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

It's the HF 1.5 ton race jack. Weighs 31 pounds. I keep it in the truck because it works for me, can be used on pavement and dirt, and is far less risky than the farm jacks a lot of folks carry. If you take a look, a lot of the Baja / Score rigs run sand tracks, shovel, and floor jack, not a hilift. Basically the entire business case for the company Pro Eagle. Worst case, my friend that comes with me on 99% of trips I'd need one already has one, so its more a capability expansion. I may get one in the future, but it doesn't suit my needs at the moment. Not saying my way is better, just that I feel more comfortable and safer using this system personally for myself, and for my truck. I've seen a few door panels caved in and windows smashed with a farm jack, but have yet to see that happen with a floor jack.

Another plus is if a friend calls me that needs help with vehicle issues that owns, say, a subaru, I can help them out as well, and avoid using flimsy ass OEM scissor jacks.

At work in the Utah scrub last weekend. Took me the same amount of time to deploy the jack, and pop the lugs and flat as it would have to just extend the farm jack to height safely. Must have ran over an old barbed wire fence or someone was burning pallets in the area. That hole was HUGE.

 

Finally doing my retrofit! On the led on front shroud, did ya have to notch the front of the shroud for the wires?

 

I would agree, farm jacks are the dangerous.

I didnt suggest one.

 

Damn! That looks nice and clean!

How do you like the sPOD?

 

Ahh cool. Is it a kit, or did you just make it up as you went?

 

You know....I've never once had a glare issue. Besides, chicks dig the bulge in my hood.

 

Thanks for the advise. Seems doable for my level of tinkering.

 

I like that! Have you used one? I'm eyeballing the 6K version.

 

Just snatched up components when they went on sale. Got the Kings friom DSM right before the price hike, got the Camburg UCAs from DSM's Ebay when a 20% day was going, got the leafs from Low Range down the street when they had a free leaf shipping deal going on, and the brake lines / misc lift hardware came from Wheeler's.

 

Loving the sPOD. It really simplified my lighting install and controls. Just one braided cat6 cable to run through the firewall for the touchscreen, and everything else wires up under the hood. Just connect the positive/negative wires from your lights to any of the 8 circuits and done. PowerTrays makes pre-cut trays for our trucks for various systems like this, and they bolt up to factory points with factory screws/bolts. All of my lighting is wired under the hood (with the exception of my rear bumper flush LED pods which I just ran power under the bed/cab and up under the hood) and it's right next to the fuse box so I can tap into those factory circuits that can trigger circuits on the sPOD. It's all solid state so there's no need for bulky relay harnesses or anything. I have lots of lights hooked up to it, and I'm barely using a 3rd of the amperage that the sPOD can handle. The switch linking you can set up with it allows me to have master buttons that control multiple lights at once. Takes only seconds to configure. Does strobe, flash, momentary switching, dimming, etc.

 

Nice. I need to do more research on this. Probably will end up adding it to my list. I wonder how it holds up to dust and water ingress though, with everything being electronically controlled.

 

Pep-Boys has the 6K on sale for $45 so I bought one. I'm going to keep it in the bed when I go off-roading. This, the factory bottle jack & some 4"x4" lumber for cribbing & I should be covered.

 

How hard was it to install it yourself?

 

Not submersible, but highly weather resistant. In the pics you can see the solid state part is all sealed. They say in the manual that care just involves wiping it dry with a cloth and don't power spray it. Time will tell. A little battery terminal salve over the connections and circuitry would also be a way to beef up the water resistance, but it will catch dirt. It sits high enough in the engine bay that it shouldn't get very wet. Luckily I live in AZ where things don't really rust and we have 300 days of dry sunny weather.

 

Wow! impressive! is there a video on hoot set it up or a write up?

 

There's some info out there, but honestly it's really simple to install and set up. They do have some videos on programming the controller but it's very intuitive and easy to figure out. Literally it comes with pre-made pos/neg wires to hook to your battery. Install the sPOD controller under your hood somewhere high. Run the pos/neg wires of your lights/accessories right to one of the 8 pos/neg terminals for each circuit. Run the braided cat6 cable through your firewall and into the cab, then mount the control panel where you like. Configure the controller in the setup menu and go. They even have an app so you can bluetooth sync to your phone and control it from there, too.

 

I know you didn't. I was just answering "why the floor jack?" I opted for that instead of a bottle jack because my floor jack overlaps the fender hump so it doesn't take up usable space in the bed. Plus it's what I already had in my garage.

 

Stupid easy. There's a video Total Chaos produced called "how to install UCAs and Coilovers in 14 minutes" that walks you through the whole process. I borrowed a friend's garage that had an air compressor/tools and stuff, but it is super easy to DIY with basic hand tools. ESPECIALLY if you already have your coils installed on the shocks.

 

Finally banished my stock steelies to the depths of hell ultra motor sports alloys upgrade and new bigger tires

 

Same boat.