SoCal Camper shells

Tundra short bed is 5.5' and the Tacoma is 5.04'. I don't think you'd fit comfortably full vertical even with an extra 2-3 inches.

 

Dang, okay well I guess time to save up for a GX or trade in for an AC

 

I camped in my 5th gen 4runner but it wasnt great. felt very tight, so I sold it and bought a DCLB Tacoma lol

 

Nice! We have pretty much the same truck. I'm actually driving out to Torrance tomorrow to talk to the same dealer. Eventually heard back from another, but South Bay were the first to respond (same day) and are slightly cheaper. I love the look of the 100xr but really need a mid-height for my purposes, so will likely go w the 180. It's going to be painful in the $$ department, but I think worth it to get exactly what I want/need.

 

Paul will take care of you. Show him a photo of my truck. He might remember me since I just got it two weeks ago and asked him a bunch of questions.

Yes, I would have gone with the 180 but I like the cab high look better.

I sat inside of mine and I have about 3-4" of headroom, so I won't be putting a raised platform in mine

 

Did you go?

I'm going back to Paul's this week so they can pin-point a window leak (not their fault since Leer builds these at their facility and ships to the dealer).

 

I did - and ordered my shell. Ended up getting the 180. I'm tall and really need the extra head room since I'll be sleeping back there from time to time. That's too bad about the leak but I guess good that we had all that rain for "field testing". Just wondering: he told me they do some extra prep to seal up the truck bed, but did you do any additional weather/dust-proofing yourself before getting the cap installed?

 

They added foam tape at the front/ top rail but I had already added butyl where the sides meets the front to fill the gap (it still leaked). I added some more after the fact which slowed down the leaks (I need to do a bit more investigating) but I just asked Paul if they're going to lift the shell off the bed to fix/ troubleshoot the window leak, because I just ordered

$45 3" RV Trailer Slide Out Wiper Seal with Adhesive Tape | 20 ft Kit (3", 20 Foot)

THIS from Amazon. I plan to stick it to the front inside lip of the shell, so that water is diverted away from the front bed rail when it rains. The sides of the shell have rubber seal on it so it should prevent water coming in on the sides, as I didnt have that issue. My issue was in the front corners, driver side window, and front slider.

It also doesn't rain a ton here in CA but if you have a bed set up left in it, it will get wet. My exped was wet bc I set it up for the first time and was testing how well it self inflates, so i left it in there for a few days during the rain and it had obvious signs of water.

Just yesterday, I installed the ESI tailgate seal (you can install this after the camper is installed).


Also, if you don't want them to tap into your OEM wiring for the brake light, you should get the harness from @daveeasa - mine came a day late, so they tapped into the harness, but I plan on depinning the plug, putting heat shrink over the exposed wires (about 1 mm since they used quick crimps) and using the harness.

 

Oh, man, bummer it missed you by one day.

 

I guess it wasn't technically late, since I had just found out about the product and my camper came 2 weeks early lol

 

tell me more about the harness? Is tapping in to the oem wiring not advisable? (with as much as I'm spending, I don't mind spending a little more to do it right) I asked Paul about the weather prep and he told me they will take care of it all for me - adding some butyl tape in the gaps etc. but If there is any extra I can do now while the cap is off I'm inclined to do that. I have a similar tailgate sealer strip on it now and it does a good job for me. Currently have a Lomax hard fold tonneau that I'll need to remove and sell...

 

https://fbchs.square.site/product/t...true&sa=false&sbp=false&q=false&category_id=6

it just prevents you/ them from tapping into the factory harness. It'll look much cleaner IMO.

Let Paul do all the sealing because if it still leaks, you can bring it back and they'll fix it. I should have done that but I was just doing my own due diligence from other user experiences here. This last weeks rain was a good test. Condensation also seems like something you cant control. Mine had a lot of condensation in it just from the cold wet weather. Yesterday I left one of the side windows open to air out since we caught a break in the weather.

 

Cool thanks - I'll order one. Is this just for the break light or does it power the dome light too?

 

To prep for the shell, I did some foam tape and silicone. I know I have photos but looks like I didn't post them to the build thread. Foam tape is to protect the paint and silicone for the gaps. Tonered's build thread may have some photos from his. You do that with the shell plastic caps off, foam tape, poke holes, silicone (think I used 315 rtv?) then slap the caps on. Then just the front corners where the gap is, goop or the Leer tape stuff or whatever. Still not airtight till you seal up the tailgate but nice to have it dry inside. My '02 Tundra leer is not nearly as well sealed on the windoors, leaks like my dog trying to pee.

 

It's for the third brake light.

The dome light goes directly to the battery because you can turn it on when the truck is off.

 

No good source for +12v for the dome in the taillight but you can potentially grab it at the tow connector. Just we (Johnny aka puppypunter and I) don't have that as an item yet, maybe down the road. Some use the parking light for dome but I personally think that's a lousy compromise. I have switchpros circuits in the back for things like this, though I'm way overdue for more light in the shell.

However, the bed light connector is an option for dome lights on 2020+, you'd use the cargo switch to fire it.

 

Thanks for the advice. @daveeasa I just ordered a harness from you.

 

Now i just have to decide what I'm going to do for a cab rack (or wait)...

 

You need help spending money?

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/taco-garage-the-r2-t2-our-humble-attemp-at-a-roof-rack.792951/

 

Circling back since it's raining again. I checked the camper after about 6 hours of rain, and am happy to report that the camper is now 99% leak free. There is a little bit of residual when I open the rear glass and it drips into the bed but thats it. The corners of the bed are dry and so is the window that was repaired last week!