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After Hurricane Irma my neighbor had a tree go down. He cut the tree up weeks ago, but the stump was still there, so I my truck over there and used the winch to pull the stump out. We dug around the stump to break up the root system and we pried and dug along with the winch to help out out. The winch is a Warn xd9000i, which I recently overhauled. I noticed that when I let off the winch control, the brake would not hold and the stump would fall back in the hole. We managed to get the stump out and bib went home and did some reading on the winch brake. Seems like I did not properly rewind the spring that pushes the brake into the drum, so now I need to take winch apart to fix it.
No real update. I do have something minor I'm planning to do over the weekend, which I will post. I'm getting the truck ready to take my boys camping next week. January is the time to camp in Florida, although where we are going is not going to be off road by any means.
Your 4Runner is very interesting, I've never seen that color\stripe combination, but I like it. The blue 4Runners have always been my favorite.
Small update. I bought a rubber shifter cover from Marlin crawler, the small square one, and I got a low profile tcase drain plug.
Install of the shifter cover is nothing special, but since I had to take the shifter boots off I took the opportunity to route the power cable for my center console under the vinyl floor.
Continuing on, when I installed the Budbuilt skid plate, the tcase drain plug rubbed on it. When I first noticed, I used my grinder to take some material off drain plug but you can't really remove enough to make it flush and still leave enough shoulder there to be able to get a wrench on it. Here you can see the plug after my grinding.
And here is the low profile plug.
So if you have a Budbuilt, you really need a low profile drain plug. Another tip given to me by a member on here is to always put antiseize on the skid plate Allen head bolts, or else you won't be able to get them out. You can see it oozing out of the 4 bolts here. One was stuck in this plate when I originally got it.
A few months ago I spoke with member rustEd about making me a steel tailgate cover that hinged and would allow me to open it and store some stuff in there. Since I have a soft top I don't need the rear glass or the motor, etc. So I opened up the tailgate to look in there and I'm a bit disappointed. Because of the way the door latch mechanism works, you have to keep that big metal bracket in the center, so even if I remove the motor, glass and regulator, I still won't be able to really get anything down in there. Any ideas?
Getting ready for a 2.5 hour road trip to campground next weekend, so I've done a little PM on the truck. Checked my driveshaft bolts, aired up tires, checked oil and all fluids, organized my tools and spare belts, hoses, etc.
A few months ago I spoke with member rustEd about making me a steel tailgate cover that hinged and would allow me to open it and store some stuff in there. Since I have a soft top I don't need the rear glass or the motor, etc. So I opened up the tailgate to look in there and I'm a bit disappointed. Because of the way the door latch mechanism works, you have to keep that big metal bracket in the center, so even if I remove the motor, glass and regulator, I still won't be able to really get anything down in there. Any ideas?
I am about to dive into this as well for the exact same reasons. Are you trying to keep it lockable with the original pull lock? If not, here is a solution....
If you get down to basics, there is a latch on each side that uses a cable to pull the latch and disengage the gate on both sides. My current idea is to go directly to the latch sides and run the same or new cable to a inset lockable twist latch on the inside or outside of the gate. This twist latch will be offset to one side allow for complete removal of the original motor junk and allow for storage within the gate. Its lockable with a key which may even be more ideal when you are running your soft top...
I am about to dive into this as well for the exact same reasons. Are you trying to keep it lockable with the original pull lock? If not, here is a solution....
If you get down to basics, there is a latch on each side that uses a cable to pull the latch and disengage the gate on both sides. My current idea is to go directly to the latch sides and run the same or new cable to a inset lockable twist latch on the inside or outside of the gate. This twist latch will be offset to one side allow for complete removal of the original motor junk and allow for storage within the gate. Its lockable with a key which may even be more ideal when you are running your soft top...
I plan on doing it in Feb....
That is a nice latch, I'm not necessarily trying to keep the stock mechanism, you've got me thinking now, so thanks. I'll be watching what you end up doing, sounds like we are after same thing.
Hi guys,
Now there's three of us wanting to convert tailgate to storage (me after I delete my roll-up rear window and replace with flip-up type).
I started a thread for brainstorming the conversion of tailgate to storage here. Hoping to get more inputs form fellow members.
Made a good amount of progress on tailgate storage. First removed glass and regulator assembly. Then as you see in picture below I really wanted to keep the factory handle, so I made 2 brackets to hold the ends of the latch cables, I used a tent peg for the pushrod, hopefully this contraption will work to open tail gate. I have not yet drilled hole in the aluminum piece for the pushrod, that is my next step.
Thanks Ray, been a hectic week at home. I should get a bit more done in next few days, at least to know if this is going to work.
Took this neat picture of the truck in a mirrored window the other day. On the way to this place a guy rolled down his window to ask me about my truck. It never fails to get a better thumbs up or a wave, I love it.
Made a good amount of progress on tailgate storage. First removed glass and regulator assembly. Then as you see in picture below I really wanted to keep the factory handle, so I made 2 brackets to hold the ends of the latch cables, I used a tent peg for the pushrod, hopefully this contraption will work to open tail gate. I have not yet drilled hole in the aluminum piece for the pushrod, that is my next step.
Nice work on the tailgate, I think I'm going to do this as well, also following Ray on his hinged rear window glass idea, I would love to do that and eliminate the powered back window, sounds like a good project for this spring! I got your pm let me know when your ready for the hinged tailgate cover!
Thank you Ray, Someday J, and Ed. I have some dimensions on the tailgate hinged panel I will be posting here shortly. In the meantime I finished the work on the latch opening mechanism. The bar that goes between the 2 cables I first made out of aluminum, but it flexed too much, so here you see it out of a piece of 1inch by 3/16 thick steel. I cut some threads onto the tent peg, which then allowed me to put a nut behind this bar to get some adjustability. Works like a charm.
11-12-2017, 02:41 PM
