geekhouse23's "LIFE'S WAITING TO BEGIN" Overland & Home build and all the Adventures in between!

Already on my list. I have been speaking with @ETXTacoma about his limb riser system he fabbed up and he recommended them to me. They are on my Christmas list

You won't be disappointed!

 

Yea... the thing I still have not done anything else on...

meeeeeh I have not even been able to build my workbench yet.

 

Dislike. Sorry man. Earning max #EAF points here. I am still stoked for your brackets though. DEFINITELY a great option.

 

Well that is good to know!

Soon...




Ish?

 

Happy Thanksgiving's Eve everyone! This is, by far, my favorite holiday. Family gathered, being thankful for what we have and no gifts to worry about; just family, good food and being together.

Anyways, Friday is going to be VERY busy:

1) Early morning oil and diff fluid change at the dealership. I made sure to schedule the appointment at the dealership that wants to buy Caitlyn..bad..

2) After that, I have to pick up an air filter and run a few other personal errands.

3) In the afternoon, I am going to put Caitlyn up on jackstands, remove the wheels, degrease and powerwash her undercarriage, let it dry, replace the air filter, fluid film everything I can, rotate the tires then try and wash her. Would like to wash and wax, but we will see how tired (lazy) I am.

Also, I ordered an OEM replacement trailer light wiring harness last Saturday that should be arriving Friday as well. Holy shit!

Never. Again. Never again will I trim the OEM harness mounting points again. Live and learn. Should be ready to go for the HC Pelfreybilt rear bumper. I just hope I can sell my factory rear bumper and make back the money I dropped on that harness.

Saturday I am going to work on those limb riser brackets and finish up anything I did not get done the day before.

I hope everyone has a happy and safe Thanksgiving!!

 

I managed to get $150 for my chrome bumper and the factory receiver hitch. Took a while and a few no shows with a Craigslist ad.

Have a happy Thanksgiving. Family is the most important thing in life. Enjoy your time with em

 

I am hoping to at least get that with the reverse lights and OEM trailer harness.

Thank you same to you!

 

Early morning at the dealership

This was a bad idea..necessary, but boy am I tired..

They are taking care of the oil change, air filter since I kept the stock box, and changing out the front and rear diff fluids. Giving them all the money today:

 

Getting old sucks...I am beat from this weekend. Friday was so much running around and getting things done on Caitlyn that I physically hurt on Saturday morning and could barely move.

Toyota in the morning (7:30am appointment) took 2 hours with the truck and they ended up having to charge me to remove the front skid plate to change the diff fluid. Pretty upset but the assistant manager recognized me from IG and a badlands trip (he recently sold his modded 4Runner so he and the wife could work towards paying for a house) so he gave me a discount on having to drop the skid. Lesosm learned though I will NEVER pull into a dealership (at least that one) with skids on. I swear another dealership took off the skid for an oil change and didn't charge me. Another 30 minutes shaking hands with the employees, taking pics and sharing some inspiration with mods I've done and I was out of there.

After that I got my 2 hour gym sesh in at the local gym.

Next, I went home and started working on the rig so I didn't lose daylight or the high temps. It was about 60 degrees out after it was all said and done (no clouds in the sky and about noon-ish when I started) and I was working in shorts and a t-shirt. Perfect weather and I really lucked out. I started with degreasing the frame and belly of the beast, let it sit for 15-20 minutes then power washed away all the crap. Then I let that dry. While it was drying I foamed and cleaned the bay. With the frame mostly dry, I started to fluid film EVERYTHING. I'm happy with the results having never fluid filmed the truck before. Frame looks new! After everything was done, I rotated the tires myself which is getting to be a bitch. 285/75/16's at 35 psi on steel wheels are no joke. I can't imagine 35's or 37's without going alloy wheels. By the last one I was done. Mind you I am 28 years old, 200lbs of muscle at maybe 12% BF and lift 6 days a week sometimes twice a day.

Once that was all done and the truck was back on the ground under her own weight, it took everything in me not to call it a day. But since I had the daylight and the temp was well above freezing, I gave her a full wash top to bottom but no wax I was beat as it was and it was another 25-35 minutes of washing everything. I cleaned everything up pulled the truck around and passed out for what felt like 6 hours but sadly was only about an hour before the wife picked me up after she got off work to go Black Friday shopping. Let's just say I slept for a good 10 hours that night and I was out cold.

Here are the only pics I have from Friday:







Next up is as follows:

- finalize the limb riser brackets.

- work out a day to get the headlight hoops done by the brother-in-law's buddy. I picked up some Rust-Oleum satin black for the hoops.

- wait on Tyler at Pelfreybilt to finish Pete's (LoadedTaco) new bumper so I can get Pete's old, new to me bumper.

Excited for what's to come!!

 

Try this shit at 60 years old..... On. GOOD day I feel like I've been beat with a shovel.

Rotated tires and waxed the truck when I got home. Need pain meds now.

Keep pushing. Once you give in, you're done.

 

Isn't that what having kids are for?

 

So back in August, see above, my lifetime LED driver-side light took a shit on me and I was sent some replacements. Being the lazy sack of shit that I am, I swapped the bulb ONLY and not the base part that locks into the headlight via the spring. This caused the bulb to shine in people's eyes. I would not really get flashed, except once, but I could definitely notice it whenever I would have someone pass me in the opposing lane. Well, this past Saturday night while out with friends, I was able to pull the front end up against a brick wall to see just how bad it was. It was about a foot to a foot and a half off!! Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures of it, but it was REALLY bad. It was to the point where I didn't even want to drive at night.

Anyways, last night I decided to fix the problem. The driver-side headlight bulb was aimed up into the trees and basically up into someone's second story windows! Again, no picture before but I was just comparing, mentally, a before and after for myself.

Here is what I mean:

OLD Design:


The bulb kind of only sat one way and you were limited to the adjustments inside the headlight housing. When I got the BHLM done, they were out of the truck and easy to put in. I kept the old black base in the truck since I was in a hurry (mostly lazy) to actually see what the difference was between old and new.

NEW Design:



For the new design, that little silver ball slides in a channel and you can spin the base 360 degrees to adjust to your liking. After removing the grille, headlight, bulbs etc., slicing my knuckles open 6 ways from Sunday, I got everything replaced and buttoned back up in about 20 minutes. After testing everything from the mental 'before' pic, this should fix the issues I was having.

Kind of a boring update, I know, but I just thought I would share my fails as well



Onwards with the list!

- finalize the limb riser brackets.

- work out a day to get the headlight hoops done by the brother-in-law's buddy. I picked up some Rust-Oleum satin black for the hoops.

- wait on Tyler at Pelfreybilt to finish Pete's (LoadedTaco) new bumper so I can get Pete's old, new to me bumper.

 

Why so far away @duvinclunk ???



https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/bedslide-classic-1000-for-short-bed.522143/

 

Road trip!

 

RIGHT?!

You should DEFINITELY come to me

 

I'll tell you what...I'll drive 2 hours in any direction if you want it.

 

Hmmm...tempting. The trip will go from 21 hours to 19..winning!!

 

Another beautiful day out today here in the Midwest! 60 degrees and sunny in December! I was able to get out on the bike for a little while today!! Won't be long now before the temps dip and old man winter really hits!!

Got the limb riser brackets fabbed up today. Scrubbed the original idea and I think, with the help of @G.T., these should work out great!

I traced the tubing onto a stencil to use for the aluminum to get the radius just right. Excuse the crudeness of the brackets but I only have basic tools to do this; an angle grinder with cutoff wheels and flap disks, a dremel and some files



Fits nice and tight! (That's what she said )



I might clean them up a bit more but I think they will work just fine. I'm waiting to see if I get the new turnbuckles I want for Christmas, otherwise I will have to order them and then Fab up new, thinner limb riser cables. I also followed up with the brother-in-law to see when his buddy would be available. Turns out he does a lot of work out west so he is gone until this coming Tuesday. Hopefully next week we can work out a day for this coming weekend to get everything done. Otherwise, there is a meetup at an offroad park about an hour away or a chrome and coffee event in the burbs I can hit. Decisions, decisions

 

Lots of different and functional options out there. I just think that those turnbuckles make for the cleanest arrangement with the tab easy to get to yet not protruding too far out

 

I agree. I love how clean it looks. Can't wait to get this all finished up! Thanks for the pics and the input!