What have you done to your Tacoma today? 1st Gen Edition

good god man. What your planning on powering?


besides time travel that is.

Also I hope you loom up all those wires...

 

What? Pump comes out towards the top. Plenty of room to access the bolts. I can change one in like 15 minutes now after doing it waaay too many times.

 

Holy smokes. 1200W inverter - why so much? Trail microwave? Was just chatting about that with some buddies last week, hahahah. Makes my 175W seem worthless. Looks well organized though! Kudos.

Yeah, PS obviously comes out the top, given that it's at the top. Bolt access for me wasn't easy - hard to get my hands in around the various lines there (of which I seem to have tons), esp for the tensioner bolt. Probably didn't help that it was my first time.

I can build you a pretty complex Excel model in about 5 minutes though, after doing it now waaay too many times. LOL

 

Fair enough!

Tensioner bolt can be accessed through the wheel well with a long extension.

Which reminds me - I should send you that spreadsheet to laugh at (fix).

 

Yeah it's just mocked up for now. That will be all be nice and tidy when it's in for good.

Regarding power, lots of things! Let's start by saying my custom plate says "OVRNOUT" ... otherwise; ARB fridge/freezer, LED camp lights, battery chargers for various electronics &power tools oh and a heated blanket in the winter time

 

Nothing really specific per se, but have plans for heated blankets and a few other goodies. Just wanted something that could run more or less whatever I want to run (reasonably speaking) I hope to never have a trail microwave lol, though one of those 12v travel buddy ovens could be dope, but $300 is a bit heavy and space is a premium as we all know

 

I was going to look at the FSM for aiming. Never actually aimed lights before, I’ll be interested to see how it does with the 35’s and lift. I’d probably need to aim pretty low.

yeah I don’t think I removed my ps pump either, also out the bottom. Also a project I don’t think I ever want to revisit.

I always need to pull the airbox still I think. I always try to avoid it and then realize I should stop being lazy so I can be less frustrated.

Also almost got this pile back together tonight. My brackets I made for the horns were too big and the grill wouldn’t go back on with where I put the horns.



Still need to tune the CB. Also the AM/FM radio wasn’t picking up the station that’s semi local so I wasn’t sure if I jacked something up on that antennas install either. Ditch lights are functioning as I hoped though at least.

 

Took my 95 frame repair/flatbed project for a shakedown cruise today. It's been over a month off the road. Due to rust, I removed the rear portion of the frame, replaced it, and built the flatbed.

I still need to add a door to the underbed storage, add some marker lights along the side, and build the overhead rack for hauling lumber and other long items on those Sat Home Depot runs. I am going to add tie downs in several locations on the rails.




I gotta be honest. I am not too happy yet with the symmetry. The tool box looks a bit too much above the rear lamps. But, I think when I add the overhead rack, it will balance it out. Just need to get my tubing ordered.

Also, today when I lifted the spare, the truck "leveled out". I think the new General Springs stock units might be a little weak if I haul anything much. My fault, not Gen Springs. I will try adding some spring helpers first, then up size if needed. I think they could haul a few hundred more pounds (decent gap to overloads remains), but with "stinkbug" effect.

 

I lined mine up with my old bulbs and they were too high, so I lowered them. Was just curious if there was an actually height to go to

 

Any idea how much weight you had to add?

 

I cleaned her up and aired out the tent after going camping last weekend.

 

Just wanted to update on fixing the issue. I left the engine off and opened the throttle body full throttle like I was revving it up a few times with the cable attached still. It must have reset something in the ECU. I was able to clear the check engine light and it stayed off.

 

Got all the stuff cut off that I'm going to behind the axle, and yanked the shocks. Need to drop the gas tank and disconnect all the brake lines next so I can get the rest of it cleaned up.

In case anyone is looking to clean up some rust in the future, these black hawk stripping things are the _best_. Wire wheels don't cut it, grinding wheels and flap disks take off too much, but these things just tear through the rust and leave the steel alone.

$35 BHA Easy Strip Discs Clean and Remove Paint, Rust and Oxidation 4-1/2” x 7/8” - 5 Pack

https://www.amazon.com/Pack-Black-S...1&sr=1-1-791c2399-d602-4248-afbb-8a79de2d236f

I ordered some drill-mount ones that I'm going to use for the inside of the rails later.




Bow to the sawzall you silly rusty shock!

 

Oooo, I like knowing that tensioner trick; thank you!

Send it along any time .

Nice. What's your battery bank situation going to be, and how are you charging? Drawing 1200W for any length of time seems like it'll deplete stored energy quickly. I just added (a very little bit of) solar to my setup, and I found that with full sun, I get on the order of 650Wh/day (which is more than enough to run my fridge, charge electronics, and keep the two AGMs more than happy).

Don't forget the most recent: MT! OR would be nice now too I bet. Tough life, I know.

 

https://www.walmart.com/ip/RoadPro-RPSC-197-12V-12A-Portable-RV-Stove/40081597


We used something like this all spring, warmed up burritos from frozen to too hot to touch pretty quick. Also hot pockets, corn dogs,Pretty much whatever you can fit inside.

Way better than using the dash heaters

 

Nopes. We didn't run the ones we planned to either, though, hahahaha.

 

Hey where did you get the clock delete panel?

 

Where can I get a set of these from?

 

Regarding storage and charging, battery bank is 200ah mounted under the platform. Charging is handled by a 25 amp DC-DC charger/battery management system. It charges from solar as first choice (200w solar array on roof) and will charge from vehicle power otherwise. It's wired to a smart relay that will allow the solar system to charge the front start battery if the rear bank is full. I also wired this configuration to allow for a momentary switch at the drivers position to allow starting the vehicle off the rear bank or jump starting the front start battery.

I currently have zero plans to draw 1200w for any length of time. Only thing that will run constantly is the ARB fridge (already DC) Will charge Ryobi and Milwaukee tool batteries (One + tool system & Milwaukee chain saw). Ryobi has all kind of interesting battery powered goodies including things like fluid transfer pumps and stuff. I've found some heated blankets from cold winter camping that don't draw too badly. Oh and one never knows if the GF will want to use a curling iron or hair dryer someday or you know... a travel blender

Just in case of too much discharge, I have a hard wired adjustable low voltage disconnect. It will automatically disconnect the load if available voltage drops too low and automatically connects it again once charge state is above disconnect voltage.

Very keen to give this system a go but gotta finish building it first lol. What did you do for your setup (regarding solar)? Always curious to see what other folks are doing. We are planning/building to be touring off-road 4-5 days without the need for other people more or less but I really like the idea of being able to stay out for however long at least with solar. Gonna run out of food, gas and other supplies at some point haha.

 

Kind of like not wanting to get on the scales the Friday after Thanksgiving, I hadn't added it up , but here goes:

I used 1/8" plate for the bed. I used 80% of a 4'x8' sheet = 128lbs. The frame(rails plus plates), I used about 25% of a sheet of 1/4" = 81lbs. The undercarriage mounts for the bedsides I used about 30' of 1"x1" tubing = 30lbs. Those side rails are 1"x2" = 15lbs. Tire carrier crossbar is 5' of 2"x2" = 10lbs. Cross braces under the bed are 20' of 1"x2" = 30lbs. Misc (trailer hitch brackets, storage box, reinforcements under bedsides to support weight of loaded toolbox,... probably 15-20lbs.

Roughly 300-325 lbs of material. But I deleted portions of the side members, the floor, and the front wall of the bed. Just a guess, but I'd say I deleted about 50lbs. Which puts me probably 250lbs over stock.

I could definitely have gone thinner on the frame as it is about double original, but I already had that plate, so I used it. Probably could have saved 30lbs or so there. Minimum add for the project COULD have been maybe 225 lbs.

So, , yeah, I should have known better than to buy the factory spec springs from General. If I end up replacing them, luckily I need one on my other 95, so my mistake only cost me one spring. I had just done a estimate in my head before start and figured I'd come in at net increase of 175 lbs over stock. Doh!

Another reason I was over confident in the original spec springs was just before I started this project, with my old springs, I had a fiberglass shell (150 lbs maybe???) on the truck and and no stinkbug droop. Those springs were originals with 160,000.

I think the weight lost by rust falling off the rear of the frame also helped fool me on what the old springs were actually supporting. That's actually not a joke. I'd say at least 25% of the weight of the rear of the frame was gone. Maybe more.

This is part of what fell off during the tear down (12"x12" box), so you can imagine what had fallen off over the years.