Just thought we would share with you some of the ideas and work we carried out on our Hilux KUN26 (mainly over lock-down!).
So the idea was to de-chrome our original KUN26 2010 Invincible, but prior to that we had to do some essentials!
The Front
The front end was getting a little tired looking, even on what we feel is a relatively new truck! So it was out with old, in with new.
- Out came the steering knuckles and hubs which were refurbished
- The chassis, anti-roll bar, wishbones and all associated parts were all rubbed back and freshly painted
- New brake disc backing plate fitted (again, surprising how rusty they had become).
- Calipers rebuilt and painted RoughTrax Orange, we like orange :-)
- Removed all the old suspension parts and replaced them with our Lift Lit - LK006BUILT, using RoughTrax Pedders front struts. Again we painted all these parts black to give the effect.
The Rear
As for the rear end, the springs were good so we just added a set of RoughTrax
lifted rear shackles and a pair of
Pedders rear shocks (painted black of course!). At this stage we also removed the entire canopy and rear bed, rubbed back the chassis and lubricated every bolt, pipe and fitting. Mainly in case we need to change anything in later years. We also found the fuel filler pipe about to corrode through. It’s hard to see behind the plastic splash guard, but we added a new one.
Then she was treated to a full chassis black paint job!
With all this work done it was time for the cool stuff:
- Off came the rear bumper and side bars which were treated to a nice coat of Satin Black Powder coating
- Then the wheel rims (we have the later 2011 -> rims on our truck) again, off to the Powder coaters for more Satin black (see before and after below)
- Front Grille and mirrors, originally Chrome, all came off and were re-sprayed Satin Black
- Door handles, we did contemplate painting them but as they're in constant use we went for a full set of Genuine Toyota handles from the more basic HL2 models
- The Toyota badges were a bit of a pain, many of you know these really don’t come off so the small ones were painted, as for the larger ones – we had a brain wave and used headlight tint film – worked really well and just took your eyes off the Chrome!
- Headlamps and small side lamps repeaters all had the tint film applied
- Back underneath, she had the full Sheriff Sump Guard protection system (now that she sits higher you can see the sump guard easier) again we gave this another coat of black paint prior to fitting.
- New black front Drilled & Grooved discs and Genuine brake pads went in.
- Next the Snorkel was fitted. A new product to RoughTrax which we think has worked well to help create the overall effect. We had planned on changing the arches for the aggressive bolt on style, but these haven’t arrived yet for our year.
- Finally, a good clean then a beer!!
So, there we have it, one original Toyota 2010 Invincible given the RoughTrax 'Black Stealth' make-over – we love it!
