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Well, it's as done as it's gonna get before my CANVAZ trip this weekend. I will eventually put some plate up top and some additional brackets under the quarter panel for support. I've been pretty pleased with the cuts. My AZ flag apparently had some hidden lines that got cut, but I went with it. Cheapo MicTuning lights off Amazon are wired to the reverse lights...and make the OE bulbs look like garbage. I also made a new missing link and mid skid... Super pleased with the results. It slides on/off just like the front skid, and now all the hardware is matched for a single socket. ... I know this thread started off for front bumper brackets, but I've come a lot farther than expected. I'm still planning to go through with the front brackets for those interested, but still need another week or so to finalize a few things and put some numbers to things. I'm absolutely exploring options to make skids and missing link available, too. Stay tuned!

If you’re replacing OE bushings with OE-style replacements, just buy new links. Only go through the process of cutting them out if you’re replacing them with poly bushings, and go for the 2-piece bushings for a little more simplicity.

So I bought this fridge on Amazon the other week for $390. It's the same item as the $700 Smittybilt Arctic Fridge, but surprisingly with much better reviews. I put it through some extended runs and a few food trips, and it's been really good so far. Gets down to temps quickly, seems well built, but we'll see how it's maiden real trip goes this weekend. I started making some modifications to the cargo rack to accommodate it... ...but I was sorely disappointed when I discovered that the liftgate won't clear the fridge. Contact point is the lift strut bracket. Sucks because I already had the rack out of the truck and presumed it would clear given that the top of the fridge didn't exceed the top of the rack. Perhaps it would fit if I didn't use the rail I had just made for it and slid it over the inch or so, or maybe if I remove the strut and bracket and just not use the glass, but it's pretty close to the glass and I don't feel like chancing it. Time was really short this weekend and couldn't troubleshoot further, so I abandoned this project and moved on. I'll still be able to take the fridge on my trip, but it'll have to sit on one of the seats folded down. I'm already considering a v2 of this project that would lower that shelf to the same as the lower shelf (might have to raise it a little to clear the passenger wheel well hump), which would allow it to clear. Since I still needed a constant 12V socket, I got this part of the electrical done:

Went wheeling and stumbled on a nice hard track, steep and big rocks off camber. Running on my 31s I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to make it but the old girl crawled right up it with minor wheel spin and not much complaint. Heard a very odd noise come out from the truck which I want able to track down getting out if the truck. No leaks aside from a bit of water that seemingly came out of the overflow tube. Whine stopped suddenly and never came back through the rest of the trail and driving through town. My best thought is power steering since my custom line is quite finicky (modified a few parts to fit against the frame with a vg33 swap). Planning to look under the truck tomorrow and double check everything but no leaks, oils fine and water is fine with no over heats. Two projects coming up this week, number 1 is to make a skid plate for the oil pan so I can stop stressing while crawling over larger rocks. Number 2 is to make a fold down table on the tire carrier so I can grill while on a trip this next coming Thursday. One week to do both.

Yeah those really light it up! I want to get white also and have the color in the glove box for when I’m in the woods. Thanks man Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

PS, don't mind the nasty fabric. Previous owner is responsible. Really need to clean it, but I can't really justify effort on seats with cigarette holes and foam coming out...

OK, so the LED's I used for my map lights and dome lights are by Yorkim and are extremely bright in my 4Runner, my QX4, my dad's Tacoma, and my mom's Escape. Highly recommend them. Can't say for sure about superbrightleds, however I have been very happy with their bulbs in other applications. Unlike many cheaper bulbs, I haven't had any bad ones from either of these companies. This pic is taken with all interior LED lights on from the backseat, as you can see, you can see! Very well in fact! It's almost annoyingly bright, haha. Stock I could hardly read a map, now I could just about do surgery (if you're crazy enough to let my meathooks on ya!).

They do generally cost more than that, but not unreasonable. Of the orders I've done so far, I'd say $1.75 is a fair estimate of the average per LED. Comes with neat-o stickers too, for those horsepower gains. I would suggest red, I'm planning to swap one of my map lights to red (one still white for when I REALLY want to see). From what I've read, red doesn't hurt your night vision, hence why many headlamps and flashlights have a red light mode. I have pics of either my QX4 or 4Runner from the outside at night with LED's somewhere, but it'll be easier to just go take a new one than to find those, as well as some from the inside to give you an idea of how much you can see. It's a drastic improvement. I hope I see similar results with the bulbs in my climate controls, as the orange bulbs that come stock from Toyota really suck... The map and light bulbs I used were actually by another company now that I think of it, I'll try to track down who that is exactly via my Amazon history. I haven't used superbrightleds for anything significant yet, but for what I have used them for I've been pleased.