Clean, Purpose-Built 3rd Gen SR5

That’s a plus then!


As part of beach driving I have a 2’x2’ platform for my Jack.

 

I’ll have to pick one up somewhere. I don’t do much beach driving but that’s smart because it would definitely be good for mud and stuff.

 

Mines just a 5/8” plywood… I think that size anyway.

 

Nice, I’ll grab one from the hardware store next time I’m there.

 

Not a bad plan lol. Just never know.

I’ve got it in a recovery case in my bed.

 

Smart, I’m slowly building up my recovery stuff. I just got some of those DOT certified reflective triangles in case I get a flat on the highway
Not exactly recovery gear but kind of? lol

 

Use a 4 ft creepy girl doll with strobe light in the hand and then place it on the road... Much better than those triangles...

heh

 

That’ll do it!

 

This is a wild video for anyone who hasn’t seen it; I’m surprised it took me this long to find it. The first 2 are pretty entertaining as well.

https://youtu.be/e9Yy5P6FUes?si=-QQlkKtajW0VscLQ

 

The truck gained another mod today. On my last trip out west, I realized that I needed a lot more lighting. The theme of this build is obviously to solve problems with clean and practical solutions soooo….

I added an amber 30” Diode Dynamics light bar to the grille (driving pattern). DD ditch lights have also been purchased but those are on back order so those won’t be in for a bit. The light bar and ditch lights are controlled by OEM style switches wired into the dash panel that sits under the radio (pics below).


Before:



After:





Some shots of the work required to wire everything into the dash OEM-style:



I wanted the switches for the light bar and the ditch lights to be next to each other (because OCD) and that required moving the ECT Power button all the way over to the left:



Finished product for the switches:

 

Dang, that looks great!

 

Thanks man! I’ll post some pics whenever the ditch lights are finally mounted.

 

Stop it! You are making my truck look bad.

jk

Looks great! I thought about that route on mine but I prefer to get aftermarket bumper with lights.

I have been looking at the trailers for a bit now and if it get that, I plan to convert it to camping trailer.

 

Hmm I don’t remember removing that much dash when I installed my switches... Are there AOB or CH4X4 switches?

Looks fantastic though!

I myself have been fighting off the urge for more lighting. I don’t really need but it but that doesn’t stop me for looking for reasons to convince myself otherwise

 

He went oem style for wiring. That's the reason he took some dash off for.

 

You can just come buy my trailer and head straight to the trails. It is already setup for camping and has made it easily through some pretty good obstacles...

 

Same here. If I remember correctly I only had to pull the dash bezel, unbolt the stereo and slide it forward to reach the lower switch panel.

 

I don’t know for sure why the whole dash had to come out (I just assumed that was the only way to get it done). I had my off road shop do the install because I am totally useless when it comes to wiring things. My guess is because he removed the entire switch panel in order to move the ECT power button over to that spot on the far left.

I also had them cut and out grind down the vertical and horizontal slats that would have been in front of the light bar, which I haven’t really seen done before.

And yeah, I was trying to avoid more lighting because it’s expensive but after almost hitting a dozen deer and one cow going 80mph (all separate incidents lol) my wife and I both decided that we need more lighting for safety.

The cow incident was on a 2 lane highway (one lane each way) near the Montana/Idaho border. I came around a curve and that sucker was standing in the middle of the highway, and it was dark out. It was a narrow miss, pretty scary stuff.

 

What size? Pics?

 

I can't stand those idiots standing on the road. I hit deer twice on same spot of my car. They ran up to the street then stop. Bam. WTH! One in Utah and other in SC. 5 years apart. I swapped my lights with leds on my truck, I haven't hit one yet since.