Cheap/Free Mods

I guess it would be the outer wire on the turn signal, and not the one you added for the DTRL mod. The center wire hasn't been used for anything.

 

ok cool ill probably try it out tomorrow. just to be sure i cut the wire from the
side marker and splice the bulb side of the wire to the turn signal wire correct?

 

Correct. Use the bulb-side of the wire from the side marker when you cut it. Might want to leave enough wire to put it back together if it doesn't work.

 

I had a couple cheap electrical gauges from Harbor Freight but no good place in the cab to put them. So I decided to build an electrical control box for the bed while adding an auxiliary 12V socket. It's good for tailgating, camping, or any other need like a small compressor, vacuum, small inverter, etc. Hopefully this inspires similar ideas and additions.

Note: this is a reference and I take no responsibility if you hurt yourself or your truck.

Here's what it looks like all done.



The switch w/ cover on the right is available at car parts stores (~$10) or radio shack (~$5). The switch is wired to be the master control for the box...when the switch is off, the box is dead and receives no power for the socket or dials. The voltage dial lets me monitor the battery status for tailgating (when using the 12V socket and/or bed lights) and the current dial tells me how much the socket is drawing. The 12V socket is a water proof type and is ~$12 from walmart or auto/marine supply stores. The enclosure is from radio shack for about $5. The fuse on the bottom left is not for the box, but rather from some ground lights under the bed, the box just provided a good place to mount it.

Here's what the guts look like.


Basically, a 15A fused wire comes from the battery (See my bed light post for how to safely run wires from the battery to the bed) and goes to the switch. The other side of the switch supplies this power to the dial backlights, voltage dial and the "battery" side of the current dial. The "load" side of the current guage goes to the positive side of the 12V socket. The ground for the socket and gauges are tied to the ground post behind the left tail light. As previously mentioned, the fuse is only meant for the rear ground lights and realy has no bearing on the box wiring.

This just shows the measures I took to ensure everything was insolated safely. This is the switch with heat shrink over every post, which I then put inside a small piece of wire loom (a.k.a. split tube conduit) to further protect the wires from scraping against the socket's mounting screws.



I plan to mount it in the storage bin. There was already a drain hole, so I just reamed it out to make it large enough for the wire bundle (don't forget to use wire loom!!). The bin is simply held in by 6 torx bolts.




After the wiring is connected up behind the left tail light, the bin is reattached. In this pic you can see the secondary box I had to attach to the back to clear the back of the gauges. Truly I needed 3" of clearance, but I used material I already had. I also left enough slack in the wire so i could remove the box for maintenance, mods, etc.



I didn't want to permanently mount it in case I had to remove it. That hardcore velcro stuff was too tough, so I just used double sided tape. You can see it sits far enough back to still close the storage bin lid, and there's still room on the right for bungee cords.



And in the dark in all its glory...

 

I just got my 05 tacoma today and went to play my ipod through the cigarette lighter and there seems to be no power to it. When I push my adapter into the lighter a green light should turn on but nothing. I tried to find a specific thread but to no avail.

 

Did you check your fuses? There are 2 fuse boxes.. One under the hood and one behind your dash. Most likely its just a blown fuse. Good luck, welcome to TW.

 

I'm not sure, but they may be linked to your ignition. Try it again with your key in the on/accessory position.

 

there is a mod in here I read (sorry I don't know how to link it) that can bypass the ignition. I will attempt it soon because my gps automatically asks to turn off if I turn my truck off and it annoys the shat outta me. on the same but different note, with my truck running and fuses OK, I can not get my power in the box to work...any ideas?

 

I make them

 

Why aren't these listed? http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/45925-couple-cheap-mods.html

 

I got very tired of the buckle banging against the rear door on the passenger side of my new Access Cab. I noticed that Toyota had installed a softer rubber pad where the buckle usually hangs, but the darned thing still banged when going over bumps and rougher terrain.
This fix costs about $3 and you have plenty of extra material left to replace them 3 times!

Needed: Felt pads, Scissors, and Buckle pad from the rear door of your Access Cab.


Remove the buckle pad from the rear door.


Lay the Door Pad on the back of the felt sheet and trace.


Cut the pad out of the sheet.


Peel of the adhesive protective paper.


Apply the cut-out to the door pad.


Reinstall the buckle pad with felt attached.


Pad installed with buckle in place. No more Banging!

So easy an Old Fart can do it!

 

Thank you very much for the Mods.One of the bigest things that used to bug me was how i was unable to turn the foglights on just with the running lights,or how the fogs would go off when you turn the highbeams on.Well thanks to your post i was able to do the mods on my 05 Pre-Runner.

 

Excellent and very informative post, thanks.

 

That is a *great* post...I'm not a fan of ABS at any time, let alone while offroad. Thanks for the writeup.

 

Mud Flat Rebolt/Re-enforcement

I just up'ed the pictures

 

Thanks so much for this info just put it in, took less than 10 mins.
I won it on ebay for with shipping for $29.99, for 2008 Camry
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/e...0466481675&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK:MEWNX:IT

 

I believe I'm in. I'm not to sure yet what i might wanna do.

 

A buddy and I did the mod yesterday afternoon, blacking out my headlights, and what a difference! I blacked out my grill months ago and finally the look is complete. I also have an ARB front black bumper and rock shield, so it all goes together great!

One recommendation: From what I read on the mods and tutorials I set the oven to 200F and put the headlights in for 8 minutes. Despite this, we really had to fight with them to pull the units apart. Finally, we tried turning up the temp just 50F (now 250F) and for the same amount of time. WHAT A DIFFERENCE. The headlights were much easier to open and we avoided damaging and stressing the gray plastic housing with the flat head screw driver. And if your gray housing does get stretched out from prying apart the headlights, don't freak out too much, when they go back in to warm up the adhesive for reassembly the plastic will go almost all the way back to it's previous shape.

Hope this helps. We also used Rust-oleum's semi-gloss black Industrial spray paint and it worked great!

Good luck!

 

isnt there a mod to turn your tail lights a flat color? Ive seen it before but cant find it?