AK's UBRLND TuRD

Seems like the best you can do is drive down off an obscure beach and go explore, I’ve heard some stuff about a trail up near the Eaglecrest ski lodge. And yeah I drove by a muffler shop and saw 3-4 first gens with no beds with horrendous holes in the frame

 

My frame was not nearly as bad as some I've seen... I'm almost 2 years into my safe-t-caps and I'm happy to report they gave a new life to the old girl!

 

Glad to hear because your truck is a beauty

 

I wonder what's on the menu this evening?

 

Oh and maybe this...

 

Didn't feel like tackling the timing belt... So I opted for the quick and easy project...



This is how they should've come from ARB, gained 4.5" of room for my Toyo's

 

So this timing belt thing is... Fun. Took me about 20 tries and several hours to get the new belt on as I tried to keep the cam pulleys and crank pulley to stay DTC as I tightened the #2 tensioner... it kept pulling everything off center. What did the trick was loosening the #1 as well... Tightened the tensioner pulley and then the #1, everything stayed put! Now I gotta put her back together.

 

Almost buttoned up... Gotta trim the fan shroud to fit around the radiator but then it should be GTG.
This new 3 core should keep things nice and cool in the summer (if it ever comes!)


All new axles in, went with napa lifetime ones, and the job was pretty easy. Might tackle rebuilding the oem ones as spares.A of course, since everything was apart, I decided to go all in and do a Tundra brake upgrade as well, just waiting on Wheelers brake lines in the mail tomorrow. Only hiccup was a torn steering rack boot, which I had a spare of, but I ended up having to cut out the outer tie rod end because the castle nut was seized on ,spinning the whole joint (crazy how much weather can do in 2 years Since I replaced them last) At least it wasn't terribly expensive to replace.

 

Went to Drummond Island (Michigan's U.P) yesterday for a "work" morale trip... Just ended up being me and another guy on a quad... But I wasn't sitting at my desk and the short trip was fun as hell. It was wet AF and we def got the truck muddy and wet, be she ate every rut and hole with ease. Made use of the new 4x skid plate by finding some rocks in those mud pits! Ended up following a group of Jeeps (all JK's) and made some new friends... Best part of the day was me getting to winch out a brand new AEV Wrangler with an SRT Hemi conversion out of a mud pit... I chuckled.... 80k of Jeep won't get you far if you don't know how to drive it

 

Got my 4x Innovations bumper in the mail a week ago, and much faster then expected! Spent some time prepping and sanding, as well as welding my own Hi-Lift mount to the swing out. Since I know this thing is gonna see a few nicks I decided to use rattle can bed liner (Rust-Oleum) as my finish, this way touch up should be cheap and easy.

Used two random bolts and two SAE sockets as my mount welded to the swing out behind the tire mount. Will get some wing nuts and rubber pads as my final mounting setup.

 

Took me a few hours to install last night...as usual I had to cut half my bolts out...rusted to shreds. Also lifting a 70lbs bumper into place while aligning bolt holes by myself was... Fun...but I got her in place and looking great. Finally some weight to bring my rake down a tad. Can't wait to monsterline her!