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Nice! Thanks for the video

Could you elaborate on the easy trails not being doable stock?
Conditions or obstacles or both?


Thanks,
Ryan
 
Watch the video. All of those trails are "easy". There's a couple of rock steps that would destroy a stock rigs' rocker panels if you went down them w/o sliders. There were also a few big rocks that showed up that would smash up your undercarriage if you didn't have some lift and/or tires for clearance...
 
Nice video. Must feel weird to be back in Orlando.
 
Ok, I couldn't resist ... when Sears put this on sale for $150, I had to pull the trigger.

A lot of people buy this style because it has more CCA's. I agree. The posts are reversed from normal, and that leads a lot of folks to flop the cables and put extensions in where needed.

I think I'm going to do something different, because I want to use the side ("front") posts as well for my winch. So I'm going to mount it so the posts are towards the bumper, then extend the +/- cables across the battery as needed. Then I'll have the front connections to hook into my winch easy.

At least that's the plan for now. I didn't give them my core... a dual battery is part of the thought process now...

By the way, for those that don't know, this is an AGM battery. It's a different beast. It's also an Odyssey battery... look familiar?

http://www.odysseybatteries.com/battery/pc1500.htm

That's a $300 battery from Odyssey...
IMG_2585.webp
 
indianporfavor said:
Austin has these as well, any word on how they compare to the optima batteries?
Click to expand...

Dhp batts are one of the best especially at that price he got it for. Search optima and you'll see the qc has gone way down the last few years.
 
Yes, that's what I'd heard as well. I had my eye on a yellow top, but I had so many people complaining about them dying on them recently, I held out for a bit. Then I saw this sale... if another one comes around, I'll probably pick up a 2nd one for my eventual dual battery - maybe even get one for my G35 too.
 
Well, it's been a little while since I've updated... and that's because I haven't done much to my truck! I installed my hand throttle (woo hoo!)... that's about it. For my truck that is... I spent a few days helping out a fellow 'mudder rebuild his front axel, change the rear output seal on the transfer case, oil pump cover gasket and main crank seal gasket. Oh the fun we have with these rigs!

Anyway, I've had a new alternator on my list for a little while. I got the bracket already, and it's been sitting in a box for a few months. On Sunday, I got the excuse I needed to change it - I was coming back from having a good time in Ocala with some other Central Florida TLC guys, and my dash lights up like a Christmas tree! The first thought that went thru my head was that I'd lost a belt or something, but no. Pulled over on 75, popped the hood, and couldn't see anything obvious (other than a ton of mud, but I'm SURE that had NOTHING to do with this problem!)

Called AAA, they showed up within 20 minutes and hauled me up on the flatbed. Well, my truck, that is. That gave me a little time to think about the problem (and the driver was really helpful too, a fellow Toyota owner!), and it kept coming back to the alternator. A bit of searching on 'mud confirmed it.

I took a minute to wash off the alternator, hoping that maybe, just maybe, that would be the ticket. But this alternator was probably on its way out anyway - it's part of the reason I got that battery monitor was because I suspected it to be a problem. Sometimes during idle the voltage would drop below expected levels, but it'd come right back with a little gas.

So I've ordered a brush kit for it. No use in throwing away a perfectly good core - although I might still get the 150A Sequoia one as well, that might have to wait until I have a little more time since I also want to extend my battery / ground lines for the new battery and install new distribution blocks to run my power / winch / etc.

At least I'm getting good use out of my on-board battery charger now!
 
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Okay, I fixed the alternator. That was fun!

https://forum.ih8mud.com/80-series-tech/606291-alternator-clean-rebuild.html

I stopped short of starting the truck, however. I figure while I've got the battery box apart, I might as well redo the leads for the battery I bought. I pulled the main ground cable off of the motor, and it measures up to about 36". I'm looking at buying a new lead, or making my own from 1/0. Amazon has what I need, and I'll make a decision by tomorrow and get it to me early next week.

More to come!
 
Got my OEM fuse links in. Painless. I also bought 2 more junction boxes - I think I can use the 2nd one in place of my own junction box. Might look a little strange, but it'll keep the strain off the leads. I already changed out one of them - makes me feel better when I don't have to tape the damn thing shut!

I also just placed an order for the Koso tempature guage and a 40mm water sender insert. I need to do my PHH bypass - I finally took the time to get a picture the other day:

IMG_2734.jpg


Although not critical like I've seen some, it is bothersome. I bought the bypass kit from 1fzfephh.com - I'll likely drain/flush the coolant (don't know when that was done) and replace the PHH as well as do the temp mod as well. This probably won't happen for a couple of weeks - gotta find a good source for the Toyota red as well.
 
Finally got around to fixing my dash lights. I'd changed the background lights to red a while back, wasn't quite sold on it. It's supposed to help with nighttime driving, but it just wasn't bright enough. Besides, one of the LED's wasn't working, so it was like a 3/4 job!

I also dug into the PRND2L lights, and swapped the 2 for the D light so I can have that back...and ordered a bunch of LED's to replace the 74-base bulbs that are in there now. I should have enough to do all my switches, A/C, etc as well.

IMG_2807.jpg
 
Looks nice, good job
 
Actually, yes. They're not too bright, and they adjust very well to the dimmer switch.

There are a couple of 'dead zones' that are just not as bright as the rest of the dash area, but I think this is endemic of the design of the dash, not anything to do with the LED's themselves.

I can't wait for the other lights to come in so I can changeout the others in the dash, but that will most certainly be an all-day affair getting to all of those!
 
Well, I haven't updated this thread in a while... reason being I haven't done a whole lot to the truck recently! It's been running great - all the PM's are finally paying off.

I have done a few things in the past couple of weeks, however, and figured I'd update the thread once again.

First off, I changed out the OEM alarm for a new aftermarket one. I'm really happy with it, you can read all about the changeout over here:

https://forum.ih8mud.com/80-series-tech/689936-how-install-aftermarket-alarm-1994-a.html

Then I went and changed out the remaining lights in the dash of the truck with LED's. I found some good ones that work well in place of the old bulbs. The bulbs in the truck come in two versions, one that has a base and the legs of the lights wrap around, and the other that's more of a spade-type insert. The spade types I replaced really quickly with some white LED spades. The other bulbs required surgery, however.

This is what the old ones look like, after bending the old legs down:

IMG_3475.jpg


Once you take the bulb out, you can see the base it sits in:

IMG_3472.jpg


I replaced them all with these:

IMG_3477.jpg


You just take them out of the housing, and put 'em right back in the old base. Then all you have to do is get the polarity right so they light up :D



And oh yeah, I added some diff armor as well! A friend welded it on (we didn't weld it solid all the way around because I was afaid of the axel housing getting too hot and/or burning thru it)

IMG_3501.jpg


I also chose to weld it up a little further "down" than I think it was designed to go - but in my mind, you want the rock to hit it and slide off - so I made it so the lip to the axle was as flat as possible, and you wouldn't contact that bottom ridge once you hit the diff protector. Most other installations I've seen have it sitting up higher, focused on the ring gear... I don't know, but I think if you hit the top 1/4 of the diff, you got bigger problems...

Next up... replacing some idler pulleys and the steering column cover that fell apart on me when I took the alarm out....
 
Some of us still live in the '80's, I guess. I just got done with this 1-minute mod:


 
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