What Have You Done To Your 3rd Gen Today?

Good luck! Spent a good bit of my Father’s Day attempting to install the OEM rack. This after receiving two shipped racks (from a dealership), both of which lacked the hardware kit. Finally got a hardware kit shipped separately and had a little time for the install today. Was going fairly well until I went to thread the bolt for the right hand swing arm…and there was nothing to thread it into (note the empty square space below). WTF

After consulting the left hand side of the rack (see below), looks like a square nut and o-ring spacer should have been in the empty slot and held in place by those retaining clips.

So uninstall the right hand side of the rack. The nut is nowhere to be found inside rack or in the shipping box. Make a run to the hardware store to see if they happen to have anything that will work…no joy. Think about trying to jury rig something and decide better given that the thing will be used to hold items at speed on the highway.

Remove the rack, spend time stripping the foam washers and supplemental RTV (that has now set), apply silicone tape over the holes I had to make in the factory seals, and reinstall the original weather stripping. Luckily I didn’t break the weather stripping retaining ditch clips off as the Toyota rack installation instructions indicated (why?).

So spent the afternoon sweating my ass off in the garage and am not sure if or what other parts I might be missing at this point. I mean this was supposed to be a pre-assembled component…not even part of the hardware kit. Where is the quality control on these things? Where is the quality in general? And why do I still want one?

 

Strapped the kayaks on and headed to Medicine Bow

 

Test fitted an All-Pro P/N 3510-AP spindle gusset today. Wheel clearance was a risk, because my wheels measured to 5.0" backspacing while instructions said 4.75" max, but being 17"s probably helped.

 

So sorry to hear this. You would think going with the OEM roof rack you wouldn't have these problems. I am still stuck on what roof rack I want to get. I'll wait it out until it becomes clear. But this is super disappointing to hear as I was leaning for the OEM roof rack on the roof and then the Leitner system for the bed.

I know that can be really frustrating ... so sorry to hear that.

 

Got some custom vinyl off etsy.

 

Stealth Custom Series (SCS) F5 17X9 -38

 

You will not regret the Leitner. I installed mine at I think the beginning of 2018 and it is a fantastic system. If I remember correctly they were only $1,100 when I bought mine so I could see the current price as being a deterrent. A couple of my buddies have gotten the ACS since, one a Chevy Bison and the other a Jeep Gladiator and they love theirs too. I will say I do not think the forged rack is total overkill.
The tent I run is 200 lbs but the classic tube rack has never faultered on any of the trails I have taken it on high speed or crawling.

The only downside I have found is you lose bed width due to the vertical supports that mount to the rear d ring/tie down points.
I only run my tent when I'm going camping though and the ACS in combination with the prinsu roof rock works great for long materials and flat goods.
Long winded post but I just wanted to provide my experience with it.

 

What rear bumper is that? I love my RCI, but I feel like people are always asking if someone makes a non-high clearance bumper with a swingout.

 

sweet. i'll have to reach out to them and see if there is one for the TRD Sport. Thanks for the heads up

 

I ran mine just like you are thinking and was a 5 min. Job. Just ran the cable from the front camera to the driver side A Pilar cover and made sure to use a plastic tool to help me tuck it in behind the headliner. Then just continued along the rubber seal to that center pillar cover and continued through the back door rubber seal until I made it to the back.

 

I just ordered a glove box organizer.

$10.10 on the Prime Day sale.

$16 EDBETOS Glove Box Organizer Compatible with Toyota Tacoma 2016-2020 2021 2022 2023 - Tacoma Insert Accessories

https://www.amazon.com/EDBETOS-Glove-Organizer-Toyota-Tacoma/dp/B07RWYS1RL/

 

I've been eying those

 

The other one that keeps showing up has some channels on the top that I don't like (for another divider?) so I jumped all over this one.

 

I guess i could have but there were a couple things i thought about.
1- Probably harder to run though the headliner, i dont know what wires are up there to snag on, etc.
2- I didnt want to crease or bend the headliner since its pretty much cardboard with cloth on it.
3- The wire they supplied me was pretty long so it prob wouldve been all bunched up and leaving a slight bump in the head liner.

The way i did it was super easy and took me about 30-45mins. Clean job and worked well. Made sure i ran the wire out of the way of the airbags, neatly down the channel and used zip ties to keep things in order. Perfect amount of wire left. Any wire slack i tied up and stored it in a "pocket" behind the rear seat. I did tuck under the headliner in the front and rear some but i was super careful not to mess it up.

Only issue was i was dripping wet of sweat cause it was like 85-90 out lol

 

So a couple of 2x4s and maybe a 1x6?

 

I just ordered 1

 

Finally got around to washing it yesterday, man did it need it. Went ahead and applied some 303 protectant to the Softopper too. Did it rain this morning? Of course it did.

 

Go with a reputable brand like Sherpa, ARB, front runner, etc… I personally don’t have much luck with parts/items ordered through Toyota

 

I added a Glove box tray (organizer) best 18$CA I have ever spent. https://www.amazon.ca/gp/aw/d/B077YG8BYN/ref=ya_aw_od_pi?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Two coats of Meguiars Ceramic Hybrid Wax and she all cleaned up.

 

New shift and hand brake boots that I made. To go with the shift knob.