deusxanime's 2020 Cement OR 6MT mods/upgrades/build

Finally that catches me up to current. The last couple days I spent cleaning up my old oval step bars from the previous truck. I've mentioned before that it was undercoated and a bunch of the crap had been oversprayed onto them, especially the brackets that connect to the truck. So I used Goo Gone and removed all that gunk from the bars, brackets, and bolts/washers. It was a PITA, but saved me from having to buy new hardware or the entire steps, so I guess it was worth it. After cleaning them all up, I was able to mount them last night. They aren't heavy, but awkward to get started with only one person, so I enlisted my wife to help hold up one end for me while I started the bolts.

 

One quick thing I did this morning is change the color of the truck in the 360* camera screen. It is white by default, but I went into the secret menu and changed it to gray. I think it might be more MGM than Cement, but at least slightly closer in color to my actual truck!

Here's a video I found on how to get into the menu and change that:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NOvPDhktLU

And here's how it looks now on the screen:

 

I think you can get a stitch-breaker to remove those green tags. I do that to some of my shirts that have itchy tags.

 

Yeah that would probably work for the front seat back protectors, since it is a tag that looks to be sown on, but the on the rear seat protectors they are silk-screened on instead.

Wouldn't even mind them much if they weren't neon green.

 

I've been busy so not a whole lot to update right now.

I think I've found a local place to do a woolwax (similar to Fluid Film) undercoating thanks to discussion in my local TW thread. So I'm going to put priority on anything that is underneath and get it out of the way, before the undercoating gets done and things are sticky under there. So hopefully coming up soon is the tailgate auto-lock (wiring runs underneath), TRD Pro exhaust, Sumo Springs, and anything else under there I can think of that involves crawling under the truck.

Also getting tired of not having a place to put things out of the wind and weather, so I really need to get on getting a topper ordered!

 

Ordered and threw in the OEM carpeted floor mats. I like to run them during the summer and switch out to an all weather of some kind during the winter (have the OEM right now, may get WeatherTech or Husky).





Finally got my plates in as well and put them on. State park plates so I get "free" admission to MN State Parks! If you don't remember/haven't seen, this is using the front frameless license plate holder from back in this post.

 

Other than that, I haven't gotten much else done myself, but I did get a bunch of stuff scheduled/ordered for the next month or so.

• Woolwax/Fluid Film set for mid September, possibly a bit later
• Xpel PPF clear bra first week in September
• Topper ordered and expected in a month or so
• Looking into Toyota Platinum warranty

 

FINALLY the weather was nice enough (aka not 90* and humid) for me to get some stuff done. I was hoping to get more, but just got the tailgate lock put in. This video was a good reference and I used the OE instructions as well (I'll attach if I can).

I didn't take super exhaustive pictures, but here's the gist of it...

Remove negative battery terminal:


Remove tailgate cover:


Remove bolt:


Mark wires going to tailgate so you can re-position the same when you put them back:


Remove clips from tailgate and rear of truck:


With short harness, run wire through rear of truck and into tailgate, clip to brace:


Install actuator, careful to line up notch and then bolt down using one removed previously. Also, there is a push washer to go over the switch not shown here:


Install new clips that have spots for both wires to go through:


Remove passenger sill plate and kick panel. Feel under passenger seat and remove rubber grommet. Pass long wire harness through there until new integrated rubber grommet is in place. Route remaining wire with plug up to passenger side kick panel area and put in T harness:



After that it looked like it might rain so I quickly finished up and didn't get any more pics. Basically just zip-tied all the wires in place and connected the two wire harnesses to complete the wiring. Reconnected battery and tested out to make sure everything was working. Then put the tailgate cover and passenger kick plate and door sills covers all back on.

Took me a few hours (guess I'm slow because most seem to say it only takes 1-2 hrs) and so I didn't have time to do the other things I was hoping - putting in the Sumo Springs. That is next project for whenever the day is decent and I have time. Maybe an evening this week, otherwise next weekend!

 

It was another nice day so I couldn't let it go to waste. Went outside after I was done working and put in the Sumo Springs! I got the black 1000# capacity ones since I am going to put a topper on which I assume will be a couple hundred pounds, along with towing a camper which has pretty good tongue weight.

I used these two videos as reference and of course the instructions from the manufacturer that came in the box.

I put the parking brake on (it's a manual so it is always on actually) and a couple chocks under the tires for good measure, then crawled under. Before I started I marked some rough lines with my silver sharpie to see where the U bolts were. Figured that might make it easier to get them roughly back and lined up in the same spot:


Loosened the U bolt nuts as much as I could without completely taking them off:


Lifted up the U bolts and slid out the factory bump stops:


Then slid the Sumo Springs bracket in:


Re-positioned the U bolts and tightened the nuts to 52 ft-lbs (referenced here and in one of the videos):


Rinse and repeat on other side.

Then I jacked up the truck one side at a time and put the actual bump stops in. Here's a picture from the top in the wheel well with it jacked up:


Put the included blue thread lock on the bolt:


And then screwed on the bump stop:


After lowering the truck back down, it looks like there is still 1 - 1.5 inches of clearance between the bump stop and the frame:


I took a "before" pic of the fender height because I wasn't sure if these would affect it, but since it doesn't even rest on them it doesn't of course! Putting the picture up for reference though, as it'll be interesting to see how much it drops when I get the topper.


Very simple! I expect it won't affect day-to-day driving since it isn't even resting on the bump stop, but we'll see. I might feel it when going over some big bumps or something, when it actually engages them. I'm waiting to see how it is once I get my topper and start towing the camper with the truck.

On a side note, I think I might end up getting bed stiffeners, just as a precaution since I'll be running a topper. I want to get them on before the topper, so I best get them ordered up so I can install them here shortly! Should be at least a couple more weeks before the topper is in though, so I've got a bit of time.

 

Btw, anyone who might be looking at this... How do the pictures show up in the previous two posts? I thought I inserted them as thumbnails, but then they just show up as the full image for me. Oh well, doesn't really matter, but just wondering if it is the same for others.

I'm off to update the first post with link and info.

 

They show up as full sized images. I actually prefer these over thumbnails

 

Nice post and reads great on tablet and phone. Now I have to research what those sumo thingies are all about.

 

I usually prefer just using the full size images too, but I thought since they were such picture-heavy posts I'd do thumbnails. But I guess it didn't work or I did it wrong, so oh well!

They are kind of like super bump stops, but not quite full airbags. Which probably doesn't help at all.

Basically they work kind of like airbags where they allow you to support more weight in the back without sagging. But they are maintenance free, so you don't have to worry about maintaining or changing the air pressure like in airbags, and they are solid so no worries about popping or leaks either.

Since they aren't connected to the frame full time, they aren't "engaged" unless you have enough weight where the rear end actually sags to the point that they touch, at which point they come into play. So in daily driving they shouldn't affect your ride.

Hope that makes sense, otherwise Google is your friend for more info, as I'm sure you know!

 

Well I can't claim to have done anything myself but sit in the lounge area and wait, but I got the XPEL paint protection film/clear bra put on today. I had them do the "partial front" package which includes the grill surround, bumper and rest of front end, headlights, fog lights, front 1/4 or so of the fenders and hood, and side mirror caps. Included free with the purchase was the door edge protection, so they did that too. I also had them put on the door cup protectors. I even managed to talk myself into getting the A-pillars and front part of the roof done while I was there, so that happened.

On my way home, managed to flip 1000 miles on the clock. Finally done with all of the break-in period!

 

Worked on a few things this weekend.

Started with the A/C drain mod. Pretty simple just slipped the heater hose over the drain and routed it down so it could drip without getting all over the frame. I tried to run the A/C on a short drive to test it out, but I don't think it was hot/humid enough to really get condensation on a short drive like that. Hopefully we'll have a hot enough day to test it out before winter! (Can't believe I said that... I hate hot weather!)

 

Next up was the Total Chaos bed stiffeners (instructions here). Since I'm getting a topper, I thought I'd put these in just to be safe. They are pretty simple actually. The only cringy part was drilling into the truck... never a fan of having to do that kind of thing...

Removed taillights and bed bolts:


Need to keep track of the order the D-ring washers and put them back in the same order (above you can see they are back in the hole already):


Fitted bracket, cinching the bolts down just tight enough to hold in place, and then drilled out the three needed holes up the side:


Once I had the holes drilled, I pulled the bracket off and tried to paint the inside of the holes with some black touch-up paint I had lying around from a previous vehicle. Not sure how well it worked, but I gave it a shot in the hopes it will keep them from rusting. Let it sit for close to an hour to dry:


After that, it was just a matter of putting the bracket back and bolting it in place, using torque specs given on their instructions:


Here it is with both completed:

 

Since I had the taillights out and was waiting for the paint to dry, I also put in the bed lights. They were super simple as well - totally plug and play!

Removed the cover:


In the taillight area, they have the plug for them just hooked up to a dummy harness:


Unplugged and removed the dummy harness:


Plug the new wire harness into the bed light and thread it through the hole into the taillight area:


Snap in the bed light:


Plug in the wire harness and snap the tabs into the existing holes to hold in place:


Turn on the bed lights to test them out!:


Then of course reinstall the taillights which I did after the stiffeners were done.

 

Finally, was digging through my mod box and saw the MESO Gasshole, so finally put that in.

 

Updated first post with part numbers, links, etc.

 

Ease of bed lights may well be my favorite and most enviable 2020 feature.