- Thread starter
- #21
Finally, with some fiddling, got Torque Pro up and running on the headunit!
Build: "Moxie" 2007 LX470 Limited (2 Viewers)
- Thread starter cryptyk
- Start date
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- Thread starter
- #22
Sourced this dual USB-C adapter that fits nicely into the lighter space. Plugged the cables into the back of the VLine and everything works perfectly:
The Install Bay IBR113 Dual USB-C Charge And Data Flush Mount
The Install Bay IBR113 Dual USB-C Charge And Data Flush Mount Dual USB-C charge and data Flush mount – 26mm Surface mount and water-resistant cover included 2 USB-C to USB-A convertors included Length – 3ft. (1m) 1 year limited warranty
www.thewireszone.com
- Thread starter
- #23
Got the CVT Mt. Washington installed! This is the new version that's a hardtop fold-out. There are some things to love about it, but also some glaring quality issues.
When I first opened the tent, I noticed that the "Stargazer Fly" was almost impossible to see through because it's so foggy. It looks like it's scratched, but it doesn't feel scratched. It's like the fogginess is inside the plastic. I tried washing with soap and water, but it didn't make a difference.
I wanted to find a way to install the tent solo and with it weighing 180 lbs, I knew I would need some engineering leverage. I rigged some eye hooks into the ceiling of the garage and used two sets of ratcheting tie-downs to lift it up.
Once it was up, I backed the LX into the garage and started lowering it onto the Prinsu 1" tent mounting brackets:
Pretty straight-forward, but time consuming. Getting it straight and even left-to-right in both the front and back was tough, but finally lowered it accurately enough that none of the mounting bolts were "twisted" or under tension.
There isn't much room to work on the bolts once it's on, but a ratcheting box wrench made the job easier. One tip is that the hand-turn wingnut things that come with the tent are too big to turn with the Prinsu rack. A quick trip to the hardware store and I got some normal nuts instead, which worked perfectly.
Once the tent was mounted, I noticed more quality issues. First, the channels on the side of the tent aren't painted well. It's almost like they accidentally oversprayed them:
Definitely a bummer.
Then I noticed hundreds of tiny metal shavings EVERYWHERE. Inside the tent, on top of the truck, in the channels, embedded in the mattress. Everywhere. I pulled the mattress out of the tent, vacuumed it the best I could and cleaned all the shavings out of the tent. While doing that, I noticed that two of the rivets in the tent had metal spikes coming into the tent from the floor. I filed those down, but they were sharp and long enough that had I put my knee on one while crawling in the tent, it would have jabbed me good, even through the mattress.
The tent itself is nice. It comes with an annex, it's giant for me and the wife, and it feels really solid. You can mount things to the side channels and it has a rack for on top. Great tent, but very disappointing quality issues. To make it worse, even after I cleaned up the metal shavings, I closed the tent for the night and opened it the next day to find that a bunch more shavings had dumped into the mattress from various drill holes in the interior and a bunch more dumped onto the top of the truck from the channels. Really annoying and I'm not thrilled with the idea of sleeping on a mattress with hundreds of sharp metal shavings in it.
I don't think I can recommend CVT based on the quality issues., but I'll keep the tent for now because I feel like I'm past the point where it makes sense to pull it off and return it. For now.
Why are the tires flat in that picture? I didn't consider how I would get back OUT of the garage once the tent was installed
Had to air down to 5 PSI and hang off the tailgate to get it low enough to get back out of the garage!
When I first opened the tent, I noticed that the "Stargazer Fly" was almost impossible to see through because it's so foggy. It looks like it's scratched, but it doesn't feel scratched. It's like the fogginess is inside the plastic. I tried washing with soap and water, but it didn't make a difference.
I wanted to find a way to install the tent solo and with it weighing 180 lbs, I knew I would need some engineering leverage. I rigged some eye hooks into the ceiling of the garage and used two sets of ratcheting tie-downs to lift it up.
Once it was up, I backed the LX into the garage and started lowering it onto the Prinsu 1" tent mounting brackets:
Pretty straight-forward, but time consuming. Getting it straight and even left-to-right in both the front and back was tough, but finally lowered it accurately enough that none of the mounting bolts were "twisted" or under tension.
There isn't much room to work on the bolts once it's on, but a ratcheting box wrench made the job easier. One tip is that the hand-turn wingnut things that come with the tent are too big to turn with the Prinsu rack. A quick trip to the hardware store and I got some normal nuts instead, which worked perfectly.
Once the tent was mounted, I noticed more quality issues. First, the channels on the side of the tent aren't painted well. It's almost like they accidentally oversprayed them:
Definitely a bummer.
Then I noticed hundreds of tiny metal shavings EVERYWHERE. Inside the tent, on top of the truck, in the channels, embedded in the mattress. Everywhere. I pulled the mattress out of the tent, vacuumed it the best I could and cleaned all the shavings out of the tent. While doing that, I noticed that two of the rivets in the tent had metal spikes coming into the tent from the floor. I filed those down, but they were sharp and long enough that had I put my knee on one while crawling in the tent, it would have jabbed me good, even through the mattress.
The tent itself is nice. It comes with an annex, it's giant for me and the wife, and it feels really solid. You can mount things to the side channels and it has a rack for on top. Great tent, but very disappointing quality issues. To make it worse, even after I cleaned up the metal shavings, I closed the tent for the night and opened it the next day to find that a bunch more shavings had dumped into the mattress from various drill holes in the interior and a bunch more dumped onto the top of the truck from the channels. Really annoying and I'm not thrilled with the idea of sleeping on a mattress with hundreds of sharp metal shavings in it.
I don't think I can recommend CVT based on the quality issues., but I'll keep the tent for now because I feel like I'm past the point where it makes sense to pull it off and return it. For now.
Why are the tires flat in that picture? I didn't consider how I would get back OUT of the garage once the tent was installed
Had to air down to 5 PSI and hang off the tailgate to get it low enough to get back out of the garage!
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- Thread starter
- #24
Just installed the ARB Twin Compressor, Manifold, Pump up kit, and used the Owl Expedition bracket to relocate the siren, headlight ballast, and diagnostic port. Very easy install with some tight spots, but overall I 100% recommend the full kit and especially the bracket.
Ran the power and switching wires across the top of the radiator and to the battery/SPOD switch.
Ran the power and switching wires across the top of the radiator and to the battery/SPOD switch.
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- Thread starter
- #25
Installed the SPOD a few days ago. Very simple installation with the power distribution box mounted to the top of the fuse box (make sure you leave enough power cabling slack to be able to remove the fuse box lid when needed!)
The hardest part was running the ethernet cable through the firewall grommet. I nicked a wire and soldering it back together was a tight fit that required removing much of the driver's side dash. Got it all buttoned up though.
I mounted the SPOD itself up where the LexusLink system used to live. Removing the LexusLink results in an error message audible each time you start the car. Something like, "A system error has occurred. Please contact your lexus dealer". I removed fuse 19 (TEL) under hood to remove that error message.
Big shoutout to @BenCC for his 3d print for the SPOD mount! The print quality was EXCELLENT. Very fine layer lines and you can tell he uses a dense infill based on the weight and strength of the part. His design work is also really on point. As someone who dabbles in 3d printing and modeling, I can attest for his skill and attention to detail! Highly recommended!
Here are some tips for that install for those with homelink and lexus link especially:
Here's the stock console when it's removed from the headliner:
Note we need to remove the bottom plastic housing that has three things attached to it. The black homelink box (and antenna wire) and two wire harness sockets. After removing those, we can install Ben's SPOD mount:
To mount the homelink, antenna, and sockets back on, I used some 3m double sided extreme tape. This provides some cushion to prevent rattles. Note that for the antenna, I used a layer of double sided tape underneath, then another piece on top (but didn't remove the top layer of backing to prevent it from being sticky). This held the antenna in place, but I was afraid it would rattle in the areas without tape. I shot some hot glue underneath to provide some spacing as seen here:
And here's the finished product!
The hardest part was running the ethernet cable through the firewall grommet. I nicked a wire and soldering it back together was a tight fit that required removing much of the driver's side dash. Got it all buttoned up though.
I mounted the SPOD itself up where the LexusLink system used to live. Removing the LexusLink results in an error message audible each time you start the car. Something like, "A system error has occurred. Please contact your lexus dealer". I removed fuse 19 (TEL) under hood to remove that error message.
Big shoutout to @BenCC for his 3d print for the SPOD mount! The print quality was EXCELLENT. Very fine layer lines and you can tell he uses a dense infill based on the weight and strength of the part. His design work is also really on point. As someone who dabbles in 3d printing and modeling, I can attest for his skill and attention to detail! Highly recommended!
Here are some tips for that install for those with homelink and lexus link especially:
Here's the stock console when it's removed from the headliner:
Note we need to remove the bottom plastic housing that has three things attached to it. The black homelink box (and antenna wire) and two wire harness sockets. After removing those, we can install Ben's SPOD mount:
To mount the homelink, antenna, and sockets back on, I used some 3m double sided extreme tape. This provides some cushion to prevent rattles. Note that for the antenna, I used a layer of double sided tape underneath, then another piece on top (but didn't remove the top layer of backing to prevent it from being sticky). This held the antenna in place, but I was afraid it would rattle in the areas without tape. I shot some hot glue underneath to provide some spacing as seen here:
And here's the finished product!
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trdcorolla
SILVER Star
Not sure if it's my phone but I can't see any pictures in your post's from today. Your older posts come up fine for me.Just installed the ARB Twin Compressor, Manifold, Pump up kit, and used the Owl Expedition bracket to relocate the siren, headlight ballast, and diagnostic port. Very easy install with some tight spots, but overall I 100% recommend the full kit and especially the bracket.
Ran the power and switching wires across the top of the radiator and to the battery/SPOD switch.
- Thread starter
- #27
That's weird. Is it still doing it? They show up on my phone ok...
GTV
SILVER Star
No dice on my end.
trdcorolla
SILVER Star
I see them now! How's the pump up kit working? Did you add a guage to it?
- Thread starter
- #31
Thanks for letting me know!
The pump up kit works great. I added the ARB gauge. Everything seems very high quality. In the future I think I'll run a quick connect to the front and rear bumpers.
trdcorolla
SILVER Star
Thanks, is the guage on the tire side or compressor side? Can you walk away while airing up or do you have to stay and hold the the lever?
- Thread starter
- #33
I have this one:
ARB ARB601 Digital Tire Pressure Gauge https://a.co/d/hKzJurx
You need to be there to watch it while it airs up. The good news is that the ARB twin compressor is very very fast. It's much slower to deflate than inflate.
I'd like to get a set and forget inflator/deflator but I don't love the reviews on the digital ARB system.
- Thread starter
- #34
Today was a day of refinement. Going back and buttoning up some things I left hanging with the SPOD.
First the SPOD. I went back and wired up the ignition detection so that the compressor switch will only turn on when the key is on (and ideally the engine is running). Pretty simple: I tapped the FR-IGN fuse with an Add-A-Fuse and punched a small hole in the top of the fuse box lid to run the wire to the SPOD. Very simple once I found the right "tall" Add-A-Fuse.
First the SPOD. I went back and wired up the ignition detection so that the compressor switch will only turn on when the key is on (and ideally the engine is running). Pretty simple: I tapped the FR-IGN fuse with an Add-A-Fuse and punched a small hole in the top of the fuse box lid to run the wire to the SPOD. Very simple once I found the right "tall" Add-A-Fuse.
- Thread starter
- #35
Just finished the Teyes CC3 installation. This was a series of problems to work through but now [almost] everything is working: Air conditioning, steering wheel controls, original cassette volume and tuning controls, rear speakers, subwoofer, no hissing, etc. The only thing that doesn't work is the radio antenna doesn't go up when the radio is on. I don't listen to the radio anyway, so no big deal.
Here are some details on the installation:
1) The original wiring harness did not play sound out the rear speakers or subwoofer. Details of why are here. The solution is here.
2) I installed a dual usb-c adapter in the cigarette lighter space. One tip here is to remember to slide the tightening nut onto the back of the mount before routing the wires! Here's the finished product.
3) I ran the USB wires and the SIM card into the glovebox for easy access. The USB-A slots are from the headunit. The two USB-C slots go to the mount in the cigarette lighter. I'll hook them together when I get the right adapters in the mail. I ran them all here to allow me to switch stuff around and also to remove some of the cable bulk from behind the headunit where space is tight.
4) The screws that came with the Teyes to connect the bezel to the headunit were m3x7, which were too short to work very well. I replaced those with some m3x12 and it's a much more secure connection now.
5) It's easiest to install when you keep the headunit separate from the rest of the system until the very end. This lets you plug in cables easily. The trick to connect the headunit at the end is shown here:
(continued in the next post to allow more pics)
Here are some details on the installation:
1) The original wiring harness did not play sound out the rear speakers or subwoofer. Details of why are here. The solution is here.
2) I installed a dual usb-c adapter in the cigarette lighter space. One tip here is to remember to slide the tightening nut onto the back of the mount before routing the wires! Here's the finished product.
3) I ran the USB wires and the SIM card into the glovebox for easy access. The USB-A slots are from the headunit. The two USB-C slots go to the mount in the cigarette lighter. I'll hook them together when I get the right adapters in the mail. I ran them all here to allow me to switch stuff around and also to remove some of the cable bulk from behind the headunit where space is tight.
4) The screws that came with the Teyes to connect the bezel to the headunit were m3x7, which were too short to work very well. I replaced those with some m3x12 and it's a much more secure connection now.
5) It's easiest to install when you keep the headunit separate from the rest of the system until the very end. This lets you plug in cables easily. The trick to connect the headunit at the end is shown here:
(continued in the next post to allow more pics)
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- Thread starter
- #36
6) It's much easier to manage and install the harness if you tape it up. It's tedious, but keeps things much cleaner:
7) I was able to eliminate all distortion in the speakers by adjusting the following steps:
- Turn down the volume knob on the cassette player to very low but so you can still hear it
- Turn up the steering wheel volume all the way up to 36
- Go to settings->sound and turn the amp off and adjust the power conditioning down until all of the distortion goes away.
- Turn the volume down using the steering wheel controls to 18.
- Turn the volume knob up to your "middle listening volume" that you like.
Now you're all set. Only use the steering wheel controls and you'll have a good range of volume without ever getting any distortion.
8) If you want to install a SIM for internet access, note that you'll need to install BOTH 4G and 5G antennas. I thought maybe I could get by with just the 5G antenna but that doesn't get a 4G signal even if you're on a 5G network.
7) I was able to eliminate all distortion in the speakers by adjusting the following steps:
- Turn down the volume knob on the cassette player to very low but so you can still hear it
- Turn up the steering wheel volume all the way up to 36
- Go to settings->sound and turn the amp off and adjust the power conditioning down until all of the distortion goes away.
- Turn the volume down using the steering wheel controls to 18.
- Turn the volume knob up to your "middle listening volume" that you like.
Now you're all set. Only use the steering wheel controls and you'll have a good range of volume without ever getting any distortion.
8) If you want to install a SIM for internet access, note that you'll need to install BOTH 4G and 5G antennas. I thought maybe I could get by with just the 5G antenna but that doesn't get a 4G signal even if you're on a 5G network.
- Thread starter
- #37
Just installed the Dakota DL+ Lithium 135 amp hour battery. This thing will EASILY run the electronics in the truck for a long time and can also crank the engine. This pairs nicely with the 130 amp alternator in the truck. As a bonus, it's a bit lighter than the OEM battery
- Thread starter
- #38
Finally got the awning installed! Clearly the rear whale tail needs to be removed at this point. It's getting in the way of both the awning AND the tent poles.
Awning was straight forward. No complaints at all. OVS 270. I'm 6'4 and it's a LITTLE low even with the suspension in high mode. I'm going to try to flip the brakets or dad some spacers to get a couple of more inches higher. The poles actually help lift it up a few inches, but it'd be great to not need to deploy them every time just to be able to walk under it!
Awning was straight forward. No complaints at all. OVS 270. I'm 6'4 and it's a LITTLE low even with the suspension in high mode. I'm going to try to flip the brakets or dad some spacers to get a couple of more inches higher. The poles actually help lift it up a few inches, but it'd be great to not need to deploy them every time just to be able to walk under it!
- Thread starter
- #39
I reached out to CVT about the tent issues. They're very nice and willing to help and even exchange the tent, but that's a major pain in the ass to uninstall and reinstall, wait for another tent to be shipped etc.
Here's the outcome of the issues and a few new ones:
1) The top plastic panel is completely cloudy and you can't see through it. They've acknowledged that many of their tents are coming out of the factory like that. They think it's inbetween the sheets of plastic. I asked if the plastic was fused together or separate pieces and they weren't sure. It seems like maybe the tent designer, the people that make them, the people that ship them, and the people that support them are totally separate people who don't really talk to each other. I'm going to try using a hair dryer to warm up the plastic as they've said some heat has helped other people. Unfortunately, there isn't a zipper around that plastic so it's not possible to replace just that piece. I'm considering adding a waterproof zipper to it, which would be great in terms of opening that flap, but also worried about it needing to be COMPLETELY waterproof because it's on the roof.
2) The terrible paint job is another problem they see from the factory. Again, I'm not sure why they just ship them to people when they know it's like this. They should sell these as discards or something.
3) The metal shavings have stopped appearing after many sessions of vacuuming them up, so I think that's resolved.
4) NEW: The bolts on the latches and hinges have started rusting after just a couple of weeks outside. It appears they didn't use stainless hardware? The rust has also bled all over the powdercoated latches. Really disappointing so I might need to replace them all
5) NEW: The latches are coming loose. Doesn't look like they used loctite or lcok nuts so they're rattling loosed after only a few drives.
6) NEW: The mattress isn't very comfortable. Not the worst, but I'm going to need to replace it with an exped.
Given all of that, I'm seriously considering just returning it and looking for a better quality tent. I really like the design of this one, but their execution just really sucks for something that I want to last for a long time.
Here's the outcome of the issues and a few new ones:
1) The top plastic panel is completely cloudy and you can't see through it. They've acknowledged that many of their tents are coming out of the factory like that. They think it's inbetween the sheets of plastic. I asked if the plastic was fused together or separate pieces and they weren't sure. It seems like maybe the tent designer, the people that make them, the people that ship them, and the people that support them are totally separate people who don't really talk to each other. I'm going to try using a hair dryer to warm up the plastic as they've said some heat has helped other people. Unfortunately, there isn't a zipper around that plastic so it's not possible to replace just that piece. I'm considering adding a waterproof zipper to it, which would be great in terms of opening that flap, but also worried about it needing to be COMPLETELY waterproof because it's on the roof.
2) The terrible paint job is another problem they see from the factory. Again, I'm not sure why they just ship them to people when they know it's like this. They should sell these as discards or something.
3) The metal shavings have stopped appearing after many sessions of vacuuming them up, so I think that's resolved.
4) NEW: The bolts on the latches and hinges have started rusting after just a couple of weeks outside. It appears they didn't use stainless hardware? The rust has also bled all over the powdercoated latches. Really disappointing so I might need to replace them all
5) NEW: The latches are coming loose. Doesn't look like they used loctite or lcok nuts so they're rattling loosed after only a few drives.
6) NEW: The mattress isn't very comfortable. Not the worst, but I'm going to need to replace it with an exped.
Given all of that, I'm seriously considering just returning it and looking for a better quality tent. I really like the design of this one, but their execution just really sucks for something that I want to last for a long time.
- Thread starter
- #40
Got out to the desert (Anza Borrego) this weekend! Lots of adjustments to make to make things better, but an awesome trip. Took a couple of random side roads and got some wheeling in. Nothing that required 4WD, but still lots of puddles, eroded and unmaintained fire roads, and a couple of slippery muddy spots. The trail from Indian Flats to Lost Valley was especially beautiful and a great place for a picnic
