GT's Ultimate PepBoys chrome isle collection with considerable BS

I have no need to strap my front. The go fast jumps aren't my thing in this truck. After seeing my friends SR1 Rhinos, I'd rather have that for hucking and my truck for more Overland. Check out the 1st few posts in my build for my setup.

 

Right on, will do tomorrow, I have "old man syndrome" so I'm off to bed.

 

Got a chance to look at the stock lowers. Metal looks okay but bushings are fairly worn out. Went ahead and ordered the new TC lowers and the cam tab gussets. Got another smokin' deal from @Downsouth Motorsports that I couldn't pass up.

Just found out that Hutchinson wheels just went back up in price by about fifty bucks each wheel. Might steal the set I gave my brother in law back while I'm down in Texas for the holiday.

Was explaining to my wife the process to trim fenders and flares and she just rolled here eyes and told me that I'm stupid and I should just get fiberglass fenders and bedsides and be done with it. Now I'm torn as I know that McMillan McNeil is working on a new mold that has a flare that isn't as wide as the current stuff. Going to have to make some calls and see if setting the FlipPac on top of glass bedsides will be a problem.

EDIT: Was talking about rifle stocks with someone on the phone while I was typing this post.

 

Bump stops are here.

 

Turns out that my brother in law sold the wheels I gave him to finance another project. So with that said, I now have 2,395 reward points on purefjcruiser.com for some new wheels. I opted for black with the black nut covers.

Have to figure out if my spare came with a TPMS sensor or not, and if not if I have to buy one from Toyota or if I can get away with just adding one of the programmable types. Anyone?

 

I think toyota stopped TPMS in spares after 09

 

Makes sense. Do you know if the system will recognize a fifth sensor in case I add one?

 

I don't see why not. Call the dealer to be sure though

 

Why do you need the sensor? Even if you have the tire without a sensor on the ground you'll still pick up the signal from the now spare.

 

Makes sense, I just like to rotate the spare into the loop and figured that having a sensor in it would be beneficial.

 

I run a five tire rotation as well. Don't worry about it. You don't need a sensor to know when a 35" tire is going down.

 

Ha, sadly I know all too well what you mean.

 

Now the tires on my gooseneck are a whole different story. I need to buy a set of tire pressure and heat sensors for the trailer. A passerby flagged me down on the way back into Houston on my last trip letting me know something was up. I picked up a screw in a brand new tire and ruined it.

 

Could have been worse, family member was towing stock trailer and when he looked in the side mirror he realized that fire was spewing out of one hub.

 

I'll take a screw in the tire any day over that. I met a couple that had burned their truck and trailer to the ground. The wife flicked her cigarette out the window and it landed in one of the round bales on the trailer.

 

Looks like I'm going fiberglass for the fronts.



From McNeil press release:

"These fenders have a 2" Flare and a 1" Rise. Perfect if you're running a Mid Travel Kit or 35" Tires! We have also incorporated the OEM Flare to give it the Factory Look! These fenders are now available for purchase!"

 

Going to slow down for the rest of the month and just focus on getting some parts ordered so they are ready to go. Have plans to head south to visit family for the Thanksgiving holiday and will be away for about two weeks-ish. Since I'm going to be away from my desk I'm making this post for myself as well so I can have a reminder while I'm away.

What's in the works right now:

While in Texas I intend to meet Todd @dieseltoys in San Antonio to finalize our discussions and put my deposit down on a 1KD-FTV turbo diesel conversion. I'm hoping that we can do some minor performance enhancements as well as get a Marlin "Taco Supreme" crawl box from @awsumdc, AKA: Wyatt at Rock Solid Toys installed at the same time.

While making plans I intend to figure out what type of bed mounted auxiliary tank to buy as well. Remembering that I have to step up into the FlipPac bed when it's deployed, I'm okay with a tank that is a bit taller than the bedsides. I'm considering something like the Tansferflow tank or their toolbox/tank combo. Depending on how much space is wasted by using one of their tanks I may opt for a custom made tank to exploit every square inch that I can to maximize volume.

Ordered a set of five Hutchinson Rock Monsters in black, which I'm told will be here in about a month as their powder coater is backed up due to the defense contract stuff.

Ordered a plate bumper from Eric @RelentlessFab, about a month ago which means that I should see it in about four to five months from now due to his advertised production schedule. I need to call him as I have some change requests to make and wanted to run a couple of questions about the possible fitment of a couple of winches that I'm interested in so I can get the correct winch ordered and ready to go as well.

Talked to Matt @M C M, and he showed me some better pictures of the new McNeil fenders on that black truck shown in the post above this one which sealed the deal for me. My Wife even commented that they look awesome. He's working out the shipping details and I imagine he will be sending me an invoice soon. Asked that he add a pair of his radius light bar mounts to it as well. (I didn't ask if I could share the pictures so I'll wait to hear back from him before I do.) Just got a text message giving me the go ahead. Pics at the bottom of this thread.

Tried to get ahold of Shane at Custom Exhaust Specialties in Bend, Oregon to order his direct replacement fuel tank but their outgoing voice mail message stated that they were out until Monday so hopefully I can get the ball rolling then. I'm going to be looking into his 40-ish gallon tank in either stainless or aluminum along with a tank skid.

Will be ordering new gears from ECGS along with a rear locker for certain. I'm still wavering on the front locker as I feel that if I need it to get past a trail section I probably don't need to be on that trail in the first place with all the weight I'm carrying and with the center of gravity higher than normal due to the FlipPac. Maybe I'm being a bit too worrisome about it, I dunno'. Still trying to decide if I want to go all the way up to the 4.88 or something a bit smaller since I will have the crawl box to help with when wheeling. I just want to have the combination be similar to stock when on paved roads. Accepting all advice here on this decision.

Will call Bailey @Baja Designs to get some new lights ordered with the TW member discount that he offers as well. I really like the IPF 900's that I have behind the grill but I'm working on a different plan that will give me a few more options and LED really seems like the best way to go. I'll sell the IPF's here when the time comes. Need to call @JLee from B.A.M.F. as every time I try to order his LED bar mounts I get thrown an error right before the confirm/finalize order step. It's probably "insufficient operator headspace" related on my end, but I figure a phone call will resolve it.

I threw out the timber bed interior that I made because it was a pretty bad design and to be perfectly honest, I'm a shit carpenter and it was painfully obvious. It was so bad my five year old was goofing on it. There is a group in California called Goose Gear that is making some really cool and lightweight interiors out of what looks like 80/20 quick frame which I know is very lightweight and strong.

Before I talk to them I have to get a few things ordered from Martyn at Adventure Trailers for the camper interior so I can provide them with accurate measurements. We gave our Engel fridge to some friends of ours that are just getting started setting up their truck camper because my Wife wants the big boy. So I'm getting her a National Luna 52L Weekender fridge/freezer. I plan to mount it on top of the AT combo slide with the Partner Steel JK stove. We have allot of Snow Peak camping and cooking gear but sometimes when we are in a hurry or simply too lazy to set it all up this should get us through.

I'm still trying to chase down the part number to the optional "all weather flooring" that Toyota offered in the 2012 year model Tacoma trucks since all the dismantlers only have carpet floors. If anyone knows that part number I'd be very grateful to have it.

Will be mounting my CB and amateur radios soon-ish, as well as a mobile phone signal booster and a new aftermarket navigation head unit along with switches and a few LED's in the interior for convenience at the same time. Still haven't found a replacement inverter so I can pull the weak factory inverter out. Figure that once I have the interior apart I might as well just do it all at the same time. Having a custom screwdriver antenna made for the amateur radio and once I get it in hand I will start to figure out how to make a mount for it that is detachable for tight trails with low overhangs.

I intend to mount it on a high clearance rear bumper but I still haven't finalized my ideas on it, much less what vendor I want to use. I'm interested in one from either @CBI Offroad Fab, @JDEMELLO, or @Pelfreybilt. I will have to have a gate for my spare tire and at least one LPG bottle as well as the above mentioned antenna mount. I really like what @TACODOC1 ended up with on his in that he has the gate made to be modular so he can bring what he needs for the trip he is taking. Makes sense as I'm already going to be ridiculously heavy and leaving some things home that I know I won't need will help immensely.

A bunch of other little things as well as one other "big thing" in the works but I'm going to keep that to myself for now as none of them are pressing issues.

EDIT: Adding pictures.

 

Total Chaos lower control arms and weld on alignment cam tabs arrived today. These LCA's are beautiful.



Ordered a pair of strap clevises and weld on clevis mounts from Trail-Gear as well. Figure once everything is hanging I can measure for what strap length I will need and I can order them then.

 

Subbed

 

Love your build. You have a ton of goodness going into your truck. Those LCA's are gorgeous. Subbed for future updates.