Norsmanvike's Budget Build Escape to Freedom With Azure...

Are Raptor lights supposed to go on the top row? They look nice!

 

If you put them in the top row, you’re required do to some trimming of the grill to get the lights to fit correctly as well as trim just a little of the lights on the very ends. My set was already trimmed on the ends and I didn’t want to do serious trimming on my grill if I didn’t have to. So I used the lower row.

 

Ham Radio install is now fully complete. The radio itself was installed a few weeks ago, but this morning I was finally able to get the mic holder installed. I got the Hondo's Un-holy mount ( dipped the screws black ), order a 6" RAM arm along with two 1" ball mounts. I initially made an adapter to hold the manufacture's mic mount to the ball mount, but the mic mount was too thick making it too hard to the mic to fit. So, I used a piece of aluminum roof flange I had laying around and made my own mic holder. It may mot be pretty, but it's functional and that's all that matters. Place the arm against the dash for daily driving and extend it out towards me when on the dirt.

 

Installed today:

1) @KTJO 4x4 's 3rd Gen Plug-N-Play Harness & Tailgate Lock with Bolt-N-Lock Bracket & Rod. No photos since it's an entirely concealed inside the tailgate, under the truck, and under the foot well in the cab. But, the tailgate now automatically locks/unlocks when the truck does!

2) Covered the fog lights with yellow Lamin-X covers.

3) Hondo Garage Premium Radio Knobs. Courtesy of a good friend.

 

On Saturday, 08JUN, I did Lusardi Truck trail with @Trah and @SearchAndRescue . We started out trying for Black Mountain with two others, but it was closed, so we opted to for Lusardi and two of the other folks turned back and didn't continue to Lusardi. Still back at Lusardi though, @Trah managed to put his mall crawling OEM TRD skid plate to use. Noticeable scrapes and two of the letters are popping off. As I watched him, I thought to myself "Nah, he's not gonna do that. He has to see that dip and rise in front off *BAM*. Nope, I guess he didn't see it." LOL

 

Completed a project today. Added matte black vinyl to the lower part of the tailgate, added colored inserts from @rrentrop for the lettering, and then plasti dipped the bumper caps.

 

From Lusardi... A patriotic splash of red, white, and blue Tacoma's!

 

I got tired of my radio antenna getting tossed around in the back seat and I almost broke it behind the rear seats pushing them closed, so I made a custom case and mounted it on a bed rail. The interior has foam to fully protect the antenna and all painted in bed liner. Mounts are custom made from aluminum bars with Quick Fist mounts.

 

Yesterday, I installed an anti-theft tailgate bracket on Azure. The bracket arrived as raw metal which I color matched to Azure with Home Depot's Metallic Blue Cobalt. Removing the OEM torque bolt proved to be a challenge for me, but I met with a local Toyota Tech and fabricator who is recommended by most local Taco owners. He's got his own shop, but was a Certified Toyota Master Tech when he worked for them and stated that Toyota uses a proprietary version of loctite threadlocker which requires 220º of heat to liquefy it again. Using a hand held butane heater and a T40 torque driver, he managed to remove it in about 2 minutes vs my paltry 30 minutes of struggling. With that thing finally removed, I ran into another issue in which the interior corner of the tailgate ( under the tailgate mount ) had a thick layer of some sort of sealant. This required me to cut off a small piece of it to get the bracket between the tailgate corner and the tailgate mount. That accomplished, I spray painted a replacement m8 1.25 hex bolt and the bracket itself to a close color match to Azure so that it blended in. Once everything was dry, I installed it and presto, thieves looking for a quick score with have to contend with not only my aftermarket electronic tailgate lock, but now this physical bracket to as well to get past. I would think that if they're determined enough to get my tailgate off clean, they've certainly earned it ( but still don't deserve it ).

 

On 15DEC, Installed TDYVinyl's Heritage Grille Decals for a little nod towards the old schoolers.

 

I recieved the car here inserts for Christmas.

 

Hey! I like the insert for the charger. I got a similar set, but didn't have the charger insert.

 

Yup. I like the color accent. We'll see how the actual functionality works out.

 

While trying to scramble to figure out where to drop off my Christmas Tree for recycling since Escondido pulled their two sites a day early, I received a text from a friend to install my sliders that he still had in his garage. I gave up watching my Vikings get soundly beaten by the 49ers in a Divisional Round playoff game to get this done. Hat's off to @eccracer104 , @Titus94 , @IDKS , @Bcole and Mya to help me get them installed. Oh, and to @AY_ARONTRD for asking the question of when they were going to get installed while he was at eccracer104's place for some other work. BCole also surprised me with a blue Meso Minimalist Key Fob! The fob conversion was easy, the sliders, not so much, but we got it done so I can stop dinging the nerf bars in "oops" moments. Thanks to everyone! Later that day, I installed a passenger side tailgate mount from CaliRaised to match the one on the driver side!

 

Agreed. LOL

 

I forgot to post photos of my ditch lights and brackets ( electrical not hooked up yet ).

 

I drove out to El Centro, CA on 27FEB 2020 to photograph one of the Blue Angels' winter practice sessions and I was able to video them doing a fly-over with Azure.

 

Fecking awesome!

 

Dang straight it is!!!

 

I was FINALLY able to get some photos of my truck from another amateur photographer worth their salt 29FEB on a Leap Day run that included Indian Flats, Grapevine Canyon, Fish Creek, and Sandstone Canyon in the CA Anza Borrego Desert. Thank you to @TacoPharm for the time and the photos!