Toy Day!

[DMAX Daddy]

Well today I put on a Banks Exhaust, Bilstein shocks, Amsoil Air Filter, and an electric tailgate lock.

Banks exhaust fit perfectly. No extra noise except for the louder turbo whine. Directions were great and the kit was perfect. Took about 45 minutes with me and a friend on no lift with about 15 minutes of cussing getting the old one off the hangers.

(Note: I was going to buy JK's exhaust kit but a friend who is retiring from the military let me have the Banks he ordered for his truck for $250. Couldnt pass that deal up.)

Bilsteins - easy to do, the strap that came on the rear shocks helped fit them in. Finding a crows foot to get the 20 NM front torque right added about 20 minutes to a simple project.

Amsoil Air Filter - friend gave me this. I was amazed at the quality of the airbox lid screws. Next time Ill use a phillips head screw driver cause the machining on the flat tip part of the screws was so bad the screw driver (it was the right size) couldn't keep a grip in a very poorly machine flat slot.

Electric Tailgate lock - piece of cake to install except for feeding the wires through the firewall. It went in to replace a Bully Lock which even when locked often didnt work. (Bully wasnt an installation problem, it just didnt work.) Anyway now my tailgate lock operates off the remote, with my Retrax locking the rest of it. Very good lock that works very well.

Time to start looking at gauges and a Juice Box/Powerloader!

[Steve Joneli]

Randy, Let us know how your mods work out for fuel economy.

[Kennedy]

For future reference, the steel "arrowhead" (I call them something different :D ) rods pull out and insert to the rubber hangers much easier with a little WD-40 sprayed on them!

[kanton1]

daddy,

where did you get the tailgate lock? who makes it?

thanks

[DMAX Daddy]

Steve:
Sure thing, wife is out of town on business (hence my purchases ;) ) so I wont get much stick time until she returns next weekend. Until then Im driving a much faster minivan :D

JK:
I remember the WD40 trick but I could not find a can in our shop. Usually you can't swing a dead cat without hitting a case of it!

Kanton:
Pop & Lock makes it. I purchased it at Central 4WD. Very fast service.

Link: http://www.central4wd.com/store/default.asp?ParentID=2349

The ONLY pain about the installation was firewall passage.

Also in the tailgate, it took a few minutes to figure out which holes lined up to make the lock work right. I'd recommend bolting it together outside of the tailgate (like the directions say to) so its easier to figure out which holes you need to line up. It works like a charm!