Cynicalriders "J0hnny5 is ALIVE!" 01 build thread.

Yeah I mean the pulley and bracket was only like $45 to begin with, super cheap relatively. Hoping it lasts longer than the parts store ones do.

And the lists are literally the only way I can keep track of the shit I get done and still have to do. Super helpful because I have long term and short term goals that change constantly with my overall needs and goals. Like right now my brain is focused on riding as much as physically possible and keeping the truck in good condition to haul the bike and sometimes go ride.

Just so I don't forget it, this is likely going to get done the next time I drop the transmission, potentially when I do a crawl box.

https://www.pirate4x4.com/threads/toyota-r-series-gearbox-r150-r151-r452-dyna-5th-gear-swap.2000978/

This would be a game changer for me on the highway.

 

Reamer would be the best! It takes a minute 1/2" aint no joke when trying to cut through it. I saw about the seats too, awesome you found a spot to repair them.
What are you using to repaint sliders? Took a gamble on the chassis saver stuff last year, I think I'm going to start having a quart on hand for parts, impressed with coverage and how it dries on. Been working on maint stuff for the spring, big thing this year are the valve covers and all the little stuff todo while its torn apart.

 

I just use the normal chassis black that I use on all my armor. Keeps it all consistent and since it's not a strip down/repaint I don't use a ton of paint. Basically hit it with the phospho shit, clean it so the chem reaction stops, and then give it 2 good coats haha.

And those valve covers have been on my list for a good while now. I had planned to do the swap to all the silicone hoses, spark plugs, and wires at the same time. Just haven't felt it was worth digging into yet.

 

Been reading lately about it, its been awhile since that all has been replaced on mine. Just picked up the silicon hoses, ordered some Toyota style clamps, the whole valve cover seals/rebuild, plugs, wires, coil packs, new rad, belts, all the other fun stuff.

 

let me know how it goes and if you have any good references. Just haven’t had the motivation to do it.

Im on a current hiatus:

 

I gotta say life is good and I’m thankful for my family and being able to enjoy shit like this.

 

Came home from vacation and the next weekend I joined @Wheelspinner up north for some hard fucking riding as well as some sightseeing.

Got a bunch of gopro footage that I need to go through, but some highlights of the sightseeing:

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

Was challenged a bunch and I can't wait to ride up there again!

Also another reason why the truck has been sitting idle is I have been saving for this:

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

Super stoked on it, it's a 2017 FE350. Now I gotta clean the DRZ up to eventually sell it. Not much is needed, fluid flush, check the pads, replace a fork boot, new chain and sprockets. Stuff that just makes me feel better I am selling a solid machine and not a death trap to someone. Hoping to throw the profits from that at least at a NWF box, and plasma cutter at minimum.

Also dropped off the seats to the upholsterer for repair and heater install so I am tackling some things while the seats are out.

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

Retrofitting a latch system into the truck so I can more easily install a car seat base, cleaning the floor up real nice and running the wiring harness for the seat heaters.

 

FTFY

 

I was tired and needed a nap 20+ times

 

Fair enough

 

Holy crap I actually did something to the truck.

Seats came back from the upholstery shop. The guy did an amazing job and installed my seat heater elements at the same time.

Here is what the seat looked like when I got them from @nzbrock originally which he graciously gave them to me for $FREE.



It actually looked way worse when I dropped them off because I added 2.5 years of use to it.

When I got it back:

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

He did the best he could to match the colors, but when I actually have the time I can get a leather reconditioner kit that can also help get the colors all 100% uniform. For now though it is lower on the priority list.

This lead to the whole process of the seat heater install. WIth the Rostra kit you need a ground, an always hot (your main feed), an ignition hot as your fail safe for the relay, and a hot with lights on to turn on the blue back light. My hope was to make it as simple as possible by stealing all these wires from the main harness.

This is where several phone calls to @ToyRyd04 came into play.

The Rostra kit said for the dual dial switch it is supposed to be connected to a 20 amp circuit. Now this is where it gets confusing. One page of the manual says it is supposed to be on a 20 amp circuit. The fuse that came inside the harness was 10 amps. The manual later states if the fuse burns out repeatedly:

VERIFY THE FUSE RATING IS CORRECT: ROUND SWITCH/SINGLE-DIAL SWITCH =10 AMPS DUAL-DIAL SWITCH =15 AMPS

So with all this fuzziness on the actual potential draw of both seat heaters maxed out, I was concerned about where to get my constant hot from. Discussions previously with Greg had made me aware that the plug under the seat that is meant for the seat motors is constant hot and on a 30 amp circuit. My testing verified it is constant hot so I was good there. The other thing that confused me was the wiring on the harness itself for the fuse looked to be about 14ga where the fuse was, but then goes down to 16ga later in the harness. My theory for that is they just used a pre-supplied fuse harness and just spliced it into the harness they make. I compared the rest of the hot wire that goes into the harness and it was the same gauge as the Toyota harness so I figured I was good there.

Wire gauge comparison:

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

Ultimately after much discussion Greg and I figured this wire should be hopefully capable of supplying the seat heaters so it's what I used as my main power supply.

I cut and spliced into the green wire in the harness that runs to the back of the truck for the tail lights to get the blue backlight hot.

You can kinda see it here but it hasn't been spliced here yet:

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

Access was tight in trying to get the shrink to safely melt around the connection:

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr


The next thing I needed was an ignition hot. I found there is an ignition hot on a pin in the smaller harness that actually does not go anywhere on the the female plug. So I unpinned (sacrificed the one electric motor seat plug because I don't have the stupid tool to do it easily and plugged it into the female harness to give me an ignition hot.

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

You can see it being plugged into the harness here:

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

The last I needed was a regular ground which also came from the seat motor harness, so that was convenient.

Here is the harness completed:

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

And wrapped/cleaned up:

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

Also this tool is AMAZING for split loom.

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

The last piece was installing the switch/finding a good location. Thankfully @reallifeonhold figured that part out for me and was actually the inspiration to move seat heaters up higher on my list. He took the stupid coin pocket or whatever the fuck it is in our consoles, printed an adapter piece to hold the dual dial switch so it can pop into place. Once I saw what he did in the unique mod thread, I hit him up and bought a piece from him. (Stand up guy, highly recommend the piece he sells)

This was the previous setup:



This USB is plugged into the head unit for auxiliary use. I always have an old iPod plugged into it that sits in the bottom of the center console for when I need music in places where I don't have radio or cell service. I always hated two things about it, it would always get dirty from drinks and stuff, and the wire would leave this location and go into the center console and just look messy.

Moving the USB inside the bottom of the center console solves both issues and lets me use the cubby for the switch:

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

And the switch installed:

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And on:

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

Another reason why I fell in love with the Rostra kit was the blue backlight that already matched my interior lighting.

I was under a time crunch for this project because I was supposed to go riding with @Wheelspinner Monday and needed everything to work out. I need the seat done in time, the harness at least complete and hidden and the drivers seat installed. After some late nights I had my shit together enough to drive it.

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

We rode FRO which is a fucking sick place for bikes.

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

Now I just need to finish the back wall shit, get the fridge back in, and get the passenger seat in. Hopefully will knock that out next week.

 

Nice Mike, how's the heat from them? Harness turned out clean.

 

So I only tested it out on settings 1-2 right now and it was definitely noticeable and pretty toasty, I didn’t crank it yet. Was on the way to go riding and didn’t want to potentially damage something while I was so far from home. The ambient temp at the time was like 50°. I am hoping to test the higher settings with both seats in and go from there. I think it’s going to be fucking awesome after snowboarding/cold weather camp/wheeling trips though.

 

If so glad those seats are still living on, and they look so much better now! I originally got them in Orlando, FL btw.

 

They need a good clean and restore still but I have been very happy with them. Def one of my favorite mods so far.

Not much new, got the rest of the interior buttoned up, including cutting and trying to do a clean install of the trim for the car seat LATCH system.

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

And tested the base:

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

Way more secure now with this system.

Got the passenger seat in, I love how clean the switch install looks.

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

Added some protection/bling to the bike:

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

On one of my rides I found a pool:

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

And I finally tested this bike with the Bike Binderz and was happy to learn the settings for the DRZ mostly work, just need to adjust the straps that hold the tailgate half closed a little bit.

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

 

Started trying to get the truck ready for a riding/camping event next week. The first was adjusting the secondary straps on the tailgate to leave it open more since I couldn't use the settings I was able to use with the DRZ.

Before:

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After:

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Still closed enough where cases won't slide out if I am wheeling with it like this, but gives me a little more space to not have to struggle to shut the tailgate anymore.

Last I need to do is fix my camp lights, and redo my bed lighting if the materials come in time. Though for this particular trip I shouldn't be loading/unloading the bike in the dark so it's not as much of a priority.

I also finally pulled this beast out but still need to install it. My wife got it for me for my birthday.

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

Here it is compared to my old bench vise...

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I need to cut a plate of 3/16", drill some holes and put that on the underside of where I will be bolting this fucker to.

I also spent the day in the pines with my son and met up with @HuneyBear69 and his fam.

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We started off at the Apple pie hill firetower, a spot I always wanted to check out.

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

And then met up with HB and just spent the day driving around the pines, and he showed me a cool swim spot.

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

Capped the weekend off with a smoke while installing some new grips.

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

Stoked to be in the truck and garage more lately.

 

Update to actual build! I added a patch! That's it.

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Got a patch for the trip we did in VT last year.

Other than that I have been just using the truck for my two wheeled stuff.

Did a dual sport in Lock Haven, PA with @Wheelspinner and his buddies a couple weeks ago:

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

Then for Fathers Day after spending half the day with the fam, I did a solo camp trip near where I would be riding with Steve again the next day.

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Checked out an overlook on the way:

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The camp site was really cool. Lots of spread out trees with low scrub brush meant you could see far into the woods.

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

One thing I do need to do on the truck soon is replace the bed lights. Despite their supposed waterproof designation, they are slowly burning out on me.

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

Our lost trails ride was pretty typical, I had to get photos at this spot where I had gotten similar photos with the DRZ before:

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

Up there with the DRZ for comparison.

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

Oh and I finally got to use the motorcycle lift as intended now that I have a bike that is within it's weight capacity.

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Other than that, just living life with the fam, did a badass waterfall hike with them recently too.

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

I probably don't have much comping up until a day trip to Takeover at the end of July. Will probably be doing a once over of the truck in the meantime and might try to sleep in the bed for that trip. Figure a mosquito net over the back door and 2 12v fans back there and I should be super comfy.

 

Finally working on this thing for Takeover. Only get motivation when I need to use the truck.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c11QoDqnjs4

 

Pulling the trans is slow going when working in 1.5 - 2 hour stints.

The overall group of things being replaced will be carrier bearing, starter, shifter and t-case bushings, pilot bearing and throw out bearing.

The first thing I did was cut off the sway bar bracket on the drivers side to make getting the starter out super simple. I think I used to be able to pull it from the wheel well but with the TC gussets thats a no go now.

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With this thing out of the way and no sway bar, the starter was like a hot dog in a hallway.

Right now I am at the part where everything inside is disconnected:

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The drive shafts are out and the harness has been removed from all over the transmission:

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And everything has been loosened by the slave cylinder. I even got 5 out of 6 bell housing bolts out.

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

One more bolt to go, then time to put it on the bike stand (my ghetto transmission jack) and pull it out.

@turbodb your write up has been super helpful. I remember a bunch from when I watched the shop do it years ago on the lift (my cousins shop) but this was helpful for the little details I didn't remember too. One question I had was what is the purpose of removing the inspection plate on the front? And can that be done after the transmission is already dropped? I still have the IFS skid on and would prefer to not fuck with it.

Also at the same time for making the write up sound too easy enough for me to convince myself to tackle this project solo.

 

Another perk of the 1" bl is getting those bellhousing bolts out more easily and the wire harnesses. Really not a difficult job after the 1st time you do it. I had to use my winch the 1st time to separate the bellhousing.