Projects from oldest to newest
Seat tilt cables
Well after almost killing the guy behind the dealers parts counter I cooled down & thought about it logically. The dealer wanted $741 for the parts to fix my seats so that it would it would tilt again & slide forward to allow access for passengers to the back seat (extended cab). The handles are connected to the recliner rachet by way of small cables which were broken & the only way they sell the cables is with the entire recliner assembly. Well after taking it apart & seeing what had actually broke I took a trip down to Ace hardware & picked up 2 replacement brake cables for a bicycle, the type with a cast end on both ends & some little tiny cable ferrules. These cables have the same cast end as what is in the seat & since each cable has 2 ends on it & is like 5 ft long I cut them in half & now had 4 2 or so foot cables. I removed the recliner assemblies, removed the broken cables from the recliner assemblies & inserted the bike cables, just the cable wire itself & discarded the sheathing. They fit perfectly, I then added some nylon guides & crimped the cables with the ferrules around the studs that the original cables went.
The repair works perfectly!
Cost of parts from dealer $741
Cost of stuff from Ace about $8
Being able to fly the bird when I pass the dealer knowing that I saved $733===== PRICELESS!!!
I just thought I would share that with you all.
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Keyless entry
When I got my truck I sent for the build sheet as many here have & saw that it was equipped with keyless entry but a key fob was not included. I looked on ebay & found the correct one for $14 but then found out that the dealer needed to program the remote which after a call to the dealer the price was like $86 which pissed me off.
I started looking around for an alternative, Bulldog security did a 2 way keyless entry with remote start & it also had a spare channel because it has a button for popping the trunk which being a truck was not needed but I also found a latching relay setup that is an option for Viper alarms & sold separately.
Bottom line is for $100 which is about what it would have cost for the factory key fob I now have keyless entry, remote start & the unused circuit that I added the latching setup to now triggers the relay for my off-road lights. This may seem strange but let me explain, I live in a national forest & there are no street lights with very dense trees so if I hear a noise in front of the house I hit the button & can see all the way up my street from the house & have scarred away may coyotes & 1 bear.
Having the remote start has been so nice, when it snows instead of going out to start the truck to let it warm up & then scraping off the snow & ice. I can start it from the warmth of the house & as long as I remembered to turn on the defroster on high the night before, after a few mins of running I can go up & slide the snow/ice off of the windshield & hood in 1-2 pushes.
Cost was the same as the dealer but the added features are a big bonus!
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Diamond plate rocker panels
This one is pretty self explanatory, clean rockers, decide on alignment points, peel off 3M adhesive backed panels & apply. Except I also added aluminum rivets at each corner of each panel just because I trust mechanical fasteners more than double sided tape.
Before
After
