2001 DC Build and 2000 XC Tribute

The rest of the frame is painted and the front is all put back together. Just need to replace the brake valve, a power steering line, add a carrier bearing drop, and throw on the flares.

 

Got the front fender flares installed. The rear flares will be here by this monday! Cut off the old rusted through LPV and got the area cleaned up for the new one coming in tomorrow. Cleaned the bed and got it ready for paint later this week (just a rattle can job on the inside where it needed patched).

 

I don't think I'll have any problems clearing 33x12.50s

 

Diff breather extension and new brake line in place

 

Got a box from summit racing today...i originally ordered just the rear flares since the front off the old truck were salvageable but at their mistake they sent me a full set for $250! Planning on selling the new set of front flares. Cleaned up the bed patch and painted the inside of the bed. Got the bed and body lift put on as well as the rear bumper. Finished the diff breather relocation by the gas filler cap and got the rear fender flares cut, drilled and ready to install. Also mounted the LPV just waiting on some hardware because the dealerships never seem to get things right the first time... The further along I get the more I can't wait to see some 33s on her!

 

Great Work! The new Double Cab is looking good! Looking forward to seeing them 33's on there.

 

For now this is the planned tire/wheel combo. Also going to add spidertrax 1.25 inch wheel spacers. Anyone running anything similar? Pictures would be great!

 

Got the rear flares installed and the new LPV. Still needs brake lines hooked up to it but it looks a lot better than that rusty hunk of metal in there before! Also there's a picture of my "custom fabricated" bracket extension ...made it using one of the old cab mount bolts haha. Things are finally starting to come together nicely!

 

Got the bed liner, cap, winch cable, bed rack and some decals put on today. Also gave her a well deserved bath..

 

Just a heads up on ordering tires...Discounttiredirect eBay store typically does a $100 off $400 now towards the end of April/beginning of May. You could order those MTR's in two sets of 2 and get $200 off of them. Last year they did it starting the last week of April I believe.

 

Awesome! Thanks for the heads up! I'm going to be driving back to Pennsylvania at the end of the month and I was going to wait to order the tires until after the cross country treck anyways.

 

Had her shipped off to get the brake lines in the rear spliced in, replace a power steering line, and get an alignment. She will be on the road soon! Also the carrier bearing drop came in the mail today. Once I get it back I'm going to install the drop, some interior decor, and make the change to Mobil 1 Synthetic.

 

Got the brake lines finished up. The shop wanted $1000 to run the two lines from the rear axle to the front wheel well and a small one on the LPV!!! I said no way and spent $150 by doing it myself. It went a lot smoother than I thought thankfully! Had to take everything for a test run and decided to borrow the 33x10.50s off the XC to test fitment. I may be wrong but even with the 3 inch eibach coils and 1 inch body lift it looks like a 33x12.50 will rub like crazy! I'm going to have to reconsider things. Possibly find a set to borrow and test fit.

 

Made some new mud gaurds for the front wheel wheel. The dealership wanted $100 for new ones and the old ones were pretty rough. They wouldn't have fit with the body lift though so I ended up buying some rubber flooring material from Home Depot and extended them by an inch. Turned out pretty good I think!

 

Borrowed a set of 33x12.50s off of a friend's wrecked truck and did some truck crawling. They don't rub but only because they are pretty bald. I think I'll make the 12.50s work though they just look too good not to! The wheel backspacing on these wheels is roughly 4".

 

Well I really did it now... Had everything running smoothly, the tires fit well, and then I decided to test things out. Drove through a creek that was only a foot and a half deep or so and managed to get water inside the intake.

I hit the water going about 10 mph which was barely enough to splash over the hood with how deep the water was but it splashed directly up in behind the headlight and into the stupidly designed K&N intake (which I did not put on for the record). I tried starting it once for a split second right after it stalled out. Got a tow out of the water and pulled the plugs and turned it over. Sure enough water came out of one of the cylinders. I'm not very good with this scenario I only understand the basics. I went back today and drained the oil and there was no noticeable amount of water inside. Left the intake and plugs out to let things air out.

Gonna go back later today to fill the oil back up, put new spark plugs in, and try starting it. Am I missing anything?? Should I have a compression check done if it does fire up again? Also no oil leak present which I would assume means no cracked blocked or any of that nightmare.

A snorkel will now come before sliders and skids. Also I learned a valuable lesson that I should have already known: water, no matter how deep, should be taken very slowly..

 

Try cranking it over one more time after filling the oil and before the spark plugs are in just to make sure you got all the water out and then put the plugs in and start it, you will know very quickly if it bent a rod. It will be noisy and probably have a serious vibration. Good luck! Hopefully it was very little water in the cylinder.

 

Thanks for the reply! I was going to do that just to get any water that had settled out in the past day. There wasn't a lot of water that shot out initially. And my thought process was along those lines, I figured by turning it over with the plugs out it either wouldn't turn or would clunk if a rod was bent. Like I said not a lot of experience with this. I'm just glad I knew enough to not try starting it again and again or something else to make things worse....hopefully

 

Well it started up and does have a slight "ticking" sound. I use ticking loosely here because it isnt loud at all or very distinct. I think it is just from water that is still working its way out of the exhaust. There was water dripping where the Cat connects to the muffler pipe. Also there was steam coming out for the first couple of minutes. It seems to be running fine. Time will tell. What is the likelyhood that I seriously damaged engine internals here? I would think that if it was damaged it would be rather noticeable. I'll keep things posted over the next couple days....