What Have You Done To Your 3rd Gen Today?

Captain_Slow · Jun 18, 2019

Window tint

Mike43 · Jun 18, 2019

tandemgeek said: ↑

I tried the chin spoiler / air deflector delete and once it was off the truck looked unfinished. In other words, there was clearly a need for "something" to go under the front valance panel to cover up the front end of the frame and deflect air down or around and away from the floor of the cab. In some respects I'm amazed no one has taken the time to develop a proper "splitter" or front spoiler to replace the gawd-awful one Toyota bolts on these trucks. But, be that as it may, I had a "hold my beer" moment as I stood there looking at the truck without the air deflector and the air deflector laying on the floor. Fifteen minutes later I put down my jigsaw and mounted what was left of the chin spoiler back on the truck and told myself, "Not my best work but it's still better than it was." Yup, I gave the chin spoiler a trim using the molded-in chine line as my cut-line "just because it was there."

The next day I decided to trim another 1/2" of material off the bottom of the air dam on the Tacoma, which also allowed me to get a much cleaner cut line for a professional, factory-looking final product. After trimming the part and filing down the new bottom edge I gave it a coat of bed liner paint, let it dry and then put it back on the truck. And, if I do say so, I think it looks great!

Better than the original, but also better than simply removing it and having to look at "stuff" under the front of the truck that really needed to be covered by some type of valance panel. Again, I'm really, really happy with this little change.

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Great idea. Good price too

SOSHeloPilot · Jun 18, 2019

RetiredRedneck said: ↑

Still very much an ongoing effort, but I've finally gotten a chunk of the wiring out of the way. The goal was to do all of the onerous/less visible stuff so whenever I got my new lights and so on, things could be just plugged in.

That little cubbyhole under the dash was of no use to me as it was....I figured it would ultimately become a sanctuary for every bit of hamburger and potato chip that I ever dropped, and eventually I would have to deal with the civilisation that would no doubt spawn there, likely about the time they discovered space flight, ergo the crafted panel. I stopped at the 12 volt plug and the USD sockets; if I am ever in need of additional switches or plugs and an am run down, tackled and pummelled to the ground by an unreasonable bout of ambition, I can add more....I know that the little CaliRaised three switch plate will fit perfectly in the remaining space. Drilling a hole to run wires has to be done carefully; I'm pretty sure that drilling into the bright yellow painted wire harness behind the cubby would be really bad.

I mucked with the existing wiring only a bit...I ran a heavy fuzed lead from my auxiliary panel, and ran it through a relay powered off the factory 12 volt plug...that gives me as much amperage as I will ever need. I added a identical plugs in the rear of the centre console for those rare times when i have a teenager or two in the back seat, also powered off the same heavy lead. I tucked a third up under the dash, as well as the original factory plug, for anything I want to be 'hard' wired without actually having to play around with those tiny little wires. I've got a new tablet and RAM mount coming for off road navigation. I didn't need the voltmeter, but that particular plug was the only high amp USB available at the time and, besides, all that blue glow looks cool.

Waiting on a replacement sticker for the Redarc control head, the one that is there is driving me daft. The Redarc brake controller was a little pricey, but worth every penny. If you fail to attach one of the connectors on the plug correctly, and then go through the OEM fuze panel to make sure that 'pop' sound was not fatal, make sure you replace all of the fuzes correctly. There is one little tiny 25 amp beast that powers all of your trailer lights....after you test it, if you put it back in the wrong spot, nothing works. And you panic.

The molle panels for the console may not be for everyone, but they certainly work for me. Most impressed with Hector's efforts (OG Fabrications)

After the better part of four decades listening to a disembodied voice under my dash send me places I really didn't want to go to deal with people I knew I wouldn't like, I haven't re-embraced Ham radio as much as I had hoped. Should I ever shed my grumpy, anti-social demeanour, I will upgrade the radio...for now, the little QYT will serve. I use it rarely, mostly off-road on simplex, and it serves adequately. When I have a need to hear unhappy voices, I'm good with Johnny Cash or Waylon or Colter Wall. A thumb drive into that little USB port is certainly an improvement over the 8 track player I had the last time I owned a pick up.

As I was installing MESO's centre switch panel, I briefly hated him (when you think you have maybe cut too much dash away, do NOT call your local Stealership and ask how much a replacement centre console would cost...you won't like the answer. At. All), but with way more JB Weld than is probably recommended, I made up for my gross inadequacies with a Dremel. I gotta say, I am truly impressed with the switch panel; now waiting for a few more MESO creations to come available. The switches all came from Air-On-Board; the lamp colour in the small centre console switches is an exact match for the Toyota OEM, while the larger switches on the left are...close. But, back to my earlier comment about the soothing blue glow....

The auxiliary electrics panel is a home brew effort with components from Bussmann, Blue Sea, Princess Auto, someone-anonymous-overseas-on-ebay and my local under-the-table metal shop. It is very much overkill for my current needs, but the last thing I want to be doing is adding extraneous bits n pieces down the road. I have it on good authority that MESO and OG Fabrications and others are working on a deflector screen and ant-gravity generator for the 3rd Gen (I watch Star Trek and The Orville, too!) and I want to be ready when these come available. Building this thing was a RRPITA* and not unlike the current landscape project in my backyard - or going to prison - I've deemed this a once in a lifetime experience.

*We all know what PITA means. RRPITA is a couple orders of magnitude above that; RPITA is a "Right" Pain - - - . Not sure what the opposite of that would be...Left? Wrong? Who knows, it is a British Empire expression, meant to confuse the Colonials. RRPITA is "Right, Royal Pain - - -. I suspect that has something to do with one of Her Majesty's centuries dead ancestor's less desirable proclivities, but as I was cutting bits of plastic that should never have there in the first place, poking myself in the eye with a hot soldering iron and fumbling around with stupid little connectors, RRPITA seemed to be appropriate.

And its pronounced like a Pirate would say it. A Pirate ordering bread in a Mediterranean restaurant.

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.
...^^^... Great looking wiring job ...

..... Kinda looks like the Heathkits I used to build ...

IluvTaco · Jun 18, 2019

tandemgeek said: ↑

The dotted line is not exact, but should be close enough to replicate what I did. My first "hold my beer" cut used the chine line below the red dotted line. It looked OK, but still seemed a bit longer than it needed to be to hide the front cross beam on the truck. I used green painter's trim tape to put down a second cut line where the final bottom edge of the air deflector now measures 4" from the upper part of the air deflector using a metal ruler (straight line) as shown. The ends were cut to follow the line of the front edge of the wheel well.

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Thanks man, definitely going to have to do this. I’m just starting out to get tools and what not so definitely going to have to ask the father in-law. He has much more knowledge and a steady hand. Thanks again

arguscanis · Jun 18, 2019

Firefighter Matt said: ↑

More detail in how you did please. This is something I would like to do.
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you need,
meso shifter or similar, with at least one button available,
some type of anytime backup harness,
should be two 18-22 ga wires from harness with just cut ends. just splice to corresponding wires 2; black and green)from shifter bundle.
then thread the bundle down through the back of the head unit and connect up through shifter boot for final connections.
the meso shifter uses a “momentary” switch (on only while held down). this and the fact that the switch for the camera is low voltage electronic (guessing here) eliminates the need for a switch relay, (not to mention a latched relay which i havent played with yet).
it was possible for this firefighter to figure out even though i used a meter to figure out the power wire from the head unit.
pm with any questions and i can probably find you some links to the panel removal and parts sources.

Drunken Chewbacca · Jun 18, 2019

Daddy_Firebird said: ↑

Good looking MGM! Curious, who makes the bed rack?
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SOS Off Road Concepts. Reach out to @SOS CONCEPTS

correa88 · Jun 18, 2019

Rob Daman said: ↑

I don't think that's necessary and could be somewhat costly.
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thanks Rob

mrproduxn · Jun 18, 2019

LTG4087 said: ↑

I guess it's in the eye of the beholder. I think the skid plate covers up quite well and looks pretty cool while being functional. I had one on my Sport as well and never saw a difference in mpg with the DAM off. I don't do heavy duty offroading either, but do use my trucks for hunting, fishing and getting to those somewhat remote areas. I feel better driving across a grassy field with the skid plate on there, although it's never rubbed on anything.

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Ditto to that

Inferno75 · Jun 18, 2019

Been a while...lots of little things...power tray on the way...waiting on morimoto headlights but here’s a few rain washed photos for current status

R2D2 · Jun 18, 2019

Marius said: ↑

Happy Taco Tuesday!

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Calendar photo.

LTG4087 · Jun 18, 2019

shane100700 said: ↑

I was thinking of doing the same, just hadn’t decided yet. It’s be great to see the output. Thanks!
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Here you go. I didn't pull out of the garage so it's kinda close up but you get the idea.

shane100700 · Jun 18, 2019

LTG4087 said: ↑

Here you go. I didn't pull out of the garage so it's kinda close up but you get the idea.
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Thanks! Looks good!

Did you use a toggle or pressure release switch?

Orvechkin · Jun 18, 2019

Joined the SCS F5 fam today!

CoastieRon · Jun 18, 2019

Mike43 said: ↑

I think I have the same problem. I bang on the dash with my fist a couple times and it usually goes away for that drive. Sounds like your approach might be a little better. Can you give me some details to fix? I’m getting tired of the bruised fist
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Remove driver side tweeter cover. Flip over, hot glue that stupid sensor plug. Reinstall. That's it

AustinMada · Jun 18, 2019

Snakedoctor said: ↑

Does this give the possibility of having moisture appear in the headlight assembly? I know there’s moisture in my tail lights of my work car where they added flashing lights to it and that always made me wonder.
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It's a possibility but if you properly seal the headlight it shouldn't be a problem. This is my first time doing something like this so hopefully I did. I'll find out Thursday when it rains

dal3_gribble · Jun 18, 2019

Big day. 5100s, front spindles, rear add-a-leaf, all extended brake lines. 4" front, 2.5" rear, caster around 4 deg what a game changer.

Norsemanvike · Jun 18, 2019

LTG4087 said: ↑

Installed a KC cyclone light under the hood. Need to clean up some of the wiring but I'm pretty happy with the light output.
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Link to the part?

arguscanis · Jun 18, 2019

Orvechkin said: ↑

Joined the SCS F5 fam today!

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arguscanis · Jun 18, 2019

sweet!

AustinMada · Jun 18, 2019

bonifacio said: ↑

I'm harder than morning wood!
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I'm happy my headlight could do that for you

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