Huracan Fabrication tailgate box install and first impression

Hey folks,

I preordered this huracan fab tailgate box on a whim and it showed up a couple of days ago.
I was pretty eager to install it and thought i'd share my experience(OPINION) with yall. This is nowhere near a detailed install, rather my thoughts and observations regarding the install. The instructions included are pretty self explanitory if/when you do your own, so i wont reiterate them.

Price: $690 before s/h
Install difficulty: 4/5
Install time: 2-3 hours well focused. 5 hours with children
Unit weight: 42.6lbs
Removed weight: 10lbs
Total added weight: +32.6lbs empty






A rep (or the owner?) from Huracan emailed me to inform that units were in powdercoat and will be shipping within a week. Showed up before schedule.
Package arrived via DHL/sub well packed and only minorly bent in one corner. Was able to bang it back into alignment with a mallet and 10sec. 10/10 for shipping time and delivery from australia, honestly.

I laid out the cut template, measured twice, and cut twice times.
The box is a tight fit and it takes a hammer to get the top/wedge side in properly to seat. It took me three tries to get it right and in the process i sustained some damage (detailed later).
First try the top opening was not wide enough, so i cut another 1/4" off each rounded corner and widened the bottom of the tailgate by 1/4"



Install requires you to remove the handle assembly and change lever rods/arms. Tolerance is tight and it took me a few tries to get it right and working properly.
F it all, the lock actuator did not fit.

Got everything fastened, skipped the adhesive step in the instructions. I will be doing a layer of silicon around the entire box.






TLDR:


Things i like:
-Build quality is nice, but i can smell the laser burn.
-It is quite sturdy, rigid, and the door action is nice and solid.
-It locks stuff inside. Fits a long barrel.
-Very discreet
-Can still close gate with one hand.
-Fit and finish after install is pretty clean
-Tolerances are within mm'z
-Everything was included, instructions were pretty comprehensive.


Things i dont like:
-Common tools, but adhesive/silicon weatherproofing and red threadlocker was not included (but required).
-Self tapping screw locations are hit/miss. Some of mine hit brackets or secondary metal sheets and canted sideways a bit.
-Cut template seems to be measured for flush fit, however i found it impossible to get the box in since you have to slide the wedge side in first. I needed an extra 1/4" in all directions to fit and the bolt heads on the side still didnt clear the ribbed sheet.
-My polycarbonate top was aligned properly with the lid, but the cut holes for the locking latch were 2mm off or 2mm too wide on one side, making the gasket for the locking latch not seat properly.
-Completely my fault, but it is fairly easy for the box to touch and dent the outer sheet during install. I sustained two small line dents in my tailgate from the top/wedge side of the box making contact while trying to squeeze it in. Make a bigger hole than the template says.
Pictured here, a line dent from the top of the box sliding against the outer sheet. I have one on each side =(


-Soft stop on the tail gate is almost negated with the added weight. I'll try to print a thicker U collar thing for the tail gate posts or maybe build up the oem ones so the soft stop works at this weight. unsure.
-LOCK ACTUATOR does not fit. suckfest. You can shove it in but the angle of the actuator isnt ideal and will probably fail quickly. I'm currently fabricating another bracket to get the actuator to fit into the 12" boxed pocket provided by the box.

Do i like it? Yes.
If you are trying to squeeze every bit of extra storage space out of the tacoma, i think this is one of the last few uncharted areas.

Would i buy it again? Probably.
Despite the issues i had, i really wanted some hidden locked storage for "things" and keep my cab clean, safe, and organized for daily and family use; this box is ample/hidden enough to do that.

My only complaint with this unit is that you need to have some legitimate fabrication knowledge to do this properly. I did damage the outer shell of my tailgate figuring this out. The instructions do not have the typical american liability disclaimers like "DO NOT!!!" "STOP!!!" "WARNING:"
Again, i do not hold this against the company, but i do contribute this to unnecessarily added difficulty.



I hope my anecdotal install experience was helpful to someone.
Love yourself, but love your truck more <3.

 

Very helpful, thank you. I now know for certain not to buy this. I thought it was overpriced when I first saw it, and I wouldn't pay almost $700 for the headaches (and damage) you had to deal with. You obviously have the skill set required to get this installed, and even then you had some minor damage. If it works for you that's great. Just doesn't do it for me.

 

Did you figure out how to get the actuator to function reliably? I am very interested in this for similar reasons.

 

Wow over $700 for that little and I mean little extra space. What a waste of money !!!!!

 

That's pretty damn cool and going on the future mods list.
Looks like $595 with free shipping now, did they drop the price?

 

If I didn't haul so much firewood, I'd have one.

 

I'm aware of material costs, fabrication costs, production costs, etc. But holy that price.


Cool product but the value is definitely not there for me. Some things just can't be made for a price that is reasonable. This is one of them. Good on them for finding a market for it I suppose.

 

The highest quality of comment and character. Thank you very much for your insight and contribution.

 

Saw this and thought it was super cool. Does it have enough depth to it to fit a floor jack? If not how deep is it what all can you fit in there minus the long barell?

 

I did. It was actually pretty easy to modify the existing pin setup and flip the actuator into its place without any cutting/fab. It took a while to get the tension right, and now the OEM actuator makes a very loud sound like the older R4T/TM lock kit that was known to be "noisy"
I dont mind it. I can tell the sound difference between a full actuation and not, confirming if it was locked/unlocked before i hit the button.

 

They are cool. Agreed not sure it's worth $700 considering other models are as low as $350...or otherwise adding storage to an empty truck bed..

 

@OP, looks great! Now that you’ve had it a year and a half what are your thoughts?!?