Norsmanvike's Budget Build Escape to Freedom With Azure...

First 1,000 miles today! Man, that didn’t take long.

 

Haha... now you just need 41k more miles to catch up with me.

 

I’ll take my time thanks.

 

DIY MOLLE PANEL

Wood, 16"x16" rigid black plastic pegboard panels, and minimal hardware from Home Depot, hardware from Ace Hardware.

From Home Depot...
1) Buy the Poplar 1 1/4 wood slats ( $1.20 p/f - Need two at 48.5") for the base of the main support frame. I chose this because it was lightweight and cheap. You'll also need this to create lower extensions off of the horizontal wood frame to help anchor it against the bottom of the cab and for anchoring the peg board panels.
2) Buy the 16"x16" rigid black plastic pegboard panels ( $5.97 ea - need 3 ).
3) Buy a pack of L brackets ( under $10 ).
** I would have bought more hardware from Home Depot, but they wouldn't let me take one-off screws, bolts, etc to my truck to check for fit. Ace Hardware did.

From Ace Hardware...
1) Metal support brackets to hold the upper wood frame rail in place
2) Small wood screws to attach the support brackets to your wood frame as well as L brackets.
3) Misc. nuts, bolts, screws, you discover as you go.

Install Steps...
1) Remove the rear seats to make this process much easier. Check YouTube for instructions. Please note, that if you unscrew the center bolt holding the seat belt latches in place, you'll notice a hole through the cab to the ground. When I pulled mine out, it undid whatever rust prevention the factory had there, so you'll need something to re-seal that exposed bolt after everything is done.
2) Use one piece of the Poplar wood to run across the bottom and mark where you need to drill holes to anchor it. I chose to use the existing locations that I could get my fingers behind so that I could hold a bolt in place ( if you have huge fingers, you may need a volunteer to assist you. Drill the holes in the Poplar and make sure you've got the right locations down and if so, anchor it into place.
3) From the other piece of Poplar, cut 6 pieces that will fit under the wood frame you just installed and allow it to push against the bottom of the cab so that will provide a bit more support. I used some sticky foam pads I had laying around to take up any potential slack.
4) Remove the bottom wood frame. Using your peg board panels, place them down so you know where the peg boards will anchor into the wood, this is where you'll attach the 6 smaller pieces with the L brackets.
5) Re-install the entire lower wood frame and make sure it's nice and sturdy.
6) Moving to the upper frame now, remove both bolts holding the center seat hook anchor thing in place. Remove only the left bolt of the one on the right side.
7) Drill holes three of them that are large enough for the seat anchor bolts to go through them. Same for the other two brackets that you'll use to the left of the motor, but drill out to the size you'll actually be using. Additionally, keep in mind that if your peg board anchor points don't line up with an existing holes in the metal brackets, you'll need to drill them.
8) For the spots you've chosen to the left of the motor to use as anchor points, open the holes as necessary to allow your bolts to grip what metal you leave in place.
9) Attach all of the upper metal support brackets to the back of the cab and the wood.
10) Attach the peg boards using the little tabs they have to help you keep them aligned. You may need to trim off some of the tabs if you're so inclined like I did.
11) Use peg board hooks as necessary to organize what gear you need. If necessary, you can cut slits between holes to for gear with straps.

NOTES: Do as much pre-planning a possible to reduce trips to the hardware store. When drilling to open the two upper holes in the back of the cab ( left of the window motor ), you'll need to use smaller drills to systematically open them up and on the last drill bit, you shouldn't drill all of the way through, but just enough to allow the bolt to grip what metal is left. Be very careful so that you don't suddenly push through and drill a hole in the rear of your cab!

You're done!

I'll admit, this was WAY more labor intensive than I expected, but for less than $75, it fits my needs extremely well since the goal was to be able to hang some long camera gear ( monopod, tripod, and light painting pole ) . I used paint I have from other truck projects to paint the wood black and the support brackets and bolts to color match the truck.

If you plan to pursue this yourself, feel free to PM any questions.

Test for fitting the frame, Not the entire setup, but enough for a proof of concept to see if continuing was worth it.



Finished install view from both sides.




A couple of example close-ups.

 

You are wasting no time making these your own

 

Agreed. I just couldn't justify a prefabbed one for $265 or more when knew I could figure something out that better suited my needs.

 

Tinted the windows yesterday with Mr. Tint in Escondido. They squeezed us in late afternoon on a busy day with a same day call. They let me stay in the work garage space to watch the process. We went with the Lluminar Comfort Series which is a blend of metal and dye to allow more affordability to meet my wife’s allowed budget. Little difference in heat rejection between the this and lower grade ceramic for more money.

We did 15% on the rear door windows, 15% on the rear left/right glass with 38% on the rear center sliding window and 38% on the front doors. It’s already making a big difference in cutting down the sun glare.

 

Removed the Tacoma front door badging to make room for the Faux TRD Sport Emblems. My wife was initially skeptical, started to like the as they were getting painted, was leery of removing the chrome Tacoma badges, saw how the TRD Sport Emblems looked and said that the chrome Tacoma badges aren't going back on. LOL




And Amazon delivered the Sin Visor organizers today! One for each side.

 

Sunny and the guys @ Mr tint have done 5 cars for us. They do awesome work

 

Photos from my first trail run led by experienced off-roaders @Prayn4surf , @desertjunkie760 , @eccracer104 , and @erice with photo credits to myself and @erice . Yup, a 3rd Gen out gett'n dirty with the 2nd Gens and there were far too many good photos to choose from, so I just chose a small sample. Huge thanks to all for the crash course...

 

Great shots Randy! And a good looking truck! Dont forget the two first gens that went with ya lol.

 

Oh, and 1st Gens too...

 

Off-roaded to a recently burned out area of Camp Pendleton.

 

Dropping it’s first trailer load in Mission Bay, jet skis!

 

Does look like a good day for the skis!

 

It is. I haven’t been on skis for years and forgot how fun they are.

 

Palomar Divide Truck Trail, 18AUG2018.


If you're on a mountain top and you see a large pool of water, you hit it like you own it. It sprayed the entire truck...



Group photo at the top of the mountain after turning at the closed gate just outside of the Palomar Observatory's property. Took a break just to enjoy not being smothered in the city.



Photo op presented itself for a friend's truck and mine.



First stop, the helicopter pad for a break. It was all paved up to this point, but within 200 yards of here, it was all 4WD to the top. We stopped here on the way back down to watch some gliders and take in the view again.

 

Latest Off-Road Adventure in Northern AZ…

Okay, forgive the long post, but it’s a good story, so hang in there.

26AUG2018...

In planning for a trip to photograph the Heber Wild Horse Herd in the mountains of Northern Arizona, I got some advice from three photog friends in PHX that go up there on a regular basis to photograph them. I chose to use the one from the most detailed description that said that he’s NEVER failed on the route that he gave me. Keep in mind that this particular herd of wild horses requires some off-roading to get to because of the rough fire roads in the terrain that they occupy. I studied Google Maps extensively and measured distances from point to point so I know at what mileage I can expect the turns. Perfect, I’ve got it all laid out and I should be photographing the Heber’s by noon. For those in the area, you’ll be familiar with FR 300, FR 51, FR 107, E Buckskin Rd, and Old Verde Road ( FR 166 ). All of which are unpaved with either dirt, gravel, or misc. rocks. And since it just rained on these roads for the previous week, let’s toss in some old fashioned mud puddles the length of my truck with plenty of mud to go along with it.

So, I get to FR 300 and head East off the 260 to start my adventure to find the Heber Wild Horses! I stopped at Gentry Campground for a quick break as recommended and got back on FR 300 which is actually well maintained by the Forest Service. I do see a few turn-offs heading North with lots of signage, but I didn’t pay close attention to them because Google Maps said that my turn is at 24.7 miles. So I get to 24 miles and really start looking out for FR 51 that should also be a well maintained fire road. Not seeing it, I kept going, and going, and going. I finally stopped at 33 miles trying to figure out where FR 51 is and since there’s no cell phone service up there, I was hunting on a downloaded map I had locally on my phone. A fellow pulled up on an ATV asking if all was okay, I told him my predicament and he proceeded to tell me that FR 51 was 20 miles behind us. Crap. He says that I can keep driving ahead on FR 300 and I’ll see turn offs Northbound for Hwy 260 or just stay on 300 and eventually I’ll cross Hwy 60. So I keep driving and the road, if that’s what it could still be called because it kept getting worse and worse and with no sign of maintained gravel or grading anywhere. Ruts were so deep, that if I got in them, they probably would have come up to my door panels and the mud puddles were now looking like small ponds. Not to mention that visions of Deliverance started flashing through my head. So with stock suspension and tires, at 42 miles in, I make a decision to turnaround on a semi-dry part of the road and head back to where I started. Yup, I retraced miles and miles of questionable roads and all the while, I kept focusing on taking the right lines so I didn’t get stuck, keeping my head on a swivel for the Heber Wild Horses, and watching for signs for easy ways back to the freeway. Somewhere along the way, I saw a sign for FR 107 that said Hwy 260 was 8 miles North. So, what do I have to lose? I’ll chance it.

FR 107 was certainly more stable with compact gravel and fist sized rocks, but I did eventually find Hwy 260 to which I just sat back in my seat in relief that I’m no longer seemingly lost in the woods all by myself. So, I hop on Hwy 260 and head North to Heber. Along the way, I see a small family band of the Heber Herd in a meadow off the side of the freeway, so I felt pretty confident that my day will turn out to be successful. But, I pull over and start messaging a friend about my lost way and after he finishes laughing because I overshot FR 51 by 30 miles, he sends me detailed google map pin directions for his route that’s always works for him. But, he then calls me and warns me about Old Verde Road because it is totally dirt, will be rather muddy, and he wouldn’t advise going in there alone without someone else or at least having tried and true recovery equipment. I had neither and boasted that I my Tacoma 4x4 would get me through it if the terrain didn’t look too bad. So, off I went. I found the North entrance to FR 51 inconspicuously tucked in behind some houses of all places. Sweet, I’m on my way.

So, after driving 6 miles on what I thought was FR 51, I became confused because the GPS map in my truck said that I was on E Buckskin Rd. and FR 51 was about 1/2 mile West. So I backtracked to the split in the road and verified that I followed Forest Service signs clearly marking FR 51. So, I knew I had the right road and head down again thinking I may have missed a turn or something. Nope, I ended up back where I was. So, convinced I was heading the wrong way again, I turned around again and headed up to where Old Verde Road which is where I saw three folks in a white Jeep Rubicon head down. Little did I know, but had I kept going on the same road, E Buckskin Rd. and map listed FR 51 would have re-joined and I was literally about 1.5 miles from the connection to FR 300. Yes, the very same FR 300 / FR 51 connection that I overshot by nearly 30 miles. Oy vey… Undeterred, I venture down Old Verde Road and actually had to pause at a few locations to ponder how I should get through some serious mud holes and debating if I could get around them with minimal tire path in the mud holes themselves or if I should just take them head on. Naturally, I went with the least safe path and took them all head on. All this time, I’ve still got my head on a swivel looking for the Heber Wild Horses, focused on taking the right path so I don’t get stuck in mud, and watching my truck’s map to make sure that I‘m still on a known road. Then I see it. There’s a huge tree across the road, at least 4 foot in diameter that someone has cut their way through to get vehicles through the tree. I stopped about 10 yards in front of it and make an educated guess that although I could probably get through it, it’s really muddy and I don’t want to have the back of my truck get squirrely and end up putting one of my rear quarter panels into the tree. So, using my backup camera, I drive in reverse about 50 yards until I find a spot that I can reasonably turnaround with some zig zagging effort. Nervously and still hunting for the Heber Wild horses, I bully my way back through Old Verde Road and onto the gravel maintained FR 51.

Now, after being frustrated, I get back onto Hwy 260 and head South to where I saw the one Heber family band and I find an open gate for another sorta maintained fire road. I get 600-700 yards in and I see them, a 100 yards out to my left. BINGO! All of my misadventures, 63.6 miles of seriously questionable solo off-roading, and my stubborn perseverance is finally going to pay off. I hop out of my truck, focus on the wild horses, close my driver’s door, the wild horses look up at me, pause, and take off out of sight. You’ve got to be kidding me. I stood there in disbelief and completely dejected. Now, absolutely frustrated, I get back on Hwy 260 head back to Phoenix. Not all was lost though, I did learn some invaluable lessons.

1. My Toyota Tacoma is far more capable than I realized.
2. I seriously need an rapid air release tool and a mobile air compressor for the truck to air down and air up to smooth out the ride on rough roads. I actually took care of this the next day when I met my friend that sent me down Old Verde Road.
3. I did not let myself be intimidated and trusted my Tacoma and God to get me through my multi point predicament.
4. Stop and take photos of the predicaments you’re in to prove you were there. That’s really the only thing I regret about the entire day and a mistake I won't ever make again.
5. Probably the most notable, I know exactly where I’m supposed find the Heber Wild Horses for the next trip I make which will be done in dry conditions.

Oy vey… what a day.

So, to avoid the whole, pics or it didn't happen threats... I honestly forgot to take photos of the gnarly spots because I was really focused on not getting stuck, not getting lost, and finding the wild horses. However, this is how FR 300 started, so I was fairly over confident when the day started out...



But this is tracing my actual route on FR 300, starred what I overshot, and how I escaped back to Hwy 260. And it wasn't 3 hours and 16 minutes, it was more like 4.5 hours.

 

Hit 5k today!

 

Added the Issyzone center console protective cover today and I have to admit that it’s far better than I thought it was going to be. It’s fits like glove and is comfortable.