Petersons Ultimate Adventure Tundra

HongerVenture

Adventurer
Yep! That's what we were talking about when I heard that Zenith had been closed. At least we can still go explore Pickett State park as of now...........

Really disappointed to hear it's been closed. Loved driving across that old railroad bridge. It was a highlight of visiting Big South Fork for us.
 

01tundra

Explorer
Really disappointed to hear it's been closed. Loved driving across that old railroad bridge. It was a highlight of visiting Big South Fork for us.

Man that bridge used to make me nervous, especially while driving my heavy junk across it.

It is definitely some beautiful scenery out there, wish those stupid beetles would quit destroying all the pine trees though. The last time we were up there we stayed in Bandy Creek campground and rode mountain bikes for three days, the trees were literally falling around us in the woods.....kind of scary :Wow1:!
 

boellis87

Observer
Ha ha, yeah the bridge always looked old and rusty, but it used to hold up a train and I bet it still would. My dad has told me about times they crossed it when there was no side railing and only two narrow strips laid across the ties for your tires. I'd say it was pretty sketchy feeling up there with no rails.

It's a beautiful view of the gorge from that vantage point. Last I knew, you could still drive a vehicle to the bridge from the Oneida side, so at least you could experience that part still.

Yeah those beetles did a major number on the pines around here. Don't think that's really a problem anymore though, I think they ran out of trees lol. It's weird how they killed them so fast and the trees didn't take long at all to rot enough to fall, but you can still see piles of them tangled up on the ground here and there refusing to finish the process. They were truly dangerous for a long time because the tops liked to fall out of them before the whole tree fell, especially in the wind.

The first winter right after the beetles came through brought a pretty big snow--we counted somewhere close to 75 trees down within sight of our house, most of which were criss-crossed over our yard. We literally climbed our way to my grandparents' house where there was a generator. We had no power for eight days. Of course, being young, I thought it was all a big adventure at the time.
 
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01tundra

Explorer
Just completed a few cooling upgrades / changes. Two main driving forces was to get my trans temp sensor relocated from the discharge line going to the cooler to the pan, the other was to eliminate the factory in-radiator trans cooler that I've read too many horror stories about rupturing.

I already had a Long's Tru-Cool 14k GVW cooler downstream of the factory cooler in the radiator, so I added a 21k GVW Tru-Cool with an aux. fan controlled by both an in-line t-stat and manual override switch on my dash and ditched the factory in-radiator cooler all together.

Now have the trans temp sensor installed in the pan, the temp stays between 125F and 150F on a 90F day.


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Also got the new Mishimoto radiator installed, it dropped right in with no modifications needed. I decided to use the 14k GVW cooler I had removed, since it was just laying under my work bench. My fluid now leaves the trans, flow through the 14k GVW cooler, then through the 21k GVW cooler, then through a Magnifine filter before returning to the transmission pan. I have the aux. fan on the 21k GVW cooler and it's wired to a manual switch on my dash and also is operated by an in-line thermostat located on the line leaving the transmission, prior to entering the first cooler. The t-stat is preset for on and 180F and off at 170F. I wired it like this so I can stay ahead of the game while off-road and override the t-stat with my dash switch.

Also converted over to the pre-mixed pink Toyota coolant while I was at it.


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01tundra

Explorer
Well......I found out the hard way last weekend during the GSMTR event that I didn't allow for enough space between the trans temp sensor and skid plate........soooo......I had the pleasure of removing the new pan and putting my original pan back on :rolleyes:, but this time if something hits the sensor things have gone terribly wrong :)!


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01tundra

Explorer
A little update -

It's been in the upper 90F's for the past week, sometimes it's been close to 100F with crazy high humidity.

The engine coolant temp has been running right at 190F consistently, the highest I've been able to get it is 193F, and that was while sitting still at a traffic light with the A/C on full bore.

One thing I've noticed with the larger, all aluminum radiator is that once I shut the engine down it seems to cool off a lot quicker than it did with the stock radiator.

The transmission pan temp stays around 145F - 150F consistently, I've yet to see it get over 150F (not towing) and I've only heard the aux. fan come on one time by its self (meaning the leaving temp from the converter reached 180F) and that was while climbing up my steep gravel driveway.
 

01tundra

Explorer
Oh, and what about your '08? building it up or STOCK? cant imagine

So far, it's just used when we go on camping trips that involve no off-road........but an ARB in the rear and some KM2's are a probability in the near future :)!

I did grab another Engel Posi-Fit plug from Wil to put in it, so now the Engel is easily swapped between the two trucks......that officially started the downward spiral since it was officially the 1st "mod" I've really done to the '08.......


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01tundra

Explorer
Well, after 2 yrs my Hushpower HP-2 muffler had lost most of its "hush" and was starting to get on my nerves. So I decided to go to the opposite end of the spectrum and see just how quiet I could make the old Tundra.

I opted for a Spintech #8331 muffler and decided to also put a resonator back on it, so I went with a Vibrant #1140 Ultra Quiet.

Now I can roll down the road with the back window open and actually hear my ring gear running.......talk about stealth mode! Of course, the Vibrant resonator only came in bling chrome finish.......that didn't quite match the motif, so I took the high-temp rattle can to it all :D!


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