The Built Not Bought; Fabrication, Adventures, and More

Current Setup 1/30/2019

I'm back to posting and have made some MAJOR changes since 2017...

Time flies....

2016 Tacoma TRD OR DCSB 4x4

Armor
Self Fabricated Rock Sliders w/Kick Out
C4 LoPro Bumper
Rear Steel Bumper
Extended Fender Flares

Lighting
LED Swap in Headlights
Cali raised Switch Controller
6 Inch Single Row Led Pods on Passenger/ Driver Side
Reverse Pods
Scene Rear Pods
Behind Grill 20 Inch Light Bar
Bumper Rough Country 30 inch Single Row Black Series Lightbar

Accessories
Rack Self fabricated
Rotopax Side Mounted
Shovel and Axe
Rooftop Tent Hardshell Solimar
Tint all around
Tinted turn signals
Grill self fabricated steel

Wheels: 17" TRD SEMA Powder Coated Matte Black
Tires: General Grabber AT 2 265/75/17

Suspension: Stock, currently accepting sponsors

 

I'm digging this already

 

Definitely following great to see someone fabbing up their own parts!

 

A quick and cheap addition I did today. Ordered some 3m tint designed to cover up the front turn signal blinkers. Turned out alright, but for $10 it was a fun little addition to do while I have to wait to fabricate new parts.

3M tint pieces cut for 2016 Tacoma



Before



After

Also, I really need to wash the truck.

 

After a long hiatus I am back and have done some recent modifications to my rig. Overland/camping season is approaching as temperatures come back up in southern California. Here's what I have done over winter so far...

 

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I desperately needed some rock sliders after getting a dent on my lower section of my driver door I popped it out but did not want this to happen again. When it came to my design I wanted to make something with a kick out and a small step but not a huge step. I used 1.5" 11 gauge square and round tubing for this build.










After welding up all of these I had decided to try and make them bolt on. This quickly faded after some difficulty drilling hole and alignment issues so I welded them directly to them frame. You can see in the next picture I primed them with a brush on primer and then covered them in Herculiner. I 10/10 would recommend herculiner, it has faded a little bit from an original shiny gloss to a matte yet held up like a champ! even after hitting some rocks on trails it is still holding on.

 

Next mod I did was picking up a rotopax. After searching around on craigslist I found a 4x4 jeep store in my area selling some for less then MSRP. Once arriving at the store I inquired about a 4 gallon jerry for gas they had on the wall. The owner sold it to me for $50 because it had been used already. Well shit who am I to complain if the red isn't brand new. I decided to make a mount in the truck bed so I have it even when I take off my low rack I built for my RTT. Looking online the mounting plate was around $120 for a piece of metal with holes in it. All I did for this was measure out the distance between the mounting plate and reused holes already in the bed. Place it on a 11 gauge sheet metal, painted, and bam a $10 piece turned into a rotopax mount.

 

Nice work on the fab. It's good to see someone else make all their own stuff.

 

Here is my most recent project that I am working on. My rooftop tent rack had been all banged up after a season of only being covered in spray paint. Now it was time to spruce it up and bring it back to life. I first added a piece of 1" flat bar across the back to be able to mount some pods for lighting up the campsite. At the same time I welded on some hooks to hold a trasharoo bag over the tail gate or possibly an extension chord. After all of this I went over it with the leftover herculiner from my rock sliders and gave it a fresh coat.











Alright so here is where I am at now, going to add a detachable connector so I am still able to remove the rack without complication. Still working on a front bumper that I am almost done with, and currently about to start building an auxiliary fuse/relay box to wire up all of my lights. Also I will be making some shovel/axe holders for truck beds if anyone is interested. Keep you guys update soon!

 

I picked up my 2016 Taco DBLB TRD OR a few months ago. Before this, my vehicles ranged from an STI to an Infiniti G37x, with a couple street bikes along the way. Once the 3rd gen Tacoma's came out they immediately caught my eye. Throughout this thread, I will try and post pictures/plans of all the parts I fabricate for my taco. Sorry for the lack of pictures up until this post, in the future, I will post more with details.



Picked up looking like this, after a few trips to the desert and dunes (pictured above) I knew tires were going to be on the top of my purchase list.

The first thing I did was start looking for some wheels. After a little research, I came across the TRD Sema Wheels. Took me about a month and a half to get four together. I bought each one used from eBay, since they had some scratches on them I got them powder coated matte black. The total cost of four wheels plus powder coating $600.

Next, I decided it was time to replace the grill. Getting the shape and bend right took me sometime eventually after a few cardboard cutout's I cut the exact shape that would fit into the OEM bezel. Using AutoCAD I mocked up some letters similar to a font I found. Once CNC plasma cutting the letters I welded them from the back to a piece of perforated steel. I plastidipped the bezel and got the front grill powder coated at the same time as the wheels. Attaching the grill I placed zip ties all around the grill and bezel then used gorilla glue epoxy. So far it is holding up strong even when I place heavy pressure on it.



Now onto making the roof rack. After designing it on AutoCAD it was time to get to work. I used 16gag 2" square tubing to make the cross beams. I wanted there to be a little room to access the bed while camping from the side also I plan on attaching a shovel, hi-lift jack, and an ax directly to the rack. The top tubing is 16gag 1" made into a 48"x48" shape. The cross tubing is 6", 12",12",12", and 6" apart in respective order. Welded this all up nice and strong. I attached it to the bed via the stock bed rails. I CNC cut some brackets that lined up directly with the rails and are slotted to adjust for height. Using 8 @ 10mm bolts and some T-NUTS this thing is secure.



Time has passed with a few more adventures now it is March and I decided it's time to get those tires I wanted from the beginning. After hours of reading online asking everyone I knew about tires, I went with General Grabber AT2 265/70/17. For me, they have a great warranty, satisfy my daily driving, and look amazing. Additionally at $700 for all four that fit smooth into my budget.

Random window tinting occurred when I happened to be in south central Los Angeles I was getting a part machined for a motorcycle I'm working on. I had to kill two hours while I waited for him to machine my part, no way was I driving back to my house an hour a half away. I drove past the "tinting" discrict as there was a lot of signs for window tinting some official and some cardboard. Pulled into the gas station, looked on yelp, found a place, and bam I killed two hours waiting and got all my windows tinted for $130.

Also, my neighbor happened to see me setting up the bed rack on my truck and asked what they are for. I started to explain a little about how they are for a tent with little reference to a RTT since I assume most people don't know what they are... Well, sure enough, he had bought an ARB RTT for 2-3 people a couple years ago that he only used twice (brand new in my eyes). Decided to make him an offer, he took it so I got the RTT with all the accessories for $800. Now here is how she sits as of 3/23/2017.




I'm currently studying full time and working but have some plans in the future. Next on the list is fabricated rock sliders, and lo-pro front bumper. Have the CAD files ready just too busy until mid-May to get back in the shop to build!

 

Going to be posting some pictures and progress. Just getting back into the TW.

 

I had the flip out ARB tent for around a year and a half. Overall I was happy with it but it was huge pain in the ass to close. The cover would be a battle to put back on. Most of the time I would end sleeping in the hammock when I had the opportunity. So here is the final adventure I had with it.



Next, I picked up a bumper that was returned to an online company I found on craigslist. It was returned because of a small dent. Only cost $250, less then steel would cost me to build!

 

Now it was time to fabricate a new rack as I had found a solimar hard shell rooftop tent. I wanted it low profile as close as possible to the cab. In the end I had to cut the shark fin down but it turned out great! The spacing on the sides was done to be able to fit rotopax and accessories. Currently has a 4 gallon gas on the driver side and a shovel/axe on passenger site with monkey grips.

 

Easy quick mod, ordered some 3M tint and did the turn signals. Got some OEM ones off TW as mine were cracked from the exotic streets of Los Angeles.

 

Great bumper debacle of annoyance and frustration. I decided to test my fabrication skills by building a front bumper. Stop, do not attempt to do this as it will lead to many hours of frustration. Even after prototyping on CAD, with cardboard, this project was the first I was not happy with. Here is the pictures of the full bumper I built and scrapped. Ended up cutting my rock sliders which was a further mistake but I had dug myself a hole and throwing money plus time on top of this project.

My overall opinion was it is two bulky and did not like the view from the side. Looked empty and not clean lines.

OVERALL FAIL

 

Dude, I literally feel this exact way every time I design a bumper. Even after a half dozen prototypes, I’ll still be frustrated, hate it, and want to scrap it.

 

It is infuriating! The hardest part for me was designing from all angles. Yours look super solid. I keep wanting add some skids as I will be reaching out to you.

I went ahead with the C4 LoPro. Happy with their quality and looks great!

 

Thanks! The trick is to throw things and cuss a lot. At least, that’s always what I do