Build seems like a strong word...it's more of a continuous fiddling thread where I keep making small changes to my truck plus ADVENTURE THREAD! Anyway, here is my bitch the day I got her:
8 miles on the ODO special ordered and after 2 months of waiting back on July 7 2017. Dealer told me it was the only one on the west coast with this configuration. Maybe that's true. Everytime I see another blue DCSB I wave though. She was just a basic TRD OR DCSB Manual Trans with the factory roof racks. Nothing else, no stupid rigid mud flaps, no stock floor mats of any kind. In hind-sight...I should have got the tech package and the moonroof but whatever.
Hey! Here she is 48 hours later!
Buried up to her axles in sucking clay mud in the vacant lot next to my house. Less than 100 feet from my garage. I got sidetracked on my way home from picking up my daughter from school. I tried using the winch on my CJ5 to pull her out...but that just resulted in my almost pulling the Jeep into the mud too. Had to have my friend with a Gen2 haul me out. My youngest daughter, who was 8 at the time. Was not happy with me. She's a very judgemental child.
Freaking quickmud...on the upside I think the divots I left have kept the lot from selling so that's cool.
So the first "mod" I did was to bed liner the braces (holds up better than plastidip I think) and repainted the Toyota symbol...although I knew that was temporary.
Did the usual summer trips, mostly canoe oriented. Got some wood at Lowes and was happy to be able to throw it in the back instead of on the roof racks of my other vehicles:
Yeah, I took a picture of it...I should probably mention at this point that this is not my first 4x4 or my first Toyota but it is my first proper pickup. Years of hauling utility trailers came to an end (mostly) right around here and I felt pretty good about it.
I also went on a bit of a bolt-on shopping spree at this point. I'll provide links but note they aren't affiliate links or anything. This is just the stuff I bought:
Tow strap! (When you say it outloud people think you are saying Toaster App and they want to know why you need an app for your toaster)
Hood tie-down loops. These are very helpful for the canoe. There are no good tie-down spots on the all plastic front end.
Back seat waterproof cover, designed for dogs but also useful for slob children...like mine.
Silicone wedding rings, because the volume knobs on these trucks are terrible. I kept accidentally hitting the touchscreen
Vehicle OCD organizers, there might be cheaper alternatives on the market now I think but I like that this was sorta giving back to the community.
Cheap, shitty seat covers. They do the job well enough and I don't feel bad if I destroy them. I can't get myself to pay $300 for the nice ones. Also I'd probably have to get divorced if I did that
Magnetic phone mount, don't buy this for the truck. No amount of tape will stick to the dash in summer. Just the nature of the material I expect.
Wind deflectors. I'm not sure why I have these, they seem like a thing a lot of people own and they couldn't all be buying them for no reason...right? I don't know. They seem to keep the washer fluid off my arm when I'm driving. They were $10 cheaper when I bought them.
Dog restraints, note: they will not hold up to 70+ lb. dogs. The plastic part that adjusts the length failed. Still sorta works though. At least neither of the dogs have made it out the window
Dashcam, because people drive terrible and it makes for entertaining Youtube videos.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B072FGL63X/?tag=tacoma3g-20
Bendable rubber mudflaps. I'm not 100% happy with these, anything that is a "universal fit" never fits all that well. They serve their purpose though. I should do some more mods to make them work better
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002NIJS0/?tag=tacoma3g-20
Inflatable mattress for the back seat, I'll be honest, I havn't tried this yet. The blower that came with it fell apart though.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N7MZ3YO/?tag=tacoma3g-20
Motherfucking ROTOBEAM! So there is actually a SERIES of long stories with this. The TL;DR version is that one of the ways I was able to convince my wife I needed this truck was because we had an ice storm and we were trapped in the house for 5 days. Turns out the 40 year old Jeep with no heat nor doors was not much help. Anyway, I figured if I was going to use this thing as a rescue vehicle I needed rescue lights (and a new chainsaw, natch). So there, you go. The short version. Long version involves civil war reenacting in a '94 dump truck...
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0091XUAY8/?tag=tacoma3g-20
Husky liners for the front. I have Weathertech in the back. Most reviews that I read said Husky makes better ones for the front and Weathertech for the back but the reviewers didn't understand you can mix and match just fine. They insisted you couldn't mix brands, well to hell with that.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B019YS22MM/?tag=tacoma3g-20
https://www.weathertech.com/toyota/...ma-cab/double-cab/tacoma-transmission/manual/
TRD sticker...oh no wait, that I put on the Sienna
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01B6XZLLC/?tag=tacoma3g-20
Bed header rail, the pictures on Amazon look like they come from a junkyard but it's legit, comes wrapped in plastic and everything.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DWVN9CK/?tag=tacoma3g-20
I also have a TacoNet I like a lot but I can't seem to find it on Amazon anymore, anyway. Where was I? Oh look! More wood!
And camping time! This is at Little Lava Lake on the East slope of the Cascades
So then I started going after the badges, everything came off except the stickers. The front symbol got replaced with something that explains the name. With a 3d print file I got from a nice person on TW (I have since asked to have my account deleted from that toxic cesspool of 3rd gen haters/emoticon lovers) I was able to do this:
And then with a design in hand and assistance from a friend with a laser cutter I made this:
At this point I should probably post a picture of my Jeep, it's relevant. I'm not going into any additional detail though because this is a Taco forum:
Let's just say it's a theme and leave it at that.
Waiting for the 2017 eclipse in Corvallis. Totality was totally worth the early morning drive.
Picked up some Metaltech sliders (constructed by Outpost Offroad) around Labor Day. Picking them up at the shop makes shipping free! The crew there was a bit nutty but very nice. Here the sliders are sitting in my friend's rat infested garage.
First time at the beach! We drove far above the posted speed limit!
Sliders installed, painted (Rustoleum FTW, I keep a can in the door pocket in case touch ups are needed) and all washed clean. They were a bit of a pain to install. Lots of drilling into the frame. Whatever, they were cheap and they keep my doors from getting dinged in the parking lots...that's what they are designed for, right?
Post install pics
I also made some low-rent bed bars. I use them for keeping bikes upright and my cargo carrier:
I will put any free sticker I can find on this thing. I had one about putting Ragan on Mt. Rushmore! It blew off though.
So about this time I figured it was time to go out on the Oregon Dunes (capital D), so I did:
Also, since I hadn't got it stuck recently...seemed like time to do that again too.
I should note I bought one of these after that outing, excellent device and I'm very happy with it:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005ASY23I/?tag=tacoma3g-20
Did you know in Oregon you can get tags to go out in the woods to cut down your own tree for the holidays?
In case you were wondering if you can fit 4 trees in the short bed...yes
Also, did you know you can run lights off the bed plug when you drive?
About this time I started thinking it was time for a winch. I wanted to go hitch mount so I could tow myself OUT of trouble as well as into it so I got myself a front mount hitch.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01B88U426/?tag=tacoma3g-20
I also had some vague idea about plowing snow but there was no snow at all last winter (remember my reasoning about buying the truck? Yeaaaaaaa) You'll note I had sprayed my front hook a lovely shade of orange so I could see it when it was covered in muck. I'm still irritated I had to remove it:
Of course before the end of the weekend this happened:
No weight in the back made for a weird ride. I don't suggest it.
Around this time I got..I don't want to say stuck, lets just say momentarily the truck and I had a difference of opinion about where to go, in the snow way up in the coast range and almost fell off a cliff because of the stupid stupid stock "AT" tires. AT ,my ass. They turn into slicks in wet snow. I have no pictures of that. I do have a video from the dash cam. It's hard to listen to because my wife is screaming the entire time. Screaming wifes are not conducive to getting unstuck.
This is post screaming.
Then spring happened, turns out a half yard of dirt is an easy load:
A full yard of bark chips works well too. Sits below the bed rim if you push it flat. Just bring a tarp.
At this point I'm proud I've resisted the urge to add more Cobra to the TaCobra.
So now we are into summer 2018 camping trips...are you still reading this? Okay. It's mostly just for myself at this point.
So, I had recently installed the VooDoo backup cam switch mod (http://www.kbvoodoo.com/shop/rear-view-camera-anytime-kit-for-2016-tacoma) and my PLAN was to us that as my rearview throw the biks on the front hitch and the canoe on the roof. I got the wife's bike on the front though and realized to totally blocked my view. So I was going to have to put the bikes on the back hitch, well that was going to block the rearview camera so I needed to move the cargo box. The cargo box would not fit on the roof racks with the current mounts on it though...but it turns out I had a drill!
No canoe for this trip. That's fine.
This is on top of Pilot Butte in the middle of Bend, it's a nice spot.
Camping out at Little Cultus Lake. If you go, I suggest a canoe.
I just finally got around to wiring up the winch...last weekend I guess? This was plenty of cable for the front and rear wiring:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01JMNMM8S/?tag=tacoma3g-20
These were some bullshit though:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0129E1KF8/?tag=tacoma3g-20
I ordered two sets from the same company a couple days apart and...they weren't the same thing. One was brand named, the other was not and they would not all fit together. Good for me I have a dremel. Anyway, the winch mount had a long enough neck for the read but not the front so I had to move the license plate up to accommodate it. Here are some just taken images in the dark. You can see the move plate (I'll weld up something more permanent soon) and maybe the plugs? I was very happy with the placement, they are very tucked away. I have my friend Chris to thank for that...and the slider mounting actually.
Front
Rear
And here is my winch/sandbag emergency cart in the car-hole
Winch
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JXS3BXI/?tag=tacoma3g-20
And the last thing is I 3d printed a phone mount I actually like and a cubby replacement switch mount that kinda looks like shit. I'll need to reprint it:
I think that's it. No lift, nor do I want one. I would like to get some tires with actual traction. That would be nice. New bumpers are on my wish list but I don't expect I will get them unless someone hits me and I get an insurance payout to replace the plastic ones. I've really been wanting an overlander tent after watching all of Maxx Powell's videos. I can't get around the $1000 price tag when my ground tents were $30 each. If you havn't noticed by now I'm pretty cheap
Anyway, if you made it this far I hope you enjoyed my build-ish thread/adventure time thread. Geez, that took me 2 hours. Ummmm...peace out I guess?
8 miles on the ODO special ordered and after 2 months of waiting back on July 7 2017. Dealer told me it was the only one on the west coast with this configuration. Maybe that's true. Everytime I see another blue DCSB I wave though. She was just a basic TRD OR DCSB Manual Trans with the factory roof racks. Nothing else, no stupid rigid mud flaps, no stock floor mats of any kind. In hind-sight...I should have got the tech package and the moonroof but whatever.
Hey! Here she is 48 hours later!
Buried up to her axles in sucking clay mud in the vacant lot next to my house. Less than 100 feet from my garage. I got sidetracked on my way home from picking up my daughter from school. I tried using the winch on my CJ5 to pull her out...but that just resulted in my almost pulling the Jeep into the mud too. Had to have my friend with a Gen2 haul me out. My youngest daughter, who was 8 at the time. Was not happy with me. She's a very judgemental child.
Freaking quickmud...on the upside I think the divots I left have kept the lot from selling so that's cool.
So the first "mod" I did was to bed liner the braces (holds up better than plastidip I think) and repainted the Toyota symbol...although I knew that was temporary.
Did the usual summer trips, mostly canoe oriented. Got some wood at Lowes and was happy to be able to throw it in the back instead of on the roof racks of my other vehicles:
Yeah, I took a picture of it...I should probably mention at this point that this is not my first 4x4 or my first Toyota but it is my first proper pickup. Years of hauling utility trailers came to an end (mostly) right around here and I felt pretty good about it.
I also went on a bit of a bolt-on shopping spree at this point. I'll provide links but note they aren't affiliate links or anything. This is just the stuff I bought:
Tow strap! (When you say it outloud people think you are saying Toaster App and they want to know why you need an app for your toaster)
Hood tie-down loops. These are very helpful for the canoe. There are no good tie-down spots on the all plastic front end.
Back seat waterproof cover, designed for dogs but also useful for slob children...like mine.
Silicone wedding rings, because the volume knobs on these trucks are terrible. I kept accidentally hitting the touchscreen
Vehicle OCD organizers, there might be cheaper alternatives on the market now I think but I like that this was sorta giving back to the community.
Cheap, shitty seat covers. They do the job well enough and I don't feel bad if I destroy them. I can't get myself to pay $300 for the nice ones. Also I'd probably have to get divorced if I did that
Magnetic phone mount, don't buy this for the truck. No amount of tape will stick to the dash in summer. Just the nature of the material I expect.
Wind deflectors. I'm not sure why I have these, they seem like a thing a lot of people own and they couldn't all be buying them for no reason...right? I don't know. They seem to keep the washer fluid off my arm when I'm driving. They were $10 cheaper when I bought them.
Dog restraints, note: they will not hold up to 70+ lb. dogs. The plastic part that adjusts the length failed. Still sorta works though. At least neither of the dogs have made it out the window
Dashcam, because people drive terrible and it makes for entertaining Youtube videos.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B072FGL63X/?tag=tacoma3g-20
Bendable rubber mudflaps. I'm not 100% happy with these, anything that is a "universal fit" never fits all that well. They serve their purpose though. I should do some more mods to make them work better
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002NIJS0/?tag=tacoma3g-20
Inflatable mattress for the back seat, I'll be honest, I havn't tried this yet. The blower that came with it fell apart though.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N7MZ3YO/?tag=tacoma3g-20
Motherfucking ROTOBEAM! So there is actually a SERIES of long stories with this. The TL;DR version is that one of the ways I was able to convince my wife I needed this truck was because we had an ice storm and we were trapped in the house for 5 days. Turns out the 40 year old Jeep with no heat nor doors was not much help. Anyway, I figured if I was going to use this thing as a rescue vehicle I needed rescue lights (and a new chainsaw, natch). So there, you go. The short version. Long version involves civil war reenacting in a '94 dump truck...
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0091XUAY8/?tag=tacoma3g-20
Husky liners for the front. I have Weathertech in the back. Most reviews that I read said Husky makes better ones for the front and Weathertech for the back but the reviewers didn't understand you can mix and match just fine. They insisted you couldn't mix brands, well to hell with that.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B019YS22MM/?tag=tacoma3g-20
https://www.weathertech.com/toyota/...ma-cab/double-cab/tacoma-transmission/manual/
TRD sticker...oh no wait, that I put on the Sienna
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01B6XZLLC/?tag=tacoma3g-20
Bed header rail, the pictures on Amazon look like they come from a junkyard but it's legit, comes wrapped in plastic and everything.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DWVN9CK/?tag=tacoma3g-20
I also have a TacoNet I like a lot but I can't seem to find it on Amazon anymore, anyway. Where was I? Oh look! More wood!
And camping time! This is at Little Lava Lake on the East slope of the Cascades
So then I started going after the badges, everything came off except the stickers. The front symbol got replaced with something that explains the name. With a 3d print file I got from a nice person on TW (I have since asked to have my account deleted from that toxic cesspool of 3rd gen haters/emoticon lovers) I was able to do this:
And then with a design in hand and assistance from a friend with a laser cutter I made this:
At this point I should probably post a picture of my Jeep, it's relevant. I'm not going into any additional detail though because this is a Taco forum:
Let's just say it's a theme and leave it at that.
Waiting for the 2017 eclipse in Corvallis. Totality was totally worth the early morning drive.
Picked up some Metaltech sliders (constructed by Outpost Offroad) around Labor Day. Picking them up at the shop makes shipping free! The crew there was a bit nutty but very nice. Here the sliders are sitting in my friend's rat infested garage.
First time at the beach! We drove far above the posted speed limit!
Sliders installed, painted (Rustoleum FTW, I keep a can in the door pocket in case touch ups are needed) and all washed clean. They were a bit of a pain to install. Lots of drilling into the frame. Whatever, they were cheap and they keep my doors from getting dinged in the parking lots...that's what they are designed for, right?
Post install pics
I also made some low-rent bed bars. I use them for keeping bikes upright and my cargo carrier:
I will put any free sticker I can find on this thing. I had one about putting Ragan on Mt. Rushmore! It blew off though.
So about this time I figured it was time to go out on the Oregon Dunes (capital D), so I did:
Also, since I hadn't got it stuck recently...seemed like time to do that again too.
I should note I bought one of these after that outing, excellent device and I'm very happy with it:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005ASY23I/?tag=tacoma3g-20
Did you know in Oregon you can get tags to go out in the woods to cut down your own tree for the holidays?
In case you were wondering if you can fit 4 trees in the short bed...yes
Also, did you know you can run lights off the bed plug when you drive?
About this time I started thinking it was time for a winch. I wanted to go hitch mount so I could tow myself OUT of trouble as well as into it so I got myself a front mount hitch.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01B88U426/?tag=tacoma3g-20
I also had some vague idea about plowing snow but there was no snow at all last winter (remember my reasoning about buying the truck? Yeaaaaaaa) You'll note I had sprayed my front hook a lovely shade of orange so I could see it when it was covered in muck. I'm still irritated I had to remove it:
Of course before the end of the weekend this happened:
No weight in the back made for a weird ride. I don't suggest it.
Around this time I got..I don't want to say stuck, lets just say momentarily the truck and I had a difference of opinion about where to go, in the snow way up in the coast range and almost fell off a cliff because of the stupid stupid stock "AT" tires. AT ,my ass. They turn into slicks in wet snow. I have no pictures of that. I do have a video from the dash cam. It's hard to listen to because my wife is screaming the entire time. Screaming wifes are not conducive to getting unstuck.
This is post screaming.
Then spring happened, turns out a half yard of dirt is an easy load:
A full yard of bark chips works well too. Sits below the bed rim if you push it flat. Just bring a tarp.
At this point I'm proud I've resisted the urge to add more Cobra to the TaCobra.
So now we are into summer 2018 camping trips...are you still reading this? Okay. It's mostly just for myself at this point.
So, I had recently installed the VooDoo backup cam switch mod (http://www.kbvoodoo.com/shop/rear-view-camera-anytime-kit-for-2016-tacoma) and my PLAN was to us that as my rearview throw the biks on the front hitch and the canoe on the roof. I got the wife's bike on the front though and realized to totally blocked my view. So I was going to have to put the bikes on the back hitch, well that was going to block the rearview camera so I needed to move the cargo box. The cargo box would not fit on the roof racks with the current mounts on it though...but it turns out I had a drill!
No canoe for this trip. That's fine.
This is on top of Pilot Butte in the middle of Bend, it's a nice spot.
Camping out at Little Cultus Lake. If you go, I suggest a canoe.
I just finally got around to wiring up the winch...last weekend I guess? This was plenty of cable for the front and rear wiring:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01JMNMM8S/?tag=tacoma3g-20
These were some bullshit though:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0129E1KF8/?tag=tacoma3g-20
I ordered two sets from the same company a couple days apart and...they weren't the same thing. One was brand named, the other was not and they would not all fit together. Good for me I have a dremel. Anyway, the winch mount had a long enough neck for the read but not the front so I had to move the license plate up to accommodate it. Here are some just taken images in the dark. You can see the move plate (I'll weld up something more permanent soon) and maybe the plugs? I was very happy with the placement, they are very tucked away. I have my friend Chris to thank for that...and the slider mounting actually.
Front
Rear
And here is my winch/sandbag emergency cart in the car-hole
Winch
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JXS3BXI/?tag=tacoma3g-20
And the last thing is I 3d printed a phone mount I actually like and a cubby replacement switch mount that kinda looks like shit. I'll need to reprint it:
I think that's it. No lift, nor do I want one. I would like to get some tires with actual traction. That would be nice. New bumpers are on my wish list but I don't expect I will get them unless someone hits me and I get an insurance payout to replace the plastic ones. I've really been wanting an overlander tent after watching all of Maxx Powell's videos. I can't get around the $1000 price tag when my ground tents were $30 each. If you havn't noticed by now I'm pretty cheap
Anyway, if you made it this far I hope you enjoyed my build-ish thread/adventure time thread. Geez, that took me 2 hours. Ummmm...peace out I guess?
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