Vagabond Drifter Camper Buildout and Mods

Sounds like a good plan, get rid of kids, get a ACLB, enjoy a good life and more living space. Hahaha

 

Thanks for all the the feedback, I kinda thought that the bigger the better might be the case. Hadn’t thought that much about the access cab 6’ bed. I think I’ll check that out. I’m not that comfortable in the 09 seats anymore, but maybe the newer Tacoma seats have improved?

I don’t have to commit to a truck/bed size until the fall, so I’ll have plenty of time to obsess on choices!

 

The new trucks seats still suck. My legs and back have hurt in both trucks but I keep buying them haha.

 

Seat jackers. They make a difference. But it also depends on what your complaint is.

 

I have the seat risers and I still think my Tacoma seats are uncomfortable. I plan to swap in the GX460 seats sometime soon. But, that’s a whole different ball of yarn to untangle.

 

I have the desert does it ones for the front and it really helps with lower back/leg pain on long trips.
So much better!

 

I have never found any issue with my Taco seats. But I've also only ever owned a '77 Nova (overstuffed bench seat), '71 K10 (overstuffed bench seat), '72 K10 (overstuffed bench seat), and a '97 Subaru (bucket seats that are harder and lower than the Taco's). Maybe my expectations have just been set quite low?

 

I noticed that a lot of people put spacers in the front seats to raise the front of the seats a bit to help with seat comfort. I have no experience using these.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/fs-aluminum-seat-spacers-for-seat-mod.563843/

 

I'm starting to plan a small build in the back of my truck. I'm planning to use 80/20 and I know people here have done some cool builds. I'm wondering if there is any benefit between fractional vs metric and internal vs external fasteners.

 

Your truck has metric fasteners... As for internal/external - think about how things will feel if you drag your exposed ankle across something that is sticking out.

 

I used 1" extrusion from T-Nutz. No reason I can see to care whether it's 1" or 25mm.

I used external fasteners, simply because the options offered from the extrusion companies were insanely overpriced. L-brackets worked fine for me.

 

Photos quoted below from an earlier post in this thread:

 

Not to thread jack too much further, but I have tried the seat jackers. Very well made product. Worked great for my 18 4Runner passenger seat, didn’t like them in the front on my Tacoma drivers.

I’m doing best with a 3/4” rise in the rear of the drivers along with a 15” Wx 18” high piece of medium density foam that tapers from 1” at the top to 1/2” at bottom. IMO, the Tacoma seats really lack sufficient outward curved mid-back support. YMMV, of course, since all backs are different.

BTW, foamorder.com is great for online orders of custom cut, high quality foam ( and custom covers too, but at a bit of a price).

 

I used 30mm because it was the cheapest I could find that was around 1-in in size and the supplier had the fasteners for relatively cheap too. These are my favorite:
http://www.zyltech.com/t-slot-l-type-90-degree-3030-inside-bracket-12-pack/

 

Has anyone / is it possible to skip buying those expensive drawer sliders and create a fridge/kitchen slide from the 80/20 "bearings"?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHsiBRS08do

 

If anyone is looking for a way to attach cabinets or other items to the factory accessory rails inside the Tacoma bed, here's what I've been using. I know there are various track nuts out there, but a quick search didn't turn up anything large enough for the rail that also had a small thread, and I wanted to just pick something up at the hardware store. My local Ace had these U-Nuts in 1/4-20, and that's what I've used to attach everything from my cabinets to my fire extinguisher to the little trash bag I just made today (uses the wasted space behind the fridge). These things interface with the rail quite well, are cheap, and I've had zero loosening even on lots of washboard. I'll attach thumbnails so as to not blow up the thread with huge photos of boring stuff: (EDIT - yeah, the thumbnails didn't work out somehow.)

 

Got the Prinsu Habitat Rack installed today. Also added a Front Runner fairing on top but it ended up being too small, oh well maybe once I come up with something better I will modify it but at least this will keep the bugs from accumulating on the wall at the back of the cab.

 

Those are interesting, but they mention not being suitable for overhanging loads, so I would probably be wary of using them for a slide out. I think even if they were, it's possible the price for them could add up quick knowing the price of 80/20 hardware, especially the name brand stuff.

How long were the slides you need? I have found the price for good ones isn't that terrible, but I have only ever been looking at the 30" or so long ones.

 

I don't know about your 80/20 bearing question, but here are the Ryadon slides I used. They're a good deal by drawer slide pricing standards. $135 shipped, 500lb capacity, lock-in/lock-out. I used the 28" variety. Quite pleased with the quality and operation so far.

http://drawerslidesinc.com/drawer-s...full-extension-lock-in-lock-out-drawer-slide/

 

If you want cheap and strong slides, the skateboard bearing route seems to be the way to go. If you've not heard of that, just google it.