Tacoma Habitat AT

Posting this here for @kai38` as he was asking for a picture of a cut down prinsu rack with habitat.

I have only viewed this on my phone so hopefully it will be good enough to depict how I cut it, if not I will get more tomorrow.

It would be easier to just cut it at the middle mount and end it there, but I thought it would look better to retain the rear mounts on the rack and just provide enough clearance for cab - frame flex

 

Thanks for the picture!
Looks great

Is your Tacoma a long bed or short bed?
The over hang of the Habitat is different.
Thanks

 

No problem, let me know if you need anything more specific.

EDIT: Oh, and also Rustoleum textured black paint is a DEAD match for the prinsu black powdercoat for your cut, you literally cannot see where it is painted.

 

shortbed

 

Has anyone experienced and issue where the bed of the truck is out of alignment with the cab? I noticed my bed is about 0.5"ish offset to the drivers side...I'm wondering if this is a result of body/bed flex from wheeling with the habitat on giving the bed a higher center of gravity relative and movingnormal, or if the crooked bed is a general issue people have seen on 3rd gens...thanks

 

I had this problem, and what I learned was it’s an issue that’s straight from the factory. After running around with a Tacoma habitat on the back of my truck for a couple months, I decided to put a high clearance bumper on the back and the fitment was off by half an inch, i’m not sure what they did to make that correction, but they were able to straighten the back end out. I also just put a set of total chaos bed stiffiners on my truck just to be on the safe side.

 

Thanks, can you tell me more about what you mean that the fitment of your hi-clearance was off and expand on what the fix was?

How do bed stiffeners help with this problem? Just by limiting bed/bed rail flex?

 

What I meant about fitment on the bumper installation is, The tailgate wouldn’t drop down without rubbing against the new bumper, it was a very tight fit, basically the back of the truck was not squared up, I don’t know what was done to resolve it, as I paid somebody to put the bumper on for me, The shop that put the bumper on for me said they’ve seen this before and it’s a factory issue where the truck is not squared up.

The only reason why put the bed stiffeners on was to prevent any flex with the bedrails due to the weight of the habitat, I only put them on as precautionary.

 

Ahh ok, thanks for the info. I think we may be talking about separate issues, but I think the bed stiffener idea is a good one. Check out the pic below, more of my cab showing on the passenger side vs the driver.

 

My driver side did that as well. I have to put my new tent body on when the snow goes away, I have a pile of rivets to do....


We use an assortment of harddig cases for our food and kitchen bins. When closed they form a staircase for the night... and make a decent bear box.

Honestly, the worst thing is exiting at 2am to take a leak and dragging your back across the edge at the top of the rear opening!

I have reinforcement brackets for my bed sides at the tail gate. I thought of the issue before we even left for Prescott. If nothing else, it's good for tying down gear and mine have built in bottle openers. Other gear is held down by aircraft tracking from northern tool. I take my belt sander and chamfer the corners so they fit perfectly in the dips of the bed bottom. This way I have a myriad of tie down locations to play with.

Aside that, a 27gal water bladder resides in a plywood box at the front of the bed between and even with the wheel wells. And the fridge is in the passenger rear corner.

We have one sleep platform making a three adult capacity. I am building a cedar panel for the remaining opening to keep the little ones from falling in.

Any other questions ask away, just tag me so I can find it.

 

That’s not good. The habitat is bolted into the sliding rail system in the inside of the bed as you know. Go back thru and tighten up the bolts that go into the bed rails see if that straightens out the issue. With my habitat it does overhang just a little bit on both sides but it’s equaled out.

 

I’m so glad to know that I’m not the only one that’s wrecked my back on that edge getting back into the habitat, I was bleeding it was so bad me. Also those rivets popped out on me also, I’m sure at one point the habitat flexed enough to shear off the rivet heads.

 

Since I am not seeing it first hand, the thing that jumps out at me is how the Habitat is mounted to the Tacoma's interior bed rails. If they are not square or level the clamps connecting the Habitat to the bed may be pulling it out of square, something to check.

 

So nice!!

 

Please, tell me about that extra latch you have on your Habitat, does that allow you to lock it closed? That's one thing I've been meaning to do something about since I'm usually parked on the street in a relatively urban area.

 

Didn't you get the locking latch on yours? Mine is on the driver's side.

 

Mine is on the driver's side too. Be sure to use a rubber coated lock or something, so it doesn't hit your finish if it gets hung up.

 

Yep, lockable latch.

Interesting some just have them on one side. On mine they are on both sides.

 

Can anyone provide some instructions/tips on mounting maxtrax to the side of a habitat?

Debating between the mounting pins and potentially installing two strips of L-track to mount maxtrax and shovel as well...

 

Entails drilling.

This is what they use to mount l-trac. You'll have to find the corresponding rivnuts and not drill too deep.