From Misfortune to Light of a New Day: Setting Up the Replacement Truck (1 Viewer)

[greentruck]

It's the light of a new day. Lest this demonstration of my new Front Runner Telescopic Camping Light get moved to the Camping section of the forum, this just symbolizes the fresh start I'm documenting here after totaling the old Green Truck. I was fortunate to find an LX450 already started on the ride I was looking to replace the faithful olf steed. True, it has over 300,000 miles on it, but only 34,000 on a new motor.

The starting point...

Obviously the first thing the LX450 needs is this...

Salvaged from the 80, it was acquired thanks to Mot many years ago. Had to use the Sawzall to extract it, because getting at the nuts through the glove compartment wasn't, errr, feasible.

 

[greentruck]

Placeholder for more tech content coming soon. Gotta leave for my dad's funeral.

A couple of the easy mods, one puny cup holder is one more than zero, plus found a knock off that works just fine for $22. Just killing time while working parking at the football game.

For now, 12 volt power is limited, but a cheap multi-point plug has bonus USB outlets and a short cord added to a small inverter (400 watts) provides some limited 110 volts as well.

 

[baldilocks]

Good to see you are already on the come back road.

 

[Irish Reiver]

If only you had fitted a snorkle..

 

[greentruck]

If only you had fitted a snorkle..

It was on the to-do list, so maybe this time around.

 

[greentruck]

Good to see you are already on the come back road.

Yeah, got lucky when I came across LuLuonSL’s LX. It had some good features and add-ons I would’ve had to add back in anyway and the price was right on. This is a good place to list the starting place this left me in.

ARB front Bull Bar
Warn Industries winch
Atlantic Coast Cruisers stainless exhaust system with stainless steel header
Old Man Emu (OME) heavy lift springs
Icon Stage 1 shock absorbers
Eimkeith castor correction plates
Tom Woods front driveshaft
Extended brake lines
Bowfin Cruisers roof rack
Bowfin Cruisers rock sliders
New steering wheel cover
Air blows cold
New battery 2022
Tires are in good shape, 80% tire tread
Runs and drives great

And all was as described and on a nice clean chassis which spent most of it’s life out west (San Diego, St. George, Utah, and Prescott, Arizona.) She only had it in Michigan the last few years and appreantkly didn’t drive it in the winter.

Looking over the paperwork that was passed long, when the new motor was dropped in it got a transmission also. A set of headers was also installed and it lost it’s cats along the was, so it breathes really well, as well as getting good fuel economy.

I was a little worried it wouldn’t fit in the garage, but the modest lift combined with the low profile of the Bowfin Cruisers rack had it slide in just low enough that it worked just like the old truck did - about a half inch of clearance.

I am planning on modifying the rack. I’ll feel a lot more secure about our modular camp kit with a little more lip on the rack. I’ll need to remove the stock rack’s rub rails, but then I’m going to drill new holes to drop the crossbars about an inch, plus add four more.

 

[greentruck]

On to the mods so far…

I stuck the ScanGauge on for the roadtrip home. It’s been straightened since. It throws the p401 just like the old truck, plus a P141 and P171 occasionally. The ScanGauge extinguishes them and nothing to really worry about now, so will get to them when I feel like it. I sealed up a couple of gaps around the radiator originally filled with foam by using Gorilla tape and it now runs generall below 190 degrees so even cooler than the old truck, so kind if delighted about that. Not sure if the fan clutch has been modded yet, but there may be some more low-hanging fruit there.

The brake controller was salvaged from the 80, so with a little wiring it was good. And there was just a little wiring, because I discovered a 4-pin flat connected under the rear of the truck. There does not appear to have ever been a hitch installed, so must’ve been standard Lexus thing or 0perhaps a dealer-installed option. I installed a pintle hitch on the bumper mounting position And a 6-pin receptacle using the 4-pin leads and the blue brake wire I added. Testing revealed a fault (no left turn signal) so checked my work (all OK) then started digging inside the right rear fender space to follow the 4-pin leads.That when I found the Lexus marked trailer control module. Further inspection found a pin bent out of place in one part of the harness - Problem solved.

 

[greentruck]

There were no front mud flaps and Toyota’s aren’t in the budget right now,so found a couple of $12ones that worked fine at Farm & Fleet.

Inside again, I placed my ancient altimeter in the cubbyhole inn front of the shift lever. Purchased from Dick Cepek, it has served me well, first in my FJ55, then in a couple of Isuzus, then in the 80. The accident knocked the dialassembly loose, but I found both pieces and reassembled and believe it’s working. Kind of hard to tell in the Midwest, don’t know?

Now that I’m looking at this pic, I realize where the other

half of the doohickey that popped out of the spring in the hand throttle went to. The hand throttle is installed and working, but I’ll pop the under dashn cover off and put it where it’s supposed to be.

Putting the hand throttle in was a somewhat frustrating exercise, as this strange box was in the way, perhaps part of the automatic climate control???

 

[greentruck]

Finally, outside something that is really bling, because the Bowfin rack really doesn’t need the protection they offer a rack in most cases, a set of limb risers.

So after a couple of weeks, a great truck is looking even better.

Still a ways to go, these are the next things in no particular order I have planned as finances allow.
dual battery system
big fat wiring into the cabin for the fridge, CPAP, and other things
CB radio and antenna
Tuffy console
drawer and sleeper conversion see Camper Conversion & Drawer System - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/camper-conversion-drawer-system.412084/
mounting at least two inverters
footwell water tank
rack modification (as described above)
mount the awning (which surprisingly survived the wreck with a few scuffs)
Edit: Will get the power antenna working, either put a new mast in this one or install a working power antenna assembly that just needs the mast I have on hand, will do when I refresh the audio system as I don’t want to have to deal with that dang coax fishing expedition more than once

 

[greentruck]

I installed my CDL switch before leaving to help bury Dad, but didn't have time to dig for the Pin 7 mod. I finished this task up and now have all the CDL control options at my finger tips.

Drove around the block on a short test drive. Works fine.

 

[greentruck]

Lots of small projects getting done. I've got parts on order to rebuild the Bowfin rack and wire up the interior. Meanwhile, I've installed my ":soft" attic.

Since I camp in the back, doing it this way instead of a wire rack avoids any nasty head bumps and nothing is likely to rattle It is a little more of a vision block to the rear, but am planning on getting one of those kits that turns the rearview mirror into a camera.

I added anti-skid strips to the step sliders to give better footing.

I also applied some to the plastic tops of the rear outer bumperettes.

I got the courtesy lights in the rear passenger doors going, although the right side one still doesn't come on when the rear hatch is opened. Will track that down later.

I extracted the last of the OEM cell install taking the button thingee off the steering wheel. Then I covered the gaping hole with some Gorilla tapen until I get an 80- series clamshell to replace this one.

The driver's seat got a Carhartt seat cover to protect the cracking leather.

I updated the low beams with new brighter bulbs and added some "fog" lights that are low profile to avoid blocking the grille as much as possible.
Despite all the LED choices on the shelf these days, there doesn't seem to be much in the way of actual fog lights, but these were available and cheap in a nice wide pattern. As an experiment, I added some "eyebrows" made out of Gorilla tape to improve the cutoff of the beam.

Decided to try one of these remote controls to simplify wiring and save dash space. Since I have no magic dial, I used the space to make the remote handy.

I added some high output backup light bulbs but kind of disappointed with the results, so planning on some bright remotes that will be added to the above switch.

I siliconed the window tracks so they go up and down better.
All for now as I wait on more parts to arrive.

 

[TXMeatball]

It was on the to-do list, so maybe this time around.

I'll trade you my snorkle-cut fender for your uncut one lol. Same color LX.

 

[greentruck]

A President Thomas FCC AM/FM CB was fitted to the former ashtray area of the dash.

A Firestik antenna was installed and tuned at the front left corner of the ARB. This position worked well on 80 and tuned to around 1.2 SWR on 19, 1.5 on 1 and 1.7 on 40.

 

[greentruck]

Prinsu has shipped my 4 add-on crossbars and the awning brackets, which should be here Sat. Time to delete the stock rack rub rails. My plan is to lower the crossbars about an inch when adding the new crossbars for a total of 12. This is to more securely accommodate our modular camping set-up. It was pretty chill in the garage tonight which may have helped things pop loose. I was fortunate that all the screws that went into the ricnuts came out cleanly and nothing spun, so sealing things up should be easy Here's the tools I used.

I used the pry bar, suitably padded, to lift up the end of the rubrail. As I manually go it loosened I then slid the wood blcok umnder the rail and pushed it along. Mostly it released clean and easy.

I decided to keep most of the pads in place for now. The exception will be the middle part of the middle two. The roof on these isn't flat. It currves front to back and side to side both. Taking this stuff in the middle out will let me drop the full one inch I want to gain a deeper inside lip on the rack. The rails are only 0.63" tall, so taking them off only leaves me short of my goal. Leaving at least the outer pair of rails on, where there's plenty of clearance will allow some back-up protection in tne event of a sagging load, etc. This is all visible by laying a crossbvar back in resting on the highest pair of rails in the center.

The full one inch drop will leave the bottom of the crossbar even with the top of the opening in the side bars.

This will require I slightly revise how the awning brackets mount but I have a couple of solutions I can apply to do that.

 

[greentruck]

I've still got a little cleanup to do where I removed the two center rub rails, but things are sealed up. I used this hardware.

Note these are 5 mm screws. I've seen where some have used 6 mm. Best to confirm what you have before buying a bunch of hardware. The washers are slightly concave. I sealed with this:

The tools I used, along with the Flex Glue Clear. It dries rubbery and is UV resistant. I used it to glue a couple of things on the interior while I was at it.

I laid the bars across the roof sitting on the roof's reinforcing ribs.

Looking in sideways, you can see how the roof's curvature causes the mid row TO be higher than ones in front and behind. This means I'll have to raise the center 2 or 3 crossbars maybe a 1/4" for clearance and use that as the baseline for the holes I'll drill for the relocated crossbars.

Since I had rge bracket in hand, I went ahead and located the rack bracket for the light shown in the opening pic of this thread.

 

[greentruck]

The new crossbars arrived from Prinsu so I proceeded to rebuild the Bowfin rack to serve my needs better. Unlike the Front Runner rack I smashed in the accident, the Bowfin has virtually no lip inside the rack to encourage stuff to stay on top> I also needed a few more crossbars to suit the form factor of our camping kit. I suppose you could add side rails above the platform height of the Bowfin, but that's not an option for me because it wouldn't fit in the garage.

Bless my mess but here's the Bowfin sides disassembled and clamped together to drill the 24 new holes needed to drop the bars a little less than an inch per the measurements in the last post above. I decided not to disassemble the rack clamps to preserve the locknuts.

At the backend of the sides, I located them together via existing holes. It's important that the sides line up vertically, so I used a small machinist's square to do this.

At the front end, I used a block and some screws through the slot that holds the wind deflector.

Using a clamp, a spacer and one of the oval Front Runner washer plates, I mark up each pair.

Using a smaller bit, I drill a pilot hole in one side.

It's vital that you get the hole spacing right for fitting the crossbars easily. After drilling the pilot holes, I remove the "jig" and drill to full size. I used a bit that just fit the slots that the crossbars were originally fitted to, 19/64" IIRC. Also watch your vertical aliou21

After you get all the holes drilled and cleaned up reinstall the rack.

I also added one crossbar vertically at the rear as a backstop.

While the difference isn't much visually, it adds a lot of functional peace of mind. I'll also open up the slots to accept the Front Runner eyebolts to add more tiedown points. Here's a couple of more top side pics of the results.

Next up installing a power point to support in-cabin wiring for the fridge, inverters, my CPAP and verious charging ports.

 

[effjay80]

I ran some ground strap from antenna ground above powerdercoat to my frame. Had to re-tune, sharper resonance, but performs WAY better with the improved ground plane. Your truck looks great.

 

[greentruck]

I ran some ground strap from antenna ground above powerdercoat to my frame. Had to re-tune, sharper resonance, but performs WAY better with the improved ground plane. Your truck looks great.

View attachment 3504613

Thanks. Good tip on the ground strap.

 

[jpoole]

If you have that rack off again and want to remove the adhesive residue from the roof this makes quick work of it:

Amazon product ASIN B000IHK2TY​

Follow that with a denatured alcohol wipe.

 

[greentruck]

In order to limit voltage drop and have a single point to measure amp draw from, I decided to install a line back to the cargo area to provide a place to do this. The line back consists of most of a 20' length of a set of 4 gauge jumper cables that enters via the rubber plug above the drivers lefgt toe in the firewall. This line is wrapped with the spiral plastic type loom and follows along beside the harness/cabling that runs just inside the treadplate under the carpet, then up over the driver side rear wheel hump, ducking under the rear seatbelt reel with factory cabling.

Up where it starts at the battery is a 50 amp fuse and cut off switch, shown here in a couple of views.

In the rear funder are where I extracted the 1996 cellphone from, I built a junction box.

My multimeter reads to hundredths of a volt. While there must be some slight voltage drop, readings at both ends are identical.