Nice work, the BL looks good. 4crawler does have good specific instructions.

 

Thanks Rob! I am really happy with how it came out. I didn't think that 1.5" would be very noticeable but I must admit that I am pleasantly surprised that it does make a pretty big difference. Yeah the 4Crawler instructions definitely made the install go much smoother.

 

So I finally got the LED's that I ordered earlier this week and got them installed. The new LED's are much brighter than the stock bulbs in the map lights and the smaller LED's I had in the dome lights.

Here is what I went with:



BEFORE:

Dome Light




Map Light



AFTER:

Dome Light




Map Light

 

I also just got my tax refund a couple days ago so I have some extra $$ for mods. I decided that the most important thing on the list right now is a spare tire. I am going with a full sized spare so I can rotate it in with my other 4 tires to help extend the tread life.

So yesterday I took a trip over to discount tire and picked up a matching wheel. While I was there the guy that was helping me asked me why I didn't have any hub caps. I explained that I bought the wheels on Craigslist and the guy I bought them from didn't get the hub caps with them, so he ended up finding me some for $8. I also called Goodyear and ordered up a 5th MT/R so hopefully I can get it mounted up this weekend....

 

nice... looks great!

 

Coming along nicely, buddy.

 

Thanks guys! I just got the spare tire mounted up yesterday so I will have to take some pics of it all mounted up on the roof rack. I am not planning on carrying it around for daily driving because it will kill my already poor gas mileage and it just isn't necessary but, I will put it up for wheeling trips.

On another note, I talked with the guys a Goodyear about getting all of my tires mounted the correct way and we all collectively determined that although the tires are asymmetrical, mounting them backwards would have a minimal effect on both on-road and off-road traction. They also have not had any issues with uneven or premature wearing so in the end we decided that it was more trouble trouble than it was worth to flip all the tires around. I will keep everyone updated on any issues with wearing or traction.

 

Truck looks good. Im surprised 1.5" is that noticeable. I have 4crawler's 2" BL waiting to go on...thinking it might be too much...i guess we'll see.

 

Yeah I was pleasantly surpirsed that the 1.5" body lift made such a difference. I was going to go with a 2" body lift, but I decided that 2" was just a little too much and I didn't want to lift my truck anymore that I needed to. Let us know hows yours turns out when you get it installed, I am curious to see if the extra 0.5" makes a difference

 

This weekend I was able to get my full-sized spare tire mounted on the spare wheel that I picked up earlier last week. While I was at it, I had them balance and roate all my tires so I could have the spare rotated in and so they could install the new hub caps. I currently have the spare mounted up using my Yakima spare tire mount that I got for Christmas in anticipation of getting a full-sized spare. I am definitely not planning on keeping it up there for daily driving, but I have just been lazy so I haven't taken it down yet.




Before - No hub caps




After - With hub caps. I am really glad that I finally got some because I think the wheels look much better and more complete with them on.

 

Scuba, I effing love you. Haha.
Ol' dannomite got his mouth shut and went runnin off. I love kids who don't know what they are talking about.

Scub-meister, you're my hero.

 

Hey guys it has been a while since I updated so here goes...A little while ago my fiance and I decided that we are going to be moving to Washington D.C. after we get married in September.

Since September is only 4 months away, we are trying to plan on how we are going to move everything. We both have jobs lined up with Price Waterhouse Coopers and will be making good money but we still can't justify paying over $2,000 for movers or renting a POD. Fortunately, most of our furniture is college crap that we are going to get rid of, so we decided that we are going to rent a big Uhaul trailer and pull it to DC with my truck. Now rather than getting rock sliders like I wanted, I am going to be putting a lot of money into getting my truck ready to make the long trip with the trailer.

So here is the list of stuff that I want/need to do before the trip.
1) Replace timing belt, water pump, thermostat, etc.
2) Regear (and maybe lockers, depending on $$) - I am going to need a lot of help and advice on this...
3) External transmission cooler.

I know that there are a lot of other threads about re-gearing, but I still haven't found exactly what I am looking for so I started this thread: https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f2/n.../#post51720510

I would apprecaite and help, advice, tips, or mods that I should add to the list.

 

So while I am doing some research on regearing, I decided to start on the external transmission cooler mod because it will be pretty light on my wallet compared to the other two tasks.

I just ordered this transmission cooler: http://www.summitracing.com/parts/BMM-70268/ and I am thinking that I might actually completely bypass the stock transmission cooler all together and just cool the transmission using the aftermarket transmission cooler. I have read a couple of threads where guys have done this without any issues. Here is the thread that I got this idea/information from: http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-ge...l-3rd-gen.html

I have read that bypassing the stock cooler will completely eliminate the possibility of the dreaded pink milkshake, but I am not sure if it will provide enough cooling power to cool the transmission by itself. What do you guys think? Should I bypass the stock cooler all together or should I just add the aftermarket transmission cooler as another "layer" of cooling power? Keep in mind that I will be towing a trailer 1,500 miles and I will be living in Washington DC where it gets pretty cold.

 

Any thoughts?

 

So after looking at some of the threads on here about bypassing the stock transmission cooler I decided to go with a slightly different setup that I originally planned...

Since I will be towing a trailer, I don't think that the B&M 70268 would be big enough so I returned it and went with the B&M 70264 instead. The 70264 is twice as thick and should provide the extra cooling power I need for towing and wheeling.

Since I will be moving to Washington DC where it gets pretty cold in the winter, I decided to install an external thermal bypass. In cold weather the thermal bypass sends the transmission fluid back into the transmission (completely bypassing the cooler) until it is warmed up. The bypass opens slowly as the fluid temperature rises but does not open completely until the fluid temperature reaches 180*. This will allow the transmission fluid to warm up quicker in cold weather while still allowing maximum cooling power on hot days, when wheeling, or when towing.

Link to the tranny cooler: http://www.summitracing.com/parts/BMM-70264/
Link to the external thermal bypass: http://www.makcotransmissionparts.com/708-4739.html
Link to external tranny cooler thread: https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f2/b...cooler-126953/

 

Update: I finally had some time to install the transmittion cooler, bypass, and the temperature gauge a couple weeks ago. It took me a couple hours and I had to take a break every so often because it was so effing HOT!!

After a test drive, I noticed that my temperature gauge was not working properly because it would just sit at about 100* and would not change at all. So, I pulled the sensor fitting apart and discovered that the coupling the sensor came with was not screwing on all the way to the T-fitting and was preventing the sensor from reaching the transmission fluid completely. So, I did a little looking around and found this fitting: http://www.fastfittings.com/product/28039.

I just installed the new fitting yesterday and now the sensor will actually reach the transmission fluid. However, I did not test drive it after I installed the new fitting yesterday but on my way to work today I noticed that the gauge was still doing the same thing that it was before...So, I called Autometer to see if they could help me. They were really helpful and explained that since I chose to install the sensor in the transmission lines rather than in the oil pan, the sensor has to be grounded to the frame or it will not read properly. So, when I get home from work I am going to run a ground wire from the sensor to the frame and see if that works.

Pics and status report to come

 

Good idea on the transmission cooler and good luck getting the gauge working, it makes a sense that it would needt be grounded.

 

Thanks Rob. Yeah the reason that they recommend welding the sensor into the fluid pan is because it naturally grounds the sensor. But, I don't want to be hacking into my fluid pan and I don't think the pan gives the most accurate temperature readings.

I got off work a little early today so I tried to get the gauge working. First I tried to attach a ground wire to the same place that the sensor wire is attached but that didn't work because as soon as I started the truck, the gauge jumped up to the max and just stayed there. So I then wrapped the ground wire around the body of the T-fitting instead of the sensor wire and started the truck again...perfect! The gauge is working as it should, so anyone who wants to do this in the future, make sure you ground the "body" of the sensor, not the sensor itself or it will not work properly.

As promised, here are some pictures. These show the setup before I added the ground wire but I will try to take some more that show what I did with the ground wire.





Here is where I ran the hoses



Here you can see the thermal bypass and the T-fitting for the temperature gauge.

 

Nice work...now do mine lol

 

Looks good. I like the idea of a tranny fluid cooler.