot of fun.
Then there's the desert side of west TX, where we'll be having this TX Best Gen event in October, open to other states too
Everyone's welcome. Brace yourself... It's only about a ten hour drive if you dont stop for fuel, food, or potty.

https://www.tundras.com/threads/merus-meet-up.145970/

You might've actually been closer in KY lmao

 

It's definitely needs to.

 

No joke visiting my brother in San Antonio he'll be like 'oh it's not too far' next thing I know we've been in the car 2 hours.

 

sounds like there will be a few of us down in Houston area. This will be my second time living in Texas so I’m pretty familiar. Last time I lived in Corpus and bought a dirtbike in Denton. What a ride that was in a day.

 

I’m about 15-20 minutes from Denton. Think I might be in Houston for a weekend soon, but I think we’re taking the 460.

 

I'm closer to 5 other state capitols than my own. OKC, Santa Fe, Denver, Cheyenne, and Topeka. Some say 6, but that's a stretch.

 

Day 3 - Done!!

- Mounted the new spring
- Ran the bolts through the hangers
- Put the bolts back through the shocks
- But the tires back on, and dropped that fucker back on the ground!

I bounced up and down on the bumper a bunch of times, then crawled underneath to tighten everything back down. I tightened everything "gutentight" with an impact, except for the u-bolts where I used a torque wrench.

Total time so far today = ~90 minutes. I still need to re-install the trailer hitch and hang the spare (it's amazing how much room there is to work without the spare in the way), but I'm sick of this job!! I'll have another cup of coffee then finish up at a leisurely pace. I figure I need one more hour to finish up before the road test.

It went much faster today because I've already done one side, and I knew what to expect. I also knew to measure and adjust the bushings while on the ground (much easier). And most importantly...plenty of lubricant (To quote the great prophet Zappa "keep it greasy")

 

Lookin good brother!

 

Found a bakflip bed cover. Decent shape and I just needed a quick run to ace hardware and we were in business.