What Have You Done To Your 3rd Gen Today?

Did your rock sliders see any use on the trail?

 

Happy 4th of July. Great day for a BBQ.

 

I don't have any tune. But it seems if you get the engine rolling between 1500-1900 RPM it gets great mileage; hit the interstate at 75 and it goes down a lot. Maybe it's the Atkinson Cycle range that the engine has. I get the usual 19 around town and short trips; 21 on the highway. Just like the estimates. I'm also not carrying too much extra weight (just sliders, skid, basic tools/recovery items, tonneau).

 

I spent 3 days camping and by then the mozzies were getting to me plus the mormon crickets were invading. Plus no network so I couldn't keep up with TW

 

Not at all; nor the skid. I really think you could have done it all in any SUV. Some of the road was flat and gravel; some steeps; some steep with loose small rock; and a few ruts. I let the ranger know he was a bit hyperbolic when I came back by the visitor center. Even though it was easy, I think having a capable vehicle made it a true pleasure with no worries. The truck just felt like it was in its element.
TBH, I'm not seeking places to use the sliders or skid, but I know I will because stuff happens when out exploring. My 4Runner OEM skid was pretty beat to heck and I had some close calls with the sides. Maybe this forum will convince me to change my mind .

 

Added a new piece of kit to the pelican box ...

 

I just saw your mod description, "Stock-ish". Nice sense of humor; I've been watching your IG videos. You've created quite an off-road beast.
Sorry about your engine but if anyone knows how to put another in it's you. Too bad it will keep you off the trails for a bit.

 

I have the Pelican side mount medium sized one. absolutely love it. My next one is gonna be the same you got.

 

I loaded up the Trek dual sport 2 in the bed took it out to my favorite state park and did 10 Mi on the bike, stopped in Tampa before I went home and drove the Riverwalk for a couple miles on bike, then on the way home took a detour to Whole Foods for some replenishment. Parked near this dude in Tampa originally from Nevada, he had some nice wheels on this rig sorry I didn't get a close up or side view. Cheers!

 

I am in the same boat as far as not deliberately looking for places to test out rock sliders or the skids. I do want to go on the trails, but nothing extreme. So I am looking to see if I should invest in some rock sliders for just in case.

I'm near Colorado Springs. I have never been on the western side, but it looks really nice though.

 

I finished up the last of the 60k maintenance this morning with the spark plugs. Looking at them in the photo from left to right, the first is drivers side firewall and the last is passenger side firewall. You can see the passenger side at radiator and firewall have the most carbon build up…

 

Do you want mine?

I’ll sell it to you for cheap. I never use it because it has its own wifi that you have to connect too, so in order to use it I can’t use my wifi hotspot and I have to burn up my data.

 

Thank you!! And if it goes thru, I'm pulling a motor out of a wrecked Tacoma on Saturday, and should be able to pull mine on Sunday and atleast start swapping the new one in. If all goes smoothly haha

 

Thanks!
Taking a look through their site and info, it looks like it would be a pretty big pain. And probably a chunk of change. It’s a head unit and amp change, as well as the harness. If I’m going that far, going full aftermarket starts to look more appealing.

 

I kept my stock HU and added a dsp/amp. Changed all the speakers and added a sub.

 

Harder for me to do since I have the JBL system. Less replacement options because of the 2 ohm system. I really liked the idea of just doing the newer model HU, but the cost/ease factor is not there.
Upgrading the audio is not a high priority for me right now, so I’ll take my time and research out my options a little more. And how much work I’m up for!

 

Forgot to share these goodies I installed during my vacation/banned from TW. I Found a nice used set of Rigid Industries D-SS pro flood pod lights on offer up. Took a risk on buying them because they were dirty and wires were cut. But Once obtained them I shortly bought the nvision wireless remote and created a harness for them. Then once. Everything looked good and worked, went to Off-road warehouse in Corona, California and got some yellow rigid light covers. Then went on Etsy and bought some small Toyota decals to slap them on the light covers to make it a lil retro( I know it’s tacky but I don’t know what y’all think)

 

Changed my oil and rotated my tires for the first time! I had it done once at the dealership and decided I'd rather do it myself given their pricing.

Kind of glad I did - the OEM skid plate had only three of the four bolts holding it in place. Two of them were 12mm and the other was a 13mm. Call me OCD, but kind of annoyed that the dealership couldn't bother to come up with a fourth bolt or replace them with the right ones when they serviced it.

Installed a ValvoMax Quick Twist (

$50 ValvoMax Oil Drain Valve - Quick Twist Oil Drain Plug for DIY Oil Changes At Home in 10 Minutes - No Tools, No Mess, No Cleanup - M12-1.25 Thread Size - Made in USA

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077ZGZ39V?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details) drain valve for next time and removed the air dam to prep for upgrading the skid plate.

I don't know if I was doing it wrong, but the plastic plug for the oil filter did not want to lock in place; I had to keep pressing on it to drain the oil from the filter housing. Not a big deal, just a little messier than I expected.

 

If I remember correctly the first time I changed my oil had the same problem. What you want to do is inspect your next oil filter make sure it's got the screw in type plastic plug drain adapter.

 

First big modification in the books.

-Body Armor Hiline Front Bumper
-Smittybilt X2O 10k winch
-500amp relay and 12v switch to control power from in the cab

The bumper went in fairly easily. Probably could of cut a bit more than I did a long the top, also ended up with the side tabs in front for now. I may try to get the tabs in the back in the future. I was able to get the cooler line bolt back in that in the main thread for this bumper struggled with. I had to put the nuts on the cooler bracket to raise it up but I left the bracket nuts loose and was able to get the line support bolt back in. The bracket to move the cooler back was at an angle but still provided the needed clearance.

The 12v side of the relay I did in advance of the main install. Used the tacomabeast tap and then add a fuse. Works well, button lights up brighter than I want, but I could only find ch4x4 button with what I wanted and you get what you pay for.

The winch...started wrapping the line then realized the hook was too large to fit through the fairlead (in hindsight, dumb of me to think it would). unwound everything then installed the winch and the bumper. Got everything installer and electrical hooked up. Go to winch in....nothing. Winch out works. learned a lesson to test everything before installing, I wont make that mistake again. Was able to unbolt the winch and get access to the solenoid without taking off the bumper, switched out and in and testerld again. in now works, out doesnt. Good enough for now, as in is the important direction and ill follow up with customer support another day. Get everything together and go to put the license plate bracket on. Realize that I need to unwind the rope and thread it through like the fairlead. Whoops. Luckily enough, while doing this the solenoid unstuck and started working in both directions, so well call it a win.

I'm happy with it, good starter mod before going into the realm of suspensions and lifts.