Finally Getting Around To It Build

Check engine light came on the other day. Scanned it, and it came back with a bad upstream O2 sensor. Part came in today and tore into it. Removed the trans skid plate to get to it easier. Put some PB blaster on it but it only did so much good. Realized I was going to strip the nuts so I went to the hardware store and bought some bolt remover sockets. They worked great and the nuts came off easy! Put everything back together and no more check engine light! Glad it fixed it. Anyways, pretty stoked about to road trip since it's only a few weeks away!

These were the sockets I used to get the corroded nuts off the O2 sensor.



Had some spare time so I decided to give the whole truck a new coat of wax! Looks great! Don't let the pic fool you though, the truck is covered with pin striping, scratches and dents.

 

I've only had my Jerry can for about a month or so and it's already faded pretty bad. Decided to paint it and put some sound suppressor on the Jerry can holder to quiet it down a little when I go over bumps and it bounces around making a ruckus. Turned out great but I kind of wish I went with a little darker red. Happy with how everything turned out!

Before, the South Carolina sun was not kind to the paint.


After, new paint and some plumbers tape wrapped around some of the Jerry can holder to quiet it down some.


Turned out great!

 

So.... I got a call around 8:30 last night from one of my buddy's that he was stuck in the mud and needed help getting out. Decided to head over to where he was and help him out. Finally found him and his truck. He was in the middle of a soft, clay, muddy construction site. Found some drier ground to try to winch him out and hooked up the winch. Started pulling him with the winch and then nothing. Just a click from the solenoid. So my winch took a crap, and we had to figure out how to get the cable off of his truck since it still had tension on it and my free spool wouldn't engage. So, I had to get a little closer to get some slack on the cable. Got the cable off and wrapped the cable around the bumper. Now I started backing up and got SUPER stuck. Like, sitting on frame, mud over axles kind of stuck! By now, it's about 10:00 and we start calling everyone we can that we know that has anything that could pull me out. Luckil,y a guy we know was on his way to work and swung by and pulled me out with my strap I had with his lifted Dodge Ram cummins. Yay! Now I'm out, but we still have to get my buddy out. Somehow we found a little path by his truck that wasn't completely soupy and I pulled him out with a couple of tugs! Glad that was over! Drove home and once I got on the highway, it felt like my wheel was going to come off because there was so much mud and clay packed in.

Today, I got to do a little maintenance. Started off with removing all the mud and clay from underneath the truck and washing the crap out of it. Once that was done I picked up some white lithimun spray that WD40 makes and sprayed my leaf springs since they were starting to squeak. Also greased my shackles. All the squeaks went away!

After that, I noticed my truck had a squeal every time I start my truck since I got it stuck last night. It already was doing it, but it get really bad after getting stuck. I figured some mud probably got into the tensioner pulley. Pulled off the old pulley and it had a little play but nothing too crazy. Put the new one on, started the truck and SQUEALLLLL! SAME THING! Took and break and went back inside to cool off and do a little research. Everything I looked up said check the tension on all the belts, obviously. So, on way back outside I remembered about a week ago I found a funny looking bolt hanging from my oil change hole for my skid plate. Looked underneath my alternator and BAM! The bolt I found a week ago was the tensioner adjuster bolt for the alternator! Luckily I kept it! Went to the hardware store and picked up a new nut and washer. Installed the old part and the new nut w/ washer, tightened everything up and started it up. NO MORE SQUEAL! I was super stoked!

Next, I started looking at what was going on with my winch. Went on YouTube and looked up common problems with winches, and how to troubleshoot. Guy said to hook up a jumper cable from the battery straight to the winch motor and it should work if the motor is still good. If not, bad winch motor. Started taking off the connections to the motor and one of the wires wasn't even attached! Well, that would make since why it wasn't working! Put some tape on cables to at least get the cable back in and the motor and worked like a charm! Now, I just need to recrimp them, the right way this time. Just glad I don't have to buy a new winch!

This is just some of the mud and clay from only the front driver side LCA. Never again!


Wrapped the winch cable around the bumper like this to get home.


The bolt that I found that was the alternator tensioner bolt.


Everything should be good to go now! Heading up to the smoky mountain national park this coming weekend hopefully. Need to try out the camping set up since my big road trip is in 2 weeks!

 

Got a few small things done on the truck today. Changed out the brake fluid for the clutch, it was dark brown and needed to be changed. Then, I added a hose to connect to where my AC drains out so it won't be draining out onto my frame. Now it just drains onto the ground. Also resealed my front bumper light bar. I noticed some condensation in it since the last time I washed it. Took it apart and the seal was torn. Put new sealant on it and hopefully it holds up.

The old clutch brake fluid.


New fluid put it.


Condensation built up on the inside of the front bumper light bar.


Cover removed.


All put back together with new sealant.

 

It wasn't raining today so I got the truck all configured for the big road trip next weekend! I ordered a 5 gallon water jug off of Amazon about a month ago so I don't think it's going to get here. I'll just pick one up from Walmart with a couple other small little things. Other than that I'm looking forward to taking a month off work to explore out west, visit family and just do what I want to do!

 

*UPDATE* I'm about halfway through the road trip and it has been probably the best thing iv'e ever done! I have a ton of awesome pics to upload! Unfortunately, I made it to Moab and my truck is making a terrible noise in the suspension. I thought it was the outer tie rods but that didn't fix it, it actually made it worse. So now i'm just sitting in Moab waiting until tomorrow for a repair shop to open so I can drop it off to get fixed.

 

Good luck. For pics

 

Another update! Got the truck fixed! It ended up being some worn sway bar end links! Changed the inner and outer tie rods on both sides too, then an alignment. Spent most of my time in Moab fixing the truck, so unfortunately didn't get to do any real off roading. Started making my way back to Charleston and I got a call that they are all evacuating, sooooo looks like I get a longer vacation! In other words, i'm currently in Colorado, 4,000 miles into the road trip and it's been a hell of a trip! I'll try to get some pics uploaded sometime this coming week of the trip while i'm sitting around waiting to go back to Chuck town!

 

Just a teaser of the road trip while I make a write up!

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/my-4-years-of-slowly-planning-road-trip.510142/#post-16018357

Here is the link for the trip I did! It's going to take a little time to get everything on there but it'll get done!

 

I'll check that out tomorrow at work before everybody shows up so I can get paid to read trip reports

 

Ha it might take longer than tonight since I have 20+ days of bad ass adventuring to upload lol

 

Shift lever was shaking a little more than I wanted it to. Changed out the transmission mount and problem solved! Super simple to change. Now, just waiting for the new steering rack bushings to come in the mail. Noticed they were shot when I changed out the tie rods.

 

Changed out the steering rack bushings. Have to say they were kind of a pain to get out, but it's done. Might head up to Overland East Expo this weekend!

 

Buddy of mine told me to check out a 100 yard dirt trail near his house. Went down it at night and ended up finding a mud hole and dropping in HARD. Didn't pay too much attention to it until the next day when it was light out. There was a block of mud caked between the bumper skid plate and the radiator. Started scooping the mud out and noticed that a stick had punctured my radiator. Great.... I just changed it earlier this year. Went to the store and got a new radiator, upper hose, thermostat, and Toyota red coolant. Got everything back together and noticed that one of the clamps for the upper hose was too small and my fan shroud was busted, which I already knew but just let it be. Went to the salvage yard and found a 4Runner with the right size hose clamp and good fan shroud. Finished putting it back together and good as new!

 

Finally got the front bumper all straightened out! Got tired of hitting a bump and hearing the bumper hit the fender...

 

Big plans coming up! I'm separating from the military the end of December! Got invited to go down to Key West over new years eve, which should be crazy! While i'm down there i'll try to see the national parks in Florida. From there, the plan is to come back to Charleston, grab all my stuff and head north. From Charleston to Raleigh to visit family, to Shenandoah National Park, to Delaware to visit family, to Connecticut to visit friends, to Acadia National Park, to New York to visit friends, to Ohio to go back home and get things in order. I'll stay in Ohio for a little while then head down to the Air Force museum in Dayton, to Mammoth Cave National Park, to Nashville to visit friends, to Hot Springs National Park, to Oklahoma City to visit friends and finally to Colorado where I plan on moving to! Just a tentative plan but i'm looking forward to this trip to start the next chapter in my life!

 

Noticed the past few days that my trucks stereo would completely reset when I go to start it and my odometer would reset. Which led me to believe that I either had a bad battery or a bad connection. Checked under the hood and everything looked normal. Decided to change the battery since it didn't have a very good cold cranking amp rating and who knows how old it is. Also figured I should upgrade it due to the fact that I'll be taking it to Maine and Colorado which are a hell of a lot colder than South Carolina. Went and bought a Diehard Gold 750 CCA battery (old battery was only rated to 500 CCA). Changed the battery in the Sears parking lot and in the process of changing it, one of the battery terminals completely broke due to corrosion. Luckily, Sears had some new connectors. Changed them in the parking lot and good as new! No more issues with the stereo and odometer reseting and easier starting on cold mornings! Glad I took care of it before the next big road trip next week!

 

I'll also be creating another write up about my next road trip in the next month or so. So, keep an eye out for that! Itinerary vaguely goes as follows... Charleston,SC >Ocala National Forest> Key West> Dry Tortugas National Park> Biscayne National Park> Everglades National Park> Savannah,GA> Charleston,SC > Raleigh,NC > Shenandoah National Park> Salisbury,MD> Putnam,CT> Acadia National Park> Schenectady,NY> Ohio> Mammoth Cave National Park, Nashville,TN> Hot Springs National Park> Oklahoma City,OK> Colorado which will I be where relocating!

 

Little update. Separated from the military and went straight down to Key West for New Years! While I was down there I went to Dry Tortugas National Park! It was absolutely beautiful! Stayed in Key West a couple nights, then went and camped in the Everglades National park. Following that, headed over to Biscayne NP! They were ok, but would have been better if the weather was better and I had a boat and snorkeling gear. After that, the weather was pretty rainy so I decided to just head up to Savannah and see my grandparents for a while. They shut down the road to the island they live on for a day due to the freezing rain and snow, so I was stuck (definitely worse places to be). The next day I decided to try and make it back to Charleston, which usually only takes about 2 hours and it took a little over 4 that day. The roads were TERRIBLE! The entire road was just ice and the car in front of my ended up spinning out and end up right in a ditch! Definitely shouldn't have driven that day but I made is safe and sound! Heres a couple pics from the trip!

Dry Tortugas National Park











Southernmost point in the US!



Camping in Everglades NP





Snow and ice from in Savannah, GA



Truck all loaded up with practically everything I own for my move!