Tacomarin’s Chubby Unicorn Build

Hey Robert,

Thanks for the kind words. I put my suspension on myself with the help of a friend. I'm in the same boat as you in that I live on a hill and don't have a garage or place to work on it. Fortunately it wasn't my first rodeo, or my friend's. It took us about one full day to do the job including doing the needle bearing replacement. I'd be happy to help out if you can find a spot to work on it, and I'm always a proponent of doing your own work, however if you absolutely have to have it done in one day then you may want to take it to a shop. Under the nor-cal forum, there's some guys in Sac that have a shop and do work like this for very reasonable prices. Another approach is getting involved in the TW community and when one of the Mod Days pops up you can see if folks would be interested in helping to do the install.

In the meantime, let me know if you ever want to go rip some dirt on MTBs. Where in Marin are you?

Steve

 

@tacomarin

Thanks for getting back to me. I grew up in Mill Valley but now live in San Rafael. I ride a lot and I'm the product manager for wilderness trail bikes in Mill Valley. I'm pretty new to Tacomaworld so not familiar with all the various forums yet. I'll check out the norcal forum to see if I can find these guys in Sac. Fox has a pretty long backorder right now so I'm just trying to get things all lined up before my suspension arrives sometime the end of February. I'm always down to ride. Feel free to DM me if you want to meet up sometime. Thanks for all the advice. Your build is sweet. -Rob

 

Love your build. That is all.

 

Many thanks!

 

Added a MesoJDM ultimate dome. Holy crap it's awesome! Looking forward to adding the ultimate map lights too when they're back in stock.

I also added a 50L roof top water tank a few weeks back. 50L of water on the roof isn't ideal, but I really didn't notice a change in the handling. What's another 100lbs up there anyways?! This was the first weekend using the water tank and on-board water which was a total luxury. It's still cold AF, but having pressurized water on demand is really, really nice. We also got to deploy the batwing for the second time which added a coziness to an otherwise cold weekend.

 

Awning looks great. Did you make your own water tank?

 

Yeah the awning is cool. Figured I need to use it more since I drive it around everywhere.

I bought this water tank and got the Oregon distributor to import it for me. http://www.ironman4x4.com/products/water-tanks/50l-roof-rack-water-tank

Pricing was really good on it, less than $150 delivered, and it’s lower profile than the ABS pipes.

 

Mostly been enjoying the rig lately but I added a hot water method for a shower. I carry a spare Jerry can, fill it up from the tank with however much water I need, then leave it in the sun for a while.

I also rigged up a little water heater for Jerry cans. I got the rinse kit hot rod from REI with a 20% off coupon and my dividend. It’s pretty cool because it only draws 9 amps and has different timer settings to shut it off automatically. It also doesn’t get hot on the outside so it won’t melt the plastic! I printed up an adapter for my Jerry can pour spout so it threads right into the top so I can turn the can over to heat up the little amount of water I need for a shower. Then for shower time I hook the can up to the on board water system and I’ve got a nice warm shower.

For the shower head, I put a 1x1 aluminum 80/20 extrusion on a hinge with a quick fist to hold the spray nozzle. It flips over to the side of the truck that we don’t typically use much so a little mud over there isn’t a problem.

 

Killer build. Love the cement DCLB and everything you've done to it. Super on point.

 

How effective is that 12v water heater? I’m looking for an option once it gets too cold out for my solar shower

 

It actually got the water surprisingly warm. I have tried it once and that was only with a gallon or so. I need to do some more testing but it seems promising.

 

Gotcha. I wonder if/how long it would heat up 3.5 gallons of water from ambient air temp to something bareable to stand under when it’s cool out.

If it worked well, that would be an awesome supplement for my solar shower in the spring/fall when it’s too cold to heat the shower with solar energy alone.

 

It's intended for a 3 gallon tank so you would be in the ball park of what it's designed for. I would guess it would take about 90 minutes to heat it up from ambient on a cool day. They claim 11 degrees/30 minutes which seems on par with what I saw.

 

Cool cool. Appreciate the feedback

 

Looking at your rack system for your shower holder it looks like it could also be configured for solar panels and cotter pins to allow different angles.

Also how is the shower heater working out? Looks interesting. Thinking about a way to configure it for the ABS shower tube.

 

This is exactly what I wanna do. Add another filler port and thread the “heater” into it so it sits submersed but is also removable.

 

Absolutely! It's also how I plan on doing a front fairing extension if I ever get around to it. That way I can angle it differently for different roof-top gear. My plan was to use rod ends with turn-buckles to adjust the height for that.

I need more tests with the shower heater to know for sure but so far it's been promising. I'll be heading out in a couple weeks and will test it again then. I know I could do it in my drive way too but what's the fun in that!

If you guys do end up getting it, the outer thread adapter of the hot rod is a 3/4- non-tapered pipe thread, AKA 3/4 electrical conduit thread. You could probably just tap directly into your shower tube and thread the outer adapter in. The thread on the rod itself is a 1/2 pipe thread. So you could just use a 1/2 PVC pipe thread to keep it plugged most of the time, and when needed remove the plug and thread in the heater.

 

@tacomarin Jumping onboard. Love the build.

 

Big updates...

First up, got a Brute Force Fab front bumper. This thing is incredibly well built and looks great. Billy is a G and installed it in no joke less than 1.5 hours, with a winch install. On that front I got the Warn VR-10S. I know it’s basically the same as the smittybilt but I’m just more comfortable with the Warn brand. I was back and forth on the 8k vs 10k but opted for a little more pulling power given our weight.




My Caliraised pods bolted right up and look great. I also like that I can adjust the angle of them now.



I did some light off-roading and after a day of driving around it became apparent the suspension was definitely going to need to be upgraded.



Pretty much stock height and very flat leaf springs.


So I had been going back and forth on what to do next. Then headstrong started a group buy for ADS and I knew I needed to be in on that.



These are the 2.5” extended travel remote reservoir with compression adjusters. I’ve got the preload adjusted to 1.5” driver and 1.125” passenger. I also picked up another AAL for the leaf pack which I’m hoping will finally be enough! After a weekend of off-roading with a lot of bobbing and bouncing, this suspension upgrade is most certainly in order!

 

Fuck yeah Steve.