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The War Wagon: A 2005 Tundra AC's Transformation to Overlanding Rig

12K views 22 replies 3 participants last post by  CrewServed 
#1 ·
Hey all, I'm the new guy around here. I've been on ExPo for the past year documenting my build there, and this is a crosspost of that thread. It's more to provide information for other folks who are looking for it, and to maybe get some feedback and constructive criticism on the build. Anyway, I hope somebody finds this helpful.

-=-

So it's easy to just throw wads of hundred dollar bills at something, buying the coolest of the cool-guy kit, but I'm approaching this project with pragmatism and finance in careful balance. I've broken my upgrades and equipment list into "Must Have," "Should Have," "Nice to Have," and "If There's Money Left Over" categories. I'll explain each purchase as I post them so that other noobs like me can get an idea why I've arrived at a certain brand of kit over another, or why I chose to purchase or forgo purchases.

I'm starting with a 2005 Toyota Tundra Access Cab (TRD Off-Road package). I bought this rig in 2009 with 48k miles on the clock from a guy who was originally from Vermont. This comes into play later. Much later. Four years later, in fact. I've now got 106k on the clock and had some long-standing issues as a result of a fender bender on I-80E in Truckee, when me and everybody else on the road slid inexorably into the center median and into one another, as well. The D/S fender was crushed a mere 6 months after I'd bought the truck, and I learned later that the P/S sway bar link also broke.

I've since repaired the sway bar links, and then saw to doing something with that mangled D/S fender, since it seemed silly to make so many upgrades and additions to the truck without first addressing the jacked-up body.

I had to start by tearing the old fender off. I had a picture here in the original thread, but imgur stopped hosting it. No idea why. Anyway, it was trickier than I thought it would be, and I ended up having to buy new grommets to replace the ones I destroyed in the process. For those of you messing with Gen 1 Tundras, the plastic grommets for mounting wheel well liners and fender flares are available online and are known as C22 grommets.


I sourced an aftermarket pre-primed fender on Amazon for a whopping $107 (yay Amazon Prime!) and dry fitted. Fit was off and needed some help from a Dremel with a cutoff wheel. I actually pondered leaving it primer black, but decided against it, since paint and metal oxidation are certainly threats to this new panel.


The newly-painted fender is mostly installed. Hell yeah.


Bam! Finished!

On the list for performance upgrades are exactly three items.

1. New shocks all around. I'd actually like some advice on this from some of the experienced guys in the forum. I've zeroed in on the Bilstein 5100's, but am not 100% set just yet. I know for sure that the leveling spacer in the front struts of this rig is a no-go. What's more, I noticed while I was farting around inside the wheel well that the seals are shot in the OEM shocks, there's a considerable amount of rust around the head of the shock, and I'm getting some gnarly scalloping on the inside lines of the front tire treads, plus some pretty uneven wear in the front tires.

2. New shoes. I'm pretty set on getting five BFG T/A KO in 285/75/R16. I currently have Nitto A/T Grapplers on these aluminum TRD wheels, but they've got at least 60k miles on them.

3. New wheels. This is driven mainly by the fact that I've got 3" aluminum wheel spacers [ed. note: this was incorrect, I had 2" spacers] that the previous owner installed on this truck. I assume that it has something to do with tire rub in the wheel well, but I'm new to this, so please correct me if I'm wrong. I don't like the spacers. Just applying my rudimentary knowledge of how stuff works, I don't think this is as solid a setup as just having wheels mounted directly to the hubs. That said, what's the solution to tire rub? Says on the internetz that the TRD wheels have a 4.5" backspacing. Is the solution to buy a new set of wheels with a shallower backspacing? Also, what's the consensus on getting plain-Jane black steelies for this rig instead of a pricey set of wheels that'll induce cringing every time I mash them up against rocks and other harder-than-metal items?

Alright, thanks for reading all of this, and thanks in advance for your input. Stay tuned for an update of some equipment I recently received from Santa (aka the UPS guy).
 
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#2 ·
I bolted on a couple more things today. I'd zeroed in on the Thule Xsporter fairly early in the concept stage of my build after considering a custom-fabricated rack. I may still ditch the Thule and fab up a cantilever style bed and roof rack for this rig, but I have to take a welding class first. This build is just as much about learning things along the way as it is about the final product. I've gathered, however, that these overlanding rigs are never quite finished.

Anyway, I chose the Thule because it's got a dynamic load limit of 450 lbs. As I understand it, that means that I can jam 450 lbs. up there, and then knock it around without fear of the whole thing falling to pieces. That, as I've gathered, also means that the static load limit is greater than 450 lbs, which means that an awning, a RTT, and a couple of people will be A-OK up there.

And speaking of awnings, I originally wanted a Rhino Rack Foxwing Awning, but then I realized that the stored length is 2' longer than my bed length, and that means that the rear P/S door would not be able to open if the Thule rack is set lower than cab height. So I started shopping around, and found the Rhino Rack Sunseeker II. This fella is 2 meters long, and is almost exactly the length of the bed.

I was working in heat and humidity today, so I ran into a couple of user-induced errors, but I was able to work through them with no problem.


Here's the War Wagon with the Xsporter and Sunseeker II installed.


A closer look at the Sunseeker in its stowed configuration.


Here's a look at at the War Wagon with the awning deployed.

One issue I did encounter was with the T-bolts that came with the awning. The T-bolts are meant to interface with the rails in Rhino's own racks, so they're a touch wider than the rails in the Thule rack. Observe:


The width of the groove in the Thule rack is a shade under .825".


The width of the T-bolt head is a shade under .850". A little work with a vice and a file, and it fit nicely. Tight, even.

Setting up the awning isn't terribly difficult. The first time I did the test run was a little awkward, but that's mostly because I'd only ever seen it in videos on the web. It's actually quite easy and only took a couple of minutes, even with my befuddlement.

As for the Thule, it feels solid as all get-out. I stood in the bed of the truck and shoved it around, both forward and aft, and then laterally, to see how much play or slop there might be. The mounting clamps have what look like 3/8" dia. bolts pushing into the underside of the bed rails, so I'm not super confident in their ability to hold everything still without causing some sort of failure in that relatively thin piece of sheet metal under there. I'm thinking I'll reinforce the bolts with a flanged nut, or maybe just sandwich a piece of Delrin or some such material between the bolts and the bedrail to spread out the load.
 
#3 ·
Santa in brown (John, the UPS guy) arrived with a bevy of kit. All of the stuff I ordered from Wheeler's, along with the Stubbs Welding HD/SKO sliders came in. I also received a package from Amazon that includes a clamshell spring compressor and a nesting utensil set for the kitchen/chuck box (aka "The Bitchin' Kitchen"). I'll make a separate post for the Bitchin' Kitchen when it's complete.

Today's post is on the rattlecan job on the sliders.

Here they are, in all their raw steel glory:


Had to spray them down with some denatured alcohol to strip the WD-40 that Richard put on the sliders for transit. I also masked off the mounting plates to prevent paint contamination during the welding.

Now, I've done enough rattlecan jobs in the garage to know that there's value in doing something with the space besides leaving it be.

This will not do.


A little measuring, a little cutting, a little stapling, and the "paint booth" is done. Really, it's to keep overspray in, and not dust out.


Red oxide primer and the first coat of Rustoleum black hammer finish is on.


I was literally watching paint dry when I took this picture.


-=-

This is easily the nicest rattlecan job I've ever done. The irony of the fact that I've done such a good job painting a set of sliders is not lost on me.

A few words on the Stubbs HD/SKO sliders. They're heavy. Heavy enough to make it a pain to hoist them up and dangle them from the rafters in the garage. Welds look good to my inexperienced eyes. There's no nasty splatter around the welds, and no obvious holes from rookie welders in the metal. Steel was banged up slightly, but that a)doesn't bother me and b)could be damage from transit. The two sliders were banded together and heavy as all get-out, so I don't blame John the UPS guy for banging them around a little bit. There was easily 300# worth of stuff that all arrived on the same day.

Richard, the owner of Stubbs Welding, suggested using the Rustoleum hammer finish paint on the sliders, so I figured I'd listen to the voice of experience. The finish on the paint is quite nice. There's a nice texture to them, and it sprays on nicely. Spray pattern is a vertical line, but the can is designed to be used in any orientation, so that was a plus when I was painting at weird angles. I've had one of these Comfort Grips for quite some time, and I highly recommend their use when doing big jobs. The can is more controllable and you won't suffer from muscle fatigue of your booger hooks.

One gripe about the paint, however, is that it's marked as being black. It's an unfortunate coincidence that their definition of "black" is, "almost the same flippin' color of Paul's truck." Almost. It just feels... vain that the sliders and the body should nearly match. Buuuut... #firstworldproblems, amiright?

Tomorrow I've got plans to install the new suspension parts. Steel wheels are on order, and I'll be purchasing and mounting the new BFG's when the wheels come in. I figure I'll get the alignment at the same time as the mounting, to maybe talk the shop down a little bit by grouping services together. In the meantime, I'll be driving my commuter vehicle around (2001 Toyota Celica GT-S with 234k miles on it!!!).
 
#4 ·
Okay, so today I made two critical mistakes. The first is to allot only one day for redoing the suspension. The second was trying to meet the timeframe.

A buddy came over and helped me get the PS front suspension taken apart. We ended up spending a lot of time scratching our heads, but with the addition of my three brothers' brainpower and muscle, we got the PS front done. DS is mostly complete. Got the new damper and springs installed, and that goofy damned spacer is gone, gone, GONE. Tomorrow after work I'll put the new UCA in and get the brake line and ABS cable put back in place, and call the front end done.

For now.

Didn't get many pictures, but here's what I got. I suspect, however, that it isn't very useful.

The clamshell spring compressor isn't very useful in this tight space. Oh, and the entire assembly can come right the hell out, anyway.




Quick side-by-side of the unsprung OEM and OME springs.


PS is done! Is that little doodad above the uniball joint supposed to stick up that high?
 
#5 ·
The front end suspension is now completely finished. Looks like the ride height got bumped up a little. I don't know if these new springs will settle a significant amount, but if it stays this tall, I suppose I'll be driving with the front end higher until I can install the new bumper and winch to weigh it down some up front.





I started to work on the rear shocks, but I'm so spent from yesterday's ordeal that I don't have much in the tank for thinking and doing this deal alone. Plus, I need to buy a set of vice grips to keep the shock from spinning while I'm undoing that nut. I suspect that the nut is frozen in that ridiculously tight space between the bed and the frame, so there's no harm in waiting for the penetrating oil to do what it does.
 
#6 ·
Yesterday I spent seven hours in and around the waiting area of Pacific Tire Outlet. It took some doing to get the new Nitto Terra Grappler All-Terrain tires on the steel wheels from Wheeler's Off Road with the 4" backspacing. The tire mounting dude is a filthy-mouthed and awesome guy named Billy. He tried his hardest to make the TPMS valves fit in the new wheels, but it wasn't gonna happen. Also, the OEM lug nuts are a no-go with the aftermarket wheels, so Billy replaced all of the lug nuts and the valves, free of charge. That was pretty solid. Not getting the TPMS light in the dash yet, but if that happens, I'll see about making a pressure canister out of some PVC pipe and storing the TPMS sensors in there to keep the light from annoying me.

I told Billy about the rubbing I was experiencing with the 4.5" backspaced wheels, and after he got everything mounted, he went so far as to check for rubbing at full steering lock for me. I didn't even ask. What a cool freaking guy.

The tire alignment guy, whose name I didn't get, told me that the toe was way off on the front alignment. When I told him that I'd just upgraded the front suspension, he nodded his head knowingly. Not sure if it was a "this jackhole is lucky he put it together right" nod or an "ah, that explains it" nod, but the results are the same: alignment is squared the hell away.

As for the rear shocks, it took Billy, a factory-trained Toyota tech named Mike, and a third technician to get my OEM rear shocks off of the truck. It also took a 3" cutting wheel and an air chisel, plus a bunch of sweat and muscle to finally get those rusted old things off of the truck. I'm really, really glad that I brought it to the pros, because I would have lost my mind and maybe thrown some tools.

Anyway, enough typing. Here are some pictures!

The steelies right after John the UPS dude delivered them.


Nitto Terra Grappler All-Terrains in 285/75/16 on Pro Comp 16x8 Black Steelies with 4" backspacing.


I feel like a vanity picture is required here. Did I say "vanity?" I meant "progress."
 
#7 ·
Right, then. I've been sitting around twiddling my thumbs for the past several weeks waiting for things to come in so I could bolt them on, and last Friday, the guys at ARB and Old Dominion Freight came through big time with the delivery of my ARB Simpson III RTT. The package arrived looking like it'd been mangled by an angry bear hopped up on Ripped Fuel and crystal meth (*sigh* goodbye, Breaking Bad).

Dude, what'd you guys do to my tent?


No. Seriously. We should have a talk about the anger issues I feel are bubbling below the surface.


This is just ludicrous.


Despite the scare, the two layers of corrugated cardboard and the sturdiness of the tent were enough to keep even the most ham-fisted of freight employees from ruining this tent, and the tent was just fine.


Lest we forget that there's that sweet awning on the passenger side of the rig.


And I really meant it when I said that I'm not out of money, you guys.


A few notes on the installation of the tent onto the Thule Xsporter PRO. The mounting bolts that came with the tent were not long enough, so I had to replace them with something from Lowe's, in 60mm length (as opposed to the 40mm[?] length of the OEM bolts). What's more is the steel mounting plates that came supplied with the tent were not long enough to be able to cross the width of the Thule rack bars, so I had to cut my own out of some weld steel and then drill my own 3/8" holes at both ends of the plates. Then I put a little primer and some more of that black hammer finish paint from the sliders onto the new steel plates to keep them from rusting to hell, and voila, I've got a mounted tent.

That's all for now. My sliders are still sitting on the floor of my garage because my buddy's welder took a giant dump and broke. It's since been repaired, but we're both busy guys, so finding time to link up has been a challenge, unto itself. Also still waiting on the bumper from Addicted Offroad to come in. Their quoted lead time of 3 weeks is way the hell off, but partially because they were out of the shop for a week helping out with flooded-out friends. Still, though, a one week delay doesn't account for all three of the additional weeks on top of what I was quoted for their lead time to delivery. I don't get news from the Addicted Offroad guys at all, and I've only found out what I've found out because I'm pestering them every couple of weeks.

And speaking of customer service, here's a nod to Jake Powell at 4x4 Group Buy. That dude has been phenomenal at keeping me out of the dark with the status of the ARB tent. I didn't go more than a couple of weeks without hearing from him, and he even contacted me personally just to let me know that the tent had shipped. What a stand-up dude and a helluva cool operation over there. I won't stop singing their praises.
 
#8 ·
Got the Hi-Lift jack mounted. I went back and forth a bunch on where I should mount the jack on the rig, and settled on the P/S bed rail for now. I considered the roof, but ditched that idea when I thought about how much I'd hate taking it down from there. Then I thought about the rear bumper, but that was ruled out because the spacing on the mounts was a no-go with the shape of the bumper. I then considered the tailgate in a location where it wouldn't interfere with the opening of the tailgate, but that wasn't such a hot idea. I really didn't like the idea of mounting it to the bed rail, since that's a usable surface - for standing, resting items, whatever. Anyway, here's to trial and error.

 
#9 ·
I took the rig out to Inyo National Forest over the weekend, but didn't feel comfortable going without at least having the sliders welded on. I enlisted the help of a couple of my brothers, and we got to work removing the old nerf bars, prepping the frame surfaces, and getting it all put together.

Clamped on for dry fit. Looked good, so it got tacked in place.


Having three older brothers who aren't afraid of getting dirty has played a huge part in this build.


Get in there, Joe!


Welded in place. If you look closely, you'll see that I put some grip tape on the sliders between each of the brackets.


Slathering some POR-15 on the bare metal. Turns out that $45 is the price of one quart of peace of mind.


After a weekend wandering around Inyo National Forest.


Some notes on the grip tape:

I cut the tape to appropriate lengths and then cut the corners off at a 45* angle, 1/4" in from the corners. The first and obvious reason is that 90* corners on any kind of adhered tape is just begging to be peeled off, either by accident or on purpose. The second is that it looks freaking cool. I sprayed the painted surfaces of the sliders with denatured alcohol to prep the surface for adhesion. I then waited a few minutes to make sure it was bone dry, and then slapped the pieces of grip tape down. I tried to make it look pretty, but I was also aware that this is a utilitarian build, and to not be too concerned with looks.
 
#10 ·
Okay, the Addicted Offroad bumper came in while I was freezing my softer bits off in the forest:


My garage tends to be on the humid side, so I figured I'd hit it with some red oxide primer before the rust had its way with the bare metal. I'm doing a little bit of homework at the moment to make sure that I'm fully prepared to take apart the front end of my truck when it's time to start welding pieces into place. Looking at the winch plate on the bumper, I was a little bit concernicus that the enormous 10,000# Smittybilt winch I have sitting in my spare room might not quite fit where it's meant to fit. So of course, I hefted all 45 pounds of it out to the driveway to give it the hairy eyeball and to give me the warm and fuzzies.

Anyway, stay tuned. Upcoming modifications are the bumper install, Smittybilt X20 comp series winch install, and a purchase of sealed deep-cycle battery.
 
#11 ·
Today, I got the bumper installed. Ran into some issues, but nothing my brother and I couldn't work past. As is to be expected, installing a new part kind of brought forth a new problem with an old part. It's all good, though. I'll just have to figure out some solutions to these new first-world problems. And speaking of first-world problems, the guys at Addicted Off-Road never responded to my query about the missing light tabs. This bumper might be the first and last thing I order from those guys. There was a two-month lead time from order to delivery, and then no light tabs (as advertised), and no follow-up. Your results may vary, but my experience with those guys has been a little crummy.

Everything's loaded up in the back of the truck to bring to my brother's shop.


Got the plastic bumper cover off.


Metal bumper is off, and now removing the existing crossmember.


Not sure what this little dingle-dangle is, but we covered it with foil to protect it from sparks and slag. Also, it mounted to the old bumper, so I had to find it a new home after the install.


These all-threads are what the old bumper was mounted to. I tried backing them out of their threaded holes, but then I ran out of f*cks to give, so I ground them flat.


Going in for a dry fit.


Whoops! Need to take this little strut off. Nothing critical mounted to it, just the top edge of the plastic bumper cover.


Now that's a dry fit!



Uh oh, that's a lot of daylight between the crossmember and the frame. My brother just stitched it together and filled it with a LOT of wire.


A little surface prep.


We used these clamps to mark the bottom limit of the crossmember, and then just pitched the whole thing forward and backwards until everything was lined up, according to my highly calibrated ocular calipers.


And then we got so busy that I stopped taking pictures. Here's an underexposed photograph of the final product.


Then I trimmed away some of the exposed wheel well liner and took another photograph where the dynamic range was too great for the iPhone's sensor.


Notes on the bumper install:

1. One of the holes in the mounting plate of the bumper was not lined up correctly with the threaded hole on the cross member. We had to gore out the hole with a step drill bit, but after that, it was fine.

2. The clearance between the winch plate and the bottom of the grille on the hood is roughly 7.5". Account for this when choosing a winch, or just understand that it'll take some modification to make a taller winch fit in that space.

3. The bumper is heavy. Not so heavy that you couldn't move it around by yourself, but heavy enough that installation would have been a major PITA if my brother's shop didn't have an overhead hoist. And speaking of hoists...

4. Protect your finish with rags, the skin of your slain enemies, or whatever else is handy when hoisting this bumper up. I managed to booger up the super-awesome paint job during the installation today. I also touched up the super-awesome paint job with more of the hammered-finish rattlecan paint when I got home, but still, a little extra care goes a long way.

5. Use an angle finder or similar device. It's way better than eyeballing level and saying, "EhhhhhhhhhhhhhGOOD ENOUGH." Which I may have done. Okay, I definitely did.

6. I have the Off-Road TRD package, and one of the cool-guy OEM things that Toyota installed is a front skid plate. That skid plate mounted to the old cross member, so I'll have to solve that problem, but not right now.
 
#12 ·
I've installed my Smittybilt X20 10,000# winch with synthetic line. I chose this winch because it is the only one I found in its price range that had this load rating and an IP68 rating. Everything else I found that met my requirements was more expensive by at least $300. I read enough reviews on Smittybilt winches to know that I made a reasonable choice, and I can reasonably assume that this winch will get me un-stuck when it comes to it.

I purchased the winch from CarID.com for a whopping $649, no tax or shipping. I flippin' love the internet.

After the bumper install, I did a dry fit of the winch and saw that I needed at least one more inch of clearance between the grill and the bumper for the winch to fit, and even more for the control box to fit. I mulled it over for a couple of weeks and arrived at the decision you'll see below in the photographs.

I've got the grill off and the linkage for the hood latch removed. I drilled a hole through the latch and then threaded this 1/16" braided cable through the hole. I swaged the loop and called that part done for the time being.


I marked the location I wanted to drill, which is roughly in line with the hood latch and drilled a 1/4" hole there.


I happened to have 100 of these No. 8 grommets from a Kydex project that caught my fancy, and here you go, a pretty-fied hole in the chrome plastic.


It took some coercion and the proper application of violence, but the chromed plastic trim on the lower louvre is now removed.


At first I tried using a bandsaw to cut a portion of the lower louvre away, but the grill would not fit into the shallow throat of the bandsaw I was using.


So I used a Dremel cutoff wheel for plastic and cut away the portion that was originally covered by the chromed plastic. The idea is that I wouldn't be removing the entire structure of the lower louvre. I don't know what it gains me, but it didn't cost me anything, either. I also epoxied the grommet in place after all the plastic dust had settled.


Here I've got the new hood latch cable fed through the grommeted hole.


I fed a swage and a length of clear plastic tubing onto the cable and closed the loop.


Give it a tug, and this is what it looks like!


Almost ran out of gas in the driveway while I was spooling the cable in. Anyway, gas stations have great lighting at this time of the evening.


My, what a big spring-gated hook you have, Granny!


I'll have to re-spool the cable. This bumper doesn't offer much clearance between this larger winch and the plate steel, and I've got some cable rub going on, here.


Well, that's it for major modifications for now. Things will be slowing down quite a bit, since my initial budget is just about used up. I still want some good lighting, and since I've got no light tabs on the bumper, I'll have to see what my other options are. Possibly an LED light bar on the roof? I dunno. We'll see.
 
#13 ·
Haven't done a whole lot with the rig lately, but a loose load in the back is definitely a no-go. Half of the kit is anchored down by looping around the lower extension of the Xsporter rack and then attaching to one of tie-off points in the corner of the bed. It's pretty janky, and I didn't like doing it very much.

Here's Chico, my 10-pound attack beast, guarding my poorly-anchored load on a recent run into the Los Padres National Forest in Big Sur.


So I installed some removable eye bolts as anchor points. Being able to take them out as needed was important, so I'm glad there was a pre-built solution to that challenge from ProGrip


The image above shows a green fuel can next to the water can. Just for knowing, it's a place holder for the second water jug I'll be carrying on a trip to the Mojave in a few weeks. And speaking of which, I've still got to implement a more elegant solution to carrying around a spare fuel can in the front left corner of the bed. I've got an idea, though, and I'll be able to do something about it tomorrow afternoon.
 
#14 ·
I purchased, received, and installed a set of PIAA LP 570 LED drive lights. First, I had to install the light tabs that the Addicted Offroad Guys sent me as a form of atonement for forgetting to weld the damned things on. A little primer and hammer finish paint later, the bumper was ready to receive the lights.

The Addicted Offroad bumper gave me no place to install fog lights, so those harnesses have been dangling there for the past couple of months, doing nobody any harm or any good. This will come into play in the next sentence.

I'm no wiring wizard, so instead of just using those existing wires from the unused fog lamp harnesses, I installed the PIAA harness and tapped into a fog light's positive cable for switch power. What this effectively does is turn the OEM fog light switch into my drive light switch, as long as I keep the aftermarket PIAA swtich set to "on." It's Bubba'd all to hell, but damn it, it works and it looks just fiiiine, you guys.

So, just why the hell did I choose these lights? Simple: Price is right, plus Overland Journal did a write-up on a bunch of lights last spring, I think, and these lights got a great review.

Sooo.. PICTURES! I've only got two.

These lights are a lot larger than I had anticipated.


Sorry about this picture looking like I took it with a potato.
 
#15 ·
I mentioned in an earlier post that the back end of the truck was drooping pretty low and that I bottomed out on the jounce stops a bunch while I was pounding around in the Mojave a few weeks ago. I resolved to fix that problem, and concluded that a set of air helper springs was the answer for my situation. It's already been said, but in case someone stumbles on this post by searching teh googlez or the forum for "air springs," "air helper," or "air bag suspension," then this is the quick installation post on it.

Following the instructions included with the Firestone Ride-Rite air helper springs, I jacked the back end of the truck up and put a jackstand beneath the axle. I eventually had to put the jack under the frame and lift that up to get enough clearance to do my work.


Here, I am dry-fitting the new air bag next to the jounce stop bracket. The instructions called for 1/2" of clearance between the lowest part of the frame rail and the horizontal portion of the upper spring bracket. There's a piece of metal strapping included in the kit that can be "borrowed" for this purpose.


I used a center punch to mark my hole locations and then used a unibit "step bit" to drill out the 5/8" holes. I would have used one of my regular drill bits, but I sort of ruined all of them on a previous project. Be careful drilling this part of the frame rail on the driver side - there are a bunch of lines hidden inside (brake lines, I think?), and you don't want to suddenly increase the cost of your project.

In the picture below, the Daystar air bag cradle is sitting all cock-eyed because I installed them with the threaded portion of the mounting bolt going down instead of up. There's only enough clearance between the lower spring bracket and the leaf spring to fit the thickness of a bolt head, not a nut + excess threaded shaft.


I then cut and routed the supplied air lines through the frame rails and found a vertical spot near the rear bumper mounting point for the filler valves. I'm not sure if this is the final location, yet. The plate is 1/4" thick and there isn't much of the valve sticking out of it, so that makes it something of a pain to fill up with different air chucks and inflator valves.
 
#16 · (Edited)
The airbags are fantastic. I've only subjected them to about 150 miles of on-highway use, and so far, I'm satisfied with the purchase. Installation, as I've already written, is simple and straightforward. If you've got an inclination for wrenching on things and putting holes in metal, then this is a no-brainer. I feel like I shouldn't have to say this, but RTFM before you start! It'll make a huge difference in the ease of the installation. Installing these airbags with one person is very doable. A second person isn't necessary, but could cut the install time down by handing stuff to you when things are out of your reach.

Ride quality and comfort are great. One of the interesting things about having slightly overloaded leafsprings is that the ride was nice and soft. I'd grown somewhat accustomed to the response differences between the front and rear suspensions, so installing these air helper springs had the effect of making the ride seem perceptively rough. That's a silly perception, though, because what had really happened is that my rear suspension once again feels like it did when it was stock and unladen. My tent, rack, and awning system over the bed weighs roughly 200 lbs., and it's remarkable how well the rear suspension is dealing with that constant load.

Another interesting effect of this rear suspension upgrade is accelerator response and perceived fuel economy. Previous to the installation, depressing the gas pedal would cause the rear to noticeably dip. The leafsprings were constantly at that magical point where it was enough to hold the rear up, but loaded enough to where they felt soft and mushy. Each press of the accelerator from a dead stop felt soft and unresponsive, akin to driving a worn-out old Cadillac. You mountain bikers in the crowd have been made physically aware that a soft rear suspension = lost drive energy, so that was a no-go. Now that the air bags are in and inflated to about 25 psi, the accelerator is snappy and responsive. Also, I've got at least 20 more miles than usual on this tank of gas so far. Results are not conclusive yet. We'll see how it does at the pump after I've done the math.

Braking feels more solid and stable than before. The unloading of the rear suspension on a hard braking maneuver would transfer a lot of weight and energy forward over a greater arc, and man, it felt hairy at times. Now, a spirited braking maneuver does what it used to do: Load the front suspension and stop the truck. The rear suspension no longer unloads, and it feels good. Turning is also much, much nicer. The loading and unloading of the outside rear springs and inside rear springs, respectively, is not as pronounced as it was before. Body and frame roll is subjectively reduced, and though I'm not drifting around corners 2 Fast 2 Furious style, it feels nice to have stable turns at higher speeds again. Lower speeds in turns requires more acceleration to reach driving speeds, which requires more fuel. That's gold, Jerry! Gold!

I choose to run the truck with about 25 psi in each of the air bags. I arrived at this by trial and error. I had initially filled up to 20 psi, but found that it was still a bit spongy. Then I bumped up to 30-35 psi, and found it to be too harsh of a ride. So I Goldilocksed that MFer and 25 psi is juuuuust right. Your results may vary depending on your load, but this pressure is great for unladen on-highway use for me. Oh, and when you're filling up your springs for the first time, PULSE THE INFLATOR. These fill up fast, and you can easily overshoot the 100 psi capacity of the bags if you zone out and let your eyes glaze over like they do when you're airing up to go back on the hardball.

In 100 more miles, I'll be inspecting the entire system. I'll post my findings then.

Thanks for reading, everyone, and I hope this has been helpful and useful to you all.
 
#17 ·
Okay, it's been some time since I've posted an update. About a month ago I bought an All Pro Off-Road APEx bed rack to replace the Thule Xsporter that I've had for about a year. I ordered it as a weld-together kit to save on labor ($100) and freight (don't know how expensive that would have been).

Finally had some time on Saturday to weld, paint, and install it, so here goes!

Doing some dry fitting. Note all the paper on the truck to keep the spalling off.


We used the stabilizing bars to determine spacing. This was the only way to get the spacing between hoops just right.


All the hoops are on, and the bars have been dry-fitted as well. We squeezed them between the hoops using a cargo strap, and my brother is tacking them in place in this photo.


I'm no welder. I actually kind of suck at it, but Joe insisted I weld something, so there I am welding a gusset in place.

Two things: the weld was horrendous (lol), and I have a sunburn on my arms (lol).


All primed! Had to mount it and close up shop since my brother had somewhere to be.


Fun fact: the rack is mounted using eight grade 5 bolts on four backing plates with threaded holes. They are 5/16-18 bolts with 1/2" heads and are very easy to confuse with M8 metric bolts. This is probably why I had 7 SAE bolts and one metric bolt in the kit.

I didn't figure that out right away, and at first thought I just had a wonky bolt with a jacked-up thread. Of course, that's the bolt that I brought into the hardware store with me to buy a replacement. So then I had two of the wrong bolt. Amazing.

After I figured out what the problem was (the markings on the head were what tipped me off), I went back to hardware store, and of course they didn't have the right bolt in the right length in grade 5. So now I have two M8 bolts and a spare grade 8 5/16-18 bolt.

The lulz are plentiful.

Aaaanyway, I brought the rack home, and with the help of my prettier (and better-smelling) half put the rack on the ground in my side yard to finish painting with some flat black Krylon camouflage paint. I chose that brand because it's readily available at any Walmart or hardware store, and it's especially flat, so far as my calibrated eyeball can tell.


Of course, I didn't take any pictures of it finished and put on the truck with the awning and tent, because I derped pretty hard after finishing the job. I'll post again later tonight after I get home and get the cool-guy Hi-Lift mount bolted on, as well.
 
#18 ·
As promised, some pictures of the truck and rack with everything bolted on.

The awning is now mounted directly to some bent flat bar stock that my brother welded on. There is one bracket each on the front and the rear hoops of the rack.



The awning now sits closer to the truck bed, which is nice. It's good to not have it sticking out and catching on things on a trail.



The Hi-Lift is now on the rear hoop. Its previous location on the passenger side bed rail wasn't great, since it made it a PITA to grab anything out of the bed of the truck from that side. I suspect that I'll only hit my head on the jack in its new location a dozen times before deciding it needs to move.



I'll probably Loc-Tite this cool-guy mount from Hi-Lift in place and then cable lock the jack to the rack to keep the honest people honest.
 
#19 ·
Okay, so what's new? Ah, right. Comms.

I really, really dislike the idea of being fully out of comms range when I'm in the sticks, and on my trip out to the Mojave last March with some friends, we were relegated to FRS for inter-vehicle comms. Not the most efficient or effective. Other than that, the only other way to communicate was to stop the rigs, get out, and talk. It was a little lame, and I was set on getting myself squared away to become an amateur radio operator. Two weeks after returning from the desert, the girlfriend and I attended a Ham Cram in Mountain View, CA. Spent six hours studying the test material, and then took the test at the end. Total cost was $30, which included the $15 FCC fee.

Fast-forward to about a month ago, and I finally bought a Baofeng UV-5R with a Tram 1185 mag mount antenna. That, as some of you other hams out there might know, is not the be-all end-all for 2m/70cm operation, so I resolved to do something about it. Seeing as how setting up a mobile rig is quite pricey and disposable income is a touch tight these days, I will have to do this install in stages. I've already got the little handheld tranceiver (or H/T, as we radio dorks call it), so the best way to use its 5 watts of output is to use an external antenna. I mentioned that I had the mag mount antenna before, but I don't like sloppy-looking stuff so it had to go.

So I drilled a hole in the middle of the roof.





Some ham-nerd content follows:

I first started off with a completed feedline with connectors. It was an RG316 coax with a 3/8" NMO connector at one end and an SMA-F connector at the other end, with an adapter to UHF-M to hook up to the radio. I tested VHF SWR and got 5:1. Wide open. I couldn't for the life of me figure out where my connection issue was, and just decided to put some money in the actual feedline/connectors that I wanted. I found a Browning RG-58 coax feedline with a 3/4" NMO connector and UHF-M connector on Amazon for something like $15. I got that hoss installed, got a SWR of 1.2-2:1 across the VHF band, and called it good. Next day, I went back to Ham Radio Outlet in Oakland and all but threw that POS cable back at them. The old guys on the repeater 10 miles away gave me a good signal report.

The antenna is a Comet SBB2NMO antenna, and it's doing the job for now. It is a VHF 1/4 wave and UHF 1/2 wave. It has its purpose, and will serve it well enough, but as soon as I feel more comfortable shopping for antennas, I'll be replacing it with something that either folds over or has a spring base. Or maybe I could stop spending money so frivolously and just take it off when I don't have clearance. I plan on keeping a 5/8 wave antenna in the truck, also, for the times when that flatter signal pattern is more appropriate, such as in the desert where terrain features are things you drive around, not over.

I had to pull the headliner down to get this installation complete. There's bracing on the roof right above the center dome light, so I drilled a hole just forward of there. I routed the coax diagonally forward to the stripped A-pillar and then down to floor. I routed the coax forward toward the firewall, and then pulled up the carpeting underneath the pedals to route the cable across to the center console. The carpet is held in place with velcro. I pulled off the doghouse beneath the center console, which is just a matter of pushing out the center pins on two grommets from behind the doghouse, and I had all the room in the world to work. After coiling the coax to take up slack, I reinstalled everything, re-tested SWR, and Bob's your uncle.

Next step is to buy a mobile rig. I'm leaning toward a Yaesu FT-8800, and it will mount to the transmission hump between the driver and passenger floorboard. Most likely. I don't know, we'll see. I've got some months to think about it while I save money for it.
 
#20 ·
Okay, got the Yaesu FT-8800R installed! This was quite an involved installation process and took two afternoons after work, which was mostly because I only barely have a clue what I'm doing when it comes to this stuff. Luckily, I've got the /r/amateurradio subreddit and an old fella named Chip that I talk to on a nearby repeater to ping when I run into issues or need advice. I did my best to go whole-*** on this installation instead of going half-***. It mostly has to do with my fear of burning my truck to the ground because I created a situation where the system was susceptible to shorting and then bathing my beloved truck in flames.

Enough talk. Picture time!

Getting the dashboard ripped apart. Again. I've become quite good at doing this.


I bought a PanaVise InDash mount #751371900 to use for the microphone holder. Installation was pretty straightforward.


But I installed it too low, and the screws that came with the mount interfered with a female harness receptor in the dash bezel. Here you see the Sharpie marks for the new holes.


Dry fit. Man, that is clean


Getting the lower panel of the center console off is just a matter of pushing on the back sides of grommets on either side, and then pulling the panel free of its spring-loaded clips. If it's not obvious by this point, DISCONNECT THE LEAD FROM THE NEGATIVE BATTERY POST. There are some airbag controls here, and you don't wanna risk deploying that or causing a short while you're fudging with wiring.



This seemed like a great place to install this speaker. It's this RoadPro CB speaker deal I found on Amazon. Nothing special, but it works and comes with all necessary hardware.


The microphone clip that comes with the Yaesu (left) is a bit janky. Replace it with a Motorola clip (right), and you'll be pleased with years of failure-free service. We use these Motorola jobbies at work, and they just don't break.


The supplied power leads don't come with ringed lugs; you'll have to install them yourself. Don't cheap out on these, and definitely don't be cheap or lazy when it comes to insulating your work. Use heat-shrink insulation, not cheapo electrical tape. Your non-burned truck will thank you.


Here I'm doing a bench test to make sure everything works before routing wires and getting everything screwed down.


Hook the power leads up directly to the battery. After this bench test,I routed the wires through a grommet in the firewall and stuffed all the wires in the engine bay into split tubing to protect them from rubbing (and shorting out!). I'll have to do something about that hot mess that is the positive battery lead. So many things hooked up to it. Also, I didn't realize how badly corroded those posts are. Yuck.


The only place I could mount the radio cabinet inside the truck was under the passenger seat, and the only easy way to access it was by taking the passenger seat out. Remove four bolts, apply force, and voila, it's all easily accessible.


Before pulling wire, I zip-tied them together at about 12" intervals. Cut off the excess zip-tie, obviously. I did that after snapping this picture.


There, got the power leads and antenna feedline pulled through.


I got the remote speaker and control head cables pulled through, and the radio cabinet mounted. The rear of the cabinet is facing forward in relation to the truck to make the data port more easily accessible for programming. Also, I want to make sure the fan has all the air it needs to cool off the radio.


I removed the radio fitment bezel and drilled a 1/2" hole in the rear using a unibit "step bit." This is for the control head cable.


I used some leftover kydex from a project that struck my fancy to make this mount for the control head bracket. Shaping it is simple - just a matter of heating it up where you want it bent, and then bend it over a straight edge, like a ruler or the edge of a table or bench.


Ahhh, that's nice.


Got the Motorola mic hanger mounted to the PanaVise mount.


Aww yiss.


Mmmmmm. A successful radio installation is really, really satisfying.


-=-

One minor nuisance issue, however. I've got some radio frequency interference (RFI) in the form of a "thud" when I key up on VHF. I chased down the problem to an unshielded RCA cable for the amplifier supplying power to my subwoofer. I'll either do ferrite chokes at either end of the RCAs or replace it with a shielded cable. Ferrite chokes are faster and easier. I'll try that first.
 
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