Shortround's '04 Double Cab TRD AT

Got my winch installed last week as well. Warn M8000S.

This little job kinda sucked, was just a lot of little things that added up to a few days of work. I mounted the control box under the hood behind the airbox as it wouldn't fit on the winch. So I took the bracket Warn gave me and chopped it up, made new mounting tabs and welded it up, and since I had to move the igniter to fit the box, made a new bracket for that out of some 16g sheet metal.

Extended all the winch lines with 1g welding cable, must've put them in the routing location like 20 times, in and out to check for fit, location feasibility, then get measurements and finally to mark the orientation of the cables to get the ring terminals placed so that I didn't have any funky bends/kinks. But, it was worth it, the lengths and terminal orientations came out just about perfect.

Gave them some loom where they passed through the front sheet metal, drilled a new 2" hole under the horn the fit them all....and not pictured here, the 3 control cables are color coded with some 3m colored tape to keep track of what goes where if I ever take them off for some reason.

 

Did some investigating into a slight shudder/vibration I've had for a bit.

It occurs from a stop under acceleration and stop noticing it around 15-20 mph. I believe it's drive line related because if I let off the gas it slows/quiets/disappears and returns if you give it gas again. It seems more obvious if I accelerate harder.

Don't think it's wheel related, balanced recently and it's not a constant and seems more attached to engine and gas pedal than a constant dependent of speed. It is also gone or not noticeable above the 15-20 mph. Brakes are not grabbing either. Alignment is pretty good (lots of crowned roads around here, but on the highway it'll go straight for 5-8 seconds before a subtle ever so slight gravitation towards the right, before a quick readjust will straighten back up)

Neutral does not reproduce it nor does revving the engine stopped.

Some research has pointed to U-joints or center support bearing wear. Under the truck the U-joints look ok with no play. Grabbing the drive axle however I can manipulate with quite a bit of play in the center support bearing. This may be my culprit.

Guess I have another to-do. Anything else I should do while I'm in there? New U-joints just 'cuz?

https://youtu.be/N0eaJVV5asI

 

What kind of camper shell are you running?

 

It's an ARE. Not sure of the exact model, was on the truck when I bought it.

 

awesome. thanks. im thinking about getting one and yours looked clean so i wanted to ask.

 

Yeah I've had 2 Tacos each with an ARE topper. The first had wind wings on the sides which were kind of a pain but the front window was able to flip down and open completely (as well as the little slider matching the rear of the cab). That feature was really nice.
My white one doesn't flip, but has the slider and the side windows slide which gives more airflow for the dog. A windoor would be cool but honestly my truck is too tall to reach in and grab anything....but I'm short.

 

Kind of been MIA lately, but researching for projector retrofit and debating on housings. Looking for any insights ya'll may have.
Plan was to get used OEM housings and clean them up and work on them at my convenience so the truck was not out of commission for too long (have 2 small kids so project time can be very limited)
Local pick n' pull has them for $60/ea
I could wait for something on eBay or classifieds
Or get new TYC housings from RockAuto for half the price and work on them, or possibly swap the lenses onto my OEM housings for a "best of both worlds"?

If I'm taking the time and spending the money for retrofits, I want it to be high quality and to last, so should I not worry about the higher price for the used OEM housings and just do it? Or are the TYC good quality too? Thanks

 

TYC is used by the guy on here that makes retrofits and sells them on the first gen buy sell trade forum. I'd ask him - I can't remember the handle, but his name as 15 in it.

 

A couple years ago as a project in a CAD class I drew up a side rail for a roof rack and was able to cut a mock up out of plywood on a CNC router. My time and interest faded for a bit but I pulled it out, dusted the cobwebs off and made some changes to the design. I found a local shop to have it laser cut and powder coated and got the first rack installed on the cab last week. Had a 2nd one cut to put on the camper shell, hopefully get that installed later this week.

I used 8020 extruded aluminum for the cross bars, 2x1 (25 series 25-2550, 25x50mm) and purchased Front Runner mounts and universal track.

Overall I'm happy with how it came out. I may modify the mounts to drop the rack another 1/4 inch or so. Right now the middle bars are about 1 inch from the roof at the lowest point.

I wanted something modular, low profile and with a flat surface up top for those times when I need to carry something big/bulky.

I was worried about the non-factory rack Double Cab roof that did not have any extra reinforcements, but I got the track far enough towards the side of the roof that it feels super solid, and it held me just fine with no flex (165lb) I don't plan on carrying anything super heavy over the cab, if I need to heavier items can go over the campershell which is rated for 250lb.

Feels good to get the super tall Yakima Q-tower rack/basket off the top.

 

Got my trans cooler installed as well. Was able to get it mounted using 2 existing threaded holes on the far left and used the provided brackets bent and cut to attach to the center support. Used some leftover pieces of hose split down the middle to help stop abrasion where the hoses pass thru to the engine compartment.

I plumbed it from the trans -> factory cooler ->aux cooler ->back to trans using 3/8 transmission hose (not provided in the kit)

Now I just need a scan gauge to watch trans temps while towing.

Plan on changing the fluid here soon too and I stalling a new filter.

 

Do you mind me asking how much it costs to have the side rails cut out? And do you have any plans to make side rails for the camper shell? I have a prinsu rack over the cab of mine. I got it 15% off and still feel like its way over priced.

 

That is one of the biggest reasons I went my own route. Let's just say with all parts for 2 racks (cab/camper) I was right about $800 plus a few for some extra hardware.

When having something made like this, the cost per unit gets cheaper the more you make (to a certain point) you have to pay for material obviously but the bigger part is the initial set up. But the cost to have 4 rails cut/powder coated (2 per rack) was not so absurd that I took the chance. This was my first time ever taking a CAD design and turning it into an actual product so there were some unknowns for me.

3 things I would change if I ever made a v2.0 1.) thicker material. Its 5/32 (0.160) aluminum. It has a little jiggle side to side. The vertical rigidity is fine (where it needs to be strong it is, holding weight loaded on the bars) but it probably wouldn't cost much more to use 3/16 or even 1/4
2.) I would add another inch or so to the height of the side profile, strictly for visual aesthetics. Modeling a truck in CAD is beyond my ability and I couldn't find a commercially available one, so I was limited to some basic measurements and plotting a rough shape of the roof to go off of. I wasn't exactly sure how high off the roof the whole thing would sit and didn't have the feet/ mounts in hand when designing either. So, long story short it sat a little higher than I thought and some material filling the gap would look better. It doesn't look bad now per se, but nothing wrong with wanting better right?
3.) Keeping the holes for the cross bars where they are, I would add like an inch to either end, for visual/aesthetic reasons stated above. That could also allow for some holes/integration with a wind fairing that I'm going to work on. I haven't driven on the fwy with it yet so I don't know how noisy it is but I like the look of an angled piece up front to finish it off.

 

Good looking rack. Just curious, how did you transfer the roof profile to CAD? I've been wanting to do this for awhile but can't figure out how to transfer the side profile, and the front profile for a wind fairing.

Also, it seems like you could make some lower profile feet that would drop the rack down rather than adding an inch to the sides.

 

Thanks.

I set a level (anything straight/flat would work) on 2 blocks of equal height and took measurements side to side at intervals of an inch, then moved the level back a few inches and did it again, until I got to the back of the cab. Then I plotted all the individual points in the CAD and created a curve and then meshed them together. Not the most elegant way to do it but it worked decent enough.

As for the feet, I may actually just trim a little off both pieces so that it will drop the rack a little bit. It wouldn't be too hard to make my own but time wise, with 2 toddlers this worked for me. But yeah, getting the rack another 1/2 inch or so lower would be nice and then reevaluate how the rails look at that point.

 

Camper rack installed today. Gonna tweak placement between the 2 racks a bit still when I have more time. They aren't on 1 level plane yet, but I think a little adjustment will get them close. Worst case, and I planned on doing it anyway, I'll do some cutting to the feet so I can drop 'em lower.

Over all, I am happy with how it came out.

 

That's a great idea, thanks for sharing. Hoping to build one this summer and have the sides water jetted out. I'll probably use that same technique to build a wind fairing while I'm at it.

 

No problem. I still havent taken it out for a freeway drive but I'm sure a fairing is in short order. Now that it's on the truck I can get a better idea of how to incorporate one in.

Good luck with your design. I'll keep my eye out for your post when its done

 

A little TRD under hood love courtesy of @Coupe Really nice and does a much better job of holding the battery. My X2 was just a bit narrower than the OEM hold down angle pieces and it never did an adequate job and the battery would always end up caddy-wompus. This feels much more solid, and looks better to boot.

 

Never updated here, but installed the Magnuson super charger last April.

Replaced a few things while I was in there:
Denso IK22 spark plugs
-plenum gasket part #

$16 17176-62040 TOYOTA Genuine Air Surge Tank to Intake Manifold Gasket

17176-62040
-Belts AC, power steering (supercharger belt replaces alternator belt, included with kit)
-fuel filter
-200 amp alternator
-Green fan clutch part #08921-04950
-spark plug tube seals (6) 11193-70010
-spark plug wires

$97 19037-62010 Toyota Genuine Spark Plug Cord Set

19037-62010
-valve cover gasket (2) 11213-62020
-PCV valve

$16 12204-62010 PCV Valve Sub-Assembly

12204-62010
-PCV grommet 90480-18001

Still running it stock, no fuel upgrades. Seems to be running fine. I just added the trans cooler so hopefully that helps keep me ping free (was living in Denver at time of install, now I'm just outside Sacramento, CA basically at sea level) and plan on changing out to a 170° thermostat

Want to add a boost/AFR gauge and scan gauge eventually to keep an eye on things.

 

What model is that oil cooler? I like it.