Hondo Garage's New Thing

Edited. 33.5” is what I had in my notes for height with a fan.

 

Thanks for the info. I might’ve been ok parking at work with a Drifter but I think I’d be sitting right at the 6’10” limit. I live in the city so I’d definitely rather have to move bedding to close the tent than not fit in most garages.

 

My 2nd gen with KB Voodoo bed rail caps sits at about 6’9”, not including the added roof bars. I also have a 41” antenna on the top so it’s not exactly low profile anymore.

 

My Gen 3 with 3” OME lift, 255 85 R16 Tires and a GFC is UNDER 7’ by an inch or two but it is fully UNDER. Obviously that wouldn’t be the case with a Drifter or with racks or a Fan.

 

For anyone that already has the GFC should I get the KB Voodoo bed rail caps before mine comes in? Does it seal up better with the caps? Anything else I should do between now and March?

 

Yes, it's a better surface to seal on and gets rid of the crappy 2nd gen plastic caps. It also lowers the height of the camper by about an inch, reducing the gap above the cab which looks way better in my opinion.

 

Depends on year, etc. I've read that the third gen bed rails are much better at sealing than the second gens. I've had zero issues with my GFC on my third gen. You also need to take into account that if you do swap out the rails you will need to do a decent amount of sealing beneath the new ones and the fact that it will most likely cause the GFC to interfere with the antenna on your cab due to the smaller amount of clearance. I didn't need to do anything to my truck before install. However, I did install new suspension for the added weight of the GFC and my bumpers.

 

Good to know. I’m in a 2015 and I’ve never liked the 2nd gen bed caps. Luckily the GFC will actually be a little lighter than my current setup. With the rack and tent it’s a heavy beast.

 

I plan to swap to KB Voodoo rails on my 2nd Gen as well.

I did replace my XM antenna with one from a Camry as Wiley mentioned it will hit the stock shark fin antenna if you use the KB rails. I should have plenty of room now, the Camry antenna is tiny compared to the Tacoma version.

 

Here's the info I posted in this thread a lil while back on the swap, it has a link to where I bought the antenna.

So for all of you 2nd Gens out there, I'll share a mod I made to help with my upcoming GFC install (fingers crossed for January!)

I've had a Leer topper on my truck for years now and I've had it on and off quite a bit. It has destroyed the bed rails on the top of my bed so I decided to go down the KB Voodoo bed rail cap route. In asking some questions here, it looks like the reduced height of the KB Voodoo caps would cause an interference with my shark-fin XM antenna. I listen to XM all the time, so it was super important to keep functionality there but to reduce the height. I also didn't want to cut the shark-fin so I decided to start looking for alternatives.

I came across this thread on a 4 Runner forum which talked about swapping the antenna out with one from a Camry: A couple pages in it has the color codes so you can get a color matched one toyour truck. Bought the antenna here:

https://parts.lakelandtoyota.com/p/...E-RADIO-GRAY-ME-1G3/4199031/8696033010B1.html

This was color matched to my MGM 2012 Tacoma. It was plug and play with the stock Tacoma antenna I replaced, no need to swap wiring plugs as seems to be the case with the 4 Runner.

The install wasn't difficult, just a bit tedious.

You need to remove the door sill plates, then the vertical plastic trim. I unbolted the seatbelt fasteners and pulled those trim pieces aside. The coat hooks come off by rotating them 90 degrees and the Side Air bag "boxes" just unbolt (there is no air bag or sensor directly behind them) and come off.

I dropped the back 1/2 of the headliner, unbolted the old XM antenna with a 22mm socket, swapped in the new one and put the truck back together.

Sorry no pics of the process, but there are some great threads here on TW with detailed pics and write ups on dropping the headliner.

Here's the end result:



Antenna works perfect and now I have tons of clearance for my GFC when it gets installed.

 

Looks like the same antenna that came stock before they switched to the dumb looking shark fin.

 

So are you saying there is a good chance that my second gen Tacoma will not have a good seal with the GFC and will leak water and dust?

 

Not at all. By using the flat KB caps you get the opportunity to really seal up underneath them well. The flatter surface may help as well but plenty of people have used the stock caps without issues. Just pull the stock caps up and seal them better with some silicone sealant before the install.

 

I'm hoping to get my trials motorcycle in the back by connecting a strap from the handlebars to the bottom of the fork to compress the forks and slightly rotate the bars to lower them. I will likely need all of that extra inch with the stock bed caps so for me I will have to stick with gen 2 (crappy) caps. I'd take an even taller camper opening in the back if i could for mine just to fit it in there easier.

 

I saw that ppl posted the added height of the gfc above the bed rails, but do we have a change in height from the gfc above the shark fin? Also what is the added height of the gfc cross bars?

 

Anyone want to go camping?

 

Any guess these days for start to finish on a camper? I’d like to run up to the great white north to grab mine but just trying to coordinate time off.

 

Last I heard it’s right about a year.

 

Sorry I meant in regards to build time per unit.

 

I thought you were making a joke on how long it takes for them to put together a camper start to finish... At this rate it feels like a year!!