guaco.supreme's truck build, trailer build, trip reports, and BS

Hi all, new here (been lurking for a bit). Names Wes. Veteran, unapologetically American, f*ck around and find out advocate. I like to do outdoors shit. Starting this thread as a central place for updates and shenanigans.

Prior to this I had a 2016 BMW X5 diesel that I had a 1.5" lift and 30" AT3W. Great fuel economy, loads of power, unconventional for a BMW and I loved it but not a great off-road platform even though it performed well enough. Decided it was time to move on so I picked up a 202 TRD Pro. Goal is a truck capable of long distance self-supported on/off-road trips that's still a daily that can be used for work around home as well. My thoughts are while at home I'll leave the cap off and run the tonneau cover, while on solo trips I'll run the cap and sleep in the bed, while the mrs is with on trips we will drag the camper trailer. I plan to build a bed drawer system and probably leave that in all the time to help keep weight on the rear for the leaf springs and winter traction, but it's design will mean it can be easily removed if needed.

So far I love the truck, don't love the fuel economy and lack of power. In all honesty the truck has plenty of power, it's just difficult to access due to the piss poor programming of the TCM. Looking to get a good setup ready by August as we are planning to run the WYBDR.

I need to come up with a name for this truck. Sadly Guaco Taco is already taken.


Done:
OTT tune
265/65r16 Wildpeak AT4W
Eibach TRD PRO lift springs
ICON RXT option 2
Total Chaos stiffeners
BA 4x4 front bumper w/ RC light bar
Rough Country 9.5 Pro Series winch w/ syn rope
DD SS3 Sport yellow fogs
Larger trans cooler w/puller fan
Auxbeam 8-gang
CaliRaised center console molle
Diff breather relocate

Still to come:
BA 4x4 Pro Series II rear bumper
17" wheels and skinny 33s (likely once current tires need replacing)
5.29 gears
rear bed drawers/sleep platform
rear seat delete/platform
DIY GFC style cap and RTT (in progress)

Maybes (depends on how things work out):
Sliders

 

Aye, finally got some things done. Nothing too exciting yet. Going to start planning out the drawer system soon. I first need to build a urn box for my pops who passed away in January. I've been kind of avoiding that, but it's time to get to it.

-Hiline bumper and RC 9500lb Pro Series with synth rope
-removed the Predator side steps
-designed and 3d Printed a new phone mount
-designed and 3d Printed some inserts for the Z Precision cup holder that keep my coffee thermos and red bull cans in place so they dont slide around
-designed and 3d Printed a box to replace the QI charger, and then wired the QI button to power my wireless quadmount charger
-replaced the Rigid fogs with some yellow DD SS3

 

You have some awesome stuff planned and the truck already looks great, I’m definitely subscribed.

 

Started drawing up the drawer platform in Fusion. Largely based off the K.A.M.P. drawers by sachou, https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/k-a-m-p-drawers-kitchen-and-mattress-platform.703676/.

Bed platform is wide enough for a 48" wide mattress, and since I have a 5ft bed theres a hinged ext piece. The wall on the top side will have some storage bins with doors, and also house the battery and solar controller. Also planning to run a removable 5gal water tank that just slides in the end when used.

Sorry for the image quality, I use a 34in ultrawide monitor and scaled it down so it's not too massive.

 

The past couple days I worked on removing all the velcro from the BedRug that came with the truck, sealed the bed and put the cap back on.

I still need to figure out what do do around the corners of the cap door, theres pretty big gaps where it meetst he tailgate. I think if I order a new seal kit I can trim it a little long and cover most of the gap.

I know the side windows leak a little during a car wash, so I need to see what can be done to fix that while still allowing the windows to slide open.

And yes, I popped off the rail caps and front top piece and sealed under those.

 

Could you use foam wedges for those corners of the cap by the tailgate? I considered doing that but never did because for some reason I never actually have water intrusion there.

 

Possibly. The gaps on my topper are quite large, large enough I can get a finger through them, so I am pretty sure I'll see water get through. If not water dust will certainly make it in. We have a couple heavy rain days coming so I'll get some good tests this week.

 

Hopefully you will be pleasantly surprised, that’s how big the gaps on mine are and I haven’t had any issues with water. Dust I’m sure would be more of an issue.

 

Welp, I still have a couple leaks.

The front upper corners still leak a little. My guess is I didnt get silicone into one of the corners enough.

I have a small leak from under the rail cover in front of the drivers tail light. That is around the spot that I noticed I dragged the edge of the trim through my silicone when installing, so I'm guessing I caused a gap when I did that.

The gaps for the rear window didn't "leak", but the topper carpet was wet at the edges. Long enough trips in the rain will soak it enough to back water inside, so I'll have to figure that out as well.

Overall not horrible, would have preferred zero leaks, but these should be easy enough to resolve.

 

Eibachs and ICONs are here. TC bed stiffeners are on the way. Should all be installed this coming weekend.

 

I have the Eibach springs and Icon leafs on my truck. About 15k miles on them. Very happy with the set up and stance of the truck.

 

Lift is in!

When I ordered the lift I also ordered some leaf spring liners in hopes it would help stop the squeaks. I ordered two packs, one per side, one pack arrived on time, the other pack got delayed for two weeks. I already had plans to install everything and didn't want to wait another two weeks, so I went to the hardware store and picked up a 20ft roll of garden edging and cut it in strips. Unfortunately I didnt get photos of cutting the edging, but you should get the idea from the photos I did take. Along with the liners I also coated each layer with teflon spray lubricant. So far no squeaks driving around today, we will see if it lasts.

I went with the RXT option 2 for the rear. gained about 1.75 in in the front, and about 3 in in the rear. Will measure again in a few weeks after things settle.

I also got my Total Chaos stiffeners installed. No photos but we all know what they look like.

Next project is making some plates to help seal the corners of the topper rear door. I'm going to run this cap for now, but I think I'm going to build a cap with detachable RTT.

 

Looks great bro!

 

Looks awesome. excited to see the progress of the drawer system and other add-ons. I'm very upset I didn't get mine in green. Such an awesome color.

 

Thanks. I was hoping to start the drawers next week, but found I still have leaks in the front corners of the bed in heavy rain, so this weekend I'll lift the cap off AGAIN and see if I can pinpoint where it's coming from (my makeshift hoist is sure coming in handy). The rear door has been a pain in the arse tying to close off the massive gaps as well.

I've about had it with trying to seal this LEER cap, so I'm debating building my own with a removable RTT.

 

Quite a few updates;

I printed a switch panel and installed a Auxbeam 8-gang





Added a larger transmission cooler with puller fan. Fan can be turned on through Auxbeam.





Rear diff breather relocated to rear tail light.




CaliRaised molle installed




Added a power panel for the rear seats. I also effed up and tried to put it too low at first, but the antenna for keyless entry is right there, so I had to print a panel to cover up my oops and move the power panel up higher.




And I sold the LEER cap and started building my own GFC style setup. The roof of this cap will be removable and I'll be building a wedge style RTT that can bolt on. Currently waiting on a quote for the panels.

 

Just ordered my 5.29 gears!

 

Niiiicee!!! I can’t wait to see how you like them.

I’m more and more sure that gears and 285’s are going to be my 2025 mods.

 

Home from a 4 day trip to Michigan for a family reuinion. We always stop for a night in the U.P. and we found a great spot on Lake Huron that was a small chunk of nat'l forest land. There were half a dozen spots down a trail and we lucked out and got the one at the very end. This was the first real trip towing our trailer. Truck did alright, averaged 13.1mpg. Went for a dip in the lake, it was freezing, but I've now swam in 3 of the 5 great lakes.

While we were gone some packages arrived for the camper cap build. Still waiting on my panels to get cut, hopefully have an answer on those today. I also received shipping notifications for the 5.29 gears from ECGS and should see them weds this week. Not sure if I'll try to get the gears installed this coming weekend or wait another week for my VFTuner cable to arrive so I can flash the OTT tune for the regear at the same time.

 

Wholy crap I've been busy. I need to stop doing these projects in the summer when I want to be out doing stuff.

Started my build on my DIY wedge camper. I actually started this early July as I mentioned it in a previous post, but have been really cracking at it the past couple weeks trying to get the topper portion finished for our upcoming trip end of August.

Plans based off Ripcords thread here, https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/how-to-diy-wedge-camper.604686/

I wanted a GoFast style camper, but I want the RTT portion removable. Since the RTT bolts to the space frame I figured it would be easy enough to do. No weld porn here, I can make two pieces of metal become one but I can't make it pretty. All the red stuff you see is a metal filler to smooth things out after some grinding (hopefully it holds and doesn't chip).

Started with the space frame. 14ga 1.5x1.5 and 1x3 square tube.


Plans for brackets for bolting to the bed bought from Ripcords website. Sent files to a local steel shop and they knocked them out quick and easy.









To my surprise everything was dimensionally correct and square within 1/8 inch!

Next was mocking up hurricane hinges for the doors. These hinges are spendy, but they work great and stop water from getting past your hinge.



I needed something to close off the ends of the hinges at the rear, so I designed up a piece and printed it. After a few revisions I have a good prototype, so I'll print in PETG once everything is ready.





I decided against using the Aluma-panel that everyone in Ripcords thread was using, and instead opted for .125 solid aluminum panel. This offers far better resistance to bending and warping. I also added a slight bend at the bottom of each door to fit the frame and add a little structural support. I drew everything up in Fusion360 and sent the files off to the shop to get cut and formed.



I designed the front panel to overlap the hinges so help keep water from blowing into the hinge on the highway.



This is where I messed up... while drawing up the braces that the latches will catch onto, I also drew up some corner braces for the upper corners. When welding these in I was careless and ended up causing the frame to warp. The frame bowed inwards and the rear door opening moved in about 1/2 inch. I was able to use the floor jack to straighten things for the most part, and I had to add some inconvenient vertical supports to keep things in place. I tried to use cross supports from the corners, but since i didn't plan them in originally they would interfere with my latches and gas shocks so, oh well. Ended up cutting all the corner braces out except the ones the latches use. Lesson learned! In the end I was able to save the frame and continue to use it, but I might build another one this winter and swap everything over to it.



Side and rear door with latches and gas struts in place, everything works!






I have a few more holes to drill tonight for the roof panel and need to weld on the bed rail brackets, but then I think the frame is ready to sand and paint. I need to order a rear brake light still, and design and fab something up for the Wolfbox camera, but thats should be easy. Matte black wrap is on the way for the panels. Hopefully I will have this part of this project finished in a couple weeks!