iK0NiK's 2015 TRD OR "Mostly Modest" Build

hmm. well i wonder if it would hurt anything if i took off the thing thats keeping it from working. i definitely miss having it on there

 

I don't believe it would hurt. I know a lot of guys take the little aluminum factory skid/splash guard off when they install their TRD skid. I don't think you'd have any issues doing so.

 

gotcha, you have any plans for an AAL in the back for those 5160s?

 

Yep, my intent is to do a 3-leaf progressive AAL and bump the 6112 up to the #4 setting at the same time. That should have me sitting about 2" higher on all 4 corners.

Just haven't felt like fooling with it. With the work I've done so far I'm sitting level with great ride quality and no vibrations or issues. May be a while before I put more into it.

 

Ham Radio Install: Yaesu FTM-100DR 2m/70cm

I've been a licensed ham for over 10 years, but haven't had the time or excess funds to put a mobile setup in the Tacoma. After finally getting the motivation, I had a goal in mind to get on the air with 2M / 70CM capabilities and wanted to do as few alterations to the truck as possible while still keeping everything cosmetically clean and out of the way. I knew I wanted a dual band radio with a remote-mount face, and an antenna setup that wouldn't require any drilling. With help from @GPLarge (check out his install thread here), I went to work.

Item List:

• Radio: Yaesu FTM-100DR (LINK)
• Antenna: Comet SS680SB (LINK)
• Mount/Coax: Comet LD-5M (LINK)

As expected, the install time was 50/50 split between antenna installation and radio installation.

For the antenna installation, I chose to go hood mounted on the driver's side which is opposite of the AM/FM antenna. This put the antenna on the same side of the truck as the firewall grommet and the same side that the radio will be mounted (under the driver's seat).


My coax and power wires were both run through the factory-supplied grommet on the driver's side, which is just below the cluster of wires that enters the cab from the engine bay. UNFORTUNATELY the coax connector was too big to get through the grommet, even when taking off the PL259's outer threads. I had to cut off the Comet connector that came on the coax, run the wire through the firewall, then re-solder a new PL259 once the coax was inside the cab. A decent inconvenience, but nothing major.


Under the hood, all coax and power wires were wrapped in wire loom to protect them from heat/grime and then secured with zip ties to keep them out of the way.


As stated, the power wires and coax were routed into the cab through the same grommet. I then ran the power/coax behind the driver's side kick panel, and under the door jam to keep them out of sight. Once I had the wires adjacent to the middle of the driver's seat, I ran them under the carpet and out through the same hole that the driver's seat wires come through. This kept both the power and coax wires completely out of sight.


Once under the seat, I oriented the radio so that it would not completely block the rear floor vents. All of the excess wire was bundled and secured to prevent cutting or tangling, and the radio was secured to the floor with industrial-strength velcro. Believe it or not, it's rock solid and doesn't move without heavy force applied to it.

The remote-mount interface cable was routed under the driver's side edge of the center console plastic. Nothing had to be removed for this, I just wedged it between the carpet and the edge. I then routed the cable through the cup holders (which just pop out with light force), and gave myself enough slack to be able to still place items in the tray if needed.


The radio controls were mounted below the climate controls/ATRAC area with... you guessed it... velcro. The mount is surprisingly solid and I'm able to operate all of the buttons/controls without any significant movement from the controls.

So the finish product is better than I could have predicted. No cuts, splices, or holes were needed or made in anything. In about 15 minutes I could remove the entire setup from the truck and it'd return it to completely factory state. So far the performance has been stellar. No issues with SWR on the antenna, and signal reception & reports are great. The 100DR's factory speaker is surprisingly loud so I haven't taken the time to install an external speaker. Highly recommend all of these products.

 

Nice job West. Real clean install. It is a pain to get through the firewall but worth it in the end.

73's

 

Thanks, Al. And really appreciate your help and suggestions on the install!

 

Got the Wet Okole seat covers installed this weekend that were purchased in the Spring 2017 TW group buy. Took about an hour and a half. Install wasn't particularly difficult, just a bit time consuming since the covers are custom fit to the seats. There's a lot of pulling and tugging on fabric to get all of the seams to look nice. Also I did remove the front seats for the installation. I honestly don't see how you could get these things on without doing so.

Anyhow, the end result looks beautiful. I actually like the color scheme more than the factory seats. They're also cushioned so the seats are more comfortable and plush feeling. My one and only complaint... the fabric combined with the color = HOT. They'll make your back sweat more than the factory seats, but at least these are waterproof.

Wet Okole's going in with 26,480 on the ODO.

 

Great truck! Thanks for giving a review on your suspension setup, I feel like most just say they got em without commenting on how they actually ride!

 

Thanks, man! I figure it never hurts to give some feedback and first impressions even when things are freshly installed. The 6112's are still holding up great almost a year later. Couldn't be happier.

 

lol I installed the fronts with the seats still installed. Huge pain in the ass...

Any changes yet to your rear suspension? I'm debating refreshing my stock leaf pack with a new set and keeping stock shocks and coilovers or going with the 6112/5160 setup with an AAL in the rear. My truck hardly feels like a truck these days, and has had terrible load handling capability with my blown out springs

 

Not yet. Wife and I are buying a house (closing Aug 9th) and it's tying up all of the funds right now.

I'm kinda on the fence, too. Part of me wants to just throw on a 3-leaf AAL and call it a day. The other part of me wants to throw a full leaf pack in to handle the camping load we load up with a few times a year. I've just heard a lot of reports of bad driveline vibrations after a rear lift so it's got me worried about going through with it.

 

lol, I'll let you know. I think I'm going to order my AAL today and pair it with a 3-leaf from a 2016 stock leaf pack

 

Sounds good. Let me know how it turns out! You may convince me to go ahead with mine. I'd install it myself so it's not really a huge bank breaking project.

 

By far my worst expense is the shocks. I'm at 67,000 miles and I feel like my stock ones are definitely not riding the way they used to.

 

I still can't recommend the 6112's enough. I know they aren't King's, but for the price you get a beefy 2.5" strut without the hassle of need to get them rebuilt every year.

The 6112's are actually what Bilstein runs on their demo rig, FYI:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BXCIuhUFVxh/?taken-by=bilsteinus&hl=en

 

Just placed an order for 6112/5160s to go with the 3-leaf stock + 3-leaf AAL in the rear. I'm going with the 6112 on the 2nd position so I still have some rake to the truck.

I recently test drove a chevy 1500 and I was impressed with how soft the ride felt despite the rear springs having some rake to them. The truck didn't squat much even with ~500lbs of tongue weight on the trailer. That's the behavior I'm trying to replicate.

 

sub'd

 

You made a good choice man. You'll be grinning from ear to ear when you get them on. I've got about 15k miles on mine and don't have a single complaint. Be sure to run your truck with the stock suspension across a few rough areas... maybe a dirt road, railroad crossing, speed bumps, etc. Then hit that same route again once you get the new suspension installed so you can compare. It really is a huge difference in quality.

howdy from the opposite corner of the country haha. Hope you're doing well man.

 

yea man! currently in afghanland.

looking to finally put the ole' supercharger in upon my return so I'm doing all the planning for that right now haha