Hondo Garage's New Thing

That's awesome man! Looking forward to more info (AND PICS wtf no pics yet!?) as you get some miles on it!

 

I've slept in the back of a new company van in a Wall Mart parking lot near Muscle Shoals, Alabama. No shots were fired (at me), nor did anyone come looking for candy. I lived to tell the embarrassing tale.

 

Seriously? It's a Wall Mart parking lot. I'd avoid taking pictures too! There's an entire sub-culture for that sort of thing, and don't want to be a part of.

 

Congrats on finally getting your GFC!

 

A clever person would go look at his media album... Just saying...

 

Does the lighting kit still go between the panels as in V1? I liked that method, I am hoping for factory installed lighting kit on mine. Mine is in production now but the earliest I plan on getting it is late October/ early November if I ship. Otherwise I will be there November 17/18.

 

A few questions for the guys that have their GFC's already:

Does it block XM reception? I listen to XM on road trips and would hate to lose that.

Why is there so much space between the GFC and the sides of the bed? Does that bother anyone? It looks really unfinished to me. My Leer topper basically overhangs the sides of the bed and looks more integrated. In seeing pics of Squeaky Penguins 1st Gen it looks like the GFC takes up the full width of the truck. Was the Tacoma version designed around the 1st Gen then?

 

Do you have to pull the bedside caps for the install of the GFC?

 

They built them off the inside bed dimensions.

Yes and no. It fits better along the bedside, which looks better IMO, but doesn't fit as well around the back of the cab.

Make me wonder if the MPG impact would be bigger on a 1st gen than the 2nd or 3rd.

 

Congrats @DoorDing I’m super excited to see how your build out comes along. You seem like you’ve got a lot figured out. Welcome to the “I finally have my GFC” club.

 

Are you guys dust-proofing the bed in any particular way?

 

I’m not as we don’t really get dust out here in the Great Lakes region... we do get rust though....

I’ve heard some discussions of sealing the tailgate as that’s where the vast majority of your dust will enter... also I believe in Australia they utilize hepa filtration positive pressure to basically drive out dust from the inside preventing intrusion... I think that’s a super cool concept, again I wouldn’t utilize it, but perhaps the Skunkworks at GFC will add it to their long list as it’s really a pretty common problem out West...

I know I’ve seen a number of pictures on this thread showing a GFC or two up in the Arctic absolutely plastered with dirt and the interior remained pretty clean...

I’d say go after the tailgate first... see where that gets you.

 

Silicone under bed rails, silicone front corner gaps, tailgate seal gasket from Amazon.

I might seal the bedside cubbies with silicone. I also added a very short piece of gasket to the gfc space frame where the rear hatch hits.

I am not looking for perfect seal, just good enough. I am probably already there.

 

Thanks for the answers everyone, much appreciated.

Looking forward to mine being finished.

 

so is there a popular opinion on whether or not the factory bed rail caps should be used or swapped out for something like the kb voodoo bedrail caps?

I'm thinking I should silicone underneath them to help with dust intrusion, and am concerned about plastic clips breaking on the factory caps while removing them.

 

I have a third Gen and I think the factory caps are fine. Graeme didn’t seem to see an issue with them. To be honest if GFC decides to make some i might consider it. But I figure if they aren’t making them yet they must not think they need to be used... though this is simple speculation. But I can’t see why itd be hard for them to make them if they decide too.

 

The biggest issue with the second gen bed caps is they are pretty flimsy and have a lot of side to side movement that scuffs the paint underneath with a shell or rack on top. I never really used them for anything but a step and my paint was scuffed up when I removed them. The KB voodoo rails are much sturdier and as a bonus look way nicer too. Also much easier to seal up as they use none of the holes underneath to mount. The newer versions have also gotten rid of the hole seen in DoorDing's photo.

The third gens bed rails are way better than ours stock as they are just flat pieces of plastic as opposed to our "bubble" style caps if you will.

 

Does anyone know how to get in touch with Ross? I’ve been trying to setup an appoitment for the last week to go to Montana to pick up my camper in person.
Elise said she would put me in contact with him to schedule an appointment and I haven’t heard anything in a few days.

 

Mom's side is from the Yakima area about an hour from there. It has it's charm, but it is still small town USA in a lot of ways, not all good. depending on where you are from though, it could have been a good chance to pull the throttles back and enjoy life again. Some damn good fishing on the Columbia and Klickitat!

 

How are the people with the wiring harness running the wires into the bed of the truck and making it look like a stock/clean install? I am thinking that the front of the bed in the gap between the bedside and the front of the bed but I dont think it would look that good.