Tundy, house and beetle build thread...and exploring.

May 2015 in front of Factory Butte


Current plan of action
I've made the crazy idea to be one of those people who sell everything and go explore. I am on the road... cruising where the wind takes me. I have few plans of exactly where, just playing it by ear and rolling into town looking for sweet camp areas.

Going to break out my plans for each "area" of truck camping so I can try and cover all my bases. Feel free to comment if you see something goofy or that could be improved upon.

Camp Locations so far:
Pike and San Isabel NF, CO
Medicine Bow-Routt NF, CO and WY
Arapaho NF, CO
Medicine Bow NF, WY
Great Divide Basin, WY
Bridger Teton NF, WY
Bighorn NF, WY
Helena-Lewis and Clark NF, MT
Flathead NF, MT
Lolo NF, MT
Coeur d'Alene NF, ID
Yeah... I didn't keep up with that very well


Food!
Indel B fridge
12 Gallon fresh water tank
Backpacking stove
18" Camp Partner Stove on custom swingout


Sleep!
Hammock
2 person backpacking tent
0 degree sleeping bag
Klymit sleeping pad (thin)
Custom platform that takes over the passenger side topped with a 5" gel topped memory foam mattress.

Hygene
Wet wipes
Scrubba Portable Laundry bag
Eccotemp L5 Gas water heater able to utilize either 12gallons of on board water or an external source (backflow and valves to keep them separated)

Storage
Bins in the cab, in the bed
two roof boxes

Power
Single group 31
100w Renogy Solar panel on the rack


General Vehicle needs (List of things I'd like to do even though I'm already on the road)
RTT... would allow me more storage in the cab and more organization



Suspension/Tires
King 2.5 Extended travel with ext reservoir
Dakar rear leafs with AAL
Goodyear Durtracs 265/75/16 Load C (tried 235/85/16 KO2's for a week and a half, didnt like them)

Armor
RCI bolt on sliders
RCI Front skid (aluminum)
RCI Trans skid (steel)
Prinsu roof racks

Lighting
No-name 42" LED bar at the front Wired to hi-beam switch.
7" LED bars on each side of the roof rack
Amazon rock lights under the truck
Extra amazon rock lights for in bed lighting
5" Hellas with 55w hids in grill and before grill got cut

Communication/Navigation
Baofeng Handheld HAMs
Custom folding Ham antenna
TechDeck HD with Nexus 7 Tablet
Cobra 75 CB

Electrical
Group 31 AGM Battery
Renogy 100w solar panel
Blue Sea aux fuse box in bed
80a re-settable breaker
Iggy switch plate for in front of shifter

On the road comforts
12-gallon on board water (Valterra tank) Seaflow water pump
Puma PD-1006 on board air
Indel-B 51L Fridge, modified hinges
Platform in bed
Sleeping platform inside cab
400w anytime mod, additional outlet in the back of the center console.
Vent visors
ARE Topper
Weathertech front floor mats, worth more than every penny
Eccotemp water heater
SHURflo water pump (so quiet compared to my other pump for the on board water)

Interior
Fire Extinguisher mounted to seat brackets
Cargo Net on rear ceiling
Bug nets for windows/ventilation (AWESOME, have used 90% of the time already)
Sparco R100 Seat parts used:

• Sparco 600SB127L
• Sparco 00493
• Sparco 50001
• Sparco R100

Recovery/Tools
Plano 36" box mounted to roof rack for quick access to recovery gear
USOffroad Hidden winch mount
Smittybilt x20 10k winch/synthetic line
Hi lift
Straps
Maxtrax
USB Borescope


Torque/wrench sizes/fluid types, etc

Tools/Parts to keep on board

 

Yes first reply!!

 

What about sliders for you?

 

Prior to the Taco, I had a 98 Cherokee lifted a few inches, rear locker, 33's and just finished an OBA setup utilizing the stock a/c compressor which was very impressive. I do miss it... since I couldnt care less about breaking or smashing it into something. I purchased it mostly done although it had 35's with no room for suspension travel and 2" spacers which came off as soon as I had the chance. Tore out a hundred feet of old wiring and cleaned it up, added a badass roof rack and then needed a pickup truck.



I did not want to give up exploring the back country (or I would've went with a silverado/sierra), so my only option was a Tacoma. I wasn't thrilled about the crappy gas mileage and power for such a little truck, but... oh well.


The night I picked her up... 6 miles on the odo. Tried to trade for the Stingray behind it since they were the same color but no dice.


The next night, I picked up a topper, and on the way home from skiing not long after I was killing time looking up roof racks, saw a group buy on a Prinsu rack... and since it was on sale, of course I needed one.



Looking back, I wish I would've went with the HD bars that are black... but oh well (for the black color, strength of these has been fine). Its a great functional rack.

I also swapped over the CB setup from the Cherokee which just so happened to be the one radio that also fits in the center console of the Tacoma. Strange how that pans out.


First trip out to Utah, SW of Goblin Valley.

Next up was the on board water setup. I didnt really see a need for all the rear seats, but needed all the bed space, so the water tank setup went in place of the rear passenger seat. It will serve an additional purpose as a spot to mount a fridge which I will most likely add this coming year.

12 Gallon tank, faucet and hose are located in the bed for washing off bikes, dishes, refilling water bottles. I use it SO much more than I ever imagined.



Waiting to make the final climb up to the top of Red Cone. Yes the antenna is way too tall, if anyone has a 3' they would like to swap out for the 4' I would be more than happy. It was originally mounted on the front bumper of the XJ so thats why its so tall.


Scraaaape


This was coming down T-33 Plane crash


And then a little video of the slight carnage.


I was trying to ease it down slowly and the tires lost the little grip they had and slide down nice and quick. Dented the bottom of the rear fender and bent the drivers side of the bumper up.


Shitty picture of the OBA/OBW distribution center. Switches for the water pump and the bed lights.



Testing the OBA setup prior to mounting it in the bed. Puma PD-1006 air compressor, 1.5 gallon tank. Its very fast at airing up the tires. And very quiet, inside the truck with the truck running, you have to listen pretty hard to hear it running.




More recent picture:

 

Haha sorry I missed that.

 

No problem... I would like some sort of ladder up to the roof rack, but there's nothing to attach the lower part to. If it were to connect to the rear of the slider kick out and then to the rack on the topper, the issue would be the different flex between the bed and the frame. Unless there was a simple solution to make one side of the mounts have some give to them.

Like a u-channel that would slip down from the top over the side rail of the roof rack with rubber between the metal to keep it tight but allow it to shift. Hmmm.


Something like so... Nice and tight to the truck. The lower mount would need to go horizontal for 6" or so to the rear to not get in the way of the door, then just shoot up to the rack.

 

In preparation for the maxtrax arriving, I built mounts for them.
And these are my bed lights in use. Its just two small 4 LED pods leftover from my rock lights.



I'll bend the inner ones to where I need them once the Maxtrax arrive and then they'll be secured with a bungee.

 

Well this is a boring thread so far

Added CoverKing Neosupreme seat covers in black/charcoal.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/coverking-neosupreme-black-charcoal-covers.411822/

 

Get over here and let's build a rack for me and steps for you and I!!! We will even get @Ag63i2 and see if we can't get a bed rack going for him!!

 

I'd like to, but thanks to the freaking black plague that I contracted the other day, I took off Tuesday and tomorrow, only slept a few hours a night, and pulled my back this morning because I was half asleep. So tomorrow I hope to heal and then I'll probably work at least one day this weekend to catch up. Maybe two if I want to get ahead and get some extra money to pay for a damn fridge/freezer that I wasnt planning on.

But sooner than later!

 

Haha I wasn't meaning this weekend! I'll be lucky to be able to move this weekend. And we all know that the fridge was a must have.

 

Just like everything else.

The m8000s winch was at its lowest price on Amazon at like 742 a few weeks ago. Jumped up 100 bucks so far.

 

@3378jakesr5 and anyone else with input. The battery threads are either over my head or missing details to make sense to me...

Eventual setup and electrical worries are the fridge and a winch. Fridge being the only thing I plan on running 24/7 with truck on and off.

I would like to avoid a dual battery setup due to cost, wiring, and lack of space, and lack of a place to work on said setups without a garage.

What is the difference between a 31M and 27M battery? Just the overall power? And will both fit in the stock location?

I know you have a hookup with Deka, but I dont know where that post was anymore, so I'll use these links for now. Expensive as sheet, but would these batteries do what I want? With the possibility of solar panel for the charging during the day when its not running.

https://www.batteriesplus.com/batte...-(starting_cycling)/bci-group-31m/sli31agmdpm

https://www.batteriesplus.com/batte...-(starting_cycling)/bci-group-27m/sli27agmdpm

 

Hey @CoTacoTRD what did you have to do to fit your 31 battery in the stock location?
@aero3685 i thinks either way we should do a battery cage to hold it in place so you don't have to worrie about it.

 

So would something like this work for a simple battery charger setup? Or am I missing something

http://www.amazon.com/Docooler-Cont...55&sr=8-15&keywords=12v+solar+battery+charger

Renogy Solar Panel, Single

http://www.amazon.com/Renogy-Watts-...18&sr=8-25&keywords=12v+solar+battery+charger

 

I would not skimp on the electrical stuff unless you want to have the possibility of flame striping on the truck.

 

I hear that... seems highly rated, just not sure what I would need. Most threads dont have much info, similar to the battery questions that I cant seem to find legit answers to.

 

Again you need to come over some time and I'll invite Tyler (the battery guy) over and we will get things set up. He has all that stuff pertaining to battery's and all that.

 

Gotcha, yeah I just want to wait and see what kind of power this fridge situation pulls before spending money. I've got a meter so I can see what its doing and go from there. More than likely I'll want to adjust the power arrangement. But since I've seen where people say its good to run 24/7 on stock battery, and others say I need a $2,400 setup... I'll wait to see for myself.

I like the idea of a solar battery tender, as long as its reasonable cost/benefit no matter which battery direction i go.

 

Looks like the Renogy panel is highly rated on quite a few builds on expo, but the controller dealie needs to be an MPPT.