The Getaway...Crom's build and adventures

The one that was on the truck was a deep cycle I believe... Diehard 31M

 

Did you ever get better battery cables? If not may I suggest: http://www.farmandfleet.com/products/054962-deka-professional-service-booster-cable.html

 

I just looked at the description. It's listed as a marine battery and it's kind of a hybrid. You can have the same thing with the EverStart MAXX line. They make marine battery too, which is exactly what I'm using for my auxiliary battery in the bed.

I have to digress a little bit. I've shared this before but I'll mention it again. I used to be a fan of putting the cheapest, biggest, heaviest battery you could fit in the Tacoma.

But after having seen all reports of the deformed-ripped-bent-collapsing core supports on so many trucks, I now advise putting in whatever the lightest battery that can start the Tacoma.

For me it was the Everstart Maxx group 24F. It was seven pounds lighter than the Toyota branded 27F that came out. In a perfect world, I'd relocate my starting battery to somewhre else in the truck... My core support is already deformed a little bit. But honestly, there is not a lot I can do about it.

Thanks. Those look good. And in the comments someone said they were made in the US. That's great

I ended up buying some Polarwire premium Arctic Superflex Blue jumper cables. They were the highest quality cables I could find at time of purchase.

 

Not too worried about the battery size and weight....


It's going back here in the cage lol

 

My next few objectives with the truck are to:

1. Fix my manual door lock in the drivers door .
2. Install sound deadner / blocker in drivers door.
3. Finish installing sound deadner / blocker rear cab back wall.
4. Hard mount ARB Air compressor behind pass seat.

Last night I took my drivers side door apart. So easy now. Took less than 5 minutes with my kids with me in the drivers seat.

When inspecting the manual door lock switch, it appears to work normal. For example: when the switch is moved, the cable (yellow), still attached moves with it. This must mean that the cable has detached from the latch mechanism, or the cable itself has gone bad.



Items of interest.

• Item 1, Latch Door, 69320-04040 - $86
  
• Item 6, Handle Inside, 69205-02100-B1 - $27
  
• Item 3 Cable, Inside Locking, 69750-04020 - $18

 

Repairing the Tacoma Door Actuator

If your plan is to own the Tacoma long term, this repair may be in your future. Here is how I fixed mine.

I was lucky and was able to fix mine for no out of pocket costs. In my case the door lock switch cable separated internally from the actuator. The solution was to compleletly remove items 1,3,4,5,6, from the door, repair on work bench and reinstall everything.

• Item 1, Latch Door, 69320-04040 - $86
• Item 3 Cable, Inside Locking, 69750-04020 - $18
• Item 5 handle rod connector
• Item 6, Handle Inside, 69205-02100-B1 - $27

Here it is all removed from the door.


Swing open hinged service door, the cable on the bottom is not attached and needs to reattach to restore manual door lock switch.



Solution: Wire wrapped cable to white plastic.


Close hinged service door, and test manual lock switch. Test confirmed good. Reinstall the whole assembly into door.

I was under a ton of pressure to fix this in 30 minutes. I had to remove it, fix it and reinstall the whole thing as fast as possible, so I did what I thought was best given my time constraints. There may be a better way to fix this. Hopefully mine will last a long time.

 

How to remove door actuator for replacement or service. (will add pictures soon)
As far as I know this isn't written up anywhere on TW. The best I found was a redirect to a Rav4 forum where someone posted pics of how to work on the door actuator.

This writeup is for me as much as everyone else as I think I'll to repeat this procedure for the other doors in the future.

Open door
Remove interior panel

Cut plastic weather barrier
Unplug electrical plug from door actuator
Remove inside door handle by popping black molded plastic piece out of hole and slide handle backwards towards rear of truck (it's between the yellow and green below)

Remove plastic shoe (service cover) from door edge.

Remove screw that holds lock into place.
Remove lock from outside of door.

Remove door handle connecting rod from inside door. Two part process!!!

First, unlock the connecting rod by flipping up the yellow plastic connector.

Second, Go back to service hole on door edge. Slip a long slot screwdriver into hole and rest screwdriver edge on rod, tap with dead blow hammer and rod will disengage.

Remove door handle connecting rod from inside the door by pulling straight up and away from door actuator.

Remove three screws from latch (door edge). The actuator will now be loose inside the door.
Reach inside door and play a short game of tetris to remove door actuator assembly (with cables and inside handle) from door.

Install in reverse order.

 

Once Again Thanks!

 

Looks great! Nothing wrong with a fast repair.

 

This is one of those Crom articles. I believe the people in here will enjoy this read

http://www.theadventureportal.com/momentum-the-double-edged-sword/

 

Hey Nick. Haven't had much time for in depth reading lately. I am intensely interested in the sound deadening, and look forward to your detailed write-up. I almost have the new wheels and tires on, suspension is next (watching that GB intently), and I still have to get the cap off, prepped for paint, and minor details/seals addressed. How I am going to get all that done by summer is a mystery with the bambino in tow.
But the interior sound is bad, and thinking of 5 hour plus trips to Bishop etc. sounds mind numbing. This is moving up the mod list, and I'm counting on you heavily to provide a blow by blow so I can minimize downtime on my DD bambino wagon.

No pressure.

Oh yeah, I am also getting sucked into the Prinsu GB.

Dammit.

 

Welcome!

Thanks.

Good article. The first four pics from that article are from the Anza-Borrego region. I know it like my back yard. Love it.

Agree with author of article. I'll also add that I think controlling momentum is the fundamental key to not breaking parts on the truck.

I can relate. The only way I could do a project like this is one door at a time. One thing that saves time, is if making filler plates or MLV template, copy it! The copy fits the reverse side of the truck.

This Saturday early in the AM, I'll be done with my drivers door and I can finally put back the interior panel, and I can stop the feeling that my truck somehow belongs in a Mad max film or something. lol

This spaghetti code of links contains everything I've done thus far.

Link to my Front Passenger Door, Feb 2016
Link to my pics for the fist back door, Nov 2015
Link to pics of: Sound proof second back door, Nov 2015
Link to pics of how I make filler plates from cheap HDPE plastic.
Link to post explaining strategy, theory, and my mentor's example here.

 

Drivers door is finally done!

I think I have six hours into it.




After having done four doors, here is the process I like the most with the stated goal of blocking sound.

1. Remove interior panel, trash plastic weather barrier.
   
2. Clean the door skin with water, rubbing alcohol.
   
3. Deaden outer skin with 100% coverage with butyl mat.
4. Frost King duct insulation 100% coverage over the butyl mat on outer skin.
5. Clean and grease window lift motor gears, (optional)
   
6. Seal holes on inner skin,
7. Add some deadner mat on inner skin
8. Add some foam on inner skin
9. Hang Mass Loaded Vinyl (MLV) sound barrier.
10. Trim down Styrofoam on interior panel.
    
11. Replace interior panel.
12. Done.

 

Yakima roof rack crossbars, u-bolts, and quick-fists

The argument for round bars vs. square bars rages on. The best argument I read in this debate is that in construction projects, whether commercial or residential, they use rectangular beams, and not round! lol How true!

The two big names in roof rack Cargo systems are Yakima (round bars), and Thule (square bars).

Since I ordered my shell from A.R.E., their package deal was with Yakima, so that's what I have, Yakima track system with round bars.

The Yakima cargo bars are a specialty item, proprietary dimensions, no doubt, by design. I put a slide caliper on them and I measured:

• Inside diameter of Yakima crossbar pipe is 21.8 millimeters .85 inches
• Outside diameter of Yakima crossbar pipe is 1.12 inches or 28.5 millimeters

Mounting objects to round bars is not always easy, but it's manageable.

I found these stainless steel u-bolts that fit the bars pretty well.

• Stanley Hardware V2193 1/4 x 1-1/8 x 3-1/2 U Bolt w/Plate & Hex Nuts in Stainless Steel, Model: S838-169
  • Metric 6mm x 29mm x 89mm

What I do to make them look at fit nice is I put a bit of heat shrink tubing on them and then I measure them to the height I want, mark them, thread the nut all the way on, cut the bolt and then thread the nut off, which will correct the threads if they got a little messed up during cutting. It's a cheater way, but it has always worked.



I use the u-bolts on hold on quick fists for mounting shovels, pry bar, etc.




The Yakima crossbars themselves are hot dipped in vinyl at the factory. Yakima will tell you that the vinyl coating will break down in sunlight and wont last forever. I had one bar's coating split on me during the first year of ownership. I emailed them pics, and they shipped me new bars (warranty replacement). I set them in my garage and forgot about them. I just wrapped the cracks in the vinyl with electrical tape which has held up perfectly (zero maintenance fix). Two years later I found the warranty replacement bars in the unopened box from Yakima. I opened them up and the vinyl was split! Made overseas! lol

Here is a link to a pic for you.

I'm using a typical heavy duty rubber tarp strap. It goes around the ABS pipe, around the Yakima bars and then wraps around and secures behind the tarp strap itself with s-hooks. Similar to a hitch knot.

The trap strap is backed up by stainless steel hose clamps. It's been on the truck for over 3-years, and only once did I have to maintenance it, and that was just tightening the screws on the hose clamps and squirting some thread locker into them.

 

Better late than never

 

Welcome aboard!
Lots of good info here. Get your notepad out...

 

As promised, a few pictures of my Anza trip with the fine folks over in the SOLA thread:
Got up close to some of the sculptures in the area:

My favorite picture- probably be my "hero" pic for my upcoming build thread. The detail on these sculptures is truly amazing up close. Each individual feather was shaped and cut with separate veins and give the entire eagle texture. I can't really imagine the hours involved to cut, shape and weld all of this together.

There were several dueling horse statues as well and I have a soft spot for them. I've always been fascinated with horses, but never ridden one. My wife rides English and was even in an amateur competition once. Beautiful creates.


Some night shots with full light bars at the pumpkin patch. Made it there right before sunset and the road back to camp was interesting to say the least. A few close calls with drop-offs that we did not see in the dark. When people ask why I have so many lights on my truck I can reference this photo. My roof bar blew a few diodes during this trip so it will be getting replaced under warranty. You can make it out if you look close- I'm second from left.



Here's most of our group at our camp up Fish Creek without a paddle. We were backed up in a secluded wash that had plenty of room for our group and lots of privacy away from anyone that might bother us or that might be bothered by us. I woke up early Sunday morning and hiked up one of the canyon walls that was next to us and got this shot just as the sun was saying hello.


And what's camping without a campfire? Washing machine drum made for a perfect fire pit and made cleaning up our ashes a breeze as it was all contained. The water heater pan didn't fare so well and the galvanized sheet metal burned through a little. We were still able to get everything cleaned up without too much trouble in the morning. Leave no trace...

 

Great pics!!! Glad you had a good time out there. I love the pic of the campsite from on the hill, really shows the depth of the canyon.

Your rig looks so sweet! Love the Pelfreybilt hybrid bumper, and Cooper ST's Looks Waaaaaayy better on my desktop, than on my mobile. lol

I love the sculptures too. The artist is Ricardo Breceda and the facilitator is Dennis Avery who owns the Galleta Meadows Estate. The sculptures are spread over a vast amount of land (miles and miles). I have not even come close to seeing them all, and do not know where they all are.

Thanks for sharing.

 

Thank you, Nick. Had a blast, but there were times where it was like wrangling cats because we had so many people in our group. We met up with another group (won't mention any names), but I quickly realized I should head off in another direction. A couple like-minded members followed me and we were able to do some exploring of the area instead of doing donuts in the sand of Ocotillo. I knew that would happen going out there so I was already mentally prepared for that part. The smaller group was better suited for exploring and we had fun. You were right though, there are so many areas to explore and I will most likely be making a return trip out there when I have more time and a smaller group. I was reminded on this trip that I need to upgrade my in-car nav setup. I have an out-dated Garmin that for the most part was useless. All I got was a green background and my indicator with a header that read" "unpaved road".

 

Nice write up on the Yakima crossbar quickfist mounting. I have a few quickfists collecting dust on computer desk. I've been meaning to get them mounted up before my next trip. I was planning on using u-bolts as well but thanks for the info on sizing as well as using heatshrink around the bolts. Would have never thought of that.

I think I've seen a few pictures of your Hi-Lift mounted to your Yakima bars as well? Do you have any info/close up pics of this setup?