Diet Taco... trying to keep things light

Great write-up Ken!

It was a lot of fun to hang out, visit, and wrench with you. The Pelfrey sliders are well built and they really complement your build. I love that they add that crucial side protection! Thank you for accommodating my kids with the Flip-Pac tour. They'll probably never forget it! They were ecstatic, and I was able to capture the moment with photos for future appreciation. The other day, My youngest was asking when we can visit you again, and I explained that if we are lucky, later in the year. Love the Hazard-Freight clicker, $20ish well spent!

 

Thank You very much for posting up your feedback and experience with our products. We hope you get to test them on the trails soon!

We'd love to see more photos, feel free to tag us (@Pelfreybilt) when you get more

-Pelfreybilt
www.pelfreybilt.com

 

small piece of plywood, with some mag light holder clips on the bottom to grab the outside slider tube?

 

I was thinking the same thing, but aluminum plate with rattle can bedliner for grip. Since she young (and light) I imagine a few maglite clips would be just fine to keep her safe and not break. For a stronger option, Ken, you could always try these. It'll slow down "quick" removal of the plate and the amount that the clamps protrude over the bars may be an issue if you ever actually "slide" on your sliders, but it'll provide a more positive clamp for the safety plate.

$14 LAMPHUS Off-Road Light Mounting Bracket Bar Clamp Kits [1"/1.5"/1.75"/2" Inch] [Horizontal Bar] [Aluminium] [2 Units] Bull Roll Cage Clamps Mount for ATV UTV

https://www.amazon.com/LAMPHUS-Off-...TF8&qid=1521645673&sr=8-4&keywords=tube+clamp


Edit:
lower profile option:

GS Power Tube Clamp Bracket (Choice 1/1.25/1.75/2") Mount LED Light bar Radio Antenna Safety Flag on Rack Roll Cage Bumper Bull Bar on Boat Bike Truck Motorcycle ATV UTV (2 pc)

https://www.amazon.com/GS-Power-Bra...id=1521645703&sr=8-7&keywords=tube+clamp&th=1

 

Thanks guys, those are great ideas! I was originally thinking more of just a webbing or strap "net" to keep a little foot from slipping in there but both from a function and ease of fabrication I like the cover idea you have even better.

Will probably be plywood just because that is easier for me to fabricate and fine tune using the tools I've got in the truck.

I like the clip ideas but I might opt for a nylon/poly strap to ensure it doesn't go flying off unexpectedly at highway speeds with unknown aero loads. I think with a plywood construction I can keep it positioned properly by putting a second layer of plywood or smaller wood tabs on the bottom that drop into the hole to prevent the "lid" from sliding around. Then just a slot or two carefully placed for a nylon strap to hold the thing securely down.

Don't know why I didn't think of this simpler approach to start with. Thanks!

 

You could hose clamps to hold the plywood to the slider.

Cut slots in the plywood at the inside edge of the tube, wrap the hose clamp around the tube, around the outside of the plywood, then through the slot back to the screw clamp.

4 of those on each side should be fine, aero loads and all!

 

Three Year Update
Happy Birthday Diet Taco!

Well it has been three years since I picked up the Tacoma from the dealer. So far the build has gone well and we've had so many great trips and memories. With the recent addition of the sliders the major mods are pretty much complete. There is a long list of lesser mods to be done over the coming years which for now include:

• A/C condensation drain extension
• A/C control modifications
• ES radiator bushings
• No slip patches on sliders
• Temporary slider gap cover for rear passenger door (daughter's door)
• OBD-II Reader and Display
• Low profile quick disconnect hardware for FlipPac struts
• Cabin air intake rodent screen
• Under throttle body rodent screen
• Cam tab reinforcement
• Exhaust trim
• Bed mounted fire extinguisher
• In cab AC outlet
• More in cab USB ports
• Side shade panels for awning
• Shade solution of some sort for the rear
• Rear mesh screen curtains
• Sound dampen/insulate rear cabin wall behind seats
• Remount FlipPac without bed caps
• Additional bright LED brake lights near top of FlipPac
• Temporary air intake relocate for water crossings
• Rear camera anytime
• Front spotting camera
• Dash camera

Wow, that's quite a list actually! Some of those are only under consideration and might be rejected going forward. Which brings up the subject of the rest of this birthday post - things I thought I'd need that I've decided now I can do without!

Things Not Needed

Fancy Bed Built Out

Originally I thought I'd probably end up doing a fancy bed built out with things like seats or benches and a table and such. I started with a simple raised floor because it was quick and easy and very flexible. Well that flexibility has proven to be a winning attribute, so much so that I'm going to stick with just the raised floor. Moving/stacking/removing the two action packers allows that space to be used in a variety of ways that a more permanent fancy configuration could not. When I'm just solo with the Flip-Pac open I can just leave them in place. When my family is along I usually put the action packers outside because I'm usually cooking out there and it opens up the raised floor as a place for my daughter to sleep. If I'm solo in foul weather I can leave the Flip-Pac closed and put the APs outside so I have a comfy little cabin to hole up in sleeping diagonally. If I need to "stealth" camp/sleep I can actually stack the two APs and still sleep diagonally in the back. It can even make a comfy shaded lunch spot when solo or when just my daughter is along if I point the tailgate away from the sun.

The under floor storage has worked out great as well. There is essentially no packing/unpacking required to set up a FlipPac based camp in a hurry. Fuel and water are tucked out of the way until needed. Chairs, table, camo net and other such things can be pulled out only when needed and aren't "in the way" the rest of the time.

Fancy FlipPac Lighting

I had thought up some pretty cunning lighting solutions for the FlipPac beyond the two rather bare-bones lights. I did upgrade those fixtures to support red/white lighting but beyond that I now think I'm done. I have found they provide plenty of light for doing the usual bedtime routines with my daughter. I don't really have any need or desire to throw lots of light up into the upper mattress area. Most of the time I actually leave them on red simply because it means I don't have to worry about bugs when the back is open. Supplementing those lights with a headlamp is about all that is really necessary. In general I prefer a pretty dark camp.

Fancy Exterior Lighting

I also had intricate plans for exterior "camp" lighting but the reality is with our typical "always on the go" exploration style we never camp in the same spot twice and so our camps are extremely minimalist and almost entirely contained within the Flip-Pac and right by the tailgate. So there really hasn't been any need for exterior lighting. Again a headlamp or two seems to provide all we need and again bug-free red lighting often the preference. I'd prefer to soak of the stars or the moon than a blinding camp light.

Things Not Used Much

Propane Fire Ring

Our portable propane fire ring has seen approximately zero use other than taking it out for entertainment twice. When solo I have no need for the fuss and would prefer to look at stars. When my daughter is along there is enough bedtime routine that we don't need the distraction of a fire.

Lynx Levelers

These are probably just the thing for leveling on pavement. They actually do work great for leveling out in the wilderness too but the thing is so do random rocks laying around. I very rarely have to level at all to be honest. These will probably be removed from the truck soon to make space for recovery gear that could potentially also serve as a leveler when needed.

Annoyances

Power Coat Dust

My biggest annoyance at the moment is that the top of the tailgate cover gets abraded by the FlipPac door. No big deal since the cover is aluminum and can't corrode even as some of the powder coat gets removed. The annoyance is that the dust from the powdercoat brushes off onto my clothes and is nearly impossible to get out. So I need to remember to wipe down the top of the tailgate after every trail run or I end up with black dust on me. This is one of those minor things that just starts to piss you off the fifth time you ruin a shirt by leaning against it without wiping it down first. Will need to think of some sort of solution to prevent this, likely a sacrificial layer of something that doesn't make such a mess as it abrades.

Things to come...

I'm still waffling on what my "final" recovery gear set is. Being I've never really had to recover myself in about twenty years of off-road travel probably makes me complacent. Time to think it all through a bit more. Fundamentally though my worst case plan is always just to camp where I get stuck while I wait for my satellite message requesting vehicle assistance to be responded to - potentially at a high cost!

Not mentioned before I think is that I actually have had two Sway-a-way replacement torsion bars for the Flip-Pac in my garage. As soon as they started making them I bought two as it is the weakest point in my build and for awhile there was just no source at all. I kind of live in fear of that torsion bar and the FRP one is of course unknown junk. I'm thinking that I may replace the FRP one with one of my Sway-a-way ones rather than waiting for another unfortunate breaking event. Logistically doing the swap sounds like quite a hassle so I haven't worked out exactly how to do that as it needs probably two or three people plus a way to hold the lid in the vertical position while the swap is done.

And of course that big long list at the top of this post...

I've also taken the time that past few days to go back through all the older posts and put three year updates in where appropriate. They are all marked with 3YR UPDATE so you can search the thread easily if you care.

It has been an amazing three years, not the least of which is meeting so many great folks from here on TW both virtually and in person. I budgeted about a twenty year life for this vehicle so here's looking at hopefully 17 more great years going forward!

 

@DVexile thanks for the update. Your build and trip reports have been an inspiration to me and others.Thank you! I too just ordered sliders as my first armor. I haven’t yet done any hard-core trails with my Taco but I pretty much destroyed the rockers on my 80 Series even with more ground clearance and a 15” shorter wheelbase. I had bought levelers when I had my T100 and FlipPac but I’m finding that the tilt-o-meter on the Taco helps me level the truck adequately when I do sleep in the bed, and they are bulky to pack away. Same with drawers and other build-outs ... I don’t really understand the popularity especially with our 5’ bed trucks; soft bags plus my camping/earthquake box seem more space efficient and can be tucked away, unloaded, etc far more flexibly. As far as dust on the tailgate, not a total solution, but I added a nylon webbing loop attached to one of the inside tailgate liner screws, so I can at least pull it up from inside without having to grab the outside. I did it for improved ergonomics but it also helps keep my hands clean.

I don’t live close to DV or DC but if you want to visit the San Francisco/Monterey Bay Area with your truck, I’d be happy to help with a t-bar swap. I did the t-bar remove/delete on my FP ... no SwayAway then ... and have a convenient two story garage to lean it against at 90 degrees (picture taken after t-bar removed and angle relaxed for stability) while doing the deed.

 

So, if your looking at a fire extinguisher, I highly reccomend you stay away from the ABC dry powder units, they are extremely messy and almost impossible to clean up, as well as they will corrode any metal that they come into contact with. I also reccomend you get one with a metal valve, as they can be recharged once they go bad and will be more durable, and you want something with at least a 40bc rating, if not better.

 

Thanks for the offer! I might be over that way one of these years. At a minimum I might hit you up for some advice on doing the job when the time comes. Hope your slider install goes well!

Thanks! There was already much obsessing over the best fire extinguisher for the cab which was mainly intended for quick access in dealing with a modest fire that just started while extracting people from the cab. Assumption it is too small to deal with any significant vehicle/fuel fire or actually save the truck on its own (unless to combat a very small and not rapidly spreading electrical fire). Intent is to be able to get people out and then let the truck burn essentially. Avoided the dread monoammonium phosphate (ABC) in case of accidental discharge and went with Purple K which while a dry powder is not nearly as awful as the ABC for corrosion or cleanup but does make it not very useful for any class A fire.

For the bed there will need to be a whole different evaluation because it really needs to deal with a class A fire that might occur in camp when cooking or what not. A secondary consideration would be potential to deal with a more significant vehicle fire needing a significant BC rating but in that case the assumption is I'd need to be able to get to the back of the vehicle to get the extinguisher. Since the most likely massive vehicle fire would be in the case of a fuel tank rupture in a rear end collision that's probably not going to really work out. Still want to avoid ABC dry powder I think. So I may go with a water based class A extinguisher to deal with camp fires paired up with potentially a larger BC extinguisher.

 

A pressurized water extinguisher might actually be a good option in your case, seeing as they are user serviceable and dedicated to class a camp type fires. Your also pretty spot on, if the vehicle fire is caused by a fuel tank rupture or similar, your gonna need a lot more than a 40bc fire extinguisher to put that out, your really just using one for containment at that point. And purple k extinguishers are amazing, except for price.

 

Great to hear from someone that has actually used one! Can you describe in a little more detail the fires (e.g. engine compartment, fuel spill, passenger compartment) and how large an extinguisher you had on hand with ColdFire?

They list the fire classes they claim to be effective against but from all I can see their extinguishers carry no tested rating for any fire class. That is they haven't actually been certified using a test that a given size of extinguisher sold can extinguish a given size test fire. Thus they have no UL rating.

Indirectly they do have a tested A rating. They refer to passing NFPA 18 which is a standard for wetting agents. One of the tests for that standard is that a 2A rated water extinguisher (so 2.5 gal) should be able to extinguish the 3A wood crib. So from that we know that a 2A extinguisher loaded with ColdFire should have a 3A rating.

For class B fires NFPA 18 does have a test meant to demonstrate that the wetting agent actually is effective against a class B fire but it isn't a test that would establish any sort of sensible rating for an extinguisher. To pass the test a 20B pan must be extinguished within 5 minutes (yes that's minutes) while having the wetting agent applied to the pan at 10 gal/min. So all that test means is that a 50 gallon extinguisher would carry a 20B rating. Obviously the wetting agent might perform way better than that but that would need its own test in the extinguisher being sold against a given class B test pan. None of the ColdFire extinguishers carry any sort of UL rating for class B fires, no way to know if the 1.5 gal extinguisher they sell is a 10B, 20B, 30B or say 2B extinguisher. We just know it will put out some size of a hexane pan where as plain water wouldn't.

Anyway, I'm tilting heavily towards some sort of water and wetting agent based extinguisher for the bed to deal with any sort of fire that might happen in camp. A 2.5 gal extinguisher would be insane amounts of overkill. I don't need to tackle even a 1A fire in camp, I just need reasonable effectiveness against a class A fire and Purple-K certainly doesn't do that very well. A benefit of a wetting agent based extinguisher is that it will handle freezing temperatures. So what I'm really looking for is a much smaller water based extinguisher - like 1 gal or less. I'd probably use Cold Fire as the wetting agent as it has at least some testing. So far I haven't found any of the smaller extinguishers sold online direct to consumers so I'll probably have to "call for a quote" from some place to get one. (And by smaller I don't mean the crappy little aerosol cans that you have no way of knowing if they will work until you pull the trigger).

 

Hey Ken...you need one of these in my opinion to perfect your setup.

http://www.ubcobikes.com/us/

 

Death Valley Spring Break - Part 1
March 2018

The vagaries of my wife's work travel schedule and when my daughter's spring break was scheduled meant that there would be a four night "Daddy-Daughter" camping trip to be had. Destination was flexible based on what the weather would be but as we got close it was pretty clear the valley floor in Death Valley would be just about perfect. My daughter was excited to get out camping again and so was I!

We left Baltimore late Saturday morning and got into Las Vegas in the early afternoon. We provisioned the truck and headed for Death Valley for our first night's camp. It was sprinkling nearly the whole way there and the forecast was for light rain through part of the night. We picked up fast food in Pahrump and ate as we continued the drive. It was dark by the time we got to Harry Wade Road and it seemed a bit more like rain than just a sprinkle. Nonetheless I thought it might be light and short lived enough that we could just pop up the Flip-Pac without needing the rain fly.

It only took a few minutes for it to be clear the rain was too much to go without a fly which meant this was going to be the very first trial of the rain fly. Fortunately I had seam sealed it a bit more than a year ago though it still had not been tested. I got confused by the orientation and thus deployed it hopelessly crooked on the first try. The second try got it right and it was pretty easy to get the elastic rim tucked everywhere it needed to be.

This whole process made me rather damp and a bit irritated but the good news was that the fly did seem to be perfectly waterproof. I got my daughter into bed and then collapsed into a damp heap at the front of the Flip-Pac. It did in fact rain for many hours and so I was glad to have the rain fly deployed!

The rain stopped in the early morning hours and we woke up to the valley and mountains ragged with clouds.

Soggy Camp
​

We had a busy schedule for the day so we ate a quick breakfast of donuts and I got the wet rain fly off. This was the point at which I discovered the flaw in my thinking when I seam sealed the fly. I skipped sealing the bottom most seam since that seam was going to be below the Flip-Pac tent anyway. Well that seam is at the top of the fold/tube that the elastic runs around the bottom of the fly. Well now that tube was full of water! A little tugging in the right spots got it all to drain out and I made a mental note to seal that in the future.

Originally my daughter wanted to go to the "climbing canyon" first thing. That's her name for the canyon that is at the second dip on Artist's Palette Drive because it does involve a lot of climbing which she likes. With all the rain I convinced her it might be better to do that in the afternoon after things had a chance to dry out more.

We headed north on Badwater Road before getting to its namesake. This was the first evaluation of crowds for the week and fortunately the lot didn't have too many cars in it and there were just a handful of groups wandering out onto the salt flats. We decided to head out past all the mud to where the salt polygons usually are. This is a flat but rather dull walk. We made it but it was obviously trying my daughter's patience as she declared the walk "boring".

Scene from unnamed Wes Anderson movie
​

Next we headed to Natural Bridge Canyon since I knew there was at least a little bit of climbing near the end of it. As another popular tourist spot it wasn't surprising that there were half a dozen vehicles here. It is a short walk to the bridge which with judicious timing we were able to get a shot that made it look like we had the place to ourselves.

Natural Bridge
​

We continued past the bridge and eventually we got to some dryfalls that needed climbing. We tackled the first one without too much trouble though my daughter was a little wary since much of it was polished rock which was damp and slippery in spots. Despite her desires to do lots of climbing she was getting a bit intimidated. So we decided to stop in between the two falls as the canyon ends shortly after anyway. My daughter's mood improved greatly on the way down. I think she doesn't realize when she is going uphill and the extra effort makes her a bit frustrated. Going down everything is easy and fun for her.

By now we were getting close to lunch time so we just stopped at a turn out a little way down West Side Road for some sandwiches. We hoped by now that the "climbing" canyon should have mostly dried out.

We headed up Artist's Palette Drive and found another vehicle parked at the canyon. I think this is the first time I've seen another vehicle here! My daughter was super excited to get up canyon and we had barely gone twenty feet from the truck when we saw the other hikers coming back down. They seemed a little skittish about climbing and warned us the canyon was "blocked" by a "massive rock slide" not too far in. I was fairly confident I knew what this was as we had been up the canyon just in December. We thanked them for the info and proceeded on. My daughter was thrilled to climb every single thing in the way. We reached the "massive rock slide" which to be fair is probably forty or fifty feet high. It was just the same as in December and we tackled it with a few boosts from me along the way. There are a variety of climbs and obstacles along the way but in not too long we finally reached what really is the "end" of the canyon these days. From there it was a pleasant walk/climb back down the canyon.

Walking in the Climbing Canyon
​

By this point my daughter had hiked/climbed about five miles with a thousand feet of elevation gain over the day which is a pretty good amount for a five year old. For the rest of the day we would stick to vehicular exploration. The next stop was the Inyo mine which is near the end of Echo Canyon Road.

Inyo Mine
​

This is a really neat spot that deserves a fair bit of exploration. We only briefly looked around to the degree that it would hold a five year old's interest. A spot to come back to some day solo or when she is a bit older and more curious. By now it was getting late enough in the day we should probably make camp, especially since my daughter really hadn't had much time to do "camp things" like dig holes and play around in the Flip-Pac the previous night. We drove back down Echo Canyon and found a scenic spot to pull off and make camp less than a mile from the mouth of the canyon.

The slightly damp Flip-Pac was opened up and dried almost instantly in the desert air. I unpacked the rain fly and had my daughter help me shake it out a bit before draping it across the hood to dry for the night. I got out the shovel so there could be a lot of digging of holes. She entertained herself setting up the sleeping bags - usually a long process because it often involves making forts or whatever else her mind can come up with. I enjoyed a quiet sit outside while she entertained herself inside. We had hot dogs for dinner and toasted some marshmallows over the stove for dessert. When it was finally time for bed she passed out in less than five minutes. It didn't take me long to follow her lead. We would need the rest because we still had a few more busy days to go!

Echo Canyon Camp​

 

Nice. One of the best threads on here for the build and the trip reports.

 

I have a garage full of tools too if you need to do the work on your flippac.

 

Sounds like I'm off the hook than.

 

Sitting here reveling in your most recent report. Wish I had discovered off-roading and Death Valley when my daughter was younger. Your stories with her are so precious. Cherish every moment because before you know it she will be off to college and living her own life. Maybe one day she'll be NPS superintendent.

 

Thanks for the additional details! Good stuff, sounds like it works about like you'd expect a good wetting agent to work. Thanks for the link to the 4L extinguisher, for whatever reason some months ago I was having zero luck finding places with the smaller extinguishers. Searching for "coldfire liter" is now turning up a lot of options. I'd actually like to get a pair perhaps to have one in the house for kitchen fires as an alternative to the dreaded ABC dry powder option. More thought needs to go into use in the house though - there is actually energized power of appreciable voltage around.

Thanks to you and @Gaunt596 for all your input on the extinguishers!

Wow, those look pretty cool! I can definitely see the appeal if you are in areas with fewer road closures and you could setup a base camp and get onto single tracks exploring. More and more of the Mojave is wilderness area these days and typically if it is legal to do vehicular travel the road is good enough to get a Tacoma up it. If the road is worse than that then it isn't considered a "road" when they make the wilderness designation and so it becomes a closure.

Great advice! I hadn't thought of the lockers but of course that makes perfect sense if lifting one wheel of an axle you'd need the locker to keep the other wheel from turning even though the transmission is locked.

I've been very fortunate that I have not had to deploy the rainfly hardly at all - this was the first use. It isn't a horrible pain if I only need to do it every twentieth trip but boy would it get old in a wet climate. Besides the rainfly a lot of the rest of the construction of the FlipPac doesn't make it the best choice for wet climates. It is a dream in a desert though!

@inv3ctiv3 was referring to his FlipPac coming off because he's about to try out one of the new Go Fast Campers. My FlipPac is on for the long haul still. So I might end up bugging you one of these days! Thanks for the offer - even an extra pair of hands may be a big help when the time comes.

Right now as she gets older camping and exploring gets better and better because she has more patience and executive function. I worry of course that eventually getting older will mean she has less patience for me and will begin to use the executive function to pursue different interests than mine! I'll take what I can get and will hope that the seeds are planted such that even if her interest wanes in the teenage years that later in life she will find the same joy in the outdoors that I do.

I forgot to mention earlier that while I haven't dealt with chlorine trifluoride that I did have the pleasure of working with bromine trifluoride which is only slightly less awful in grad school. As soon as I saw the MSDS I started figuring out which sucker I could transfer that project to as quickly as possible. The little gas cylinder we got of the stuff was hardly big enough for all the various warning stickers to fit on it. Being academia and not industry of course safety was not a paramount concern and the apparatus was just put in a standard fume hood when in use. I made sure to keep track of when it was being used and wouldn't enter the clean room when it was being used.

 

Thanks for this. I actually do do this when I jack the truck. Also when I drive up on my ghetto four ramp lift. It never occurred to me to include this tidbit in my jacking thread. I’ll add it soon.

Ghetto four ramp lift - 4-Lo, locked and rear tire chocked: