What Have You Done To Your 3rd Gen Today?

So i did a thing. My dumbass put fine scratches on my windshield with a Scotchbrite pad. Was cleaning bug guts off it and thought I had a bright idea…. Bright as a busted light bulb I guess. So I Google how to. I get some of my wife’s toothpaste and slap some on my orbital polisher and go to town on it with a polishing pad. No dice. Dunno if I used the right stuff or not enough. Who’s got the rub on this? Should I use some Mothers or…?

 

There is a member, I’m drawing a blank on the name… but I think he is from Florida, maybe an mgm taco. He talks about how to polish glass. He said fast, light touch, lots of paste.
Also I think you are not supposed to use your wife’s toothpaste. How come you ain’t got no toothpaste? From what I know both male and female genders of the human race have teeths.

 

I'd bet a months pay there is a how-to on YouTube for this. Some glass shops will also offer the service. In the future #0000 steel wool is generally safe for glass.

 

Glass is one of those that is very hard (heh) but still can relatively easily get scratched by things. If you've got a wool pad, buy some glass polish and give it a shot. If it doesn't come out, there's not much else you can do. Glass polish can only go so far unfortunately, but it will be your only luck, it's significantly more aggressive than anything you'd use on your paint. I've used Sonax's Glass Polish before with decent luck for lighter scratches.

 

What a great idea. Inexpensive too. Thanks for sharing.

 

That wooden-crossbar bar makes a difference, I think. Not expensive but just a little custom fitting for your truck I guess.

 

I've got the same Victory 4x4 aluminum front bumper with hoop. No issues with TSS after about 10K miles. My grill is the OEM TRD Pro-style and I swapped my sensor and front camera over from original Sport grill.

 

More details please or maybe a full writeup? Do you have a link to the switch? STL file for the 3D printed adapter plate?

 

These work great.
Buy from Amazon
The Rag Company - Jersey Bug Scrubber Pads - Pearl Weave, Easily and Safely Trap Bug Splatter in Sponge, Safe on All Finishes, 4in x 6in, Ice Grey (5-Pack)
Colour Name:Ice Grey

 

@bjmusico How was the shipping time, customer service etc? Reading the forums. It sounds like there were issues at one point. Interested to know if that's been resolved.

 

I don't recall having any issues when I got it last year. Looking at my e-mails, I placed order on 9/25/23 and bumper was shipped on 10/17/23. I also ordered some interior console molle panels, but those shipped within a couple days. Pretty sure the bumpers are made-to-order and I was expecting about 30-day lead time. Customer service seemed fine, but I also didn't need to contact them for anything. Note that the only e-mails I received were order confirmation and notice when shipped (with tracking number). I'm a few hours away from Victory 4x4 in Michigan, so your actual shipping time may be a bit longer.

I also ordered a set of bed molle panels more recently. Ordered on 5/14/24 and were shipped on 5/31/24. Not sure if those are made-to-order or in batches.

 

Thanks man! Sounds like they went through a hiccup.
Anyone else out there who have ordered from victory with no problems?

 

I have their sliders that I ordered back in 2020. Ordered in June and arrived in September. It seems like those days are over.

 

I tested out the TSS today with no problems. It was just a short trip/test but if I experience any problems I'll update.

I have ordered from Victory 4x4 several times with no problems or significant delays. I ordered my bumper early last December and had it in less than the 3 week lead time they quoted. I was very impressed with how well packed/protected it was.

 

Lol. This was 20+ years ago... Point was that I have learned my lesson. You really shouldn't have to worry about gently cleaning the instrument cluster. Every other vehicle (besides Toyota/Scion) I could spray brake fluid on the gauge cluster and it would look better than whatever material Toyota uses.

I feel like every new Toyota owner gets SNAFU'd by this before they learn

 

OEM is always the best...i just ordered a 2nd set. I replaced at 35k just before winter and now I'm at 75k and I'm gonna do it again just before winter... Always get that one icy/snowy day where one gets boogered up because it's at the end of its life.... I don't wanna replace them in the freezing cold when I'm on a travel hockey trip in Boston.....

 

Let's just say, I'M JEALOUS. Sorry for yelling,lol. What beautiful country

 

Good luck with the scratches, in the future a great way to loosen stubborn bug guts is to soak an old towel in hot water, and lay it over the bug guts for a while, they'll come right off.

 

Well, I thought that I really screwed up.
Fortunately, after lots of thinking, the truck is ready to go back together.
Some would say you don't try and fix something that ain't broke.
The rear fender bolts inside the wheel well were bugging me. They had a rusty patina on the head of every bolt and the threads on the backside were rusting. Each rear fender has 6- M6x25mm bolts that support the outer fender to the braces. These braces run back to 4 more M6x25mm and 2 M6x10 bolts that hold the braces to the plastic bed. Well, thought I would pull out one bolt to measure as I didn't know the size at the time. It snapped right away. Yes I used penetrant oil on the back side. A M6, non grade marked bolt, isn't very strong. Add some rust and they snap with very little effort.

I finally removed all these bolts and have the 6 fender support brackets out, 3 brackets on each side . I was able to get the bolts out by grabbing the threads on the back side of the nut with vise grips.

Now the problem. 2 bolts on each side of the upper fender support are extremely short. About M6x10. Why so short? They thread into the upper part of the wheel well. The drivers side came out. The passenger side bolts both broke In the blind hole in the bed. The nut that is molded into the bed is brass. How do you drill a steel bolt out without walking into the soft brass.
Below should explain what I did. I made a tool in the lathe to center the drill to the molded in brass nut. The main body of the tool is drilled to 6.7mm to support the tap size drill bit. The end is drilled to 17/32 to go over the brass nut and hold the bit centered.
Everything worked out. I just need to drill the upper support bracket for the slightly larger M8X1.25x12mm bolt. All the new bolts will have antiseize on the threads. I am not going through this again.

 

Roof velcro!