The "Pandacorn" DCSB build and travel thread

Cool. Might be my next tire. I'm so undecided but these seem like a good option. Too bad they aren't made in 255/85/16s

 

Well the winch size is slightly bigger than my initial calculations so bumper modification ideas are changing. I was planning on plating in the center section for a hybrid style bumper look and to help keep the winch out of the elements. With the actual size of the winch I couldn’t come up with a clean idea to make this work. Current plans are to go with more of an open “crawler” look and see how it comes out. I have to wait for my buddy with the tube bender to come back from vacation then we’ll see how it plays out!

Here is the mock up of how it fits:


Entry angle should still be prime with it tucked in below the grill

 

Pick up a winch cover. Good to go

 

I’m trying to find one that will last. All the winch cover reviews I read talk about how quick they rot away. Maybe that’s just how it is though? Cheaper to replace a cover than everything else.

 

Warn makes a neoprene cover. It's been on my dad's tundra with a VR10000 for a couple months. So far so good. But no long term review yet.

 

well..thats why most only use 10k winches haha get much bigger in size after that rating.

 

Oh don’t you worry... I’ll make it fit hahaha

 

Subscribed!! Would love to do the 5-speed swap on my ‘02 Dcab... Awesome truck.

 

Modified the front bumper to house the winch. Bent a tube and welded in a base plate. The fit is tight but it’s in there!

As you can see the spool lever was tucked up and would contact the bumper tube before completing its rotation. Next step was to clock the winch to solve this problem.

Next I had to wire it in. There was clearly no room for the control box to fit in the bumper so I tore it apart and modified the wiring to fit it next to the battery in the engine bay.

Finished product all buttoned up!

 

Decided it was time to move to a full size spare and add some fuel storage so a swingout was next on my list. I ordered a hinge and latch kit from 4xinnovations and picked up a table made from a member on here.




Everything clears nicely


Next up was mounting the spare tire carrier

Test fit

Decided I wanted to run a moto style fuel can rather than traditional.


All done and painted up! Pretty happy with how it came out. I’ll add some bumper supports next though to try and combat some of the swingout flex that occurs when open.

 

How many gal is that container?

Also, how much flex are you getting? And it's the 4xinnovations bumper that flexes or the swingout arm?

 

It’s just a 5 gal container, I haven’t checked to see if it will also fit the 7 yet.

It’s the tube bumper that flexes from the leverage of having a single long swingout. Some bracing on the inside of the bumper should help alleviate that though.

 

I wonder if this would happen with dual swingouts....

 

Probably a lot less since you're splitting the weight onto two different sections of the bumper

 

Exactly

 

Always hated the stock seats for long trips. Would give me knee pain and just general uncomfort.. found a set of Cipher suspension seats with Tacoma rails for a steal of a deal on Craigslist and decided to go for it. After a couple thousand miles I’m super happy with the purchase. Time will tell how they hold up. The tops are only an inch taller than stock so the fit was spot on.




Also added a custom SR5 hood decal simply because I wanted to haha stoked on it!



Thinking the next simple mod is to redo the door card carpet. It’s looking rough.:

 

5 spd swap with oe Toyota clutch had 120k on them. Getting on the freeway 1 mile into the 8 hour drive home the clutch let go as I shifted into 5th. Had to tow home with a crap uhaul



The destruction





Was going to order a Marlin Crawler clutch as I have had good luck with them in the past but in typical fashion they were out of stock. Truck is now sitting in wait for the LC Engineering pro clutch kit to arrive.

 

Subbed

 

About time