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

You guys are awesome. Thank you!

 

fo sho~

 

Completed my DIY "Head display and backup camera integration improvement" project on my 2014 DCLB.

Here's what was wrong with the original setup:

1. The head unit dimmer for night time mode sucked. There are two brightness levels, but selecting one or the other is tied to the running/head light switch. So, when driving in a "daytime headlights on for safety" section, the display is too dark to see. I thought it'd make a LOT more sense to have the day/night mode determined by the dimmer for the dash lights - duh, right?

2. I'd installed a backup camera on the tail end of our camp trailer and to see it I mounted an after market rear view mirror with a monitor. Which means there are two monitors, one on the dash for the stock backup camera, and the second up in the mirror for the trailer.

3. I have a canopy on the back making the center rear view mirror pretty much useless. And, it blocks an area of the windshield I'd rather see out of.

What I wanted instead:

1. Make use of the head unit monitor for all camera feeds - tailgate backup camera, trailer rear view, and (eventually) a grill mounted front view camera.

2. Make a reasonable selector that fits the style of the existing knobs on the dash rather than push buttons.

3. Change the day/night display mode toggle when the dash brightness is adjusted up or down.

To start with, the camera selector dial. I wanted it to match the 2 - 4 WD selector and fill the vacant spot on the other side of the head unit (Some of the pics are out of order - work with me here)



Since I've been doing the social distancing thing by not leaving the house, I decided to see how much I could make on my own or with stuff already on hand in the garage. So, I turned a close match out of aluminum in the lathe. (I did order a replacement dial, breaking the found-in-the-garage rule. Sue me)



I doodled around with a pen spring and ball bearing to give the dial 3 detents while turning a potentiometer:



Then cut a hole to match and roughed up some spot putty to match the other side:



Then turned a disc for a push button for switching in/out of video monitor mode (as putting into reverse also does):





Along with painting the silver dash black, the end result is:



I still need to make some graphics for the now-painted-over "2WH --- 4WH --- 4WL" as well as "Front --- Tailgate --- Trailer" and a camera icon for the button.


To make it all work, I used an Arduino UNO with a custom shield for all the inputs/outputs. It lives in a box up under the dash near pedals so when I run the wire for the front camera it'll be easy to plug in, no need to disassemble the dash again. Plus, if I change anything in the firmware it'll be accessible for upload.



There are spots for 5 relays (I had 4 on hand, will need to order another when I get my hands on the front camera). Three of the relays switch between the video feeds to the single head video input. (Arduinos don't work at the right signal levels to switch video, so I used relays. There are chips out there that'd do the job, but I haven't played with them yet). The remaining two relays switch the 12v inputs to the head that switch on video and day/night modes.

A local mechanic looked up the wiring harness details for me so I could trace down the connections. Here's the dash open to find the various points to tap:




I haven't written up details in a blog post yet, but I'd be happy to if there's any interest out there. Plus I'll open source the code for anyone that wants it. (Gotta remember my github credentials as it's been a while)

-Eric

 

I did it with raptor liner. Here’s the write up I did when I did the project. I had great results. For right around $100 I was extremely satisfied....see post right below. Sorry for how I copy pasted it. iPad did it funky

 

Congrats & looks great!!

 

Thanks!! Really turned out great.

 

I hope this helps

 

Lol

 

Details on this? I think my truck is doing this. Has been for a while, if its the same noise.

 

One of the coolest projects i have seen on a Tacoma.

 

Done...

 

Maybe Im missing something, but it looks like you can lay a nice looking bead, why not pull the bolt and weld it instead? Actually I have a set of sliders that I bought as bolt on, and welded them, used the bolts to hold em in place while welding rather then jacks clamps etc...

 

sorry .....

yet another bored to hell, washed the truck post

 

Details on the fire pit? I like that!

 

I built my wife a 2 tier herb garden she I was doing the deck and landscaping. I had some landscape stones left over. I dug a 2’ deep hole and laid a French drain under it then laid 2 layers of landscape stones. The top is 2 antique tractor steel wheels. I cut the center out of the top one. I just wanted something different. The top wheel can be removed to see the fire better or both to clean it out

 

hows life in culpeper...like the fire pit ....great use of old iron tires....

 

Life here has been fairly quiet so far. Only 6 cases in the county I know of and 1 death. Getting these folks to understand what they want us to do is a little different. I am pretty much laid off except they give me 1 day a week at least it's just enough to py for health insurnce. I just hide out here at home. Hope y'all are all well

 

Never seen the retro decals on a MGM before. I was looking for that the other day but could really only find them on white... I kinda dig it.