Squeaky Penguin's (Trip Reports) Build Thread

touche'

 

Haha, hence the "help"

 

OK, got a few things burned onto the swingout Saturday thanks to Wishbone. Cut off the rotopax mount, and welded some receiver tubing on. This serves two purposes: one so I can get the rotopax out of the way of the hi-lift, and two will allow me to mount other things there as well. Hi-lift 'mount' is just some wheel studs welded onto the main uprights. Need to come up with a way to space it out a little bit so the handle doesn't hit, and maybe cushion it a little, but that's about it. Happy with how it turned out.

Rotopax mount got ruined cutting it off. So we put a 2" wide flat piece on, rounded the ends to fit, and it works really well. It's more solid than the flimsy old mount actually.



It's a tight fit:



How it looks from the back with the ugly stock steelie I'm using for my winter set.




Got a few more things I want to do to the swingout including a gas-strut and a camp table and then I'll leave well enough alone.

 

So did poor James get any of his motor work done or did you monopolize all his time with your silliness?

 

We got the heads, cams, and timing chain back on. Didn't want to go onto the next step of installing the chain cover which involves copious amounts of RTV. We actually had to use my awesome inward facing swingout light to finish up my little project.

 

Looks good. I'll let you know once I start sourcing struts and table material.

 

A little late to the party, but the bilstein may not be blown. It's hard to tell on my phone, but according to bilstein some leakage is normal. Mine have maybe 30k on them and the passenger side is all oily, yet still seems to dampen ok, as well as a 5100 does I suppose. Here's the link to the bilstein site with more info: http://www.bilsteinus.com/products/search-service/warranty.html

Now I personally think it's just stupid they say it's normal. I've been hassled a few times at yearly inspection about it until I found a shop that wasn't ridiculous and would listen to what I had to say/actually read through a printed version of that page above. And that shop said they have seen the same problem with both oe and aftermarket bilsteins for multiple makes.

 

Yeah, I have heard that Bilstein claims that some amount of leakage is normal. With that being said, what doesn't make sense to me is that it just recently started leaking, and the other side doesn't leak at all.

So I washed this thing off a week ago Friday, so here's 10 days worth of leakage:



And other side just for comparison:

 

Ran Chinaman's Gultch again:



Trip report starts here:

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/colorado/250254-colorado-trip-reports-65.html

 

Mine are the same way, one side leaking, one not. Not sure what's up. I'm going to just switch over to the regular ome front struts since I'm on 881s anyways. And I don't want the hassle of maintaining coilovers, not to mention the toll salt and chemicals take on them.

 

hey man what size grommet did you use for the fluid resi pump?

 

Why didn't you flip the light bar brackets inwards to gain more clearance for you're factory grille?

 

Yeah, I've though about swapping over to a set of Nitrochargers too. Makes more sense then buying another set of 5100s.

I reused the one that came out of the factory tank. I just kept enlarging my hole in the PVC, until it barley fit, and then pushing the pump in helps it seal even more.

The mounts were clearly designed to be used the way I mounted them. There is an inset of the bolt head and the opposite side has teeth to align the bar. Not saying it wouldn't have worked, but it just didn't occur to me at the time. Anyways, the looks kind of grown on me again, so I'm going to leave well enough alone.

 

I like the light bar!

 

Clean! I dig it. Wish I'd have thought about that early on, good setup.

 

Obviously the idea was just moved over from the spare tire mount. It was a good idea, so why try something else.

 

Awesome build, love the offroad bumpers you have!

 

Thanks man!


And speaking of which, bumpers are probably going to get dropped over my winter break. They are due for some time with a flap disk cleaning off all the rust, and a complete repainting. Sliders as well, they all got used very well this year. Bought a different/unique color paint to try and switch it up. I think it should look real good against the gold. If I like it fender flares will be painted to match.

 

What a tease... Can't wait to see the color.

 

....pink