Tacomarin’s Chubby Unicorn Build

Very good read Sir, enjoyed the pictures and a great looking rig

 

Thanks, glad you're enjoying them. Writing mostly for my own posterity so I don't forget it all, and so I do something with the thousands of pictures I amassed. It was a fun trip!

 

From Kodachrome, we headed over and up to Bryce Canyon National Park. First of all, it's not a canyon. Second, it was cold! But that was good... it seemed to help tamp down the spring break effect. We were originally planning to find dispersed camping outside of the park, but found plenty of sites open at the campground in the park so opted for that. With micro spikes in hand (pro tip - rent these at Ruby's Inn in town for $10 a day), we decided to take on the hike from Sunrise viewpoint to Sunset, tacking on the Peek-a-boo loop trail. So many hoodoos! And so many people hiking through ice, snow, and mud in sneakers. We were thankful for the spikes and trekking poles, particularly on the icy switch backs coming up to sunset. It looked like it was a harrowing experience for others. The following morning we made the drive out the main road to Rainbow Point, and stopped to get all the quintessential spectacular views along the way before heading down to Zion.

Sunrise Viewpoint




Sunset Viewpoint


Natural Bridge and Bryce Point


Okay, so to be fair we arrived in Zion for Easter weekend. But hole. E. Shit. We were not prepared for so many people! We quite randomly had the opportunity to sit down with the park superintendent, who gave us some great recommendations for off the beaten path things to check out, and recommended braving the main park a little later in the day. So that's what we did.



Zoo-on, as I took to calling it, wasn't my favorite. I can't lie, the crowd just kind of ruined it for me. It was inescapable and we weren't prepared for it mentally. The landscape is spectacular, the hikes are fun, we had no desire to try to do Angel's Landing or the Narrows so we didn't even bother trying to get permits, and they are actually managing all the chaos quite well with the shuttles. It just isn't how I like to experience nature. It felt very... Disney. Nonetheless, glad we went, not in a hurry to go back.

The emerald pools was more brown than emerald this time of year




We camped to the east of the park and had no trouble finding plenty of satisfactory dispersed camping options. Having had our fill, we headed down to Kanab for a couple days in hopes of scoring one of the lottery permits for The Wave. This process is odd. They set up a "geofence" to allow entry into the online lottery, basically your IP needs to be within a certain radius of Kanab or Page, and if you get drawn for the permit, you have to be able to show up the next morning at 8 AM for orientation. Or something. You need permits for The Wave (North Coyote Buttes), and for South Coyote Buttes. We spent 2 days and about $40 applying for permits to no avail, and decided that was enough of that. And it wasn't all for naught. We did find lovely dispersed camping north of Kanab, got snowed on, and goofed off in the Sand Caves. We got showered up, did laundry, and found some damn good Mexican food.



Having had enough sitting around though, we decided to explore what we could of the area. We hiked into Wire Pass / Buckskin Gulch, which is the longest slot canyon in North America (maybe the world). We came across some petroglyphs created by an artist with a sense of humor, depicting a horned animal mid-deification, and hiked into the deep canyon until we felt we had seen enough, then headed back out. Definitely cool, but not the best canyon we had seen.



We continued on from there toward South Coyote Buttes. We didn't score a permit, but in inspecting the map, I found that we could dispersed camp just outside of there, and hike right up to the boundary and get some pretty good views. So that's what we did! The so called teepees were definitely cool to see. This area is so remote and only accessible with 4x4 or a very long hike that I'm not sure I understand why it needs permits, but such is life.



Many of the roads in the area are signed 4x4 required, no AWD, and I will say I think that's fair. There were some seriously deep sections of sand followed by sizeable ledges. We were aired down and in 4Lo for a lot of it, and even then there were some pucker moments going through some deep sand. Eventually we made it to our destination: White Pocket. This is the one major sandstone formation you can go explore without a permit, but it is waaay out there. 4x4 required, and a long day if you want to day trip it from anywhere. We found an amazing dispersed camp site, set up the awning, and set out to exploring these other worldly formations. And spring was finally here!



If you'll remember, April 2024 was when another total solar eclipse was happening over the US. Unfortunately, the closest area to us along the path of totality was all the way back in Texas. And not even west Texas! Inspired but some of our good friends who were road tripping out from Ca and staying with their family, we decided what the hell, we're already on the road, what's a couple thousand mile detour at this point? So as we left the Vermillion Cliffs, we touched base and decided to rendezvous outside of Tucson near Seguaro NP. Along the way, I decided to finally get weighed, and holy crap were we heavy! Granted, we had probably 500-1000 lbs of extra stuff from typical, but I didn't think we were THAT heavy! That explains why the leaf springs were so flat .



After camping for the night and reconnecting with our friends, we decided to explore Seguaro NP before hitting the road back to Texas. Seguaro was really cool. The cacti are massive, the ocotillo were huge and vibrant, and the sound of wind blowing through cactus needles was something I had never heard before, and it blew my mind.



We high tailed it out of there, trying to put as many miles on the clock as we could. We stayed one night at an RV park, then arrived in Bandera, Tx the following day to camp at our friend's grandma's place. We goofed off, drank too much, shared stories, and ate well. Unfortunately, the weather didn't totally cooperate for the eclipse, and we ended up being clouded out for totality. We saw about 75% totality, but then the clouds moved in and shut it down. But day became night in a matter of seconds, the wildlife went still, and it was weird. Very weird. And I'm glad we made the detour.



Game on! We jammed out of there, now 100% over driving across Texas. We made a good effort, and landed at Valley of Fires, New Mexico for the night. The following day we continued west, and made it to just outside of Winslow, Az, where you know you have to go get a picture.



We spent a half day exploring Petrified Forest NP, which was really quite cool. During the late Triassic period, roughly 225 million years ago, these trees which were then located on super continent Pangea around the equator, were buried and fossilized. About 60 million years ago during the uplifting of the Colorado plateau, erosion began exposing these fossils. Utterly mind blowing. And this was just a side trip on our Wonderquest.



...to be continued...

 

A couple more pictures from Petrified Forest NP.



This building was made from, what else? Petrified wood.


The end was in sight now. We still had about 3 weeks left in our trip-- longer than the longest vacation we had taken in over 15 years-- but as the end drew nearer the reality of returning to the real world began setting in. So we ignored those thoughts as much as we could and headed to Grand Canyon NP.

My New Year's resolution last year was to go to the Grand Canyon. I was close, having been in Flagstaff for work, but a winter storm advisory kept me away. So finally, it was happening. Jessie's dad had lived in Scottsdale for a brief period, and so Jessie had been to and hiked into the Grand Canyon at least once, but this was all new for me. And it did not disappoint. The magnitude of this canyon is incomprehensible. It just goes on... and on... and on.


We were there at just the right time of year. Mid April, the temps were mild, the weather was clear, so we decided to take advantage of it and day hike to the bottom and back. The park makes it abundantly clear that this is very much ill-advised, and for good reason. This was a mammoth day. We were on trail by 7 AM, reached Phantom Ranch at about 11 AM, and were back at the top at 4 PM. In total it was about 15 miles, 5,000 feet down, and 5,000 feet back up. It felt like a huge accomplishment, and was just so completely spectacular. There is no perspective that you can have on the canyon like walking down to the bottom of it.

We were trying not to end up like this poor fella






It just keeps going down!


Finally - the bottom!

On our way back up


Do I recommend others do it? Hell no! But we had been doing a lot of hiking and had been at elevation for several months, so it felt very much within our capacity at that point. I can't say the same for many others we saw on trail, and since GCNP averages one rescue a day, with double digit mortalities every year, I definitely wouldn't advise the general public to do something like this. We found dispersed camping just outside of the park and slept very well that night!


We headed down to Sedona where, amazingly, some dear friends (@RangerComa and @moweryaviation) drove out from CA to meet up with us for a weekend of playing. And they even brought out my mountain bike! Dispersed camping around Sedona isn't fantastic, but we managed to find some good enough spots to hold all of us, and spent a few days hiking, biking, and exploring the area. We drove as far up Schnebly Road as we could (gate closed for seasonal closure), hiked Soldier's Pass, rode Hi-Line trail, played in the river at Slide Rock, and hiked along the river in Oak Creek.

On top of Schnebly with Andrew


Red rock mountain biking


Soldiers Pass cave and the seven sacred pools


Playing in the river


The crew


Beautiful Sedona


This year we turned 40! Yowza, time flies. Fortunately, we weren't doing it alone. And somehow when our dear college friends proposed a group celebration, we managed to convince them to do it in Scottsdale right when we were passing through. So we parked our truck, and partied all weekend long with some of our closest friends. Jessie and I were just so excited to have a shower on hand that everything else was pure bonus!



Now fully on the return path, we headed back into California, with a camp rendezvous with my folks in Joshua Tree, NP. We met up at White Tank campground, and spent the next few days playing amongst the rocks and admiring the Joshua Trees. Truly a magical place!





Ocotillos blooming with my mom and bonus dad


Full moon rising


And now we were just dragging our feet.... well truthfully, we had renters staying in our place until May 1, so we had some time to kill. So we headed towards the coast. We stayed a night in the San Gabriel Mountains, which were socked in and spooky, then headed to Santa Barbara to see some friends. We drove up to SLO and hit up some classics: Shell Beach, Firestone Grill, and Bishops peak, then stayed a sleepless night on top of windy Cuesta Grade just outside of town. The next day, we headed to Fresno, back where we had started, to see some friends, and spend a couple of days with my family.

Socked in in the San Gabriels


SLO classics


Valley things


And just like that... it was all over. We returned home May 1, and started putting our house back together. It's good to be home. We've got a new pup in our life now - Rio - who we adopted 5 whole days after being home. He's a great addition and helps keep us out of our own heads too much.



One of the most fascinating things about this trip is the realization of how differently the same amount of time can pass for people. We had just spent the past 9 months on a Wonderquest, where every day was truly unique. Our phones are testaments to this, with dozens of pictures from every single day. We remember each day, the things we ate, the people we talked to, the things we saw. Time passed so slowly, but not in the sense that it was boring; in the sense that it was savored. And now we've been home for 7 months, and for the most part, it's flown by. Like a microwave dinner. Back in the routine... back in the mundaneness of everyday life.

It turns out that not every day can be an adventure. But maybe, some day, it will be again.

 

Alright, time for a build update. Fortunately for us, the truck and our setup worked really well for the whole trip. Our biggest battle was carrying all of our shit, which by the end of our trip we had pretty dialed in. We have some optimization I'm planning on doing this winter, but all in all our setup is solid. We have learned that one of the differences with having a 90 lb dog is that we need to be able to carry more water since he goes through about 1.5 gallons per day! So I have plans for that, updates to come.

Mechanically, there were no real issues. My first patch of my cracked sheet metal above my radiator core support failed somewhere in Arizona when I hit a bigger than expected whoop at faster than expected speeds. But it was still a success in my book, proof that the repair was holding the load of the sheet metal. So I upped the gauge, used some galvanized sheet metal (I learned that you can't bond to paint because the paint will fail), and thoroughly prepped all surfaces. I also switched to a different adhesive this time that is more viscous, which seems to adhere very well. So far so good... time will tell!


I also discovered the source of my front end squeaks. Well... I already knew, I just didn't know how bad it would be. I've been planning on doing a shock rebuild soon, so I'd been ignoring my spherical bearings, but I could ignore no longer. I decided to add a 1/4" top hat spacer to my coil overs to effectively get 1/2" more down travel (extended bump stops keep from bottoming out the shocks), when I discovered that my spherical bearings, misalignment spacers, and mounting bolt were absolutely destroyed. What I thought was going to be a quick "throw on a spacer" project turned into a much bigger ordeal. The amount of bolt that was worn through was flat out scary.



Fortunately I had an extra set of hands from my step dad, and fortunately 303 shock service had everything in stock that I needed. So out with the old destroyed bearings, and in with the new. Not surprisingly, all the squeaks and clunks went away, and the top hat spacer is working awesome. Much less topping out than before. I do wish I had about 2 threads more sticking through the nuts to fully engage the Nyloc features, but there is plenty of thread through the nut portion and I'm keeping an eye on the torque. I might throw some thread locker on there for good measure when I rebuild them too.



Something that's been on my radar and that I knew would need addressing some day was my leaf packs. These have been a pain in my ass since day one, probably similar to most people. I had started with OME Dakars because frankly, when I first started this build, that was pretty much the only option. Everything from Deaver then was custom, expensive, and a long lead time. Things have changed, and some Stage 3 Deavers popped up used in my area so I decided to jump on it. And shit... while I was in there, why not do the BAMF shackles and hangers too, right? There just so happened to be a used set local as well.

Anyone who says that the BAMF hanger project isn't that bad is full of shit. It sucks. It's loud, messy, and a frustrating process to remove all those rivets. I'm sure there are tricks to make it better, but at the end of the day you're removing stuff that was never meant to be removed, so it's pretty well designed to be permanent. Fortunately I had a couple amazing friends to help out, along with a great air chisel, and we got the job done. But it sucks! And to be honest, I don't think it does anything the factory hangers don't do perfectly well. Sure, maybe it's stiffer, but who knows if that's a good thing (see my posts on cracked sheet metal above the radiator body mounts after using stiffer body mounts). But whatever, no one seems to be reporting any downsides, now I have greasable shackle bushings, hopefully it's all good.



UNfortunately, the Deaver Stage 3's just aren't enough spring for Chubbs. I had suspected this could be the case based on some other friends' setups. Chubbs is heavy, especially with that BAMF dual swing out, and even more so when I'm carrying a bike rack and bike. So I needed to do something so that I could actually carry some weight and have some up travel before hitting my bumps. Funny enough, even with how limited up travel I had and how flat these leaf springs were, the ride quality was appreciably better than with the Dakars. Planted? Not by any stretch of the imagination. But very linear feeling, with no harshness when the bumps engaged.



So I called Deaver to see what they thought I should do. These folks are great, and he gave me some options. 1) I could come in and they could get me sorted (unfortunately they are in SoCal); 2) I could ship my leaf packs and they could add a leaf to them; 3) They could make a custom leaf pack for me; or 4) I could find a local spring shop to make and add a leaf. So I called around, and found Valley Spring Works in nearby Dixon. The owner was great, and said I could bring my leaf packs over and they would add a leaf, or I could bring the truck and they could do the whole thing. Well, they are an hour away, I wanted him to look at my springs under load to decide the best option, so it just made sense for them to do the whole thing. Yeah, it cost an extra $300, but then they had full control over the outcome, so that's what I opted for.

The end decision was to add another leaf, use leaf stock that was the same thickness but wider so it would have a bit more carrying capacity, and that he would taper in around the u-bolts. He was also going to re-arch the whole pack, and we decided to throw some 3 degree shims in there as well to help ensure good pinion angles. Of course that also meant new retainers and center pins. While the leaves were out, he measured the hardness and found that Deaver uses a few softer leaves in combination with harder leaves, which is maybe how they get different progression in their springs. I also had him spray all the leaves with dry moly spray lube, which Deaver recommends doing to reduce noise.



Check out this beast!


In total, it ended up being about $600 in materials and $300 in labor. So in sum total including what I paid for the used leaf pack, about the same as a custom leaf pack from Deaver, which I suppose this basically is. And it was installed, which is an added bonus since my back was not in a good place those days.



Finally!!! We have a rake again, we have up travel, the shocks are at mid stroke, and the "stance" looks soo good! The leaf springs feel great too. I backed waaaay off on my compression adjustors and the suspension is feeling really good. I do have some groans coming from the leaf springs, so I might try to get some more lube in there to see if I can quiet them down, but such is life with leaf springs. All in all, I'm finally super happy with the suspension!



That's it for now. More projects in the works and updates to come.

 

Sometimes I get ideas in my head that I just can't shake. I noodle and noodle and noodle, and then the only thing left to do is do it. That's this project for sure.

One thing I've always hated about the Drifter is how annoying it is to stow the bed. Shifting the panels is totally functional, but the ergonomics suck. You have to fold the mattress up, jam the panels underneath, they always want to jump off the track, and if you have the bedding up there it's an even bigger PITA. Anyway, I hate it. And when I saw my buddy's Alucab with a bed that lifts up, I just new that's what I needed.

So then I got to noodling. I found a couple other folks who had done a lift up bed in their Drifter - one being Christin Whettin's (@Badassbrunette) old setup, the other being Haven Overland's build here on TW. So I knew it was doable. Both used an aluminum frame with plywood, and some gas struts to lift it up. Simple enough, right?

There were a couple of key things I wanted to be sure to be able to address with this: 1) Add carpeting under the mattress to help prevent condensation; 2) Still be able to keep our sleeping bed and pillows up top. As is, we are right at the absolute limit for being able to close the top with our Hest mattress, 2 pillows and double sleeping bag. I would be removing the condensation pad from under our mattress, but that is at most 1/4". So keeping it minimal profile was absolutely critical. And even though I do know how to weld aluminum, I don't have an easy way to weld aluminum. Fuck it, rivets work damn well right? And my last design decision was rather than use plywood, I would keep the existing foam/aluminum composite bed panels as the main platform, and just modify them to work with the new frame. I mean, they work well enough as a bed platform, they're light as hell, insulated, why not?

Being the type to over-analyze everything, I started in CAD with the basic layout, determined what length struts I would need (I don't understand why so many people mount gas struts the other direction), then calculated the total weight to estimate how strong of struts I would need. Then I added a bit more to be safe. So I ended up at 50lb struts


The first thing to address is that the panels needed to be cut down to allow them to lift all the way up. The panels are aluminum skinned foam composite with aluminum U-channel end caps. I got an aluminum blade for my circular saw, and holy shit it cut like butter through this. Absolutely blown away. I ended up cutting them down to 47.5" overall width, allowing 1/2" of clearance with the camper frame to allow it to lift up.



I placed 1/4x20" riv nuts around the border of the bed panels to allow them to mount to the frame. I really thought the skin of these panels was more substantial, maybe 1/16", but in reality these are foil thin. They have amazing rigidity given how thing the skin is. They're so thin that it kind of worried me, so I ended up flipping the panels over so that the flange of the riv nut was on the bottom side to take advantage of the surface area. And then I put a couple extra in for good measure. I don't know why the hell I drilled these holes first instead of drilling the holes in the frame, then lining them up with the panel, but that's what I did and came to regret later on. Word to the wise - drill your frame mounting hole first, then do the ones in your bed panel! Also, if you don't want to use rivnuts (which definitely have their limitations, just through-bolt them or use binding nuts.



I built the basic frame out of 1-1/4" x 1/8" angled aluminum, with 1-1/2" x 1/8" flat aluminum flat stock and all riveted together. I cut all the aluminum to size using my miter saw with an aluminum blade and holy shit did that work well! All the flat stock really does is provide a hinge point for the frame, and support the bottom half of the mattress, so where others have used plywood I took a gamble that the flat stock would handle that, but allow the mattress and bedding to compress when the lid is closed. Then Adam (@RangerComa) and I took to mounting it to the panel which I had already installed rivnuts in . What a pain in the ass. We figured out a method that worked and got everything pretty much perfectly lined up, but it was definitely frustrating and not recommended.


After putting the center strap in, I realized it would have been way smarter to have it connect to the lip of the bed panel. So I added a couple tabs. I wish I had thought of it before so I could have just cut that piece a two inches longer!


I used big ol' 1/4" rivets to secure the hinge to the frame. This hinge is ridiculous, but the only ones I could find that lay completely flat are gate hinges or piano hinges. And I also ideally wanted something about 1/8" thick so it would sit flat to the bottom of the frame. All that I'm sure is over-thought, but that's what I wanted so I ended up with some big ass hinges. They work great though, and they were cheap, so what the hell.



While the bed was out, I went ahead and carpeted the front bed panel that is part of the camper itself. I'm a big fan of adhesive backed carpet tiles for projects like this because they're cheap, easy to install, look decent, and if one of them gets damaged/stained, you can easily just replace that tile. Of course being cheap, they don't all match perfectly, but the camera really exacerbates how different those shades are.


With the platform mounted to the aluminum frame, I employed my wife to do some carpeting while I installed some bracketry in the camper.



Now to figure out how to get this thing to support our weight. The original design has the platform overlapping the side rails of the camper. Unfortunately, at that width they also hit the lip of the frame just above the bed panel, hence why I had to cut them down by a few inches. That means that I needed something to hold them up to the side rail. So I decided to create a lip for the platform using 1-1/4" angled aluminum sections that I would bolt to rivnuts installed in the sides and front of the camper. And then I set Adam to task with drilling said holes . Fortunately, he brilliantly observed that the LED light strips and camper wiring run right behind where we intended to install the rivnuts. So with careful measurement and planning, he threaded the needle and found a safe window for them to go. We ended up having to mount them lower than expected, so I added a 3/8" plywood trim to the top of the side pieces to make up the difference.



Then we looked at it, and I said, how the fuck are we going to get this back in there? Well it turns out that the back tent window is just barely wide enough to pretty much fit it in there. Fortunately vinyl has a little give to it. Thank goodness because the alternative was disassembly or taking out the cabinets. But we got that sucker in there, and it felt rock solid on the platform mounts.



The last thing to do was to mount the struts. Long story short, those composite bed panels are not strong enough to just use sheet metal screws. I ended up replacing with 10-32 rivnuts, which I also placed all the way through the panel with backer nuts. It's maybe overkill, but 50lbs is a lot of force on those brackets. And finally, lift off!


The sucker works! Without any mattress or bedding on it, it's kind of a scary amount of force to get those struts to come back down. But with additional weight it feels very controlled and normal. And it lifts up beautifully with all the bedding and pillows. I still have to finish up the carpeting on the underside, but otherwise I'm pretty stoked on how this came out!

 

How'd the shackle hanger and crossmember install go? Truck looks great, and that trip had to have been amazing.

 

I don't know if everyone has downplayed how annoying those rivets are or I just ignored them . They sucked to get out, especially through the gross member, but once those were out it was smooth sailing! I've tried with and without the cross member, and haven't noticed a huge difference, but I left it installed because I figured it's not a bad thing to have a little more support with all our extra weight. I haven't tried to tie it into the factory cross member yet either. Not sure I will bother since it seems super robust as is right now. So all in all, . Thanks for the goods!

 

Love it!!!!where do you source the carpet tiles must have a look into these Thanks

 

You know, this small little site featuring artisanal crafters called Amazon

$14 CISSLOR Self Adhesive Carpet Floor Peel Tile Square 12 Pcs 12" x 12" Peel and Stick Carpet Floor Tiles Home Furnishings Floor Easy Install DIY (12, Gray)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08LGSYGFB?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1

 

This is something I've been wanting to do. I may have to copy the way you made the platform. Looks good!

do you have a picture of this replacement? sounds simple enough but a picture helps me visualize what I need to buy. I was thinking of just using some nuts and bolts with fender washers but I do like using rivnuts instead.

 

Now that it's done and I know it works, it wasn't that bad. But for a while there while I was in it I was like, WTF am I doing messing with something that's totally functional!

I'll get some pictures soon... whenever it stops raining. What happened was that I originally tried using sheet metal screws to mount the strut brackets to the bottom of the panel and they just ripped out. So I drilled out the holes and put #10-32 rivnuts in with the flange on the bottom side. It was more solid, but I still didn't totally trust it so I drilled all the way through the panel, put some longer 10-32's all the way through, and put nuts on those so that they're at least engaging both sides of the panel. Hopefully some pictures will help make sense of that.

Bottom line is mounting to one side of the panel is sketchy, mounting through the panel is pretty damn solid.

ETA: With where the brackets end up relative to the frame that's mounted to the top of the panel, it's not really possible to use fender washers. It'll make sense with the pics

 

Some more pictures of the bed platform details. Still need to finish up the carpeting, but very happy with this. We took it on our first camping trip over the Thanksgiving holiday and it is so nice being able to easily lift the bed out of the way!

Here are the detail images of how I mounted the strut brackets for @rob1208


Some more detail shots of the final brackets to support the platform. I'm going to pull these off and Raptorline them at some point.



Precision placement of the rivnuts between the wireloom and LED strips, courtesy of @RangerComa


I picked up this Rugged Radio GMRS unit a few months back from a friend. I had it velcro'd to the side of the transmission tunnel, but decided to make it a little more permanent with a proper mount. I picked up this one on their Black Friday sale which fits the bill. Bonus points, it works with the AC outlet I installed last year.



I also 3D printed a mic mount adapter to work with an old Ram ball I had from a previous accessory mount.



And some gratuitous pics from Thanksgiving in Mendocino NF. Smoked turkey and all the fixins with some very good friends. It sure is nice being able to camp with a fire again!

 

Lookin again and still lookin goood

 

Took advantage of some rainy weather and knocked out another project - Adding a water tank to the front of the bed. I had been dreading this project because of all the work it entailed, and it lived up to the expectation. First, everything had to be unloaded out of the bed. Then the cabinets had to be pulled out. I had to partially disassemble the cabinets and cut off 3" for the water tank. Then reassemble them (with loctite - lesson learned), and bolt them back in. Then figure out how to secure the tank, plumb it in with a 3 way valve to allow either the tank or jerry cans to be used. Then load everything back in and admire how it basically looks the same as when I started. Woof.

So... why? Well in short, we got a huge dog. Before Rio, we could go for 5 days with 2 jerry cans of water. Add a 90 lb dog into the mix and all of a sudden we were blowing through water way faster. So yes, I could have just carried another Jerry can or two. But what's the fun in that?? Actually it just came down to trying to maximize space, and also be able to carry fuel. Now we will be able to carry up to 20 gallons of water, or 15 gallons and 5 gallons of fuel, without having to carry another Jerry in the bed. And for short trips, we will just fill up the bed tank and be able to keep all that water weight between the axles instead of hanging off the back.

I decided to go with the Front Runner Outfitter's upright water tank, which I picked up on a Black Friday deal. It's a 40 liter tank (10 gallons), and I liked it because it's under 3" deep and spans almost the full width of the bed. I did consider the Tank'd spare tire replacement water cans, but the cost of them is pretty up there, and you still end up with the weight behind the axle. Plus it's under the truck, and more susceptible to puncture, damage, and freezing.

I didn't take many pictures of the process, but the job is mostly done. All in all I think it took about 10 hours, and hopefully is the last time I'll have to pretty much completely disassemble the bed (until a flatbed conversion at least)!

Bed disassembled, water tank in place. Every time I unload our bed I'm absolutely amazed by how much we can carry!


Cabinets modified and back installed


The cabinets hold the tank fore and aft, and I added some side brackets to retain it laterally. A tie down strap secured to the bed floor secures it vertically.



And here's the selector valve mounted to the rear panel. This way we can use the tank or the inlet at the rear as a water source.


Just need to finish modifying the cabinet tops, then it'll be wrapped up.

 

Some small updates. We squeezed in one final trip in 2024 to Clear Creek (Laguna Mountain) for Christmas to get our 100th and 101st nights in the truck for the year. The new water setup worked great, minus a leaking connector due to a bad o-ring. Fortunately we discovered in on the morning after the first night, so only had about a gallon of water that had leaked under the bed platform! Luckily (?) I carry spare o-rings for the connectors, so a quick swap on that and all is well.



I also got my first trip in 2025 in the books with a 4 night trip to the East Side. We spent one night outside of Mammoth Lakes at some hot springs where the temperatures plummeted to 10 *F and everything froze, including my sprayer nozzle which actually exploded. We went through Eureka Dunes and over Steele Pass to Saline Valley for 2 nights, then spent our last night in the Alabama Hills. A fantastic start to 2025!



I also finally wrapped up a few loose ends in the camper.

I finished the carpeting on the bed platform and raptor lined the platform supports, and FINALLY raptor lined the drawer faces (1.5 years later)


With the water tank mounted at the head of the bed and having to shorten the cabinet lid, that gave me room to mount the fire extinguisher in a much more accessible location. So I removed the panel, and a couple rivnuts later, had a much better solution.


Lastly, with the permanently mounted water tank I wanted to have an easier way to access water, both at camp and when traveling. Previously we would just syphon water out of the jerry can on the road, and also have just used a hose and sprayer at camp. I wanted something that was easy to access through the side hatch, could be used inside and outside of the camper, and could also be more of a sink faucet. So I teed in a quick connect on the top rail of the driver side cabinet, and am using that with a flexible coolant nozzle. It is easy to set up, and very modular since the coolant nozzle has a magnetic base. The only downside is the nozzle is not perfectly water tight so there are some more drips. But overall it's pretty handy.



That's it for now

 

Recently returned to TacomaWorld and remember talking with you prior to purchasing our ARE DCU 26" shell in 2020. Sold my 20 Tacoma but now have a new to me 17 Tacoma. Really enjoyed your cross country write up, especially the mentions of SLO. Worked 30 years in SLO and surrounding areas. Thank you for sharing. Have a OVR LND on our current Tacoma but looking at going back to a aluminum DCU shell.

 

Glad you enjoyed the read. Yeah we love SLO! We both went to Cal Poly so we like to take any excuse we can to get back there.

I really like those OVRLND campers. If we hadn't been in a time crunch and found ours second hand, that's the direction I was planning on going. But there's a lot I miss about the simplicity of a contractor's cap so definitely understand the appeal!

 

Got to do a not so fun project. Ever since I did my gears the rear diff has seeped pretty consistently, and occasionally dripped. When we did the gears, we didn't read the gasket maker label very closely because it clearly gives directions on how to get a good seal, including allowing it to cure for 24 hours before putting back in service. I think we let it cure for 30 minutes before driving 3-4 hours north to go camp. So unfortunately the leak got worse, and it was clear I needed to address it. So out with the old, in with the old. Kind of a pain in the butt project without any real satisfaction at the end, but we got it done and seem to have a much better seal this time. Thankfully I had a few extra sets of hands to help me wrangle it in and out. I opted to follow a right up from TW on pulling it out without disconnecting the brake lines and just stretching them out. TBH, I think it was more of a hassle than to just disconnect the brakes and re-bleed. So hopefully I never have to do this project again, but in case I do here's my reminder to myself to just detach the brake lines.



While the truck was up and the wheels were off, I decided to go ahead and get the shocks rebuilt. They have about 50,000 miles on them so they're maybe a bit overdue. Fortunately Rock n Road isn't too far away from us and these guys really seem to know there stuff. Unfortunately they found more damage than expected, so the rebuild is a bit more extensive than just a routine service. The good news is that since I got my coilovers, ADS has improved their top out limiter so they're going to upgrade them to that new configuration. Hopefully that damps the kind of violent top out I've always just dealt with. And if I still don't like it, maybe I'll finally put on some limit straps this time.

And of course while I'm in there, I discovered my driver side upper ball joint is bad, and one of the sway end links was shot. So everything is getting a little love right now.

The shocks should be done next week hopefully, but for now it's just sitting on jack stands in the carport.



And I need to trim a bit more fender to clear my tires.

Oh shit! I forgot to update this with my new tires!

I opted to stay with the same size tire, 285/75r17 which I know is super uncool these days. 34" is so 2018. But I just like that size. It doesn't take a lot of work to fit them, you don't need to do any fender trimming or snorkels or anything like that, they suit the truck well, and I haven't had any need for a bigger tire. There's also a lot more options these days for that size, though all of them are way more expensive than they used to be (what isn't?). I decided to go a little bit of a different route this time and got the Goodyear Wrangler Duratrac R/T's. There's not a ton of reviews on this tire, but everything I did find on it was really positive. What drew me to it was: 1) It's a true 34" tire (34.1" vs 33.8 of the BFG's); 2) it's relatively light weight (63lbs vs 67lbs for Falkens); 3) It's 3 peak rated. I don't do a lot of snow driving, but enough that I want something that's pretty good. And everything I read about the Falken A/T4's is they are terrible in the snow. Plus they are an R/T tire, so they're more aggressive than all the others. In fact it's the only 3 peak R/T I found in that size.

The downside is they're about $40-$50 more per tire than the Falkens, but that's not terrible in the big scheme of things, plus I wanted to try something a bit different from the rest.

And I'm glad I did. I really like these tires so far. They look great, they drive really nicely, they are definitely quieter than my end of life BFG's, they've been fantastic in the snow, and done great with the mild off roading we've done so far. I'm definitely excited to see how these perform this summer!


And finally, here's some shots from our last trip to Mendo.

 

Glad you’re liking the new rubber! I’ve considered the same tire and same size for my next set though I’m not completely sold yet on any tire in particular!