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

Doing some deep cleaning

 

That's unusual.. Excluding the extra effort you mentioned to remove the plugs I also have a 2015 and it was about 1.5 hrs for both sides.

I did loosen a bracket on the drivers size and disconnect one or two vacuum hoses. On passenger side I removed the air filter box and air tube.
Even dry torque is only 15 inch/lbs.

 

Or your a basket ball player in search of more leg room

 

All I did to move stuff out of the way was disconnect the engine air filter and move that same bracket you’re talking about. So the driver’s side was a PITA. I really babied the plug removals because once I hit one that seemed stuck I was very conscious about breaking something or leaving a threaded piece stuck in the cylinder. So it probably took me 2.5 hours to do the plugs and the engine oil and filter change, which felt like forever.

In retrospect once I noticed some plugs were tight I should have used some PB blaster and come back later. Could have then wiped the threads clean after by stuffing a rag down and spinning with a ratchet extension.

 

I wish... I'm short, fat and sassy. I can pretend I'm tall though. Lol

 

Pretty sure that was the same company but I don’t have the defrost option and didn’t wanna do the conversion. I have the option if I ever change my mind

 

New headlight assemblies, oil change, tire rotation and greased the driveline. Also installed the oem cargo divider before my cap gets install this week.

 

Spent the afternoon installing a backup can in my pop n lock. It's one of those jobs I've been procrastinating since I knew it would be a pita. There's no wiring for this option and I'm kinda anal about routing and securing anything new on the underside.

I got it in a working last night around dark, this morning I get to put it all back together. I considered the anytime backup cam mod and have the stuff but after getting it working I can't think of a reason to make it come on anytime I'm not in reverse, a front camera yes. The most difficult part was getting the head unit, wiring and the maestro module all put back in the dash w/o jacking anything up.

 

Spent this weekend doing the Big 3 upgrade and throwing in the XS Power D3100. I’ve been putting this off for over a year now because I knew it would be hell. Spent a total of 12 hours on the install. F the fuse box clips…

Now it’s time for the audio build. Full build thread coming soon on the A/V board.

 

I was going to mention I painted the battery hold down bracket and cleaned the battery terminals, but never mind.

 

Have to ask... Whats the Big 3 Upgrade.??

All i have done is install a Odyssey extreme 34R with modified original hold down and generic J clamps and a NOCO 5amp underhood battery charge/maintainer.

 

cables between battery, fuse block, alternator and battery, chassis ground with 1/0 or larger cable

 

I put one in every truck I own. Worth every penny.

 

^This plus the starter wire as well. The upgrade is pretty much a preventative measure for when you are drawing a lot of power for stuff like extreme audio systems, lots of lights and equipment, or solar panel setups.

I’m upgrading to a high output alternator (240 amps) soon so I have to do this mod or I could risk a fire from melted wires at high load. That’s also why I bypassed the stock alternator fuse with the green wire loop and mounted it on the fuse box lid.

 

Sorry I had to show ya up like that

 

My local Home Depot (Poway, Ca.) rents a machine specifically for cleaning auto upholstery. Worked great on a stain on my backseat, (Wife set a Costco chicken on the backseat to transport home and the container leaked!)
I worked my way thru a couple of years of college as an auto detailer at a Jag Dealership. I would recommend the Home Depot upholstery cleaning machine if you can find it at your local H.D. rentals.

 

What brand camera did you use? The one I bought had a camera in it but a mouse or squirrel or something chewed through the wiring. Need to replace it.

 

If you are upgrading your alt just run your power lead to the battery. It makes more sense to run a 1/0-2/0 lead to a fuse at the terminal where you can add on wires for accessory rather than running it to the factory fuse box and back out. The factory alt wire you just cut and run from its factory fuse box position to your battery terminal, and the tiny factory wire running from fuse box to battery you just cut and heat shrink as it’s no longer needed to charge the battery anymore.

It’s the one thing about that diy thread on here that doesn’t make any sense, upgrading that small cable.

 

$33 NATIKA Backup/Front View Camera: No Distorted Affect Starlight Night Vision HD Waterproof 720P AHD and TVI Hitch Backup/Reverse/Rear View Camera License Plate for Cars Pickup Trucks SUV RV Van

This is the camera I used, it's pretty basic but it does ok day or night, still nothing to get excited about though.

With a little work it fit this little Pop n lock

$27 Pop & Lock PL5455CAMB Tailgate Lock

bracket I needed to mount it up in the tailgate handle then I got a 1/2' rubber wiring feed through and installed that in the bottom of the tailgate. Otherwise there's not much real estate back there to mount a camera and I didn't want the one that used the license plate screws for mounting. The camera above did come with the license plate bracket for that option. I'm planning to get another and hook it up as a front cam. On my headunit if I stick a SD card in and turn on the option it'll record the front cam like a dash cam overwriting when the card fills up.

 

So I read through many threads debating this. I was planning on bypassing the fuse box entirely and just fuse the run from the battery to the alt, but I saw a few cases where some guys were having issues when they did this. I wanted to maintain the factory routing just incase so I used that jumper (4awg green wire) and mounted that that fuse on the outside instead.

I don’t think I’ll have any problems (knock on wood), but I will probably upgrade the jumper to 2awg in the future if I can find some really flexible wire.

I have a big SMD 4 slot fuse holder for my 1/0 runs that will be going to the back of the truck and one of those will go to my relay/fuse panel that I will be installing next weekend. That will control all my accessories.