What have you done to your Tacoma today? 1st Gen Edition

It's pretty good considering the bumper is still in front of the bar. It's a spot/flood combo so if anything the flood lights toward the ends are getting obscured the most. The photos aren't the best but you can see where the light bar reaches that the projectors don't, high up and out wide.

 

No, CBI is the only one making ditch light brackets for first gens (probably due to the compound angles necessary to make them). They are well worth the money though, they're pretty beefy.

Also here are some pictures of my truck with the ditch lights during installation...

 

I am still anti-led, for the cost I havent really seen any that impress me. Yes Rigids are nice, but way too expensive IMO

 

um. i'll be honest. I bought a shitty one to start with....It will also progress the bull bar removal....lol

 

is this a home made soft topper?

 

It is. Can you tell by my string straight seams, well finished corner, and the fact that it's held on by screws and washers? Tonneau cover material is cheap so I took a shot at it, $8 a yard for 72" wide, costs about $50 in materials all in.

 

Looks really good, did you make the skeleton under it or is that a bed rack. Makes me want to try, I don't have a rack so maybe some electrical conduit and a bender could get the job done for a frame.

 

Thought seeing sub marine lol

 

Thanks! I made a full rack under it, I wanted something a bit more sturdy that would provide some function for mounting crap without the cover on. The conduit could work. I'd just use the largest conduit you can handle on a bender (like 1"?), I know the other soft toppers use some tubing even smaller than that so it should work fine. As long as you have a sewing machine that can handle the material you're good to go.

 

DO IT!

 

u genna help punk ass???

 

Haha, I can try! you got all the tools though.

 

I noticed a discussion about removing the upper ball joint a few pages back. I used a 5 or 7 ton puller plus some stuff from a ball joint press kit. I also needed some heavy washers to act as spacers. Sorry for bad photo. I wouldn't really recommend this method but it worked.

@outdoorAZ @Squeaky Penguin

 

Dang man I never realized you had such a sick truck!

 

I was considering getting these...

but paying almost as much for the mounts as I paid for the lights themselves is ludicrous. I think I'll just drill into the hood and make my own mount, it shouldn't be too difficult a job.

 

Does anybody else have a rubber shroud/boot that installs between the lower ball joint and the LCA? It has holes for the 4 ball joint bolts. Mine is a bit torn and I was looking for a replacement but Toyota doesn't show it in their parts list.

TIA

Edit: nevermind, Brian at Camelback has a part number (43346-60011).

 

Should have stayed with HTC.

 

Excellent point. Maybe I'll dabble in lighting eventually. It can really change the way a vehicle looks. What's yours look like now?

Definitely. Once the warmer weather comes around, and I get my 4x4 fixed (looking to do that soon, like next week), I do want to try it out. I mean hell, it's part of why I bought a truck.

Off, low, and high? low, medium, high? It'd be nice to be able to turn them off, if you had a reason.Either way, I like the control.

 

Sorry to post here, has anyone ever heard of a camper shell brand by the name of Laguna? I'm trying to do my due diligence on the brand as I have a guy selling one near me. Damn Google isn't coming up with it. Any info is greatly appreciated. (I also started a thread in "general automotive"). Thanks.

 

Sort of an apples to oranges price comparison. You could mount pretty much anything on these. Make sure you seal up your lights well, the cheap Chinese ones (like mine) can have a tendency to leak around the lens, I had to use some black RTV. I am now considering some lightforces for the ditch lights to get better output and moving the pods to foglight duty.

Overall I think you get what you pay for, I don't have to worry about one of my lights getting snagged and warping my hood and at $59 the brackets are cheap anyway and you can upgrade to better lights without worrying what will be in your line of sight or what will fit. If your going for just looks then they are definitely overkill though.