Hodakaguy's Overland Tacoma Builds - on to new adventures.

How /where did you mount the input for the airbags? You have a picture from the underside... looks like they lead up to somewhere around the license plate on the rear bumper.

I'm interested in that because I'll be installing airbags to eliminate rear sag when I tow my camper.

 

Yep....on page 3 of this build https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...oma-builds-on-to-new-adventures.528480/page-3

Hodakaguy

 

We headed in to my work early this morning to use the heated shop to get the Sliders prepped and primed.

RCI Sliders...the quality is great and they were packed and organized very well.








At this point we started sanding.....and sanding.....then some more sanding. LOTS of sanding lol.






Welds look good on the sliders.




After we had all 4 sliders sanded (Doing my sliders and my fathers at the same time) we hung them up and started wiping them down with Wax Remover/Degreaser in preparation for primer.










Time to apply the primer. I'm using a 2K Epoxy bare metal primer, should give the top coat great adhesion and durability.




I'll be applying the primer with a HF HVLP gun, when done it's going in the trash....no cleaning today for me




Primer mixed and waiting 20 minutes for activation before spraying.




Sliders primed and drying....glad that's over. I hate Painting!!






Now to level out the hoop on the SSO Slimline Hybrid bumper, the bumper arrived with the hoop a little less than 1/4" lower on one side than the other....Grrrrr.

Factory weld on the hoop. I'll cut this weld out, remove some material and then we will re-weld the hoop so it's level like it should be.




I cut through the weld using both a skinny wheel and my favorite tool a Porta-Band.




Next up remove some material so the hoop sits lower and level, any nicks will be blended back out before paint.






With the hoop now level my father is working his magic with the tig torch.






After the bar is welded back in place my father re-welded the other side to match. Much nicer looking than it started out....and the hoop is now level!






Now to straighten out the metal above the light opening, this piece had a bow to it when it arrived and you could see uneven gaps around the light when installed. A wooden block and a wedge made quick work on straightening out the piece, a little at a time until it measured even all the way across.




Done...ready for sanding, priming and top coat.




More to come.....

Hodakaguy

 

Hodakaguy, do you happen to know, which seller on eBay? The grill looks awesome!!

 

We purchased both grills from Areyourshopa on EBay, both showed up in excellent cond.

Hodakaguy

 

Awesome, Thanks!!

 

First of all, nice thread! This is setting the bar for countless “how to’s”. Well done.

Secondly, looking back at your rear suspension install, specifically the Dakars, have you had and squeaking or annoying noises from your leaf springs or bushings now that you’re getting some miles on them? Did you do anything in terms of adding grease or other lubrication during install? I saw you used waterproof grease on the front upper control arms, anything for the rear leaf packs?

I’m in the market for new rear leaf springs and am hearing lots of things about noise on the Dakar’s. Thanks!

 

Did I miss it or what do you and your father do for trade? Thats alot of precision tools and skills you both have. Very cool build

 

Thanks. So far no squeaks or noises from the Dakar's on either truck. I only applied the water proof grease on the metal bushings going through the spring eye, none on the outer edge of the bushing. I'll report back if anything changes but they've been great so far.

Hodakaguy

 

Thanks, really enjoying it so far. I work for a natural gas pipeline and have performed jobs from lead mechanic to an instrument technician, my father is a retired Pipe Fitter/Welder and is very good at his trade. We've collected the tools over the last 20 years and use them often as I love to fabricate etc.

Hodakaguy

 

Time to get these sliders finished up. My father and I headed in this morning to apply the top coat so we can get them installed next weekend.

I'll be top coating with U-POL two part Raptor Liner, this is a bed liner material that is very tough and durable. The Raptor Liner should hold up better than powder coating in this application and if/when it does get scraped it will be easier to touch up. I've used this product before with great results.

Getting ready to apply the top coat, I'll be using the U-POL gun. I added about 75ml of reducer to each batch.






Primer dried and top coat coming up.




Raptor Liner Applied.....man I hate painting lol.






Finished up. I'll have a couple very small areas to touch up once the straps are removed.






With the Sliders left to cure it's time to move on to modifying the battery tray to accept the Blue Sea ACR. Pelfreybilt Stainless battery tray.




The ACR (Automatic Combining Relay) set in place on top of the battery mounting strap. The ACR will automatically tie the two batteries together as soon as either battery starts to receive a charge, it will automatically disconnect the two batteries if the voltage starts to drop on one battery. You can also manually combine the two batteries to provide extra power/capacity for winching applications or to jump start the truck battery off the Aux battery. I'll modify the stock harness to extend it over to the smaller passenger side battery. The larger battery will be connected to the winch and the Four Wheel Camper on the back of the truck. The FWC has two of it's own deep cycle batteries giving 3 total batteries available to the camper to run the furnace and ARB Fridge. Once I install the Solar system on the camper the solar charge controller will keep all 4 batteries charged through the combiner.




Using a transfer punch to mark the hole locations on the battery strap, a slight tap with a hammer makes a nice mark that I will deepen before drilling with another center punch once it's removed from the battery.






Drilling out the marked hole locations.






Next up making some studs out of 4 bolts, cut the heads off the bolts with the Porta-Band and they are ready to install.






Time to weld the studs into the holes. I set the studs just below flush then used the Tig torch to make a flush weld so it won't interfere with the battery when mounted.










And mounted back on the truck. I need to pick up some metric lock nuts to match the studs. Hope to be wiring up the ACR soon.






More to come....

Hodakaguy

 

I see, musta missed it before! Clever idea. I may copy that! Not sure I'll do them independent... doubt I'll have much need and often enough to do more than cure a little rear end sag when I tow my camper. We'll see.

 

Awesome build! I really enjoy all the attention to detail. Never knew about a rivet nut setter before either but I want one now haha.

 

Subd

 

I was able to squeeze in. 2.5 inch receiver hitch in my SSO bumper, for bikes or other light stuff. I don’t know if you guys painted yours already. The tube fit like a glove in between the bottom of winch mount and front of bumper.

I need a few more decades before my welds look anything close to your dads!


Can’t wait to see the camper mounted.

 

Sorry guys....Long over due updates

I had a bad chest cold for about 10 days and I wasn't feeling much like posting...I did sneak out in the shop and get a few things done though

Installing the TPAM Mount. This is an aluminum mount with two port USB that bolts on top of the dash and allows the use of RAM mounts to mount phones, GPS units Etc.

The mount.






Installation has you pull the dash apart, drill 5 mounting holes, attach a couple internal mounting braces then connect the wiring for the USB ports. I was way sick while doing this and didn't take the pictures I should have of the process.

Mount sitting on the Dash.




Wiring installed. Re-installing the radio here.




These are the internal support brackets that will brace the TPAM mount via the radio mounting bolts.






Supports bolted in place.






Holes drilled and bolts installed, all but the two that go into the supports.




Installed. RAM X-Mount works great for the phone.




Garmin Montana Installed. I really like this setup! The GPS is on the perfect angle, doesn't block the windshield and is rock solid.






More to Come....

 

No Pictures but I changed the Diff oils again on my truck, installed Redline Full Syn 75W-140. I went with the heavier oil since I live in a hot climate and will be pulling hills with the camper on the back.




Time to install the Sliders.








The fit of the RCI Sliders is excellent! I will replace their backing washers with something thicker and more HD but other than that I'm very impressed. Again I was way sick here so not as many pics as I would have liked.






They look great and will do a long way in protecting the truck.








Next up modify the spare tire chain hoist location. When installing the larger tire in the stock location you have to pull rearward pretty hard on the tire while at the same time trying to crank the tire up into position. This will be a royal pain to do out on the trail. After looking at the hoist mechanism it will be very easy to move it rearward enough so that you can crank the winch without having to pull on the tire.

Spare tire removed and this picture shows the hoisting mechanism in the stock location.




Hoist removed.






New hole locations marked and drilled






Edges cleaned up, painted/sealed and hoist re-installed. Tire cranks up nice and easy now






Hodakaguy

 

3 Updates today...other two above....

Next up....install the FWC!

My father and I left at 2am Sunday morning and by 5pm we were sitting in front of Four Wheel Campers in Woodland CA. After this picture we headed off to the hotel to get dinner and some rest.




Monday morning at 8am we were back at FWC and ready to install the camper. Here they pulled my truck around the back and we are waiting for them to take us back to the install area, checking out all the cool pics.






While they were fetching our camper we checked out the showroom and got our first glimpse of a Swift model....lots more room than we were expecting!






Their small demo model showing the welded aluminum construction.




Here comes our camper




Normally you would bolt on 4 manual camper jacks to install the camper, to speed things up they used an old fashioned 2 post lift and transferred the camper directly from the fork lift. The camper is attached to the truck via 4 turn buckles that are hidden in the bed, the turn buckles are accessed via the 4 trap doors on the FWC.






Checking out a load of campers heading out to a dealer.




And installed. Install takes about 15 minutes. I had the wiring per-installed before showing up.




Filled the air bags, adjusted the tire pressures and adjusted the suspension. I've been running the shocks on #1 compression and 4 Rebound when empty, re-adjusted all 4 corners to #7 compression and #6 Rebound. Having the shocks stiff worked great on the trip home, the road manners were awesome and there was Very little body roll while weaving through the mountain passes.




Dad checking out the interior. We ordered the shell model which is minus the sink and cook stove. The full kitchen model takes up a lot of space and weights a good chunk more, we found that we rarely used the water system and prefer the light weight setup of the shell models. I carry ultra light backpacking gear for cooking etc.




Just as we were leaving FWC they pulled out another Tacoma getting a camper installed the same day....had to pull over for a picture




Pulled over to get a shot of Mt Shasta and the cinder cone in the Background.








Stopped in Grants Pass OR for a IN-N-Out Burger....Yummmm.




About 8:30 we pulled over at a truck stop for the night....home sweet home. Not the most ideal spot but it's right off the highway and free!




Stopped at StoneHenge this morning on the final leg home.




Weather was awesome so I decided to snap some better pictures of the setup.




Batwing Awning deployed. Love the coverage of this awning! There are 3 legs that drop down so you can brace the awning for wind. Takes about 30 seconds to deploy.








Top up. Takes under 2 minutes to pop the top. The awning can go out with the top up or down.






Interior. Our interior has two beds (one up and the bottom couch rolls over into a bed as well). There is a forced air furnace, two batteries, LED lighting, forced ceiling fan, storage under the seat and in several cubby holes. We will install an ARB Fridge on the drivers side as well.

Nice and comfy!










Lower bed folded down. You can sleep here with the top down if you want to stealth camp.




Upper bed slid out to make a Queen size bed. I usually sleep sideways without sliding it out.






Beautiful day out!




Rear.






Batwing






More to come....

Hodakaguy

 

YES! FWC Swift is a big reason we bought your trucks' twin. Thanks so much for all of the detail on this thread. Very inspirational.

 

I'm guessing radio reception is severely impacted by the FWC. Any thoughts on relocating the sharkfin antenna? I'm guessing you'll have a full post on radio communication?