Build Thread: Samster's Snoball 2005 UZJ100 (1 Viewer)

[dogdaysindurham]

This truck was originally my dad's for about 5 years and lived in SW Ohio. He later got a Lexus GX460 and ownership passed to me. Unfortunately, she has some rust accumulated from her life there, but I have been trying to mitigate it with wire brush + rust reformer + annual applications of Fluid Film and the like. This truck came with me to NC while I went to grad school. She towed a u-haul trailer across country after I graduate and currently resides in California. I'm very grateful to have a garage finally to store my tools and to provide shade when wrenching on Snoball. She has been slowly modded as my budget has allowed. She sits at just under 130k now and has been my DD for the past 10 years.

Here she is in all her glory, the day after Thanksgiving 2019 up in Ponderosa, CA.

I'll try to retrospectively document prior work that I have done and provide updates on current projects.

One thing that I am excited to work on this Christmas Holiday is to repair the touchscreen on my MFD and to try and set up a 4 camera system. I've been studying prior posts on the subject and been reviewing the electrical wiring diagrams and think I have a way to integrate this module from PAC VS41 (Intelligent 4-Camera Switcher - PAC), to provide automatically activation of the cameras from turn signal input, and toggles to manually trigger front and rear cameras. I had been thinking of using a Raspberry Pi or Arduino microcontroller to handle the switching controls, but decided to try this first. I also got a license plate rear view camera for the cargo box / trailers that I wanted to splice into the system, so I could toggle and select between the OEM rear view and the new one.

I'm also looking forward to late Q1 2021, when I'll get to install my group buy rear bumper from @TRAIL TAILOR

 

[Lonegrasshopper]

Looking forward to observing the build!

 

[dogdaysindurham]

So today I set out to replace my dingy tailgate carpet that has gotten fubar by grease (my fault). I tried to shampoo it but all I did smear the grease around more. It was also worse for wear from camping and what not.

I used some 3/8” thick marine deck foam that was tan with black stripes from amazon. SeaDeck was just too pricey, I think I paid 60 for 3ft x6ft roll. So I have spare material that can replace this if it gets worn out.

I used the carpet as my template, traced with a sharpie, and cut with some heavy duty scissors. I think next time I would use a boxcutter to help keep the lines smooth. I added a layer of close cell foam and mass loaded vinyl I got from ebay. This went over some noico butyl foil tiles (about 25% coverage) and 3M thinsulate acoustic quilted material that I have attached by heavy duty velcro to the interior of the tail gate.

I punched ~3/8” holes in the MLV and ~1/4” holes for CCF for the OEM push plugs and bonded the marine deck foam with HL-55 rubber cement to the back of the MLV. The marine deck foam already has an adhesive backing but I wanted to make sure it would separate over time / heat.

This will allow me to remove the marine foam / mlv / ccf to access and service the tailgate as needed. I plan on doing something similar to interior and door panels for sound dampening while allowing for easy access for maintenance / any future modifications.

Note to self to add pictures of the underlying Noico tiles and 3M Insulation.

 

[dogdaysindurham]

I also had a chance to swap out most of my bulbs with LEDs I went with Antline series on Amazon based on another mudders recommendation. I received 4 bulbs per type for about 17.99 from amazon. So I have a few spares.

Pretty impressed with the quality so far. These have 3 clusters of 6 side firing LEDs and 3 front firing with a lens. These is nice machine aluminum housing and it they (7443/7440) appears to be have circuitry added to allow for installation in both orientations, i.e not polar. But this is just a guess as I went 8/8 went installing and testing. I usually have had to flip a few LEDs when replacing others bulbs on my truck from other vendors.

Pfran 7440 vs Antline 7443 white back up. Pfran has a wider housing and uses a single emitter.

I like Antlines as they incorporate side firing at 120 degree spacing so, so I should get more light closer to the rear truck. The Pfrans were hella bright but have a sharp cutoff at like 10-15 ft. These again provide more uniform illumination. That was my main reason for switching, the Pfrans have given me any issues in like 4-5 years or so service.

Antline Amber 1157 LED vs OEM for the front hazards / turn signals (corner lamp). Fit without issue and base of the bulb only allows these to be inserted one way. These LEDs are longer than stock ones but fit behind the plastic diffuser. To replace these I undid 1 screw that mounts the corner lamp housing to the headlamp and used a plastic pry tool on the backside of housing to gently pop it out.

I went with Antline RED 7443 for both the tailgate and rear brake light housing to replace the stock bulb. Interestingly the tailgate bulb is white but I think the brake light bulb has red tint. No fitment issue in the housing or with the bulb connector. These Antline LEDs seem to not be directional as I didn’t have to flip any after checking.

For the taligate light, I use a plastic pry tool to pop the carpet cover off and screwdriver to remove 3 screws on the rear cover plate on each side to assess the housing.
For the rear tail light housing, there are 2 screws that hold the housing in place. I again used a plastic trim pry tool to pop the housing out of place, there are two clips that holding it to the body.

I had hyperflash so I’ll need a modified relay. I’m thinking of the smarttap relay for it’s adjustability based on @HRTROB thread and recommendation.

No radio noise on my test drive and
all the bulbs were noticeably brighter than factory. I’ll need to bring the lux meter from work home sometime and post up readings.

 

[Greenbean]

I had some PFfan in an older Tacoma,

Appreciate the info for the front and rear turn and brake ones.

Roof rack and tent look great BTW!

Whats the story with your front fog lamp replacement LEDs there? If you don’t mind.

 

[dogdaysindurham]

Been a while since updating this thread.

Installed my group buy rear bumper from @TRAIL TAILOR and put it through its passes camping at Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks and Mammoth Lakes / Devil’s Postpile.

Most recently I installed my @benc

Dissent roof rack and got my roof top tent from Antidote Outdoors mounted. I got the XL aluminum clam shell and I am using Dissents RTT bars. Make it way easier to remove but I am planning to keep it attached now.

 

[Greenbean]

Bumper is sweet man! Wow!

Thanks

 

[dogdaysindurham]

The LED fog lamps were some cheap ones off Amazon. I had to cut the back of the bumper cover for clearance for these fogs. I spliced the wiring in to the oem harness.