motofish84's 3rd Gen SR modifications

I decided to throw together a thread showing the upgrades I've made to my 2018 SR..and other stuff that's somewhat truck related.

Here's how it currently sits:



My grandfather always had Toyota pickups when I was growing up and I always thought they were cool. I've had a lot of cars over the years but ended up with a 2012 Tacoma SR5 a few years ago. I stepped up to a Tundra when I came across a really good deal on a 2016 Crewmax but always missed my GEN2 Tacoma. I set out looking for another one to replace my Tundra with.

I name all my vehicles. The 2012 was Smoky The Grasshopper cause the previous owner smoked cigars and it took months to get the smell out. Also it is smoky gray and looks like a grasshopper. The Tundra was Kirby because it looked like a Kirby vacuum and made a loud air pump noise on startup.

As for the 2018... One morning there was a spider making a giant web on the tailgate. I brushed it off but it came back the next day. This went on for a couple days. Then as the truck started to take shape I realized it reminded me of a spider. It's black, all the lights look like eyes and it can crawl around in the outdoors. So it became known as Mondo Spider.

My old GEN2 Smoky


My old Tundra Kirby:




I really wanted a 2015 DCLB but after searching and searching I only found beat up and high mileage 2012-2013's for over $20K. These trucks just hold their value too well.

I didn't really consider a GEN 3 but came across a previous fleet vehicle at one of the dealerships nearby. The paint was rough and it didn't even have keyless entry. But it did have only 25K miles, still under factory warranty and no rust at all which I could not say about any of the GEN2's I looked at. So I thought why not?...I'm going to modify it anyway. Why not spare myself the added expense of nice wheels and stuff I'm going to replace anyway.

2018 SR DCSB V6 with tow package....and not much else




I got to modding the truck right away. First order of business was adding keyless entry. I was not going to deal with unlocking the doors with the key all the time.

I made I decent thread about the install process if anyone needs to reference it:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/installing-oem-keyless-entry.619447/



Installed some TRD Pro wheels with 265/70/17 Falken Wildpeaks....how original of me I know...but it's hard to beat how great these wheels look for the price. I pulled the chinstrap off too.




After the wheels and tires were on I decided to give the truck a much needed detail. Inside and out and top to bottom. 3 stage paint correction and polish and a full interior detail including shampooing the seats, carpet and spot cleaning the headliner.


Before:


After:

 

I typically use my truck as a daily driver and to tow my fishing boat around. There will be an occasional camping trip with some light overlanding. With that in mind I didn't think a major suspension upgrade was required. I decided to add some Bilstien 5100's and OME 887 coils along with a Wheelers AAL.

Before:


After:


Once I had that squared away I decided to upgrade the stock speakers and add a sub. I'm an adult but I always like a little extra bass and some decent door speakers in my vehicles.







Also added this little guy to the door and a holster clip to the console along with some OEM floormats (the truck didn't have floor mats so this was a nice upgrade):

 

Somewhere along the way I picked up a used OEM tonneau cover from a fellow Tacoma owner locally. I really wanted a Diamondback but I couldn't justify the additional $1300 over what I paid for this OEM one. So this will do just fine for now...or forever.



Saving the money on the tonneau allowed me to justify getting the windows tinted and a roof rack (which I was going to do anyway). I ended up going with the Victory 4x4 rack with a light bar cutout.

 

Nice! What's next?

 

Nice OP

 

That’s a nice detail.

 

I wanted to add some scene lights and a light bar to the roof rack and I didn't want a bunch of random relays and strange wires everywhere. I also wanted to avoid fuse taps. Not that there's anything wrong with em I just prefer as clean an install as possible. With that I made myself an auxiliary fuse / relay panel.

I cut some 16 gauge steel to size and milled out the necessary holes and bent it for mounting to the inner fender using the existing 8mm threaded holes. Then I test fitted it with the components mounted to it:


Once I had everything where I wanted it I primed and painted the plate and got the components wired up. The relay box holds up to 6 standard automotive relays. For now I added a circuit for a light bar and a circuit for the scene lights. The scene lights will be tied into the cargo light circuit / switch and the light bar will have a Cali Raised switch.



I'm not loving the power supply wire running straight over the factory fuse panel the way it is but I can live with it until I come up with something better. I'd like to change out the battery terminals to some that have a cleaner accessory mounting post.

Some pics of the lighting that was added to the rack..as you might notice I also installed fog lights using @Nitori's install thread. I used the OEM LED fogs. Another shout out goes to @caribe makaira for their help with tapping into the cargo circuit for the scene lights:

 

Whatcha going on here?

 

Nice truck.

 

That’s the relay / fuse box I added to house the relays and fuses for the lighting and make room for future accessory circuits. I don’t have any pics of it with the top off or wiring on my phone but I’ll grab one later and post it.

Here’s an affiliate link for the one I used:

$22 True Mods 12V DC Auto Waterproof Fuse 5-Pin Relay Box Block [6 Bosch Style Relay Holder] [6 ATC/ATO Fusible Holder] Universal Relay Block Box for Automotive Vehicles Cars Marine Boat Light Equipment

https://www.amazon.com/ONLINE-LED-STORE-Waterproof-Automotive/dp/B07MR64XK1/ref=as_sl_pc_tf_til

 

Silicon hose (for vacuum type) split lengthwise to cover slot and minimize chaffing of wires...

 

Good call. I’ll do that

I filed the edges smooth but I know over time some rubbing could chafe through the insulation.

 

Does this wheel and tire set up have a lot of poke on tacomas without fender flares or is it just the angle of this picture?

 

I think it’s the angle of the picture. Also the truck was parked on a fairly steep hill and this was the high side. There’s really not that much poke.

 

Made some updates to the truck over the last few weeks.

I acquired a set of very gently used Clazzio covers from another TW member. I've wanted a set since purchasing the truck and the price was too good to pass up. Wisconsin gets pretty cold and crappy over winter so I wanted heating pads in the covers as well. I picked up a set from Amazon and installed them in the covers.

I got going on installing them in the truck.

Before:


After:





Getting the seat covers installed was the easy part.

I wanted the switches centered in the lower dash switch panel. The existing lower dash switch panel of an SR looks like this (pretty basic compared to the upper trim levels):


I wanted the heated seat switches in the two center slots. That meant one of the existing items had to go. I decided I didn't really like where the ECT power button was and splicing wires in for the USB / Aux was too difficult. So I made an extension harness for the ECT button and moved it to the panel at the left of the wheel. I really like where it's located now.



Now that the ECT was out of the way, I moved the USB / Aux to its position and installed the heated seat switches in the center like I wanted. I also really prefer the USB / Aux in its new location. I added a ram mount phone holder to the cup holder that I made by modifying the belt holster that came with my Otterbox case and it reduced the mess of a phone charge cord from going across the console.





Now that everything was where I wanted it I had to wire the heated seats. I wanted the 4 relays that came with the kit in the aux relay panel that I made. I have power coming off of the bus, through a 20A fuse for each seat (not pictured) and going to the relay. The switch wire is then fuse tapped through an ACC/IGN fuse under the dash. So the heaters will only be able to be turned on when the ignition is on. The wiring had to be cut and new terminals added to get the relays in place but I got it:


The existing hole in the firewall was pretty crowded so I had to cut another hole to get all the wires through. I popped a hole using a step bit and added a grommet:


All of the wire sets were too short to go from the engine bay to their respective area (switch or seat). I had to cut and splice in wiring to extend all of the harnesses. Here's a pic of one of them:


All installed and heated seats are working perfectly. Just in time for some early snow in WI.

 

Nice build!

 

Nice! But should probably go in the build section of the forum.

 

Can you elaborate a little more on the ect switch move?

 

Yann, it's pretty straightforward and took about 1.5 hours at most. I like to take my time with these things as to not booger anything up.

You do have to remove some of the dash components. I removed the heater control head to gain access to the switch and wires. Once I was able to access I moved the USB. It has just enough slack to make it over to the position closest to the driver. Then I cut the wires for the ECT button, leaving enough (~ 6") on the connector end for later, and spliced in about 30" of wire for each wire. If I remember correctly its a 3 wire set up. Then I routed the wires under the dash securing them in areas to keep them out of the way of anything. Then I pulled the other end through the switch plate on the left of the steering wheel. Once I had them there I spliced the wires to the 6" tail I had off the original connector end. The dash switches all have locating tabs on them that only allow them to fit in specific positions on the dash. This means you have to file the slot in the dash a little to accept a different switch. It sounds a lot harder than it is. You never see any of this on the finished product because its all behind the switch. I had to do this for both the ECT button and the USB.

Sorry I don't have a write up on this. I didn't think anyone would really care so I didn't bother.

 

Added a Leer 100XQ the other day. I'll be adding a @victory4x4 topper rack as soon as I fabricate my own mounts as their mounts restrict you to tracks that are something like 42.75" apart. I assumed that was sort of a standard spread on the tracks but I found out that was not true the hard way. I ordered the Leer with tracks installed which is a $230 option. Then, I went to install my assembled rack and scratched the shit out of my brand new $2800 topper.....Lovely. My tracks are 39.75" apart. Shame on me, I should have measured prior to trying to install as that's one of the first notes in the instructions. As I understand now, the Victory mounts are designed so that the load on the rack is distributed evenly whereas other company's support only two of the crossbars. I understand that thinking because a lot of folks want to put an RTT on it. Honestly, the Victory cab rack has been really nice and sturdy and I think it's the nicest looking rack in that style. They've also been pretty fair up to this point. That said, I wouldn't know that if I hadn't run into issues with their products. There are a few things that I keep going back to that are a little annoying. The quality of finish leaves a little to be desired as there were multiple people including me that got parts that had spotty powder coating and burring on edges and cutouts of the racks. Their transparency in correcting the previously mentioned issues was a little strange. The price of the topper rack is more than the roof rack (even with a substantial discount) and uses far less metal with less features / bends etc. Maybe it's a supply and demand thing? And finally, this bracket issue....I contacted Victory and suggested 3 options, one of which they agreed was probably the way to go and have done in the past which was use 4 of their RTT mounts to mount the rack but they wanted another $70 for them even after I offered to send the mounts back that came with the rack. Additionally, I don't even know that they would have worked because they are only 7/8" tall which would make the topper rack lower than the cab rack. Maybe I'm being unreasonable but I don't think so.

In the end, I decided to make my own mounts based on something I saw another member do. I'll post more about the mounts later when I install the rack. For now...here's a shot of the Leer 100XQ on the truck..sorry its a bit dark. Again, I'll post more pics of it with the rack once installed as well as the DIY bed lights I rigged up.




As for the topper, I am really happy with the look. I will say the hinge design on the back window is the only thing I don't like. It seems basic and flimsy. I much prefer the ARE style hinge. But I don't think there is a better looking topper than the Leer 100XQ for the 3RD gen Tacoma. I know a lot of people prefer "Windoors" on the side but the windows on the XQ just look so damn good to me.


ARE CX Series hinge: