Vagabond Drifter Camper Buildout and Mods

That was us who got broken into with a bunch of stuff stolen. Sucked. The solution you proposed is the most secure that we've come up with, though the hassle of getting in and out of that has been a barrier to implementation. We got Strawfoot covers (if you can't see it, it's less likely worth the trouble of breaking in for) and are installing some goosegear on one side. On the other side we will screw in plates into the goosegear place that we are going to lock our stuff to. The goosegear drawers are also lockable. We have installed D-rings in place of the cleats around the perimeter channel which will be harder to undo than the cleat we had our last fridge locked onto. We had a high deductible, which sucked when we had to replace all 3K+ of stuff ourselves so we reduced our deductible on home owners insurance to 1k. We also have a camera on the truck now (not that it would do much more than record the next a**hole who does it). We've stopped short of installing a car alarm or putting the crossbar onto it. We are having the goosegear installed this week and then will see how we feel about leaving it on the street (garage in our 1930s home is too small for truck). It's hard to deter every thief, but hopefully all this will reduce the likelihood of repeating this experience.

 

long story of Drifter induced car problems but read on. Something useful to check.

Washed my truck last Friday. A nice couple with another camper top of some sort saw the Drifter and wanted to see inside. Sure!
Move the truck, open it up, show them around, close it up. Get in to leave.
No start. Brake Override Malfunction.

I try everything I can think of, check fuses (I’ve only added two add a fuse for Redarc charger relay and dashcam). Disconnect battery. Run reader and clear everything (there was nothing).

Getting frustrated and running out of ideas I call Toyotacare and get a tow on a Friday at noon. Get nowhere with the dealer Friday.


Monday morning (dealer doesn’t work weekends) I head to the dealer to unload my fridge I left full all weekend. Dealer states they are leaning towards an issue with the tail lights after checking all fuses, dashboard, etc. I know exactly what it is.

Take the service rep, open up the Drifter rear window and I see all the Drifter tail light wires were all worn through. I had noticed they were started to bend and wear before. Bingo. Unhook the Drifter cable. Ask for the keys to check it-no keys and they can’t find the tech. Of course.


Very long story short (finally got my truck back Wednesday afternoon) it was the shorted cable which shorted the brake circuit which I’ve heard can also be caused by bad tail lightbulbs or bad bulb installation.

A reminder to all who have played with any of the factory wiring/fuses/settings/etc to check it for worn, frayed, corroded etc conditions from time to time. These new vehicles have every little thing ran by a computer so some simple lights or worn out cable can leave us stranded.

 

The 3rd brake light on the Drifter needs a better stress relief on the wires coming out of it. I have a replacement that I still haven't installed because I haven't fixed this issue yet on the replacement (and forgot about it since I run a 3rd brake light on the rear of my bike rack at license plate height.)

 

A good heads up, thanks for posting.

I had been noticing similar stress on mine, but never saw any wear of the individual sheathing. However, this prompted me to go take a closer look, and I found that the brake light is almost not even illuminating anymore, so looks like I can add another little project to the list.

 

Speaking of 3rd brake lights.. I've been wanting to cut two holes in the drifter for a while now and install these as brake/reverse lights.

$34 Maxxima M85417R Red LED Ultra Thin Round Hybrid Lightning Stop Turn Tail (STT) Back-Up Light, Flange Mount Reverse Light Compatible for Trailers, Trucks, RVs, Jeep Wranglers

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06ZY74BYR/
It would be easy to put there typically where a rear awning goes, but I'm not sure I want to block that area for potential future modifications like a fixed rear awning.

The oval ones may fit better in this general area:

 

Yes. I had noticed the loom coming loose and then then the wires starting to wear but didn't think much of it. Tail light goes out. I fix. Yah no, whole truck goes out.

New project to dig into and hopefully fix. Small cables to buy and a soldering iron perhaps. Or just remove and live with two normal brake lights and assume that's legal...

 

Makes we also want to dig in and look at the other wiring that has been done to my truck (including my own) just to check on it and see if anything has come loose or been exposed to water/dust that could short something out. All this technology is great until it's not.

 

The "center high-mounted stop lamp" or "CHMSL" aka "third brake light" is required.

CHMSLs have been required in autos since the 1986 model year and in light trucks since 1994, after pilot tests involving taxicab and corporate fleets found that the lights reduced rear-end collisions by 35 percent.​

So my bike rack 3rd brake light at license plate level may not be helping as much as I had hoped (but since the tail lights are partially obscured by bicycle wheels…)

 

Ah! Good point. Forgot it was on the truck before it got covered up with the Drifter. Thank you.

Brings up the point to have have spare bulbs along with your fuses. Was on my way to changing out everything in the truck to LED until I was sent the wrong set and only got 1/4 way through them and now they are buried with my small spools of wire and tools needed to fix my BO Drifter light.

 

Here's a pic of the internal board in my 3rd brake light, in case anyone wants to dig around to find a direct replacement (outside of going through VO).
....Though I didn't have any luck finding the same thing (in red), and the matching ones in other colors were really just alibaba listings anyway.
The lens mounts broke when trying to unscrew those, half of the LEDs were out completely, and the other half very dim, even testing directly to the solder points, so I'd suggest it's not worth trying to fix if yours goes out.
I just ordered a few different similar options off Amazon to see which one will work/adapt best.

Note that I was in the first batch, so maybe it has changed since.

 

Interesting. The board looks like it's epoxy coated for water resistance/waterproofness even though it's mounted inside the Drifter. The solder joints on the surface mount components (SMC) don't look bad, so I'm not sure it's a cold soldering joint failure or other component. Could be a resister, capacitor, or another component.

I think I found it on eBay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/292961061711

 

It is coated, but not very well.
Powering the individual LEDs, they were still somewhat functional, so probably definitely one or more other bad components. But I'd rather just swap it out, especially since the lens mounts broke anyway.

And yeah, I found several amber and blue versions, even on Amazon. But no red, strangely.

 

I’ve gone through two rear brake lights but haven’t found a good way to prevent the cord from eventually pulling out yet as well. Currently using a more flexible protective loose sleeve that seems to be working okay so far, we’ll see. Those seeking a direct replacement, here is the one VO uses: https://www.superbrightleds.com/mor...d-surface-mount-led-light-head-18w/3458/7452/

 

On the note of the brake light, I gotta say the only (small) disappointing aspect of the drifter is the lack of polish in these areas. The parts, including the brake light, that are 3d printed just feel and look kinda cheap. Would much rather something that has been used in a bunch of products and is stress tested than something with the VO logo

 

Oh.. and for those who have powder coats… how are you treating scratches? I just noticed a scrape down to the aluminum on the back bottom outer corner on mine that I presume was there when installed. -_-

 

I just had an idea for adding a stress relief on the rear brake light. Sugru comes in a putty form then cures in a semi-flexible state. Could probably get it to stick to the rear of the light where the wires go in and extend it about an inch along the wires.

 

Awesome, thanks.
That's definitely not the same one I had, but it looks like it may just be an updated version, as it seems to match up dimensionally.

Interesting stuff. I might have to try this out now.

 

Ok, I see now. These seem to only ever be labeled as "strobes", but they're all a standard size, and can be found on all the major marketplaces.
The one originally installed on mine appears to be the generic versions I'm seeing on Amazon/Alibaba/etc.

 

This ain't much help but I live with them. I hand wash my truck two times a year, drifter included and then coat them with wax. They're little badges of honor.

 

Yeah, totally. This was more like 'it was delivered like this, so what can I do from the outset to prevent any issues arising." My camper is currently locked away in a parking structure in the bowels of SF until tomorrow, can post a pic of the issue when we head back north tomorrow.