Some pictures from a new member :)

I have been reading this forum for many hours since I found it about a month ago when I was looking for information on a 3" lift and I must say there is a ton of information on here and now you guys got me addicted to this site!

Finally I decided to put up some pictures of my truck. It is an 07 Access Cab 4x4 TRD that I purchased new in October 07. I installed a 3" Toytec Ultimate Lift Kit with 285/70/17 Firestone Destination MT and Addict rims.

Without all the information on this forum I would have had no clue about suspension possibilities, tire and rim sizes... So hereby thanks to you all!

Any advice or comments for improvement would be very welcome









I am very much into camping and build a platform in the bed with storage:




Because I didn't want to worry about draining my car battery while camping I installed a second battery in the bed . Ignore the red cable on the ground, I still have to tape it with black. I run out of black 4 gauge wire






The dome light of the camper shell is wired into the second battery and I added a map light and LED lights in the storage areas so I can see when I look for something without having to use a flash light. Still waiting for 2 mini LED light strips to arrive to attach to the top frame of the Windoors. I also added some 12V outlets:




In the front storage compartment I have tools and a little air compressor:

 

UHHHH..... WOW! You have got one good look.n truck. Very clean!

 

Good lookin taco, You have done some real nice work with it

 

very nice truck! welcome to tw.

 

Awesome! Nice work so far.

 

great looking truck, I really like your tire and wheel set up as well. I love the camping set up as well. Sometimes I wish I had a longbed, my tall self is way to long for a shortbed.

 

very nice truck. i really like what you did with the bed.

 

that setup is awesome. i'd love to do something like that...

 

x2

Any more info on how you built the bed like progress pics? Would like to do something like that.

 

x3 How did you fasten that?

 

thats a lot of work looks great nice work
And Welcome To T/W

 

Thanks everybody!

I still have quite a few things I would like to change but I have to save up a little bit first.
Eventually I would like to add an All Pro front bumper with lights, Shrockworks sliders, a roof cargo basked and a few more goodies

I am not planning on doing extreme off roading but want to have a setup that I can get off the beaten path for camping and exploring. I used to be a tourguide for camping adventure tours for 6 years and have spent lots and lots of time hiking most of the National Parks in the southwest and northwest. Now I would like to be able to get to places regular cars can't go and that I haven't seen before.

I am still trying to figure out where I could put two gas cans when I go on long trips and I figure the only place could be in a cargo basket on top of the camper shell?

 

You could do this as a cheaper route for the time being.

 

Your setup is so awesome.

 

I might have some pictures from when I was building the platform in the back but will have to see if I can find them. I built it in three sections so it can be removed easily.

The first long section on the left is one piece. The left side of it is sitting on the edge of the side of the bed itself. The right side of that section is a 2x4 frame running front to back. The part towards the front of the bed is enclosed with access from the top.

The second section is the shorter one on the right. That one is bolted to the left section so it is a very tight fit and does not move at all. The storage box on top of that is separate of it as well and bolted down. When I want to take somebody camping I can just remove that storage box and lay a panel in there.

I will be building another part that will fit on the right so the whole truck bed could be transformed into one platform for two people to sleep.

It's all kind of hard to explain without pictures but will see if I can find them.

 

Wow.

 

Jag: Thanks for the idea! I have seen these before but was worried they would drag easily when driving up or coming down a hill. Do you have any problems with that?

The platform itself is not fastened to the bed. The sections are bolted together and I built them so it is a very tight fit. I tried pulling the back part away from the bed to get some wiring through and I had a hard time pulling it away to get a 1/4 inch gap.
It also doesn't jump up because the front compartment is enclosed and has all the weight in it from my toolbox etc.

 

The one i have used has never dragged. But i never did serious offroading with it. They do have some that will fold up when not in use. I wonder if you could weld one yourself that gave you a higher ground clearance.

 

welcome... amazing truck... was it a pain having to setup a second battery... cuz im looking into doing that...

 

Sandman427 - It was actually very easy. I ran a 4 gauge wire from the car battery plus to a relay in the bed with an inline fuse at the car battery and a second fuse between the relay and the second battery plus.
A 4 gauge wire connects the second battery to a ground at the frame.
Drilling of the bed is very easy since it is not metal.

I also protected all wires with black wire conduit. When I had the camper shell "professionally" installed at a Campway's they had run a constant hot wire for the dome light all along the frame to the back with no protection at all. When I noticed that and only after two weeks of driving I could already see some wear on the insulation of the wire where it was rubbing on the frame...

Then an ignition wire to the relays and a ground wire to the relay. This way when the ignition gets turned on the relay connects the batteries, when turned off the batteries are not connected anymore. I spliced of one of the trailer wiring ignition wires.

Here is a picture. Ignore the fact that there is a red wire at the plus and a red wire at the minus of the battery. I ran out of black wire and used a red one going from the battery minus to the fuse box minus. I will tape it with black electrical tape.