Cwopinger's Trail Limo Build, Travels, and BS Thread

Morning John. Welcome to my thread. Lol

 

Thanks Dave, the wood was stained before the assembly, I guess the light in my shop washed it out in those pics. The last one is the actual color, Timber Brown is what Thompson's calls it.

 

Wasn’t too bad actually. We will need to see how it holds up. Hope it doesn’t collapse while I’m sleeping on it.

 

Well I had hoped to post a little update, instead you will get a PSA.

The composite bed of a 3rd Gen Tacoma is thicker than you think. When you use 1/2” material to build a platform you will want to use 2” bolts to through bolt it to the bed.

That is all.

 

Afternoon John

 

Morning John

 

You too

 

Where did you drill into the composite? I drilled into the side panel on mine and I don’t remember it being very thick.

 

I drilled through the bottom so I could bolt the sleeping platform down. It wasn’t like 1/2” thick or anything like that. When I was looking down into the hole I drilled I thought it was about 1/8” and sized my bolts at 1 1/2” long based on 1/2” thick plywood, 1/2” corrugations in the bed ribs and the bed thickness. When I added my fender washers under the bolt head and above the nyloc nut the 1 1/2” bolt was too short by just a little.

 

Ahh, I see. The old fender-washers-are-too-thick caper. I get it!

 

Sleeping platform and roof crossbar updates

After completing the platform I ordered some riv-nuts from Amazon to secure the platform to the truck. After they were delivered I learned they make special riv-nuts for plastics and composites that have multiple fingers that crush out to spread the load over a larger area to prevent them from pulling out of the soft material. The regular riv-nuts are not recommended for plastics because they can spin and pull out easily.

Time for another “Plan B” for bolts and locknuts. I headed to the local Ace Hardware and grabbed stainless steel bolts, nuts, and fender washers. Once back home, I loaded the platform inserted the bolts through the holes and enlisted my wife’s help holding the wrench while I crawled under and tightened the nuts. Now that the platform was secured it was time to trim the notch in the filler piece for over the wheel well.

Measure once, cut twice, fix it with a hammer


Be sure to use the correct equipment when woodworking kids, old four-wheelers make the best sawhorses


It fits!




With that out of the way it’s time to move on to the roof rack. When I bought the topper I had the roof tracks factory installed but declined the expensive crossbars and racks they offered. I don’t plan on carrying a lot of weight on the roof so I’m really not interested in a full rack, especially for what they cost! Cross bars are also way overpriced but I need something to hold an awning, shovel and my kayak when I need to transport it. I searched around on Marketplace and Craigslist but couldn’t find anything.

Then I remembered Eric @ETAV8R had used electrical conduit for his cross bars. I looked back through his thread and saw he had changed things up some and was now using aluminum extrusion for crossbars. I asked him a few questions and decided it would work for me too. It was a fairly cheap (compared to actual crossbars) and easy to order from tnutz. I also ordered brackets, screws and nuts for the extrusion from them. They only thing I was not able to get was a 3” L bracket that Eric used to mount his awning, they don’t have it in stock and don’t know when they will have it so I just ordered the ARB awning bracket since I don’t have metal fab skills or tools.

For the Yakima tracks on the topper you need flat nuts that slide into the channel on the track. Etrailer.com has the nuts you need.

This was a pretty straight forward assembly, making sure the extrusion hung over equal distance on each side was about the hardest part. One thing I did find out was there is not enough clearance to use lock washers on both screws in the corner brackets that hold the extrusion to the tracks. I was able to use a lock washer on the screw into the track nut but had to use blue locktite on the screw going into the extrusion. Hopefully this works out! The awning brackets should be here this week then we can get that mounted and get a shakedown trail run in this weekend.

1x3” extrusion


Some assembly required




All together

 

That all looks great Blevin

 

Thanks Shane

 

Yup, this is looking good. I've got my eye on this. LOL Still leaning on a slide in camper tho.
Zim

 

Morning John

 

Thanks Dave. I like the concept of the Four Wheel Campers and others like it, I can’t justify the cost. They also are just too much weight for a Tacoma too. Now if I had a beast like you just bought, I would get one if I could afford it!

 

You too

 

Looks great! Glad I could help a little bit. Yes etrailer! I forgot that was where I got those flat nuts.

 

Thanks Eric! Your truck and a couple of others are where I got a lot of ideas from. Sensible, capable, and reliable off road travel trucks.

 

Okay, first off....lol, looking at used campers....like 1980 versions...ahahahaha, and second, yes, this is a beast and I'm getting decent gas mileage too. 16-18. But down in the hills, only 14..dammit. LOL
Thanks Blevin
Zim