Big Three Wiring Upgrade - 2nd Gen Tacoma - Writeup with pictures!

i like this

 

Subd

Is the wire used stranded flex or stranded solid conductor? Is it pliable or does it hold shape/bends?
I got the blue n crusty on my terminals, and I think it's dirty power cables I've added to accessories, or poo poo battery from wheeling and sloshing around lol

Would love a pre-made kit for this. Pretty well over my DC power days, have the tools and knowledge, just not the cares anymore to sit down and craft one up.

 

thanks so much for this writeup @ramonortiz55! i have been wanting to do this and gathering parts for this for a while. this thread showed me what i needed to know to get it done!

rather than work from a pre-made harness i ran cable to starter and alternator individually and then attached cables together with zips and loom. i did not try to get it all neat and tidy like Ramon. it's tough to get this big ass 1/0 routed back where the oem wire came from.

this job took me a full day and i ended up with low voltage codes. i think the nut on the post in the fuse box was not torqued down because moving the wires around on the post and re-torquing solved the issue.

also redid stereo power cable on the anl fuse (not connected in image) and wiring to the blue sea fuse box.

i just received a powertray but i'm not sure if it will work with the sc reservoir. i'm happy with how things are at the moment.

 

I am glad it worked out for you bud!

 

If you have the factory tow package doesn't it have a better alternator? If it does is the electrical components heavy duty?just curious, looks like a good upgrade to support more electronics.

 

it does! i completely forgot about that

 

Thanks for taking the time to post this. I wasnt necessarily looking to upgrade per se, but replace some wires. My battery to ground, battery to engine wires are super corroded, and need to be replaced. This write up will be a huge help.

 

Nice write up. Got a couple of questions. How come you didn't replace all the wires to where they were originally at? Does this way work better? Also did you leave the small ground wire on the shock tower or was that upgraded as well.

 

Subbed for future reference.

 

Regarding that black wire UNDER the fuse box:

Where does the other end go? Is this the positive feed for the cabin fusebox?

 

Somebody mentioned the idea of an auxiliary battery for powering "extras" like a winch and other electronic upgrades/mods. Would this circumvent the need for this whole situation?

 

This is for current draw across the board. The thicker gauge wires are better for energy transmission, especially if you move to a larger alternator.

 

Hey all,
I understand that these drop in kits are not available anymore and I also get that it's a lot of check twice and cut once to get this to work... got it.
That said, does anyone else have one of these that has not been installed and could do a little diagram of gauge and approx lengths of the cables?
I see the pictures for a relative reference, I'd just like to have a place to start ballparking without pulling the old one out first.
I would consider trying to make a few of these if I can make one for myself as I'll need to buy a heavy duty crimper.

Thanks for any help.
I've got be honest, I've never been a "car guy" but I've done a million other little jobs in my 50yrs that have made me appreciate mechanics and mechanical workings. I love working on my truck now and trying to figure out how this does that.
Thanks for all the tips I've acquired from this site so far and I look forward to mining more info.

Cheers

patrick

 

Glad I read this post. I just added a new Warn 9500xp winch, but I have not yet upgraded anything else in the OEM wiring. Made the mistake of grounding the winch to the frame next to the battery at first, now I understand why. Which alternator are you running? Any other "must do" upgrades or best practices when running a winch ?

 

Yeah, just remember both electrical paths going and returning to the electrical source should be equivalent. You won't necessarily hurt anything with your winch, you just won't get to take full electrical advantage of the motor and will be limited by the pipe diameter in the electrical path either coming or going. I am running a rewired OEM 250amp alternator. Nothing really must do, you can just slap it on and wire it directly to the battery with the appropriate gauge wire for the length of your run. Just pull your winch specs and then google wire gauge capacity specs and there are plenty of tables that come up to show you the length of voltage drop per gauge needed.

 

I'm only waiting on some 4AWG 3/8" lugs before I do this myself. I'll post a writeup with dimensions and material sources. Depending on how it goes I may consider putting a few more together for funsies.

 

Does the battery ground wire interact with anything or go straight to the engine block?
I’m relocating my battery to passenger side so I can put a bigger dual battery in the larger driver side space. I plan to extent the stock charging wire across to my starter and find a new ground over there. Can I use the stock ground for my aux battery?

 

It goes to the starter (not the block directly) and the ground point next to the stock battery location in the engine bay. Look at the last photo in the first post - it shows the shorter negative leading to that ground point in the bottom right corner of the picture.

There are some other pictures here: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...ig-3-plus-closed.391316/page-29#post-23206848

 

resurrecting this thread because jeepcables.com (also toyotacables.com) just released an upgrade kit for our trucks. I could not find an install vid for it, so I'm here.

I just installed a similar mod on my 88 cherokee XJ. It did wonders for starting/windows/locks. Everything with a motor seems to run about 50% faster.

So if you're gonna do this, look for a low gauge cable with as many copper strands as possible. Electrical current flows on the outside of materials. One solid copper strand flows less than many strands woven together. I don't know how that works, but thats what I remember from high school physics. you would also want to put a fuse between the alternator and whatever you connect it to. just in case. I would think a line to the starter is the most impactful.

Our trucks are likely to benefit less from this kind of mod. Toyota engineers were smart, but it couldnt hurt anything. I'm curious if anyone who has done this mod has noticed any improvement in the other electronics on board.

 

I haven't looked at those kits but the one shown here, as you note, has an issue with fusing.

I recently did a fairly detailed writeup on a Big 3 for the 1GR here - https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...lights-hood-lights-aux-panel-and-more.712981/ - that shows a "proper" Big 3 on our trucks to include preserving the factory wiring path through the factory fusebox.