Daily Driver and Wannabe Overlander

Bought my 2017 SR5 V6 4X4 in BBP in August, been doing small mods here and there but finally got my Topper so I decided I'd start a build. I will add a new post for each mod and link them all here. Here it is on day 1, still trying to come up with a name...


Mods:
Knobs
Air Dam
Dog Platform
Leer 100XR
Sleeping Platform
Lights
Dual Battery
Tailgate Seals
Tailgate Inserts and Plasti-dipped Badges
QuickFist Ax Mount
CB
Gun Magnet
Ditch Lights
Dual Battery Voltmeter
Kenwood TM-V71a Ham Radio
Falken WildPeak AT3's

General Posts:
Wreck
Camping Trip #1 (Fall Creek Falls)
Slumberjack Roadhouse Tarp

Planned:
None right now

 

Stock Knobs > Hondo Garage This are a useful and cheap upgrade, highly recommend.

 

Air Dam:

I'm not sure how I feel about this one. I did this because I saw other people mentioning it around here, but I didn't mind the looks with the air dam and now I have a giant piece of plastic taking up space in my garage. I'm considering putting it back on. Can someone give me a reason to keep it off, outside of cosmetic?

UPDATE: After deciding I don't need the ground clearance, at least for the moment, I put the Air Dam back on.

 

Dog Platform:

I don't drive around with my dogs all the time, but I use this thing pretty much everyday for other stuff. Can't recommend this one enough, makes the access cab 100X more useful, especially if you never have two-legged rear passengers.

I "supervised" a friend who is much more handy than me. Used a 2'X4' sheet of 3/4" plywood for the top and a 2X4 cut a little smaller for legs and the beam that runs the width of the platform to screw the leg hinges in. Covered with some anti-slip rubber I got at Home Depot, I was looking for some cheap carpet and couldn't find any, but I ended up really liking the rubber; its really good for keeping your gear where you put it. Bought a XL bath mat at target to use when the dogs are riding.

 

Leer 100XR

I went with this model because of the sliding windows, planning to sleep in the back. I got quite a few of the options: Keyless entry (sync'd to Toyota keys), Removable Front Sliding Window, Pet Screens, Roof Tracks/Racks/Podiums, 2 Clothes Hangers, Headliner, Gear Net, Powerblock, Dome Light. Both the Dome light and Powerblock pull from the House Battery. Ended up costing my just shy of $3k after all the extras, install, etc. Really happy with it.

https://imgur.com/a/yypR2

 

Sleeping Platform

Read TONS of threads before deciding on what I wanted to build. I decided to keep it simple and easily removable, I wanted the long support to run the length of the bed to be a divider between storage containers and camp tables/chairs, etc. when we use it for camping, haven't bought all that yet. Slept in it last night.

I used 1/2" plywood for the top. 1X6 for the cross beams. 2X10 for the middle beam. Used

$40 Absolute C15GR 15-Feet Long/4-Feet Wide Grey Carpet for Speaker Sub Box Carpet rv Truck Car Trunk Laner

this carpet along with the 3M adhesive spray, and a bunch of staples to cover it. I might have gone a little overboard with the tie downs, but if I need them I'll have them. .

 

Lights

Went with a CaliRaised Hidden 32" mount with a

$45 Nilight LED Light Bar 32" 180W 12600LM Spot Flood Combo Driving Lamp Roof Bumper Off Road Lights LED Work Light Pods for Van Camper Wagon Car Pickup Golf Cart ATV UTV SUV Truck Boat 4x4

cheapo 32" bar, it seems to put out pretty good. I spent a lot of time thinking about how to make the rear lights happen and decided on

YITAMOTOR LED Light Bar 2PCS 18W 6" Flood LED Work Light Pods Single Row Off Road Led Light Driving Light Fog Light Boat Light Waterproof SUV ATV 4WD Car Truck Golf Cart 12V 24V, 2 Year Warranty

these thin little guys mounted with the screws that are already there on either side of the license plate under the bumper, they work pretty well. Got the switches from OnBoardAir. When I got the Leer installed, I also got them to install the dual battery, lights, and fuse box so I don't really have any in-process pics here.

I'm starting to think about adding ditch lights myself, if I do I'll probably move the "Rear Lights" button over to the left side of the steering wheel and hope that someone around here can make a plate to hold all my switches (3) over there (Any ideas?).

 

Dual Battery

Went with the OffGridEngineering Side by Side Battery Setup, along with two

$264 OPTIMA Batteries High Performance D35 YellowTop Dual Purpose Sealed AGM Car, Truck and SUV Battery, 620 CCA, Maintenance Free, Versitile Mounting

Optima Yellow Tops and a

$31 Blue Sea Systems 5026 ST Blade Fuse Block 12 Circuit with Ground and Cover, 100 Amps

Blue Sea 12 slot fuse box. Had my Leer installer do the heavy lifting. All of the lights, power to the Leer, etc is pulled from the House Battery. I plan on powering any other accessories I get though here (CB and ditch lights already planned).

Oh yeah, there is a pic in there of my

$22 HELLA H31000001 Sharptone 12V High Tone / Low Tone Twin Horn Kit with Yellow Protective Grill, Includes Relay, 2 Horns

Hella Sharptone Horn. In my last car, I was never happy with the horn, I don't think other drivers could actually hear it. So I decided to upgrade that pretty quickly. I like it.

 

Its to create extra clearance from boulders when off roading. If you dont offroad put it on gain 1mpg gas mileage

 

Check out my build thread i have a 3 switch panel on left side of steering wheel. Has ditch lights bumper light on board compressor and still have a blank switch under next to power window button for a 4th switch

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/wife-hates-my-addiction-build.513084/

 

I added one to my OFF-ROAD Tacoma.. it does help with MPG. If I take a trip I put it on....I take mine on and off some. I have definitely noticed a difference....plus on the those really windy days or days when you are driving in a head wind.

 

Tailgate Seal

Installed this

$36 ESI ROK BLOCK Tailgate Gap Cover 4.25" width

Tailgate Gap Cover and this

$29 ESI Ultimate Tailgate Seal with Taper Seal 10ft for use with Truck Caps and Tonneau Covers

Tailgate Seal this afternoon. Went to the car wash and it looked like some water was getting in underneath the tailgate so I'm hoping the gap cover and seal will take care of it. I also went around the entire bed looking for holes that I sealed with

$13 Dap 00694 2.8-Ounce Silicone Rubber Auto/Marine Sealant, Clear

DAP Mostly right around the tailgate area. It's supposed to rain tomorrow, so we'll see if it works!

 

Tailgate Inserts and Plasti-dipped Badges:

I bought these tailgate inserts a while ago at the suggestions of other members here, finally got around to installing them today. Very easy to install with the help of this video. Happy with the looks.

I had been considering plasti-dipping the badges since I got the truck, but couldn't make up my mind. I got bored this afternoon, so I went to Lowe's and grabbed a can. I like it so far, and if I change my mind I'm only out $6 and a couple of hours this afternoon. I was surprised at how easy this was, this video helped.

 

Welp, I got rear-ended back in November. It had been raining for days and on the way to work some dude was following too close and couldn't stop in time. My ride was in the shop for about a week and a half, total bill: $3800. Glad I wasn't the one paying. Either way, it's all good now. Figured it wouldn't hurt to post some pics here.

 

Picked up the truck from the body shop the night before we left for our first camping trip sleeping in the bed. I have spent a few nights sleeping back there alone, but this was the first time with my wife, our 2 dogs, and myself.

Everything went great! Spent the weekend at Fall Creek Falls State Park. Weather was cold (mid 20s) the first night, but I think being in the bed kept us much warmer than our friends in their 6 person tent. Woke up to ice on the insides of the Leer windows, I assume the condensation wouldn't have built up as much if I cracked a window, but... cold.
I got one long plastic tote with wheels on the bottom and three smaller ones to go under our bed platform. The larger one has our kitchen gear, the smaller ones are: dog stuff, general camping items (paracord, lighters, starter logs, etc), and dry goods (bread, chips). System worked out well, just need to do a little more trial and error to iron out some details. Can't wait for the next one!

 

Hey. That's a nice design!! I may have to redo mine....lol. Do you sleep on that?

 

We sleep in it. It's great for quick one-night trips and trips where you get to camp after dark.
The worst thing about how I have it set up now, is that I've got one of the storage bins (closest to the cab) that is oriented horizontally, and the others are vertical: it's not easy to get into place. I usually lay in all the bins and then build the platform around it. But it was the best way to get the most use out of that space in front of the wheel well with my design. It doesn't present a problem while we are at camp, but I pretty much took everything out of the truck when we packed it up to leave camp, which if it was raining would not have been fun.

 

Mounted my QuickFist and ax this afternoon. Easy enough. Used the regular

$10 Original Quick Fist Clamp for mounting tools & equipment 1" - 2-1/4" diameter, 2 Count (Pack of 1) - 10010

QuickFist, these

$10 Hillman 44018 Stainless Steel Button-Head Socket Cap Screws (3/8"-16 x 1") - 5 pieces , Zinc

screws, and these

T Slot Nuts (4 Pack), T Slot Nut for Toyota Tundra & Toyota Tacoma Pick-Up Truck Bed Deck Rails Accessories & Tie Down, Fits Screws with 3/8"-16 Thread.

T Slot Nuts. I guess I should get a shovel to keep on the other side.

 

Nice Build!

 

CB:

This took way longer than it should have. What took up most of the time was cutting the bottom of the armrest for the wires to poke through, then getting all the radio down in there far enough for the screws to go through, VERY happy with the results tho.

Went with a President McKinley Radio from Bells CB I had him peak and tune it because I knew I couldn't find anyone locally to do it and his prices were more than reasonable. From what I can tell from his handwriting he's got me 24w peak on AM, 19w PEP on SSB and 6w Carrier. I knew I wanted the weather radio capability but then the more I started reading I figured I might has well look for something with SSB. Buy once Cry Once? I paired the radio with a

$31 FireStik FL3-B Three Foot FireFly Antenna With Tuneable Tip (Black)

3ft FireFly (which I think fits the truck pretty well). I wired it up with the the

MPD Digital K-8 18 feet Single Antenna Coax Cable W/ PL259 to 2 LUGS CB Radio Antenna Coax

lug coax and

$10 FireStik K4 Antenna Stud Mounts

matching mount because I've seen similar installs where people had ground issues and I figured this would be easier to ground. To go along with that same thought: I used a ground strap. Since I have little common sense I figured I'd go all out making bad decisions and spend the extra 10 mins and $10 to wire up a

$18 Pyle All-Weather Mono Trumpet Horn Speaker - 5" Portable PA Speaker with 8 Ohms Impedance and 25 Watts Peak Power - 180 Degree Swiveling Adjustable Bracket for Easy Maneuverability

PA horn, I know the only thing it will do is get me in trouble, but I'll have fun doing it.

Spend a little bit of time in the local Walmart parking lot this morning and got the antenna tuned to 1.4 on channels 1 and 40. I'm happy with that and was talking to a guy on SSB about 25 miles away, I think that's pretty decent.

EDIT: Picture link is broken but I can't delete it. Working Pics: