Builds Aspiring Build Thread Prado Dreams

[tech703]

Thanks. If i end up going this route in the future it's good to know that any color can be used. Again, way cheaper than $5-7K for a "real" paint job.

Also did you paint over the Toyota emblem on the back? Or it is able to be masked or re-installed over the Raptor liner?

I had removed it to paint just reinstalled it today with the little pegs and some 3M emblem adhesive

but you can either mask it or paint over it as well we painted over the nissan emblem on my brothers xterra no issue

i recommend for any chrome pieces to spray some adhesion promoter to ensure it sticks well

 

[Rednexus]

Thanks. I was definitely skeptical, but again your rig looks great! We'll see which way I go in a few years. Until then, I'll probably survive by getting a black wrap on my roof and giving the rest of the rig a cut-and-polish.

 

[r2m]

Pattern came out very good without streaks/splotches for a DIY job.

How hard is this to keep clean? My 470 is going to need a re-paint in the next few years. Unsure if it will get just a new paint job in the OEM color (which is an awesome color), a wrap, or Raptor Liner. Raptor would seem to be the cheapest and easiest to DIY. I do see a lot of dirt in my rig and woudl be curious on if it's possible to keep it clean-ish with all of the texture.

My wife's 2007 red 4x4 crewcab Taco was getting pretty bad. Rust along the upper right windshield to the point it would drip into the cab and the clear coat was pretty much gone.
For a Christmas present (it was not a surprise), took it to Maaco paint (in your area: Missouri Auto Body Paint Shop Locations - https://www.maaco.com/locations/mo/ ) and did the deluxe everything paint that included the rust repair and 5 year warranty. It's been 2 or 3 years now and still looks good!
I know Maaco are the cheap guys for paint jobs, and yes I had to take it back to the them because the hood had some, what looked like painted dust specs and orange peel, but they repainted the hood, no problem. There's a little over spray on some of the under carriage and we purchased our own Toyota 4x4 large labels that those trucks have on the rear quarter panels from Amazon. That was way cheaper than factory Toyota labels.
But other than that, we're pretty pleased with how it came out.

Ear-to-ear grins on my wife while she takes "Rosie" (the name of her truck) through a little rock garden. If you look at the rear quarter panel, you'll notice the photo has the original Toyota 4x4 label before the repaint and the top photo has the TRD label from Amazon.

 

[r2m]

Pattern came out very good without streaks/splotches for a DIY job.

How hard is this to keep clean? My 470 is going to need a re-paint in the next few years. Unsure if it will get just a new paint job in the OEM color (which is an awesome color), a wrap, or Raptor Liner. Raptor would seem to be the cheapest and easiest to DIY. I do see a lot of dirt in my rig and woudl be curious on if it's possible to keep it clean-ish with all of the texture.

I'm sure the ONLY way to clean that is hosing it off. Using a rag or chamois on that surface will just tear it up.

 

[Rednexus]

My wife's 2007 red 4x4 crewcab Taco was getting pretty bad. Rust along the upper right windshield to the point it would drip into the cab and the clear coat was pretty much gone.
For a Christmas present (it was not a surprise), took it to Maaco paint (in your area: Missouri Auto Body Paint Shop Locations - https://www.maaco.com/locations/mo/ ) and did the deluxe everything paint that included the rust repair and 5 year warranty. It's been 2 or 3 years now and still looks good!
I know Maaco are the cheap guys for paint jobs, and yes I had to take it back to the them because the hood had some, what looked like painted dust specs and orange peel, but they repainted the hood, no problem. There's a little over spray on some of the under carriage and we purchased our own Toyota 4x4 large labels that those trucks have on the rear quarter panels from Amazon. That was way cheaper than factory Toyota labels.
But other than that, we're pretty pleased with how it came out.

Ear-to-ear grins on my wife while she takes "Rosie" (the name of her truck) through a little rock garden. If you look at the rear quarter panel, you'll notice the photo has the original Toyota 4x4 label before the repaint and the top photo has the TRD label from Amazon.

Mine very well might get a real paint job. We have several good body shops in my area who do top-notch work. Just depends on how much $$$ I want to spend on it, and my future use for the rig. I do love the cypress green paint, especially when it's cleaned and waxed.

 

[r2m]

Mine very well might get a real paint job. We have several good body shops in my area who do top-notch work. Just depends on how much $$$ I want to spend on it, and my future use for the rig. I do love the cypress green paint, especially when it's cleaned and waxed.

Kind of like you, had to evaluate how old the truck is vs. how long we'll probably keep it and it's use, so yeah, we didn't want to go to a high end shop. The Maaco was "good enough" for what we wanted and if we need to sell it, we should be able to get a good price with the way it looks, especially with the WetOkole seat covers. The seat covers are still in great shape after almost 6 years, not to mention how good the factory seats look from being covered ever since we've had it!

 

[tech703]

Replacing the tensioner and idler in hopes that will solve my growling problems if not i think water pump is next
The hex head bolt had to be ordered so i should be finishing up with the reinstall tomorrow

Toyota part numbers for anyone in need

90916-A2033 Belt
16620-0S012 Tensioner
16603-38012 Idler
90110-A0005 Rusty Tensioner Hex head bolt

 

[tech703]

as an update i got attacked by birds yesterday so pretty much just hosed it off and ran it over with a microfiber and it was back to like nothing happened. then for fun i took it through an automatic wash ( not touchless lol) and all still looks like day 1. Hope that it stays this way for a long time but i’ll update it anything changes.

Also the AliExpress grill turned out to be not worth it (surprise surprise) the sun warped the plastic pretty quickly and now it’s all deformed up front. I ended up filing a claim with amex and got my money back so i got a free deformed grill in the end not bad, so if it’s not free def go the legit way versus chinese

 

[tech703]

Changed the fluid in the front differential as i had procrastinated taking off the skid.

I was greeted by 2 super rusty plugs for the drain and fill.
This Icon 15 pc extractor set was definitely worth every penny i spent on it. a little bit of hammering and the extractor got the fill plug out. the drain was a little more of a pain but with some heat and the next size up extractor made it a lot easier.

I was able to get it done in about 1 hour thanks to the extractors. Fluid wasn’t even super dirty surprisingly. I replaced both bolts with the hex version from Kaon

 

[r2m]

Changed the fluid in the front differential as i had procrastinated taking off the skid.

I was greeted by 2 super rusty plugs for the drain and fill.
This Icon 15 pc extractor set was definitely worth every penny i spent on it. a little bit of hammering and the extractor got the fill plug out. the drain was a little more of a pain but with some heat and the next size up extractor made it a lot easier.

I was able to get it done in about 1 hour thanks to the extractors. Fluid wasn’t even super dirty surprisingly. I replaced both bolts with the hex version from Kaon

View attachment 3785542

Looks like a really smart tool for hex's and torq's.
I'll have to remember that if I should ever come across such an issue.

 

[tech703]

Looks like a really smart tool for hex's and torq's.
I'll have to remember that if I should ever come across such an issue.

It most definitely was I got the 15 pc which was enough but the 25 is not that much more if the need arises

https://www.harborfreight.com/multi-spline-screw-extractor-set-15-piece-59194.html

 

[r2m]

It most definitely was I got the 15 pc which was enough but the 25 is not that much more if the need arises

https://www.harborfreight.com/multi-spline-screw-extractor-set-15-piece-59194.html

I may have to invest in one of Harbor Freight impact screw extractors. I have a sheared off bolt when trying to remove one of the AFS sensors under the right rear wheel.

 

[llm]

Looks like a really smart tool for hex's and torq's.
I'll have to remember that if I should ever come across such an issue.

definitely worth it. I had smashed and smeared all my hex button head skid plate bolts to a point where they were all stripped. I hard to drill the holes a little deeper and the HF Icon extraction tool made it a breeze to remove 8 bolts.

 

[tech703]

definitely worth it. I had smashed and smeared all my hex button head skid plate bolts to a point where they were all stripped. I hard to drill the holes a little deeper and the HF Icon extraction tool made it a breeze to remove 8 bolts.

exactly why I just ordered some new external hex head bolts from McMaster to replace the hex button head bolts my skid plate came with, I hate bolts like that I always end up stripping them even if I have the right key

 

[llm]

exactly why I just ordered some new external hex head bolts from McMaster to replace the hex button head bolts my skid plate came with, I hate bolts like that I always end up stripping them even if I have the right key

great idea, I may try that the next time I have to replace bolts.do the external hex bolts heads just shear off since it's not as smooth as button head? my skid plates have a silly design--there is no ramp to protect the heads when you slide over things.

 

[tech703]

great idea, I may try that the next time I have to replace bolts.do the external hex bolts heads just shear off since it's not as smooth as button head? my skid plates have a silly design--there is no ramp to protect the heads when you slide over things.

im not 100% sure but I think id have a better time trying to grab one of those than a stripped out button head

 

[tech703]

Chasing this annoying inconsistent grumbling, roaring noise under 2k RPM with the occasional slip, I think im leaning towards it being related to be taking it to Lexus for a trans flush 25k ago at 100k.

I am going to be attempting a diy drain and fill on the trans tomorrow in hopes that maybe that will help in some way. Im thinking that this is the torque converter making the noise as it sounds rotational at times on the highway.

following gxbob's vid I bought the launch scanner, the new drain and check bolts/gaskets, and 6 quarts of ATF WS.

wish me luck

 

[r2m]

Chasing this annoying inconsistent grumbling, roaring noise under 2k RPM with the occasional slip, I think im leaning towards it being related to be taking it to Lexus for a trans flush 25k ago at 100k.

I am going to be attempting a diy drain and fill on the trans tomorrow in hopes that maybe that will help in some way. Im thinking that this is the torque converter making the noise as it sounds rotational at times on the highway.

following gxbob's vid I bought the launch scanner, the new drain and check bolts/gaskets, and 6 quarts of ATF WS.

wish me luck

 

[Rednexus]

Chasing this annoying inconsistent grumbling, roaring noise under 2k RPM with the occasional slip, I think im leaning towards it being related to be taking it to Lexus for a trans flush 25k ago at 100k.

I am going to be attempting a diy drain and fill on the trans tomorrow in hopes that maybe that will help in some way. Im thinking that this is the torque converter making the noise as it sounds rotational at times on the highway.

following gxbob's vid I bought the launch scanner, the new drain and check bolts/gaskets, and 6 quarts of ATF WS.

wish me luck

Other than the "occasional slip", that sounds just like a front wheel bearing failure. Wheel bearings on these seldom last much longer than 100K.

 

[tech703]

Other than the "occasional slip", that sounds just like a front wheel bearing failure. Wheel bearings on these seldom last much longer than 100K.

i wish it were but it’s definitely RPM related because it’s even in park/neutral that it happens