Beefing up my 2 Door Taco

That's the factory switch, but it lacks the pigtail.
The $70 switch referenced is the FJ Cruiser switch, which is lighted, and includes a pigtail.

There's a couple of wiring diagrams posted... personally I trashed the entire harness that came with the fogs except for the part that plugs into the lights and plan to build the rest myself from the Toyota switch/harness and one of my own relays.

 

The wheel size itself does nothing to fill out the fenders.

A 20" wheel wrapped in a 235/40 will be nearly the same diameter (fender fit) as the stock 215/70... it'll just be wider and have more rim, less rubber.

The X-Runner came stock with 18"... 255/45-18
That tire is only 1/4" taller than stock.

 

I had 235's on my 06 and there where a perfect fit and looked way better than stock. But you will suffer on the MPG.


Oh yeah low pro tires are for sports cars not trucks.

 

I understand that larger wheels don't mean larger tires. I prefer to see a large wheel with a low profile tire as opposed to a small wheel and a large tire (I don't find tire's visually appealing.) I see that this thread isn't in the "street truck" forum where us big wheel fans hang-out, so I suppose I'm in the minority here in liking large wheels over large tires

 

Nahh... but in the off-road forums, the 18-20" "Bro" or "Cen-Cal" look isn't generally thought of highly... unless they're wrapped with decently tall tires.

I'm probably going to be moderately dropping my 5-lug, but I'll be sticking with a 17" or 18", probably with a 50 series just a bit taller than stock.

 

I don't know what a pigtail is and do I absolutely need the pigtail?

 

imAgine an enclosed switch with wires coming out of it. those wires are your "pigtails" wich yuo really dont need if you can crimp a small wire terminal or a female clamp on a wire you can hard wire that switch its not hard at all.

 

Discount tire will match online prices.

Personally I don't like blingy wheels but its what you like. So if you like it get it.

 

The pigtail is the bundle of wires with the connector that plugs into the switch.

Here's the connections on the switch:



The two pins on the right are for the light.
The two on the left (kinda "middle"... the FJ switch is a 6-pin) are the switch contacts.

Polarity doesn't matter. You can connect the first one on the right to ground, the next two to a power source that is hot with the headlights, and the one on the left to pin 85 of your relay.
Connect pin 86 of your relay to ground.

Relay pin 87 goes to the battery (through a fuse) and pin 30 goes to the fogs.

 

Okay, the fog light stuff: Tax incl.
1) Bought fog light kit from K-2 $107.61
2) Bought factory fog light switch from Toyota of HB $71.14
3) Bought factory housing connection from Manhattan Beach(CA) Toyota $ 7.49
4) Installed $150-

Total cost fog lights - $336.24

Taking into consideration that Toyota dealer quoted me $900-...

 

Looks great, but you got ripped off on the switch.
Camelback would have been about $40 for the switch.
TRDUSA sells the FJ Cruiser switch with indicator light and harness for $75.

Plan ahead on these projects and utilize the forum supporting vendor dealerships and save a few bucks. Example, $4 for oil filters, $15 for air filters.

 

I had my friends dad install it for me, it's kind of jimmy rigged because the switch wouldn't fit, but when I get home from work I'll post pics.

Fog lights: $54
Installation: $0. I had to play 2 games of Nazi Zombies with him.

Total cost: $54

 

wow, never seen all the switches blank!

 

LOL!

Here's a question I've had rattling around in my brain for quite some time... Do "fog lights" actually work in fog, or are they just there for looks?

I've had "fog lights" on vehicles before, and my experience is that they didn't usually help in the fog.

For one, in order to be effective against fog, the lights have to be mounted quite low because fog likes to 'hover' about a foot off the ground. If the lights aren't lower than the fog, then they're just going to add to the problem instead of helping. At stock ride height, I'd have to wonder if the Tacoma fog lights are low enough to help.

Second, a good fog light will have a sharp horizontal cut-off (dark above, bright below) so it only shines light down, but not up. Light shining up will only contribute to the visibility issue when driving in fog. The Tacoma fog lights have no cut-off at all, so they just shine light all over the place and I'd doubt they're actually useful in fog. Are they?

My guess is that the bumper lights in a Tacoma should really be labeled as 'driving lights' or 'annoying decorative lights' because they probably annoy on-coming drivers due to the lack of the cut-off

Don't get me wrong... I'm not knocking anyone for putting the lights on their truck. (Heck, I think it looks weird to have the hole for the lights but no lights.) However, I wonder if the cost of putting them in is worth it. If Toyota wanted to save money, I'd say they should just nix the bumper lights entirely and don't put any holes in the bumper, or put in real fog lights that actually work!

 

5-Lug RC Base FTL

Mine looks the same.

 

Not sure about in the fog but they definitely make up close visibility in normal conditions much better. I notice a pretty big difference when I turn them off. I like the fogs, even the stock ones, that come on the Tacoma.

 

Just snapped some pics with my iPod, the lights are hooked up to an ignition source, too.






On this one, we just cut a strip on the top of that box and wired through it.

 

Usually, real fog lights are yellow since white light just reflects back the original light projected. Most of the extra lighting on all of our trucks would be deemed off-road lights, technically... It also helps if there is some fog to test them in.

 

At the time, my mindset was to only to get the lights, the proper connections, and have them installed cheaper than the dealership quote. Live and learn...

 

how did u not get traction control and that vsc crap.