What Have You Done To Your 2nd Gen Tacoma Today?

Looks good to me!!!!!!!!

 

Gettin' my 2nd Gen looked at by the claims adjuster so I can get it into the shop after I was rear-ended on Veterans Day.

Later.

 

That's fair, but it should go without saying that if I want it to look factory and spend nearly 4 hours running wires for a locking tailgate latch for example to make sure they look 100% factory, you best believe that it will perform to the best of its ability.

 

I resemble that remark! I did the same thing with the tailgate lock wiring also. I think I spent more than four hours as I could not get the wires out of the connector. But if you pulled apart my tailgate you would have a hard time knowing it wasn't factory. To each their own.

 

Same with anything in my truck. It would be difficult to find something that doesn't look factory.

For removing wires a terminal pin removal tool goes a long way. Here's what I use.

 

I've had some bad and some good experiences with "professionals". Sometimes it looks like a kindergarten kid drew up the wiring schematic with crayons and the installer replicated as best he could. Sometimes it's so well factory integrated it's hard to spot. unfortunately the second type is harder to come by and more expensive.

I do all my own wiring now. I see why it's so much more expensive for a quality install as time can easily double. But worth the time imo. I also like doing it myself because I know what's there in case I need to do any trouble shooting a few years later. Nothing worse than tearing things apart and wondering "wtf did this dick do!?! How did this even work for so long ! ?! I have to redo EVERYTHING!"

 

For the tailgate wires I actually ran them in the same loom as my rear camera.

 

I did as well.

 

My friend has removed the Rover V8 from a Land Rover Defender II and stuffed it into a 1975 TVR 2500M. Part of that process was to remove a ton of wiring just in case it was needed later. He recently has gotten everything sorted out so he did not need the wiring any longer. He gave me the spaghetti mess and I untangled and practiced on many different automotive wiring connectors to learn how to remove the pins. It was very educational and good practice. Since I did not have any tools and was not sure what was going to be needed I decided to purchase this:

$120 Steelman 23-Piece Universal Terminal Tool Kit for Auto Technicians, Safely Remove Wires from Terminal Block Without Damage, Variety of Blade Styles

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00LB7PMAE/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1


Now I have an empty kitty litter bin of various lengths of automotive wiring that I can use for whatever wiring projects I need.

 

That is an awesome kit!

 

I've been there and totally understand. I had alarm installers break my window while installing door solenoids. Also had one installer who attached my alarm module to the cable assembly of the gear shifter. After 2 years of constant movement, most of the wires were loose. So, yeah, I do most of my own work.
That's not to say I don't get lazy and half-ass some things that I consider "test" or "temporary". Like not using connectors on my grill LEDs. When the grill had to be removed, I had to cut the wires. So now everything has a proper waterproof connector, just like stock. Audio is finicky about good connections, so I tend to go overboard when wiring radios. Too many sharp edges under the dash, so I always add some plastic wire conduit.

 

Reminds me of me, standing there trying to figure out something I did a couple years back.

 

That looks great. Whenever you're sick of it, ship it my way!

 

Lol. My first project in the taco was the outlets in cab mod tied to factory inverter. it's the only thing I haven't soldered and heatshrunk... I used cheap splice connectors. I took the center console out a few weeks ago and was wondering wtf I was thinking. It's no surprise that one of the outlets stopped working

On a related note, where do you guys get your waterproof connectors? I've tried a couple different styles but haven't found any I love yet.

 

Ace for me. They're just the generic ones.

 

Needs scoop.

 

And didn't even have to lay them on the dashboard. Impressed!

 

I purchased a few of these and they seem to work well. Easy to disconnect and waterproof.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/2-P...32439549247.html?spm=2114.13010608.0.0.gX2rT6

also picked up some of these, but haven't tried them yet. I like the snap locks better than a twister.

www.aliexpress.com/snapshot/7643569012.html?orderId=75074170682371&productId=32258329365

 

I'm kinda in between. I try to keep it neat & easily accessible if need be but most importantly it has to work as it should!