Builds Gerry's Build thread: "If it happens again I'm buying an Abrams" (1 Viewer)

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We did it, boys! Since the 295k we've had trips to VA and OK, lots of rolling. Gerry rolled 300k on Thursday night last week. Did an oil change and headed out on a road trip to Florida. I'm sitting at the shop while the tires get rotated again. "Didn't we just see you like 2 weeks ago? " I've got a new Toyota HMC 300k sticker on the way in.

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She also got treated to a new vanity tag. Some dickbags in VA have taken every single good version of "100" so we got creative.

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Just waiting to break one of my Mercedes out of the shop and @Wermz gets the truck for 300k service. Pretty positive I'm over due for new CVs, they are feeling pretty crappy now.
Love the new tag!
 
Not much to do for work at the moment so I've been giving fat girl some TLC.

Over the weekend I pulled the skids to clean the undercarriage. Found a few leaks I wasn't aware of, that's cool. I went through 5 cans of gunk cleaner in 3 cycles over about 3 hours with the pressure washer to get everything clean and dry.

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Then pulled her in the garage for some paint massaging. Nothing crazy, I've given up on keeping the truck perfect. I did one or two spots of wet sanding and did my best to pull a couple of easy dents. Clay, one pass on each panel with 3D-one and a eurofiber pad, Klasse AIO and 3 coats of Klasse SG. Polished out the headlights even though they're still filthy inside from that mud bath a while back. Blackfire glass polish on the windows and Meg's hyperdressing on the tires.

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She's parked for a bit. Because gas prices. 302k.
 
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Garage & truck are looking good G.A

You still have the fabled frame weight on the truck- Nice!
 
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Pulled her outside today for the first time all week. I was morally prevented from taking a freshly detailed vehicle in to the rain all week. She turned out alright for a 300k trail truck.

When I got home from errands, a replacement corner light was waiting for me. I'd broken the one on the PS a while back and never got to fixing it. Now I have 1 perfect light housing and 3 mediocre. Yay.
 
I've done some things recently.

Last Tuesday I get a call from another mudder who got himself stuck in a ditch. No problem, I thought. This'll be easy. Nope. I was wrong. Don't listen to me, I learn lessons the hard way...

My 9500lb winch just didn't have the guts to get him out of the suck-hole he was in, and eventually my line ended up snapping. I couldn't snatch or tow him out because we were driving on a somewhat dry layer of dirt on top of 3 soft' of mud. Check the ruts.

A few hours later we were calling a few other mudders to help us both out of a ditch. Fortunately the Toyota community is ****ing awesome and everyone got home with nothing broken other than ego. @hotdiggitydamn and @Wermz saved the day, ended up requiring 2 winches pulling simultaneously. I won't out the original guy, I'll let @patchagan do that ( :rofl: ) Lessons learned? Don't wheel alone!

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Well the thing was, I had an appointment the following day to have my cats replaced. I'd promised the guy the truck would NOT be caked in mud. So, I got it cleaned up that night, dropped off at 6AM for service.

Ended up replacing both cats as I've been throwing codes on just about every key cycle. It got old. I also replaced all 4 of my 02 sensors with Denso from Rock Auto. FWIW, I paid $1k for both cats installed, and like $130 for all 4 sensors. I noticed a big disparity in numbers when I was searching here, maybe that's helpful to someone.

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Since I was going to be needing a new winch line, and since my 9500lb put me in a spot the day prior, I ordered a big mamajamma to replace it. Picked up locally from 4WP on a promo. (12K)

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The winch will go in soon. I'll be pulling my front bumper prior to a big service and will swap them out then.

We did a road trip to VA and back for Easter. Had a great trip. Cleaned her up before we left because nobody likes road tripping in a filthy vehicle.

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Pulling back into Atlanta on Monday, we rolled 305k. So I had the tires rotated on Wednesday and did an oil change yesterday. I'm at exactly 40k on these Toyos since since October of '20. 35s will be next, soonish. Replaced my leaking Fumoto drain valve with a new one.

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Looking for a used OEM fuel tank currently. I need to replace my concaved one so I can install this new ASFIR tank skid.
 
Lol “don’t wheel alone” I think more targeted advice than that might be offered up to your recover-ee 🤐

Not to say I haven’t done dumb things in a 4x4- but I was a teenager.

You’re a good man for answering the call G.A. - looked like a challenging recovery

Who did your Cats?
 
Lol “don’t wheel alone” I think more targeted advice than that might be offered up to your recover-ee 🤐

Not to say I haven’t done dumb things in a 4x4- but I was a teenager.

You’re a good man for answering the call G.A. - looked like a challenging recovery

Who did your Cats?
Dan at Woodstock Muffler. He's done a few jobs for me, he's good to work with.
 
Yes, mud ain't anyone's friend! Looks like your rope was the weakest link and couldn't bear 9500lbs!
With a stronger rope you can double the pulling force by using a snatch block.
Glad everyone made home.
 
Truck mired to the frame rails in mud is a force multiplier- like 50% greater load- then the incline out of the hole adds even more + 25% and prob why the line snapped in short order.
 
Once my winch started to bog down, I pulled out my snatchblock. That was when the line snapped. You can see we improvised with some strap soft shackled to the end of my line. We were able to securely reattach the hook to the line remaining so it wasn't totally worthless.
 
@Wermz @MongooseGA @hotdiggitydamn

Thanks for the rescue guys. I was in over my head. Owe you all big time. Certainly learned some "pointed" lessons, haha.

Especially you, G.A. You put your neck out there for me and lost some sleep because of it. Much appreciation, fellas.
 
Found a good deal on a used fuel tank thanks to @YezusLX down in Florida. Finally, I'll be able to replace the concave one in the truck now. I suspect that the dent is good for about 50 miles on each tank.

After I ordered the new tank, I decided it was a good time to open up my @ASFIR 4X4 fuel tank skid. It looks like jewelry. Can't wait to get it on!

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This was the perfect opportunity to switch to an LRA one.
Perhaps consider an auxiliary tank? The number of miles you put on it, you will really like 500+ miles range
 
Found a good deal on a used fuel tank thanks to @YezusLX down in Florida. Finally, I'll be able to replace the concave one in the truck now. I suspect that the dent is good for about 50 miles on each tank.

After I ordered the new tank, I decided it was a good time to open up my @ASFIR 4X4 fuel tank skid. It looks like jewelry. Can't wait to get it on!

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Happy to help. Thanks for all of your great advice G.A.! @MongooseGA
 

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