k-ray

I started out in Yotatech in the introductions/new arrivals section. Since joining Yotatech, I have managed to get a few items on my to-do list done. The SR5 gauge cluster swap and locating a better hood to be exact. I even posted mt gauge cluster swap in my initial thread upon joining the forum. Now I think I have enough 'starter' posts to be able to post in this section. So here goes.....
I did find a better hood at my local pull & pay yard last week and did the swap. My original hood had a lot of hail damage on it. More than I wanted to deal with.

k-ray

Then I removed the old hood. Nothing hard about this, but I did use some old towels under the corners of the hood to prevent more damage to the cowl and fenders.


I had to pull the windshield washer nozzles and transfer them to the 'new' hood. There is just one "locking" tab on the bottom side of the nozzles and it is very easy to break these off if you don't squeeze them from underneath and slowly work them out of the opening. I also had to address some broken hose clips under the hood.

k-ray

Then it was just amatter of attaching the 'new' hood ( 4 bolts ), reattaching the windshield washer hoses, and realigning the hood seams.

k-ray

There are a couple of small dings in this hood, but I will hammer them out and re-paint this hood when I get to reworking the body lines on the bed.


I might have found a straighter, flatter hood later on at the junk yards but the dings ARE SMALL and the hood is black. So I won't be in a real big hurry to think I have to repaint it right away. The weather won't let me do that now anyway.


I was going to add a few more shots of the finished project but the pictures won't load up. I don't know why as they are all resized to fit in this forum.

k-ray

Today was a great day for doing light maintenance work. I read a post this morning about lowering the spare tire ( from 894Runner ) and got to thinking about how long has it been since I bothered to check the pressure in my spare.


Lowering the spare tire took some patience and WD40. It has been well over 9 years since I moved that tire carrier! But I got it fully lowered and removed the tire to check the pressure...... 0. Nothing. Not even an erg of residual air comming out of the valve stem. So, 5 min. of waiting for the air compressor to fill up and now I have 32 psi in the spare. I looked at the DOT code while I had it out and determined that it is probably the original spare tire that came with the truck. Maybe I should think about finding a used newer one for my spare.


Then I looked at the tire carrier itself to see what I could do to free up the mechanism. Short of spraying WD40 all through the inside of it, there was no fast maintenance to be done. So 20 min. of patient turning of the three bolts holding the unit in place and I had it on the ground. Then it was a matter of figuring out how to force grease into the tight spaces to put the grease into the inside of the rotating 'chain wheel'. I manage to hold the end of a grease gun tube next to the moving parts and force the grease to squeeze to the inside a little bit. Then I added more grease to the area and clamped the unit in a vise with enough angle to allow liquid to drip into the interior under the excess grease. Then I used a small butane torch to heat up the unit. Not hot enough to burn anything or dry it out but, rather, warm enough to allow the heated, slightly melted grease to flow into the interior while I turned the mechanism back and forth. That should keep the tire carrier operating easier for quite some time.


Time will tell. I did not take any pics of this operation since it was fairly straight forward. I will say this, however, It would help to have a 12 MM ratcheting box wrench for removal and installation of this unit as the truck bed is too close to the frame to allow a socket & ratchet to be used. That was the only real problem I ran into. Anybody who has had to turn a wrench a gazzillion times in a small space to remove/tighten a bolt can appreciate that.

Nervo19

Welcome to YT. Nice truck! Get some Kroil, PB Blaster or Liquid Wrench (in order of effectiveness) for stubborn bolts. WD 40 is a solvent; not really a lubricant. It'll save you some frustration.

RSR

The PO of my truck had replaced one of the tires, so I moved that to my spare... 20 years of dry rot it was in poor shape on the sidewalls but perfect tread...

I also have a spare tire cable lock on it now. Mainly b/c those old chains breaking and losing the tire isn't uncommon, but also to avoid theft. The key is to liberally use silicone on the lock and then wrap the lock mechanism w/ electrical tape to keep all the crud and stuff out that otherwise makes these type of locks difficult to unlock...

I used this:

Terrys87

iTrader: (1)

Nice looking truck you got. Operating the tire carrier a couple of times a years keeps them in good working order. Just takes a little time to get some of the issues worked out of these. Looking forward to your build.