Rotated tires today...

...and got the chance to double check on a few things. This is long and diatribe like in nature, I would only read this if you are bored.

Right off the bat I replaced the original TRD Offroad rims and tires with FJ TRD Anthracite rims and 265/75/16 BFG AT. I was too excited to get them on the truck and did not weigh them like I wanted to so I did it today.

OEM TRD Offroad rim and OEM BFG RT = 60.8 lbs
FJ TRD SE rim and 265/75/16 BFG AT = 78.4 lbs

There are two versions of the BFG AT 265/75/16 in load range E. I have the version with the thicker tread blocks and blackwall on both sides of the tire. I have an extra FJ TRD rim without tire and will weigh that when I get a chance to dig it out of the closet.

The OEM Toyota jack and tire iron are pieces of shit. Really, I thought they were bad when I first put the rims on but this morning I though that the jack was going to give out. And those stupid extension pieces with the set screws...really? The extension piece with the hook that goes into the jack is crushed and will probably not last another tire rotation. I know I can get another, better jack but I feel bad for those people on the side of the highway that are in a true emergency situation and not in their garage. If Toyota is trying to save money, just don't include the jack and tire iron and tell people to sign up for AAA or buy their own.

Then I gave the undercarriage the once over. My truck has NEVER been rained on, driven through puddles/wet streets, hosed down at a carwash, or ever had its undercarriage wet in any manner. I didn't even let the dealer prep it when it came off the carrier; I was the one that took the plastic off of everything. I bought it in June of 2009 and it has 6,300 miles on it today.

That being said, there should be NO rust under there. Texas is dry, humid, but dry. I abated any surface rust that was beginning on the rear pumpkin and any cast iron bits by soaking the underside in a Teflon dry wax. It went on wet, soaked in, then dried to a waxy/candle like finish.

On the passenger side there is significant surface rust forming around the firewall portion of the frame. Culprit? The fucking AC drain dumps right onto the frame and weeps into areas where you could never think of sanding down and repainting. I couldn't imagine what it would look like with some sand and salt worked in there as well. I extended the drain hose to hang past the frame. I'm not sure of the hose size but a 5/8 crimp hose clamp fit on there perfect. I will post some pictures later if anyone cares.

As I was working in my garage this morning I was thinking about some of the follies of cars that I owned in the past. I had this Pontiac Subird SE/GT (half lids on the front headlights that retracted) that had the biggest damn OEM sunroof ever. I loved that car until one day I was doing a little maint. and took off one of the pieces of body cladding to put on a coat of wax. It was nothing but rust under there. I will always remember Pontiac for making plastic cladded rust prone versions of Chevrolets.

Does anyone remember the GMC Syclone? I remember reading a C&D article about it in high school. AWD, turbo, fastest production vehicle made that year. It was the car that I yearned for and in 1995, fresh out of high school I had the opportunity to buy a used one with 12,000 miles. I took it for a test drive, had the wind knocked out of me and pinned to the back of the seat as all 4 wheels clawed for traction. It was a steal, one owner, $16,000 dollars...I remembered the Pontiac and checked the lower inside doors and edges close to the cladding...sure enough, rust. I ended up buying a 1995 SS S-10. That's right, SS. Chevrolet bastardized the SS nomenclature by slapping it on a lowered S-10 with a 4.3, BFG's, and a roll pan. It NEVER lived up to the Syclone but it didn't have any body cladding and there wasn't a speck of rust on it up until the day I rolled it into someone's living room in an ice storm.

Buy a new jack, reroute the AC drain, and sorry for wasting your time.

 

if the jack and rerouting a drain hose are the biggest worries you have with the truck you should feel happy.

 

Get some jack stands. The one that comes with the truck is an emergency jack to get you off the side of the road with a flat, not rotate tires. I would NOT do any work on the truck on that little OEM jack...

Other than that, the other guy said it, if the OEM jack and an A/C drain line are your biggest concerns, you're in good shape!

 

you have an 09 4x4 truck with less than 7000 miles on it, that has never been rained on, or been driven thru a puddle?

and you live in TEXAS?

you park it in a carpeted garage in the evenings?

poor truck. a feeble jack is good enough for the "abuse" you put your truck thru.

just messing with you, but you should really hike your skirt up and see what that fantastic truck of yours can do..

 

You bought a 4x4 to never drive through puddles? What a waste

 

He bought it so he would never have to worry about getting stuck on pavement I guess that means he will never be there whenever I need to get pulled out of a mud hole will he?

 

Don't use 4x4 on pavement!!

 

I don't have to worry about that

 

Can I buy your 4x4 parts? Its one less thing you have to wory about rusting

 

Ask to buy his truck, yet another thing he would not have to worry about rusting

 

Hmm maybe a trade? Ny truck has never been abused or taken anywhere that is not carpeted and vaccumed daily I swear

 

I have this feeling that in 10 years, a whole bunch of us are going to get notices about frame rust recalls on the 2nd gens.

 

You own a PreRunner, what business would you have taking it off road, I mean 4x4's barely go off road right?

 

Exactly. I mean I need the 4x the other day when I ran out of carpeted area to drive on

 

I realize the miles are low and it has yet to be used as fully intended, but we have three cars and my wife and I carpool to work. We drive her Jeep Grand Cherokee (2WD) the most, but even that is a 2008 with 24,000 miles. Don't worry, it will get it's intended use as a 4WD truck. And I'm from Iowa, you would have to be a real 'idiot out walking around' to buy anything less than 4WD in a truck.

AC drain in engine bay has been extended; notice the nice build up of minerals/oxidation/etc. on some of the parts around the drain:



As far as concerns with the truck...back when I was younger and full of spit and vinegar I would gripe and complain about the smallest least noticeable scratch on anything and have it replaced under warranty. Now that I've gotten older, I'm just too busy with life to care.

Something/someone should be the sum of its/their parts. That being said, relative surface rust (no I could not scrape it off with my fingernail, I know what vehicle rust is, I am from Iowa after all), bed misaligned, headlights melting from the inside from OEM DRL, random rattle from dash, blower fan screaming, black bed that scratches white?, ABS kicked on a couple of times in reverse as I left my garage, slip light kicked on a couple of times in reverse as I left my driveway, and today of course:



For the radio, this is the second time that this has happened. If you shut the truck down, it goes back to normal.

If you read any of my prior posts, you would notice that I've had nothing to complain about and have never mentioned any of thse problems other than some rust on the frame and undercarriage bits. I'm not a fanboy or a complainer (anymore) but if this truck is supposed to be the sum of its parts, things are not adding up very well.

It's a truck and I will use it as a truck. It gets the job done and as long as it keeps doing that so be it. Toyota should really like me as an owner. I have not taken it in for warranty on a single thing and will probably fix any problem past and upcoming on my own as long as it is within my realm of fixing. I replaced the headlights with new OEM units and DRL lamps with lower wattage LED bulbs, realigned my bed, dismantled my dash and wrapped and insulated wire looms, removed and rebuilt my blower fan (used some lithium bike grease, library quiet for the past three months). I will keep an eye on the ABS and Slip lights and the radio. It's kind of sad that these things have happened with less than 7,000 miles.

Probably within this year it will become the daily driver as I work on converting my project Land Rover Series I to diesel and my wife stays home to raise our soon to be born son.

 

And, even without using 4WD, my truck brought home everything to build this:



and this:



and this:








Not to mention all the furniture it has hauled, mulch, patio brick, leaves, etc. Low miles doesn't mean it hasn't been used for its intended purpose.

 

Carpet? I was thinking about 3/4 utility oak in the garage. It's going to be my workshop in the summertime, it might as well be nice.

 

Never heard of oak in the garage... have you thought about epoxy? There are some very nice looking, extremely durable epoxy systems that will tolerate water, oils, grease, etc much better than oak (if you plan on parking your truck there and doing your own maintenance).

 

The utility oak is $0.79/sq.ft. Cheaper than carpet for sure. I've though about epoxy but my garage is going to be a furniture making workshop during the summers and on weekends. During the week and school year we will park our cars in there, perhaps some large rubber mats between the wheels?

And I've heard some horror stories about the epoxy, peeling off in chunks, staying sticky, concrete showing cracks through, etc.

 

Glue down oak strip flooring ?