Sigs' Travel to Camp build

[Sigs]

This is not going to be a really interesting overlander. I'm right outside of Pittsburgh, and it's going to be trips to nowhere big, but I'm just planning on doing a lot more camping than the last few years.

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Truck

2019 TRD Off-Road 4x4 Manual

Day I bought it	Current

Replacing the 2000 4Runner as a trip truck, but I'm keeping the 4Runner as a beater for work.

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Completed

Exterior

Diamond Back HD Bed cover​

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Engine

OVTune​

Interior

RuffLand Dog Crate (less of a Truck mod than usual, but Rafi doesn't need it outside the truck) link to comment​

Two Channel Dash Cam​

3TPAM​

Safety

Boo Boo Kit​

For most injuries that won't actually cause harm, but are annoying​

IFAK​

Mounted Fire Extinguisher​

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Upcoming

1. Bed Molle System (probably be doing Cali Raised LED)
   1. Thinking Passenger Half to start
   2. Seems useful to be able to mount a few recovery tools in the back
   3. Along with allowing me to tie a tool kit to there, maybe some of the dog's stuff so I can't forget a food bowl for him again

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Priorities / Philosophy

1. Safety
   1. Need First Aide kits
      1. Might as well carry enough for 4 people and some extra for the dog
   2. Small toolbox to fix the truck
   3. Need to assume something bad will happen in the middle of nowhere, and I will have to get myself back
      1. This is an obvious one, and should be top priority for everybody
2. Change next to nothing behind the engine
   1. I've seen that Toyota knows what they're doing with engines, so I'm changing very little there
   2. My old truck was a 2000 4Runner that I bought used in 2009, currently has 260k miles. Engine runs fine, but is entirely rusted and won't pass any Pittsburgh mechanics
   3. My Dad still has his '86 4Runner as a woods truck, since the frame is mostly welded together anymore
3. Able to travel, and camp. Also, means bringing my dog
   1. This is why I bought the truck, so it needs to be comfortable for me to spend time in
   2. The hyperactive German Shepherd (Rafi) came later, he chases cars when in free in a car, and will slobber enough to get spit on the windshield
      1. Keeping him in a crate his needed, and keeps him fairly calm in the back
   3. Possibly working on the road, thanks to COVID making my company realize how great it is for most employees working remotely
4. Able to handle some off-roading, but nothing huge
   1. I mean, everybody knows how fun this is. I'm not planning on conquering some giant Rocky Mountain trails, but I want to be capable to get away from people

 

[Sigs]

Ruffland Dog Kennel

My dog needs to be in a crate when we drive very far, otherwise he gets overly excited; as in chases down cars as the pass (in the truck), gets spit everywhere, and is smart enough to put the windows down in the back seat.

I bought this Kennel for him a while ago. It worked, but I was never really happy with how I was mounting it. If I didn't get it just right, it could move, I had to wrap it around the door twice which didn't allow me to tighten it enough, it was looped to a hook on the bottom rear seats, and I added eye hooks in it bu they were never great.

While I was at my parents house for a few days over the holidays, I was messing with it. I removed the bottom of the rear seats, since nobody is sitting in the back with Rafi's crate back there anyway. Dad has a TIG welder, which means some spare metal around that I can take. I grabbed two small hinges, and drilled a hole for the 14mm bolt and one big enough for a tie-down hook.

Put the OEM bolt back, since the metal is about 1/8", I don't need to worry about too large of bolts. The old ones are plenty tough enough to take the weight.

Simple and stupid, but works much better already. Plus, I can cut off a few feet of the tie-downs to remove make them easier to deal with, and the kennel feels much more secure than the old way.

 

[Sigs]

Bought a Christmas present for myself, and got it installed this week (ignore the extra dusty truck):


3TPAM, which is already awesome. I drove about 150 miles today, and got to hook up the iPad to it. So much nicer to have Google Maps hooked up on a nice giant screen. The 3TPAM holds it solidly, and I was able to wrap the cord around the Ram mount to keep it out of the way for charging.

Honestly, I'm realizing the phone holder isn't going to be nearly as useful. I usually have the phone charging on the wireless charger, but it might be useful around the city, if I find myself unexpectedly lost.

 

[OzarkLander]

Bought a Christmas present for myself, and got it installed this week (ignore the extra dusty truck):


3TPAM, which is already awesome. I drove about 150 miles today, and got to hook up the iPad to it. So much nicer to have Google Maps hooked up on a nice giant screen. The 3TPAM holds it solidly, and I was able to wrap the cord around the Ram mount to keep it out of the way for charging.

Honestly, I'm realizing the phone holder isn't going to be nearly as useful. I usually have the phone charging on the wireless charger, but it might be useful around the city, if I find myself unexpectedly lost.

I honestly didn’t know anyone used the wireless charger in these things.

 

[Sigs]

I honestly didn’t know anyone used the wireless charger in these things.

My Pixel 3XL is awful. If I don't keep it charged while I use it's bluetooth, it'll die in 4 hours. The wireless charging is enough to slow charge it, so it works. Plus, with the stick shift, I've caught the usb cord enough to not want that around

 

[NVTaco]

For your rear seat, check out Goose-Gear's Rear Seat Delete setup: Tacoma Double Cab 2nd Row Seat Delete for 2nd and 3rd Generations

This is the route I am taking, plus it removes weight and lowers the crates height.

P.S. I think we are using the same moving blanket under the crate!

 

[Sigs]

Cheap, basically disposable harbor freight moving blanket? Yeah, that's definitely my choice for a (sometimes) gross dog hopping into the back seat.

Thanks for the heads up on that Seat Delete. Never head of it before. They don't ship, though, and the only dealer anywhere close to me is 6ish hours... may be building something myself instead.

 

[NVTaco]

Thanks for the heads up on that Seat Delete. Never head of it before. They don't ship, though, and the only dealer anywhere close to me is 6ish hours... may be building something myself instead.

I purchased mine through Aventuron and it will be drop shipped to the nearest Fedex hub, or for $50 more to your front door. I went with the pre-built option due to time/workspace concerns, but I have seen some sweet home built setups.

 

[Sigs]

I did the OVTune a few weeks ago, but never got around to writing it up.

It's a huge mixture of being worth it, but such a pain, and the price tag is definitely for R&D than it is for the actual product. I only bought the cable and program (no actual tune). After seeing the price tag for a tune is another $350, and I'm not seeing any proofs as to what it does or how the tune was validated; I don't plan on buying it.

In the end, it was definitely worth it for me, because my manual clearly shifts smoother than before. I haven't noticed a huge power difference, but I haven't played with that much.

Luckily, the Tacoma World forums have some good discussion. I was able to grab some numbers from other members about the Primary Throttle Response and the Airload. I'm happy to share my numbers with anybody else is, with the disclaimer "If its great, then tell everybody. If its bad, then its not by fault, and you are the person at fault for downloading the tune and installing"

I just figured out how to Log today, and I'm pretty psyched to play with it when I get more free time. There's a record button, so I'm interested to see if I can get a little route for myself and check out how the graphs change with some of these variables changing around.