2018 Tacoma Access Cab Questions

We just purchased a 2wd 2018 Tacoma Access Cab 4cyl to use as our retirement wonder wander vehicle. We need to start finding gear for it so we have a few questions:

We have a 6' bed...will any 3rd gen 6' topper fit, or will we need to look for an Access cab specific topper?
We would like a cab high topper that we can mount a rack on.

We like the idea of the bed slide out drawers...I'm 6'5", will that leave enough room to sleep in the bed?
We really want to sleep in the bed rather than on top.

Are there any other tips you would give to a couple of noobs?

 

Welcome and enjoy your Taco!

Any bedcover/topper should fit fine, I've used many w.o issues.

Removing the rear seats if you have them adds some space if you want to put storage in the cab.

 

I’m 6’2 and I can’t lie down flat in my 6’ bed (2nd gen) without my feet running into the tailgate. When I sleep in the back I have to lie diagonally across the bed. If you’re 6’5 I’d recommend stretching out in the bed to see how it feels before committing to doing a lot of sleeping back there.

 

If you are doing slide-outs, I would at least consider a mid-height topper, like a Leer 180 or an ARE MX. You’ll appreciate every inch of headroom that you can get.

At 6’5”, sleeping tailgate-up won’t be comfortable. To sleep tailgate-down, you could use an add-on tent designed for trucks with toppers.

 

Even if you do not have a dog, a platform in the back would be great if you are hauling gear as opposed to people in the back. Welcome to TW.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/access-cab-dog-platform.503276/

 

Thanks,
The rear seats were deleted from the original vehicle. so we're good there. Has anyone put together a primer for constructing easily accessible storage for that area? It seems like that would be a great area to optimize.

 

Unfortunately, sleeping up top is a no go, so we will need to find another way.

 

I am right about 6ft and enjoy sleeping in the back. There is little to no space left to the bed though. If it is a cold night, I need to toss a wool blanket around the bottom of my sleeping back to keep the cold from creeping in. Easy solution for me. Diagonal does not work well since my storage box and fridge are next to me and I prefer to leave them in. They make nice shelves for the night.

I would recommend checking a drawer system before you get one. From the aspects of limited storage to dealing with that permanent height loss, it might affect things. With my soft topper, there is just enough room to sit up and such.

As an easier suggestion and less work to install and remove, take a look at BamBeds:

https://bambeds.com/collections/toyota-tacoma

A friend that has them say they work great. Good enough for one person without a center support. And, two folks might need a center rib.

 

At 6'5" I've spent my life fitting myself into small spaces...I don't sleep full length and slept OK in the camper on my previous 6' beds. It would be nice to be able to stretch out though...
I like the idea of the drawers in the bed; is there a design that is only the height of the wheel well?

 

I was told there were slight differences between access cab and DCLB toppers for 6 foot beds. Can anyone confirm?

 

Here's mine. I don't have instructions but it should be pretty straightforward from the pics
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...-it-gets-the-hose-again.696875/#post-29791511

 

That looks great. Thanks! We're going to have to adjust for seat set back, as I'm 6'5" and my wife is 5'4".

 

Not for a softopper.

The third brake light is different, as it's the second gen light ( I think?)

I've only had tonnueas and softtoppers

 

What are the up and down sides of a soft topper? I've sort of ruled it out because we want to carry a top cargo box and a roll out tarp and having to add a full rack to the top would be sort of redundant.

 

I built the panels for full seat movement. As far back as they can be. Had multiple 6'3" people in it.

Haha, I also have a softopper. My full build is in the link for my previous post. It's either going to work for you or it isn't. If you want something on top, you'll need a rack but rack and softopper are still likely 2/3 of what a hard top is

 

I can confirm that there is no difference. I’ve had multiple toppers/campers go from one access cab to a DCLB back to a different access cab. Zero fitment issues. A long bed is a long bed on Tacomas (so long as it’s the same gen, obviously).

 

Let me add some context to my ongoing Tacoma build: We want it to be our travel vehicle for wandering through the National Parks in our retirement. My previous job was as an aquatic ecologist and it took me on working trips down the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon multiple times, winter and spring, so I've learned to camp well; everything does double duty, all fat is cut and everything fits in a drybag, an ammo can and a day bag. Functionally, we want the Tacoma to be our "raft" and do double duty as our tent. Any "glamping" aspect would be added by shopping at the local market.
I absolutely loved every minute of every working river trip I took, even when it rained for 12 days straight. Humping camp up and down a beach every day, set up, cooking, clean up, packing and unpacking, managing everything in an environment where you couldn't screw up.

 

This is what I did for rear seat delete and storage - https://www.tacomaworld.com/posts/27358311

 

Wow. Really nice job!

 

Thanks. The platform was cheap and easy to do. It just took me a few hours to figure out how to make it work, and a few more to build.