Cheap/free mods

[orangebutte]

To begin with I have no pictures. Mud flaps hang too low and scrape against most anything. Described below is how I modified them:

1. placed paper against interior (closest to tire) of the flap
2. paper will hang down after securing it with tape
3. Moved to outside of flap and used a marker to trace the bottom curved portion of the flap onto the paper.
4. removed the paper from the inside of the flap and cut the curved pattern I traced on the paper. You now have a sheet of paper that is approx. same size and width of flap along with the same shape (curve) of the bottom of flap
5. Place the paper on the outside of the flap and raise it however much you want to remove of the flap. I measured 3" from the bottom of the flap up.
6.with the paper taped to the flap, mark the flap with a marker using the paper as a guide. You'll end up with a nice curved line 3" above the bottom of the flap that exactly matches the curved portion of each flap
7. I used a dremel with a cutoff disc to follow the marked line on the flap
8. 3" of flap was removed and the flap still maintained the original curve at the bottom
9. remove excess pieces of rubber from the flap with fingers/file
10. I placed my truck on ramps to make access easier

[mvega1969]

Great... just what we were looking to make this piece of junk to wrok properly, BUT I will be honest I will not do this one until I heard back from Toyota or after my 36,000 miles or 3 years of ownership... if they last if not I will request a free replacement.

[piercedtiger]

I just took mine off since the damn things break too easy, and tore a section of the fender out when one snapped off.

I'll only put flexible rubber ones back on if I want them. The stock ones don't flex enough to not shatter if they hit something. Not sure if 3" would've saved mine, but it can't hurt. They're so damn low in stock form.

[mvega1969]

Under warranty... did you requested a replacement? ... at the end everything it is covered... before 36K or 3yrs

[piercedtiger]

Originally Posted by mvega1969

Under warranty... did you requested a replacement? ... at the end everything it is covered... before 36K or 3yrs

Why? The damn things would just break off again. Would they replace my front-passenger fender as well to replace the plastic ripped out by the flap mounting bolts? Not that it matters now... I'm out of bumper to bumper warranty. Just curious though.

[mvega1969]

Well yes they will cover all before the 36K or 3yrs, and getting a replacement at least will work for a "BRAND NEW" sale at ebay.

[Drew793]

Originally Posted by piercedtiger

Edit:EZDown tailgate strut available for '05+ Tacomas - Toyota Forums :: Toyota Nation

Negative posts start around #55 as people actually get it installed and see how it really works.

I installed this strut on my 2008 Tacoma. It works great and I love it. Installation required me to drill out the bolt in the tailgate, go to Lowes and buy a metric flat head bolt to replace it and a trip to Napa for a metric tap to clean up the threads. The OEM bolt has thread lock on it and was very difficult to remove,,, especially with a Torx drive (it stripped and would budge the bolt).

Nice mod once it's all done though. Ends that annoying slam of the tailgate if you let it go accidentally.

[piercedtiger]

I end up using an impact and torx socket bit to remove any torx bolts on the truck now... Breaks the thread locker loose.

[piercedtiger]

This mod is similar to Alternating Turn Signal/Side Markers (#27), but doesn't use relays!

From what I can tell the side markers blink with the turn signals when they are off, and opposite of the turn signals when the parking lights are turned on. I'm not sure yet as I haven't done it yet. Will post up after I try it.

Parts:

• 2 pieces of wire
• 2 butt connectors
• 2 quick splices
• shrink tube, electrical tape, etc

Just cut the black/white wire on the side marker and splice it into the Red/black on left. For the right cut the black/white and splice to red/yellow.

Like this:


If you did the DTRL mod (#6) the the wiring will look something like this:



Green wire goes to empty hole on turn signal plug, and the white/black wire from the markers go to the appropriate red/yellow or red/black wire on the turn signal (cut, not splice the white/black one).

Original thread here:
Another way to get side-markers to blink? - Toyota Forums :: Toyota Nation
Thanks to Jungleman for trying it, and others for their contributions!

Edit:

Running Lights on-alternating, Running lights off-synchronized.

[piercedtiger]

I did the alternating turn signal mod above today.

Some actual pics of the mod, and a video of it in action.

White/black wire spliced to red/black on driver side. Same setup for passenger with red/yellow wire. White/black wire was long enough to not need extra wire so I just cut both, stripped the 3 ends, and shrink tubed them after twisting together. I also applied a layer of liquid tape just to help weather proof them. Damn salt around here has a way of getting in connectors, shrink tube, electrical tape, etc and corroding the wires.

Turn signal plug (red wire for DTRL mod)

Wire's spliced together:




Video: (passenger side just DTRL mod, driver side with mod)

[piercedtiger]

Originally Posted by phantom

looks good !

Thanks! It's pretty cool! And free! Just swap a couple wires.

[jungleman]

Don`t thank me I`ll try anything once.....

If anyone deserves the credit it`s jeddak for posting up this link to Daniel Stern to begin with
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/t...rkerflash.html

I don`t know why, but when I looked at that and the way he explained it something clicked in my head like a light bulb.

I`ve been over and over the diagrams and just never saw it for what it was I guess.
But then I never considered the alternating configuration of the system either. Every time I came back to that as a solution I immediately wrote it off as either a blown fuse or a blown bulb

"That`ll never work"
Let that be a lesson to me

Never say "it can`t be done"

Speaking of which
I just had another brilliant idea.....
wait
lost it


it involved something to do with having an armload of gear, walking up to my locked truck to put the gear in the passenger side, hitting the remote button once and then dropping the remote, something to do with wiring the pass. side door lock/unlock mechanism through the drivers side motor eliminating the need to push the button twice.......hmmmmmmm

[piercedtiger]

Have to look at the electrical schematics. I wonder if you could find the wire that unlocks the driver door via remote, the wire that unlocks the rest via remote, and tie them together. Or swap the wire from passenger doors to the driver door one. I'm assuming, of course, that there's 2 wires. One that sends signal with 1 push, and another that sends after 2......

[BulletToothTony]

Hey nice work as usual, on the video it looks like the passenger side running light is not working. Did something go wrong?

[jungleman]

Originally Posted by piercedtiger

Have to look at the electrical schematics. I wonder if you could find the wire that unlocks the driver door via remote, the wire that unlocks the rest via remote, and tie them together. Or swap the wire from passenger doors to the driver door one. I'm assuming, of course, that there's 2 wires. One that sends signal with 1 push, and another that sends after 2......

The unlock "shares" the same power wire to both motors. The drivers side powers up on the first push, pass on the second. But the same wires carry power at the same time when using any switch other than the drivers side door key switch which is set up the same way as the remote.

But that is exactly what I was thinking.

If you take the unlock power from the drivers side motor and disconnect the power to the pass side motor then hook up the drivers side unlock power to the pass side motor it works.

Splice into the blue with black/stripe wire on the drivers side motor and run it over to the pass side then cut the blue with black/stripe wire to the pass motor and attach the one from the drivers side to the motor side of the one you cut on the pass side and there you go.

[lsocoee]

It's late and I'm a little off. What are y'all trying to do? If you're trying to open all the doors with 1 remote press, then why couldn't you grab the power from the driver door solenoid and pass it on over to the driver's side unlock switch. That would keep the wire runs to a minimum.

[piercedtiger]

Maybe it's too damn early in the morning and I need more sleep, but I can't figure out wtf you're saying Anthony without pictures.....

Lemme wake up and think about it some more.

[jungleman]

Originally Posted by lsocoee

It's late and I'm a little off. What are y'all trying to do? If you're trying to open all the doors with 1 remote press, then why couldn't you grab the power from the driver door solenoid and pass it on over to the driver's side unlock switch. That would keep the wire runs to a minimum.

I`m open to suggestions......
please
go on.
where would the driver door solenoid be?

[piercedtiger]

Had to update my pin switch setup. Not only did the bumpers move twice, but the pin switch (which I thought was tight) had be pushed further into the hole. So I tightened it down more before added the spacer, and applying some hot melt glue to the plastic bumper on the hood for more surface are to contact the switch.

Another picture of the switch with spacer:

[jungleman]

Hmmmmmmmm
pin switch activated engine compartment light
a