1999 Tacoma SR5 TRD Imperial Jade Build, Sweat and Tears

A little long but it'll do.

 

Back to the mirror not working. Was getting kind of frustrated with not figuring this out. Luckily I looked on the top at the usb connector. The pin all the way to the left was towards the back of the connector, when the rest of the pins were towards the front of the connector (I didnt get a before photo). So I cut a small piece of twist tie wire and jammed it in there, forcing the copper pin forward like the rest and it works now with the original cord. The cold must of broke the solder joint.

 

I thought I was having an issue my AC relay kicking on with the fan being on, I had no idea that if its set to defrost the AC will run without the AC button being pushed. So I guess all the fuel milage I was keeping track of coming across the country, factor in the AC running the whole time.

Was also messing with the diesel heater to see how long the battery lasts for and its not great. For an item that is kinda sold as a survival item, it seems to be really picky about voltage. I dont have the greatest battery for it, but Ithought I could get 24hr run time on low out of it. Not sure if the wire are too small or what the problem is.

 

Went and washed all the ice and salt off.

 

Went out for some training today to see if I could get a fire started when my diesel heater flops.

Pretty much failed. Tried to make it happen with a ferrel rod and learned some stuff.

First off, never buy a small rod, its damn near worthless when it counts. It was 15-20f degrees out and made things a lot tougher.
Tired for about 25 min and I got the lint to strike a couple times but it didnt really want to burn. Idk if it was because it was so cold or what but, couldnt get the leaves to light or the lint to burn fully.

With the rod being so small its not that easy to strike when its so cold out.

I tried out in the open and it was even worse.


Then I moved to stone to have a flat working surface which helped a lot but still couldnt get it go. Struck the rod at least 100 times. I know for sure that if this is in warm conditions it could of been done,
but I want to make sure I can make it happen when its freezing. Also tired the magnesium block and that was worthless too.


Gonna try again tomorrow with a longer rod that I have. I might sand the top of the knife some to give me a sharper edge to strike with.

 

Just went and tried again because Im kinda annoyed I couldn't get it. The bigger rod is wayy better. But still no go. I got the lint to light but wood or leaves wont catch. Gonna need to work on a strategy. This sucks, I didnt think it would be this hard. If it was 60f degrees out it would be massively easier, but I guess the point is to make it happen it the worst conditions. Good thing I found out now and not in life or death.

 

Tires seem to have gone out of balance again. The tire shop I use sucks. This is the 4th time for multiple cars that the tires have been out of balance from them.

I tired to fit some BB's through the valve stem and it was a fail.


Then on another day I tried to break the bead to get the BB's in but it was like 10 degrees F out and theres no way the rubber was going to give.




Looks like Ill have to try again later.

 

Im out. Tired of salt and whatever other bullshit they constantly put on the road. 2 weeks in this crap and my truck is messed up, like more damage in 2 weeks than 20 years. I cant believe you people just sit back and let them do this and ruin your cars. Its literally unreal to my mind. This country is def stocked up on soft people.

 

Doing a straight shot to FL, 15 hours.



Head wind was really strong so Im not going to track fuel. One of the front tires is really out of balance too so its not worth it.

Head a loud sound and thought one of the wheel covers finally flew off so I stopped to check and nope, the wind ripped the corner light out and broke the bracket.

 

Some guy in West Virginia decided to use some cars to slow his truck down instead of using his brakes.

My rear camera was covered with that magnesium salt shit so its a little unclear.


The car ended up putting all its energy into my rear hitch. Ended up bending my hitch and tweaking the rear frame down some. Got a pretty bad concussions, the rest of the trip sucked, felt like throwing up the rest of the way and my memory was foggy. A week later my neck still hurts. AAA insurance sucks and so does State Farm. Both trying to avoid any body injury coverage. Looks like I need a lawyer now.

 

Missed North and South Carolina, couldn't really function too well.

Made it

 

A couple days later I jumped on getting the tires back in balance. Amazon had some balance beads that would fit through the stem, so I ordered that and did all 4 tires with 4oz per tire. Was kind of a pain, took about 10 min each tire to try and pour it in. Should of done it sooner. Much better now.


Airing back up with the onboard air.

 

Some screen shots from the video I had. The guy hit everyone going 50 easy. No brakes at all. No warning. The truck in front of him was bad. It was hit so hard the spare tire was under the passenger side of the truck that hit everyone. They pretty much became one truck.

 

Took me a couple days of just relaxing to feel somewhat normal again. Concussions suck. Neck is still killing though.

Out about a week later.


Relaxed on the beach to try and recover and made some food. Was kinda windy so I setup in the back.






Wheel covers still holding on

 

Went back a couple different nights to catch the sunsets

 

that totally Sucks donkey Ass
what the F was that pickup doing back there? roads cannot possibly be icy with all that nasty chemical spray on the road

 

No ice at all. I could smell alcohol 4 feet away from his window. I told the cops to test the guy. They even said they smelled alcohol. They said they tested him and he tested positive on the breathalyze but that he just "took some mouth wash" so he was fine, must of been one of their buddies that they were covering for. I have it all on video. Should probably file complaints on the officers.

 

Hazy today.

 

good thing is you are catching this early hopefully
i would not permanently cover those holes, perhaps just use a large square heavy duty magnet that can be removed when you need to clean the inside out

how are the drain holes for the box section looking? are they blocked at all? have you enlarged them any to make it possibly drain better?
do you feel any accumulated dirt inside the boxed area channel bottom when you stick a finger in there? have you stuck one of those flexi magnets on a stick in there to see if anything comes out?

best thing to do is keep that boxed area free of dirt, sand, etc. accumulation... you can spray some of the anti-salt/water liquids inside there, there are various products out there to use.

take a compressed air (annually if possible more often) and blow the accumulated dirt out of those C channel pockets
i don't believe it is just the roadsalt chemicals that rott these, that stuff is just an accelerant

if the pee-coating used to coat these frames is compromised (rock chips,etc) then the simplest of rain from the sky will turn the exposed frame orangish surface rust and perhaps start spreading and bubble the rest of the pee coating eventually

there are various paints out there to use to recoat the frame... stay AWAY from POR-15

i have been looking into the MasterCoat line of products, the stuff they use as anti-graffiti paint on the commuter trains in NY/NJ etc. it can resist harsh chemicals used to clean that graffiti supposedly. i need a product that will resist heavy chipping from those larger gravel rocks that get stuck in the treads and eventually fling off and hit the frame

there is a repair geek video out there testing various frame paints
that is where i heard all about it