Diet Taco... trying to keep things light

Thanks! I'm accumulating OEM stuff removed, those panels will be in good? company!

 

Ditto. Right after I go the truck and was getting familiar with it and my craftsman toolbox would not fit ANYWHERE in the cab, I popped them out with force. I may have pried gently arounf the top and edges first to locate where to put precise force, but on the bottom, I was just all, like, WTF you POS come out! I think I broke on of the lower little plugs on one side.

All reports I've see about sound deadening say that doing the back wall of the cab provides the biggest bang for the buck. I think it reverberates between the cab back wall and the bed front wall. Next time you are driving, see if you can home in on it.

If you look behind (left of) the red box here, I think those two standoffs are hard points for the lower plug-clips, IIRC


EDIT and this one shows the vertical side plastic-to-plastic clip locations, which come apart pretty easily.

 

That red box looks familiar. I have that same set @scocar.

Subbed for an awesome build and some amazing photography.

 

Let me tell you something about that red box set, if it is the exact same one I have. I realized one day, at home, luckily, that the sockets skip from 11 to 13mm. No 12mm. WITAF!?!?!?! With this truck, you might as well not have this toolbox. So I bought an extra 12mm and put it in the 12mm spot before I got prison-sexed in the middle of nowhere.

 

FIFY

 

Weird. I had to go out to my work van just to check my own set. Mine has a 12mm socket and 12mm wrench. I think you already got prison-sexed when you bought yours.


TBH, It's a pretty basic set and there's a lot to be desired with it. I got mine as a gift so I can't complain too much but I'll probably eventually end up replacing it with a more complete set.

 

That's a different set than mine. I have better pics of inside somewhere. I just wanted a basic set that could live in the truck and get me home if something more major was needed. I also added a bunch of other stuff I wanted. My main set is in a rollaround in the garage.

edit: one of my criteria for the truck set is that it can live under the driver seat in my 01. It does not fit in the same spot in my 15, hence my bin flail and displeasure. Second gens suck. For longer trips, I supplement with another box in my recovery bin for torque, BFH, hitch wrenches, etc.

 

Good info there, and good pics. I'm thinking also of a gun safe back there. Looks roomy enough to stow something big!

 

Ah ok, yeah now that I look at the pictures again yours appears to be a smaller version of mine. I use mine primarily for work, but I do throw it into the truck whenever I hit the dirt as well as another larger deep impact socket set, cordless electric impact gun and a few other essential hand tools.
I have another metric and imperial socket set in a roll around at home as well. The carrying case for them is broken so I just leave it at home.

 

On another topic, what do you use for bathroom facilities? Your camper doesn’t include a commode, correct? Seems like this may be an area where weight-vs.-performance could be significant.

 

I can't remember. But we kept them rear facing for as long as they would let us, then forward facing, but in a recliner position. The 5 year old is upright now.

lol

Three plus years ago, I modified the Tacoma by taking out the rear seat back from the back row. It created almost 4+" more space for the baby carseat. I posted a thread about it. I got a lot of heat from some baby products installation technician telling me it was illegal. In my opinion it was secure, or i would not have done it. Well it stayed that way until it was time to go forward facing and the seat back got reinstalled.

I also modified the youngest kids carseat because it rattled and made a lot of noise. Used foam to quiet it down. Helped a lot.

 

Well you are off to a good start for that thread now, aren't you?

A lot of people do ask about these issues, and guys with first gen xcabs have removed jump seat back cushions to force a car seat in, but it is near impossible to get the seat in and out past the front passenger seat.

 

Great question, I should probably have mentioned that earlier in the build thread. I'm fortunate both my wife and daughter are OK roughing it in the bathroom department. My "facilities" are the same entrenching tool that is part of my recovery kit. For my daughter who is three I got a little potty seat that folds up just so it would be a more familiar process for her and we wouldn't have to deal with balance issues.

I know Dave Bennett who has a legendary Tacoma/Flip-Pac build thread over at Expedition Portal has a toilet in his build that seems to work well for his family.

 

Okay, how about more details surrounding recovery gear? Lot's of little things can add up to one big weight. I have been looking at Soft Jaw Shackles from Bubba Rope. I wonder how well these work, and how well they would hold up over the long term.

http://www.bubbarope.com/gator-jaw-soft-shackle

I'm also planning to add a Bubba Rope, a high-lift jack, some traction mats, and a shovel. Removal of the factory jack would offset some of this, but not much.

 

Anza Borrego
January 2016

New Year's weekend we decided to avoid the Rose Bowl Parade madness which passes just a few blocks from where we are living this year and go hide in the desert. This would be my daughter's second camping trip, she had been asking to go on another one. Temperature forecasts suggested south and low would be good so we chose Anza Borrego as our destination.

As usual getting going was slower than expected, but we managed to leave by 11AM. We stopped in Temecula for lunch and provisioning. I think I don't want to do provisioning in route any more, it takes too much time. It is good to stop for something to break up the drive for my daughter, but lunch or a snack would suffice for that.

We had a smooth drive from there along two lane roads to get out to Borrego. A missed turn added only 10 minutes to the drive with an unexpected detour past Yaqui Well. We were aiming to camp somewhere in the Borrego Badlands and hoped to see the view from Font's Point before dark.

We turned off S22 onto the road to Font's Point right at sunset and I stopped to air down. This section of road is notorious for getting vehicles stuck in the sand and I hoped to not see pavement until late the next day anyway. Most of the road was enveloped in a low haze of fine dust and there was plenty of traffic. It was now just a little past sunset but still beautiful twilight.

In not too long we found the road had lived up to its reputation and a Grand Cherokee was buried in the wide part of a turn in the wash. Buried as in you'd think someone had to get out and dig a hole for their differential before being able to get the rear wheels that low. No occupants or anyone else around so we proceeded as there was plenty of traffic and help in the area. Shortly after we got to the loop at the end of the road and parked.

A short walk further up the slope opened up a stunning view with badlands as far as the eye could see bathed in twilight. I didn't bother bringing the camera from the truck, I just wanted my daughter to be able to experience everything without distraction. We spent about 15 minutes watching the light fade and walking along the rim. I kept my daughter on my shoulders for about half that time so she could see down the steep cliff better and to keep her better in control.

With it getting dark it was time to try to find a spot to camp. The road to Font's Point was incredibly busy and I had no interest camping in a dust cloud. We noticed the formerly stuck Grand Cherokee was gone by this point. I couldn't find a road cutting east where I expected it so I just proceeded slowly on pavement instead via S22 with the tires still aired down and turned off at the next dirt road.

A couple miles down that road we came to a junction and I pulled off to setup our camp a little further along. Flip-Pac flipped up nicely, cooked a simple dinner and toasted some marshmallows for smores over the stove. Given it was getting cold we just stayed in the Flip-Pac and didn't setup chairs or a campfire. It was a pleasant evening with my daughter entertained and excited by her second camping trip finally underway.

Getting ready for bed I gathered all my daughter's things and asked my wife, "where did you pack the diapers?" My daughter has been potty trained for a long time, but she sleeps like a log (thank god) and only has a 50% chance of making through the night dry. So we still use diapers at night. My wife looked up at me and said, "Oh crap...". I stared at her for a full ten seconds and managed to keep my response contained to just sarcastically saying, "Amazing".

The funny thing is I have like a 14 item packing checklist for trips with my daughter but diapers are just so obvious they aren't on it. So when I ran through the checklist after my wife packed it didn't come up in our conversation! Usually the two of us can double check each other, but in this case we both failed. Oh well, we'd just have to hope for being lucky...

I deployed our little heater and it would need the propane bottle changed in the middle of the night anyway so I planned to take my daughter out to pee at the same time. Hopefully that would keep things dry. It didn't. Nothing too bad, just a little damp and the sleeping bag itself was bone dry. But enough to upset her now that she was awake and going outside in 35F weather to pee was not popular. I was smart enough at least to warm up her potty seat in front of the heater before taking her out.

This was actually New Year's Eve and there is some sort of folklore that you should do whatever you most want to do the rest of the year at midnight on New Year's. Apparently I want to stand in a dark freezing desert with a wet three year old screaming in my ear...

Originally I thought the second day we might go to another overlook, some nearby palm oasis and explore the badlands to the south. Morning came and we decided that an important new agenda item for the day would be to stop by Borrego Springs and pick up some diapers. We took it nice and slow in the morning and let our daughter get distracted by whatever she wanted. The object of this trip was to kill time and have her enjoy camping rather than check off sights and destinations.

She and mom went "exploring" up and down the wash a little ways. She was endlessly entertained digging small holes in the sandy wash with my entrenching tool. Decided she wanted to read a few more books before we went and wanted another snack too. Despite waking up a bit before 7AM we didn't actually leave our impromptu camp site until almost 11AM.

We continued along the road we camped by to Vista del Malpais, another great viewpoint of the badlands. This is not as high as Font's Point but the view to the south and east is of more colorful badlands. Once again I play mule to minimize the risk of my daughter going over the edge.

View West from Vista del Malpais
​

After that we continued driving to the west as this road in theory should meet with the road to Font's Point. This was the road I couldn't find the previous night. Sure enough we eventually joined the Font's Point road and headed back to S22.

I aired up the tires and this once again attracted a few inquiries if we needed assistance. Noted that I should probably improve my "on board air" so I don't have to open the hood. Lots of traffic was going by towards Font's Point and I saw two other Flip-Pacs go by.

We headed back to Borrego Springs, got diapers and then headed to the Visitor's Center. This was a big hit with my daughter and she liked watching the short movie about a year in the desert that plays in the theater. Ate lunch at some nearby picnic tables, did the short little nature walk.

This took a surprising amount of time and the sun was getting low. Headed back to the badlands to find another campsite for the evening. We had another pleasant evening just eating and bumming around. The propane heater was getting many accolades from my wife. I've measured two nights now that it heats up the Flip-Pac interior by about 20F compared to the outside.

In the morning I took my daughter to "explore" a few very short canyons near our campsite. That gave mom a little bit of a break. Again we were slow to leave, which was just fine, and we finally headed out to visit some palm oasis. The number of palm trees at an oasis of course changes over time so their original names rarely match the number of palms when you get there.

Seventeen Palms


Five Palms
​

We decided to have lunch at Una Palma described in the guidebook as a single palm tree standing in a moonscape. Since the last update of the book it had become Sin Palma. The carcass of the fallen tree was still there though. We found a nice little spot nearby with interesting badland formations to have our lunch. The shade awning worked nicely.

We could have at this point continued south through the badlands - both my wife and daughter were really enjoying the winding roads through all the mud formations - and made another camp for the night. We packed for three nights and had been out for two so far.

After discussing it though we decided to head home that afternoon. It was actually quite crowded in Borrego with huge fields of RVs and off-road vehicles in the areas just outside the state park. It was Saturday and the thought of going home on Sunday stuck in that mass of creeping RVs was not appealing. We checked the time and we could definitely still make it to the Julian Pie Company on the way out before they closed (actually 12 miles out of the way but it is worth it for that pie). Our daughter was still really happy with camping and we wanted to keep it that way and leave while she still wanted more.

The drive home was uneventful, though we did acquire some very yummy pie along the way. Traffic was not bad anywhere but there were lots of people on the roads. We made it near home around dinner time and stopped for a meal before getting back to our baths and beds. I was glad to have had another rousing success camping with a three year old. A great start to the year!

 

I definitely need a post on recovery gear, but at the moment I'm still not 100% decided. You are correct there can be lots of weight here and long cascades of interrelated decisions (e.g. is a winch or come-a-long at all useful in a desert if you don't also bring an anchor).

Nice find on the soft shackles, looks like a good option for gear that you would expect to not use regularly.

 

Found some additional extraction items that are lighter than a winch.

The Bush Winch looks a little iffy, but hey, it's Australian: http://www.bushwinch.com.au/

I've actually seen a Trac Grabber work, and I've also seen somebody do the same thing with a couple of ratchet straps. Not endorsing the second idea.

http://www.tracgrabber.com/

 

Whoa, that's interesting! I'd have to think through how well that one might work, and the implications for the vehicle.

Neat, I like that idea a lot. It is just for getting unstuck, so it doesn't need to drive for miles like a chain. Should clear front UCAs just fine (unlike chains). Much more compact than Maxtrax or similar boards, but obviously not able to solve all the same problems as rigid traction boards either. Thanks for pointing this one out, I'm definitely going to give that a good close look!

 

Thanks for posting that. I'm going to check them out.

 

The April 2016 Peterson's 4-Wheel & Off-Road Magazine is all about recovery gear and tech. There's a great article about Bubba Rope winch lines and Gator Jaws. Lots of other good stuff, like a buyers guide and top 10 safety tips. Good reading.

For the record, Gator Jaws weigh 5 ounces, while thimbles are about 13, hooks are oves a pound, and D-rings are over 2.