cheuer's "No Lift Build" and Adventure Thread

Thanks, me too!

The big difference between CB and Ham is that to broadcast on ham frequencies you have to be licensed. This barrier to entry means that those frequencies are generally a lot less crowded than CB, and with more powerful radios it has a much bigger range. My dad and his wheeling group switched from CB over to Ham back in the late 90s, and he made us all study and take the certifications so I've had my license since I was a kid, but if you wanted to start using ham radios you'd have to study and take the test. https://hamstudy.org/ is a pretty good resource for studying up on it.

You are correct in that CB and Ham radios cannot talk to each other, so if your group is mostly on CB then you should stick with that unless you can convince them all to change.

 

Ill likely start with a cb and add ham as well if needed in future.

 

DIY tailgate lock actuator

Since Toyota is stupid, the tailgate on the 2016 only locks and unlocks manually, and only with a second key they gave me and not the key hidden inside the fob of my smart key. I decided that this was definitely not good enough, but I also didn't want to pay $100 for a pop n lock kit, so I fixed it myself using the method in this thread. This mod was accomplished on 8/26/2016.

Parts Used

$10 Universal Power Door Lock 2 Wire Actuator Kit

Universal Power Door Lock 2 Wire Actuator Kit
Install Bay Split Loom 1/4 Inch 100 Foot Coil - SLT14

$15 Bullz Audio BPES16.25 25' True 16 Gauge AWG Car Home Audio Speaker Wire Cable Spool (Clear Red/)

Bullz Audio BPES16.25 25' True 16 Gauge AWG Car Home Audio Speaker Wire Cable Spool (Clear Red/)

$13 Lockitt POSI-TAP Assortment pack wire connectors 10-22 awg

Lockitt POSI-TAP Assortment pack wire connectors 10-22 awg
Hillman 2 Count 0.188-in x 1.50-in Rubber Standard (SAE) Flat Washer

So it turned out to be about $30. Much better than $100, and if it ever fails I only have to replace a $5 part.

And it turns out I didn't take many pics of this mod. Definitely going to do better about that in the future. I drilled three holes, two in the tailgate and one through the lock arm in the tailgate handle. See the one pic I took:



I decided that I didn't like how loud it was, so I bought a couple packs of rubber washer to try and dampen the sound. It didn't really help much, and the sound doesn't really bother me anymore.



For the wire, I ran it under the truck up to the front passenger seat. Entered the cabin here:



Then ran it along under the door sill to the passenger footwell:



And here I used the two blue posi-taps to hook into the passenger door lock. This way the tailgate will unlock when I unlock the passenger doors but not when I only unlock the driver's door. The connector is the bottom-most one, and the two lowest red and green wires. I think the wires might be different on an access cab.



With the connector removed:

 

Ham Radio Antenna Relocation

Around October 2016 I bought the driver's side ditch light bracket from Relentless Fabrication and moved my ham radio antenna over to the driver's side. Much better there, less likely to hit low-hanging branches when off road.



And here's a shot I took to show the clearance between the bracket and the windshield when the hood is raised:



Edit to add: You can see how the antenna wire is just hanging out there. I did eventually have issues with it, I would bump the wire when cleaning the windshield and it came apart from the bottom of the NMO mount. So, don't do that.

 

It was also around this time I finally noticed how bad the oem skid plate is.

 

Maglite Flashlight Mount

Parts Used

$10 Maglite Black Universal Mounting Brackets for D-Cell Flashlight, 2 pk

Mag Instrument MAGASXD026 D-Cell Maglite Mounting Brackets

I was keeping my trusty maglite on the floor between the driver's seat and the door, but when offroading I'd have to throw it behind the rear seats because it would roll around too much. I finally picked up a mount for it and secured it to the side of the seat on 11/3/2016.



To make sure it was lined up, I only drilled one hole on each bracket, installed those two screws not quite tight, then popped in the flashlight and tightened them the rest of the way. Then I popped it back out, making sure the brackets didn't move, and drilled out the other pilot holes and put the screws in. Turned out great, and now it doesn't roll around anymore.

 

Eye of the Whale / Cathedral Valley November 2016

(Mostly a repost from here)

Went on a trip to Southern Utah with my brother and my daughter the first weekend of November 2016. Camped outside of Arches national park Friday, then did the Eye of the Whale Arch trail on Saturday. Had to get out and plan a tricky descent, which I didn't get any pictures of:



A less technical part of the trail:



Eye of the Whale Arch:



On our way out, we went into Moab to stop at the . They're usually only there for the summer season, but they were still open in November that year. Excellent quesadillas too.



Then we headed over to Capitol Reef National Park to run the Cathedral Valley trail. Not a lot to see the first day:



There's a nice little campground about halfway along the trail with a pit toilet and 6 sites, each of which has a fire ring and picnic table.



We camped there and finished the rest the next day. In front of the Temple of the Sun:



And a huge sinkhole. Pictures do not do it justice, this thing is 50 feet in diameter and around 200 feet deep.



The aftermath:

 

Where were you running your antenna before that. I currently have a bed rail antenna mount no antenna yet and ditch lights. So i could do a ditch light extension and run it off driver ditch lights like urs or behind the cab off the railing.

 

Before that it was on the passenger side. See here for the full writeup I did, quoted in post #3 of this thread.

I have since added some caliraised ditch lights, and I put it on an extension bracket that I made. Post coming up for that eventually...

 

So would you recoomend i do it in that spot over running off bed and out of view obstruction? Thanks

 

View obstruction is not a problem, it's just like any old antenna on a car. If you don't have a cover on the back though, running a bed mount might be easier. Really just comes down to however you feel like doing it.

 

Been over a week, figure I should get back on here.

Tailgate letter inserts

Parts Used
Matte Black Vinyl Insert Decals by @rrentrop

Installed these in December of 2016. Had to put a heater in my dad's garage so it would be warm enough, but got it done. They come with all the instructions, followed them and it was a cinch.

Before:



After:

 

OEM Bed Mat

Added an OEM rubber bed mat that I got a good deal on here on the forum. The deal is no longer available so I'm not gonna bother linking it. Got this on 12/7/2016.

The bed mat made a huge difference in hauling stuff back there. I used to have stuff slide all over the place but now it stays in place. Highly recommended.

 

Ham radio faceplate relocation

In my never-ending quest to make the ham radio more usable, I decided I wasn't happy with the faceplate being mounted over the square pocket to the left of the steering wheel. This was done on 12/8/2016.

Parts Used

$8 iSaddle CH368 Ulimate Car Rearview Mirror Mount Kit Dash Cam Holder for Yi Smart Dash Cam/Apeman/Z-Edge/BlackBox/Spy Tec/Transcend/DOD/Papago/Vicovation/HP Bicycle Handlebar Holder

iSaddle CH368 Ulimate Car Rearview Mirror Mount Kit Dash Cam Holder

$4 Ziotek RJ45 Ethernet Cable Connector, F-to-F Type, Almond Color

RJ45 Ethernet cable connector, F-to-F type, Almond color

So I had noticed that the Kenwood DFK-3D mounting kit that I bought and previously stuck over the square pocket has a screw hole on the bottom not unlike the one on the bottom of most cameras. So I looked around and bought a bracket meant to mount a dash cam to the rear-view mirror.

Here's a picture of two that I bought. The lower one did not work and I returned it, the upper one is the one linked above.



I ran the control cable to the sill plate here using a regular old Cat5e cable I had laying around and the RJ45 female-female connector I bought.



From there it connected to the cable that came with the DFK-3D and I ran that up behind the a-pillar and through the headliner to the mirror area.



With the camera mount, I could only just barely get it at a usable angle. And to do that I had to push the rear view mirror down as far as it would go, so then it was actually blocking my view and I had to duck under it to see the car to the right at a 4-way stop. To top it off, the mount rattled against the windshield like crazy.

I still kind of like the idea of having the faceplate up there, but this just wasn't going to work for me. Maybe with a mirror riser and/or a

$80 Rearview Mirror Aluminum Mount ScanGauge II,BlendMount BSG-1000

scangauge mounting plate it would work better.

 

Redline Tuning hood struts

Parts Used
2016+ Toyota Tacoma Hood QuickLIFT PLUS from Redline Tuning
1/2 Oz. Touch Up Paint Color Matched Original OEM Quality from automotivetouchup.com from Harbor Freight


My dad gave me a set of these hood struts for Christmas in 2016, so I ordered some touch-up paint (for the holes you have to drill) and on 1/7/2017 I decided to finally bite the bullet and install them.

And of course I didn't take any of the "during" pictures. The provided instructions are very thorough, just follow them and you should be fine. I used drill stops from Harbor Freight, they were cheap but got the job done, and I didn't drill through the top of the hood.



These things should really come with the truck considering how heavy the hood is. I just have to start lifting it a little and they push it up.

 

DIY shovel and axe mounts

Parts Used

$38 Fiskars D-Handle Digging Shovel - Heavy Duty Gardening Tool with 46" Straight D-Handle - Lawn and Yard Tools - Black/Orange

Fiskars 46 Inch Steel D-handle Digging Shovel (9669)
Fiskars 28in Chopping Axe (375581-1001)

$13 END OF ROAD Original Quick Fist Clamp for mounting tools & equipment 1" - 2-1/4" diameter, 2 Count (Pack of 1) - 0010

2 of Original Quick Fist Clamp for mounting tools & equipment 1" - 2-1/4" diameter (Pack of 2)
2x T-NUT, BLACK OXIDE, 3/8-16, 9/16 from zoro.com
Lots of hardware from Lowes

I got a matching shovel and axe for Christmas so I made these mounts according to the details over on this thread. Once again, not many details, so go check there for the full write-up.



I decided that it was a little easier to put the shovel away when it was facing the side instead:



And because someone asked about the angle of the shovel in another thread:

 

Nice pics. Makes me want to visit Utah. I like that most of your mods are practical. Nothing to bro'd out, haha!

I have that shovel, too. It's a beast.

 

Thanks. Still not too bro'd out, but I did get new tires recently. I need to update this thread more, but I got stuck at my front/rear camera mod 'cause it's complex and I don't wanna write it all up...

 

Any updates?

 

Yeah, I lost the motivation to really post any more on this thread. Haven't really done anything else to it though.