TacoSTIG: PNW MT Build

Makes sense then. I know when i emailed ECGS asking about the ARB locker and explaining what i do they actually recommended against and said just stick with the e-locker. But im not doing heavy off roading or anything. Well they said i wouldnt notice a difference performance wise.

I have no doubt the ARB is a better and tougher setup. Still heard of a couple of em breaking but thats to be expected under heavy stress/improper use.

 

Spent a few hours digging around ancient tw threads and reached the consensus that I'm not giving the diff enough locked love. Some guys routinely cycle the systems 4hi, 4lo, eLocker every other week. After doing this it's possible to get the elocker to engage at a stand still. It makes some sense that this is one of those 'use it or lose it' items as gunk builds up and things seize. Thinking back to the day I purchased the truck it took about 15mins just to get it in 4. The elderly couple I bought it from said " we never touched those knobs and gizmos". Now it's like butter after using it most weekends.

With all that said, I'll see how things go over this next month. If the system behaves in a more predictable fashion I'll lean on saving the $ and keeping it.

 

This is why I got one of these for a steal for my elocker

 

Nice! who makes that one?

 

I try to engage my locker at least once a month and it seems to help. The past few times I didn't have to move at all before it clicked in. I think there is a lot of truth to this.

 

Same with just regular 4x4. I got my truck from my uncle who lived in Nevada, used 4x4 maybe a few times a year, only in winter.. When I got it it took for ever to shift and now its been getting a lot quicker.

 

Changing the rear diff fluid helps with if you havent been engaging the 4x4. Im not sure if itll help with the locker but i know it helped my brother with his 4x4 that had been used maybe a handful of times on his 2002 suburban. Was sluggish and slow to engage, changed out the fluid and although still a bit slow it was a lot smooth.

 

DIY Satoshi Grille, here goes nothing.


I caused myself a few days of extra work being careless at this stage.

First time using fiberglass... holy hell this stuff is messy. I would have saved myself another few days of work if I braced the side to reduce fiberglass/resin warping.

First time using bondo, this is my third pass... lots of scrapped work while learning what not to do.

Another week of trial and error got me here.

Two weeks into the project and the primer is laying smooth as silk. No pinholes or flow deviations.

This = happiness.

Okay, it's not all rainbows over here. There's a few deviations in the upper edge but no worries they'll be hidden under rubber trim in the end.

Tried 3 different paints and finally settled on 4 coats of wetsanded Rustoleum Satin. Ended up going with a lightly textured look to contrast the smooth grille powdercoat.

Picked these awesome ziptie anchors from @Swank awhile back. They worked great, but the adhesive backing wasn't enough so I epoxy'd them down. Teaser of the mesh!

The moment I've been waiting for, assembled, waxed, and ready for install.

Success! (the lower edge looks warped but it just needed to be nudged to sit straight)


With all said and done this was no simple task and at many times I thought I was going to trash it. What you don't see is resin dripping over the blue paint, me frantically running in circles to dissolve it before it ruined everything, hours and hours of sanding, coats of fiberglass, resin, filler, primer, filler, more primer, then cutting everything off and restarting... I learned a shit ton and bow down to @HomerTaco more than ever.

Special thanks to @SMKYTXN and @DBCustomzFab for the custom order support.

 

Damn Jeremy! That turned out amazing. I had no idea you were planning on recessing the grille.

Congrats on thinking outside the box.

 

That grille is sick!

 

Nice job.

It's a great feeling when you make one yourself & finally put it on the truck isn't it?

 

Holy crap that grille came out looking awesome!!! I love it.

 

Thanks Nathan, I lucked out the hardware bolt holes fell outside the lip. Figured if it didn't work out I'd sell it for cost but I'll be keeping this one. Thanks again for all the help.

Thanks bro!

No kidding, it sure feels good to start and finish something. If this didn't work I was going to jump in line for one of your masterpieces, thanks Craig.

Thanks Ryan, I'm stoked on it.

Now to cut fenders for the MTR's!

 

Killer bro!

 

Jeremy, the grill looks awesome!! You should do a write up when you do the fenders. I see a few that don't really go into much detail. I would love to see how you do it and the process you use for clarity on how to do this.

 

congrats on the grill man! Now good luck fitting your new shoes on

 

Thanks man!

Thanks Ryan and no problem! I'm still unsure what route to go. It's a toss up between buying some unpainted base model flares, experiment with the bushwacker replicas I picked up from @MattScatt28, or chop my blue ones up. I expect this will take me awhile so I'll run without flares until I figure it out.

Appreciate it man! Haha yeah I have a laundry list of work cut out for me.

 

if you ever want to sell them back to me i will buy them!! haha

 

Cool man, yeah you can have them back. I'm not a huge fan of the textured finish and thought about sanding them down. To save time I'd rather just buy another set that's already smooth. Let me know when you want them and we'll meet up.

 

pm sent