Worst Mods - what was yours?

[MagicBeans]

While talking truck with a friend, we took a stroll down memory lane and recanted the bad decisions we had made while building our rigs. We had both made our fair share of stupid purchases, wasted money, ugly mods, and wished we had done a few things differently. My biggest regret?

The MAF 4+ shackle reversal. I know it's liked by many, but I wish I had stuck with the shackles up front. Its also my worst because the shackle hangers are burned into the frame.... Not reverseable.

 

[mcguirejohnson]

While talking truck with a friend, we took a stroll down memory lane and recanted the bad decisions we had made while building our rigs. We had both made our fair share of stupid purchases, wasted money, ugly mods, and wished we had done a few things differently. My biggest regret? The MAF 4+ shackle reversal. I know it's liked by many, but I wish I had stuck with the shackles up front. Its also my worst because the shackle hangers are burned into the frame.... Not reverseable.

My worst decision was the same as yours.
I had the MAF safari setup w/ shackle reversal for about 2 years. You can get the reversal set up off of your frame, I did when I went SOA. Just need a torch, cut off saw and a sledge hammer! And some new stock spring hangers.

 

[klinetime574]

If I had to choose one of my mods as the worst it would probably be my Weber carb.

It works fine. But it ain't Toyota. Now this logic won't work with everything. One example: bumpers. I have an ARB bumper and would much rather have that than the stock front bumper.

I use Mud and "MOTS" to set me straight with any planned mods. OME suspension, Lockrite locker, TG Sliders, Roundeyes, 4+ U-bolt flip. All of those mods improve the truck and make it better. All found because of this awesome website.

I'm working towards getting rid of that Weber and carbs entirely. Staying Toyota

 

[Spudman]

It's not a real mod but I serviced my truck today and as this is a new thread and this happened to me today.

When completing the service I took off the fuel filter and with the 12HT you have to bleed the system, well the hand pump was stuffed so it wouldn't bleed, so to eventually get it to bleed I had to go and find another hand pump, then we had to pressurise the fuel tank and use a vacuum pump to get the fuel thru.

So a simple service turned into a nightmare

 

[KWalkerM]

80 series brush guard on a 60. It didnt look right but it had the right dimensions frame wise.

That and the damn chevy motor. Only thing ive had consistent issues with, tranny and block. Although its much easier to source parts for a 350 where I live so thats a plus.

 

[Spudman]

I've actually gotta say my worst mod was the headlight buzzer mod, I tried every fuse in my fuse box and this mod would not work.

Now I don't know if the Aussie vehicles are wired differently but it definitely doesn't work for me

 

[cruisermatt]

Garage paint job. Loaded it with bondo and sped up the rust.

Also the CCOT "aftermarket" black bumpers, way thinner then OEM, those were white strong compared to these.

Also blacking out my grille. I miss chrome....

 

[dbleon]

If I had to choose one of my mods as the worst it would probably be my Weber carb.

It works fine. But it ain't Toyota. Now this logic won't work with everything. One example: bumpers. I have an ARB bumper and would much rather have that than the stock front bumper.

I use Mud and "MOTS" to set me straight with any planned mods. OME suspension, Lockrite locker, TG Sliders, Roundeyes, 4+ U-bolt flip. All of those mods improve the truck and make it better. All found because of this awesome website.

I'm working towards getting rid of that Weber and carbs entirely. Staying Toyota

I'm with you Kline,

WEBER.

Although the P.O. installed it, I had enough trouble with it to say its a bad mod (it was the 32/36).

 

[MagicBeans]

I've got another - electric fans. I'd estimate I've spent about $300 on fans and wiring harnesses/controllers only to rip them out after they've failed. As I've said in other posts, one of them almost caught fire and burned up. I've also had to pull over and let the truck cool down countless times because a fuse blew and they shut down, or the controller stopped working, etc. I'm back to mechanical now thankfully.

 

[GeologistFelix]

Probably my hacked-together 'no welds needed' winch mount. It's ugly, I spent more on materials than I should have, and it definitely reduced the resale value on the cruiser, but it holds a big winch quite nicely.

I'm also not too happy with the job I did with my Saginaw pump install. Lots and lots of washers as spacers. Ugly, and it'll be a pain to reassemble if I ever have to unbolt it all, but it's strong and works, so I can't complain too much. It would also be pretty easy to fix by welding in solid spacers in place of the washers...

I'm also only kinda-sorta happy with my Trollhole carb. It got me up and running faster and cheaper than anything else on the market, but no amount of tuning has it running quite as well as I'd want for a daily driver. And, it doesn't have any HAC capability, so it has a little trouble dealing with the sea-level-to-6k-and-back day trips I go on here in western WA.

I'm also not happy with how ugly some of the 'plug' jobs for my desmog came out. Specifically, the EGR inlet on the intake manifold and the air injection pipe that goes to the exhaust downpipe. But, they all work, so I can't complain too much.

 

[cruisermatt]

Probably my hacked-together 'no welds needed' winch mount. It's ugly, I spent more on materials than I should have, and it definitely reduced the resale value on the cruiser, but it holds a big winch quite nicely.

Can you post a picture? Thanks

 

[Elbert]

not jumping off into lockers and low gears up front.

 

[Pedro60]

not jumping off into lockers and low gears up front.

huh??

 

[cruisermatt]

It's an anti-mod

 

[Sethro60]

Tried to make an on board pressurized potable water system. I suppose it did work, but in the end a water jug is much more practical.

 

[slowandsteady BJ]

Not using a beefy enough spindle for the rear tire swing out. Seeing the 37 bounce along down the road behind my truck with a swing out attached to it wasn't cool. Good thing it happened off road and not on the hi way.

1st- pic is the old sheared one. It was a quality unit and wasn't cheap.... just didn't hold up to the workload it was asked to do.

2nd- Pic is from the new one..... uber beef. (lol)

Cutting into my rear bumper (air tank) to replace the old broken one sucked.

 

[GeologistFelix]

Can you post a picture? Thanks

I don't remember if I have any pictures of it with the winch installed. Right now, one of the rollers is missing from the fairlead, and I haven't put the winch back together since I fixed a broken terminal on the motor.

Basically, though, it's just two pieces of 1/4" x 2" x 2" steel angle which bolt onto the frame horns and stick out far enough for a winch plate to bolt on top of them. They also have holes for d-rings.

Subsequently, I slotted my factory bumper so it could bolt to the winch mount, mainly to avoid any difficult conversations with the state patrol about why I don't have a bumper. It's basically only cosmetic.

 

[Fantom]

Extended shackles up front to do a poor man lift, Totally screwed up my steering on the road. As quickly as it went in it got ripped out.
Detroit locker, I know many swear by them but full time locker sucks because there are many times it's made the situation worse. Snow and ice wheeling is a perfect example, when you're in an off-camber situation and the vehicle just wants to go sideways. Selectable locker is by far the better option.
Chinese LED lights (from SuperLED), one by one they all fell apart right where they were glued together and the dash ones burned out very quickly.
Buying a local rusty truck as opposed to a JDM
Belton suspension - now this is a hard one because I do love it and it was great, but it was too flexible. Now I could load up the truck no problem and it didn't sag but it did add to my off camber angle as it allowed for more body roll. Coincindentally, putting the spares (2) on the roof rack for one trip. Bad idea from many sides.
Using aftermarket wheel studs and not Toyota originals ...loosing a rear wheel at 110km/h on the highway sucks a lot.
Overall, most of my crazy ideas actually worked out well.

 

[Christian]

Dip-galvanizing a frame, it took two guys to put it pn the trailer to get it done, three to carry it back, it must have added 50% weight, and I'm not even talking about the annealing...

 

[Gumby]

The worst mod is that green lop headed fellow

My worst mod was a 6.2l diesel. Same hp, torque and mileage as a 2f. Waste of time and effort and blew clutches apart constantly.