Petrolburner's '03 Tundra patient one-step-at-time-takes-a-long-time build

[Petrolburner]

I've had the truck for about a year and a half now and I realized I have no build thread :Wow1: So here I am stuck in a hotel in Omaha Nebraska with almost nothing to do, why not get y'all caught up on my build. I've been seeing some nice Tundra builds on here making me :drool:

Here she is when I picked her up in January of 2010.

Street tires, side steps, toolbox? That just won't do. It is a one owner, 100k mile pampered rust free specimen. A huge step up from my previous Toyota

So first thoughts on this beast; rocketship! Over double the horsepower of the 4Runner, nearly 20 years less abuse, 100% less rust, watertight and equipped with air conditioning? Oh man I am living the good life now. Definitely a great starting point.

 

[Petrolburner]

Step 1: Ditch the side steps

Step 2: Make some noise and breathe more easily

hmmmmmm, not enough noise.

Step 3: Make more noise

Now we're talking. Still pretty mild, though. Those big catalytic converters and the resonator and a full length of piping knocks the dB level down plenty.

Step 4: Goooooing up!

Made enough room for....

Step 5 : Let there traction!

Treadwright 285/75/16 MTG tires, now called the Guard Dog. Lame name, GREAT tires! Basically a knockoff of the Goodyear Wrangler MT/R tread pattern, retread onto Goodyear Wrangler MT/R triple wall cases, but with Kedge Grip. Crushed walnut shells and glass mixed into the rubber for the tread creates countless tiny pockets in the rubber, like thousands of sipes. Worked great in the Oregon snow and ice. I was amazed at their performance for a big blocked mud tire.

Looking pretty good at this point. Only one problem, I can't turn. Yeah 285/75/16 on the factory rims mean you'll rub all over the upper control arm and the frame. So I got myself some 1/4" spacers to tide me over until I get the appropriate wheels. Which I should have done in the first place. Impatience and underfunding are a bad combination The spacers get me off the upper control arm but I still rub the frame a bit at full lock

 

[Petrolburner]

Lots of articulation in the rear, no problem stuffing the 285s. The truck really comes alive with a good set of tires.

 

[Petrolburner]

Great flex out of the rear, but definitely lacking up front. The swaybar must go. I don't care about body roll, I don't drive it like a racecar anyway. So I take the sway bar off. Great move. Great flex, almost no change in the street driving. It goes away with a load of scrap metal never to return. Note the difference in how far the front tire flexes compared to the front fender.

Before

After

 

[Derek24]

Nice Tundra! I like the color too . I agree about the sway-bar, much better without. I like the look without any flares, that would help me with rubbing problems. Keep up the good work!

 

[Petrolburner]

At this point in the story I've taken a new job on the other side of the country and am preparing to move from the East coast of Florida to a crew base in either Oakland or Portland. I have a 6x12 enclosed trailer for the Tundra to pull after I load everything I have into it, including 3 motorcycles, all my tools, and about a million other household goods. I wish I would have weighed the whole rig because it was jam packed and I'm sure the trailer was near the 7000 lbs max towing capacity. :smiley_drive: I started to look for a topper so I could store some more stuff in it securely and also provide a nice place to sleep along the drive. Found one for a bargain with toolboxes on the side. Painted the inside of the boxes with white paint mixed with sand from the beach so the stuff inside them wouldn't slide all around. Worked pretty well.

Tough to tell all loaded down in this picture but I finally lifted the rear of the truck with a 2" add a leaf from Toytec. Easier to tell is the ProComp 8069 black wheels with 4" of backspacing. I no longer rub the frame or UCA. Should have just gone with these the first time around. Anyway I love the look of them, the tires are big enough that the rim is completely above the curb and I can't rub them on the curb no matter what. Makes it easy to park close to the curb, just drive until you hit it and back off a touch. I was also unhappy with the balancing job of regular lead weights. Even with 8 oz of weight, they still didn't balance out the old rims. They also didn't last that well. So I went with 8 oz of Dyna-Beads and love them. Only issues I've ever run into is when it's below freezing it some times takes a few miles to break apart the frozen clump of dyna beads before they go to work. Also when I get too many rocks stuck between the tire treads it can be out of balance until it spits a few out. But not static wheel weight will compensate for the few that stay stuck in the tread so I think it's still a win. If I had it to do over again I'd throw in 10 oz just to give it more power over the mud and rocks that stick in the tread. I'd also use airsoft pellets to save $$$. Anyway I'm totally sold on the technology, it works. I have no lead wights glued, taped or hammered on. I've got 10k miles on the Treadwrights and they're looking great!

Also at the time I installed the rear add a leaf, also installed the LSPV drop bracket and the front differential drop. I recommend this to everyone. The lowest point on the differential is still higher than the crossmember, so you don't really lose any ground clearance. It improves the angle on the CV and it was only $20.

Lived in the back of the truck along the drive. My Thermarest was the perfect length. I also got two big clear Rubbermaid type bins for my clothes, they made the perfect length sleeping platform. As long as they were full, strength was no issue. I had wired up a always hot 12v outlet splitter so I could keep the thermo electric cooler going. It's no Engel, but it was free and it did the job just fine. It was definitely nice not needing ice and keeping all the food in there dry.

 

[Petrolburner]

Nice Tundra! I like the color too . I agree about the sway-bar, much better without. I like the look without any flares, that would help me with rubbing problems. Keep up the good work!

Thanks! Yeah it came that way, I think it's part of the non-TRD package :smiley_drive:

 

[Petrolburner]

All is going well on the drive across the country, I hit some dirt outside Albuquerque and exercise the 4WD a bit. Get back on the highway and she's really pulling well, doing 70 mph as I roll through New Mexico. I pull off in Albuquerque and feel something really weird as I pull into a parking spot. The sun changes its angle and I see the green 4WD lit up on the dash. Son of a beach I'm an idiot. I forgot to put it back in 2WD when I hit the pavement and the sun hit the dash in a way that I couldn't see the 4WD annunciator lit up. Front differential heated up and spit oil out the breather. Now what? I'm in the middle of nowhere and no idea how much damage has been done. Everything seems to work fine, oil leaks usually look much worse than they actually are. So luckily I have all my tools with me and I head over to Wal Mart and get some gear lube, top it off in the parking lot and hope for the best! Almost a year later now with no problems and I think it's safe to say it's ok. Sure felt/feel like an idiot though.

While I was under there I notice one of my inner CV boots is shredded. Murphy is on a roll here. Luckily I'm stopping at my friend's house in Phoenix the next day, and he has a garage I can work in. It's nearly the same price for a remanufactured axle as it is a boot repair kit so I just throw a new axle in. While I'm in there I notice my front right caliper has seized and it dragging hard. Just one piston so the pad is worn terribly uneven. Throw a new caliper and brake pads in and I'm killing my budget quickly. Luckily I'm able to do it all without paying a mechanic.

Testing out the repairs

Cholla cacti are tenacious! That little cactus ball stayed on the tire all the way to LA! You can also see the oil from the differential breather.

 

[Petrolburner]

While in training down in LA, I'm awarded Portland as a base. Thank God. I wouldn't have done well in Oakland. The next day they ask me how I feel about an outstation in Redmond Oregon. Now is probably a good time for some info on the schedule of a cargo pilot for Ameriflight. Most pilots live in base, and Monday through Friday they show up at the airport around 5 AM and fly to wherever, unload cargo and stay in a hotel all day and then fly back into base around 5-7 PM. Long day, lot's of wasted time in a hotel as far as I'm concerned. With an outstation, instead of staying in a hotel, I stay at home. At night I stay at a crew apartment and drive a company car while I'm in Portland Monday through Friday night. So I'm home all day and all weekend to do whatever I want, like turn wrenches or ride dirtbikes. :bike_rider: :smiley_drive: :wings: Even when I do have to go to 'work' this is it:

Met the girl of my dreams out here too, 6 months today! Life is good...

 

[Petrolburner]

The following is a slideshow depicting home much I love my life in Redmond Oregon, I hope it's not too boring to scroll through...

Still clawing her way through!

studded snow tires

 

[Petrolburner]

Time to get back to work on the mods right? Right.

Let there be light!

Needed a better way to tie down my bike and my girl's bike at the same time in the bed. I was planning to put a board along the front of the bed that I could mount tie downs to, and make some side to side wheel chocks to keep the front wheel from turning without sacrificing any bed space mounting real chocks. This turned out to be nearly impossible. No room to fit even my small hands back up in there to hold a nut and wrench. Looked like I'd have to unbolt the bed and slide it back to do it. Hmmmm, I don't really like to work that hard.

Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS)

Couple bucks for an eye bolt and only one hole to drill. Works great. Sometimes the easiest solution is the best and most reliable. The plastic bedliner has disadvantages I know, but I'm not ready to tear it out and do the Line-X thing yet. The vertical ribs along the front of the bed do a pretty good job holding the front tire straight, so for the time being, I'm all set.

I love this truck. I have a timing belt kit sitting on the work bench ready to go in. Then next I think I'm going to make a skid plate that is going to draw lots of criticism. I'm going to make it out of relatively light sheet metal. I need something thin enough I can work with since I don't have a welder, brake, torch etc. I don't need a rock bashing plate, just something to keep the branches from snagging the tranny dipstick tube, wire harness coming off the t-case, and to provide lower friction as I'm plowing through frame deep snow.

Also, long story short, the log skidding Bronco I built for my Grandpa's tree farm is getting retired and I'm getting the 9000 lbs T-Max competition winch off the back of it before I sell it. Going to put a hidden hitch up front to mount it when I want to take it with me. :elkgrin:

 

[Petrolburner]

Several things I forgot to mention. Somewhere along the way, before I left Florida, that rickety looking exhaust fell apart and I lost a few of the pieces. No problem, was too quiet anyway. So I just added a turn down and it sounds great in the cab with the windows down and still quiet enough to drive across the country with the windows up.

This photo shows the actual moment the exhaust fell off, you can also see the roost coming off the rear tires...pretty sweet...

So there are two big cats and this muffler making it quiet

Added the ScanGauge II while still in Florida, pretty nifty piece of equipment and gives me an accurate speedometer since the tires are larger.

 

[Petrolburner]

How many of you have rear window hinges that look like this?

Well I did too, but now they look like this:

Billet aluminum window hinges from JSI Motorsports http://jsimotorsports.com/index.php/billet-window-hinges.html

 

[JCMatthews]

Bump from pg. 13

 

[Falkon]

Great flex out of the rear, but definitely lacking up front. The swaybar must go. I don't care about body roll, I don't drive it like a racecar anyway. So I take the sway bar off. Great move. Great flex, almost no change in the street driving. It goes away with a load of scrap metal never to return. Note the difference in how far the front tire flexes compared to the front fender.

Before

After

Petrol, cwould you give me any kind if breakdown on what's involved in removing the sway bars? Pics?

Thanks in advance, love your rig and travels!

Chris