Fishfinder's build but mostly maintenance log

fishfinder · May 18, 2017

Jack0928 said: ↑

Don't know why it took me this long to find this, but loving the build and the lifestyle pictures. Sub'd
Click to expand...

Thanks!

fishfinder · May 18, 2017

Here's the plan:

100 watt Renogy panel connected to a Renogy Wanderer charge controller with 10 gauge wire
Charge controller wired to AGM house battery behind back passenger seat with 10 gauge wire
ML-ACR wired to house+cranking battery with 1/0 gauge wire to link when charging
1/0 gauge wire between batteries and relay
150 amp fuses in line on positive wires

Going to run fridge, lights, radio, and other accessories off house battery, and only use the cranking battery for the winch and starter.

Chances are most of you know more than me about electronics, solar, etc., so I'd love to hear your thoughts/opinions on this setup.

fishfinder · May 31, 2017

Phase one of the dual battery setup is complete!

Now to wire up the solar panel, and clean up the wires a bit

SixthSnail · May 31, 2017

fishfinder[OP] said: ↑

Phase one of the dual battery setup is complete!

Now to wire up the solar panel, and clean up the wires a bit

Click to expand...

SO jealous

fishfinder · May 31, 2017

Also found a spot to route the cables for the prinsu-mounted solar panel without having to drill through my roof! Turns out there's a little indent under the rear window that had just enough space to pop out a couple holes in the weather stripping and route both wires through.

fishfinder · Jun 1, 2017

Final product! At least for now...

fishfinder · Jun 22, 2017

Well, I disassembled my front suspension today to grease my LCA bushings and clean things up in there, and my tie rod puller did this to my tie rod end:

I thought while cranking that this was harder than normal... Gonna try out the autozone replacement with the zerk fitting

anthony250f · Jun 22, 2017

fishfinder[OP] said: ↑

Well, I disassembled my front suspension today to grease my LCA bushings and clean things up in there, and my tie rod puller did this to my tie rod end:

I thought while cranking that this was harder than normal... Gonna try out the autozone replacement with the zerk fitting
Click to expand...

I have the moog ones...yeah that's odd. Mine come out with like half a turn on the puller

fishfinder · Jun 22, 2017

anthony250f said: ↑

I have the moog ones...yeah that's odd. Mine come out with like half a turn on the puller
Click to expand...

It has been a while since I removed them, forgot how easy it should be... Stupid mistake but the cheaper replacements seem solid.

fishfinder · Jun 22, 2017

Cleaned, greased, and replaced the busted tie rod end. Got an extra as well in case it happens on the trail

fishfinder · Jul 13, 2017

Some photos from a recent trip out to CO, UT, and AZ, no particular order

Secret Lake at 12k feet, CO

Boulder Mountain, UT

Lake Mead

Very happy with the performance of the solar collector and the second battery, even partially shaded at times. Fridge stayed at 36 even in 110+ heat, house battery never dropped below 12.75. Only thing I noticed is climbing the steep grades in the rockies my transmission breather spat out a bit of fluid, but my AT TEMP light never came on, so I need to figure out if it was overfilled, or if it blew off some pressure due to heat build up. Planning to do a full flush and refill this weekend.

fishfinder · Jul 13, 2017

inv3ctiv3 said: ↑

Def get a scangauge and monitor those tranny temps on climbs like that! Trip looked fun!
Click to expand...

I've been putting that off too long...

tacot0wn · Jul 13, 2017

sick build. subd

anthony250f · Jul 13, 2017

inv3ctiv3 said: ↑

Yea I did too but with the 35's I had to do it, tranny light doesn't come on till 305 if I recall which at that point you're seriously damaging the tranny so I monitor to make sure it doesn't go above 220-240 which is still really hot. I got a big derale tranny cooler I'm putting in this week to help.
Click to expand...

Hate that my UG doesn't read tranny.

Went off-roading today and my engine temp got up to 206

Also I didn't rub anything with full flex

fishfinder · Jul 14, 2017

tacot0wn said: ↑

sick build. subd
Click to expand...

Thanks!

fishfinder · Jul 14, 2017

inv3ctiv3 said: ↑

Yea I did too but with the 35's I had to do it, tranny light doesn't come on till 305 if I recall which at that point you're seriously damaging the tranny so I monitor to make sure it doesn't go above 220-240 which is still really hot. I got a big derale tranny cooler I'm putting in this week to help.
Click to expand...

Good idea. I'm going to flush my tranny this weekend and replace with some better fluid. My wife says no more truck parts until we buy a house, but a scanguage might sneak past her...

fishfinder · Jul 17, 2017

mountain lion said: ↑

I did a full flush on my automatic transmission (06 V6 TRD Sport 2wd without towing package) today [45.1k miles]. I haven't seen any detailed DIY write up's on the process so here it goes (feel free to make sticky):

Overall it's very easy to do and not much more complicated than the standard ~3qt drain/fill. The process if you have the tow package is essentially the same, except your ATF cooling lines will be going to a small oil cooler vs going to the radiator. If you have a 4x4, the transmissions will look different than my pictures, but this may still help to guide you through the process.

Outside of having access to a flush machine, this is the next best thing – and free except fluid costs. A very small amount of original fluid does get mixed in, but it’s negligible. Without dropping the pan and attaching a special machine to the actual ATF pump, this works just as well as a standard flush machine. There is a metal screen (not a true filter) in the pan, but from everything posted prior, it’s not necessary to drop the pan and clean it this early – 100k miles or longer is fine.

*Supplies needed:
4.0L V6 w/ Automatic Transmission
1. 13+ quarts of Toyota WS ATF fluid (Amsoil ATL or RedLine D6 are also compatible and fine to use [I bought 15 and used 14 quarts of Amsoil ATL])
2. 2 crush washers from dealer (part #:

$7 35178-30010

35178-30010 ) (you can probably get away with reusing the originals, but they're only $2 new)
3. 5mm hex socket, 14mm socket, 12mm socket, 24mm socket and ratchet
4. Gear lube pump
5. Graduated bucket + milk jug (or the like) to collect old fluid
6. 16ga or thinner wire
7. Torque wrench
8. Pliers
9. Nitril/latex gloves
10. Plenty of paper towels

**Service Specs:

A750E/F Automatic Transmission Dry Fill = 10.9 liter / 11.5 US qts Toyota ATF WS
Drain plug torque: 28 N*m (21 ft.*lbf)
Overflow plug torque: 20 N*m (15 ft.*lbf)
Refill plug torque: 39 N*m (29 ft.*lbf)

***Service (drain) the fluid below 86 *F (i.e. cold)

Step 1: Loosen the fill plug (24mm - WS is stamped in the middle of it) on passenger side of transmission near the drive shaft, you can remove it or leave it in finger tight for now. The rubber o-ring can be reused here - take care not to damage it.

Step 2: Remove the drain plug (14mm) on the bottom of the transmission pan and be prepared to catch any fluid that comes out w/ your graduated bucket. Allow all fluid to come out, if your fluid is cold you should get about 3 quarts. You can rock the truck once it stops draining and get quite a bit more out, but this isn't necessary. Once the fluid has stopped draining, replace the 14mm plug w/ the new crush washer and tighten with torque wrench to 21 ft.*lb.

At this point you've drained about 3 qts, but take note of the precise amount you get.

Step 3: Remove the fill plug you loosened earlier - it's time to add an equal amount of new fluid that was removed from the drain plug. Route your oil pump hose into the fill hole and secure it. Pump in the proper amount. I added 3 qts. Once finished, remove the pump hose from the fill plug, you can leave the fill plug bolt out.

Step 4: Remove your skid plate if you have one. There are 4 bolts (12mm socket) securing it. This makes access for the next step substantially easier and will save you time.

Step 5: Locate the two ATF cooler lines on the passenger side of the transmission. You will see two lines close together running towards the front of the truck. The top line is the oil cooler outlet tube (fluid returns to the transmission in this line) and the bottom line is the oil cooler inlet tube (oil is pumped out of the transmission to the radiator or tow pkg cooler). You want the outlet tube (red) - trace this line the front of the truck to the point where the metal piping ends and the rubber hose is connected with a tube clamp. You’ll see 2 metal lines at the front of the truck just under the radiator and behind the frame. The top/forward most line is your return/outlet line. It eventually ends/connects to the bottom of your radiator or to your cooler. Disconnect the passenger side rubber hose (where red arrow is). The driver's side goes to the radiator(don't disconnect). Only a few drops came out when I disconnected it, so don't expect it to pour out and make a mess.

Loosen and slide this clamp down to free the connection between the hose and the piping. I needed to use pliers to *carefully* pull the hose off as it was stuck on there pretty good). Attach the 3/8 clear tubing to the metal pipe at the connection you just removed. You may need stretch the tubing out some on the end to get it on the metal pipe easier. once firmly attached, you can route the clear tube into your bucket (or use a clear jug with quart marks lined off - I opted to use this so I could see it filling easier).

Step 6: With the tube routed into your bucket, you're ready to start the engine and allow the fluid to pump out into the bucket. It pumps out at about 1 qt every 7 seconds. I did this by myself, but had enough time to start the engine, get out and watch it fill. Do NOT rev the engine, just let it idle. I turned the engine off once ~2.5 qts had pumped out. Be sure not to allow more than 2-3 quarts to come out, you don't want the internal pump to run dry. You can also shift from Park through all the gears if you wish, though I'm not sure if it makes a difference. I did this once for the heck of it.

At this point you've flushed out over half the old fluid (~3 qts from the drain pan + another ~2.5 qts from cooler/rad lines). This will be your original fluid and should give you an idea of how dirty it is.

Step 7: Time to add more new fluid - reconnect your oil pumper to the fill hole and add in approximately what you removed in the previous step. Once the new fluid has been added, remove the pump hose again from the fill hole. Dump out the old fluid in your bucket/jug into a waste container or the empty qt. containers. It's time to repeat step 6.

You will do these two steps several times to your liking. I would recommend repeating these steps until you've added at least 9 qts (not including the original 3 from the pan [total 12]) - although you'll notice by the time you've done step 6 twice, the fluid coming out is considerably cleaner and much redder.

You could probably get away with only adding the original 3 qts and doing the steps above with 7-8 qts (total of 10-11 new qts) to save some $$ on fluid. I ended up using 14 qts total, and the last 2 qts that came out almost looked like new fluid...so a little bit of a waste and probably overkill w/ this much.

Be sure to save at least 1 quart of new fluid in case you need to add more during the check level process.

Step 8: Once you've flushed ~12 quarts or the amount of your satisfaction, remove the 3/8 clear tubing from the ATF cooler line. A few drops will come out of the metal end, but not much, so don't worry about it gushing out. Reconnect the original rubber oil cooler outlet line to the metal piping going back to the transmission and put the tube clamp back in place. Assure that the line is snug and firmly attached. Clean up any ATF that may have spilled.

Step 9: You might want to add about 1/3 qt extra when you're all finished so that you don't have to do the fluid check level more than once - just let the extra drain out to the right level. Replace the fill plug bolt to hand tight - you'll torque it down later, or if you're forgetful you can do it now (29 ft.*lb).

Step 10: At this point you should have approximately the correct amount of fluid in the AT and everything is reconnected. It's time to perform the fluid level check to ensure that the right amount of fluid is in the transmission. I will briefly go over this as a great write up has already been done by ForTech (http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/63851-how-drain-refill-automatic-transmission.html ). Do NOT use an IR thermometer - the pan reading won't be anywhere close to the internal temperature.

Cliffs notes version, but I highly suggest reading ForTech's post:

Make sure you're parked on level ground,
Start truck, shift through all gears several times to get new fluid moved all around.
Using a small wire, jump pins 4 and 13 on the ODBII port.
Start the truck, you should see a lot of your dash lights flashing.
From park, put truck in neutral for 2-3 seconds
Shift down to drive for ~1 second, enough for it to barely engage the gear then go back to neutral then back to drive after ~1 second. (repeat 3 times, total of 6 shifts).
Once back in neutral after 6th shift, you should see AT Temp in red light up for 2 seconds on the Tach face plate.
Shift back to park, you should see the AT temp light again for 2 seconds then go off. If you don't see this, you've messed up and need to do it again.
Let the truck idle until the AT temp light stays on. It's close when it starts flickering. It may take up to 20 minutes of idling to get to temp, especially in colder environments.

Step 11: With the AT Temp light on and the truck still idling, remove the check plug(5mm hex). Be mindful of the Y-pipe / exhaust as it's hot and you will burn yourself if more than lightly touched. Also have your catch bucket ready. Hopefully you've added a little more than what's needed and fluid will come out. Allow fluid to drain until it's a light/thin trickle. Add your new crush washer to the bolt and replace the bolt torquing to spec (15 ft.*lb). Turn the engine the off.

Step 12: If you had a good bit of fluid come out and are now at the proper level, torque down the refill plug(24mm / 29 ft.*lb) if you did not do so in step 9. If you did not add enough fluid - ie nothing came out - replace the check bolt, turn off the engine and then add 1/3 to 1/2 qt more new fluid into the fill plug. Go through the steps in Step 10 to the get the AT Temp sense mode back on and check the fluid again as described in step 11.

Step 13: Replace your skid plate if you removed it from step 4.

Step 14: Double check all your connections and bolts - Clean up any spilled fluid on truck.

That's it.

A few comparative pictures:
Original oil(left) / Brand new(right) [color is probably no indicator of usable life]

After 12 fresh quarts were flushed through (left)/ Brand new (right) [12qt sample was only slightly darker, but not much].

I will be sending a sample I took from the drain pan when it was hot to Blackstone to see what condition the oil was in after 45k miles. Should be a week or so and I'll append the results to affirm whether or not this early of a flush really needs to be done or not. Regardless - early/preventative maintenance is worth it to me.
Click to expand...

Flushed my tranny fluid today at 32,500 miles using the above method, came out real dark and about a quart low. Refilled with Valvoline Max Life, feels much smoother now. Thanks @mountain lion for the great write-up!

ManBeast · Jul 15, 2017

fishfinder[OP] said: ↑

It gets pretty hot if I run it for more than 10 minutes, but the clearance between the compressor and seat back plastic is about 3 inches when closed, so it should be fine.
Click to expand...

Attwood brand 12v hi volume fans on a switch, i keep my audio amps cool with them. Or atleast i plan too

fishfinder · Jul 15, 2017

ManBeast said: ↑

Attwood brand 12v hi volume fans on a switch, i keep my audio amps cool with them. Or atleast i plan too
Click to expand...

Took out the seat about a year ago and replaced it with a thin piece of composite, no more heat worries, thanks though

ManBeast · Jul 16, 2017

fishfinder[OP] said: ↑

Took out the seat about a year ago and replaced it with a thin piece of composite, no more heat worries, thanks though
Click to expand...

Figured i was late to the party but wanted to give some input, nice truck btw

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Fishfinder's build but mostly maintenance log

#481
fishfinder [OP] Whoever dies with the most toys wins

#482
fishfinder [OP] Whoever dies with the most toys wins

#483
fishfinder [OP] Whoever dies with the most toys wins

#484
SixthSnail I have no idea what I'm doing

#485
fishfinder [OP] Whoever dies with the most toys wins

#486
fishfinder [OP] Whoever dies with the most toys wins

#487
fishfinder [OP] Whoever dies with the most toys wins

#488
anthony250f Well-Known Member

#489
fishfinder [OP] Whoever dies with the most toys wins

#490
fishfinder [OP] Whoever dies with the most toys wins

#491
fishfinder [OP] Whoever dies with the most toys wins

#492
fishfinder [OP] Whoever dies with the most toys wins

#493
tacot0wn Mia San Mia

#494
anthony250f Well-Known Member

#495
fishfinder [OP] Whoever dies with the most toys wins

#496
fishfinder [OP] Whoever dies with the most toys wins

#497
fishfinder [OP] Whoever dies with the most toys wins

#498
ManBeast Well Feared Member

#499
fishfinder [OP] Whoever dies with the most toys wins

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ManBeast Well Feared Member

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Fishfinder's build but mostly maintenance log

#481 fishfinder [OP] Whoever dies with the most toys wins

#482 fishfinder [OP] Whoever dies with the most toys wins

#483 fishfinder [OP] Whoever dies with the most toys wins

#484 SixthSnail I have no idea what I'm doing

#485 fishfinder [OP] Whoever dies with the most toys wins

#486 fishfinder [OP] Whoever dies with the most toys wins

#487 fishfinder [OP] Whoever dies with the most toys wins

#488 anthony250f Well-Known Member

#489 fishfinder [OP] Whoever dies with the most toys wins

#490 fishfinder [OP] Whoever dies with the most toys wins

#491 fishfinder [OP] Whoever dies with the most toys wins

#492 fishfinder [OP] Whoever dies with the most toys wins

#493 tacot0wn Mia San Mia

#494 anthony250f Well-Known Member

#495 fishfinder [OP] Whoever dies with the most toys wins

#496 fishfinder [OP] Whoever dies with the most toys wins

#497 fishfinder [OP] Whoever dies with the most toys wins

#498 ManBeast Well Feared Member

#499 fishfinder [OP] Whoever dies with the most toys wins

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Products Discussed in Entire Site Forum: 2nd Gen. Builds (2005-2015) Thread: Fishfinder's build but mostly maintenance log

#481
fishfinder [OP] Whoever dies with the most toys wins

#482
fishfinder [OP] Whoever dies with the most toys wins

#483
fishfinder [OP] Whoever dies with the most toys wins

#484
SixthSnail I have no idea what I'm doing

#485
fishfinder [OP] Whoever dies with the most toys wins

#486
fishfinder [OP] Whoever dies with the most toys wins

#487
fishfinder [OP] Whoever dies with the most toys wins

#488
anthony250f Well-Known Member

#489
fishfinder [OP] Whoever dies with the most toys wins

#490
fishfinder [OP] Whoever dies with the most toys wins

#491
fishfinder [OP] Whoever dies with the most toys wins

#492
fishfinder [OP] Whoever dies with the most toys wins

#493
tacot0wn Mia San Mia

#494
anthony250f Well-Known Member

#495
fishfinder [OP] Whoever dies with the most toys wins

#496
fishfinder [OP] Whoever dies with the most toys wins

#497
fishfinder [OP] Whoever dies with the most toys wins

#498
ManBeast Well Feared Member

#499
fishfinder [OP] Whoever dies with the most toys wins

#500
ManBeast Well Feared Member

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