Hey Connecticut, our everything hurts

Morning everyone.

Happy Monday.

And happy President's Day. Company gives us the day off now.

 

Great morning all!

 

Good night CT

 

Good morning boys

 

Morning Connecticut

 

Rain woke me up this morning, definitely didn’t expect that

 

Morning everyone.

Happy Tuesday.

Kiddo has off from school, so I took the day off to hang out with him.

 

Gonna go have lunch together at the mall, followed by a guy's haircut by my friend that works at a place in the mall, followed by letting him go on that rope jumping thing they have there.

Some good ole father son time!

 

Nice! Enjoy

 

Morning guys!

You all may have seen me post the last few months about a noise I couldn't track down, a screeching from my engine bay. Originally I thought it was the alternator, but narrowed it down to the idler pulley right by the alternator. Ordered a new Gates pulley, and it arrived like 2 weeks ago. Except it's gross and cold, and I don't have a garage to use. So I figured "Ehh, I'll do it eventually"

Saturday night, the girlfriend and I go out to dinner for an early Valentines, since Valentines day is my birthday and we were going to celebrate Sunday. We go to The Mill on the River in South Windsor, about an hour from her place. Dinner was good, she's an adventurous eater but hasn't been exposed to a ton. She tries escargot and seared sea scallops for the first time, both were delicious. I had a Johnnie Walker Gold, was not impressed. Too peaty for me

Anyways, we're coming home and that pulley is SCREAMING. It comes and goes though, so I wasn't concerned

Well, about 2 miles from her house, my battery light comes on. I have snapped enough serpentine belts to know what that light means. Turn off the stereo, crank up the heat, and try to get as far as I can. Fortunately I was able to get to her neighborhood before the temp gauge got way up there. I hiked up to her place, printed out a quick explanation of why I took someone's assigned spot, and drove her car down to pick her up. When we got back, I ordered a new belt to pick up the next day.

Thank goodness the weather was pretty nice, I enjoy the cold and was pretty comfortable in jeans, a t shirt, and a new long sleeve Carhartt shirt she just gave me. Drop my heavy-as-shit SOS front skid, and rip this stupid belt out



Once I was done there, I grab a pair of pliers and get to work on the massive knot that has been created around my fan shaft, and rip this shit out



Finally, I get to work on the pulley. I spin them all by hand, most of them are good. I'm going to replace them all probably this weekend though. So I go to spin the bad one to see how bad it is, and find it just fucking exploded the right before.


I'm guessing it's that weird purple color because it got so damn hot from the friction.

Fortunately everything went smoothly. By far the hardest part was taking my skid plate off, which I am leaving off until I do the other pulleys. So on my birthday, I got to wake up early and go fix that stupid pulley and belt

On a better note though, got some new toys!

 

Its damn nice out today, soak it up while you guys can!

 

@Checkers10160

I'm close to changing out my belt due to time not mileage.

What belt did it get for replacement?
Stock or Bando or something else ?

Thanks
TOMB

 

Hey guys I'm looking to get a C4 Hybrid front bumper and Victory Strike II rear bumper installed in the next week or two. Both bumpers involve a bit of cutting to the body (especially the rear) and I'm not comfortable doing it myself.

Any body shop recommendations to get the custom work done? I'm near Danbury at the moment but wouldn't mind a little travel to get good work done. All the shops I've called in the area are less-than-enthusiastic about doing the work I want done.

Any help is appreciated!

https://c4fabrication.com/products/tacoma-hybrid-front-bumper-3rd-gen-2016

https://www.victory4x4.com/product/VT3RS2.html

 

Tom, I went with the Gates Micro V Part # K070834. Partially because O'Reilly's had it in stock, but also because I've heard good things about Gates' pulleys, so I figured their belt would be good too. I used the video below to help me, getting it over the fan was a little weird but not too hard. It's literally

1. Use a 14mm socket and wrench to push the tensioner out of the way
2. Stick something small in the hole below the tensioner pulley to pin it out of the way. I used a drill bit
3. Slip the belt off
4. Put new belt on

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKq3FBsvFsI

Below is a diagram from TW showing which Gates pulleys are needed, if you're interested in changing those too. Amazon has them cheaper than local auto parts stores

https://twstatic.net/attachments/ade97a40-5307-473a-b5c5-245d0036ad0e-jpg.2941365/

 

@Checkers10160

Thank you.

TOMB

 

The best body shop around is Skrips in Prospect CT. I don’t know if they would be open to installing the bumpers but it’s worth a call.

 

Here's the Amazon gates belt and pulley kit I used like 80k miles ago

$251 Gates ACK070834 Belt Drive Kit

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DMT02Q...abc_F466CDPFFJTF027GHSXH?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

Check and double and triple and quadruple check the belt routing and seating before starting the engine after install. By far the hardest part. Still, ....... not that hard.

 

I went Bando but it was free

 

Took advantage of the 50 deg temps today and washed all the salt off and tried out the chemical guys ceramic product. What a pain in the ass that stuff was to apply/remove, never again.

 

That's the idea, it takes longer because it holds up. Well worth the investment for a new ride.