Getting things done for my Overland trip over Labor Day. Info posted on the Facebook group.. yesterday my friend and I replaced the smitybilt xrc winch control module, replaced/installed new 6" KC Gravity Pro6 lights on the bumper to replace the huge 8.5" 7lb LED's (1 has a broken/cracking mounting bracket that needs to be repaired), repainted the bumper after 15yrs... lots to do before Sept!
What did you work on tonight? (6 Viewers)
- Thread starter Dumpolina
- Start date
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fjc-man
SILVER Star
What did you use to clean up the headlights?
my friend did them. he said he used polishing compound
I recently had to make this "elephant trunk" boom for my HF engine hoist to lift a bulky object. It's got a crook in it to keep the boom from interfering with a bulky load at full height, and a slightly farther out piston mounting point for greater load capacity. It doesn't actually go as high as the original boom, but allowed me to lift higher in my application since the load was quite large and would have hit the stock boom before ataining full height in original configuration. Build quality is much better on this than the HF original 
. I did some quick maths and had to add a brace above the pivot point after the last photo - it turns out the brace on the HF boom in that location is not just there for looks!
I mostly used the MIG, but did TIG a few critical joints since I'm more confident with that. Wow the MIG is faster - should not have waited so long.
I think you could probably make a similar boom for RTT lifting
. I did some quick maths and had to add a brace above the pivot point after the last photo - it turns out the brace on the HF boom in that location is not just there for looks!I mostly used the MIG, but did TIG a few critical joints since I'm more confident with that. Wow the MIG is faster - should not have waited so long.
I think you could probably make a similar boom for RTT lifting
It was about $800 less than renting a forklift on both ends, which was the only other solution I could think of. I'll count that as a win any day!
alia176
SILVER Star
Almost done 
. He's a funny guy that one.
. He's a funny guy that one.Almost done with this round. Linking the front is next.Almost done
NMBound
SILVER Star
Not something I worked on tonight, because we are currently driving back to Tucson from a weekend at Joshua Tree National Park.
For 6+ weeks I've been trying to get out to the garage and drop the headliner on the 4runner to reinstall the roof rack bolt holes. Toyota uses 4 metal tabs that each have a pair of M8x1.25 threads for the bolts. They're held onto the roof panel with 4 little steel clips. Unfortunately I'm a dumbass and didn't know the bolts are glued in, so instead of using slow and steady applied force to remove them with a breaker bar, I went at it with my impact driver. The first tab got sheared off at the nylon centering insert and spun the tab around on the inside and it fell into the headliner. That was over 3 months ago. Since then I've been slowly removing the trim following the service manual to drop the headliner and reinstall some factory tabs/clips. It has been a holy PITA. I finally got it done a day before we drove to California to meet the Phoenix club, Southwest Yotas, for a 3 day/2 night trip to Joshua Tree.
The interior of the 4runner was filthy. 15 years of caked on grime. I could not in good conscience do all of that work without a thorough cleaning behind the trim. I vacuumed out decaying coins, .22 short blanks, dead bugs, rocks, old food and soda syrup...it was disgusting. I did most of this, and rebuilt the entire interior, and reinstalled the camper, the NIGHT BEFORE we took off for Cali to meet the crew at camp. I was up all night working and my wife drove me asleep the whole way. It's been a rough 4 days but I'm glad I got it done and we went on our last trip with the AZ club before we move back to Albuquerque. We take ownership of our new house in less than 3 weeks.
I now have extensive knowledge and pictures of the trim panels and sub-interior of the 4th gen 4runner and where all of the control modules are located. While in there I disconnected the window defrost heaters on the rear side windows so that they can't shatter unexpected one day. I've read about it happening to some unfortunate souls. I hope I never have to drop that headliner ever again, but could probably do it in a few days if I had to. And DAMN the Toyota electrical engineers for 1) making the cabin lights hardwired into the roof harness and 2) not including a plastic disconnect of the whole roof wiring to the main harness. It makes it unnecessarily difficult to get the headliner out once you've actually dropped it, and increases the chance you'll damage it once lowered. All they had to do was include a clip that disconnects under the driver side footwell, but no. I hope the bastard engineers that saved a few hundred dollars for the assembly line manufacturing got a fat promotion.
Edit - I also used soapy water buckets and rags to wipe down the entire metal interior and detailed the carpet and each plastic trim piece down to the gear selector. It was really satisfying but took forever. I must have poured 4 or 5 buckets of black water down the sink doing that. Will post pics from the Joshua Tree trip sometime this week.
For 6+ weeks I've been trying to get out to the garage and drop the headliner on the 4runner to reinstall the roof rack bolt holes. Toyota uses 4 metal tabs that each have a pair of M8x1.25 threads for the bolts. They're held onto the roof panel with 4 little steel clips. Unfortunately I'm a dumbass and didn't know the bolts are glued in, so instead of using slow and steady applied force to remove them with a breaker bar, I went at it with my impact driver. The first tab got sheared off at the nylon centering insert and spun the tab around on the inside and it fell into the headliner. That was over 3 months ago. Since then I've been slowly removing the trim following the service manual to drop the headliner and reinstall some factory tabs/clips. It has been a holy PITA. I finally got it done a day before we drove to California to meet the Phoenix club, Southwest Yotas, for a 3 day/2 night trip to Joshua Tree.
The interior of the 4runner was filthy. 15 years of caked on grime. I could not in good conscience do all of that work without a thorough cleaning behind the trim. I vacuumed out decaying coins, .22 short blanks, dead bugs, rocks, old food and soda syrup...it was disgusting. I did most of this, and rebuilt the entire interior, and reinstalled the camper, the NIGHT BEFORE we took off for Cali to meet the crew at camp. I was up all night working and my wife drove me asleep the whole way. It's been a rough 4 days but I'm glad I got it done and we went on our last trip with the AZ club before we move back to Albuquerque. We take ownership of our new house in less than 3 weeks.
I now have extensive knowledge and pictures of the trim panels and sub-interior of the 4th gen 4runner and where all of the control modules are located. While in there I disconnected the window defrost heaters on the rear side windows so that they can't shatter unexpected one day. I've read about it happening to some unfortunate souls. I hope I never have to drop that headliner ever again, but could probably do it in a few days if I had to. And DAMN the Toyota electrical engineers for 1) making the cabin lights hardwired into the roof harness and 2) not including a plastic disconnect of the whole roof wiring to the main harness. It makes it unnecessarily difficult to get the headliner out once you've actually dropped it, and increases the chance you'll damage it once lowered. All they had to do was include a clip that disconnects under the driver side footwell, but no. I hope the bastard engineers that saved a few hundred dollars for the assembly line manufacturing got a fat promotion.
Edit - I also used soapy water buckets and rags to wipe down the entire metal interior and detailed the carpet and each plastic trim piece down to the gear selector. It was really satisfying but took forever. I must have poured 4 or 5 buckets of black water down the sink doing that. Will post pics from the Joshua Tree trip sometime this week.
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alia176
SILVER Star
Oh man, this project is a prime example of therapy . Did you take the opportunity to connect all dome lights together for a better lighting? That's what I ended up doing when I dropped the headliner for sunroof cassette access. I also cleaned all interior plastic pieces in the bath tub and soaked both front seat belts. It was quite satisfying, to say the least. Oh, I found a mice nest on top of the headliner over the cargo area. 
. Did you take the opportunity to connect all dome lights together for a better lighting? That's what I ended up doing when I dropped the headliner for sunroof cassette access. I also cleaned all interior plastic pieces in the bath tub and soaked both front seat belts. It was quite satisfying, to say the least. Oh, I found a mice nest on top of the headliner over the cargo area.
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NMBound
SILVER Star
Oh man, this project is a prime example of therapy
I would NOT call what I did therapy, but I see your point given more time and a slower pace. I'm not sure what you mean by connecting all the dome lights together, but also no I didn't do that. I saw how the cassette comes out. I used a bus tub full of hot soapy water and rags for the interior trim pieces. The center console was filthy. I also soaked the seat belts in that bus tub but didn't remove them. I did think about how I would next time and told Mrs. NMBound that I'll be using the new guest bath tub for the trim next time
No mice in mine.
Is the new home a smoker?
Tank5
SILVER Star
I don’t know what they did with Porky, I suspect he was well fed for a little while before they brought him to the table. If I had known I would have made them catch their own food.
NMBound
SILVER Star
They call that the Carolina squat.
NMBound
SILVER Star
Safe travels!
I hate the way those trailers carry all the weight so far forward. My sister towed a cj2a to Nashville with one, tail wagging the whole way
It's actually not that bad. The way I understand it is that a weight distribution farther away from the hitch is what causes most oscillations. I've not noticed any sway. My biggest concern was getting a lowered car on to the ramp and to the front straps without hitting my bumper cover. But I've come a long way since you towed me in 2020. Check me out, I'm a big kid now. It's good practice for when I start taking this thing to the racetrack.
NMBound
SILVER Star
It's been over 10 years since I've towed a flatbed at the farm. Glad to find out I still have the chops.
Mauser
Supporting Vendor
You make it home?
