Kyle's SR Access Cab Build

Had this on for a while but figured I’d share an interior mod. Love the single mount from taco garage. Long time fan of the RAM mounts - this X grip has been with me through 3 vehicles now.

 

Annual Christmas tree hunt was a success. Here’s the truck on 12/7/2019 at 5,200 miles:

 

Blacked out the chrome cup holder piece this morning. Think it turned out great! Just did 3 coats of spray paint.



Big things incoming after Christmas. Going to install my victory 4x4 roof rack, my hidden light bar brackets, ditch lights, and a custom fuse/relay block + switch panel. Worked on a prototype fuse/relay mount with a vendor here and ordered all of the components for it. Should be an exciting winter. My goal is to make the wiring as clean as possible. I should have 6 relay slots and 6 standard fuse slots when all is said and done.

 

Dialed-in the prototype bracket for non-ATRAC trucks and got most of the components drilled in (ground off the pointy ends) tonight. Going to take me a longggg while to run my wires cleanly, solder, etc. I’d expect several iterations. The different color wires in the back are for the switch harness I’m working on.

 

Made some progress last night. All the components are drilled in and the relays are fully hooked up. Each wire was cut, crimped with an uninsulated terminal, soldered to avoid pull-through, and then shrink tubed over. The relay terminals were double shrink tubed (one for the soldered joint and one covering the terminal).



To keep my wire runs clean and secure I drilled some holes to zip-tie the wires to the bracket. The underside looks pretty clean even with the zip-ties cut short:



Now I’m just waiting on my switches and battery cables to come in. I would make my own cables but Cali Raised Offroad had some pre-built ones that are probably cheaper than what I’d make them for. I picked up their 3-switch panel and will make a nice harness to connect them to the terminal bus when they show up. Overall really proud of this project.

 

Pain in the ass install but I like the victory 4x4 access cab rack.

 

Continuing the blackout, I painted my climate knob rings today. What color should I do the metallic gray dash piece? Contemplating matte black like everything else in the interior, but there’s subtle charcoal accents in the SR interior.

 

Took a while to get my battery cables with the holiday shipping, but I’m really proud of my fuse/relay block. Thanks to @paranoid56 for letting me design this panel from scratch.

 

Sitting in an unloading zone in a parking lot moving stuff out of my truck when I hear a loud “crunch” and see my truck jolt a little bit. Low a behold Karen strikes again! Backed up right into my truck. Luckily they have insurance and are taking full responsibility. Looks like a pretty sharp bend to the bedside that will need to be replaced. My rear bumper popped out slightly, too. The glue from the fender liner is coming undone a bit. Parts won’t cost much but the labor to take that bedside apart is going to be a lot:

 

Received my high clearance rear bumper from At The Helm Fabrication today and dropped it off at the powder coater. If the rain isn't too bad it might be time to break out the angle grinder this weekend

 

Good luck with the bumper replacement. I told myself I would do the same if I take any damage to the front or rear. Do you have any clearance issues with the fuse box and your newly added fuse block?

 

How hard was it to take these out?

 

I too like the concept of the SR. No features, a great start for a build.

How is the 2TR-FE with an Auto trans? I had a regular cab with a manual and it was tolerable, but am interested how the 6 speed auto handles this motor..

Thanks!

 

Mine has the GR engine (3.5L) -- I promised myself I would never buy another 4 banger, especially since I tow a drift boat multiple days per week. I hear a lot of complaints on here about the auto trans being crap, but I've had 0 issues so far. Shifts smooth, haven't had a single clang-shift or hang, plenty of power for what I need. Maybe some people don't like the Atkinson cycle in general? It lags pretty shamefully until you reach about 45 mph when the direct fuel injection kicks in, at which point it'll force your head into the back of the seat.

 

Installed some seat covers last night. Definitely transformed the entire interior. I wrestled with the center console cover for a good 30 minutes trying to get it to look right and quite frankly it's just not a good fit. I will probably junk it.

 

Bonus mod I was able to get done over lunch thanks to my switch panel and fuse block being pre-wired for them. I had ditch lights on my old Jeep and now I'm excited to have them on the Tacoma. Found some lights that had blacked-out reflectors and look really nice with the low-profile brackets. Lit up on the first try!

 

My salesman called today to remind me it's been exactly 6 months since I picked up my Tacoma. The Tacoma is my dream truck, and I feel like before I pulled the trigger I got a little discouraged from reading some of the stuff that gets posted around here each day. I'm pretty glad I waded through some of the gripes on here and went through with my decision. So far I haven't had any non-self-inflicted issues with the truck. It drives and handles great - absolutely 0 shift problems. It tows my boat just fine even with the weight of the mods I've slapped on it. It's way more capable Offroad than my current driving skill level. It's also just the right size for me + 1 with the AC. I have enjoyed the hell out of this truck and plan to do so for a very long time. I guess this is just a reminder for people to enjoy the rig they bought. These things are fun to drive and modify, and it's been rewarding to slowly build something that I've wanted for over 10 years. Happy Friday, everyone.

 

Crazy jealous of your truck, I've had my truck a year longer and haven't done nearly as much as you. Good luck with the rest of your mods.

 

Rut roh. Bumper install is going to be delayed further. Powder coat looks phenomenal but someone must have dropped it when packaging it up for transport. I had it PC’d locally and they’re going to take care of it. Bummer but at least sliders are going on today.

 

Installed the Victory 4x4 sliders. Wish all installs were that easy!