wi_taco 2015 TRD OffRoad build "The Gray Ghost"

Thanks, see post #57 above I went with the TRD black shifter knob.

 

Where did you find this? Amazon seems to be way overpriced and often unavailable.

 

Sorry not really sure. Possibly Summit Racing. I tend not to shop at Amazon for how poorly they treat their workers but sometimes unfortunately they are the only reasonable option. Looks like you can buy direct from the manufacturer for less than Bezos' sweatshop right now.

 

Have been searching since day 1 for alternate tail light options. Finally decided on the Spyder Xtune LED lights with red lens (P/N = ALT-ON-TT05-LBLED-RC). Ordered from eBay seller dt_moto which seems to be both the cheapest option and most reliable.



Initial unboxing and first impression is they look even better in person than online photos.



Side-by-side comparison with OEM LED lights. Frankly the OE's are hideous to my personal tastes. So happy they are going away.



Pulled the stock lights and started to attempt installation. Read on a few previous threads there are differences in tail light wiring pigtails and unfortunately this was the case on my truck. Appears that since I have OEM LED lights this is wiring harness 81555-04160. To install the Spyder lights you also need to buy Toyota wiring harness 81555-04150 (or find them from a truck that has non-LED OE lights).



Image of the top socket that doesn't fit into the new Spyder lights. See those 4 tabs? On the other wiring harness they are different size and orientation.



Image of the new Spyder tail light socket opening to show the shape/pattern.



Image of the OEM LED tail light socket opening to show the shape/pattern.



Couldn't find any photos of the proper tail light harness plugs so I took a chance and ordered the non-LED pigtail harnesses (Toyota P/N 81555-04150) from online seller OEM Part Source because they are geographically closest to me in Ohio. Still took about a week because these are special order.



Here is a comparison of my OE connector for the LED lights on the left, and the 04150 non-LED variant on the right. Notice how the little tabs are different sizes and slightly different offsets. New plug fits perfect in the Spyder tail lights.



Rear view of the Spyder tail light. Top socket is turn signal. Middle socket is brake light (and I would imagine this feeds the parking light mode). Bottom socket is reverse light.



Top socket. Aligned it so the green wire from the pigtail harness aligns with red wire into the light assembly.



Middle socket. Aligned it so the two green wires from the pigtail harness aligns with red & green wire into the light assembly.



Light assembly installed on the truck. Photo doesn't do it justice, it looks even better in person. An incredible improvement over those gaudy OEM monstrosities.



With the parking lights on. All red thanks to the red lens/housing. No pink colors like the clear lens variant. This is what should have come from the factory. Extremely happy with how this turned out.



Shoutout to the following threads that helped me go with these lights:
Any Experiences With These Tail Lights...???
Show me your tail lights
Installed New LED Tail Lights
LED Tail light swap
Tail light sockets

 

Time flies when you aren't having fun with work, home tasks, and other BS. So many updates, so little time. Much more to share later but here goes for now:

Never was able to get my DynoProducts tailgate lock installed and now I know why - original sent to me was manufactured wrong. After lots of calls, emails, and text messages with Dyno Locks they sent me a replacement. Here you can see the difference in orientation (top is bad, bottom good). Even still the new one binds up the tailgate handle causing failure and need to open the tailgate cover. This company won't stand by their product and won't give refund or make it right. AVOID DYNO PRODUCTS / DYNO LOCKS AT ALL COSTS! Going to do a vendor review of the whole saga later when I have more time.

Update 3/15/22: Finally wrote up a full product review, click here to see it. Apparently this company no longer exists and the scumbags stole my $140 for faulty products.



Serpentine belt has been squeaking in the mornings and only until I drive a few miles. Thought it was moisture or something but now I see the real cause. Water pump is seeping onto the fan clutch nose. Parts ordered, time for some more work... [EDIT: Squeaking gone and that pink paint is there from factory based on other TW photos I've seen. Coolant temps are normal, maybe it was just moisture on the belt? Still buying parts to do this job before it fully goes out.]



Spontaneous purchase of an Autel TS508 TPMS reader/programmer from eBay so I can read my sensors when doing a 5-tire rotation and program them back in. I've tried sending through OBD II and can't seem to figure that one out yet. No matter, will keep doing what I've done before using TechStream.



Nearly all of my time has been taken up by work, personal stuff, and building this drawer system. Almost finished besides some final touches. Will be doing a full write-up in near future but so many photos & details it will take time.



Bought a set of @SpikerEng ULTIMATE lift hood struts. Installation was pretty easy - hardest part is putting in the rivets if you only have a puny el-cheapo rivet gun like me. Prepare to get your forearm workout on that task, it's a mother trucker! Set the height around 3" above factory because I'm short and eventually will lift the front end.



Also ordered the factory 1D6 touch-up paint from eBay that was coming from a nearby dealership. Was cheaper to ship than to drive out and pick it up. Worked like a charm and the match is spot-on.



Wiper blades finally bit the dust. These were on the truck when I bought it last year. Truck came from Texas and you could tell as these were stiff as a board (likely cooked in the hot Texas sun). Replaced with a set of Valeo brand wipers from RockAuto and we shall see how they hold up.



A while back I picked up a set of Yakima round crossbars and skyline towers that mount to my camper shell tracks (thanks @sparkystaco !). Also found a set of Yakima Sweetroll saddles on Craigslist locally which is good because everything has been sold out from the pandemic. Finally got it all mounted up and testing the fit on my Jackson Traverse.

 

Nice updates, was wondering just the other day about the yakima's and if they ever fit and worked for what you wanted.

 

Yep crossbars & towers work great, thanks again! Driving up to Madison this weekend for some whitewater kayaking lessons/practice so I'll get to give them a good test!

 

Latest photo while camping at Wildcat Mountain State Park in Ontario, Wisconsin. Kayak mounted on Yakima SweetRoll saddles and they work pretty good with almost no extra road noise that I can hear. Weather was a bit hot but great for paddling, thankfully not many bugs out this year due to the drought/dryness.

 

Finally getting some old photos organized. This one was just a quick shot during Wisconsin spring turkey hunting after I got completely skunked and headed home.

 

08/06/21: Rolled over 100k miles. Had my passenger taking this photo so don't freak out.



Recently my Gentex mirror temperature has not been accurate. Like not even close. Here you see it being off by +20 degrees. This is common. Might reach out to Bob's Mirrors and see what the deal is, maybe a bad sensor?



OEM stereo reinstalled because my Pioneer DMH-W4660NEX is on the fritz and sent back for RMA under warranty. Disappointing and already miss CarPlay. The aftermarket head makes a huge difference in sound quality and volume (even with just 14W RMS it's noticeable). Hoping Pioneer can repair in the quoted timeframe of 2-4 weeks considering the chip shortages - nervous I'll be stuck with stock for an upcoming trip in October (and if that's the case it will have failed it's purpose and go up for sale). (UPDATE: Returned to me on 8/20, I'm skeptical of the "repairs", more to come about this in later posts...)

 

So dang busy lately and super far behind on sharing updates. Gathering a mess of parts, mostly to replace the cooling system parts & pulleys/idlers. More parts are gathering inside my cabinets, too many to show in a photo. Been too damn hot to do any work in my garage until now. Fall is always the best season for this kind of stuff around here.



Other mystery parts showed up - I wonder what that could be? Hmm...



Mystery parts that probably aren't a mystery to some people. More on those later.



Labor Day weekend was mostly spent cleaning the garage and doing basic maintenance. Exhibit A: My disgusting battery that is probably on it's way out. Cleaned up this crime scene and making plans for some upgrades in '22.



You can always cound on finding surprises from a used vehicle. So far I've been quite lucky, today I found the worst thing yet - a dirty, disintegrated rag that fell behind the battery. Normally it wouldn't be bad, however it looks like it trapped moisture against the inner fender and caused some rust (the only rust on the truck). I cleaned it & doused in Woolwax for now until I can get in there for more attention.



Finally got around to changing the front differential oil. Plugs came out surprisingly easy because I have a good 10mm hex socket and it was originally a Texas truck. Replaced the hex plugs with Lexus 14mm plugs (part numbers 90341-24016 for the drain, 90341-18060 for the fill). Ordered from Longo Lexus online - worked fine but they process these super slowly. Thanks to @Jowett 's thread and @turbodb 's thread for this idea!



Here you can see the new 14mm plugs installed and torqued to spec with new washers (29ft-lb on the fill, 48ft-lb on the drain). Should be much easier to remove on the next service in 30k. Old fluid looked original and lots of homemade anti-seize on the magnet so I'm hoping next time it looks cleaner. Filled with Amsoil Severe Gear 75w90 just like t-case and rear diff. Old fluid sent to Blackstone for analysis, will share results when it comes back.



Not exciting but installed a new PCV valve. Old one was still rattling free but definitely time for a change. Cheap and easy maintenance. Also replaced the air filter again for good measure but not shown here because that's boring too.



And also finally got around to doing the spark plugs (I'm just about on schedule, 101k). These were definitely the factory plugs and ready for service. Driver side plugs shown here, rear-most plug had the most "gunk" on the threads by far but all of them had good coloring and even wear.



And here are the passenger plugs. Same story - rear plug was darkest on the threads, even wear and coloring. Just like many other people have found I had NGK plugs on one side and Denso on the other. Replaced all of them with the standard Denso K20HR-U11. Idle was funky on first drive but that was probably due to battery being disconnected & ECM having to "re-learn" a little bit. Now it's back to purring like a kitten. Butt dyno says this was good maintenance.

 

Got back my test results on the front diff oil change from Blackstone Laboratories. The oil that came out looked very bad to me and my guess is that nobody ever changed it from the factory. Color me surprised that test results are very good, quite the relief! Now running Amsoil and should be good for another 30k or more.

 

Just wanted to pop in and say love your rig…gonna read through the whole build thread when I have more time.

It’s always nice to see someone else running the General Grabbers! I feel like they don’t get enough love.

 

Thanks glad you like it, you've got a great looking truck too! I have lots more to share but no time to post anything - too busy having fun adventuring lol. Yeah the Grabber ATX are turning out to be a great tire for my needs - super quiet, excellent grip, great MPGs. I just got done abusing them on a 2,000 mile road trip with lots of rough gravel and dirt roads, held up great!

 

I appreciate it! I’m in the middle of a trip now and ironically I just passed the 2K mile mark (total) on these Grabbers as well. I absolutely love them too.

Whenever they eventually wear out I’m planning on just buying another set.

 

Playing catch-up on documenting things and realized I forgot this one. Had the ZKA frame inspection done back on 31-JUL-2021. Since this was originally a Texas truck the frame is clean enough to eat off of so they didn't find any perforation/rust. Also they said since it was originally not a "cold weather state" vehicle they don't put any of the coating on for the KOD campaign (for anyone wanting more info read this thread, also this one). Doubt I will need it but frame should be covered now until 2027. Will continue with the Woolwax applications since we salt the crap out of the roads up here in Wisconsin and it seemed to greatly help last year.

Also notice they suggested spark plugs & PCV valve for $300 which I now did myself for about $30 and an hour of time. Their "fuel induction service" (aka TB clean, MAF clean, and Seafoam) for $170 should cost me about $30 as well and is next on my list.

 

Time for an oil change and I made the decision to install a

$36 Fumoto F133S with LC-10 S-Series Large Body FUMOTO Valve with Short Nipple and LC-10 Lever Clip for 12mm-1.25 Gold

Fumoto F133S drain valve. I previously had one on my Subaru and it worked great, and although some people have reservations about not being able to drain every single drop I have no worries. Sits above the skid plate so no concerns about snagging offroad. Somehow I always manage to make a huge mess (I swear I've tried 4 different drain pan configurations and it always splashes on my driveway) so this will end that problem.

 

Found some old photos that I never processed. This one taken 2020-OCT-07 while exploring the Chippewa Morraine State Recreation Area which is about 45 minutes north of Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Must have been darn near peak colors although in this one you only see the amber hues. Lots of bright red leaves in other spots just not here. Gorgeous scenery and great hiking along the Ice Age National Scenic Trail.

 

Some more old photos from July. Was checking out the Willow River rapids near Tripoli, Wisconsin. In the small gravel parking turnaround there is a small exposed rock and the hill slopes slightly downward. I was by myself and in no particular rush so I took photographic evidence that my Taco has crawled somewhere beyond the confines of a mall parking lot. Suck on that haters! (Suspension basically stock: front Bilstein 6112 and 600lb springs at zero lift, rear OE 3+1 leafs and Bilstein 5160)



Here's the opposite angle to show what I was playing with. Doesn't look like much but often slope of hills doesn't show well in photos. It was more than it looks like but on a grand scale of offroading this is childs play.



Here's the rear angle showing back tire fully stuffed in wheel well. SCS -10 offset wheels have barely enough room without ripping off the fender flares. I previously removed front mud flaps due to wheel rub, thinking of removing the rears now when going on trips since they 100% are in the way. Still not decided if they get completely removed or just trim them above the "4x4" text. No big deal for now.

 

Went on my annual excursion to Wisconsin's north woods. This one is on a forest road somewhere in Marinette County. This particular spot isn't the most scenic area of that county but it's not bad. Lots of grouse and turkey around here.



Drove up into the U.P. and hiked to Yondata Falls which is frankly an amazing area that I wasn't expecting. This might be my single most favorite photo I have to date of my truck. If you are a hiker definitely check out this place.



Parked at the trailhead for Wren Falls in Iron County, Wisconsin. Colors here were just about peak. Always love going to this spot, very isolated and quiet with great scenery and hiking.



Last but not least is parked at the trailhead for Potato Falls in Gurney, Wisconsin. I spent the whole day here hiking and trying not to fall off cliffs and into the river. This particular photo isn't very good by my standards but I just liked the contrast of leaves in mid-changeover. Always cracks me up how those tall spindly pines make a truck look like a Matchbox car.