Buyer Beware: KTJO 4X4 Driver's Side Grab Handles w/ A Pillars, HUD, and Bowl Lights

This is supposed to be a fun thread.

 

A flawed design also does not take into account the range of installations. The OE pillar trim on either side is a piece of cake to install. There should be zero struggle or need to force the "Plug-n-Play" kit into place. I am not calling into question your experience, so don't question mine.

Bending the upper clip 15deg to get a proper installation with the bolt centered in the hole is a major design flaw.

 

I think that part is copied from Meso's liability page. For about 30 minutes, it did have "Meso Customs" as the ender.

 

I didn't need to do that for mine. Same issue will happen with the OE trim piece, you just had to insert the trim piece at a sharp angle and pivot it in. Ignore the door weather stripping until everything is bolted down, then pop out the weather stripping back into place with a plastic pry tool.

Hearing, everyone's horror stories, i thought it would be a frustrating install. Nope, was 15 minutes tops.

Of course, everyone's experience will be different. If there was better instructions, giving a better expectation on the difficulty of installation, then I believe people wouldn't be as frustrated.

 

Well mine came in this morning. Same size bolts but correct speed but. Correct covers. No marring or anything to handle of pillar cover- even with that piece poking out of the box.
Install took 15 minutes with no bending required. Pulled the tweeter cover, angled the handle/cover and started threading the top bolt. No issues. Bottom bolt caught thread immediately. Ease of MY install was a 9/10 (10 bearing very easy). I docked a point because the damned bushing fell out of the handle on me twice.
Overall fit and finish: I did have to wet sand some minimal flashing from the bolt covers but that only too about 5 minutes. I would rate fit/finish 7.5/10 do to alignment of handle/pillar cover/bolt covers not having clean/matching lines.
Functionality 10/10. It is solid and does what it is supposed to.
Disclosure and ready for flame spray: I ordered from TCMBST because I didn’t want to deal directly with KTJO.

ETA: I changed my vote to magically delicious...I mean magically perfect.

 

So I have the mishmash of installation pieces. My clipnut is the wrong size, will be replaced.
The M6 bolts are two different lengths. Which one goes where or should they both be the same length?

If it doesn't go in properly, I'm not going to be bending anything to make it fit. If bending is necessary, this is a flawed product design and is unacceptable.

Some people have had no issues, some people have had problems with the installation and fitment.
I won't know my answer until I'm into it and frankly am undecided if I even want to mess with it now.

 

The short bolt goes up top.

 

beat me to it

 

I’m not calling into question your experience. I’ve merely presented data and information from my 3 installation experiences. I’d love to take a look at a problematic installation prebend to see what the differences is compared to an install not requiring it. It may truly be Toyota has variations in angle for this top clip. It would be interesting to start collecting data on those with a problem requiring the bend, ie getting production year and plant identified to see if we can narrow this down.

I just removed my passenger side and the reinstall was just as easy/hard as KTJOs driver side (minus adding the clip nut).

 

It would be good to study the stock clips, but it is not an easy area to suggest folks take repeatable measurements. My best guess is the KTJO 4x4 never tested the installation on more than one Taco. I find it amazing that Toyota would have such a wide variance on metal parts, esp these days. It might be the case. Still though, that fault is on KTJO 4x4 for not checking, esp when advertising as PnP, OEM equivalent, and at this price point.


Yes. After the 15deg bend, I would say that either side takes the same amount of time to uninstall / reinstall.

 

This is the only thing that I want. My kids are short and my mother has a bad hip, we need the rear handles more than anything else at my house.

 

I had the same issue- there would have been probably a half inch gap between the weather stripping and the trim at the door side without tweaking the upper. I aligned the holes without the handle in place and it would have been rotated that far forward without bending the upper clip back toward the door.

 

Just to start tracking issues possibly related to where the truck was built, where was your truck built, TX or MX? If your VIN starts with a 5 it's a TX build is my understanding.

 

If might be more detailed than that? A certain line or jig, if there is a problem at all.

I'm a TX build though.

 

Thanks for this, it just seemed like I had to keep cranking down on the bolts to prevent the pillar from having movement

 

All true and it may be completely random but there's only one way to find out. Mine is a TX build also.

 

And I’m a 2019 3- from Mexico.

 

My Tacoma is a 2017 Texas without issue. The two others I’ve installed on are a 2017 Mexico and a 2019 Texas...both without issue.

 

Is it possible that people “not” having an install issue (or not bending the tab) are tweaking the pillar in all kinds of ways just to get the bolt threaded/installed (like some have mentioned). I mean if you really have to twisted tea the pillar while your nose touches your elbow (or paint your toes) then no it’s not a true plug and play- I mean, there was none of that for the oem factory pillar so there shouldn’t be any of that for the “factory replacement”.

I tried that first so I wouldn’t have to bend the bracket and it did technically work after some hard pillar twisting but that resulted in a gap by the door seal and a gap along the headliner… not plug n play, not oem quality. After bending (although I didn’t like doing so) and tightened there wasn’t any gaps. And yes I know about the lower tabs being inserted properly to seat… I have been pointing out to others that post a picture that theirs isn’t seated properly.

The tweeter trim has nothing to do with the bracket bending. removing the tweeter trim isn’t necessary but helpful. The problem with some doing this is without the tweeter trim in place against the pillar trim is that they don’t know it’s fully seated (or not) until they put the tweeter trim back in place at the end. If you need to see the slots- remove tweeter trim, install pillar and start bolts, then reinstall the tweeter trim, then confirm pillar is seated and tighten.