What Have You Done To Your 3rd Gen Today?

Happy birthday to the mrs.!

 

Man I love mine too but it wasnt quick as well...then decided to meso mod my climate trim. Que another 4 hours or annoyance trying to get everything to line up. 3tpam is sweet but wish it was designed easier

 

Great question. It sounds clearer at higher volumes. More base as well. Did it make as big of a difference as I was expecting? No. I also put in sound deadener as well so that may have improved the sound quality also. I was hoping to get more sound from the rears but no different. I have my fader set almost entirely to the rears.

 

Does it fit the Tacoma? Ebay






Edit: it looks like it does. Here't the Tacoma button:

 

On this note:
I soldered up a custom harness, ran an lc7i, 4 channel amp, kicker cs door speakers and the suburaru kicker tweeters so I could keep the factory head unit. Super disappointed. The factory push virtually no sound to the rears and the sound system still doesn't sound great. It's better than nothing at all but not worth the time and money I invested.
If anyone is looking at upgrading their sound do yourself a favor and start with a new head unit. The kicker cs series is an improvement over stock speakers but don't expect anything awesome.

 

Installed a turn down exhaust. OEM one was crushed off roading. Hope this eliminates that problem. Was supposed to be clamp on style, but decided to weld it on.

 

Installed Spotter mirrors. Quick easy install vast improvement.

 

Can you clarify why? The power rating on them are reasonably high, certainly to the limits of the stock wiring. Is it a case that the speakers sound worse with an amp connected to them compared to OEM or is it that you expected them to sound better than they do with an amp? Not meeting expectations in terms of improvement in sound is one thing, but sounding worse than pre-amping is another story. I'm interested as I have the CS speakers and am making preparations to amp them.

EDIT: Missed your post below. That clarifies it. I'll play with the amp tuning and see what happens when I put it in.

 

Great advice. Not saying I have buyers remorse but not the improvements I expected. Could have got the caliraised raptor taillights instead. I was torn and went with the audio upgrade.

 

Today's project - the 2016 to 2018-2019 left hand of the steering wheel switch setup in preparation for my amp install.

My stock setup, ignore the switch blanks, they've since been filled.

IMG_1586 by Mike M, on Flickr

I picked up a 5-channel amp which has provisions for a bass volume control knob. My plan is to tune the knob for max power the subwoofer can handle, but if I don't feel like waking the dead I can back it off. Since I've got a 2016, I only have the dome light and two switches. 2017 switched to three switches but one is notched for the power rear window. The 2018-2019 piece is three switches while I believe either 2020 or 2021 removes the upper pocket area. The part number for this unit is: 5544604081C0.

I had a pair of leftover switch blanks from my 2013 which worked put perfect to test and fit. I disassembled the knob box and covered the knob circuit board in 3M Temflex and filed down the switch blank to work and this is what I ended up with:

IMG_9006 by Mike M, on Flickr
IMG_9007 by Mike M, on Flickr
IMG_9008 by Mike M, on Flickr
IMG_9009 by Mike M, on Flickr
IMG_9010 by Mike M, on Flickr

I figure that's about as OEM as you can get with an aftermarket knob. I'm pleased with how it turned out and hopefully I'll be able to fit everything together soon.

 

Part number for those speakers?

 

Installed toytec 1" lift block in the rear. The first pic is falcon shocks on medium setting and stock rear. The second is with 1" lift block in rear so i have 1" lift all around. Over all super happy with this setup.

 

I like the idea of a flat surface when camping, so I called up a local plastics company and they cut those for me in 3/8 HDPE. The cutouts aren't the prettiest, and I am waiting for some cup holders to arrive so I can maybe mount those in. $25 bucks. Not to shabby.

 

Ever seen anything that works better? Or easier to apply?

 

I've had her one year today. Thought I'd take her out and do a little wheeling.

 

Thanks my friend.

 

Nope! Used on my '96 BMW Z3 last week for the first time, too.

 

Kicker's purpose for the CS series to my knowledge is to swap out your stock speakers and see some improvement without any additional components (which you will see some improvement just swapping speakers).
When it comes to adding an amp to your door speakers though the kicker's are not a great choice. Better off paying the same money for some higher quality speakers that are truly meant to be amped. Of course all of this is my opinion so take it with a grain of salt, but I went all in on trying to retain the factory head unit and in the end am pretty well disappointed.
Also always keep in mind speaker manufacturer's are always misleading when they claim the watts their speakers handle.

 

What stock HU did you have? The base model, premium, or JBL?