k3g's third gen build

Hey everyone, I'm new to tacomas, and new to having my own Build Thread! But, with the roadmap I've got planned, I figured keeping it documented might be useful, especially since I tend to do a lot of my own stuff, and don't mind sharing plans when I do.

The Truck:
2020 Tacoma, TRD Off Road, Access Cab, Silver, in automatic. I found it used for a good price with 6k miles on it. It came with the pro wheels, baja fog lights, and more goodies I wouldn't find til later.


First Priorities:
First up was to install a dash cam. I used a simple add-a-fuse to tie it into the internal fuse panel, pulled the A pillar cover, routed it up from the fuse panel, and tucked the wire into the headliner.

Second priority was bed security and dust cleanliness. I know where this truck will end up going, and I want to keep things as clean as possible. I picked up a Rototrax XR one retractable cover. They said it should be a two person install... and they're right. It's technically doable for one person, but yeesh, that was awkward and would have been way easier with another person.



Next Up: Bed Racks
Look, I'm really particular about a few things, and those giant c-clamp looking atrocities people call "tonneau cover bed rack mounts" are a disgrace. The bed cover I picked has a T-Slot across each bed rail, and is firmly attached to the stock bed rails. Bam, solution: Fab up a simple bed rack that uses the T-Slot. Make sure it has a bit of flex to not bind up the back-end when things get weird, but also enough load rating to hold a light roof tent and some more OvErLAnD gear. Of course. So, a few hours of CAD, seven or eight revisions, and a newfound hatred for OnShape's sheet metal tools later, I've got some parts out for cutting and bending.

Here's an Extremely High Budget render of the whole thing:

To head off a few questions, I used an estimate of 600lbs per rail, spread across the center third of the rail, and came out with a 2.34 safety margin (so we're bending at 1600 ish lb per rail). Some hand-waving later, and we're comfortable with the rack holding me and another person my size in a roof tent, with some vigorous bouncing on occasion.

Since the sliding rack's rails are aluminum of some unknown bloodline, I found a few decent spots on the rails and added holes to double the number of anchor points to the OEM bed rails. I ended up needing the included shims to get the bed cover moving smoothly, but a little elbow grease goes a long way.

Rack uprights are bent sheets of 10 gauage A36 steel. Crossbars are also A36, 0.1" wall welded tube. Uprights have slots and holes added in a regular pattern to make mounting things and stuff easier over time.

But we're talking a vehicular born structure here, dear reader, so the forces in the upwards direction ought to be thought of too! We're gonna use 2x 3/8-16 studs per upright tower. Each pair should be enough to hold the rack + tent + OvErLAnD kit, but seeing as we're spread out across the whole bed rail, we're plenty held down from the uption of the trucktion.

Remember that mention of other goodies? Turns out the previous owner left a pair of bed stiffeners installed for me. How sweet of them! I made sure to back the holding hw off, check for loctite, and retorque properly. You never know what kind of torque ratings people use to install aftermarket parts, so it never hurts to make damn sure something that needs enough ooga-doogas to hold it on, has it.

That's where we're at today, steel is on the way from a fab shop, and I'll pick up the roof rails this week from the local metal shop. Updates to come!

 

Nice looking truck...and great starter kit mods...aftermarket fogs, pro wheels, etc.

Three rail system for your RTT is plenty of room for the dynamic/static weight ratings.

Curious how the risers affix to the slot rail, that is the only point of concern for me in the off road durability/vibration equation.

 

I'm using a pair of McMaster 91523A624 per upright. Carriage washers and good ol' grade 8's to do the holding-down bits. I don't expect to be sending moguls or jumping the truck, so it's enough for me to feel comfortable mounting a Tepui Foothill up top (122lbs + hardware).

I'm on the fence about sticking a thin sheet of rubber between the uprights and the slot rail to add a bit of damage protection, but I know then I'll lose some clamping from the T-Slot nuts...

 

Nice start with the truck

Welcome!

 

The steel has landed! I shot some CAD off to oshcut to get zapped and bent, then made a trip to my local metal supermarket for some mild steel box tube. I needed at least .12 wall to make my stiffness requirement. The rack measures 52" wide on each horizontal span. It sits 12" above the Retrax T-slot rails, leaving some rear view mirror visible. I'll be mounting my roof tent on it as soon as Wednesday, which will help the truck's major outline and general 'shape' solidify.


The vertical slots and patterned holes in the uprights are there for a reason: The slots are spaced evenly for some moving self-retracting ratchet straps I like, and the holes are for upcoming add-ons, like traction board holders, antenna mounts, lateral stiffeners, and rotopax mounts. I may add a hi-lift jack mount inside the tonneau cover, but all that stuff will be figured out later.


ps: I know the angle here makes the nasty burr on that yellow-end box tube look like it's been crushed in by excessive bolt torque, but I promise it's just a burr. It bugged me so I went out to the truck and sanded it off. Proper torque wrench has been applied at all steps.

I had the uprights laser cut from 10 gauge A36 sheet. Oshcut has pretty fair pricing for small runs of brackets. Overall I'm pretty dang happy with the fit and finish. I'm on a time crunch to use the roof tent for Memorial day, so things like powdercoating and fine tuning details are gonna have to wait a bit. I'll probably choose a matte black, maaaaybe hammertoned for the powdercoat. Goal here is low key function-first, so this powdercoating will be thicc and done by a good shop.

Upcoming additions include an antenna mount:


More to come!

 

Updates on the build!

I haven't had time to powdercoat the rack yet, too many trips and not enough time to pull it all apart. First up, I picked up a James Baroud Discovery Evolution roof tent for topping the rack. I've had a soft-cover roof tent, and it sold me on quicker setup and a better mattress, but this hard shell is a game changer. I'm pretty sold on the wedge-style, as I can set up camp in ~30s and crash out for good sleep.


I kept the Nomad Kitchen I used to use in my subaru since I already had it, but to be honest I'll probably sell it eventually and figure out something else. It's a bit too high up for my girlfriend to use, and takes up a fair bit of bed space. It did get used pretty heavily by my group on our last group outing, shown here being used by my friend to make us mapo tofu shortly before it hailed on us:


As far as truck mods, I've had time to do a few more installs of parts I already had. First up is the ARB Dual compressor, mounted on a Slee Offroad bracket:

This picture is from when I was still fine-tuning the location. It's now a bit further back so I can properly open my air box. I added a manifold for future use, and picked up enough air fittings, hose, and other parts to make a DIY version of the 'sponsored by wifey' air system. But, too many trips! I got the compressor wired up to be controlled by my Auxbeam 8-gang switch, which makes for convenient airing up and down.

Overall, switching from a really fun but not quite capable enough subaru to this tacoma has been a great decision. It's been a fun project, and has already taken me to some great places:


Next up, now that the Auxbeam controller is installed (pics of this to come as well):
1. Cell booster (using the antenna mount previously pictured)
2. raptor lights because why the hell not
3. amber floods for campsite finding/parking assist at night
4. adding a y-cable to my trailer hookup to add a third brake light to the back of the roof tent. I don't like how it blocks the oem one.

On the long term list, I'm starting to think about armor and suspension. I'm leaning towards an OME BP51 build due to the adjustability, with icon leafs in the rear to handle the extra ~300lbs I've added with tent, camping gear, etc. Armor-wise I'm thinking aluminum, since I don't really rock crawl, and this truck is more of a camping/mtb adventure vehicle.

 

I finally got off my ass and pulled the rack and tent off the truck for cleanup. One PNW roadtrip of testing later, and I'm stoked on the design. I added some covers for aesthetic, it's got the logo of my friend-group's nerd collective on it. Eventually I'll be backlighting the possum for aesthetics and (hand wavy justification incoming) anti-collision lights when doing death valley trips).




Defects:
My powdercoating shop covered over the bolts that I wanted removed, and didn't plug the holes I asked for... but it was cheap and fast enough that I'm not mad. I'll work around it and get back to building this thing up. I also forgot to send my antenna bracket in, so it's crappily rattle canned for now.

I also replaced the Ironman all country tires with Mickey Thompson Baja Boss AT's in 265/70R17. I went with the non-LT rated ones for weight savings, and since I don't tow much I don't think I need the extra plies. I'm really happy with them so far.

 

Subbed

 

I was hoping to add some updates this weekend, as I've gotten a bumper, winch, and some armor in from Greenlane Offroad, but there's truck drama that's making me hold off.

Basically I bought the truck almost 140 days ago from Carmax, but I still haven't gotten a title from them. At this point I'm hesitating to do any cutting mods, or to continue working on this truck until I have the title and can properly register the truck.

 

The plot thickens: Turns out carmax didn't properly check their paperwork, and sold me a truck with a title that wasn't endorsed by the previous owner.

So, this build is about to turn into a pile of parts and returning the truck. Bummer, it had just started

 

Where is the dislike button?

 

WTF?! How'd they even get it to sell without a proper title?

That sucks, man.

 

No clue how they effed it up this badly, but we’re into lawyer territory now.

 

Hope you come out on top.

 

Best to store the truck in the garage until something happens. They might make another “mistake” and send the repo man.

 

I have the Retrax ONE XR as well. I really like it!. It is very strong and durable! It keeps people from messing with stuff in the bed. They just cut the soft covers in my area. Nevertheless, sounds like you have other issues to deal with.

 

I really enjoyed the retrax cover. It did pretty good at keeping dust out of my truck when on trips. Water prevention was meh, but it did work ok. I didn't like the options available for running cargo bars, so I made my own that fit my needs.

But yeah, other issues... At this point I don't even think carmax can title this truck, but we'll see how this shakes out.

 

I don't have any water issues (Knock on wood) I didn't like the price for the Rhino Rack cross bars $$$ but they integrated nicely and I can mount my Thule carrier right on it.
You made that rack!? You can start a business here!!! I'm sure anyone with a retrax rail system would be into that!

I can't believe the shit Carmax is putting you through. It seems to be a state by state issue from what I understand. https://jalopnik.com/carvana-banned-from-selling-cars-in-illinois-after-tons-1848935705
Keep checking for class action lawsuites!
We sold two of our cars to Carvana but I had titles in hand- so, they didn't have to go through the issues with the lienholders or the state DMV (That's another issue onto itself!)

That's a beautiful ride!- I hope all works out for you.

 

Thanks, I've thought about it, but life has been a bit too busy to start offering a product right now. Maybe soon!