Crashnburn80's Supercharged Gladiator Mojave Build

As @Jowett mentioned, the challenge is the Tacoma is North America specific and not offered with rear fogs, unlike the Hylux. My initial thought was DDs SC1 or SC2 with red backlight mounted in the bumper. White reverse and red for fogs, but then checking the power level on the backlight feature it appears way to low for the purpose.

According to this, the rear fogs should be about as bright as a brake light, but with a more concentrated beam pattern.
http://dastern.torque.net/Rearfogs/Rearfogs.html

Interesting to note in that article the drawback of running dual rear fogs obscuring the brake lights, vs driver side only.

 

I had thought about this at one point. I was thinking of putting parking assist bumper cap on with a red LED in the sensor hole. Only an idea, did zero research as to brightness or dimensions.

EDIT: adding a cool rear fog pic I saw on here a while back.

 

I’d think you would want something with a larger illuminated surface area for better visibility.

 

https://www.etrailer.com/Hitch-Cove...tYB5KBvlbF17Mah8-yW0I8izcmStMavhoCRxAQAvD_BwE

This would be a good place to start


Here's one with reverse lights too

$25 Led Trailer Hitch Cover with Backup Reverse Light Automotive Accessories 80 LED Lights 2" Hitch Receiver Cover 4 Way Plug Truck SUV Accessories

https://www.amazon.com/Trailer-Reve...gid=pla-803275268541&ref=&adgrpid=75066162214

 

Probably, I also don't know of an sub 1" LEDs bright enough. I actually ended up with the putco blade for Jeeps of all things.

 

Finally submitted my warranty claim for the JW Speaker J3s with a defective heating element, I should have done it much sooner. JW is 10 weeks out on having new J3s available due to supply chain delays, which means mid-January till new lights. Not ideal to go into winter without the heaters working when that was one of the key reasons I purchased these specific units. I purchased my J3s through TRS and JW Speaker requires the selling vendor to handle the warranty transaction. TRS didn't have any stock of the J3s either. What they did offer though was a free pair of heated J2s which I could then return when the J3s finally showed up in 10 weeks. Phenomenal customer service there. I've been curious to compare the J2 and J3 as well, so this will be a great opportunity to do so.

 

Got most of the AEV 2" lift on Sunday afternoon and this afternoon. Instructions can be found here.

A closer look at the OEM Fox jounce bumpers which had to have their boots removed for the spacer/isolator install. These are an industry first on a production vehicle with the Mojave. Interestingly the boots were zip tied at the bottom but not the top, and had a notable amount of water in them despite having drain holes. I added zip ties at the top to hopefully mitigate the water intrusion.


Front end install done with the 2" spacer/isolator, the 2" extended swap bar links and 2" shock extension.


Except... not the 2" jounce bumper extension, which I realized while falling asleep that night.


So I get to do the front end all over again. F words. Though it isn't urgent for street use.

Did the rear solo today, under a very fixed timeline that the truck had to be operational by. It would be really helpful on multiple parts of the install to have 2 people. Trying to push down on the axle to get the springs back in with the 2" extended spacer/isolators was a PITA to do solo, while also trying to align the alignment pins in the spacer to the frame mount.


Rear setup complete with 2" spring spacer/isolators (behind frame rail), 2" bump stop extension plates, 2" shock extensions and 2" extended swaybar links. The front was all plug and play, the rears required minor drilling to enlarge holes for the bump stop plate mounts, and drilling a new hole for the shock extension bracket.


35s now look a little small.


I still need to do the adjustable trackbars and then the carrier bearing drop kit.

New lighter weight Vision 351 17x8 wheels + the 37" light weight OEM Raptor KO2s will likely go on Thursday.

Now that the lift is on, the high clearance full aluminum skids can be installed.
https://www.artecindustries.com/jtskidplate-al36

Thanks @Kidwidataco for the hand on Sunday.

 

Trust me, I much rather would have helped out than be as buried in my homework as I am...

 

Not the best pic, but it’s now dark.

The new KO2 37s with the AEV 2” lift.


No rubbing on the street with the Vision Flow 351 17x8 +30 and 37x12.5” KO2s.

 

The JL mini programmer makes changing tire size in the ECU simple, using the steering wheel controls. 37 KO2 is 36.5” actual according to BFG. So:

 

Is there an option to set color to bronze though? That's what I want to know...

 

Interior dash and infotainment colors are programmable stock, without the programmer. Exterior colors are more technically challenging.

 

This is awesome. Toyota should do this.

 

Does the same thing for gear ratios, so it will be simple to correct when moving to 4.56.

 

Another pic on 37s

 

JW Speaker 7" round heated J2 vs heated J3 headlights



J2 left vs J3 right


Comparing the J3 vs J2 patterns side-by-side, it is easy to see the J2s offer better hot spot and superior output intensity despite the J3s being the premium model. The J3s hot spot is not very focused/well defined. The side-by-side comparison does conceal some other differences though.

Single J2s


vs single J3


The J3s have more light above the pattern cut off (glare) than the J2s, but also have more light and a more uniform light distribution below the main pattern for foreground light. The J2s have a more focused region of output in the upper portion of the beam pattern near the cut off with darker regions in the lower pattern (foreground light) that the J3s do a better job of seamlessly filling.

Low beam J2 uses a single large projector and 2 large semi-circle optics for the low beam


The J3 uses 1 small projector, 2 small and 3 medium semi-circle optics for the low beam, plus the J DRL.


On the J3s the projector is responsible for the hot spot and ECE sloped style cut off, while the multi-semi-circle optics fill in the rest of the pattern.

Low beam output intensity


The J3s are rated at 1320 actual lumen output vs the J2s 750actual lumens. Despite the J2s lower output, they come in at ~31% higher output intensity on low beam by my measured numbers. JWs specs state the J2s should be ~41% higher in peak Cd.

J2 high beam


J3 high beam


The J2 and J3 have very similar high beam patterns, extending the hot spot above the cut off and having a more traditional projector down road focused high beam that lacks the flood feature often seen in OEM high beam assemblies. The J3s do look to do a slightly better job in filling in the pattern with more light outside the hotspot region.

Both the J2s and J3s use 'Dual Burn' meaning the low beam optics are left on with the high beam optics. On the J2s the high beam activates the lower projector and the 2 smaller semi-circle side optics. J2 high beam pictured.


On the J3s, the high beam uses 3 small projectors at the bottom of the assembly. If you look closely at the J3 high beam output shot, you can actually see striations in the pattern due to the 3 projectors vs the J2s single projector. [Likely not visible on small screen mobile]. J3 high beam pictured.


High beam output intensity


My numbers show the J2 high beam being ~17.6% higher in peak output intensity. According to JW speaker specs, the J3s should be about ~27% higher in output intensity. I don't have a great explanation for this discrepancy. 2 points I would consider
1) For high beam in a combination automotive headlamp assembly, I don't use the typical 15-20 minute run time for a stable high beam measurement sine high beam use is usually much shorter than that.
2) My J3 lamp had a defective heater. I had one lamp where the heater didn't work at all, and it turns out this second lamp wouldn't turn the heater off. At first I thought the garage may be too cool, so I heated it to 67 degrees for repeated testing. Even at 67 degrees the J3 heater would turn on and trip my smaller power supply. If you look at the first image in this post, you can see the J3 pulling 5A off the large power supply, while the J2 pulled 1.63. This was because the J3s heater would not turn off. In theory I wouldn't anticipate this affecting output results, but just calling out al the details.

It is worth noting that the J3s offer many more features including integrated turn signal, off-road cornering light, off-road light boost and a light show feature. However the later 3 are bluetooth controlled via phone. While the boost and cornering light features would be readily welcomed, I find I don't use them because I'm not pulling out my phone when I want to see better while driving so I don't consider them a deciding factor for my use.

After a year of driving with the J3s and feeling somewhat underwhelmed, I'm looking forward to street testing the J2s.

 

Now I’m at a loss here…

You went with a spacer lift?

This entire thread no longer computes.

 

LOL. It isn't exactly just a spacer lift. AEV makes very well engineered and thoroughly thought out components, they are not ones for hack solutions. Typical spacers make the vehicle ride higher by putting a spacer ontop of the spring. While making the vehicle higher, it reduces suspension travel by whatever amount the spacer is, it makes the shock ride in the incorrect neutral position often causing poor ride, the bump stops are no longer correctly calibrated with the shock travel and it moves the swaybar out of the proper neutral position. Spacers alone sacrifice a lot of suspension performance in order to ride higher at low cost.

Yes, the AEV kit uses 2" spacers, but also extended the shocks by 2" with shock extension brackets so they ride in the stock orientation and travel range is not affected, it raises the bump stops 2" so they engage at the proper point relative to the shock range and it includes swaybar links that are 2" longer so the swaybar is in the correct orientation, just 2" lower. In short all the suspension components are moved down 2" as a complete system, so the entire system performs exactly as stock, with no negative drawbacks associated with a spacer lift. The entire suspension system is just 2" lower. Going to a 37" tire, the tires are 4" larger than stock, or 2" larger in radius. Without using a spacer or limiting compression in some way the 37" would rub the fender on full compression. With the tire being 2" taller from the wheel, and the suspension system moved 2" down, the max compression clearance in the fender is the same vertically as the stock 33. Everything comes together perfectly in relation to one another.

If you had low quality suspension components, the AEV kit may not be the most enticing, but that isn't the case with the Mojave running the Fox Factory Race Series 2.5s with Fox hydraulic jounce bump stops and extended front travel vs other models. I could have scrapped the whole system (kinda a waste buying a Mojave then) and put in something that cost ridiculous money to gain maybe another 1" of up travel, but that hardly seems worth it.

But all that said. I'm contemplating taking it all off and going back to stock with 35s (but keeping the lighter wheels). My Tacoma was the perfect balance of speed and performance on road, with excellent off road ability. I feel that on 37s with this lift, the truck has crossed into too much off road road oriented at the cost of on road performance and daily driver practicality. One of the things that helped push down this route was the Artec Skid system that raised the belly 3/4" (as the gladiator skids hang ridiculously low), but it requires 1.5" of lift for the front axle clearance. Next Venture has come out with a similar JT skid system in 1/4" aluminum that does not require any lift to run, while also providing 3/4" ground clearance gain. I don't like the design as much, but it solves the shortcoming without adding complications like the Artec system.

 

If you do that I'm charging you for labor

 

You’ll be happier with stock suspension w/ 35’s. That was my setup on the gas JT.


You gave me crap for putting lights on my truck that you felt were sub par. I’m now poking it right back at you…