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

Hood Mounted Solar!

Got a panel from "Lensun"...


Test Fitting, trying to get it centered as best I can:


Marked up the corners with tape.
Got some Gorilla Foam Mounting Tape, since it was all I could find, good 3M stuff seems rare around here (even tho there is 3M factory in our county!).
I forgot to take a pic of the tape on the bottom of the panel, it's not hard to imagine tho, there are about 8 strips in the middle and going all around the outer edge.

Wired it up:




There is a Redarc BCDC 1225D under the flipdown seat that is not visible, that is the "charge controller".

Final product:



Pretty simple but opens up a world of possibilities!
Also nice to find a use for a very under utilized spot.
I could not put it on top of the cab, there is a rack planned to go up there.

 

That just lives there permanently?

 

It does, yes. That is the plan at least. We'll see how it holds up.

 

Dunno if I like that.

Would be afraid of it damaging the paint, being impossible to remove without damaging the paint, having it get really really nasty and moldy under there, or even trapping moisture and condensation with the thermal cycles of the engine and rusting.

Of flying up and blocking the windshield while driving at highway speeds.

But I'm also a paranoid overthinker.

 

Found this and guess my mod priorities have changed. Guess I found what I thought to be my mid body clunk.

 

Literally

 

Thought it was appropriate.

That sucks though, did you have any severe Taco lean prior to noticing?

How long have you been hearing the "mid body clunk"?

 

You could always vinyl wrap the hood where that is going to sit to protect the paint.

 

Not a bad idea.

My hood is already vinyl wrapped but it's also scoopy.

@r1de how does it adhere?

I could also put solar on my camper shell come to think of it if I ever decided to get solar.

 

+1. Thought it was a great response.

No severe body lean. 5100’s all around with front set at perch 2 to maintain rake when loaded. Ride was solid up until Memorial Dayish weekend. Noticed Memorial Day weekend was hitting the rear bump stops loaded going camping. Not crazy loaded by any means. Continued hitting bump stops while wheeling over the weekend once unloaded. Thought to myself that’s weird but nothing crazy. Pretty good dips and articulation so I chalked it up as eh. First noticed clunk almost immediately after that weekend. Only happened during suspension compression. Think pulling in/out of parking lots/driveways. Asphalt/concrete changes during city driving like approaching lights and of course wheeling or driving off road. My trucks spends at least 50% of its mileage off pavement. No joke. It’s rural out here. So while I might not be Moab or Baja running 50% of the time, I am regularly commuting on roads that some may consider “trails” in other parts. Checked exhaust and hangers. Checked out. Checked heat shields. Checked out. Checked sway bar. Checked out. Front end and driveline. Checked out. For whatever reason I never payed attention to the rear springs until today when I was washing the dust off the truck. While Spraying down the rear drums I noticed the gap in the spring pack. Under closer inspection noticed it was cracked.

I’m Assuming off-road has taken its toll on the packs and my memorial weekend excursion snapped the leaf. Over the course of the past month the leaf has slide forward creating the gap and all the compressions and articulation has warped the remaining springs creating the gap and clunking I have been hearing.

 

Did mine two years ago and had the same success to stop the take off vibration after a 3” lift that axle shim and carrier bearing drop didn’t fix.

 

What do you do on your lunches??? I work on crimping and pinning my connector. lol Took a 10 min and 2 lunches to finish. Just need to add 2 ground wires to the plug and everything on the upper console is done!!!

 

It's $60 for 36 sqft on Amazon. It took me roughly 54 sq ft to do my entire access cab

 

Not today but yesterday I installed some jet black alpharex headlights and man does this thing look so much newer. I am really pleased so far with these headlights. The whole install took me about 4 hours I would say the hardest part was getting that third bolt. Also getting the fuse tap through the firewall which honestly should not have been that hard but it was.

 

wait… what ? On a gravel road?

 

It is held on by Foam mounting tape. If the tape fails the panel will be glued down.

I am Going to seal the edge today, just to try and keep crap from getting under it.
There was an option for a vinyl decal to go under the panel and protect the paint, I did not do that.
I'm not worried about keeping the paint pristine, I'm not going to ever sell by baby!

 

PO of my truck changed the O2 sensors and the CEL is on, do I need to unhook the battery or?

 

Was going to put 3rd gen suspension on the 2008 this weekend but ended up tackling other tasks. Finally dug up and stacked bricks and cinder blocks that were buried in the yard from the previous owner (I bought this house in 1993). Had 2 huge slabs of excess concrete, from my shop build, I have been mowing around for 15 years so dug deep and buried those. Been digging up bushes and stumps for 2 weeks to get my fence line cleared. Then my shop a/c has been struggling (looks nasty because it's by my polishing area) so I put in a 2nd window unit (from room addition not needed in 2 years) on the machining side. Now have 2 overhead heaters and 2 window a/c units and quickly dropped to 73° on a 95° day. Not the things I wanted to do but certainly things I needed to do. Maybe next week the front end will get done.

 

Installed martin offroad roof and cap racks. Plastidipped my trd beauty rings and center caps black as well.