the bjmoose daily driver build

MT/Rs are fine tires. I see no need to switch to anything different. Though MT type tires aren't the best for snow/ice on pavement, I've driven them to Tahoe enough that I'm satisfied with their performance in that regard.

 

2019 Update. As I'm driving more to Tahoe in the snow, and doing a bit less off-roading, I switched to Duratracs for my latest set of tires. They're a little quieter on pavement, better on snow/ice covered pavement, and still a worthy off-road tire.

 

How have you been otherwise?

 

Same 'ol same 'ol. Just got back from Death Valley after a spring break road trip with my daughter who's got her learners permit and is learning to drive stick.

 

“bjmoose returns to TacomaWorld”

 

First modification to my truck in a *long* time. Quite a while back, my Yaesu Ham died. I've kept the roof mount antenna, but now it goes to a micro-cable that I can plug into a 2m handheld. That's good enough for my infrequent needs, Especially since a rooftop 1/4 wave gives you most of the advantage that you get from a vehicle install. The extra power a mounted system provides is fairly incremental on top of that.

But that freed up a little space behind the driver seat. The factory radio has been slowly dying. Sometimes it randomly turns off. Or on. And the volume knob is more of a "randomizer" function than actual selector. Since Mrs. bjmoose drives the truck quite a bit, she offered to take the truck to the shop to have them "fix the radio." Right. "No hon, I'll take care of it."

Eventually I ordered some components from Crutchfield. Their prices are a little higher than you'd pay on Amazon, but they make up for it with the quality of tech support they provide, and with the detailed instructions and custom fit kits that are their specialty.

I ended up using the tech support! After I had it hooked up, the unit wouldn't to anything except show the reverse cam in reverse. So I called them up. The tech was able to guess exactly which wire in the wiring harness I'd probably wired wrong, and ask me to double check that specific wire with a multi meter! I was sure I'd sourced a reverse power wire correctly based on previous work I'd done. But my memory was wrong and that wire was actually always on whenever "accessory" was on.

There's not a lot to say about the install.
1. The Alpine PWE-S8 powered subwoofer is a great choice for an "under seat" mount in a regular cab. I've had more powerful bass in a big sedan that could take a giant box in the trunk with 3 10" woofers in it. But for a standard cab mount with basically zero space available, this thing is awesome.
2. You have to find somewhere to mount the microphone. There's infinite opportunity for a "cheesy" install here. I ended up drilling a hole in a dash blank to fit it, and that came out pretty clean.
3. I used some aluminum strip to fab up a tweeter bracket that the tweeter separates could be stuck to, and then the bracket screws into the bracket that the factory tweeters formerly mounted to.
4. I ended up using the crutchfield door speaker brackets "backwards" from their intended use, but they still made the speaker install a lot faster than if I'd have had to fab up some custom speaker mount brackets.
5. "Fishing" wires behind the dash remains a gigantic pain in the ass. Easily the most aggravating part of the job. Had to do it twice, once for the power/reverse harness, and once for the RCA signal cables. I ended up running those under the center console to the amps and subwoofer, while the 10ga power cables ran along the door sill.

Power harness:


Adapt switch blank to hold the microphone


Subwoofer under the passenger seat. It *just* fits while allowing the seat full range of sliding forward and backward. It's held in place with stick-on velcro that has it stuck to the carpet.


Aluminum tweeter bracket.


Amp, where the HAM unit used to be:


I like that the Sony XAV-AX5000 has physical buttons for home/volume/track skip. They don't take much space and make the unit easy to operate.



Sound is epic. Better than I expected.

Components:t
https://www.crutchfield.com/p_158XAV5000/Sony-XAV-AX5000-Digital-Multimedia-Receiver.html
https://www.crutchfield.com/p_500PWES8/Alpine-PWE-S8-8-Compact-Powered-Subwoofer.html
https://www.crutchfield.com/p_108P6002AM/Infinity-Primus-6002A-60W-x-2-Car-Amplifier.html
https://www.crutchfield.com/p_091RSE165/Focal-RSE-165-6-1-2-Component-System.html

I was careful not to route the RCA cables next to the power cables, and take all the ground wires (including the head unit) back to a common ground bolt that's right next to the battery.

 

After eleven years of ownership, it's time to think about something new.
It's not *currently* for sale, but I'll probably be putting "the bjmoose build" up for sale early in 2022.

You just don't get any more Old-Skool-Bad-Ass than a Regular Cab Stick Shift with Hand Crank windows.

I'd been planning on giving it to my youngest daughter; she's in college now; but after a conversation with her last night, while she still thinks it's cool, she'd rather have something more practical.

A 2012 Regular Cab with a LOT more miles and much less extensive improvements recently sold for 14k near here on TW. So a fair price will probably be over 15K and less than 20k.

Watch this space.

 

It's been fun, but all good things come to an end. The bjmoose regular cab build is now sold.

My new ride:

 

A Jeep…


Kidding. Jeep makes a nice vehicle, if you get a good one. Hope it treats you well.

 

Insane deal… Do I sell my regular cab with 184k and buy yours? Oh the decisions….