Battleship Jones: 2015 Tacoma DCLB Build Thread

The other thing I managed to accomplish lately was to get an axe. It would have come in handy the last camping trip so I picked up an Estwing 26" camper's axe. Estwing products have never let me down so it was a natural choice to get one of their products.

I'll be mounting it to the roof rack via quickfists, but this poses a bit of a problem. The neck of the axe is significant narrower than either the handle or the shaft. For several reasons it behooved me to wrap something around there to allow it to engage with the quickfist as well as to provide additional comfort and control when choking up. The backpacker in me figured that with all that storage space, I might as well wrap some 550lb paracord around it. You never know when you can use a length of paracord and there must be a good 20' of the stuff wrapped around right now. All goals met!

Before:


After:


It took 3 wraps around the neck and 1 around the shaft. They are more or less the same circumference now.

 

So we've been using the platform in the back of the bed for a few camping trips now and I realized that I never shared the details of its construction.

This is the first iteration as my intentions are to build a full fledged drawer system this upcoming winter. Not wanting to sleep in a tent I cobbled together this system for the time being.

It is composed of 2 2x8s cut to 57" on the nose and tapered at each end to fit into the slots on the Tacoma bed sides. Nothing fancy, I just used whatever wood I had laying around. These form the main supports and are sufficient to support our ~300lbs combined weight with little discernible flexing.



Next up was the actual platform itself. While plywood would have been nice, budget drove me to choose some 23/64" OSB. There are two panels, each 72" L x 28 5/8" W AFTER carpeting. Their before measurements are probably more like 71.5 x 28 1/8". It took a little bit of playing around to get them properly contoured to fit the angle at the back of the bed as well as the metal bed supports. A little bit of time with a piece of cardboard template and the oscillating saw gave me something that was pretty darn good.



I managed to snag some indoor/outdoor carpet from a friend for free. While using contact cement or some sort of spray adhesive would have been the best solution, especially on OSB, I didn't have that at my disposal. So I used a staple gun. It was difficult at times as I would hit harder and softer spots where sometimes the staples would bite, other times they would not. Eventually though I managed to get everything snugged down and it has yet to show any signs of weakness, so I'd say its going to hold up for the rest of the season.



And installed...



This has allowed us to fit a 6" Full size memory foam mattress in the back. The mattress is a few inches longer than the bed but all we have to do is give the tailgate a firm closing to compress the foot of the mattress and shut everything up as normal. It has so far proved to be very comfortable and a great temporary solution. If you go this route I highly suggest having the guys at Home Depot or Lowes cut your pieces of plywood on the panel saw. It made my life a ton easier since I don't have access to a table saw.

Total Investment = $75
Time = 4 hours

With this setup there is ~8.5" between the bottom of the 2x8 support and the top most section of bed. The largest bins I was able to find that would fit under there, and were weatherproof were these guys in the 41.2qt size.

http://www.containerstore.com/shop/storage/storageBoxes?productId=10026213

They are pretty perfect for up to 5 days worth of clothes and gear for the two of us. We have a 4 bin rotation right now, 2 with camping supplies and 1 each for clothes. As some need to be slid towards the forward part of the bed, I laid a piece of carpet down that we pull in and out to fetch those bins. Not a perfect system by any means but it works. Like I said before, it's all temporary until I find the time to put together a better system. This will at least allow me to figure out what our wants/needs/design constraints are for the drawer system before I embark on that project.

 

The lady friend and I got out this past weekend to do a little bit of camping and exploring with some friends. We left Denver ~7pm on Friday night with the ultimate destination being Taylor Park. Along the way we were treated to a beautiful sunset (notice a general theme in this thread?).



To get there we had to traverse Cottonwood Pass outside of Buena Vista (http://www.traildamage.com/trails/index.php?id=338). Not a difficult road by any means but with a myriad of tight switchbacks and reduced visibility it was slow going. Always vigilant for deer, I only had one oh sh!t moment when a buck wandered out in the road in front of me. I will say that the el cheapo light bar totally paid for itself on roads like this. I could drive with quite a bit more confidence with the extended reach lighting up not only the road but the sides of the road too.

We pulled into the Taylor Park area at 11:30 at night and more or less just pulled off the road to go to sleep. We were all tired and needed to crash before we literally crashed. After being rudely awakened by my dogs at 6am, I got out and went for an early morning hike. Managed to get 7 or so miles and saw plenty of deer. I really just wanted to find the trailhead for Taylor Pass as I contemplated doing it. That didn't work out but I ended up getting in another hike that afternoon. We followed F.S. road 742 to the very end, pulled off, and just started going on the first trail we saw.



The beginning of this trail of course required me to ford a river with the backpack on my front and my lady on my back. Needless to say with the swift water and semi-sketchy footing I managed to flood my boots and stopped to let everything dry out.



Wildflower season is starting up in the higher elevations and we marveled at the many different types and colors of flowers. We ended up turning around 2 miles later when the trail went back across the river and ended up running the last mile as some serious storm clouds had rolled in. We got back to the truck just before the skies opened and pitied the poor ATV riders we saw bundled up like Kenny from South Park.

We spent Saturday night with good food, good friends, and a nice warm camp fire to keep us cozy.

The intentions on Sunday were to take Tincup Pass over from Tincup into St. Elmo. Tincup was a pretty neat little town and we briefly stopped at the general store to check things out before pointing the truck uphill.





The road getting up to Mirror Lake was pretty tame and not at all indicative of what was to come. Things started to get a little bit rockier as we drove along the shore of the lake. Luckily I had my trust co-pilot along to ask the tough questions like, where does the trail go?!?!



After driving through a small section of lake I put the truck in 4 low and started up the pass. It was quite a bit more rocky and rough than I had anticipated. The trusty co-pilot reclined her seat as it was getting a bit too much for her so I didn't get any pictures on the ascent, but I can only assume it was a bit rougher than advertised because of the heavy snowpack and runoff that was cascading down the trail. We got to the top without much to mention and stopped to admire the views.



Luckily the trip down the other side was much smoother and we cruised into St. Elmo uneventfully. The town was pretty busy as tourism season is upon us and being one of the more preserved ghost towns in CO it was pretty packed. We hung out for a little bit before heading out, grabbing some food and heading home. Another fun weekend of camping in the books!

 

So we went camping this weekend up in Red Feather, CO. No offroading was in the cards, more just a relaxing weekend of camping before the fiancee begins school tomorrow. We drove on up Friday night and once again, I was very thankful I had the el cheap $70 Amazon light bar for the Forest Service roads. It makes such a fantastic difference lighting up not only the road but the sides of the road as well.

And in no particular order, we shot bows



we shot shotguns and clays (no pictures), and target shot clays with an AR15 (at which I was good with iron sights to 150 yards). After having not shot clays in 10 years, a 50% success rate seemed pretty good. And having never shot an AR15 I was pleasantly surprised to find I was the best shot in the group even shooting while standing.

In truck related funsies, I did a little bit of puddle bashing on the way in...



which of course means that the truck looks like it was plastered in diarrhea.

Shots of the new wheels...







A gratuitous shot of my adorable puppy



It was somewhat embarrassing to see how much litter was in the camp site. There was copious amounts of broken glass, various pieces of trash, and lots of brass. I probably spent 2 hours picking up after others and collected a bag with probably 250 pieces of brass in various calibers.

Given that the space int he bed is limited because of the mattress and platform, I think I will invest in some all weather rifle cases to mount to the roof rack. Although we managed to fit everything we carried I think they would be good storage for our various toys that come along. Something safe, out of the way, and weatherproof. Another detail for another time!

 

No major updates but I did throw in a set of Redline hood struts this past week. Unfortunately being only 5'7" it is a bit of a hassle to get the hood open and involves walking around the truck hoisting it a little higher until I get around the side in order to get the hood prop in. Honestly I feel that Toyota should have done this from the factory but whatever.

Installation is very straight forward and the company includes some of the best written and illustrated directions I've encountered. It took 2.5 hours from start to finish working diligently as I don't like punching unnecessary holes in my truck.

The first step was to rivet the brackets to the underside of the hood. A quick tap with a center punch and a few seconds with a drill bit (taped so it doesn't punch through and pierce the outer hood) and I had the holes drilled. I put a dab of black RTV on the inside of the hole as well as on the rivet itself to prevent corrosion on the bare metal. Note to self: RTV and anti-seize are the herpes of the auto world, the gift that keeps on giving. Anyway, the process was much the same on the bottom bracket. There was a bead of seam sealer along the inner fender that prevented the bracket from being placed exactly where the instructions called for, but I shifted it 1/2" forward with no ill effects. Plopped the self tappers into the fender, hooked everything up, and marveled at how the hood self raised and the ease at which it shut. I very much like this mod and would highly recommend it for those in a similar position.

 

So I spent a little bit of time tonight putting together a crude bracket to mount the awning to my Thule bars on the topper. Just something temporary to get up and running and make sure it works up there. It is made of some 3" x 3" x 1/4" angle iron and will be fastened to the bars with 2 square u-bolts. ARB supplies 4 6mm bolts for the entire 40lb or so assembly which seemed a bit light duty for me so I decided to go with 4 6mm bolts per bracket! Double time baby! The plan is to have two total brackets. And the requisite picture.

 

As I posted earlier, I was meeting up with a guy to buy his ICONs this evening and the deal went smoothly. Ironically he swapped from the ICONs to some OMEs. To each his own I suppose.



Anyway, I was too impatient so I decided to get them in there tonight. I was able to do the swap by myself in an hour and a half which included having to schlep everything out through the side door of the garage and around due to two broken torsion springs that don't allow the garage door to go up. C'est la vie. Everything came out smoothly and went back in smoothly. Fancy schmancies, yay!



Anyway, like I thought, the preload will need to be upped to get the front end up. I'll have to take a picture in the daylight, but it is sitting pretty low at the moment. Might just need to remedy that with 700lb springs at some point here, but I'll monkey with the 650s to see if I can get them where I want them.

Ride around the block confirmed that they are just as plush and well controlled as I thought. I'll have to take a better spin and really hit some bumps but initial impressions are that they are very well controlled. They have very good rebound control and just feel like they provide a very plush ride. I like them very much so far and will report back when I have more time on them.

The guy I bought them from was unable to find the wrench to adjust the collars. Anyone have luck just using some metal bars of the right diameter to turn the adjustment collar?

 

Thanks to my good friends at Downsouth Motorsports I now have a set of 3" x 14" x 700lb King springs to install. Perhaps I'll do the swap this weekend if I'm feeling up to it; still nursing a cold I picked up the other day. If anyone is interested in the 650lb Icon springs I'll be selling those shortly.

Also, for future reference, if anyone buggers up a spring collar, they are Icon PN #257501 and can be ordered through any Icon dealer.

 

The wife is out of town for the week so when the cat is away the mice will play! Spent ~4 hours or so tonight installing the 700lb springs. Did it all solo and have to admit that I am pretty beat after all that. With all the ratcheting necessary to compress the springs I feel like I have a healthy case of tennis elbow.

Anyway, I borrowed the following spring compressors from O'Reily's Auto Parts.





It was my first time using spring compressors and although it went smoothly, it was a bit of a nerve wracking procedure. The 700lb springs are significantly thicker and required more compression than the 650 pounders due to their additional length. Needless to say I am very, very glad to be done with this job. Just FYI, there is not enough of a gap after assembly to slide the compressor out as a whole unit. I had to disassemble it and remove the arms individually. Not a deal breaker, but it was a bit of a surprise to see that it wouldn't come out the same way it went in.

Side by side shot of the two coils.



Tada! The assembled product. I Scotch brited the shock bodies while I had them apart to remove some of the discoloration and filth that had accumulated. Much shinier now.



While I had everything apart I also took a few minutes to slice and beat back the pinch weld. The tires don't rub, but they are pretty damned close. They catch the plastic, so I did the clearancing more as a preventative measure.

Currently the driver's side is set at 1" of thread showing and the passenger side has 7/8". I'll wait to see how the springs settle in before adjusting them any further; at the present they sit a little high for my tastes with only ~2" of down travel.

Quick spin around the block showed that they are a much better match for not only the configuration of the vehicle but also the feel of the rear suspension. I bombed over a few speed humps and it was firm enough to feel controlled but still smooth enough not to feel jarring. Initial impressions are that it was a completely worthwhile upgrade.

 

So true. I am doing my best to limit acquisition of new tools and belongings, but an impact would be a welcomed addition to the stable. I would say that you are right in that this is a job that should probably not be done without one. Otherwise you are just subjecting yourself to cruel and unusual punishment. I may end up backing off the collars some. I cried a little on the inside with the passenger one. The collar holes were so buggered up that I just had to insert a punch and hammer the thing in circles. If it could have been saved before it certainly could not have after.

After a bit more time on the new coils I will echo their better matching the rear statement. Less wallow in corners, firm but still still plush. Just a better overall ride.

I decided to tackle the bumper trim and install for the ARB today. After living with the unsightly gap for the past year and a half convincing myself that it doesn't matter to me I finally owned up to the fact that it does and just looks sloppy. I did my damndest to sell it and buy an aftermarket one to chop up or trade it for someones that was all dinged up but to no avail. So I got to it today. It was hard to cut up what I'm sure is a $500 bumper assembly for the top 1/4 of it but whatever. I had resigned myself to taking the bumper off but with a bit of clever manipulation, lots of cursing, and taking off the grill, I was able to get the bumper slice in there and attached without having to even loosen a single bolt on the bumper itself. Phew. I think it looks much better now.

 

After having almost ate it multiple times standing on the sliders to get to something on the roof, I went ahead and put some 3M Safety-Walk ladder grip tape on the tops. Install was a breeze, though it took a bit of finessing and several pieces of tape to build the curve at the kick out. Time will tell how durable it ends up being.

 

After a bunch of back and forth with both the wife and my BFF out here I've decided to up our game a bit by getting an ARB fridge/freezer. I was waffling back and forth between a Yeti Cooler and the ARB and think I've settled on going that route. While the up front cost is enough to make me choke, I'm hoping it lasts many many years and is the "game changer" that so many people say it is.

Anyway, this led me to the dilemma of figuring out how to mount it. Ordinarily I've seen it either mounted in the bed or in a back seat perpendicular to the axis of the truck. Given that we use the bed as a literal bed and have two pooches in the back seat meant it would get awfully crowded in there if I chose to orient it as such. The only way I could foresee getting it in there in the, IMO, ideal orientation was to remove the back seats ala Tacozord. It all came out fairly easily and proved to be plenty spacious.

Pictured is the 50qt ARB fridge. There is sufficient space in front and in back to position it with enough room for the cooling fans to operate properly. The only downside is the lid will not open fully. A bummer for sure but not a deal breaker.



In due time I'll be fabricating a platform that will provide a nice home for the ARB to live on as well as provide a significant space upgrade for the dogs. It's a win-win as far as I'm concerned; I get more space back and I don't have to worry about muddy paws ruining the back seat. Not to mention I rarely carry more than myself and the wife so having all of that space back is something I should have done a while ago.

Removal of the back seats of course meant that I now had an exposed, thin skinned wall at the back of the truck. There was a perceptible increase in noise that I'm not big on considering the truck was already loud enough. Dynamat it is! Managed to snag the rest of a box from said BFF until I can order some more in to cover the back panel. Being that it was my first time applying sound deadener of any sort I decided that all of the literature I read about cutting it to fit was bologna and I was just going to save myself some time and apply it in a full sheet. My poor misguided self did that for a single sheet before abandoning that method. It turned out okay but given my penchant for perfection I know it's one of those things that will bother me until I have the chance to cover it up. Anyway, I got part of the back done before calling it quits for the night. I'll pick it up tonight and try to finish the back panel. While I know they say you don't have to cover 100% of the surface area I choose to do so for this portion of the truck as there is no other obstructions for both sound and heat. Hopefully this will provide a sufficient barrier to discourage each from negatively impacting the cabin.

 

When I last updated this thread several weeks ago I had a partial sheet of super crinkly Dynamat laid down. It was ugly and I hated it. So I did what any rational human being would do, stepped back, took a deep breath, and commenced ripping it out. Word to the wise, the foil edges of Dynamat are super sharp and I must have ended that night with a dozen cuts on my hands and fingers from that foray.

Anyway, I spent the past few weeks taking my time to do it right. I laid things in much smaller pieces and took the time to properly contour it to the dimensions of the back wall. At the same time I also figured that I would source some foam to fill in the two voids in the back wall for insulating purposes as well as looks. Even though the intent is to cover up the back wall I would hate knowing that whatever I put back there was hiding the half assed job that I did.

During the course of removing the side trim panels I had several of the retainer clips grenade on me. They are fragile as anything and tend to shatter into a billion pieces if you even look at them wrong. I ended up sourcing some more from the Toyota dealership and they were fairly reasonable at $1.58 per. I've attached a picture of the original clip and the part number in case anyone needs it. Just an FYI, Toyota listed ~4 or so clips that would satisfy this same need. The ones I chose were one of the options that featured a neoprene washer to cut down on vibration. They are also available on Amazon and eBay if you choose to go that route.



For the foam I used a sheet of the following: http://www.homedepot.com/p/R-Tech-1-in-x-2-ft-x-4-ft-R-3-85-Insulating-Sheathing-321365/202533710

It was easy to cut to size with a razor blade, was double faced and claims moisture resistant. Should be sufficient for the interior of the vehicle in a location that's not bound to see much if any moisture. I did my best to cut pieces that were slightly oversize and would press into the locations I wanted them. A few strips of Dynatape held everything in place.



It is not necessary in the least to cover the entirety of the back wall with Dynamat according to their literature. It only needs something like 25% surface coverage to deliver it's designed effectiveness. Given that it was acting as a thermal/sound barrier in this instance with the thin sheet metal I chose to cover everything. Tada! Not nearly as wrinkly and much better looking IMO.



And finally with the insulation in place and taped.



A few things of note post install. The seats/bins work really well as a sound deadening interface. No surprise as there's a ton of material there to block sound. The sound in this instance is the cabin air vent which on truck was tucked in the back passenger corner in the recess where the seatbelt spool is located. It was rather noisy once everything was removed and was one of the main motivations I took on the sound deadening project in the first place. With the foam and Dynamat in place the whirring air noise is reduced but not completely eliminated. Hopefully the addition of a back panel helps to reduce that noise. I intend to apply additional Dynamat to all 4 doors to reduce cabin noise as well.

Next up is actually making the platform. I've been throwing a bunch of ideas back and forth and still haven't 100% made up my mind how I want to tackle it. I know it will be full width and have L-track routed into the surface for tie downs. I am still up in the air on material (carpeted plywood, coated plywood, plastic) and whether or not to extend the length all the way to the back of the front seats and lose out on some wheel well space OR get a front runner 10 gallon water tank and compensate for that. Decisions decisions...

 

Next up is some more lights! A friend we were camping with last year had some lights on the side of his trailer that light up the camp site nicely and made working or finding things at night a much more pleasant experience. I decided I needed some of those. At the same time I'll be sinking some LED light pods into my rear bumper to assist with backing up into places at night. There have been several instances where the additional light would have very much been welcomed. So in the spirit of adding things as their usefulness presents itself, I ordered up some 2x2 pods for the roof rack (install coming in the next few weeks) and some 2x3 pods for the rear bumper. Specifically I got the following:

Genssi Duely Spot Projector Flood Grille Bumper Bar Light 4x4 Off Road 24W

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KC8JYGQ?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00

$21 Nilight - NI23C-18W 2PCS 18W Flood LED Work Light Driving Lights Led Light Bar Off Road Led Lights Flush Mount for Jeep Truck Tacoma Bumper ATV UTV,2 Years Warranty

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00J5AAX5S?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00

Upon their arrival I was pretty impressed by the construction. Being a mass produced no doubt foreign product they actually included some fairly nice touches. Both have fairly solid grommets where the power wire enters the housing and the fit and finish was about what you would expect from LED light pods at this price point. The general theme of a lot of the folks who gave them poor ratings was due to water intrusion and subsequent death as a result. Nothing a $5 tube of silicone and 15 minutes per light couldn't fix.

I undid the 6 face bolts, pulled off the cover, the lens, and the diffuser lens to find the circuit board. I cut the tip on my silicone pretty small so it could fit in between the power wires and fill the cavity with silicone to discourage water intrusion past the grommet.



This particular light had a rubber gasket that would sit in the light housing and provide a compressible surface for the lens to ride on. I chose to seal that in two dimensions by first running a bead of silicone to assist in the waterproofness of the gasket



Then another bead on top of the gasket that will seal the lens surface. You can see some of the squeeze out along the sides but this is hidden by the faceplate



Another bead of silicone on the outside of the gasket to seal the faceplate against the light body, some blue loctite on each of the bolts and I snugged things back up.



None of the additional sealing I did is visible after reassembly. I used this same technique to seal up the LED light bar I have on my roof rack with great success. I have noticed no water intrusion after a year or so of having it on the truck through rain and snow storms. All 4 lights were completed in a similar fashion save for the differences in gaskets between the two sets of lights necessitating a bit of variation in procedure. I'll end up doing another set of the 2x2 pods for the roof rack but wanted to check out the quality of this particular brand/set before going all in.

Now to order up some jacketed neoprene 16-2 cabling as well as some weatherpack connectors. The camping lights will be a traditional on/off rocker switch whereas the bumper lights will be on an on/off/on switch to allow them to come on with the regular backup lights, stay off all together, or come on independently.

 

And I got some traction mats in the mail today. Went with Maxsa Escaper Buddies instead of Maxtrax owing to them being half the cost. Of course now I need to come up with some good way to mount them to the roof rack, we'll see what I can come up with.

 

Came home to this bundle of joy from Zach at Prinsu Design Studios last night.



Ordered it during the most recent group buy. I've been lusting after a matching rack for my topper ever since I put one on the cab during, you guessed it, last year's group buy. Guess I have good timing for these things. Install instructions are pretty straightforward and are readily available through his website so I won't bother with a comprehensive write up or anything. Just a well packed box with a sh!tload of hardware that needs to be sorted through and many wrenches to turn getting this thing on the truck. Well worth it though, it is very, very study and looks great. Now for a few pictures!





Now I must gather all the necessary hardware to mount up a few AW cases on there, my awning, traction mats, Rotopax, and Hi-lift jack.

As a side note, a few very annoying noises have cropped up recently that I'm wondering if anyone has experience with.

Dash noise - Primarily seems to manifest itself in colder weather and presents as a ticking type noise over bumps and really any sort of road surface that isn't perfectly smooth. Appears to be coming from the middle of the dash up by the windshield. I stuffed a piece of foam between the windshield and the dash to compress it a bit and that has gotten rid of it but I would rather not have the foam mod be a permanent addition.

Passenger seat headrest noise - Rattles like a mother in cold weather, again, over any sort of road surface that isn't perfect smooth. The cacophony of this + the dash noise is enough to make me want to plow into a tree just so it will be quiet for a bit.

Behind glove box noise - A buzzing noise behind the glove box that presents itself typically around 1,200 rpm and most often between 30-40 mph (probably because that's a common rpm to sit at for that speed range). continues buzzing until around 1,400 rpm then quits. Mostly a warm-weather kinda noise. Tried zip-tying every single wire/wiring bundle back there that I could thinking it was just something vibrating but it still persists.

Driveline clunk? - Not sure it's the driveline, but it seems to be the most likely culprit. If I come to a quick stop on the road, after the truck has a chance to settle, like 3 or so seconds after it comes to rest there is an audible clunk. I've read that the Toyota slip joints get sticky and will sometimes make a clunk, or perhaps it's related to spring wrap, or maybe the torque converter unlocking. Either way, I hate noises that aren't supposed to be there.

Rear end noise - Probably the most disconcerting of the bunch. Makes a terrible oscillating type groan when backing over the sloped curb into my driveway. I typically only notice it when backing into my driveway but it will sometimes present pulling out of the driveway too. I haven't heard it during ordinary driving. Appears to mostly be present when the wheels hit the curb at different times and the driver's side has to compress before the passenger. I've tried torquing the u-bolts, un-torquing then re-torquing the shackle/leaf spring bolts, tightening the topper bolts and tightening the bed bolts. It's driving me crazy.

Anyway, thoughts on any or all of the above would be appreciated if you've encountered and slayed those demons. Now that I think about it it's a pretty long list, perhaps I'll ask the Toyota dealer to go through it next time I'm there for Toyotacare service, although I can already hear the "Oh it's all related to the modifications you have done on the truck." Guess I have 2,500 more miles to go trying to figure it out myself before I go that route.

 

Anyway, I'm reversing my position on the ARB fridge. After looking long and hard at them the pricetag is a bit much to swallow, especially seeing as how the wife and I usually don't do anything longer than 5 days and the price difference between an ARB and a quality cooler is significant. I was able to pick up a Yeti Tundra 45 cooler over the weekend for a bit north of $100 that should at least cover us in the interim if I decide that the fridge is the way to go. Still working on the platform for the back seat where this will live, but looking forward to it either way.

 

A few pages back there was a discussion on the use of AW gun cases on the roof as additional storage. Some are a fan, some are not. I decided, for better or worse, to mount up a couple to gain a little bit of protected outside storage. We'll see how they fare long term, but it was a fairly cheap endeavor with a nice upside to it.

Ended up going with a pair of the following: http://www.amazon.com/Plano-108421-...&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00

Construction is pretty solid, obviously not up to the quality/durability of a Pelican case but I was able to pick up both for a fraction of the cost of a single Pelican.

Installation is pretty straightforward. Drill 4 holes in the bottom of each, run 1/4-20 carriage bolts into the Prinsu crossbars, and set the case on top. I snugged it all down with some plastic hand knobs with nylock nut inserts, so they shouldn't be moving anywhere or vibrating loose.



They are pretty solid up there and there is minimal wiggle if you grab hold and start shaking them.



Long term durability will be a question under the strong CO sun but time will tell. Until then I am pretty pleased with the way they turned out. Should be a nice place for voluminous things such as our bows, fishing rods, backpacks, or MTB gear to live. I did consciously make the decision to mount them ~ in the middle of the rack so I could still have the use of a crossbar both in front of and behind the cases to take stuff such as a shovel or Hi-Lift. Those with OCD may notice that the latches aren't centered over this crossbars. I did this on purpose as it would have been a bit unwieldy trying to get my fingers under the latches if it was mounted as such.

 

Upped my electrical game recently. Wasn't a huge fan of using heat shrunk spade connectors to hook up electrical accessories exposed to the elements. I invested in the tools to crimp up Deutsch DT terminals and have to say I am impressed with their construction and apparently weatherproofiness. Just a few pics of the beginning of the harness I'm making for the camp lights. Also trying out some SJOOW neoprene jacketed cable as it looks much cleaner in my opinion than a couple of exposed wires and should provide an additional degree of protection.

Plug end with marine heat shrink to prevent water intrusion into the jacket.


Receptacle end with the same.


And a happy union!

 

So the addition of the Prinsu rack meant that I had to re-think/re-work the awning brackets I had previously fabricated. Oh well, I wasn't too attached to those ones anyway as they looked sloppy and I just couldn't have that.

The Prinsu rack uses 80/20 extrusions which are perfect for the insertion of carriage bolts. I whipped up 3 brackets as such that utilize 4 1/4-20 carriage bolts to affix it to the rails, and 4 6mm bolts to affix the awning. Each bracket is made from 3" x 3" .250 angle iron so I am not that concerned about fatigue or overloading. They should be stout enough by themselves. The shake test reaffirms this.



And a side shot. Tucked a lot closer to the truck to minimize the potential for ripping the thing off. The aluminum extrusion backer is in line with the top of the roof rack rails over both the topper and the cab.



Clean.



Going to have to do a test setup. I purchased the walls the other day so the wife and I can have an enclosed space for privacy sake. Something about her wanting to answer the call of nature in peace. I shall therefore declare the awning roof to be named, "The Dutch Oven."