What have you done to your 200 Series this week? (39 Viewers)

[DirtNap]

Got some new shoes for my 2008.
P/O installed BFG AT KO's in 315/70R17, still with about 12-13mm tread depth, but rubbed too much for my tastes (and that is with a big chunk of the mudflaps and wheel well trimmed and KDSS reloc bracket). Felt like it rode a bit rough too. The 34.4" diameter tire yields about 1.5" of lift over stock, but my "height challenged" wife and daughter have a hard time getting up into the truck. Of course, part of that is the Icon lift (2-3", not exactly sure. Online says front is 3, rear is 2).

So after much agonizing, and analyzing, I went with Nitto Ridge Grappler, in 295/70/17. Bucked the seeming trend, went with the "non-Transformers" sidewall.

So far so good. It measures a few decibels quieter than the KO's. Not radically quieter, but definitely noticeable. Seems the ride is smoother too, but that could be psychological. Diameter seems right on spec @ 33.3". So I am down 1.1" overall diameter, and about 0.5" of lift.

This may be sacrilege, but I am considering dialing down the lift a bit (maybe 0.5"?) in pursuit of domestic brownie points (and maybe remove the 2 steps I added). I reckon I don't need the whole lift now to help with clearance issues. Any real downside to that? I seem to recall there is at least one Mudder who made a point about the tradeoff in wheel travel? Downtravel, IIRC? I don't wheel much or very hard, at least not now.

One more beauty pic.

 

[steenh]

Did the rear 4 holes on the transfer skid align OK on the crossover? Several of us with '14s have had issues?

Assume this was for me? I didn't do the install so I'm not sure, but they didn't mention anything out of the ordinary on the install. They did rave about how nice they were.

 

[RET2]

Assume this was for me? I didn't do the install so I'm not sure, but they didn't mention anything out of the ordinary on the install. They did rave about how nice they were.

Yes it was. As I said a few of us had a small issue with hole placement that was easily overcome, i was just curious. They are correct about how nice they are. Congrats on your rig

 

[steenh]

Yes it was. As I said a few of us had a small issue with hole placement that was easily overcome, i was just curious. They are correct about how nice they are. Congrats on your rig

I'll ask them if they had any issues just to be sure. In all of the stuff they were doing, if it was minor they may just have not remembered to mention it.

 

[RET2]

Nah I wouldn't waste the time. Once they are on you're you're good to go, just about anywhere.

 

[steenh]

They are exceptional. Couldn't be happier.

 

[Markuson]

With failing paint on the skyward-facing surfaces of my rig (like REALLY failing on the roof), I decided to take an idea that @codyaustin5 did and basically stop the continuing damage...and do a bit of a different look while I'm at it.

I think Cody did his to reduce glare...and that's also a factor here, but mostly it's so I can stop obsessing over paint issues.

If I had it to do over again, I might go with Satin Black instead of Matte black as shown here...but it's growing on me.

Interestingly--even though my rig was already dark grey (and less prone to bright glare), the reduction in glare is still pretty nice.
The other nice thing about wraps are that you can always change them later. The shop told me it was no fun at all to remove and replace the roof rack...but I'm glad they did, since I'd have ended up with missing wrap spots when I finally get a roof rack.

 

[RET2]

Looking great Mark !!

 

[ckkone]

More wiring under the hood done:

Aurora 7” combo beam LEDs installed and wired up the TJM driving lights:

And finally mounted my dual battery monitor, I just used extra strength Velcro:

 

[TonyP]

Finally got around to mounting the group 35 that'll become my primary/starter/winching battery. The mount was $50 plus $4 in hardware to get mounted. Much cheaper than other options. Rotated the power steering reservoir, drilled another hole to secure it nicely. The group 31 is now over on the driver's side. I was able to "flatten" the stock battery tie down, worked like a charm for the 31.

Still waiting on some 2 awg wire to route over from the stock battery terminal over the group 35 on he passenger side.

Mind the dirt and wire mess.

 

[vabluefish]

Got some new shoes for my 2008.

Looks good. Does it feel a little peppier with the smaller diameter/weight?

 

[ckkone]

I picked up some Philips X-Treme Ultinon replacement HID bulbs from Amazon Japan for $90 a pair. There is a lot of fakes of these on eBay and other pleaces in the USA and they cost twice as much. The ones from Amazon Japan are real deal Philips, they put out a nice bright white light which looks a lot closer to modern LED color temperature. Lumen snobs will say they are dimmer than 4300k but to me they seem brighter than the standard Philips HID bulbs that I replaced. Anyway I'm very happy with them and I think its a big upgrade.

You can switch to English below the search bar where is says JP with the globe logo.

I got the 6200K version:

https://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/B00XQL73I2/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[GoISU]

I got some wheeling scratches buffed out by a buddy. Came out really well. Don’t be scared to scratch them, they clean up real nice.

 

[DirtNap]

Looks good. Does it feel a little peppier with the smaller diameter/weight?

To be honest, not really. Both the outgoing and incoming tire weigh right at 65 pounds. If I squint really hard, I can maybe feel a slight difference in pickup due to the marginally lower moment of inertia, but not really. Besides, these trucks are land barges, and I tend to drive it as such - slow and smooth. And desperately trying to eke out 12 mpg in suburban driving.

Still, it feels a bit smoother and definitely a bit quieter than the KO.

 

[jmw101]

Merry Christmas jingle... The other day I was going to grab a quick drink from a drive-through. My ash tray is the change box, and it was pretty full. I pull out the ash tray to grab some change and end up dropping it on the console. All of the change went between the driver's seat and the console. I had a small clipboard down there, which ended up funneling all of the change to the carpet.

Upon inspection, all of the change slid further down UNDER the carpet. The carpet under the seat has several slits, which were wide enough to allow the change in between the carpet and the steel bottom.

I decided I had better get the change out of there before I sounded like sleigh bells rolling down the road.

Morals of the story?
1. The ash tray can hold $5.21 in coins easily.
2. Try not to dump it between the seats like I did.

Merry Christmas, everyone. I truly enjoy reading everyone's posts on adventures with their rigs. Thanks to everyone for contributing so much.

 

[tominboise]

The only thing I did was to wash it and then pull off the right tire so as to replace the fender liner (the previous owner had hit something and torn about half of it out. New parts from Toyato fixed the problem. Took longer then I wanted, mostly because I had to run to the local parts store for a variety of replacement panel fasteners.

 

[SWUtah]

To be honest, not really. Both the outgoing and incoming tire weigh right at 65 pounds. If I squint really hard, I can maybe feel a slight difference in pickup due to the marginally lower moment of inertia, but not really. Besides, these trucks are land barges, and I tend to drive it as such - slow and smooth. And desperately trying to eke out 12 mpg in suburban driving.

Still, it feels a bit smoother and definitely a bit quieter than the KO.

Damn I thought my KO'2s at 56lbs were heavy 285/55/20's

 

[DirtNap]

Merry Christmas jingle... The other day I was going to grab a quick drink from a drive-through. My ash tray is the change box, and it was pretty full. I pull out the ash tray to grab some change and end up dropping it on the console. All of the change went between the driver's seat and the console. I had a small clipboard down there, which ended up funneling all of the change to the carpet.

Upon inspection, all of the change slid further down UNDER the carpet. The carpet under the seat has several slits, which were wide enough to allow the change in between the carpet and the steel bottom.

I decided I had better get the change out of there before I sounded like sleigh bells rolling down the road.

Morals of the story?
1. The ash tray can hold $5.21 in coins easily.
2. Try not to dump it between the seats like I did.

Merry Christmas, everyone. I truly enjoy reading everyone's posts on adventures with their rigs. Thanks to everyone for contributing so much.

That might explain a mystery noise I am hearing. Like ball bearings- or coins - rolling /sliding back and forth. Thanks for the idea.

 

[Willy beamin]

That might explain a mystery noise I am hearing. Like ball bearings- or coins - rolling /sliding back and forth. Thanks for the idea.

get yourself a magnet and save your fingers.

 

[Markuson]

That might explain a mystery noise I am hearing. Like ball bearings- or coins - rolling /sliding back and forth. Thanks for the idea.

Ya, the HUUUGE slit in the carpet under the front seats is crazy...almost like someone was trying to create a trap-door for crud to get lost in!