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

Light output means dick if it isn't directed. It looks like that Triple-R focuses more on the reflector providing usable directed light instead of raw lumens. The Baja racer models (and the PIAA RF series I linked) have reflectors designed to throw light better than your average reflector.

 

okay,

So lumens doesn't mean shit. Its marketing gimmick.

What you really want to look at is lux. 1 lux is the amount of light needed to read print on paper. So for instance the light bar i linked you too does 1 lux at 1360m or something crazy.

That tells you you can read print a 1360m..or at over 3/4 mile away.

If the light from a chip isn't utilized correctly then who cares how many lumens it puts out.

 

Doesn't look like baja gives measurement data..shame.

 

Bayarea said exactly why. Not enough room to clock it. We tried but then we would have had to smash the floor in and a lot of other stuff. It hangs a little low but no lower than the gas tank I don't think. I'll have to wait till its sitting on all 4 tires to see. Not enough gain for all the work to clock it

 

Not sure if you're totally against eBay specials, or if you've already heard me rant on about my lights, heh, but I've had really good experience with the vision x clones. Here's a double row 20" for $175. Can't beat that.
http://pages.ebay.com/motors/link/?nav=item.view&id=291690747736&alt=web
And the output is pretty damn amazing on these bars. 10watt leds with 3d reflectors. As well as diffused leds for an awesome flood. The best overall spread I've ever seen. Certainly not the crazy distance of hids or that lazer one @Blackdawg listed(which looks insane btw, never heard of that one) If that's what you're going for. But still it's better than most due to the larger reflectors. You really can't beat the larger reflectors. Baja designs has awesome bars too though. Bigger reflectors than the evo primes. But vision x has their newer bars with even bigger reflectors now. Not sure if they're bigger than bd still. But I've got a clone of that too (vision x "xpr") and it's very clean. Lots of spill/spread with a nice spot throw too. But.. ANYWAYS... These are just if you're budget minded... Check my build for some output shots if you want. I have all 10watt bars. Plus a new 15 watt I just installed. All eBay china bought. Zero issues. Love em.

Edit: I need to get me one of those lux meters damnit. I really wanna know how mine measure up. Not with just the distance, but also spread.

 

For what it's worth there isn't to much you have to do aside from massage the floor and reroute your ebrake. The hard part is building the crossmember which you obviously are capable of. I was able to get as close to a flat belly Tacoma as you can come the lowest part is the crawl-box. Probably gained 6" over the TG skid.

 

Where do you get those clones? I can never find them.

 

His is passenger side drop so he's on the exhaust side, if I'm remembering correctly he is right at the catalytic converter. Still possible if you want to put the extra work in yes, worth it? That's up for debate. We were able to gain about 4" from the TG skid simply by modifying that. I'll be at the shop all day today and I'll post some pics of the skid.

 

Curious what your belly pan to ground height is?

 

That's more what I'm used to seeing or even a bit better. Flat belly pan skids. Seems totally worth it to me..

 

Right it does, maybe with IFS. But he doesn't have lower link mounts under the center of his door. There's no way really to get those above the frame, so I guess the question becomes would you rather drag your link mount or 1/4 skid over a rock first.

 

I can measure next time I'm near it, defiantly a bit trickier on the passenger side. It's obviously not as important when your running larger tires and a solid axle as you have much more clearance. But my truck is about an 1.5" lift and 33s I need all the help I can get.

The limiting factor when you clock it to get flat is how the drivetrain sits in the frame rails. The bottom of the crawlbox and the rear case hang under pretty close to each other. In order to get an actual flat belly the whole drivetrain would have to go up a few inches. I neglected to use the store bought second case mount as that would have cost me about 3" on its own. I opted for a weight bearing mount on the factory case instead. It won't help with twist but then again tcase mounts are not intended to as the motor mounts if functioning eliminate that problem. Defiantly interested in seeing the modified TG one, I purchased one mocked it up and didn't want to chop it up.


After clocking factory trans mount in place.

 

@toendanger

For as often as I might run these lights I'm thinking this will be a good place to economize my build. I'll take a look. I can always upgrade when the cost comes down and when I get the configuration worked out. I was thinking of a Satoshi grill that would let the light come through. All black of course.

 

Here's my situation @capetaco12 @Blackdawg

From the side, skid protecting the links


Those mounts up front were shortened 1 1/4" on the skid and still hang down lower than the rear case. I opted to stay with the factory style rubber mounts.



The way trail gear mounts to the frame hung down so low, new frame side brackets were fab to get it higher up.

 

MMMMM I love when people speak Spanish to me

 

Has anyone installed LED Pods as back up lights??

 

Yep

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/cheap-but-effective-led-backup-lights.374367/. ..info on some who have

 

Did you splice into the reverse lights or run a relay to the battery?

 

Splice