Kyle's SR Access Cab Build

Made it over to Arches first thing this morning before the crowds showed up!



Then made the long journey home to be met with the first snow of the season. I’ve never seen snow in October! Utah is weird.



Overall a successful trip. That knocks off 2/5 parks I have to see before moving back to OR. The Tacoma did great except I think the lug nuts on the new wheels are too short. I’m going to get some extended length lug nuts in hopes that they don’t back-out as much as they did this trip. Constantly needed a re-torque.

 

Great looking Tacoma. We need more Moab pics!

 

I moved my headlight build to another thread, but for the sake of keeping my build log up to date here’s a picture of my finished lights. All sealed-up! I tested the M LED 2.0’s tonight and they’re going to help me a ton in the middle of nowhere.

 

Whole bunch of electrical projects in my pipeline. Seems like it never ends but I guess that’s how owning a Toyota goes.

Decided to swap all accessory connectors in my truck to Metri-Pack so fittingly I am working on a Bussmann (or two). Waiting on the custom panel to arrive before I make the accessory connectors. Couldn’t believe how easy it was to make this thing and am wondering why I didn’t just build one from the start.



I’m also re-doing all of the switch panels in the truck. Decided to clean things up with Molex connectors and replace the jumpers I made on each panel. Just an OCD thing of mine.

In other news I think I’ll finally get around to mounting those headlights tomorrow

 

Started my RTMR build. I kind of mindlessly bought a 6-pin weatherpack but really only needed a 5-pin. I’m going to de-pin and get a 5-pos metri pack that way all of my connectors are metri pack instead of 99% metri and one weather pack for the switches. Also designed another new panel with @paranoid56 — this time very low profile and high clearance just to fit the RTMR and an ANL fuse holder.



Oh... and headlights are coming along. I have a few issues to investigate and then perma-mount the electronics.

 

Switch panel take 3,123,210.5. I wanted all of my jumpers to be “quick release” with the use of some Molex connectors. I’ve also never been a fan of the purple hue given off by the CH4x4 switches so I set out to swap them all out for baby blue LEDs.

Left side panel start:



Made jumpers/switchbacks for the illumination circuit:



Next I got the switches ready for some surgery:


The switches needed to be opened and the LEDs swapped. An additional problem I had to resolve was that each aftermarket LED is substantially brighter than the OEM LEDs. To remedy this (mostly) I took a trip back to college physics.

First I tested the voltage of the truck’s dimmer circuit when it’s at max brightness. For those interested... it’s 10.92 V measured at the cargo light switch.



I then noted the brightness of the OEM LED in the factory switches. From there I dimmed my dimmer until my aftermarket switch was roughly the brightness of the factory switch when it was at full brightness (10.92 V). Kind of a confusing detail but an important one. I then took a voltage reading to see what the voltage was on the dimmer circuit. My aftermarket switch matched the brightness of a fully-illuminated stock switch when the dimmer circuit was at 3.36 V. From there I built a test rig to see what my amperage (draw) was on my new LED when driven at 3.36 V



My LED was the ideal brightness when it was pulling 0.5 mA at 3.36 V. The stock CH4x4 resistor is 4.7 K Ohm. We can work backwards to determine how much resistance the LED is adding to the circuit (about 1.7 K Ohm). After some math I determined that to achieve this 0.5 mA at 10.92 V I needed a roughly ~20 K Ohm resistor. This would get my new LEDs close to the stock LED brightness when I run my dash circuit at full brightness.



I went back to the work bench and soldered 20 K Ohm resistors onto each switch. I then plugged my new panel in and I think it looks pretty good for not being OEM!



30 K Ohm may have been slightly better and perhaps the use of a diffuser would have helped the color. When it’s fully dark in the cab, though, your eye barely spots the difference.

With that mad science project done I made new jumpers for my overhead console and swapped the LEDs + resistors.



I then installed my MESO map lights.



I ran out of materials but next up is to build a breakout harness to get illumination (+), (-), and IGN 12V (+) from the 24-pin connector powering the overhead console.



This will allow me to get rid of a fuse tap that runs down my A-pillar to the drivers fuse panel. It would also allow me to just use a Molex connector (seen on the backside of the switch panel already) to connect my panel to the truck. Makes it much easier to remove and service.

 

Scored a couple lightly used MESO items. First I’m replacing my cheap LEDs in the interior!



The 4runner has puddle lights from the factory and they’re really useful. Hopefully these are really bright as my truck, with an aftermarket keyless entry, doesn’t flash any exterior lights upon lock / unlock.



To remedy some of the “light feedback” from that keyless unit I made a custom T-Harness for myself. This harness breaks-out the hazard light pin in the back of the hazard switch connector (I believe it powers the whole AC panel). My keyless module honks the horn twice on unlock and once on lock. I will run a bridge from the module to this harness and it will flash my hazards in sync with the horn (like it does on a factory keyless). There’s a small diode soldered in-line so the horn doesn’t honk when I hit my hazard switch.



Last update is that I finished a custom R44 T-Harness for my overhead switches. On this harness I broke-out the switch illumination pins (+) and variable (-). I also broke-out the 12V (+) pin that powers the overhead console. This is a IGN 12V (+). I’m using it to power my switches instead of running a fuse tap from the driver’s fuse panel. It’ll just plug-in to my factory R44 connector.

 

looks awesome, also looks like spec55 wire.

 

Really coming along nicely!

 

Mind sharing where you got the LEDs? I would love to do this mod to make some of my after market switches look more OEM.

 

They were part of a kit. I used the “ice blue” and adjusted the resistor as you saw in the post.

$10 Treedix 750pcs 3mm LED Light Emitting Diode 15 Colors x 50Pcs LED Lamp Assortment Set Kit White/Warm White/Cold White/Red/Green/Blue/Ice Blue/Yellow/Pink/Purple/Multi Color Fast Flashing

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0819GCHDC/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glc_fabc_enYbGbBCD3946?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

Small update: got my MESO puddle pods installed. Far from my favorite install but I think it’ll provide some nice lighting feedback when I lock + unlock the truck. My partner’s 4runner and my dad’s F350 have stock puddle lights and I’ve always been jealous of them.





Still working on my harness to flash the hazards with the lock + unlock. Work has been crazy but I’ll hopefully get it installed this week and tidy-up the interior wiring.

 

Thanks! Just ordered both!

 

A small "win" but one that's needed to happen for a looooong time. My keyless module doesn't flash the hazards, but instead flashes the tail lights (I have no idea why). I built a breakout harness for the hazard light pin and put a mating connector on the end of the tail light flash wire coming from the keyless module. Essentially this is just a simple re-direct.



Finally... My truck flashes twice on unlock and once on lock.

https://youtu.be/Zp2Tx_cIp8A

 

Swapped LEDs and resistors out of all of my switches -- the OEM one included (to a lighter blue). Now they're all the same color and brightness.

 

This is genius! Do you have a pic of where you soldered in the resistor?

Love the functional mods you've added, super clean! What outfit do you guide for?

 

Thanks! I just swapped the stock resistor. When you open one of the switches you’ll see it:



You can just desolder it and replace it with a higher value!

 

Did a quick overnighter for Valentine’s Day. Truck was frozen shut, but after 30 minutes got my rods out and scraped a few chunky rainbows off the bottom of the river.

 

Bought a random box of parts and got these for virtually free-99:





Didn't even know that a TRD radiator cap existed... but now I'm stoked to have 100 extra horse power. I hate the red shift knob against my interior so I broke out my suture needles and am going to track down some gray thread and gray spray paint to make it look better.

 

Finished my small "one off" shift knob. First I de-stitched the red thread and made notes about how Toyota started their stitches, their stitching pattern, and how they finished their stitches as I was pulling the thread apart. Then I took a suture needle (angled) and some gray canvas thread and re-did it in the exact same order. Toyota used adhesives on the leather lips in order to add durability to the start/finish of the stitches so I did the same with Zap A Gap.



When that was done I cleaned all of the plastics, taped off the leather and other black parts I wanted to keep, and hit them with a gunmetal gray spray paint. It has some slight sparkle to it while having a nice matte finish.



Then I reassembled using more Zap A Gap in spots where factory adhesive was found. The finish product is perfect in my eyes. It meshes with my interior so much better. The combination of gray tones and black makes it look like it belongs in the truck. Here are some assembled photos:




Here it is in its final resting place:

 

That shift knob looks great without the red. Love All the things you've done to this truck.