haha Charlie is too cute... what happened to the little fella... did you give to a wildlife shelter type place or is he a family pet now?

don't forget with the carrier there are heavy steel reinforcing plate/brackets on the inside of the body behind the hinges.

 

We handed Charlie into Wildlife Rescue before we left the territory (we cared for him for 3 weeks till we got to Rescue Centre in Katherine) was hard to hand him over. From the Rescue Centre he was sent to a Carer's Home until he was big enough to fend for himself and would have been released back into the wild.

Yea, I have the 2 backing plates, I missed getting them out of the bottom of the box when I was taking the photo's, (another blonde moment)


Another item off the shopping List
Found a Warn 12,000lb Powerplant (Combination Winch/Compressor)

 

My brother resucued a infant squirrel, when you get animals that young is tough to let them go, but atleast he got a 2nd chance, his future was probably not so good otherwise.

Wish my wife would do the kind of shopping you do.hehe

 

Turns out there is a heavy steel stiffener in the tailgate which supports the Locking Plate, so I'm on the lookout for a Surf Tailgate now too.....


Edit: Found the offending tailgate on fleabay, purchased in transit



The next road train would have been the end of him, hundreds of tonnes and 80+ wheels don't really leave anything to the imagination with the regards to longevity of anything they hit.

(These are average sized RoadTrains, they get bigger than this, scary as hell when you see a big one coming at you doing 80mph on a single laned road, or worse still on a dirt road ie get the hell out of there way)



You need a understanding sugar daddy sorry mines taken. Luckily my build budget is just shy of half spent, but.... once its gone its gone... till I go back to work in October maybe !!!!

 

I wish this wife could afford to do the kind of shopping you do!
You've got a cool drool build going here. That powerplant's gonna be interesting to see on the truck.

 

Ok Mini Update,

Been waiting on some terminal post insulators to finish off the the Dual Battery install.

I had everything in and tested/running, I've tidied up the cable runs and secured them throughout the car. I just wasn't happy running a live system with exposed terminal posts in the engine bay !!

Cable with the long awaited terminal post insulators !!



Now that these have arrived I can permanently fix everything in the engine bay and tick this off the "ToDo' list, I'll post up the pic's of the completed Dual Battery System after the weekend

Yea, I know, overkill on the cabling but, I figure "if I go heavy, I wont have to go home, with an electrical failure" because I'd cut corners......

And I have also soldered all connections/terminals in the system rather just crimping them alone.

 

Reserved for Completed Dual Battery Install

 

Perfect Logic Kitty.
That cable looks better than factory.

 

WOW! lol... VERY nice set up, Kitty! Meooooooow! lol

 

Well, nothing to update.... blizzard conditions overnight and not letting up so far today really.


Enjoy your summer guys, while I freeze my bits off

Looking at the forecast, I'm not going to get anything done on the truck other than a bit of retail therapy, hmmmmm Poly Airbags, Lockrite's

 

Ouch!! I dont like that forcast any time of the year. I feel for you. I would rather deal with heat over cold. Maybe it will pass for you soon. But I do enjoy snow wheeling maybe you can get some of that in.

 

Kitty, .... WRAP DEM BITS UP WITH THERMAL-INSULATE... can't have em falling off! hehehe(I'm assuming you mean your toes and fingers!..... teehehe... I've heard THOSE called "Digits" many times by my winter expedition buddies! lol).

Stay safe, SERIOUSLY!

 

The little cold snap is over, thankfully, just a taste of what's to come, normally we don't get weather like that here till late July. Ski season starts officially 6/11 here in OZ, and we'll be staying in Perisher for that weekend, won't be taking the 4Runner though, the awd twin turbo comes out of the garage for ski trips..



LoL, certainly wasn't entertaining any ideas of streaking about !!! I had planned to start bolting all my newly acquired parts, as the only time I can get un-interrupted time in the garage is at the weekends when my husband is home, just to hard ATM with the baby crawling and trying to climb everything in sight unless he's at home, but the lil cold snap saw an end to those plans.

I still managed to use the weekend constructively though, bought a new full aluminium radiator, lockrite front diff lock, couple more electrical bits & pieces & poly airbags, so the weekend wasn't a complete loss

 

Nat was on a day off, so I got some time out in the garage, almost finished up my battery tray, wasn't happy with the routing on the front face, so I'll get Nat to fix that for me at the weekend....

As I said earlier, my TIG welding is a lot better than my MIG welding



The rest of my electrical bits & pieces arrived today from Sidewinder & Stinger



"Stinger" Battery Terminals


In other news, my Warn Powerplant (Winch/Compressor) has gone missing in transit the freight company aren't sure where it is in their system, so I'm a lil P'd off, hopefully they'll find it, if they don't then its will be an insurance claim

 

Funny how the coolest things go "missing"... Awesome thread/ride Kitty....subscribed!!!

 

Kitty, hope you had a great start to the ski season this week! Ours begins Nov/Dec and runs through April. I'm trying to patiently wait for the new season.

 

Small Update :>>

My Power Unit disappeared off the face of the earth..... but I got my money back eventually (would have been much happier if it had just been found) - Consequently the search resumes for a winch/compressor



Was a great season opener, next snow trip will be in August
Me, my baby sister and soon
to-be brother-inlaw having a rest





Today was my 1st chance to do anything constructive to the truck

My Wheel Carrier Tailgate arrived a week or so ago

In really good nick, no rust, dead straight, just a couple of minor scratches in the paint.

Was a horrible day weatherwise so I spent the day in the shed prep'ing for the swap, tracing wires etc etc also pulled the key lock apart and removed key pins from lock and reassembled the lock. (was much easier then finding a locksmith to re-pin the lock to match existing keys) - yes I know it cheating but I want to get the Tailgate on and my Wheel Carrier swung.



As I said a small update, apologises - been really busy and incredibly slack

 

Progress.......

Opened the shed and tackled the tailgate swap-over and wheel carrier addition.



Collection of Parts


(ever started a project with a foreboding feeling in your gut ???) I did this morning !!!

Found some butchered wiring (thanks PO) in the bottom of the storage void while I was pulling the harness...... That's household 3 core extension lead wire and surprise surprise its attached to the tailgate harness


So I got the harness out for the tailgate, then I realised that the other end of the harness was supposed to be attached to the rear window relay module.... hmmmm Houston we have a problem

My rear window relay module has been discarded by the PO..... argh


Ok, so I now have a new item on my "buy-list" asked myself should I stop here or proceed.......

I put the saw horses in position and used some carpet tiles to support the tailgate during removal


Old Tailgate on the way out


I'm at the point of no return, decided to go for broke and cut the old harness off the original tailgate !!

Bit of extra padding before offering up the new tailgate


New Tailgate on and aligned, just bolted it on and it shut and the gap were spot on... BONUS



Let the fun begin............


Grabbed the best tool in the toolbox..


Compared the looms, Top left "black wire" hmmmmm ok I have an extra wire on the new tailgate.


Heat-shrink in place


Back to the best tool in the toolbox. (yeah my tablet is filthy)


First on the soldering list, the Earth cable.


All completed and heat-shrinked with the extra wire which I have traced to the swing out carrier lock switch.


At this point the foreboding feelings started to overtake the calm.... Also saw and end to my photo documentation, Panic stations............

Tried to power the window up and nothing.... dead as a doornail, hmmm ok I'll try to hot wire the window-up circuit directly from the battery..... absolutely nothing..... Did I say foreboding..... let me say it again......

Popped the carpet trim off the tailgate, unscrewed the access panel....... hmmmm both wires to the window motor have been cut ... grrrrr, ok splice/solder/heat-shrink, ok window powers up..... down.... so not only has the wiring in the car been screwed with but also the new tailgate.

At this point 4 hours have past, time to crack the whip. I offered the wheel carrier up locked it to the tailgate and marked the holes on the quarter panel, removed the carrier, drilled 8x 10mm holes (3/8") applied Sikaflex to the internal support brackets and placed them in the quarter panel. locked the Carrier onto the tailgate and aligned everything and tightened the bolts.

Job finished.


The Sikaflex will take a few days to cure completely, so I won't load the spare wheel on till some time next week.
(A week or 3 later)

In the mean time the search begins for the new Tailgate Relay Module.....

 

Replacement Relay ordered ($60AU delivered from Florida via ebay & USPS)



I should have known it was dead or missing, the rear window de-fog hasn't worked since I bought the car, I can't wait to start ripping all the rear trim off as I investigate why the rear washer/wiper is also not working......

 

That was pretty good getting your key set working. Wish my shop door opened the way yours does and I feel the pain you are going thru on the wiring situation. Just dont understand why people butcher up the wiring they do.

On your tailgate, that is a 50/50 chance of getting it right the first time. Great when it does but if you dont get it the first time, it is a bear getting it alighned up if it doesnt go right.

Looks like you got alot done. Great job.