All Work And No Play...

Okay. I did not work on the second coat for the wheels this weekend. I also did not start the mod that I have all the parts for (that's for later). I took a break this weekend and went fishing with my partners-in-crime, Craig and Robert. The day started early.

By the time you see above, I was already dressed and had the truck loaded with my fishing gear, Coast Guard type stuff for three grown men, the boat all hooked up and the Igloo/live-well loaded in the boat.

(Sorry for dark images but as I said, it was real early)

The plan was for Robert to meet me at my house: check. Get on the road at 5:30ish: check. Go straight to Craig's house: not quite a check. During the "Go straight to Craig's house" portion of the trip, I happened to look out my side window and notice an Igloo/live-well on the side of the freeway overpass that looked suspiciously familiar. Moby having the convenient roll-down rear window that he does, I rolled it down and asked Robert to look and see if he could see the Igloo/live-well in the boat still. He did not. I pulled over to the side of the freeway (hazards a blazin', safety first) and double-checked. Sure enough, no Igloo/live-well. Hmph. Well, we had to go back. I couldn't leave it there. So, we made our u-turns, got back to the overpass, pulled over (hazards a blazin' a second time) and found the flying Igloo/live-well laying there undamaged except for one broken latch! (Igloo's are made in Texas by the way, just like Moby!) I put it in Moby's back seat this time.

We did manage to pick up Craig eventually.Then we headed to BJ's Marina to launch the boat. This is a small little boat ramp on the east fork of the San Jacinto River. Supposedly, there are 40lb catfish here just waiting for you to drive by in your boat and jump in. Not the case. The entire trip yielded; 1 White Bass (just legal), 2 Catfish (too small to keep), good times with good friends, and 1 Hank III convert (I promise to make that CD Robert!). All-in-all a good trip. The east fork is supposed to have excellent Crappie fishing. I don't think I would recommend it for catfish though.

Launching at BJ's Marina

Craig and Robert: Craig has this amazing ninja casting ability!

 Enjoying some of the river scenery since no fish were biting.

More scenery

Robert waiting on that catfish to "jump in"

Thanks for checking this out. Coming up: Igloo/live-well build (kind of backwards since I've already chronicled it's near death experience) and Moby's rear axle gets a snorkel of sorts. Stay tuned.

New Shoes for Moby... Sort Of.

Moby Dick was a great white whale. My Moby is a great silver Tundra. Very silver, even the wheels.

 I like the look of the Tundras rolling around town on the black Rock Stars and similarly styled wheels but: 1. I am not too inclined to pay $1200.00 (and that's on the very cheap side) for a set of wheels for a truck I'm still making payments on. 2. I like the fact that the stock wheels keep all debris thrown from the tires inside the wheel well. So....

Write-Up On Painting Your Wheels Black: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

Okay, you may be asking why does an "Expedition Tundra" need black wheels. Good question. Well, uh, you see, hmmmm, black wheels... they... uhhhhhhh... OH! The black color of the wheels absorbs heat, transfers this to the air inside the tire which expands it. Helps keep your tires properly inflated... yeah. Truth is there is no legit reason. One benefit of this, mod, if you will, is that if the wheels get cosmetic trail damage, it's very easy to touch them up. So here we go.

Items used for the painting of the stock Tundra 20" wheels.

For the paint, I chose Dupli-Color Wheel Paint (black, of course).

Beverage for the job:

Yep, a Texas beer to go with the Texas heat and humidity.

It was very hot when I started around 5:00pm, low 90's. Humidity was VERY high. The paint instructions called for not painting above a 60% humidity level. If that's true, I don't know why they even sell this paint on the Gulf Coast! Hoping I wasn't too far out of the workable humidity range, I got to work:

1. I took my trusty "Petersen's 4Wheel&Off-Road" jack to the frame rail on Moby.

After lifting Moby up high enough, I place my "Petersen's 4Wheel&Off-Road" jack stand under both sides at the front and removed the wheels.

Even though I was using my limited edition Petersen's 4Wheel&Off-Road jack and jack-stands... all that was pretty hard work. Time for "beverage of choice"...

Okay, whew! It's HOT!!!
After I had the front wheels off, I had to wash the road grime off the wheels. I can tell you the combination of Simple Green and the wife's toilet brushes are very effective for this job.

I tell you what, scrubbing those front wheels was a lot of work. Time for...

Okay, after the wheels are cleaned, you have to rough up the existing paint on your wheels with 320grit sandpaper. I won't lie. I sat there for a few minutes, smoking, staring at the wheel at this step. Once sandpaper hits the paint on the wheel, you are at the point of no return. I started sanding...

AAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Each time I moved the sandpaper back and forth, making that sandpaper-y sound, it sounded like this, "YOU'RE-KKSSSSHHHHH-SCREWED". Sigh, no turning back now. It's very upsetting ruining a perfectly good set of wheels, better get a...

Okay, tires cleaned and sanded. After a quick spray to get sanded particles off, I used a Dupli-Color prep wipe then, dried the wheels. Now I'm no professional (obvious), so I did not remove the tires from the wheels. I did not want to spray paint the tires though. On a Mustang forum, there was this one guy who, ingeniously, made use of index cards to create a barrier between the wheel and the tire. I was concerned about over spray. I masked off the tires with masking tape first, overlaying the tape onto the wheel. Then I went back and using a razor, circled the outside of the rim, between the bead protector on the tire and the very edge of the rim.

Once that was completed, I placed newspaper over the rest of the tire.

I revised this process to be much faster by the time I got to the last wheel, but you get the idea. I mentioned earlier that I dried the wheels, but from my previous experience with spray painting my jon boat, I knew water lurked everywhere waiting to mess up the whole painting affair. I put a fan on the tires to help rid the remaining water. While I waited...

Oh, I also shook up the paint cans...

The instructions called for one light coat, wait ten minutes, apply another light coat, wait ten minutes and then apply a medium wet third coat. That's pretty much what I did. So the process went into the night times four. Here are some wheels with the paint drying...

Once I was finished painting the wheels and had them back on, this is what the truck looked like...

and this is what I looked like...

General impressions: if you have the money, pay someone to do this. I was not real happy with the outcome. The coverage is spotty, you get splatter, and it's going to look like a spray painted wheel no matter what. Now, as mentioned earlier, I have a lot of experience with spray paint after painting my jon boat. I will go back and do a second coat after this paint has cured and some sanding. That made a big difference with the boat. I will tell you that after this experience I, in my conspiracy mode mind, believe that all the videos on Youtube that show this process and the great results are all put out by the evil spray paint industry. If you choose to do this yourself, some tips:

1. Buy your paint at least two weeks in advance. I had to go to six different parts stores to find TWO cans of black from Dupli-Color.

2. Start early in the day. The work involved removing the wheels, cleaning, sanding, prepping, masking, painting, drying, painting again, drying again, painting the third time, letting dry enough to put back on vehicle all take a huge amount of time.

3. Most forums tell you that one can will do all four wheels... if you drive a Mini! I bought two cans to be safe. Knowing what I know now, I would've bought six (see next).

4. Buy extra cans. One of the cans that I bought splattered. I cleaned it, cursed at it, offered it my beverage of choice if it would stop. No dice. Had I extra paint at my disposal, I would've tossed this one immediately!

5. When you get down to about 2/3rds of a can, stop using it and switch to a fresh can. Trust me on this one.

Disclaimer: No beers were actually finished in the painting of the wheels or the typing of this post. For those of you that know me, you won't find this hard to believe; I went through 1.5gallons of sweet tea while doing all this, the beer sat in the corner, half-full.

Yakima Crossbar And Towers Install

After the trip to Austin, I have decided that more external storage on Moby would not be a bad thing. I have a Yakima Load Warrior basket on the Pathfinder. That thing has been a God-send on trips with the family. You get to throw all the, this could become a dangerous projectile, stuff on the roof.

On the Pathfinder, the basket was easy because of the factory roof rack. Moby... has no roof rack. Poor Moby. No problem. A quick trip to Yakima's web site, yielded all the necessary components to add a roof rack. The parts for a 2010 Toyota Tundra Crewmax are:

1. Q Towers - Part# 8000124

2. Q99 Clips (front and rear are the same for Moby) - Part#8000699

3. 66" Crossbars (58" are recommended) - Part# 8000410(66")

That's it. (Edit - Don't skimp like I did, go ahead and buy the fairing. Wind noise without it was unbearable!!! Once added... you have a rack up there, but can actually talk at freeway speeds.)

Installation is very simple with two people. I had the assistance of my teenage daughter and we managed okay. The instructions provided are very thorough and easy to understand. Most of your time will be spent double-checking measurements. Once installed, this setup provides a very stable base for all kinds of attachments. In Moby's case, it will be a Yakima MegaWarrior basket (thanks Chris), with extension. I plan on using the basket to mount: Hi-Lift Jack, 4 lights front, 2 lights rear, and possibly an awning. I had thought about using the basket to mount a spare tire, but it would be too much of a PITA to get it down, and take up too much cargo space. 

If you have any questions regarding the install, feel free to contact me. I'll leave you with some pics of Moby with naked roof and the Moby after rack install:

Moby with naked roof:

Side view of naked roof:

Moby with nice rack (front):

Moby with nice rack (side):

Blogging In General

It's fun. The issue becomes you've got so much to blog about. In the works; finishing up comments from trip to Austin, write-up with pictures from Yakima cross-bar install, things I've found wrong with Moby from the factory... and much more. I just wanted to throw something out there to let all you know I'm still here. OH, and here's a pic of where we are to date:

Just a teaser photo, more to come!

Austin Trip Continued

It's interesting that the idea of how things should be, and the reality/practicality differ. I wanted to add a bed-mounted tool chest to the Tundra. In my mind, there were going to be two levels. On the bottom floor, I was going to mount spare battery on one side and compressor for on-board air on the other. I would have left the top floor for trip appropriate cargo. I had many plans for that tool chest; cool plans, plans that would make Moby ready for auxiliary fuse blocks, 12v outlets, air hook-ups. Plans that did not take into account the fact that Crewmax Tundra's have a 5'6" bed length.
Packing for this weekend took up the entire bed,... WEEKEND!!! NOT WEEK, NOT MONTH, WEEKEND! The reality has set in that if I want to use this truck for trips, I really need to keep all usable bed floor space open. I still need storage. I will still need a spot for spare battery and a place to mount compressor. Enter truck bed drawers. Something like this.
I really like the "Extreme Series". I really do not like the $3000.00+ price. Whenever I had the Tacoma, I  wanted to do one of these. I don't know why I never embraced the idea with Moby but, I have definitely reconsidered after this past weekend's trip to Austin. Once I start on this I'll post pics.
I guess the lesson is: Don't make yourself too rigid to accept the reality of what works best versus what you want.

Maiden Voyage Of Newly Christened Moby The Tundra

I should be going to bed right now. That is the case most nights but, I find myself up after all others have gone to bed. I am up obsessing over what to do with the Tundra. I pour over the websites, read the forums, look at the Google images; all in the pursuit of making my Tundra the best expedition Tundra ever! It kind of reminds me of one of my favorite book/movie, "Moby Dick".
I remember watching John Huston's Moby Dick made in 1956. You get to see all the characters pretty quick into the movie, except Captain Ahab. He's too busy in his cabin studying his charts, poring over all the information accumulated from years of research to make sure he does what he can to catch his quarry. The only hint of him was the sound of his peg-legged walk on the deck at night. Reminds me of my footsteps across the tile, as I make my way to the fridge to refill my tea before I go back to the PC and pour over my whaling charts and er, I mean web pages and forums.
If you haven't figured it out by now, I have decided to name the truck "Moby". Partly because a coworker said the the Crewmax Tundras reminded him of a whale (come on, you know he's right!), and partly because my Tundra has a Captain Ahab. And much like Captain Ahab, I am beckoning you, albeit not from a watery grave of entangled harpoon lines strapped to a white whale, but from my desk chair, in front of my pc, to join me,...

AHOY!!! First family trip with Moby has occurred! We packed up the kids and went to Austin, TX from Houston, TX. I know, not much of an expedition but, any time you travel with kids over an hour, it's an adventure. I really appreciate all the room in the back seat of the Crewmax Tundras and thank God for Nintendo DS's!

Cabin-wise for the trip, no complaints from me, not the same sentiments from the wife. Not that she had any issues with Moby himself, but with the laptop desk that attaches to the passenger seat.
I use my truck for work and being an IT guy have added a "Jotto Desk" fixed laptop mount for Moby. If you are in the vehicle, just by yourself it works out great. If you are in the vehicle with a passenger, not so great. The problem is with the design of the screws that allow you to adjust the tension on the various arms. The end of these screws are long handles that stick out at various angles and poke things like; your wife's knees, your wife's legs, your wife's feet when she crosses her legs, your Chik-Fil-A Styrofoam (didn't know Styrofoam had to be capitalized did ya? It's trademarked!) cup full of sugary, sticky sweet tea as the wife madly swings Jotto Desk out of the way.
Yeah if you are looking for a good laptop desk and care nothing of your passenger's comfort the Jotto Desk is great. An alternative, which i may try sooner than later, is the Ram-Mount laptop desk. It has no arms that stick out, just leg, knee, foot and Styrofoam cup friendly rounded knobs.
We'll cover more on the trip and truck later but for now, Ahab needs to hit the rack.