What Have You Done To Your 3rd Gen Today?

I have a skid plate so the hose going through the hole will make less of a mess.

 

Skid plate was causing oil to run a bit cause the hole for the drain plug didn't quite align with the plug. So hopefully the hose attachment makes it cleaner.

 

Gave both the vehicles a good detail today. Constant battle with the two pine trees on my property.

 

Gave it a little TLC today and a coat of wax. Normally don’t wax my trucks, but it was nice weather and I needed a beer.

 

Custom no cuts subwoofer and amp install. Way too much BS to try and get around the factory JBL system.

 

I added the Victory 4x4 molle panel. I had to remove the a section around the bed light to get it to fit, it would fit with the flat lights but mine are angled.
Installed a Mountain Hatch tailgate insert.
And finally I cut a few pieces of foam to fit into the cubby holes to help prevent dust.

 

Added a white ring around the transfer case dial. Just something to make that specific dial stand out.

 

I installed a full set of engine/trans/t-case skid plates from OK Expedition.
Pretty easy install and a great Canadian made product .
Instructions were clear and concise, shipping was quick and extremely well packaged.

 

Said a newbie on the Toyota Design Team, "Let's put all the 2wd/4wd & Locker & Crawl buttons in one location for ease of identification". Team Response: "Who is the new kid who thinks he knows better than US?? What a smart-ass. Ath-hole."

 

Surprisingly no! It's incredibly sturdy.

 

70k mile spark plug change. Pretty easy job. Not sure what all the fuss was about. Oil change coming up soon.

 

Finally got around to wiring up my two-tone Matt Gecko bed lights. Took a bit of elbow grease getting the larger switch into the bed near my OR's inverter plug, and use of the soldering iron, heat-shrink, and denso tape, but it lit-off perfectly. Pics to follow...

I extended the ground (well, made my own using #12 stranded) to an exisiting hole in the frame.. No drilling. Also gonna finish up wiring a cigarette power adapter in the right-side dogg-door storage cubby.

 

I just found out about the backside of that inverter the other day. I went in from the front instead.

 

That sounds about right. Personally, I miss the floor shift and manual locking hubs.

 

Another long awaited camping trip with my spouse, my dog and the Taco.

 

Sorry to hear your kids went through that. Smart move with trauma kit, best thing to have, you won’t regret it. I live in Canada and even though we have crazy gun laws (which I don’t agree with) the more guns they’ve banned the more shootings have gone up here. In my tiny town that never has ANYTHING happen, we had two shootings in ONE DAY including one where two dudes literally mag dumped federal officers investigating a complaint of “trespassers searching through the stuff in the owner’s yard” it was like 50 shots fired between the time officers could take cover and respond with return fire. Absolutely nuts. It sucks too because we don’t have any kind of castle doctrine, or stand your ground laws, or are allowed to carry anything for self defence (not even pepper spray, pocket knives etc.) they keep banning guns from law abiding licensed owners for public safety and shootings have increased by literally hundreds of percentage points because gangs/criminal's don’t follow law, and every time they catch them and post guns they were using it’s always something that’s been prohibited in Canada for decades like subcompacts and “high capacity mags” anyways, in light of this and dangerous work I do, I built a trauma kit too that can handle literally almost everything you could think of. Just driving home I’ve been first on scene of two really bad events when I wasn’t prepared, and one man died who wouldn’t have if I could’ve effectively slowed his blood loss. So I talked to some military and police friends and built a kit and practiced using it. Here’s my set up, tucked safely where I can easily grab it

 

I actually took the whole assembly apart (out), including separating the storage bin and the inverter plug.

I plan to put the inverter plug INSIDE the storage bin. Taking the inverter plug out of the bin out made it much easier to drill the hole for the SPDT switch I had to install. Still required me to use the circular file some to get the fit correct..

 

I have had my blue sea switch inside that pocket, but my newest appliance has a short cord, so I need that extra 3-4 inches. And it’s all covered with a tonneau. I like the idea of putting the inverter plug inside the pocket, I don’t use it anyways.

 

So sorry your kids had to experience this man. Thankful they weren't hurt and that you were there to get them to safety quickly. If you haven't already, consider putting them in counseling for a while to work through it and process it effectively in a healthy manner. Stuff like this can cause some serious PTSD, sometimes manifesting years and years later by other triggering events. They're kids, they're resilient, and I'm confident they're probably all "fine" now that some time has passed, and its nothing more than a crazy story to them now; but don't count out counseling, even if they don't feel like they need it. Its not expensive, and I say even the healthiest and mentally-well adults could benefit from a few sessions.

 

Our school district has "crisis teams" that come in and hang out when stuff like this happens, last year we had the shoot out a few blocks away and those teams were in the school talking with everyone. So we are having them meet with them this week. My daughter has a good circle, and is part of a highschool dance team (she is middle school) so she has a bunch of older girls in her group that she can talk with also.
As a parent you always want your kids to talk to you, but I also know that kids dont want to talk to their parents all the time about things.