Priddle's Build....pulling off Desert Sand Mica

This may sound dumb to you, but I'm going to ask anyway. How do you pop your hood open with that grill??

 

I haul the hood lever in the cab. I go to the hood and lift up until the latch stops it and then put my finger in there and feel for the latch. I move it to the side and open the hood. That is how I did it with my stock grille too.

 

What kind of paint did you use to color match the grille and clear coat it? (I hate the chrome on my dsm too)

 

Bump! Anything new going on my DSM brother?

 

@Guam - I had a backyard auto painter paint the grille for me. He used Toyota paint.

@Cham - Since the grille, I added OEM smoked headlights. I also added foglights. The truck was pre-wired for foglights so it was not a hard install.

The only thing I really want to do know is sell those crappy General Grabber AT2s and get BFGoodrich All Terrains...perhaps. 275 65r. The look tougher and are tougher than those P-Rated Generals. Thanks for checking in Cham!

 

BFG's are my favorite tire ever. They look good, preform well and they've lasted me over 35K miles so far, and they are about halfway worn so im happy about that.

 

I'm subbing to your thread because I am looking to do the thin lip Satoshi on my 2011. I didn't even think about opening the hood until it was mentioned here!!! How much of a pain is that??

So with the 2011 grills you don't need to take inner grill apart like I see it done on older grills??

Thanks!!

 

What do you mean about opening the hood? I don't have any problems. I just place my hand in between the bottom of the hood and top of the grille after I pop the lever. I flick the locking mechanism and open the hood. Nothing to it.

I can't speak to 2011 grilles. Mine is a 2007.

 

Nevermind.......I re-read the post where someone asked about opening the hood...and your reply was you "haul" the hood lever in the cab...I think you meant you pull the hood lever. hahahha

I was thinking you had to reach through the grill opening....but yeah, you don't.

 

Build update - 2013-05-04

Ditched the General Grabber AT2s. I now have BF Goodrich All Terrain 285/65r18s.

I already had a 1/4" spacer but was grazing the UCA on a full lock, and slightly rubbing the LCA and chassis at full lock. I didn't want to try a flex on a turn as I'd likely tear stuff up. So I got 1" spacers to replace the 1/4". Had to do quite a bit of extra trimming to get rid of the rubbing, and had to remove my front mudflaps. The tires don't stick out *too* much past the fender, a small bit I can live with.

I may leave the center caps off and see how it looks.

I didn't have spacers on the truck in the pic of the truck on the street.

 

Put up more pics of the smoked headlights?

 

I installed Light Racing UCAs a few days ago and got an alignment after. The stock LCA adjustment bolts were seized with rust and he couldn't move them. But he got it pretty close. My steering definitely improved. I copied my post from a LR UCA thread and pasted below:
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I took some pics of my LR UCA install. It was easier than I thought it be especially given the fact I didn't know how much bending would be needed on the inner fender. I bought new UCA bolts just in case that I hope I can take back. I even bought a large set of channel locks just for the job. But not much bending was required really.

First, I did the harder side, the driver side. I removed the battery as shown:


I had to remove that bracket to get it out of the way. Also eventually popped some clips for that wire. I just used a fork looking screwdriver. lol


You can see the UCA bolt there prior bending


Time to jack up the side. Here's how I did it. Floor jack under chassis, remove wheel, let LCA rest on jack stand.


Time to bend fender


I removed the clip that keeps that fender flap on. The end of the bolt is now exposed fully. That line you see going down is metal, but my socket wrench gets in there with little issue


Next I removed that bracket on the UCA


Next is to remove the tie rod bolt, I made sure the sway bar bolt was not seized. You need an allen key and a wrench to take it off. Otherwise, it just spins. The allen key is inserted in the center to keep the bolt from rotating as you remove the nut.


Here is how I removed it:


Now I am ready to tackle the old UCA


I had a pitman arm puller that did the job perfectly. I forgot to secure it and when it popped, its a wonder I didn't bust that anti-lock line.


I secured it after with a plastic tie.


Now I can take the long bolt out. I tapped it from the other end and although it pressed against the fender, it stil came out. The large washer was getting stuck on the bolt and then bringing up on the fender which slowed me down.


But it came out. I used a punch and a hammer on the other end to get it out most of the way.


Time to grease the bushings. I dumped the grease from the baggie into a cup for convenience. At first I wondered if it would be enough but the fitting that goes in after pushes out excess to reuse. Read the instructions that came with it for applying grease.


So install the UCA, I just laid the bolt inside so I could see the end under the fender and with the washer against the side of the UCA, fed the bolt though. Then tapped it further from under the hood. I managed it myself.


I didn't tighten at this point, not until I bolted on the ball joint to the spindle.


I think I tightened the ball joint nut to 85lbs. I reused the old bolt as that had a flange. The bolt that came with it did not and I was not fussy on using it. I then tightened the UCA bolt to 85lbs.

Next was putting the sway bar bearing bolt back into the spindle. This was a problem as I didn't have enough muscle to push it down. No problem though. I got a ratchet strap and pulled it down that way but securing the other hook to the jack stand. It didn't take much to get the bolt in there.


The little bolt for the line bracked cracked off in the UCA. I had to rig up something with zip ties. I didn't do that yet when I took this pic.


So I re-attached that wire and bracket from earlier and put the battery back in. But that was the job. Repeat for the passenger side. That was easier. I learned my lesson from before and zip tied the spindle to the coil to keep it from falling over after popping the ball joint.

The tie rod nut was seized on the passenger side which slowed me down. I applied some heat and eventually got it.

Hope this helps other folks.

 

This is not a bad pic for the Galaxy S3. I like the look of the truck in this shot. I ditched those plastic center caps. I like it now without them. I painted the rear hub to hide the rust. The BFGs definitely give it more of an aggressive look.