Back to basics 2014 CCSB

I mean...i'm sort of shooting to make my crawler obsolete and sell it, as well as my camper, maybe even my trailer.....so I can buy a crappy little sports car again haha. Or more likely, whatever my wife tells me we need to spend my money on...

I'm debating a skid here at some point, but the sliders were number 1, to keep rockers intact. I didn't really see a need for the front bumper this trip, so it's likely a long ways off, or until another deal pops up... I've had a taste of glamping in our camper (that's older than me), and it made me feel like I was missing out on really being camping. Being able to make breakfast in your underwear, take a shower closet shit and generally be isolated from the elements sort of takes away from it all, honestly. I want to keep it simple, so probably no RTT, but longtravel is certainly not out of the question, eventually.

I'm going to throw them on tonight for a road trip to SLO this weekend for a wedding, we'll see how they do. I know my real problem is rear springs though, I need a bit more from them. I totally forgot I have a pile of leaf springs on the side of my house, I may try to steal a leaf and try to throw it into the taco pack. I'll be selling these as soon as my Foxs come in. Being the Craigslist Connoisseur that I am, I used my skills to finagle these into the deal. We may re-valve them if they're not quite right, or just to see what their base tune vs something else, who knows. I'm quickly becoming an Accutune demo vehicle haha. When I pull em off again, you'll be first in line if you're interested.

 

Installed my corner braces and bed braces from ATH. Nice stuff. Installed my Icon rears, which involved cutting one of my old shocks off.... Then somehow conned my wife into helping paint and install my sliders in 95 deg heat yesterday. Also trimmed the body mount a little more.

 

Niceeeeee. Sliders look good...
you notice any difference with the rear shocks ?
still ride like a dump truck ?

 

Honestly...rides worse I think haha. I need to get it out in the rough stuff to see if it's better there though. I've heard some companies valve a little stiff on compression to account for a fairly soft rear spring rate, so that makes sense.

 

Solid. lol sounds like money well spent!

 

Bro...I'm so close to Riverside, I got way more street cred now just by rocking the logo. EASILY worth the money for the stares I get from highschoolers...

 

You are going to need more LED bars bud and more front lift for the highschoolers
#doitfordegan

 

My rear Foxs came in, and Accutune did their magic on them. After some head scratching on resi placement and some stubborn lower bushings, I got them in last night. The ride is already a ton better than the Icons. I'm likely going to have Accutune re-build them before I sell them off, to make sure they're fresh and put some better valving in them. Hope to have bed lights done by the end of the week in time to go on a little camping/wheeling trip up to Kernville and through the mountains.

 

Finished installing some stuff from China. Ended up finding a switch from a Hilux/Prado to work, since all those cool custom ones aren't for the lower switch holes, and the downside of the TRD-OR is that all those left switches are taken. This means that each of those switch installs has meant a full dash deconstruction (which sucks, see my last picture for frustration/panic moment). Definitely lost cool points since I have 3 shades of backlighting going on down there. Someday I'll learn... I have low expectations for the strip lights, they were dirt cheap and the sticky backing is suspect at best. Oh well, works for now. Added a pod from GG Lighting for extra overlandery-overkill (I have 3 rear facing LEDs now), and got an amber cover for those times I'm chasing for Robby Mac at the Baja 1000.

I wired the lights so that if I wanted, I could unplug the pod, or unplug the strips, depending on the situation. The wiring transitions in the corners is not the kitties titties, but it'll work. I think.

Switch:

12V ROOF LIGHTS Push switch for Toyota Hilux 2015/Prado 150 Series 2010-2014

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01IHFHSW2/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Lights:

Lepro 12V LED Strip Light, Flexible, Waterproof, SMD 2835, 16.4ft Tape Light for Christmas, Home, Kitchen and More, Daylight White（Power Adapter not Include）

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HSF66JO/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

Looking good you are ready for THE BAHA.

Kitties Titties haha


And whats the story with the bolt? extra parts ?

 

Ya...not sure which thing I didn't properly re-attach....the jenga set puzzle that is our dash makes it tough to remember what goes where, when. When I get a rattle I'll spend another 3 hours taking it apart to find out which bolt it was...

 

Jesus. Clean installs only, eh...?

 

Ya, thanks for the tip a-hole

 

Took a little weekend getaway up to the Kern River/Sequoia National Monument area for some camping and exploring. Got to use my sweet new bed lights for 5 minutes Friday night, so that was cool... Did some dirt road bombing, mild wheeling back to a campsite, and a lot of windy mountain roads. Definitely a place to return to another time. Sleeping on basic backpacking pads kinda sucks. Being kept awake from 2:30-4:30 AM by your new neighbor's banda music is also super tight. I really think I need some rear leafs, I feel like anything more than 20 lbs overloads this thing and it bottoms out over any bump. Front also really rubs/stuffs into the fender flares hard front and rear, I think I need to see what the backspacing/offset on these rims was and look into something that stuffs better...

 

Nice truck, coming along well.

 

Nice clean build!

 

Thanks for the kind words guys! It's a fun truck, just gotta get the suspension sorted so I can really have fun with it...

 

So this is cool. Somehow I'm not surprised my $9 LEDs didn't stay stuck, but didn't think it would only take a week or two...

 

This is why we don't have nice things...get some legit double sided sticky tape and you should be golden. oh and maybe a zip tie on your corner sapport.

 

I was debating a dab of super glue too, just to keep the ends attached, because that makes the rest come down. I don't really have a good way to get a zip tie on it I don't think, but I'll try. Or do nothing for 2 weeks, that's more likely...