What Have You Done To Your 3rd Gen Today?

It's something some of us have to have a front plate. Went off road today... and we had R 1st touchless tacowash together today.

 

Shout out Stellar Built in Sacramento!!

Had them install a Dobinsons IMS lift with a Deaver add a leaf and SPC UCAs. Nice level stance. My dream truck is finally complete. Hope you boys like it!

Wheels RRW RS2-H 17x8.5 +0
Tires: BFG KO2 265 70

 

The end of the last day on the above trails, I had an error coming out of 4lo. It seemed to be out, but the dash kept telling me there was an error. Cycling the ignition finally cleared it. Drove home fine. When I got into town, I decided to go to the ball diamonds a few blocks from home and see if/how 4lo would engage. Instant error, but it did engage and now I'm stuck in 4lo. So I limped it home to take a look yesterday after unpacking.

The first thing I saw was the breather hose hanging next to the actuator...not a good sign. So, I grabbed a screwdriver (JIS, not Phillips) and started pulling the actuator cover and got me somewhere between 1/3 and 1/2 cup of KY stream water. Got it all dried out and back together. When I hit the ignition, I instantly heard the actuator cycle and had no error. I put the trans in neutral, switched to 4hi and bam, into 4hi! Backed out of the driveway and switched to 2wd, perfect!

Hopefully, that's the end of that.

Next time you're under the truck, pull the breather hose and check to see if it's splitting...I had to trim off about 12mm.

 

Looks amazing!

 

Agreed! I dipped mine red and love the result.

 

@Nyrob here's how they look on with 5100s set at stock height:

 

Yeah i figured the weight wouldnt be much difference youre right maybe a slight mpg increase on the 245's. I went from stocks to 265's and then changed to 235's, which i could notice a difference 265's to 235's both AT's which were within 1lb difference per tire. You will enjoy the tune makes a big difference make sure to get a more aggressive throttle input the 4 bangers need it, i run spicy for base and its perfect for me. Makes the truck feel more "normal" its the way it should have came from the box. You wont see a power increase but the increased pedal sensitivity makes it feel like it. I also have an LCE header and 5.29's which were beneficial. The truck with the added weight, bigger tires, lift a few skids etc drives better than it did off the showroom floor power wise and pretty decent mpg to boot. I run 40 psi with a decent amount of added weight in the bed. Id say with a topper and some crap in the bed its about 5-600lbs. Have had the tires for 15-20k and they are wearing great still look new, benefit of an E rated on a lighter truck. My opinion they ride smooth for being E rated, i would get them again.

 

Tires look great at stock height, could use a wheel spacer. My opinion is the 235 needs a more aggressive offset wheel or a spacer. I have trail wheels which are 0 offset and i still might add a 3/4 bora wheel spacer which would bring the tire just flush to the fender flare. On base sr trucks with no flares 235's look a little better stock. Painted mirrors, handles and flares on a 4banger i guess they optioned them different in the early years of the 3rd gen. This is what the tire looks like with a small lift 1.1 in front and about 2 in the rear.

 

Threw in the new redesigned bed stiffeners.

 

It's bizarre. It's like they don't even exist online.

 

Install done! Took most of the day but got to drink a lot of beer in the process. Now I have an excuse to add some 33s!

Bilstein 6112 in the front set at 2 inches with freedom off road upper control arms

Bilstein 5160 in the rear with old man emu leaf springs (medium load)

 

Got the lift done today, finally! Im getting too old to be crawling under a truck for two days!
Tires and alignment later next week.

 

Went for a long drive to Canyonlands, Grand Canyon, and Monument Valley. It was a much more comfortable 1500-mile drive than I expected.
The only real "truck" stuff was in a storm at Monument Valley and although they required 4x4 there was nothing but bumpy roads and one really rough spot. Any reasonably sturdy vehicle was fine. That Kia K5 sedan I saw going in... well, I hope they turned around.

 

Bolted in a little RKI tool box earlier.

 

Also did the led lights inside, and for the rear plate. I replaced the factory fog lights with amber leds, because they look cool.

I have the 6112s, AALs, and new Circuit rims, for the lift situation, in the garage. I'm waiting for my son to have a week off baseball so we can do all that together.

 

Those leafs should settle down a tad too fyi. Looks like it might come out level with the front. Depending if your front settles at all. I installed the same leafs and she settled a lil but my front (with eibachs) still needs raised a tad to level with the rear.

 

Haha..

I remember when I first bought my truck I loaded up about 1800 lbs of river rock in the bed... Your right about the truck not loving it... But surprisingly handled the load pretty good. Squatting hard.

 

I've had mine for almost a year and I'm still very happy with it. I did a fair amount of research ahead of the purcahse, and felt the OPT7 had the best combination of design, construction, and features.

 

Cool DIY.. looks professional

 

AC always looking good with bigger tires