Chris(NJ); Slowly but surely, a build journal

Might as well put a new air filter in too. 167,740

 

Back from the 2nd road trip of the year and finally time for an oil change at 172,274. I should really post some pics from the trips...

 

Just got back xc road trip #3 in the span of 5 months. 7,000 miles round trip; Out to AZ this time, hitting 14 National Parks/monuments/etc. That made for about 20,000 miles driven last year. It was really pretty epic. Glacier National Park, Wind cave/Jewel Cave, Organ pipes, Coronado, Chiricahua, Theodore Roosevelt were just some of the bigger parks on the other trips. Plus tons of small ones like Grant Kohrs Ranch, Fort Union Trading Post, Knife River, Pipestone, Ulysses Grant, Lake Meredith, Fort Bowie, Tumacacori, Casa Grande, etc etc. I think I probably hit about 40 this year alone. The NP cancellation book is filling up, along w/ the Lapel Pin collection lol.

Couple pics from the most recent trip. One from Saguaro East NP and the other is White Sands National Park

 

I also just ordered a new radio/speaker setup. I'll have to figure this out as I go, as it comes to wiring and install. But I ordered 4660NEX, Focal Performance 165AS for the fronts, Focal RCX-165 for the rears. I also backordered the Maestro RR2 so I could utilize the JBL amp and still have steering wheel controls, but mostly for the volume control. I could've skipped on the other two wheel controls as I don't really use those too often.
THe whole cab is already deadened. This was kinda the final piece to that puzzle. Being able to finally play music from the phone in this truck will be nice.

 

Just did another oil change and tire rotation. 179,449. I'm trying out Shell Rotella truck syn oil this time around. Thought I'd switch it up. Also got in some new toys along w/ a new tensioner pulley and going to do the crank seal too.

 

New OEM Toyota rear brakes (Cylinders, shoes, drums, spring kit) at 179,649. Before/after pics.

 

181,501 miles; New OEM Steering Rack and OEM Pressure/Return lines.

Some quick notes from my install, cross posted to the steering rack thread. .

First off, I have to say that this was way more intimidating than it really is. Kinda like the cam gears. I dragged my feet for a long time before finally doing it.

As we know the driver's side mounting bolt doesn't come out without some kind of encouragement. Obviously some people choose to unbolt the compressor, some cut the base of the bolt and I even read where (I think, @hx989 ) unbolted the trans to get everything to tilt upwards.
Well, I opted for another way. After removing the nut, I took the passenger bolt and from underneath, pushed the driver's side bolt as high as I could. That gave me plenty of room to work. Took a hacksaw and cut about 1/3 of the way through it. Dropped the bolt back down, put the nut back on it, held the bolt w/ a wrench and tightened it w/ the impact gun, snapping the bolt in half. So easy.

From there, took the inner tie rod off the passenger side.

The rest was history.

Getting the new oem rack in was a piece of cake. I bought a new oem return/feed line as well. New atf fluid went in and on the wiggie board we go! Steering is dead center. Steering feel is a bit heavier, in a good way. I'm happy it's done and hopefully won't have to touch it for another 185k . Huge thanks to my neighbor for the help on this.

Total time from opening the garage, taking a break and cleaning up was 3:40!

Some pics to go along w/ everything......

 

Easy day....Front diff and Transfer Case fluid change. Redline 75w90 in both. 184,341 miles. Some usual dust on the diff drain plug. xfer case took a little more than the 1.1, as expected.

 

Can't sit still on a 55* day at the end of December. Tire rotation, Oil Change and Coolant drain/refill. 191,125 miles strong

 

Nothing to see here. Just replaced a faulty TPMS sensor. 191,513 miles.

 

Some really cool frost on the vehicles this morning. Close ups needed for detail.

 

Undercarriage got a nice bath today.

 

Engine air filter was due. Had about 25k on it. This might be the longest I've gone. And I'm not even sure why I waited so long.


New oem air filter today @ 192,224 miles.

 

Almost forgot to add an update. 195,645 miles....

Peeled off the strip of tint from the front of the windshield and had XPEL XR Blue 80 applied to the whole thing. Putting the strip back across the top tomorrow. I'll snap pics once that's all done and buttoned up.

Also had to get yet another wiring harness for the headlight retrofit. The harness seems to fail every 5-6 years. Took some time to tidy up the wiring. All good now w/ both headlights working again

Also gave it a nice clay bar and polish.

 

196,755 miles:

Oil Change and Tire Rotation. Greased driveshaft zerks.

 

Back from the road trip. I'll get my scheduled maintenance done once I order everything. Probably knock it out in September or October. But in the meantime.... 200k while on my way to Curecanti NRA in CO.

 

UPdated the Pioneer 4660nex to version 3.04 today. Hoping this solves the issues w/ carplay, amongst other things. Carplay was constantly cutting out. Head unit still shuts down on an "amp failure" but the carplay intermittently cutting out was way more annoying.

Also ordered fluids, plugs, etc for it's next service interval.

 

Moar Maintenance!

Oil Change, bed bolts greased, zerks greased, tires rotated.

203,519 miles.

 

Chipping away at the scheduled maintenance.

OEM Spark Plugs and OEM Coolant change today. Also cleaned the MAF.

203,623 miles.

Old ones were just dandy after 56k miles..... top 3 look dark but only b/c of the shadows. All electrodes were grey, like the bottom 3 in this pic.

 

Subbed for maintenance