What Have You Done To Your 3rd Gen Today?

Sexy - any video of in-cabin at highway speeds?

 

I just took delivery of the KB Voodoo XRXS Bed Cross Bar, and was unpleasantly surprised to find that, despite all the pictures on their website, the bar does NOT come with the mounting cleats. You have to have a spare pair, or go buy two more OEM cleats. It also comes with no documentation -- you have to figure out how to mount it to the cleats from the website pictures. Caveat Emptor.

 

Window tint ☑️

 

Finally got my interior led lights, anyone having trouble popping the bulbs out? I have tried tape and such but they don’t seem to pull out.

 

It says on the website "*Mounts to the accessory cleats that come with your truck." How was that a surprise?

 

The bulbs can be a pain in the ass to get out, even with small fingers. Some guys just removed the whole housing console. I found that clear scotch packing tape sticks well to the bulb and pulls it right out.

 

Thanks for tips! I put them in my old pickup no problem but this one is interesting haha.

 

@KB Voodoo

 

If he had the cleats in front of him it would be more obvious.

I have a pair I could send him. But if he got 2 bars he will need another set.

 

I get it, but white glove customer service and the right choice of words goes a long way. Trust me I work in IT and what I think is very simple another person might not have a clue. Just FYI.

 

Doesn't the Tacoma come with 4 bed cleats, because both my 2nd gen and 3rd Gen did? Why would he need two extra? The 4 included cleats would be enough to mount 2 bars.

 

Almost 2 months ago I upgraded to the TRD 17 inch wheels in preparation for the Wilwood big brake kit. With slightly larger tires my MPG took a small hit so I started looking for ways to get that back. For some background I earned my commercial pilot license in 1972 but since the airlines were not hiring then I went to the Navy flight school and spent 20 years flying in the Navy. After retiring from that I changed careers but never forgot the aerodynamics that I learned. In an aeronautical engineering class I took in college I had to design and build 2 aircraft wings. One was for high speed and low drag and the other was for low speed and high lift. We had to put sensors everywhere and put them in the wind tunnel.
On the upper part of the truck the only thing that may make a small improvement is a tonneau cover which I already have. Therefore, I looked under the truck to make some improvement. I use the truck for towing once a year and hauling several times a year so I do not need skid plates for off roading. For the last 2 weeks I have been designing and building an under body pan to improve the aerodynamics. I will be driving a couple hundred miles in the next few days so I should get an idea of any improvement. I would like to put my truck in a wind tunnel but the closest one to me is at Florida State University and they want $15000 to use their facilities. That is not going to happen!
For those who off road you could put a small pan between the transmission skid and the fuel tank which could help some and it would be a lot easier than the one I designed.


The first picture shows the side with bracing to prevent vibrations. The braces do not show outside the truck. From the last picture you can see I bent the last 3 inches down to a 45 degree angle to redirect the wind below the differential. The 4 foot by 8 foot sheet of aluminum was only around $100 so it is a pretty cheap experiment. Now on to the testing and evaluation phase.

 

But does it float?

 

Ooo, awesome! I'll definitely be interested to hear of your results

 

In for the results !

 

Are these tuffskinz?

 

Please let me know as well as I would love to go this dual route with my truck as well. Thank You!

 

Toyboata!!!!

 

I don't think it would work with my topper (leer 100xr). The bottom of the back glass sits right there