Local Legend Don't Call It An S10

[the bodj]

Couple of trips ago I pulled over to take a leak, 2 miles into the trail. Opened my door and it nearly fell off. Somehow the upper hinge pin had fallen out. Luckily, Mr. Rouse gladly let me borrow some hardware to work for the rest of the trip... and two more after lol.



The wind noise from the door no longer sealing was annoying, so I finally ordered a new pin and got it on. Big update on this thing, huh?



I have an entire new fuse set that I'm going to put in the truck that lights up when they've popped. Aside from that, going to do an oil change and nut n bolt check before going to Pismo this weekend.

 

[85Yota]

Nice. I got a 97 Silverado and hinge rebuild kit to do the same on that truck.

 

[UR_Mawm69]

thats some "book of the Piece" type shit. haha

before your legit fix. haha

 

[the bodj]

Pismo for a quick weekend trip was a blast. Got up there Sunday morning with @Exploder_M and met up with some friends who got there the day before. Stayed the night and headed back late morning on Monday.

 

[badlinesgoodtimes]

rad! dunes are always such a good time

 

[the bodj]

rad! dunes are always such a good time

This was my first trip aside from random dunes found in the desert. It was a good time! Terrifying, but fun! I can't imagine the cajones on the guys sending it at Huckfest back in the day.

 

[85Yota]

Yes the dunes are fun when you know them. They have a lot of razor backs and drop offs. Always run the dunes towards the ocean since the other way has steep drop offs because the wind

 

[Kellyex1450]

Pismo is super fun. I'm gonna be really pissed if they close it.

 

[4xFoorOffroad]

Yes the dunes are fun when you know them. They have a lot of razor backs and drop offs. Always run the dunes towards the ocean since the other way has steep drop offs because the wind

The one time I went there to drive around a guy we met up with drove down a steep drop off and fortunately just blew a bead. His spare was buried under the truck. Rather than dig out the spare, we managed to pop it back on down in the bowl he drove into with a ratchet strap and jacking the lower up on a piece of plywood with a bottle jack. Probably took the better part of two hours by the time he got out of it because he still needed to be yanked out of the bowl after.

 

[FasterNU]

Pismo is super fun. I'm gonna be really pissed if they close it.

Looks like FOOD won a lawsuit recently. Should stay open. For now. hahah

https://appellatecases.courtinfo.ca...wLSEnTkw8W0BJSCJNWE5IMEQ6USxXICJeIzNSMCAgCg==

https://www.instagram.com/friendsofoceanodunes/p/DHmM67TSW5H/

 

[85Yota]

I foresee the dunes not fully closing but them restricting it so much that it's essentially closed. Just like I see them not banning internal combustion automobiles but making it where gas is so expensive it's not smart to drive a gas/diesel vehicle anymore.

Nice planning on the crew cab for the growing family.

 

[the bodj]

Got a fire lit under my butt to do some updates to the truck. I haven't really touched it since the initial build, aside from the motor swap, which it's been two years since I completed.

Things to do:
- Bought new manifold gaskets, new V band so I can cut off/weld on a new one on the passenger manifold. I cooked it when I initially welded so it's warped and leaks lol
- Adding catalytic converters. The exhaust smell is a lot on long drives, especially now that I'll have my son riding along in the future. It's a stock 6L, so I doubt I'll feel much of a performance loss.
- Maybe modify the exhaust so I can finally get a front driveshaft made
- Add door bars. I've always felt confident in the cage rolling side to side, but am sketched out fore and aft. I don't have door bars or tubes from the top of the cab to bedcage, which I feel add a lot of strength in that scenario.
- Rewire all accessories: I did everything very hastily with red and black wires, so it's a terrible mess of spaghetti under the center console leading to an amazon switch panel. Replacing it with an 8 gang AUXBEAM unit and dedicated wire colors for each circuit. Also, proper, insulated pass through into the cab for the wiring. Not worth burning the truck down because a stupid 12v wire chaffed. 3D printed a nice bezel for the AUXBEAM. Thinking about also 3D printing a dome light. Idk.
- Bed area paneling/built in storage. Aesthetically, there's too much open space when looking at the back between the bedcage and fenders. Gonna close it off and add storage compartments to get stuff out of the cab.
- @Exploder_M has my skidplate out for polishing
- Finish designing/build dual swing steering
- I need to order uniballs for the beam pivots. I think I heard the stack heights with misalignments are odd to fit in the pivots. Does anyone know what size uniball/stack height is needed for D35 beams?


Things done since last post:
- Paint fiberglass with color matched rattlecan. Looks better than before
- Displayed in the BLGT Offroad Expo booth
- Mostly empty the interior for cleaning and in prep for rewiring.
- Cinched down the cords under the PRP seats/replaced broken cords with paracord. Hopefully this keeps me from sagging too low and curving my back on long drives.
- Rebuilt passenger front bumpstop

 

[the bodj]

Here’s the printed bezel. Turned out perfect. A little tall, but only .10” taller than the height of the auxbeam unit itself. The auxbeam is an absolute perfect snug fit with screw holes on the backside to secure it (not really needed with the press fit), and a few small screws through the old switch panel holes from the backside to secure the bezel to the center console. Printed out of purple (my favorite color) PLA as a test that I’m gonna run until the PLA warps and falls apart. Looks link in pictures lol.

 

[Turboyota]

Here’s the printed bezel. Turned out perfect. A little tall, but only .10” taller than the height of the auxbeam unit itself. The auxbeam is an absolute perfect snug fit with screw holes on the backside to secure it (not really needed with the press fit), and a few small screws through the old switch panel holes from the backside to secure the bezel to the center console. Printed out of purple (my favorite color) PLA as a test that I’m gonna run until the PLA warps and falls apart. Looks link in pictures lol.

@badlinesgoodtimes is gonna be sooooo jealous of your purple game

 

[SByota]

Looks awesome!

I have that same switch panel, it has been good, zero problems.

 

[UR_Mawm69]

(insert tiiiiiiiiiiitties emoji here)

 

[the bodj]

Radio bezel finished printing after I fell asleep

 

[mounty71]

I don't remember the uniball size but I ordered misalignment spacers from Solo for my D35 beams pivots.

 

[85Yota]

Most Likely they were a 1" uniball since Solo makes them for that size joint for Bronco's as well

 

[the bodj]

Time has been weird. I’m trying to be productive, but it feels like each project is being held up by another project that’s being held up by another…

I got the interior torn apart and all of the old aux wiring I had initially done that was a mess of red and black wires under the center console. Got 97% of the rewiring done and tidied up, but then left for Ohio for the first week of Christmas break to be with my wife’s family. Got back and my wife and baby got the flu/fever + weather was atrocious, so I didn’t touch the Sonoma. I DID, however, get a break in the rain to take the transmission out of my Silverado to rebuild. While it wasn’t raining, it was cold and 40+mph winds, so it was an experience. Very thankful for my dad’s help. We tore the trans apart to find I needed to order a few more parts ($$$). Being the week of New Years, nobody was processing orders so I’ve been waiting for the final bits and pieces. However, because the trans is torn apart in the garage, I don’t really want to do any other projects because it’s already a mess and I don’t want to misplace transmission pieces or get grinding dust on them.





With limited ability to do things, I figured I’d wrap the center console top. Had ChatGPT make me 4 or 5 renderings with different material in different colors (suede, leather, gator skin…), and faux gator skin won. Spray adhesive to cover with 1/4” foam first, then covered with the gator skin.



Mocked up in the truck




It’s wayyy better! So much more comfortable and finished looking. I need to order nicer hardware to hold it down, and I’m deciding if I want to paint the side panels black or cover them with the remaining gator skin.

I was trying to figure out a way to hold the cup holders down, since the metal rim of the console is no longer accessible to adhere to. I have a 3D printer, so…



A screw will clamp it together and it’ll be held in from underneath. Stoked.

Lastly, my good friend @Exploder_M got himself (me) a Christmas present. He loves polished skid plates, and wants to be able to look at my truck and see the plate polished, so he had it done for me. Some Chinese hardware to finish it off. No, I’m not worried about damaging the head and not being able to remove it. I have a welder and grinder.