The Getaway...Crom's build and adventures

A couple updates.

Thanks to @harpolith for the knowledge of this LED. I had always wanted to replace my dome light with a quality LED and his new thread tipped me off to it. It's a nice upgrade from stock. Here is a link to his thread on it.

Philips, Festoon LED 43mm.

 

I had to relocate the spare tire elevator back about 1" because it was contacting the diff under compression. Enormous thanks to @crazy joker for showing me how he did his. Gave me the confidence to move it with authority. Thanks!!! It was not a complicated job, but did involve a very tight working space between the frame cross members and bed, and the hot metal shavings burning my arm. Took me about 2 hours, cause I was slow and didn't want to make a mistake.



CLICK HERE FOR MORE DETAILS ON THIS, AND HOW TO FIT 33" TIRE UNDER THERE

 

This next post represents a major accomplishment for me. For over two years on my list was to install a proper tie down for my auxiliary battery in the bed. But I struggled for a long time with how to do this satisfactory. Two things happened to achieve success here. I saw @Nate87 use a few footman's loops in his build for his battery hold downs, and secondly I tried to to reach the underside of the bed, in the space in between the gas tank and bed, and found to my surprise I could reach. Big thank you Nate!!!

The Footman's loop, extensively used in the marine environments.



The install earned me no less than two harry Houdini merit badges--one for each washer/nylock nut installed under the bed. It presented an engineering challenge to me to do it and I'm glad I did it. I used 60-second epoxy to install the washer under the bed and then hand threaded the nut on, finally I used vice grips to hold the nut while I went topside to torque it down. That alone took 45 minutes! I gave up on the second one after 20 minutes as I could not clench it with the vice grips and waited until morning so wifey could help. Shit was real, it took 2 days for the tingling in my arm to go away.



Finally fixed with proper hold down. I'm using a Cam Jam hold down with a 700 lb. working force. Very strong.

 

interdasting. Does the 2nd gen spare carrier not have downturned retaining brackets at the ends of the big X bars? On the 1st gen, these limit spare size and are also convenient for gouging your skull while working under there.

 

Oooooo I like this. I'm going to keep it in mind. I'm going to add an aux battery to my bed. Not sure when, though.

 

Also, it was on my list for about 7 months now, I finally trimmed the factory bed mat. Took about .25" off with tin snips. Turned out pretty good!


I also reclaimed about 1" of space by pulling out the dremel on the battery box and buzzing off the last handle on the battery box. During our last July trip, I had to take one handle off to fit our camp kitchen tool box. Everything has it's place, and it's that tight with the Tacoma!

Looks like azz, but still works. I also buzzed off some material on the battery box lid, and just used some gorilla tape to patch it and make it flush.

 

Where do you store the battery at?

 

No, I had to move the tire backwards towards the hitch. I took nearly all the space in this photo:



Ihad about 1+1/8" to play with. I took the 1" and it appears to have worked.

I don't fully understand this, but I don't think the spare tire is centered under the bed. That's factory. It's justified a few inches to the drivers side. That's why the 33" tire rubs the drivers side shackle hanger. You know--It could be cause of the exhaust which is routed on the passenger side--I bet that's why.

Take a look at how Jesse @crazy joker, fixed his which you can see here.

Also, when I compared my pics to Jesse's, it's clear that Toyota altered the frame cross member, (newer trucks will fair better for this mod). The circle cut out under my elevator was huge, not giving me many options to move the elevator, other than back about 1".

Yup. They're there. About 5-6 hits takes care of them. After on top, before on bottom.

Excellent. Thanks. I'll check those out. Yes I've used duck tape to hold wrenches too.

In the battery box. The battery box is in the drivers side, front corner of bed.

 

I have a hitch bike carrier. Next time I use it I'll check. Thanks.

 

Oh, couldn't see those in your earlier pic. So you bash them up into the Xs. On the first gen the are a different style.

Thanks Ding. I think 265/75-16 is where I'm headed. At least for the first 50k miles or so.

 

Got outside this weekend and to nature.

After a pack lunch picnic style on the truck tailgate, the kids got to feed the animals. Animals got to eat peanut butter jelly crust bread, and BBQ flavored potato chips.

I laughed when the squirrel was gobbling up the chips as fast as it could. It must like BBQ flavor! haha

It was fun to play around with the camera. I used the telephoto feature and captured some far away images. Fun.

 

That mallard pic is great! Super detail.

 

Thanks. And cool, I learned a new word! Mallard.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mallard

 

have you decided to regear yet?

 

Awesome pics as always, the truck has a nice stance with those 255's. Are your girls any having trouble climbing in with the additional height? My 7 yr old struggles a bit to get in mine now with the lift installed.

 

I'm happy with the way it is for now. I may still regear when I get another vehicle as my DD, which should happen next year.

And I'm dying to get off-road and into some tough terrain to really put the tires through their paces and test the truck out. The season is turning, and my OBA project is coming together. I'll be posting about that soon.

Thanks! Yes. Since getting the new tires I have to lift both of them up. The 5-year old, she lifts one leg up on the sliders and I lift her by her hands to spring board her up. The 3-years old doesn't stand a chance. I have to lift her up now, but she can climb out on her own. My kids are very small and light 32lbs. and 31lbs each, so lifting them is not too bad yet.

Something to note about kids and sliders. I have worried terribly about one of them getting a foot / leg caught between the slider / cab, a fall while caught this way could be very ugly. I've thought about filler plates on the sliders or some other solution, but to date, I haven't done anything, and I'm still mulling it over.

Also, the grip tape I added on the sliders work against the kids when they try to climb up on their own, it's a double edged sword.

 

i have been itching to regear ever since the 33's the truck feels really sluggish. i have the supercharger but havent installed it yet. i think regearing might be first on my list

i fell in my rear slider kick out before... it wasnt fun at all. it is one of my many projects i still need to work on

 

Interested to see how your OBA turns out. All of your installs are very well thought out. My OBA setup is almost done too.

 

I might know this guy...

 

Crom I love each and every one of your mods. I wanna trade you trucks. LOL.