TomTom's '03 TRD Xtra Cab (SOLD!)

Got half way through installing a new flywheel today.

pile 'o TGP to be installed:


The start:

Oh, yeah, some new toys to help me with the work this week. A shop press:


A transmission jack that helped immensely:


Pulled:


Marlin Crawler clutch kit. At least the shop installed that with no hiccups...

The old flywheel with less than 20k miles on it. You can see the chunking created by the starter not inserting correctly.

The TGP starter teeth with a nice bevel on them:


The old flywheel with rough machining and a flat face:


The mounting face for new flywheel. Nice machining with a good bevel for helping install and removal:


Material removal to balance the TGP flywheel:

Spent some time laying everything out. So much to be done. Starting to lower expectations on what will get done this week:

Organized the tools:


The transmission waiting to take off the transfer case:

The transfer case taken off:

Gear oil was in the adapter housing which means the seal needs to be replaced.


Hoping to get it all back together tomorrow. The winch will be the next project this week.

 

Dang! Can't wait to have a second vehicle so I can take my time and do work at my leisure haha

 

If I were hard up for transportation, I'd just get a rental. Much cheaper in the long run. After getting the transmission back in, most of the pressure will be off. All the other projects are non-immobilizing.

I'm really a Toyota fan after doing the flywheel. My XJ was such a PITA.

 

20 year old renting a car, yeah right haha

 

Don't you get a "Too Young To Drink" discount?

 

I love it. Pedal pressure is better than stock. Seems to hold fine. JLee just got an LCE kit that he speaks highly of. Has me thinking about it for the next clutch job.

 

Just over 5 more months... 5 more! Haha old man

Jealous of your attention to maintenance detail...

 

IMO, one of those things you have to experience once in your life. It does go much easier with the proper tools. It is doable with a regular floor jack but need to pay much more attention to balancing it properly.

Damn straight! Now no hot dogging in the water!

It is a gift and a curse.

BTW, Brent. Those shots are all taken with the new Nikon.

 

How do you like it so far?

 

I like it. I just need to make time to sit down and learn how to use it. Does really well with natural and low light shots on automatic. Looking into getting some different lenses.

 

The new flywheel installed:


Clutch installed. Look closely and you can see the alignment tool:


Pressing in a new oil seal for the transmission output:


Done pressing:


Transmission back up and in:


Have a bunch of little stuff to do like the starter, cat, propellors and fluid fill. Then test drive time.

 

Finally test drove the truck today. Everything works fine. No bad starter grinding yet so I'm counting it fixed.

In prep for tearing out the rear end, painting the axle and upgrading the suspension some more, some stuff came from Wheeler's today.

I love open the box and seeing the candies. Makes my day doubly better:


The other goodies in the box:

 

Mod week continued on today with the install of a BamaToy Stage II electrical upgrade.

Heavy duty alternator:




Battery terminals w/ new starter cable:


Getting the Elite altered for the control box:




SGT Taco signing his work, like the artist he is:


Getting ready to spool the line:


All hooked up:

All buttoned up:

 

Looks awesome!

Question, did you relocate your blinkers to your corner lights? Or are the little amber ones your turns? And this may be dumb, but did you drill holes for mounting your lights? I got my bumper finally and need to drill my light holes before getting it powdercoated. I just don't know if it's that easy with a corded drill or not...

 

The little amber lights on the bumper are the blinkers. I asked Tim to drill them for me. 3/4" I think. A corded drill should do fine. Find the right RPM and use a bit of oil. I don't know if you have any scrap to practice on but would be worth finding.

I have the parts for the blinker relocation. Getting to it this weekend. Wish I had taken the time to do the blinker relocation before ordering the bumper so I don't have the 3/4" holes in it. Will be filling the blinker holes with 3/4" black nylon inserts once I move them.

 

Hmm. You could also use your current turns as marker lights

I think the same lights were included with my bumper but no holes were cut. I'm planning on using the rigid A series lights I bought months ago. Just need to figure out how to wire them.

Although I also bought two new corner lights to do the relocation as well haha. I think until I figure it out I'll just zip tie my stock turn signals on the bumper.

 

Great job! I do envy your attention to detail.

 

It is a blessing and a curse. Most especially a curse right now. Started in on my version of the blinker relocation.




Cut up the donor blinkers for the light mounts:


Cut the corner lights to fit. A massive hack job that I'll have to make up for with a metric shit tonne of epoxy.





Ready for the epoxy:


If I had to do it over again (which I might) I'd set these up in a drill press and use the appropriate sized hole saw. Probably going to take me several applications of epoxy and sanding to get the gaps filled in nicely.

This went better in my head. Figured I'd have a nice 2 filament bulb handle both the blinker and parking light instead of 2 separate bulbs. Not sure why but Toyota put 2 filament bulbs with a 3 lead connector in the bumpers for the blinkers. They just left one of the leads out.

 

The blinkers are finished with much help from SGT Taco. One of the big pieces of advice he had was to skip the epoxy and use plastic welder. It mixed up thicker which made filling the gaps so much easier.



Trimming the sheet metal to make room:


Soldering in the 3 lead harness:

Hooking up the lightbulb to test:


Parking lights are on:


And the blinkers:

 

So wait.... your parking lights act as your blinkers too?

I'm confused (surprise, surprise).