deusxanime's 2020 Cement OR 6MT mods/upgrades/build

Yep, it's only been a month, but it looks good! Except the lines due to only partial on the hood and fender, can't barely tell it's there. I like the XPEL better than 3M and they confirmed for me when I was there that the pre-cut pieces from XPEL are better and more precise and they recommended it as well.

There was a wrinkle/crease on the back corner of the headlight where it has a sharp angle, but I brought it back and they were able to fix it and straighten it out pretty quickly and I was on my way. Has been good since!

 

In other news, things are coming together! Finally got the call that my topper is in, so I have that scheduled for install on Tuesday. I was waiting on that before I got my Woolwax/Fluid Film undercoating done, so now I also have that scheduled out for Friday.

Need to get the @MESO Total Taillight Stage 1s in this weekend so it is ready before the topper! Since I am doing them, I also ordered the TRD Pro black taillights to complete the transformation, though I won't have them in time to do at the same time, it shouldn't be too long I hope.

Lastly, I sent my @MESO custom panel back to him for some alterations (best guy in the Tacoma business!), since the left hand OEM switches weren't fitting in there. Once I get that back, I can get back on to getting my Redarc installed.

 

Nice! Did you go with the new pro tails or the older ones?

 

The newer 2020 Pro tails with the black strip down the side (rather than the chrome strip on the OR ones).

 

It was an @MESO day!

Installed the Total Taillights Stage 1 kit, so that is ready for my topper install and hopefully they can use those wires instead of my factory ones.

Not the greatest since it is daytime, but I backed into the garage to try to get a bit better view...

Regular lights:


Brake lights:


Reverse lights:


Hard to get a picture of the blinkers/hazards, but they do work, except when both reversing and using blinkers at the same time, then they do hyperflash. I don't think I'm too worried about that since the only time I'd use that is parallel parking and I only do that 1-2 times a year (if that).

Does the resistor fix that? Would there be other issues if using resistors? Don't know if I really want to bother with them even if it does fix it, because then I'd have to figure out how and where to mount them...

edit: Sorry for the blurry pic, my daughter was taking them.

 

Next up was the @MESO map and dome lights!

This is another thing I partially bought a LONG time ago for my 2019, but then when I decided I was going to trade it in I just didn't install them because I didn't want to have to swap them back when it came time to give it to the dealer. I had both white and red map lights (you'll see why later) and the red dome light.

Luckily I hadn't installed anything yet on my 2020 when the dome light v2 came out and I picked up the red/white dual color one. So I'm using that instead of just the red only one I had before.

So in the end, here's what I actually put in there...

White driver's side map light for me when I need to really look at something and red passenger side map light so my wife can use it when we are on a trip or whatnot to read a book or fiddle around without killing my night vision.


In the back for the dome, I'll likely usually have it in white mode to see in there when I open doors and such, but again I'll have the ability to switch to red so the kids can be doing stuff back there and (same as with wife) not kill my night vision. I love it!



I did disconnect the battery when doing these. Is it necessary? I'm not sure. But I have heard of people blowing fuses when putting them in with the battery connected, so I figured better safe than sorry and it is super easy so no reason not to.

 

Finally, going back to my Sumo Springs install, I did have to do a bit of re-tightening to my U-bolts around the rear axle when I did my couple hundred mile check on them, so I planned on re-checking them again after some more miles. It has been a few hundred miles or more now, so I crawled under there again and checked them for 52 ft-lbs. All were good and hadn't shift/loosened this time, so I think those are all set now!

 

The TTL is one of the things that make me wonder what the Toyota designers are thinking when they make decisions. It seems like it should clearly be that way. If I were to give them the benefit of the doubt I guess it could be tied to cost cutting.

Great idea with the one red, one white map light. Are they interchangeable or is there a set 'left' and 'right' light? If they're interchangeable I'm guessing there's someone out there who would like to do the same thing as you. If they're not, I bet there's some special case where someone would want the driver red and passenger white.

How often do the sumo springs engage while driving without the topper or towing? I heard they make for a harsher ride when they do engage.

 

I agree, the way the OE taillights are is just really weird. I didn't really see/think of it (out of sight, out of mind) until I watched a before and after video of the TTL. To only have half of it light up just doesn't look right. The TTL are definitely the way it should have been and a huge improvement!

I'm not the only one to think of the half and half on the maps, as I've seen other people doing it in the thread for them. And people have offered to buy the leftovers, so I probably won't have trouble selling them. I'll probably put the red dome and leftover maps up as a set once I'm sure everything is working well with what I have in mine.

As for the Sumo Springs, they currently have an inch or so of gap with an empty bed and I have not noticed them whatsoever. As far as I can tell they have never engaged in day-to-day driving. Once I get my topper on I'll be curious to see if there is still a gap or not, if they sit on them, if not how much and how often they engage, and overall ride. I'll try to report back here! Also, since I'm having trouble getting my trailer brake controller installed, I haven't had a chance to see how it affects towing my camper trailer, but interested to see how it does with that.

 

I had been thinking of doing this, one red, one white but wasn’t sure if it would bug me?

 

Time will tell, so I'm holding on to the other colored map lights for a little while in case I want to change anything up in the future.

Also the OEM stuff, if I find I don't like them at all. (They are crazy bright and with no diffusers can be kind of annoying. We'll see if my wife can handle them or not.)

 

Today was a very expensive Taco day!

Leer 100XL topper came in last Friday and got it installed today:


Has the twist out windows with vents, flip down front window, carpeted headliner, remote unlock (works with factory fob), and the tracks up top for future use:


It had some badging on the back unfortunately:


I was going to work on it this weekend, but I started fiddling with them and soon enough I had all of it off! The leftover sticky I was able to get mostly off by re-sticking the sticker and pulling it off that way, then the tiny bit of residue I finished off with Goo Gone, quick wash of the window, and rinse:


Much cleaner looking!

I'm allergic to splicing into factory wiring and was able to work with them on alternate methods. I tried talking to the guy at the register but he was kind of being an a-hole, so I instead asked to talk to the installer before he got started. Luckily he was super cool! I showed him the wiring for the Toyota tailgate lock I put in previously and he was able to tap into that for the remote unlock function on the topper (the green and red wires):


For power for the dome light and connecting the third brake light, he used a connector that goes in between where the 7-way trailer lights connect. It was basically a T-harness type thing and should be super easy to disconnect if ever needed:


Finally, it just goes up the side of the bed and comes out under the edge of the bed rail:


There's a quick disconnect on the back corner of the topper for everything if I ever need to pull it off.

All in, it was nearly $3,000. Yikes! But there was not enough room with just a tonneau when the whole family was going somewhere, so I needed more space this time around.

 

While I was waiting on the topper install, I also got a call back on getting a Toyota Platinum warranty from FD-Warranty. I went with the 8yr/100K one, so that set me back another ~$1,150, but I like knowing I can pull into any Toyota dealer now and for the next ~8 years and get stuff fixed.

 

Finally, I got around to paying $10 for a week of Carista (used my free trial back on the 2019, so had to pay this time) to change some settings. Switched to 6 blinks on the blinker, turned off seatbelt chimes, disabled auto locking/unlocking, and a few other things here and there. Hopefully a week will be long enough to be sure I like the changes before my time is up.

I'll likely also adjust some things on my wife's Corolla, since I have it active for this week.

 

I realized I forgot to update on the Sumo Springs after the topper install. The rear end is definitely lower now, I feel like the weight of the topper took out most of the factory rake and I can tell it is slightly different looking over the hood while driving it. The frame isn't QUITE on the Sumos, but it is extremely close! I thought it was at first but I can wiggle them around, so there must be a mm or two gap still. FYI, I think someone asked in my thread here. (Or maybe it was a different one, I lose track...)

 

As for today, now that I have a topper I wanted to try to keep it fairly clean in there and keep the water and dust out. So I installed a tailgate seal I grabbed from the topper place that did the install. It is Truxedo brand, but nothing special with it. I happened to see it there, so I just grabbed one rather than ordering something off of Amazon.

 

I've been really busy the past week or so and part of that busy-ness was trying to get a few things done on the truck before the cold and winter really hits. So I've gotten quite a few things done, but haven't had time to update my build thread here. My Vikings are playing horribly, so I figured why not distract myself and take the time to update my thread instead?!

I'll start with something I didn't personally do, but I drove the truck down and waited, so that counts right?

A couple Fridays ago, I had the truck undercoated with Woolwax. This is a lanolin-based protectant similar to the ever popular Fluid Film. It is pretty similar, but not nearly as stinky as FF from what I hear. There was a bit of an odor, but I didn't really notice much after a day or two. I could have done this myself using FF rattle cans, but I thought this might be better done by someone who has all the equipment (air compressor, guns, wands, etc.) to do it better, easier, and quicker. Also, I can now go back anytime and they'll touch it up for free. So I can go in and get it recoated probably in the Spring and for sure in the Fall before winters. Unfortunately I noticed this weekend that they forgot to put a grommet back in, so I'm trying to track that down and get it replaced. I'll give them a call on Monday, but I'm dubious they'd still have it laying around...

Here's some pictures, not much to see but a fairly new truck that is very shiny underneath! They did most everything - frame, spare, hitch, axles/diff, back of brakes, under side of body, transaxle, etc etc. Of course they avoided the exhaust as much as possible while doing it too. At least they should be good "before" pictures and we'll see how it holds up!

 

Over last weekend I got a few more things done. First up was replacing the stock Off-Road chrome taillights. I replaced with the Pro black ones. After getting the MESO Total Taillights Stage 1, I had to dress them up!

Before:



After:



Super simple job. Just take out the two 10mm holding the lights in, pull them out, unplug the bulbs, plug the bulbs into the new taillight, and reinstall. Look at the MESO TTL Stage 1 install if you want a better view of that process.

 

Since I did the MESO map and dome lights, I also figured I'd continue with the LED upgrades. I got the VLEDS off the runnin4tacos site for the vanity mirrors and license plate lights.

Easy to just pop off the vanity covers, replace the bulbs (flip them around if they don't work the first time), and snap the covers back on.

Vanity before:



And after (got 3/4 right the first time, only had to flip one around, not bad!):

 

License plate bulbs are pretty easy too, if you can fit your hand in there. Just untwist the harness, replace the bulb, and twist them back in. Same thing as vanity, if they don't work the first time just unplug them and flip them around. I thought one of mine was bad at first, but after looking I realized the contact was just bent a bit and it worked after I straightened it out. I wish I had done this before the undercoating though! The bulb harnesses were coated with the Woolwax and slippery to get in and out.

I forgot to take a before pic, but here's a couple of after:



I had read of some replacement LEDs being so bright back there that they wash out the reverse camera at night, so I was a bit worried about that (especially since I bought the "Super Bright (24 LEDs)" versions), but it doesn't seem to be a problem with these. I can definitely see them when backing up, but it doesn't affect the view.