Hondo Garage's New Thing

I know, that’s the point I’m trying to make.

 

So the 1st gen access cab ended up being the exact same geometry as the 2nd and 3rd gen models. Which is really good news for 1st gen owners who see themselves maybe moving to a newer gen truck in the future. That said, the 1st and 2nd gen regular cabs will require a different frame design from the AC trucks... one with no front rake. We'll build one of those when we get an order for one. But right now I think we don't have any orders for regular cabs. The only thing that changes on the 1st gen AC is the mounting brackets since they don't have the utility track. We welded up some brackets today and they worked perfectly (see the cad model below). In a lot of ways it fits better on the 1st gen because they don't have those dumb plastic bed caps.

 

@wileydavis ”dumb plastic bed caps” are you recommending they be replaced prior to install? Will the GFC still fit without farther modifications to a Gen 3 with the plastic caps removed and replaced with KB Voodoo caps? Thanks.

 

awesome!

Great to hear.

Have you looked at a 1st gen double cab? Or no orders there either?

 

I just mean the the 1st gen beds have straight rails, with flat tops, rather than the curved and textured tops of the 2nd and 3rd gens. Just makes the fit a little better in my opinion. On the 2nd gen you definitely have to chop the fin if you go with the KB voodoo caps. We haven't done any installs with aftermarket caps on 3rd gens. The plastic caps on those isn't nearly as tall as the 2nd gen, so the loss in height might be negligible. With the gasket we use I don't think the plastic caps are a problem, I just don't like the design of them

 

I haven't measured one yet. But I'd think the width is the same and the rake on the back of the cab looks the same. So if the bed length is the same as the short bed 2nd and 3rd gens, then those might transfer over as well.

 

I almost stopped by on Tuesday on the way home from a trip too in my double cab. But just wanted to get home ha oh well. I'll stop by soon enough.

 

YES YES YES YES.

If you need, I’ll just ship my truck up to you to act as a test mule lol

 

@wileydavis i was originally going to order some KB voodoo bed caps for my 2nd gen as I like the lower profile look, but they unfortunately don’t make them anymore for long beds.

I was going to still remove the plastic bed caps and have my GFC installed directly onto the stock metal bed rails. Do you think I should put some additional reinforcement on the rails or do you think the stock metal rails will be able to handle the weight/rubber gaskets of the GFC?

 

@inv3ctiv3 but from a reinforcement perspective and having the bed rails hold the weight of the GFC you think it would still work? I was planning on sealing up the holes and getting the bed rails rhino lined or getting them wrapped in vinyal. I love how your GFC sits on your truck and was hoping to get a similar look.

 

@Evanike If I were to do it over, I would prep every hole, fill appropriately with steel, then rhino line/linex (over the rail), and not even worry about KB rails or OEM rails. Check this out. Just run the GFC right on top of the newly established proper truck bed rails. Might take a long time as I remember something like 25 holes per side(LB). You could pay a pro to do it, might be double the cost of the kb rails, but worth it IMHO. I got a quote of $175 for the over the rail linex. This would be after I prep/fill/prep. The linex would hide many hours of imperfect prep/body fill, so it is not completely a waste of $ if you ask me. I still might do it, but then I would have to take off my GFC and that's not about to happen for a long time.

 

Shim is a great idea @DoorDing, I vote shaved holes, and shims! Shims may be necessary to make the holes all line up pretty between the GFC mounting brackets and toyota tie-down rails as the GFC was designed to sit on something other than just the swiss cheese bedrail. If you go 1/4" or more like @DoorDing said, it'd help distribute load. KB makes great products, but I'm not sure their bedrail caps really help anything with the GFC/taco interface.

 

My rails (ordered in 2018) have no post holes... I guess minds change.

I procrastinated on the shaved holes/linex job. I did apply aluminum tape as recommended by @inv3ctiv3, thank you. I then used extra wide foam tape instead of silicone under my kb rails (less mess).

GFC's design works flawlessly with the OEM rails. Sure, if you mostly run the truck sans topper, reinforcing the truck's rails makes it more "like a truck". But just like most other mods, using anything other than OEM parts just creates a chain reaction of mods and mods to mods and... you get the idea.

In hindsight I should have just got their lighting kit with that $/time. I think that would improve the rig as a whole, far more than any amount of modification to the bed rail cap interface systems.

F the rails, just get the lights!

@RelentlessFab tailgate skin though, hard to argue that's not a simple improvement to OEM.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Elucto-Elect...=1-3-spons&keywords=electric+bug+zapper&psc=1

Cheaper and way more fun than red lights.

 

Word of the day “Ampacity”

Ampacity is a portmanteau for ampere capacity defined by National Electrical Safety Codes, in some North American countries. Ampacity is defined as the maximum amount of electric current a conductor or device can carry before sustaining immediate or progressive deterioration.

I’d imagine the wiring is sufficient for the tiny draw of a few additional LED’s

 

Haha. My point exactly. I’d be shocked if they used “just enough” wire.... it would be interesting to know the specs of the lights used and the gauge of the wire. Perhaps the third and almost silent partner Ross the Engineer can weigh in. Though I don’t know his username to tag him... I know it’s back in this thread somewhere.

BTW don’t any of us have lives??? Discussing our future GFC’s at 0200 on a Saturday night! I’m working, what’s your excuse? Lol

 

Just a photo from last night. You know, to make waiting that much harder

 

Yeah... thanks for rubbing it in

 

Living the dream right there. Good for you!

 

But back in the machine shop making camper parts today. It's all about location, I think.