What Have You Done To Your 3rd Gen Today?

O&F change last week @ ~36k. Motul "Eco-Lite" 0w-20 out after ~8k miles of what I guess manual would call "severe duty" (No towing or real off-roading, but lots of highway, full throttle acceleration, stop & go, and a/c on full blast most of the time)

For your edification. Attached is a Blackstone Labs UOA; Sample dated 8/25 (FYI the sample dated 3/25 is a Virgin Oil Analysis of the exact same oil to see the before and after. Earlier samples were from GTMO)

My goal was to see how the Motul compared to TGMO. A few $ + or - is not really a big deal and I'm open to trying something new next go around. What do you think?

 

Not with the stock inverter. I have seen a secondary inverter that you can install that puts out higher watts. It requires a second battery. A lot of the guys that have RTT's or overland have that setup.

 

Those might have the most aggressive tread I've ever seen haha

 

Those look awesome! How do they compare to the stock Goodyears? (Noise, vibration, MPG) Do you do a-lot of highway? Stock Goodyears are 70's and these are 75's? I wonder if these come in that "Pizza Cutter" size, I kinda want to go one size skinnier and taller but can't afford any loss in MPG/ decrease in life or increase in noise/vibration...

 

Twin turbos!

 

Added racks to the top of my truck finally. The stock rack I added about 6 months ago but the canopy rack I did last week before a road trip that needed my Yakima Skybox for.

The Snugtop GB Sport canopy is tapered and has so many curves that it took me about 2 days to get the measurements perfect before drilling into my shiny finish. I’ll get pics of the rack without the Skybox soon. I only had pics from my trip.

I learned after drilling that when the molds are made for canopies, the cores are not set perfectly centered. ‍♂️ But was able to use some Aluminum Angle Bar and reinforced the holes that missed the core. My goal was to line up the canopy rails with the cab rails. I love the way it looks and it tested fine passing at up 90 mph on one occasion and doesn’t leak!

I used Adventura rails because I liked the look better than a track system. They’re rated to 75 lbs on there own but bump up to to 225lb with the Yakima cross bars added. I don’t plan on carrying a roof tent or other excess gear up there so the 150 max Skybox rating is perfect.

What do you all think?





Here are pics of the original setup without racks. Personally I like the rack look better.

 

That graphic on the shell really helps.

 

I forgot to answer your other questions.

I paid $311 with an eBay coupon.
The high beam has a decent throw down the road. As far as the low beam, they appear to be on par with the stock housings output. Not as good of a cutoff pattern though. For the price and how aggressive they look, I’m happy with my purchase.

 

Once again, thanks to my buddy @LawTaco for providing his well lit garage, couple of beers and a helping hand last night as it got to dark out in my driveway to install these bitchen clazzio seat covers.

These things look, feel and fit amazing!!

 

Installed a Rhino Rack Pioneer Platform

 

i like those, were did you find them?

 

Changed out my SR5 Grill this morning... Still with genuine Toyota parts. (Wooooo, Pig! Sooooie!)

 

That looks so much better! I thought I was the only one who liked the Sport grill.

 

Only about 25 miles deep into them so far, so I'll have to report back on MPG and highway manners. I'll be putting 120 highway miles on them today. Did the same drive last Sat on the Goodyears and was able to achieve 22.5 MPG according to the dash. We'll see what it reads tonight.

As for first impressions; I've been pleasantly surprised so far. I expected much more road noise going with an aggressive M/T. They are definitely louder than the stock A/T's but it's nothing my differential can't drown out Was also concerned with the weight. These tires are ~56lb's per tire compared to ~42 with the Goodyears. I felt the difference but after the initial back-to-back drive, the acceleration doesn't seem to have taken much of a hit. Keep in mind I've got a manual with the different gearing, so that could explain why the weight difference seems negligible.

Snapped a couple more pics. They are 75's vs the stock 70's, so 1" taller. They do appear more narrow despite being the same width due to a straighter sidewall and knobby treads.

 

Removed factory OR decals installed new ones and a reflective USA flag. Nest is my leveling lift!

 

Holy crap. My neighbor is selling a 30yo 1600sqft subdivision house that hasn't really been updated much on a roughly 1/8 acre lot for $295k and she'll get it. I bought my house a couple of years ago for a bit less and it had everything in it brand new. Bigger lot, newer house, brand new everything, granite countertops, etc.

I'm not even in the "expensive" part of the west coast.

 

If 316 denotes the alloy of stainless then it is in fact totally corrosion resistant (the navy would require very strict salt spray and saltwater immersion requirements) but it's got horrid tensile strength compared to ferrous alloys which corrode and thus, must be CAD plated or something else. So it entirely depends on your application. You'd never want a 316 stainless bolt in your suspension for instance.

 

Right, any stainless is comparable to a steel Grade 2 bolt. I think stainless would be just fine for bed stiffeners, though.

 

I wish every bolt in my vehicle was 304 or 316 stainless but that would add a ton of build costs. Stainless is the best grade of steel for nearly any application. Most hardware on navy vessels, if not cad or zinc plated steel, are either passivated stainless, nickel copper or nickel copper aluminum so they can stretch/elongate and retain their tensile strength. Particularly true on submarines where hull plates constantly shrink and expand under severe pressures under water.
FWIW it is my job to make sure vendors adhere to specifications for materials on Navy vessels. I read contracts 75% of every day at work. That includes reviewing chemical and mechanical properties from lab test reports.

 

That's awesome! I know Fastenal has a manufacturing arm in Texas that exclusively makes Mil-Spec and aviation fasteners. I don't deal with that sort of thing myself, but it makes up about 10% of our overall business.