What Have You Done To Your 3rd Gen Today?

Are you building the Coastal Offroad bumpers yourself? Those are pretty appealing, tbh. Might be a fun project.

 

Went tree cutting yesterday

 

Great shot!

 

Hood Struts? Cold winters?
Don't throw away the original support rod. Install it as back-up during winter.

"The bad news is there is possibly something new to worry about. The good news is that awareness and simple tools are enough to prevent this problem from literally striking you in the head or hands.

Pressurized gas Lift Support struts have been holding up hatches for over forty years. I replaced the lift supports that hold open the huge, heavy hatch on my '86 Mustang GT when I noticed on cold days the lift supports were unable to hold the hatch open. The pressure exerted by the gas inside a lift support gradually drops as the temperature gradually drops. A failing lift support will eventually not have enough gas pressure to hold open the hatch, especially if the temperature falls.

Pressurized gas lift supports now also commonly hold open hoods on newer cars. Many of these "newer" cars, like my youngest daughter's 2010 Hyundai Santa Fe, are old enough to have failing lift supports with low gas pressure. Unlike hatches/trunks, hood lift supports are more likely to be exposed to sudden temperature changes that may lead to quick, potentially disastrous pressure changes inside the lift supports.

For example, imagine my daughter driving around town in her Santa Fe. The car's original equipment (OE) hood lift supports have warmed to a pleasant 80 F (27 C) in the hot engine compartment. She then pulls into our garage and opens the hood so that she and I can change the spark plugs and coil-on-plug-boots. The warm gas inside the failing OE lift supports has enough pressure to hold open the hood.

However, the temperature inside the unheated garage is only 20 F (-7 C). The exposed hood lift supports immediately start cooling. The gas pressure inside the lift supports drops rapidly. About 1/2 hour into the repair, there is no longer enough gas pressure inside the failing OE lift supports, and the hood falls on my head. My daughter is anguished that her car's hood has a dent in it.

Luckily, such a hypothetical drama-in-real-life can be prevented by regularly checking to see if hood lift supports perform completely normally on the coldest of days while the engine compartment is still cold. Replace the hood lift supports if they seem weaker at extreme temperatures or otherwise perform inconsistently.

A professional mechanic is at the greatest risk because the hood on a new customer's car may not have been opened for many months. The hood lift supports may have been slowly losing gas pressure with nobody to notice.

Many professionals protect themselves, their tools and customers' vehicles by always using a Lift Support Clamp and/or Hood Prop. The lift support clamp attaches to a lift support's rod so that it cannot retract. (The lift support clamp is made of soft metals that will not mar the hardened steel rod.) Hood props are sturdy, easily adjustable sticks.

Tom Taylor,
RockAuto.com"

 

Added diode dynamics ss3 sport fogs and some Christmas lights

 

My buddy who does welding as a hobby is helping me weld them together. Definitely a fun project for sure!

 

Mine hyper flashed too in reverse and blinker on. Reached out to Meso and he sent me a pair of resistors. Problem solved.

 

Cool, let me know how you like it. I'd like to cut some weight on mine if I can.

 

Here are some photos. Covers have broke in well and fit snug. 20k miles on them and still like brand new. Minimal up keep, just vacuuming periodically.

@Tacoma~Gal

 

Ontario Plates...ever go to Wasaga Beach?

 

New bumper caps look good! Where did you get them from?

 

In my youth... But Ontario is over 1 million square kilometres. That's a bold assumption

 

That looks really nice
I definitely agree that it should come color match. I didn’t know aftermarket parts could correct this. Thanks for sharing.

 

It does come colour matched based on trim.

 

yes I got the NOCO genius 5

 

New wheels and tires arrived today

Excited to get these on.

 

Any issue with the TSS?

 

For me it was fairly easy. I would say overall tho a little finicky. I applied them on a cool day in the shade.

I'm a little OCD so that didn't help. I started with the AT shifter display then the Nav screen and lastly the instrument cluster. Make sure to tuck the upper left & right corners in on the instrument cluster. They tuck up under there nicely.

Apply the solution as instructed. The overlays are easy to move at first. Once the moisture gets removed it sticks very well and become impossible to move. If you do have to lift and move use the supplied solution and spray while lifting.

A few imperfections remained but after a day or 2 they went away.

I'm very happy with the results and from what I can tell the overlays are high quality. The touch Nav screen works awesome with this applied. I did order the extra set.

It was an expensive mod here in Canada with our Peso. $92.00CDN shipped to the door.

However, I think it was worth it to protect the screens on a brand new 50K truck to prevent future damage and elimiate the need to replace the easily scratched Instrument plexi glass. This was my main objective. The Nav & shifter dispaly was a bonus. https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...ched-up-instrument-cluster-plexiglass.503376/

If you check out Chloe Kuo's video I think she has a 15% off link.

Here is another installation vid by Jesse Rizo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Y2ufCpAvLs&ab_channel=JesseRizo

 

Did some installing over the weekend

 

Nice dude! I think I'm going in the same direction with Grey/Gunmetal TRD Pro wheels. That way we can have matching bikes, trucks, and wheels!