'12 DCSB "Land-Skiff" Prerunner "Do I really Need a Build Thread" Build Thread w/ optional BS

Well, 8 months later and I still haven’t found time to install my bumper. Chaotic summer and now my garage is filled with junk. Keeps turning into a next week project. I need to set a date and just do it. I primed and bed lined it, installed the fogs. Need to add the light bar then take a few hours and just do the damn thing.

next items on the list:

-Rear bumper is showing rust, so I need to grind out some chunks and respray.
-Ordering a tailgate pad this week, mainly because I am about to wrap up a sweet new MTB build.
-starting to think about OBA and some sort of onboard shower/cleaning system.
-I really, really want a vinyl carpet. Weather-tec mats might have to do.
-Tires are getting closer to end of life.

 

Did the bumper install. Much more painless than expected. I had all the disassembly and trimming done in about 90 minutes, then waited about four hours for help to lift the new bumper into place. Ended up spraying a bunch of stuff with rubberized undercoat, including all the sub braces, a-arms and skid plate.

Old crusty bumper removal:



Helper and cutting various bits for fitment:



Grill refit:



Fog light wiring up and running. Still need to wire up the light bar to the high beams:



And a front end shot, need to go out for an actual photo shoot:



the passenger side is sitting about a quarter inch lower. Looked even when I was tightening things up. I think I might snug the whole thing up closer to the body lines.

All my armor, cosmetics and lighting is pretty much done. May swap the grill at some point. Next step is suspension and 33’s.

 

And a better photo of the old girl. Light bar didn’t get tightened enough and worked itself loose, so I’ll fix that tomorrow.

 

Snugged the bumper up closer to the body by about a half inch, got it perfectly level and torqued down the center light bar. I guess I forgot to tighten it, as a 10 minute drive on some washboard gravel loosened the bolts until they were almost out of the light bar mounts.

Ordered a tap-a-fuse to wire the light bar up to come on with the high beams. Should be trivial to wire up. I have a couple cans of plasticoat, think I may do the badges and fender bolts soonish. I’ll probably work on undercoating the rest of the frame, etc. as well as I have two more cans of that.

As far as suspension, the front seems fine but the rear is getting squeaky and a bit wallowy (the roads here are awful and wreck suspension). Thinking a good “stage 1” would be Maxtrac spindles, leaf’s and better shocks in the rear. Then 2.5” coilovers and UCAs in the front when things wear out. I like the raked out look, so I’ll probably do 4” all around. Or just coils and AAL for 2” and call it done. Off-roading here is limited here and she’s a prerunner, so a big lift doesn’t make tons of sense, if at all.

 

Took the new bike out for its first ride. Man, this thing just wants to absolutely fly downhill, what a ripper.

 

Tailgate pad is being sent by my brother as a birthday present, pretty pumped about that. Going to wire up my light bar and mess with my windshield wiper fluid sprayers, as they've ceased working... well, like three years ago.

 

So, I think this will definitely be one of my next small projects (idea and photos courtesy of a Facebook group member, this unit is for a Raptor):



I saw some cool 3rd brake light options for 2nd gens, but most are discontinued or constantly out of stock. The cheap smoked one I got leaks and just isn’t great, and I’d like to add bed lights and more functionality. I have a dialed 3D printer, so I’ll just need to build a simple enclosure for it using ASA.

I also want to use similar lights mounted in angled brackets, which are then mounted in the t-slot in the bottom of my roof rack. Heck, there are a number of ways I could mount them up, I just need to take the time to draw everything up in CAD.

 

Wash, ceramic coat and fitted the tailgate pad. Also replaced the wiper blades as a year in the Caribbean destroyed the old ones.

 

A project I’ve been dreading (and putting off, thus making it much worse): refinishing my rear bumper. I could see rust forming for a while, and it’s started to swell and chip the last six months or so. Finally pulled it to asses the damage. It was worse than expected. Spent several hours with a hammer, cold chisel, flap disk and wire wheels to remove.




Cont. next post.

 

After removing as much rust as I could without a sand blaster, I used a few cans of rust converting primer. Then a heavy coat of rubberized undercoat on all the interior surfaces and then a heavy coat of bed liner on the outside. Ten hours later, and hopefully it’ll last another ten years in the Caribbean.

The big issue is sand and mud catching inside, holding salt and water. Hopefully the undercoat acts as a moisture barrier.

 

Well, went out of town for a month and I guess I didn’t use enough damp rid pouches as my interior was a moldy mess. Not the first time, but I think I’ll finally be getting vinyl carpet and seat covers.

 

Well, I've needed new tires for like a year and finally ordered a set of Falken Wildpeak in 285/75/17. They are going to rub like hell, so going to throw some short 1.5" generic lift spacers on the front and do a CMC in the very near future, but I'll be living with some rub for a little bit. Suspension is also getting pretty tired, so new coil-overs are in my nearish future.

My tailgate has some rust at this point (you can see the initial bubbles on some older photos, but it's finally broken through pretty bad), so working on designing a custom swing-out tailgate with a spare holder, hi-lift and some other goodies. Rear bumper is also getting near to the end-of-life I think. I just can't keep it from rusting. Going to give it one more re-coat and then swap it out sometime in the next several months and hopefully get a better coating on the new one.

 

34's installed. Rubs a bit, but not at wheel lock at all. I have a 2" spacer lift I'm installing next week for a bit more clearance, and I'll do a cab chop at some point.

 

Working on designing my new tailgate to replace my rusted-through, bent to shit stock one. This is the current brain-storm/iteration:



There will be a mount for a hi-lift and I think I'll swap the hard mount/studs with a tray and eyes for a strap to hold the spare. I'd also add a bike rack to one of the bed rails, as I currently just have a tailgate pad.