Battleship Jones: 2015 Tacoma DCLB Build Thread

Yeah the switch pro is a bit much. Still have other expensive hobbies to fund. How are you making the connections to the accessories? Did you add plug adaptors or just crip them to the ones connected to the bussmann?

Edit: Never mind. Looked back at your post.

 

It's update season!

Looks like I have a trip to a fabricator in my near future. I was wondering why my tires had started to wear unevenly recently and a quick peek under the truck was all I needed. The front cam tabs on both LCAs are in the process of folding over with the passenger side being a bit worse than the driver's side. Time to have someone burn on the Total Chaos kit for me; new shoes are on the way and I don't want to kill those with a bad alignment.

Of course it's almost as cost effective to buy a welder and do the job myself seeing as how I have to do the cab mount chop here as well. If only I trusted my welding skills that much...

IMG_2774 by Tim Souza, on Flickr

 

In my quest to achieve better braking performance I recently installed a set of Goodridge stainless steel braided brake lines. I chose to go with the +4" version (http://www.autoanything.com/brakes/61A3671A0A0.aspx) which was a bit of a compromise. The +4" was great for the rear and will alleviate the taught brake lines at full droop, but it is probably longer than ideal for the fronts. If I could mix and match I'd do +2" up front, +4" out back.

Installation is pretty straightforward in principle. All of the brake nuts are 10mm and my truck is new enough that corrosion hasn't set in yet. I sprayed all nuts with PB blaster anyway a few days ahead of time to make sure, I'd hate to bugger up a hard line and have to replace one of those in the process.

Fronts were easy and took ~20 minutes per. No real tricks to it, just unbolt the lines, bolt the new ones in, and have Brakleen on hand to hose down everywhere that brake fluid touched. Finished product

IMG_2805 by Tim Souza, on Flickr

As you can see, a little longer than ideal, but it doesn't rub or bind or get caught in anything when turning lock to lock, so it should be okay.

The rear lines are significantly more challenging, but only due to the end closest to the bed having very little room to work in. The spring clips were a bear to remove, just no good place to stick a screwdriver in there to pry them free. I managed to get them to rotate into a position where I could get the blade of a screwdriver on there and pop them off. Even still, wrench turns are made 1/8 of a turn at a time (a ratcheting or flex flare nut wrench could be helpful), but I found the best method was to unbolt the bracket from the frame rail so it had a little bit of extra wiggle room. Why do you need this extra wiggle room? This is why.

IMG_2806 by Tim Souza, on Flickr

The collar on the brake line nut is a different shape on the OEM lines, presumably to ensure that left goes to the left and right goes to the right. Good engineering, but sadly none of the aftermarket lines compensate for this. Grinding of the axle brackets and frame side brackets are required to open things up enough to accept the one line and still be able to install the spring clip. Hindsight is 20/20, if I was doing this over again I'd disconnect both lines at both ends, remove the brackets, and reinstall the lines so I could do grinding on the bench instead of underneath the vehicle. Live and you learn I guess, but I managed to clearance it enough to get the lines back in and the spring clips installed. Tada!

IMG_2804 by Tim Souza, on Flickr

Vacuum bleed the whole thing the following day and all went well with the exception of the rear passenger wheel which kept pulling a small stream of bubbles. I tried grease around the threads of the bleed nipple and tape, but could just not get a good seal. Finally gave up after pulling half a quart through that line and said close enough is good enough.

Was it worth it? Yes, but with caveats. My motivations going in were to get extended length rear lines in there as the OEMs are too tight when drooping out the rear end. This definitely satisfied that requirement. The other was to improve braking. Is the brake pedal feel firmer? Yes. Do the brakes seem to work any better? Maybe. They feel like they bite harder sooner with less mushy feeling standing on them. I don't have any numbers to translate that into real world performance however. I'm also assuming they deliver superior performance when the brakes start to heat up, but that's simply based on all of the high performance vehicles that use these over stock rubber hoses. Lastly, I anticipate these will last much longer and deliver better performance over their life than the stockers. It was worth the $100 to me as I want every bit of braking performance I can muster with the OEM system but it is by no means a must do kinda upgrade.

 

DSC_3765 by Tim Souza, on Flickr

Snorkels are a polarizing item, some think they are functionally unnecessary, others just think they are plain ugly. Me? I think they are endearingly ugly. This wasn't a mod that was originally on the to-do list, but I stumbled into a situation that was right.

A guy on Craigslist an hour away from me was trading in his truck and was looking for a MGM colored, passenger side fender to trade for his fender and snorkel. Although the rest of my truck got pelted by hail, the passenger side fender was the one piece of sheet metal on the truck that saw little/no damage. There were a couple pea sized indications, but only if you look at it from the right angle. He was cool with it, I was cool with it, so I went up with cash in hand to do the swap.

Everything was going pretty smoothly on snorkel install lite until it came to disassembling the antenna to actually remove the fender. Namely, this little bugger wouldn't budge on either of our trucks.

DSC_3766 by Tim Souza, on Flickr

We tried penetrating oil, ground down vice grips, and a hammer and screwdriver with no luck. The local auto parts store couldn't help, and neither could the local Toyota dealership. Guy said his techs usually just use a hammer and screwdriver and knock em off. No matter what we tried the nut was just getting buggered beyond all repair; in a last ditch effort I started taking apart my dash in hopes of tracing the radio wire to a disconnect.

This actually proved to be the ticket. For anyone who gets stuck here in the future, the antenna cable runs through a grommet in the firewall and goes into the cab behind the passenger kick panel area. If you remove the glove box you can reach back and feel it. It's taped to a cable holder thinger down there, then runs up along the a-pillar and has a plug behind the a-pillar trim. If you pull all that off you can extract the cable, pull it back through the fender, and free it all.

Things moved along decently after that, it's just replacing the 12,000 bolts Toyota uses to hold the fender on while doing your best to maintain some semblance of panel gaps. We ended up swapping air intakes as the newest version of the ARB has you cut off the intake nozzle where it goes into the wheel well, you can see the hose clamp in the picture below where it meets the rubber duct that runs to the snorkel.

DSC_3767 by Tim Souza, on Flickr

It took us about three hours to get everything swapped over and mostly buttoned up. I still haven't installed the a-pillar support yet, when that time comes it'll probably be with double sided tape instead of drilling into the sheet metal. In any case, the truck is going into the shop shortly to repair the hail damage and this was an affected area, no sense in making work for them. It's pretty rigid on it's own of course and stays put pretty well in the wind, just a bit of wiggle to it.

DSC_3770 by Tim Souza, on Flickr

Backing up a bit.

DSC_3769 by Tim Souza, on Flickr

Contrary to what some have reported, I noticed no appreciable increase in fuel economy. I also noticed a little increase in noise, both at WOT as well as traveling highway speeds in windy conditions. Not a ton, but a little bit.

I personally like the larger size of the Tacoma version as well as how it plumbs into the stock air intake. I was never a fan of the old cobbled together one, or the Airflow version for this truck. The only disappointing thing is nobody has approached me to ask WTF it is. I've been working on the myriad of fallacies I can tell them.

 

Truck is back!

Glamour shots to follow, but I've started making a dent in the small pile of parts I started accumulating while it was gone.

Since I first pulled the rear seats and the plastic bins behind the seats, I've had to stare at the ugly combination of Dynamat and foam. I had resolved to make something to cover it both so the dogs didn't tear it to pieces as well as to give the back seat area a more polished look. Enter docloco from Tacomaworld and his molle panels (https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...el-for-2nd-3rd-gen-dc-or-ac-rear-seat.410254/). I didn't want a molle panel as I need the back seat free and clear from obstructions and he was more than happy to oblige my request for a blank panel with only mounting holes and spots for the seatback latches.

As was expected, I had to do a little bit of adjusting to make it fit my truck. The only area that I had an issue was in the corners where it couldn't seat up against the rear wall due to interference with the window mounting bolts. See below

Untitled by Tim Souza, on Flickr

Not a big deal. A few minutes with a 2" hole saw later and I was able to nip enough out to get it to seat. A little bit of gloss black enamel paint on the exposed edges, a bit of drying time in the warm basement, an earful from the wife about stinking up the house with spray paint fumes, and it's in!

Untitled by Tim Souza, on Flickr

Mission accomplished! It's pretty once again. Platform is currently undergoing a bit of a makeover itself, the glue holding the aluminum trim on wasn't holding, so I've screwed that down, deepened the counterbores for the mounting bolts to accommodate washers, and will be getting the top surface coated with some sort of bedliner to prevent the dogs from sliding around. Still debating on whether to tuck foam + MLV beneath it all before it goes back together.

Side note: I can't recommend docloco enough if you are looking to do something similar. He was extremely professional, communicative, and provided a good looking product at a reasonable price within the time frame quoted.

 

Hadn't posted this one up, but over Labor Day weekend last year the wife and I took a few days off of work and headed up north with the intent of visiting Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. There wasn't a whole lot of dirt involved, but we did travel over land, live out of the truck, and the pictures might be of interest to those who don't live close enough to visit.

Our itinerary was pretty loose, but we roughly planned it out as head from Denver, CO to Red Lodge, MT, catch the beginning of the Bear Tooth highway and take that down into WY so we could enter though the northeast gate of Yellowstone, then spend a few days in the park before heading south into the Tetons and heading home. The wrench thrown into our plans that forced us to reconsider a little bit were the forest fires raging across the region all summer. It'll be quite evident in the pictures, but I think we chose perhaps one of the worst weekends possible to head out if we were hoping/expecting views. It was eerie and unfortunately cramped our style a bit, but that just means we'll have to go back.

Camped just outside the beginning of the Beartooth Highway. For those who have never driven it, it was perhaps the prettiest section of blacktop I've traversed in my 30 years on this planet. Cooler than the Million Dollar Highway in CO, cooler than the Kancamagus Highway in New Hampshire, and more spectacular than anything else I can think of. It is a definite must do for those in the area.

20170901-DSC_2557 by Tim Souza, on Flickr

And a panorama from the top. You can see the forest fire smoke lingering on the horizon just waiting to head down our way...

20170901-IMG_4201 by Tim Souza, on Flickr

We spent most of that day up at elevation trying to get out bearings and figure the plans out. We settled on spending one night up near the pass before heading down to Yellowstone. We passed the time with a nice 6 mile hike. It was our first time in real bear country so we stayed quite vigilant, but never spotted one.

20170901-DSC_2603 by Tim Souza, on Flickr

20170901-DSC_2597 by Tim Souza, on Flickr

Following the hike we went off in search of camping. Most of the stuff close to the highway was already taken, so we traversed some of the lesser beaten paths in search of our home for the night. We had no real success and ended up spending the night in the parking lot of a trailhead, but not before venturing off down a bit of the Morrison Jeep Trail where we found a place to pull over and cook a nice, meaty hamburger dinner that I'm sure wasn't enticing at all to any nearby bears.

20170901-DSC_2626 by Tim Souza, on Flickr

The next day we came down the pass back into WY and stopped at this big old waterfall alongside the road where we were treated to a few real cowboys driving cattle through the area. Kind of neat to watch them in action.

20170902-DSC_2646 by Tim Souza, on Flickr

Into the park we went (of course those familiar will recognize this isn't the sign at the northeast entrance )!

20170904-DSC_3199 by Tim Souza, on Flickr

It was super, super crowded. Lots of people driving at 10 mph and stopping in the middle of the road to look at animals, animals blocking the road, it was like a zoo out there. Still, it was out first real encounter with bison up close and they are really neat creatures. The wife was absolutely enamored which explains why we spent our two mornings in the park getting up early to hang out with the bison before they moved out into the meadows as the sun rose.

20170903-DSC_2760 by Tim Souza, on Flickr

We did most of our exploring during the morning and evening to avoid the crowds while trying to hike during the day. It is a very diverse park but it is very evident the critical role water plays in shaping the landscape.

20170903-DSC_2971 by Tim Souza, on Flickr

From another angle...

20170904-DSC_3176 by Tim Souza, on Flickr

I was enraptured by the walls of the canyon.

20170903-DSC_2983 by Tim Souza, on Flickr

As I said before, we spent our mornings up before the sun to watch the bison descend into the meadow. They will literally engulf you and your vehicle on the way down and they are BIG.

20170904-DSC_3112 by Tim Souza, on Flickr

This is representative of how smoky it was, visibility was quite limited which put a damper on the tremendous views I'm sure were abound.

20170904-DSC_3131 by Tim Souza, on Flickr

Everyone was looking up at the birds and I was looking down at the water. Metaphor for my life.

20170903-DSC_2865 by Tim Souza, on Flickr

We saved the big name attractions for the last day. The prismatic pool was amazing and colorful, one of those places I wish I could view from the sky.

20170903-IMG_4332 by Tim Souza, on Flickr

The pre-requisite shot of Old Faithful. It was neat and all, but I'm not sure I would go out of my way to see it.

20170903-IMG_4344 by Tim Souza, on Flickr

After driving out to West Yellowstone to grab ourselves street tacos we hit the pavement again and drove south towards the Grand Tetons. Welcome to Grand Teton National Park!

20170904-DSC_3200 by Tim Souza, on Flickr

This was sadly the most obscured part of the trip. You flat out couldn't see the Tetons. The smoke was so bad you could taste it in the air which quenched our desires to do too much hiking. We spent a little over a day in the park before deciding to head home early. We headed south through the park and happened upon a couple of little bear butts in a tree by the side of the road.

20170904-DSC_3229 by Tim Souza, on Flickr

We were so close to Idaho I couldn't not venture over. So we did and spent the night camped out in a secluded little spot right off the highway immersed in a sea of purple flowers.

20170904-DSC_3235 by Tim Souza, on Flickr

We were up before the sun yet again and headed back into the park in search of wildlife. We first attempted to do the River Road which was the only 4x4 road in the park but encountered a gate. I asked the rangers about it and they said flooding had washed out part of the road and they didn't think it would ever open again. . RIP to what I'm sure was a truly unique experience in a National Park.

After that disappointment we headed back out hoping to find some moose or bears. The lack of crowds meant that we were treated to a private viewing of a mama moose and her offspring for 15 or so minutes before other people noticed. She was quite close but didn't seem to mind our presence up high on the river bank.

20170905-DSC_3372 by Tim Souza, on Flickr

We sat with them for a while until they wandered off in search of tasty bushes downstream. The iconic Moulton barn is right across the street and I would be remiss to visit the area and not add that photo to my collection. The smoke of course had other plans, but I suppose I got a unique shot?

20170905-DSC_3427 by Tim Souza, on Flickr

Anyway, we pointed the truck towards Denver and made the trek from Jackson Hole in pretty decent time. It was by and large a great trip, but I will for sure have to go back again when the air clears and I have a longer lens on my camera to better capture the wildlife that was just out of my reach.

 

Truck wise I had an opportunity on Tuesday to install the King remote reservoir coilovers. The most challenging part was installing the reservoir mounts, ARB bumpers have a hefty frame reinforcement plate that is supposed to relieve front end stresses while winching. Unfortunately the big honkin bolt head that goes through the frame hole lines up more or less spot on with 1 of the 2 legs of the reservoir mount. Here's what I came up with to solve the problem.

Un-modified on the right, modified on the left:

Untitled by Tim Souza, on Flickr

Untitled by Tim Souza, on Flickr

All to clear this:

Untitled by Tim Souza, on Flickr

Of course this had the unavoidable side effect of reducing the structural integrity of this bracket quite a bit. The reinforcement rib that I hacked a good section out of lines up with the non-reinforced portion on the other leg which means it's susceptible to bending laterally. That said, the whole assembly feels pretty sturdy once the reservoir is mounted, so I doubt it's going anywhere, just something to be aware of for those in a similar position. I suppose I could devise another way to mount the RR, but we'll see how long this lasts for. I do like that they integrated a swap bar bracket drop into the assembly, that was a nice touch.

And the goods. Purdy!

Untitled by Tim Souza, on Flickr

I can't give any more than initial impressions as I only have 100ish miles of pavement under them, but methinks I'll like them quite a bit. There is a noticeable difference in the ride due to the valving changes and I think I've settled on 3 clicks of compression damping as feeling pretty good. There's a touch more body roll through corners but it firms up nicely so it never feels wallowy or unstable. Small bump sensitivity is increased and with both high and low speed compression there's significantly less input transmitted to the body of the vehicle. Rebound feels faster as well, the wheel feels like it drops into holes a bit quicker and doesn't pack up as much over repeated hits in quick succession. A very pleasant change that has transformed the ride from HD truck feeling to a more lively feel. To each their own of course, I'll post up more in-depth thoughts after I've had an opportunity to put them through their paces on dirt. That's where I've noticed the biggest differences when moving from OME to ICON and hopefully I'll notice the same leap in performance with this most recent swap.

Anyone in the market for some ICONs?

 

Spent a little (okay, a lot) o ftime working on the truck over the weekend. It was a weekend full of tasks that needed to be done but are completely hidden and nobody but me will ever appreciate the time and effort it took to complete.

Ever since I bought the truck there has been one glaring weakness in the interior, the lack of USB outlets. I'm not sure who at Toyota, in 2015, greenlighted 13 cupholders and only a single USB outlet which may not even pair with and charge devices. Neat right? I found this out on our road trip this past summer when I had the tablet mounted and monitoring transmission temper and noticed that it wasn't charging. I thought this was just a fluke, but it wouldn't charge some other Android devices either, so I guess it's pretty picky about what it likes and does not like. It'll charge our iPhones, but again, one outlet, only one phone charging at a time. And it's only when the keys are in the ignition. Yes, sure, I could get an adapter to use with one of the two cigarette lighters, but those are only hot with the ignition as well, so problem only 1/2 solved.

I ordered up one of these:

$35 Blue Sea Systems 1045 Fast Charge 4.8A Dual USB Charger Socket Mount, 12V/24V

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01BV1MTAA/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Pros:
- fast charging
- device recognition
- unobtrusive looks

Cons:
-expensive

The question then became where to put it. It has a relatively long body, so I needed some place with plenty of dead space behind it. I also wanted it to be mounted close to the dash for convenience sake (see charging tablet), and on a vertical service so dirt and grime wouldn't accumulate in the sockets (nasty little puppers). I selected a space on the dash right beneath the inboard, passenger side HVAC vent. This area met all the criteria, was relatively flat, and would make the socket look as OEM as possible. Downside being that you need to take apart pretty much the entire dash to get to it. Radio, HVAC controls, radio surround, gauge bezel, glove compartment, and all lower pieces of trim. That was the worst part of the install.

Anyway, once I had the space picked out on my panel of choice I drilled the hole for it. Blue Sea specifies a 1 1/8" hole. Given that most of us use step bits to achieve those diameter holes, and over sizing would require a trip to the dealer for a $100+ panel, I present my little shop tip. Sharpie the flat of the right sized hole to make sure you don't overshoot the mark. You can wipe it away with brake clean or acetone when done.

Untitled by Tim Souza, on Flickr

Measure once, measure twice, measure thrice, then have at it! With the whole drilled in the panel itself I turned the bit on the structure beneath the hole to clearance for the back of the plug. I hogged out a little extra to ensure clearance.

Untitled by Tim Souza, on Flickr

After a few rounds of test fitting, I was able to assemble everything and mount. I chose not to use the cover flap and instead trimmed the flap off and used the remaining rubber ring as an isolator against the back of the panel beneath the lock nut. I made up a 16 ga. wiring harness, ran it down the radio wiring harness, back behind the steering wheel, and out of the firewall grommet. It will eventually plug into the Bussman block (always hot) once I get that in the truck. The final result!

Untitled by Tim Souza, on Flickr

Like it was meant to be there. Part 1 of the 2018 version of the electrical makeover.

 

Finally had the opportunity to drop the truck off at the shop on Friday to get a few things taken care of. For reference, all work was done by Corey at Insain Fabrications (http://www.insainfab.com) outside Denver, CO. Great guy, great work, and can tackle any sort of work from mild to wild at a fair price. Highly recommended.

Anyway, with the move from 255/85s to 285/75s, I knew that the body mount chop was in order. It's a fairly straight forward endeavor and isn't exactly breaking new ground at this point. Cut, weld, clean and paint. There should be plenty of room now to let the 285s breathe.

DSC_3850 by Tim Souza, on Flickr

An odd thing happened while they were doing the cab mount chop, which in his experience (500+ CMCs) had never happened before. The stainless Goodridge lines I put on melted from the heat. As in, the clear rubber outside just melted and dripped off leaving the smaller stainless braid exposed. Corey replaced the lines with some new ToyTec stainless braided hoses, but still found it odd that it even occurred in the first place. So, word to the wise, if you have Goodridge lines, you might want to beware if you ever expose them to any heat. Everyone else, as you were.

The other thing I needed done was the Total Chaos cam tab gussets (http://www.chaosfab.com/2007-2009-FJ-Cruiser-Lower-Control-Arm-Cam-Tab-Gussets-59860). I posted about it earlier in the thread, but I noticed that mine were starting to fold over and the truck couldn't hold an alignment. By some miracle they were about equally out, so the steering was always okay, but once they start to bend that's it. You can hammer them back, but there's no chance they'll remain that way. I've seen some people throw a reinforcing weld bead on the factory tabs to give it a bit more support, but the ship had already sailed in my case. These are pretty straightforward as well with the most time consuming part being disassembling everything to get to the tabs. Once it's all apart they can be air chiseled off and the Total Chaos kit welded on. It is made of a 1/8" steel backer with 1/4" steel side pieces. No chance these will bend over during use!

DSC_3852 by Tim Souza, on Flickr

The last thing I had them do burn out the rivets holding the rear shackle hangers on. Why? Because I purchased an aftermarket BAMF shackle and hanger. Once again, they are significantly beefier than the OEM mounts, the shackle uses poly bushings, and it has a grease fitting. They also retain the stock geometry, so outside of bolting them on there's no need to mess with anything else. The worst part of the install is definitely getting the rivets out. Toyota does a darn good job at ensuring these stay put. When it comes to removal, it's a messy, arduous job that usually requires grinding the heads off the rivets, drilling out the center, then air hammering them out. Reports on the inter webs says it takes people anything from a few hours per side to 6 hours per side. It was much easier to supply the hardware and let them burn the rivets out with a plasma cutter.

DSC_3853 by Tim Souza, on Flickr

Lastly was a little bit of TLC. I removed the skid plates prior to sending it off and this gave me access to pieces of the undercarriage that are normally tucked away. I know I've talked about my aversion to rust many, many times, and my new resolve is to wire wheel, prime, and paint any areas I see that have rust every time I work on a certain area of the truck. Given how notorious Tacomas are for having the frame rot out from underneath it, I figured it's a prudent activity. I intentionally use the red colored primer to keep track of what I've done and what still needs to be done.

IMG_0171 by Tim Souza, on Flickr

IMG_0172 by Tim Souza, on Flickr

As you can see from the primer, the rust is typically relegated to the welds and surrounding areas. I made sure to coat everything very well as I'd rather have a few paint runs in hidden places than rust. I'll eventually try and repaint every piece of the frame whether it needs it or not.

IMG_0173 by Tim Souza, on Flickr

IMG_0175 by Tim Souza, on Flickr

So fresh and so clean. Like the day it rolled out of the factory. Well, almost.

Side Note:
2 year update, the Chassis Saver paint has failed. It eventually peeled off of the sliders and is in the process of self removal everywhere else I used it. I don't think it was related to bad prep as I was pretty diligent about roughing up the underlying surface, cleaning with acetone, then brushing it on as directed in warm conditions to allow for proper curing. So, although my initial reaction was positive, I have to rescind my recommendation.

 

I spent some time this weekend beginning preparations to stuff a larger transmission cooler up front. Now, there are several ways this job can be accomplished, the bigger one can be added in series with the OEM or it can replace it, it could live on the passenger side of the vehicle or occupy space on the driver's side. Each has its pluses and minuses, but accommodations need to be made either way.

I will be replacing the OEM cooler with a

$197 Derale 52506 25 Row Core Stacked Plate Cooler Kit , Black

Derale 52506 and placing it on the driver's side of the vehicle. This meant that the horns were in the way. I've seen some people relocate them to the center support, but I decided to move them to the passenger side. First step was to locate a few holes on the passenger side, center punch, tape, and prepare to drill. As a precautionary matter, I put a block of wood behind the location I'm drilling. It would has been a very unpleasant task to have to replace a radiator if the drill bit were to punch through.

Untitled by Tim Souza, on Flickr

Deburred it all, shot it with primer, hit it with paint, then blasted it with the heat gun for a bit to hopefully get most of the paint/primer to flash off. I followed that up with an RTV coated (really encapsulate that fresh sheet metal edge) M8 rivnut so I could re-use the OEM hardware.

Untitled by Tim Souza, on Flickr

Luckily the horns only have a single wire connection, one of which is jumpered off the other. I cut the wire, soldered in an extension, marine heat shrunk the connection, then reloomed and taped everything.

Untitled by Tim Souza, on Flickr

Not the world's prettiest job, but everything works, things are tucked out of harm's way, and all is well again.

Untitled by Tim Souza, on Flickr

So much more room to work with now! Gonna start brainstorming ideas for mounts. Also thinking about adding a pusher fan in front of the transmission cooler cause I'm a belt and suspenders kinda guy.

Untitled by Tim Souza, on Flickr

 

Re-vamped my compressor mounting over the weekend. If you recall, I had it crammed in the following location. It required drilling holes through the fenders and adding spacers, and a lot of blood-letting trying to get the whole assembly together.

20150116-P1010255 by Tim Souza, on Flickr

It recently came to my attention that Slee Offroad (right down the street) had finally released a couple of mounts for the 05-15 Tacomas to tuck either an ARB single (P/N SOK002) or dual (P/N SOK001) compressor in that same area. Ordinarily I wouldn't go back and redo something like this just for the hell of it, but I had a leak somewhere in my compressor that caused it to cycle every few minutes, and it was tucked into a place that would make it tough to add locker solenoids in the future.

The Slee instructions are pretty good, so I won't re-hash those (http://www.sleeoffroad.com/installation/2005-15_tacoma_compressor_bracket_v1.1.pdf), but I deviated from them a little bit in one area. The power steering reservoir came from the factory with rubber isolators at each of the 3 mounting points. While the compressor itself has it's own isolators, I wanted to retain those. As the OEM mount has slots cut into their mounting bracket to allow a single piece isolator to slip in, the Slee mount is solid, requiring me to cut the OEM one in half. The same washer/sleeve can be utilized, and it ends up looking like this.

Untitled by Tim Souza, on Flickr

After getting it all bolted up it looks like this.

Untitled by Tim Souza, on Flickr

Things are much more neatly packaged in the same space. There's wiggle room to slide the compressor forward if I wanted and plenty of space for locker solenoids. For those looking for a good spot to stuff an ARB, I think this spot with the Slee mount is about as clean and easy as it gets.

 

After acquiring the fridge last fall, I found out very quickly that I needed a constant hot outlet. While the fridge was good while fridging, it doesn't have the same insulating properties as a cooler. It was okay, but it certainly won't keep frozen things frozen. The Tacoma 12V outlets are only hot when the keys are in the ignition, which isn't exactly conducive to keeping the fridge at temperature. I know there is a jumper mod you can do to keep them hot, but that still requires running the fridge power cord all the way to the front of the truck.

Thus, I decided to add a 12V plug to the back of the center console. I went with one of these:

$13 Blue Sea Systems 1011 Dash Socket, 12V, Black

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001U4ZZPK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

After pulling out the center console, I fiddled around a bit and figured out that I could remove the back panel. It can be pried free very carefully with a screwdriver. Made it quite a bit easier to get everything mounted. The goal was to locate it as high as possible, but, if you go too high you'll start to interfere with the cup holder. It ended up like so.

Untitled by Tim Souza, on Flickr

I used blue loctite and nylock nuts, its enough of a PITA to take this all apart that I wanted to make sure it stays put. Now, considering how long the Blue Sea socket is, the problem with this location is that there isn't a whole lot of space for terminals to fit. I had to source some right angle flag terminals and they tucked in just nicely. They could be crimped to the wire using ratcheting crimpers, but it doesn't crimp the top part of the terminal like the flag terminal crimpers do. I sneaked a soldering iron in there and filled it up good, it won't be going anywhere now. Fridge doesn't pull a ton of current, but I used 10ga wire, clad it in PET sheathing, and put a Delphi plug on the end so it can plug into the Bussmann block.

Untitled by Tim Souza, on Flickr

Wires were fed through the firewall grommet, routed underneath the radio and zip tied in several places to the wiring loom that goes to the shifter. I installed the center console first without the back panel so I could ensure the wire length was correct.

Untitled by Tim Souza, on Flickr

There was a lot of dead space towards the back of the wiring harness, so I utilized a spare hole in the center console brace to capture it. Again, nylock nut used to make sure things stayed put.

Untitled by Tim Souza, on Flickr

Now, I think the brace was made using a punch process as the edge was super duper sharp. I filed it down to ensure it wouldn't cut the wires AND put a piece of wire loom over the PET sheathing for added protection. Terminals connected, panel put back on, and center console re-installed.

Untitled by Tim Souza, on Flickr

Done. Bussmann block isn't back in the truck so this isn't hot yet, but it should do the trick when the fridge makes it back into the truck. Right now it'll be running off of the starting battery until I can get my dual battery system installed.

 

Finally got the Bussmann block back into the truck this past weekend. Before it went to the repair shop last fall, I had pulled it all out as there were a few things I needed to address. When building the block initially, I didn't have the right combination of tanged/tangless terminals on hand to properly assemble the block and the connections. So there were a few places I ended up using tangless when I needed tanged and vice versa, which led to situations where the terminal could back out enough to disengage with the fuse or mating terminal and break the connection...except you'd never know. I fixed all of those up with the proper terminals, replaced all of the 16 gauge jumpers I had used with 10 gauge for flexibility purposes, and added different color heatshrink to the fused and relayed circuits to differentiate them.

Untitled by Tim Souza, on Flickr

The only other change was to swap from a 100A breaker to an 80A. The 100A was leftover at the time, but the Bussmann block can only handle 80A, so I swapped it out to keep everything protected and avoid any issues. All connected and back in the truck. Flipped the switch and everything works! Same goes for my USB outlets and fridge plug, both of those are receiving power.

Untitled by Tim Souza, on Flickr

Electrical goodies should more or less be settled at this point. I ran a harness to the remote ACR switch so when I'm ready to install that I can just plug into it and go.

 

And all caught up for now!

 

I think I am going to steal your idea for a mounting location of the Blue Sea USB outlet...

 

It's a great place for it to be honest. Only downside to that location is the number of dash pieces you have to remove to gain access.

 

Dang that was a lot of awesome work! Reading about it was even better!

 

Great work on your updates
The platform came out really clean and great location on the Blue Sea USB outlet

 

Thanks! Got a few things I wanna change about it, but that'll have to come in a later update. Got a few bigger things on the docket first.

 

Last Thursday the diffs from ECGS arrived. Both were built with Nitro 4.88 gears and ARB air lockers. Figuring the rear would be the easier of the two, I chose to tackle that first and get my mojo going.

In advance I laid out all the tools I thought would be necessary and created a diff swap work station. There actually aren't too many tools involved to make this one happen.

Tool List:
(x2) 14mm wrenches OR torque adapters (would have preferred these in hindsight)
12mm socket
10mm socket
Torque wrench
Small screwdriver
Soft faced hammer
(x2) Impact sockets (doesn't matter what size, just used for spacers)
(x4) jack stands
Floor jack
3 qts gear oil of choice
1 tube grey RTV

Untitled by Tim Souza, on Flickr

Then came the safety related stuff. As I would be crawling under the truck a bundle and needed it lifted up safely, the front wheels were chocked, jack stands placed under the frame, there were a pair of jack stands under the drums (not shown), and the jack was supporting the rear axle. Safety first!

Untitled by Tim Souza, on Flickr

Per usual, it is a good idea to hit the bolts with PB blaster a few days before the surgery takes place to give it adequate time to work. This is more important in rusty climates, but I do it here anyway to make it easy on myself.

The disassembly process is pretty straightforward. In order to pull the 3rd member you have to get the axle shafts out far enough to wiggle it free. To that end, the sensors on the rear hubs must be disconnected and the e-brake cable bracket also has to be undone from the leaf springs.

Untitled by Tim Souza, on Flickr

With those out of the way I undid the 4 bolts holding the hub to the axle. Credit goes to the Monkeyproof write-up on Tacomaworld, but if you remove the 6 bolts holding the brake hard line to the axle, you should be able to slide the axle shafts out far enough to get the 3rd member out without having to disconnect and bleed the brakes after. It takes a wee bit of force to get it out far enough, but it will. Impact sockets were used to keep the axle out, jack stands were used to support the axle and prevent it from wrecking the axle seals.

Untitled by Tim Souza, on Flickr

With those out of the way you can undo the 4, 14mm driveshaft bolts and secure that to the exhaust hanger above. This should give you the space to undo the 10, 12mm nuts and washers holding the 3rd member to the axle. Once those are undone all it takes is a little wiggling to get the 3rd member out. Be prepared, it is a bit heavy and awkward. I had a furniture moving dolly handy to set it onto so I could roll it out from under the truck. All done!

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While I was in there I made sure the splines on the axle shafts looked good. No sense in putting it all back together only to find out that they were twisted or something.

Untitled by Tim Souza, on Flickr

Before the new one can go in some time and care needs to be put into preparing everything for a successful transplant. The mating surfaces on both the diff and the axle were cleaned with a brass brush, Scotchbrite pads, and Brakleen before re-assembly. Be careful not to let any material fall into the diff or the axle, you probably won't be screwed if some does, but you are certainly better off without it. Some pics of the gear tooth pattern before installation.

Untitled by Tim Souza, on Flickr

Untitled by Tim Souza, on Flickr

I'm no expert, but it looks like they did a good job getting it all set up. Patterns on the drive and coast side are centered and not too deep or shallow.

Not too much to share from the re-installation, it is more or less the opposite of the removal so nothing fun to share there. I used grey RTV instead of a gasket, and put blue Loctite on the driveshaft bolts, the differential bolts, and the hub bolts before torquing them to 65 ft*lbs, 18 ft*lbs, and 27 ft*lbs respectively. Grey RTV was allowed 24 hours to cure before the differential was topped off with fresh Lucasoil 85W-140 non-synthetic oil per ECGS recommendation. Following this I went in with some gloss black enamel (diff came shipped with matte paint, which is fine, it just holds dirt more) and a paint pen to mark all bolts. And the finished product!

Untitled by Tim Souza, on Flickr

The ECGS break-in differs from other sources by a little bit, their initial heat cycle calls for 15-20 minutes of driving instead of 15-20 miles per some other sources. I will stick to 15-20 minutes and have done 4 heat up cool down cycles with conservative driving and no heavy acceleration. I'll reserve comments for after the 500 mile break in period, it's a bit difficult to judge the performance of the new gears when I can't really use the skinny pedal liberally.

Locker isn't connected at the moment as the air line isn't long enough to run how I'd like. I was hoping to follow the wiring harness/fuel lines that run along the driver's side frame rail up to the front before jogging over to the passenger side and connecting to the compressor in the front passenger corner of the engine bay. Either I have to re-think my approach and go along the passenger frame rail, splice in an adapter to use the extra line from the front locker, or, find a neat way to route it along the passenger side frame rail. Maybe that's a DCLB problem only...still thinking about it, but in the mean time I connected the air line and zip tied the coil up under the bed to prevent any gunk from getting lodged in there.

Write up for the front to come...