Four Wheel Forum

Ahhh another morning... The Costco Dark chocolate mint coffee is going. Here is what I got done yesterday... both sides 1/4" steel plate and painted.

And now that it's time to bolt on the left and right supports to the firewall and front end I had to raid the bolts bin! Standard high grade bolts for that stuff so there is no possibility that they get used somewhere else on the truck. One thing that is annoying on this truck is that there are 10 different types of the same thread bolt all over. So you can't tell which style of bolt goes where. It's really a PITA cause they are just slightly different - not very distinguishable.

Anyhow nice shiny new bolts for the front:

Here is a look at how I strapped down the battery. Since the base is so strong and holds the battery well I just opted to throw a limiting strap over the top of it that I picked up from Poly Performance in San Luis Obispo.

I actually made sure to make the studs for the front support long enough so that I could bolt anything else to them when the time came to secure the wiring and other things. It's nice to see it all come together. The nuts and washers are kinda temporary for now. I have a bracket in mind that I want to make when I have time and after I'm driving this truck around.

This pic shows the left side all finished up and bolted together. Every mounting point on both sides has a rubber pad under each foot to help a bit with vibration and any movement.

• Air filter housing mounted: check.
• Battery mounted and secured down: check.
• Hood receiver mounted to crossbar: check.
• Wiring re-wrapped and mounted to frame: check.

And just a little info on the lights I used. I ordered 2004 lights and I got a whole set for the front and the back. I bought my new 2004 tail lights and corner lights for my truck for like $145 shipped free in 2 days. I looked on eBay and ordered the best priced ones I could find and I didn't order FROM eBay. I called the help number they had listed and offered to buy directly from them. Come to find out I was calling some call center and when I asked them WHO I was buying from the lady said http://www.discountbodyparts.com/ which is also part of http://www.usautoparts.net.


They aren't super high quality like they are from Toyota but they are really nice and I know they will work for years. Heck, they came with lightbulbs installed. For my headlight housings I bought used Toyota ones from Ebay for cheap.