Andy's 2010 Tacoma

Andy

Andy

Adventurist
Moderator
Founding Member
I guess it's time to start a build thread here, although I'm pretty much done with it :D

Updated March 2020...

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Mods so far:

Armor and stuff:
ARB bumper with 8000lb winch​
Full front bumper to transfer case Budbuilt skids​
All-Pro bolt on sliders​
Pelfreybuilt rear bumper with swing out tire carrier​

Suspension and tires:
OME BP-51 shocks​
OME Dakar HD rear springs​
Cooper ST/Maxx 255-85R16's on stock TRD wheels (bought a spare wheel off ebay)​

Electronics and dodads:
Yeasu FT-7900 dual band Ham w/NMO antenna mount on cab roof​
Tech deck for RAM ball mounts​
Garmin inReach​
Phone mount​
Rigid D2 Hyperspots on front of GFC​
Rigid D2 Driving lights on bumper​
Rigid Dually ditch lights on hood hinge mounts​
Baja designs S2 backup lights in rear bumper​
​
Power:
Odyssey group 34R house battery
CTEK D250 DC-DC charger​
2x 50 watt renege solar panels on GFC roof​
​
Living:
Go Fast Camper​
ARB 47L fridge-freezer​
​
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The bed has been a project in fits and starts. Origionally I had a diamond plate tool box full of recovery gear and I slept in the back and all was good. Then I started hanging out with you guys and had to upgrade.

The All Pro expedition rack has been great so far. No issues but if I did it again I would go with the aluminum version to save weight. I just drilled holes in the rack where needed to mount the shovel and high lift.

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I installed a Blue sea fuse panel in the driver side storage cubby. A piece of 3/8 plexi serves as the panel mount, with a 12 volt blue sea outlet and a 12 volt powerlet constant hot mounted in it. The power for the back up LED's and the bed light LED's are run through a powerpole plug. The red switch on the left is for the overhead LED's. They are a cheap set from Wal-mart I epoxied in place and do a nice job of illuminating my tailgate/kitchen.

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The jerry can rack was made by my neighbor and I when I lived in San Clemente. And by that I mean it was my idea, I bought the steel and beer, then he did all the work while I drank the beer. I'm an engineer, not a welder :) I installed 4 simple ring tie downs in the bed sides with big fender washers as backing plates.

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05tacoMedic said:
Looking great! Keep us updated. Love that Jerry Can rack.
Click to expand...

Thanks! Took us a week to do and works great! It's a pain to get the cans out when full but I just use a siphon on fuel. Would love to get an electric pump wired to use with the water jugs, but that's in the future. Next step will be a lid on the center basket with a lock.

Not much getting done in the next few months, deploying soon...
 
Yep, looking good. Better to have a bit of a hassle getting those out than have them fly out by themselves.
 
So, I'm back from my Asian expedition and time to do some maintenance and projects on the truck. First up was making it run. My friend who was supposed to run it occasionally didn't so both batteries were completely flat. I jumped it off my bike battery and got it running but the auxiliary wouldn't charge, even on a two hour drive to LA area. I picked up a 15 amp smart charger and left it sitting overnight and today it's back to full capacity. Unfortunately the starting battery has a steady state voltage of 12.4 now, so it has lost some capacity. Should have just put them on a trickle charger but too late now. The bigger question is what is sucking that much power when the truck is off? That will require more diagnosis...
 
Next up, new front brakes. I went with powerstop drilled and slotted brakes with Z36 extra power brake pads. Why? They had a deal on them.

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Installation was easy. The old disks are going to be turned into bases for target stands :rifle

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- - - Updated - - -

Now for a lube order, oil change, tightening bolts, checking wiring etc. but that's boring, so I threw my shooting gear in and went out for some fun instead!

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Goal Zero is closing out the Boulder 15 panels so I picked up 2 more cheap ($80 for both). I cut some angle to fit the panels and some flat bar to use magnets on for attachment and my new power setup is 95% complete.

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The new setup goes between the NMO mounts for the 2meter and CB antenna

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Why 95% complete? Because these panels are V2 and me existing setup is V1. This means the new panels use a larger connector than my existing setup so I'm waiting on an adapter.
 
This week I finished hooking up the solar cells and remounted some electronics in the cab. The battery monitor, ham mike and scan gauge all found new homes to reduce clutter and unblock the instrument panel. I finally got sick of being unable to see the cruise indicator and the tire pressure warning light.

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Unfortunately I can now see my primary battery is not holding a full charge. 12.2 resting volts is not good enough.
 
I wanted more down-road illumination for the dirt roads coming home from work. I decided to put in a pair of Rigid D2 Hyperspots. The install took about 2 hours including removing the old KC's and all of the associated wiring. Mounting up the lights was easy but the wiring gave me fits until I found the easy solution.

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I ran the wire for the switch included with the lights into the cab but it was too short to use where I wanted. I decided I would wire the relay to the factory fog light circuit like I had for the old lights. I pulled up the directions for the fog light always mod on Tacoma world and got it set up. Then I had an epiphany: the Rigid LEDs draw less amps than the KC lights did, and less than the factory fog lights. So, I spliced-soldered-heat shrink the Rigid connectors in place of the fog light connectors and used the complete stock wiring. Looks cleaner and is good for 10 amps and I'm only drawing 3.

Next up will be widening my light pattern with some outboard lights.
 
Took a risk on a set of OPT-7 lights on Amazon for $50. Chinese knock offs but have a good rating. I made some light tabs using some bar stock I had left over from a target stand I made a few weeks ago. The tabs are welded (poorly) onto the solar panel mount on my roof and wired to a switch on my center console.

Unfortunately they are spot beam instead of flood like I need. I guess they will be replaced by a set of rigid 60 degree patterns to provide outboard illumination and might move to backup light duty.
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Overall not bad lights for the money. About equal to my stock high beams in distance. No switch included in the set I bought but that is an option. The lights come with a set of waterproof connectors you need to crimp on to whatever harness you use. They seem well made but only time will tell...
 
New tires going on now. The BFG KM/2's were down to 5/32 tread (just over 25%) but still balance fine. 53,000 miles will do that! I can't believe I got that much out of them. Rotate and balance every 5k works.
 
My brakes have been sucking still so more upgrades were in order. I picked up a set of extended braided stainless lines from Wheelers Off Road. The install was fairly easy:

Driver Front: 30 minutes
Passenger Front: 10 minutes
Driver Rear: 10 minutes
Passenger Rear: 4 hours...

Not sure why but the key holes in the bracket for the rear lines is smaller on the passenger side so the lines wouldn't fit the bracket. I had to get underneath with a hand file and clearance an extra 1/8 inch plus so the line would fit into the bracket (top and bottom). If I had a working dremel tool this would have been a 15 minute fix, but nothing is ever easy...

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New lines are on and bled but my soft pedal feel continues. Still stops fine but the first half of the pedal travel does very little, as if the power assist is not there. Next step is to take it in and have someone use the factory tool to bleed the ABS system.
 
Took some photos of some small things.

I added some small pieces of L track in the bed for tied own points away from the bed sides. These are a test to see if they fit in the corrugations in the bed (they do, perfectly). Eventually I will put a pair of 4 foot sections in to replace these 2 small pieces. Available here:

http://www.uscargocontrol.com/Ratchet-Straps-Tie-Downs/L-Track-Tie-Down-Rails

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Also in the picture I mounted a fire extinguisher on the wheel well using giant quick fists.

Next I installed a Slee off-road offset fair lead. If you noticed your hawse fairlead doesn't line up with the cut out in your ARB bumper, this is the fix!

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Last, while normal stickers add 10 HP each, this one adds 10 watts of transmission power!

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Available here: www.t4decals.com
 
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