Capture Colorado 01 TRD Taco - GOAE build

Sqeaky Penguin's bumper is alllllmost wrapped up.

 

Just needs paint.











Figured out a way to mount the dual sheer bracket without having to weld it on. Makes installing the bumper easier by tenfold. Also allows modifications to be made to just the swingout whenever needed in the future.

 

sweetness

 

My want level is high. Really like it. Mine will be a little simpler, don't think in skilled enough to pull off the nice curves you have. But I am picking up a welder for FREE today... So I can start learning and fabbing soon. It's a stick welder, Lincoln 220v, so I think there is more of a learning curve.

 

Sorry, haven't been on in a couple days. I do still need one! Does it have the "star" attachment on the end? Those little buggars are rare!

 

You know, I'm not sure if it's got a star attachment, I'll check next time I've got it out.

John, all I've got are some clamps, a small carpenters square, 2 cheap angle grinders from home depot, and a chop saw. More tooling would be great, but you can do a whole lot with just that! The long angle cuts I do by measuring them out, and clamping a 1/2"x1" piece of bar stock as a cutting guide, and just use angle grinder and cutoff wheel, then clean it up a flap disc. I also have access to a drill press that goes down to 160rpm, and a hole hawg that does 300rpm...granted, I have the Milwaukee to thank for my recent dislocated shoulder, but still.

The angle grinder method is slow, but if you measure right, and are attentive to detail, you can be very accurate and get some nice lines, it's all about how you design. When I render something I try to do so in such a way that I can use common dimensional material... 4"plate, 6" plate, 2", etc. That way,I just cut to length and adjust the ends as needed.

 

I had a Milwaukee clutchless right angle drill. Man those things are dangerous.. Basically I braced myself so well that when it caught the drill just broke.. The teeth of the gears inside were toast. Got a new one on warranty at Home Depot then exchanged it for the dewalt clutched right angle drill.

 

Dewalt makes a clutchless right angle drill? I want that. I've already dislocated my shoulder twice, the drill was the 3rd time...The bit grabbed and whipped me around, ripping my shoulder out in the process.

 

They have a right angle drill w/ a clutch not sure about a regular drill. You could look into it tho. You just want a clutch. So when it catches it's not as bad. Don't get me wrong it'll still catch. Just not as bad.

IMO only use the drill when you have something to brace up against.

 

I like that bumper!

 

Yeah, I meant clutched...long day.

Fortunately I think most of my large hole fabrication is done, at least for now. And yeah, my shoulder dislocated on the first hole of 4, I used a pipe clamp and had my mom hold on to that while I finished the other 3... Fortunately she was home, and my dad's garage is well equipped with tools

Thanks pcbuilder!

 

Would look sweet with some scs wheels (stealth 6s)

 

I agree whole heartedly!..... anyone want to give me some? I'll give you a high five in return.

 

Relentless GB DIY kit came last week, tacked it together yesterday and then moved on to wiring up my relay/fuse board that I've been putting off until I had somewhere to hang my lights. The mounting holes on the lower light are slightly off-center, which must change, and the pods aren't aimed yet. But the two 10" bars are wired with each other, so much light.


Relay panel installed. I'll rework my wiring organization into the cab when I add more lights and when I get new Carling switches that I can wire up to the dash circuit. I also plan on having the forward-facing lights have a master shutoff by tapping a signal wire into the high beam signal, and have that control a relay that independently powers the switches for the front lights.

 

Woot! Moar pics

 

Hopefully I'll burn the front bumper in tonight or sometime soon. I'm also fine with waiting until I finish up the rear end, I'm not far from completing it so I'll probably just focus on the back and once I find time, finish the front.

That could change if my buddy's shop has space for me to use their new Miller 252 tonight

Anyway, here's some crappy cellphone pics of the lighting setup.

Low beams only. These are the Olympus Offroad H4 LED bulbs w/ Anzo housings


High + low


High+low+pods. Pods are angled outward to act as cornering lights, to hopefully allow me to see around switchbacks and hard turns at night.


Lights. All the lights. Two 10" bars, one on the grille hoop, one on the bumper itself, pods, and high beams. The two 10" bars compliment each other very nicely, the upper bar is spot, the lower is spot/flood combo, the spot is aimed higher, centered slightly above the top of the high beam line, and the lower is centered around where the low beams are, it gives a really really nice spread. I drove through Bear Creek canyon the other night and used them before they were aimed better, and it was worlds better than the halogen setup I had on my jeep.

 

Weird, I noticed your softopper has an extra snap in the rear. The rear flap that seals the window on yours has two snaps side by side, mine only has one.

 

Subbing, another gorgeous 1st gen build.

 

After a couple of months of not really doing anything to the truck, mostly due to a combination of not enough time or money... I caught a cold, so I'm taking the time that I can't get out and ride my bike every day to do things I've been meaning to get done for a while.

I burnt in, sanded, and painted the front bumper last week (still trying to find a good chance to take pictures...I like using the parking lot at red rocks, but there's been shows every night). Today I took some LED strips that I had sitting around from when I had my jeep and gave the bed some illumination. There's about 18 feet total of strip, approximately 6' on each bed rail, and 3' on the center two softopper supports. The bed rail lights are waterproof, and because a) I didn't have enough waterproof lights to run on the topper, and b) the underside of the topper is almost always totally dry, I used some non-waterproof lights on the topper.

The whole circuit runs on a 5 amp fuse, I'm going to see if I can get away with less, but I'm not sure just yet. It's powered directly off the battery and I used an illuminated toggle switch with a safety cover in the rearmost driver-side corner of the bed to make sure that the lights don't accidentally get turned on by cargo, it's also in an extremely easy to reach spot, so I can blindly flick them on without issue. The switch cover plate worked out to be perfectly the same height as the bed rail, and tucks into the corner quite effectively.

I wired up the topper lights with a disconnect at the base of the topper, and enough extra wire at each pivot point to allow it to be folded down without issue.

In all (not counting new tools ) the total cost of this project was about $20. I already had the LEDs from almost a year ago, I used 18 gauge speaker wire for all the connections, which I already had... So really I just needed to buy a light switch and 130 4" zip ties today.

I went a little overkill on the zip ties.

PICTURE TIME!!

This is how I previously navigated the back of the truck at night... So brutish and caveman-tech; an (admittedly bright) LED flashlight w/ flood. Same settings on the before/after picture both in-camera and editing.


Ta-da!! (seriously, same settings)


Millie approves of her throne.


#ziptieoverkill






Hard to see, but here's the switch. I'll get better detail shots when the sun is up.


I'll be putting these in the cab and wiring them to the dome lights soon, as well. The method of drilling holed in the bed rail and securing the lights with a zip tie seemed to work out well, so I think I'll do similarly to the plastic trim in the cab.

 

Pretty bright, nice work. Are you able to pull the topper off, or just fold down?