2008 Tundra - Xedition Build (1 Viewer)

[tlcruiserman]

2007 Tundra - Xedition Build

Well it was time for another expedition down to Baja Mx, but this time we were traveling farther south and into areas with little or no roads. Normally I would take my 97' Troopy however since it is from Aus it is right hand drive and that is not the best for Mexico (main route is 2 lanes lots of passing) so my buddy suggests that I take my 08' Tundra, at first I thought why would I do that, then it was more why not, I don't think anyone that I know has built up a tundra for an Expedition yet, so this is the Xedition (catchy I know) build.
First let’s start with what I have to begin with: 2008 Toyota Tundra double cab Limited 4x4 (got it mid 2007) so one of the first 4x4 ones in CA. This one was made in the Indiana plant. 5.7L V8 (381 HP), 6 speed Auto Transmission (2 overdrive gears), Full options except the DVD player, has back up camera, Nav (which is useless in Mexico) 480watt factory JBL Sound system. Also has the TRD package but I think that just meant it had different wheels & billstein shocks.
Shortly after I purchased the Tundra I felt cheated because the 4x4 models are the same height as the 4x2 models, so I put a small 3" lift on it. Then when the Complete Crap BFG Rugged Trail tires had some miles on them I got rid of them (that is whole other story) and replaced them with Goodyear wrangler Silent Armor tires (these have proved to be great).
So what would I need to do to make this Expedition ready for this journey of around 15 miles. First I need a fuel range of around or at least 400 miles, and currently with the 23 gallon tank I come in a around 300 (around town I get a little over 13) now on the highway with this beast I get around 18 sometimes but with it being mostly trails at best and being fully loaded I was hoping for 14 but planning on 10. Regardless I was going to need an aux tank or bigger primary tank. I found the only maker us a direct replacement tank that holds 46 gallons, so I was set with that.
Next I was going to need to make a mount for my Engel Fridge, can't go on a trip without that, and since I have a double cab (has 2/3rds rear doors and seat 3 adults in the back) I had plenty of room behind the driver seat to use that area for the fridge.

If you are going to run a fridge typically you are going to want an addition battery and hook it into the charging system. Well that is where it got complicated. You would think under the hood of the new generation beasty Tundra you would have lots of room and could find an easy spot to stick an additional battery, well I could not find an easy place to put one without major relocation of something, I am not sure if that it because of the 5.7 or in general but the only place that made sense was in the truck bed, and with the short window to build this I decided to leave the extra battery out, also helps to know that my buddy has two on his HJ60 Cruiser so I was set if I had a problem.
The last thing I needed to do was build a Rack for the truck bed to mount my Roof top Tend on, and in the process I made a spot for an additional spare tire (always take more than one spare into Baja), and some water/fuel cans. It is also a good idea to leave enough space to get things in and out of bed easily and it allows military and border folks easy access to check things out.
Here are some photos of the build and a ones of the Tundra on the Expedition. The tundra worked out great and I ended up averaging 14.0MPG for the entire 1400mi journey.

Cheers,

Michael

 

[Radd Cruisers]

Looks like fun, thanks for the pics.



Rob

 

[SupraTuRD]

I like it! Only thing I'd consider changing would be the location of the hi-lift to a more accessible spot. I'd hate to have to unload the entire bed to get to it. Looks like you could easily bolt it to the steel structure that you've fabricated.

 

[tlcruiserman]

I like it! Only thing I'd consider changing would be the location of the hi-lift to a more accessible spot. I'd hate to have to unload the entire bed to get to it. Looks like you could easily bolt it to the steel structure that you've fabricated.

Very True, when it came down to it, originally I was going to have it stand up in the bed but no room on the height side so I went with simple to make sure I had it, but probably could move it closer to the tailgate something like that. Had to get the tire out on the Expedition and that was a pain, but I wanted to use that one first rather than the original one (no room for overzided in original location).

Good Observation, Thanks,

Michael

 

[MANUCHAO]

Great set up.

Have you thought of building a raised top for the truck bed?
Raised enough where your RTT sits flush with your cab when closed and would give you plenty more secure/dry (if needed) space on the rear.

Made of aluminum and for it to open from the side with a set of gas shocks...


I like the Aux fuel tank.. Who made it ?

Thanks for posting...

 

[tlcruiserman]

Great set up.

Have you thought of building a raised top for the truck bed?
Raised enough where your RTT sits flush with your cab when closed and would give you plenty more secure/dry (if needed) space on the rear.

Made of aluminum and for it to open from the side with a set of gas shocks...


I like the Aux fuel tank.. Who made it ?

Thanks for posting...

For the Places I go on Expedition the raised top to not work to well. I but that rack at the hieght it was so I could look and get at stuff fairly easy. For rain and weather (rare that I run into anything more than rai, I have a tarp we put over under the neting but everything in the bed is sealed itself so even it does get wet nothing get hurt.

The fuel tank is by Transfer flow inc. they are the only ones that make a replacement tank for new generation tundra, they are located in Northern California. The tank is still going through certification for california but is good everwhere else right now (should be any week for CA cert.). The tank is really well constructed of Aluminum and has all the check ball roll over safety stuff as well as the extra evap box for all the modern emiisions. They were really good to me (but I will likely be giving them business from ME) manual is pretty good I let them know of a few corrections on it, I guess they are selling a good amount of them.

Cheers,

Michael

 

[KayakPanic]

looks like a fun trip...

did you do any fishing?

what kind of mileage was your buddy getting with that HJ60?

one observation on your fab: it looks like you could cover the thing with some boat cab vinyl pretty easily to keep down on road dust, mud, grime, and (salt) water...

 

[tlcruiserman]

looks like a fun trip...

did you do any fishing?

what kind of mileage was your buddy getting with that HJ60?


one observation on your fab: it looks like you could cover the thing with some boat cab vinyl pretty easily to keep down on road dust, mud, grime, and (salt) water...

Sure did, we catch a wide variety of fish in Baja, this time nothing on the Pacific side however on the Sea of Cortez side we caught:
Baracuda
Tuna
Yellow Tail
Stripe Bass (aka Bassholes)
Mexican Needle fish
and a few others I don't remember the names
All from fishing from the shore.

The HJ60 probably gets in the 20's (I am not sure, Jan would answer) it has a 2H with Turboglide Turbo & H55F.

Yep could do the soft top, maybe in the future.

Cheers,

Michael

 

[Hltoppr]

Quit teasing Michael....post up "the rest of the story!"



-H-

 

[nicholastheczar]

Looks like you had a good time. I really like the pic 3rd to last pic w/ the trucks parked on the gravel jette set up for camp.

 

[tlcruiserman]

Quit teasing Michael....post up "the rest of the story!"



-H-

Ok ok, I will take some time to put the rest in

Cheers,

Michael

 

[tlcruiserman]

How Tough is the New Tundra??? Well.....

So while on my Expedition in Baja I did run into to trouble. Completly driver error on my part

We were traveling on a dirt road (actually more like a trail) I was about a 1/4 mile behind the lead truck, lots of dust and dirt. I came up over a small burm and at that moment I was looking at my gauges and trying to calculate me miles left until empty (used to be accurate until I put in new tank) and notice a little to late over the burm that a 2 foot boulder was a little into the trail and I was a litttle over to right and WHAM!! before I could turn out of the way I hit it with the front right tire and as I cut the left I swung the back end right into the boulder.

Needless to say I could tell something was wrong, thought maybe a few flat tires, but when I pulled over about 100 yard up the trail the damage looked pretty bad. The front tire was flat (expected that) but I did not expect what I saw in the rear, then entire rear wheel stuffed back into the wheel well, that can not be good,

Now keep in mind we were probably 30k from the last little town we were in (which had almost no businesses) and probably another 40k to the next town (which was a little bigger). I looked things over, my friends are already thinking ok we can have the other cruisers go to the next town and see if we can get a tow truck to come out and get this one, maybe get it fixed is a few days or maybe just leave it, but we will not all fit in the cruiser, vacation it ruined only a few days into it. Well maybe that was me and my disgust at my error thinking the last part.

As I looked I was expecting to find a few broken leafs from the sping pack, but they were all ok, just the center pin had sheered and the axle got pushed back on the spring pack. Then I looked at the drive shaft expecting it to be a pretzle but again it looked in pretty good shape, after all it is massive and the rear section is made out of aluminum, maybe there is hope, even if the driveshaft is toast I can always drive out on the front wheel drive. So quickly I announce "I think I can fix this" and got a resounding "yeah sure ", so I waited for the lead truck to come back, and my buddy Jan to also access and give me his thoughts, he was skeptical but saw what I did, that nothing really lots broke just out of place.

So we decided to try and the first step was to loosen the ubolts holding the axle in place so we can pull it out of the wheel well. But oh no, this time I brought the turndra not one of my cruisers and like everything on the new turndra it is bigger, and usually massive, and the ubolts were not common 21mm that the cruisers have nope it was 22mm and I nor my buddy had a 22m deep well socket, hell I even had a portable welder with me but not darn socket.

So my buddy left for the next town and figured it would be back in 4 hours, hoping on the outside chance he could find a 22mm deep well socket. Plan be was to tack weld a smaller socket on each nut and losen it and repeat. So in the mean time we did what work we could do after setting up a small camp and making sure we had plenty of water to drink - temps were high 90's to the 100's

After a while Jan showed back up (3 hours instead of 4) and he had sockets, I was stunned, he had to wait until the hardware store opened at 3pm but the hardware store had everything even the 22m deep well socket. So know it was a matter of putting everything back in it place and then we would be done.

I had a high lift jack with me and figure I would jack from the receiver hitch to get it lifted by the frame but considering the dirt road and the wieght of the truck I was a little nervous, then I had a beter idea, the rear drive shaft is out, if I put rocks behind the rear tires after I losen the ubolts I should be able to backup in (using the front weel drive) and it should move the truck back with the rear axle staying put. We tried it and it worked perfectly, we measure the distance of axle to sping end and compared to to the undamaged side and line it up perfect, I used a camp from the spring sling kit and put it behind the rear axle mount on the spring just as an extra measure to keep the axle from moving back. Tighted up the ubolts, but the rear driveshaft back in and we were all set. We were trouble fee for the rest of the trip (about another 900 miles), once I got home I replaced the center pin (BTW it has an additional center pin off set that goes through the overload leaf and into the one above it), fixed up the weel well, and replaced the rear shocks, the Right side one was a casualty as well.

Now back to you question in the heading, how tough is the new Tundra, Well I have say that I got lucky and luck certainly had a lot to do with this, however I know if that had been anyone of my cruisers the rear driveshaft would have been toast after dragging it nose first for 100 yeard or so. The fact that nothing really broke except the center pin from the spring pack is very lucky but I think the toughness of the Tundra also played a part in it.

Bottom line is, it was a reality check on how a simple error or mistake could have easily caused my Tundra to stay in Mexico and a much needed vacation cut short, not just for me but for my friends, I am glad no one freaked out we were able to perform one of the best field repairs I have ever done and be back on our way in just a around 5 hours. Lucky? Hell Yah, and it the tundra all the commercials say it is Hell Yah!

Cheers,

Michael

 

[bkfj40]

so how many miles did you have left till empty I've done the same thing before while wheeling - you let your attention drift and all of a sudden, reality comes to life.

 

[Toxarch]

That's awesome that you got it fixed on the trail.

 

[SupraTuRD]

Good work guys! Glad to hear you guys were able to do the trail side repairs! I've heard of trucks pole-vaulting due to the loss of the front joint on a driveshaft... that would have been ugly!

 

[zidaro]

Bringing this up.
Looks like a great trip and VERY FUN trail fix.
How is the Transferflow Tank working out? Install yourself and hows CARB in the Cali truck.
thanks
I have a 2010 Crewmax and will be modding with a tank as well.

 

[jim65wagon]

Love the big T; love the build on the rack; great job on the field repair! Great pics for the rest of the trip too!

 

[Jan-78FJ40]

Bringing this up.
Looks like a great trip and VERY FUN trail fix.
How is the Transferflow Tank working out? Install yourself and hows CARB in the Cali truck.
thanks
I have a 2010 Crewmax and will be modding with a tank as well.

The tank is working great. No problems since the install. Yes, it was self installed. Not the biggest deal, but definitely some work-the instructions weren't exactly perfect.
cheers,
j

 

[zidaro]

How did you get transferflow to sell a tank in Cali.? Was it a complete kit as sold? As in, driveway install- drop stock, swap components, install new? What were the install issues?
How is the MPG/fuel monitor and fuel guage working with larger tank? Seamless or issues?

Really need this mod but dont need issues, sorry if it is alot of questions.

thanks,
aaron

 

[tlcruiserman]

Love the big T; love the build on the rack; great job on the field repair! Great pics for the rest of the trip too!

Thanks, it is great truck, despite not being a Cruiser