Overkill 2020 Build

The Old Truck
I purchased a cement 2017 TRD Pro Tacoma in 2018. I spent several years saving up and started adding some accessories. It started with the practical, everyday stuff first: tint, rubber mats, and bed shell. Then I started adding on some of the fun things: fishing rod holder, grippy tires, and a high-clearance rear bumper.

More parts started piling up as I was trying to get everything that I'd need to re-do the stereo and dash, with the idea that I'd try to avoid digging in there too many times. I had a big plan, but I hadn't pulled the trigger on several things that would close out that phase.

Then I got rear-ended at the end of 2021.



Back to square-one.

The timing wasn't great since the car market was insane, but I got pretty reasonable reimbursement. I was also happy that I hadn't just put all the time into the upgrades I had sitting around. At this point I was considering finding a low-mileage truck with the same specs, but given this opportunity to find a later model with some new features, I did the reasonable thing and took it.

The New Truck
Around New Years, I shifted some travel plans and drove 200 miles to purchase a used truck. I had a rental that I couldn't return in the city of the dealer, so I drove back after getting things squared away and flew back down the following weekend to pick it up. I made a pit-stop on the way back to take the following photo in front of the original location of Baylor University, my Alma Mater, because... green.

Year: 2020
Trim: TRD Pro
Color: Army Green


The new truck was already set up with some Falken Wildpeak AT3Ws and a Leer cap. Happy day!

At this point, I had to make some adjustments to my original plans because I wanted to reinforce the cap and it needed tracks. (Rhetorical question: Who buys a cap without tracks?) Tracks were hard to come by, so I waited, and waited.

Fast forward 6 months. I've tracked down some tracks and it just happens to be time for Independence Day sales.


Now it's time to get to work.

The Build Plan
I've been maintaining a build sheet on Google Drive for a couple of years in order to plan out and budget for purchases. It was helpful for tracking down some prices for damages after the wreck as well.

You can see the sheet here if you're interested:
Build Sheet

The build is designed to take me around the country and be functional enough to do some remote work on the road. A friend of mine has asked why I don't just buy a trailer. I don't have a place to store a trailer. Another friend asked why I don't do the "van life." I still want the capabilities of a truck. So here we are.

I'll keep this thread updated with build progress. Follow along!

Next up: Racks on racks

 

Sub’d

 

That bed on the 2017 though, damn. Looks like tin foil

 

Evidently, that’s what happens when an F350 going 40+ mph hits a Tacoma at a stoplight. I’ve gotta hand it to @Apogee Offroad though. Besides the BSM cover popping off, their bumper was barely dented.

 

Wow! That was a gnarly hit.

Glad you're okay and moving forward! This might be the first encounter of one of our bumpers being hit hard. It looks like it held up just as we intended. Can you send us some more photos of this?

 

Damn, sorry to hear about the old Tacoma but that “new” one looks like a dream come true.

Sub’d to this!

 

Here's an album: https://www.tacomaworld.com/media/albums/sad-taco.72721/

 

Wowza... I'm speechless at the damage there. Once again glad you're okay! We literally had another customer email us a few days ago that got rear ended by a drunk driver going 90+MPH! Our bumper was destroyed, but it saved most of the rear end of the truck and most importantly, the driver! Congrats on the new rig BTW!

 

Wow that's a serious hit, glad you're okay. You picked up the color I wish I waited for, good luck with the build!

 

Front End Install Update


Got my front bumper installed at a friend's shop where I had some credit. I didn't feel like doing the cuts on my own. There were a few issues along the way.

Bumper
I ordered the kit from C4 with the Tacoma Overland bumper, light bar, winch, fog lights, frame support bracket, and light harness.

My friend's shop sent the bumper for powder-coating, but they missed a part:


They did the cuts and put it together. It wasn't until I came back for a look that I saw the frame support bracket wasn't coated. I took it off and had it coated somewhere else after the fact. Kind of a pain, but not really a big deal. I didn't have a breaker bar, so now I do.

Fog Lights
I went with the Baja Squadron SAE for on-road fogs. I forgot to bring the fog lights to the shop because they had been shipped separately. That worked out in the end because the shop was just going to splice them in, but I wanted to preserve the factory wiring. I tried looking through the forums for the right parts to make my own adapters, but ended up contacting Baja to get the adapters that they sell as part of their factory fog light swap package.

The adapters were simple to get connected after checking the polarity with a multimeter. The only trick was to turn off automatic lights since I was testing during the day and they wouldn't turn on for me. Mounting the lights, on the other hand, was a big pain. There's a gap under the mounting location for the lights and the bottom of the bumper kicks back about half a foot. This made the angles pretty awkward for wrenching. I had to switch between channel locks, box, and open wrenches to get them nice and tight.

Light Bar
Went with Baja again here in the S8 30" clear/driving combo. Though I've got the harness to hook it up, I haven't wired it because I'm going to put it into my auxiliary controller once I get that set up. For now, the plug is just zip-tied down behind the bumper.

Winch
The Warn Evo 10-S gave me some more heartburn from the shop. I planned to complete the wiring myself so I could put a power interrupt switch in. I hadn't put any thought into where I'd be relocating the control unit for the winch.

I knew from the C4 documentation that it would need to be relocated, but I thought a relocation position may be built-in. My bad. The shop ended up making a bracket that hangs in front of the radiator. I'm not in love with the position, but it got the job done.

During install, the winch line had been pulled out some, so I needed to go ahead and hook it up to power to reel it back in. Unfortunately, the shop forgot to connect the ground wire from the control unit. It was actually wrapped up in the unit, so I had to take it apart to get to it. Due to the position, this meant having to drop the bumper. A big jack and a helpful brother made it pretty easy work, but I wasn't too excited about it.

I popped the Factor 55 Ultrahook on and called it good.

Unfinished Business
I got the power interrupt kit from Warn and started working on the install, but there was some concern and confusion with the screws they provided for mounting the solenoid. They said it would include self-tapping screws, but the screws weren't self-tapping. I called for clarification and they sent 4 more of the same screws. I went ahead and used them to hold the solenoid, but for now I'm just driving without it wired up so I can make sure it doesn't work it's way loose.

Lessons Learned
If you want something done right...

It seems like even the things that seem the simplest have their challenges when it comes to this stuff. I thought I'd done my homework and was prepared, but I suppose I could have looked into more details as if I was going to do it all myself.

1. I don't love the bushwacker fender flares that were installed by the previous owner. I should have replaced them with stock flares before having this done so I could sell the bushwackers. Now they're probably worthless. Maybe they'll grow on me.
2. I should have confirmed with the shop which pieces need to be powder-coated.
3. I should have ordered the fog light adapter ahead of time.
4. I should have made sure everything was at the shop or that I brought it with me.
5. I probably would have ordered a relocation kit for the winch control unit and gone ahead with that before-hand.
6. I would have done some preliminary wiring of the power interrupt kit. I'm running into some issues getting the switch for the interrupt wired to my cab, but I'll explore that more in a later post.

There were a few other struggles and lessons along the way, but they were just B-plots. Other than that, I'm happy with the results.

 

Cap Tracks

Got some Yakima HD 54" tracks installed on the camper shell since it didn't come with any when I bought the truck. The tracks reach the front and rear edges of the shell. I'd prefer if they were a little shorter, but it's not a big deal. A friend is helpful for holding things and sanity through this process.

We used about 8 strips of painters tape along the two sides of the shell to mark holes and avoid paint/fiberglass chips. The we lined up the tracks, measured from the outside near the cab, and marked the first holes. Next, we measured the distance of the end holes on the tracks, individually (in case of inconsistency). We measured across the front marks and then used that measure and our length measure to approximate where the last holes would land at the rear of the cab from each edge and marked them on the tape. We laid the tracks down to check the distance was right and were fortunate that it was. Next, we measured across diagonally to verify that each corner was equally aligned. Finally, we measured the distance between each track's mounting holes and the used a long, flexible ruler to line up the marks. We laid the tracks on again to double-check our work.

This took a lot of patience as we had to remeasured and adjust several times to deal with the curvature of the cap and get aligned with the reinforced portion internally.

There are more holes in the tracks that needed for mounting, so we used every other hole starting from the front and doubled up at the end. Before drilling, we had to track down longer screws. The 10-32 screws that came with the tracks were too short. I had ordered some 1 1/4 inch 10-32 hex button heads based on the recommendations of another user, but they were still too short. We ended up having to convert to 2" M5 .8 screws and nuts due to availability. They stick out beyond the cap nuts more than I'd prefer, but again, big deal.

With all the parts secured, we proceeded to drilling and mounting. We used a center punch for pilot holes, then clean 1/8" and 1/4" bits to drill. We worked the drill slowly to prevent cracking. Since the inside of the shell is carpeted, we used some metal picks to gently tear holes around the drill bit to avoid pulling the carpet.

Next, we put a healthy amount of silicone over each hole and gently rolled the tracks over onto the holes. One person held the tracks and inserted the first screw while the other got in the bed to put the cap nuts on. We worked from front to back and then alternated tightening until all cap nuts were secure.

The total endeavor probably took 8 hours, but half of that was running around to stores looking for screws. I'd say it takes 3 hours if you approach it carefully and patiently.

 

UpTop Alpha Double Cab Rack w/ Fresh Air Option and Baja 40" Clear Spot

This was a pretty straightforward install. A friend and I assembled the rack and light the night before. The rack includes the fresh air kit so the tilt function of the sunroof will still work. Because of the shark fin antenna, the last rail has to be turned upright. This still includes 5 rails of mountable surface, but the spacing is a bit odd. Should be functional, though.



The next day, we prepped the gutters on the cab by removing the rubber insert and punching holes for the mounting feet. We lined the insert up next to the rail and marked the center of where we need to punch with a silver marker. Next, we placed the insert on a block of wood and used a 3/4" punch and 10# steel mallet to punch the holes. Ear protection is your friend. It took several strikes to break through the rigid center of the insert.

We put the inserts back in the rails, filled the holes with silicone and mounted the rack. For now, we've just tied off the connector for the light as I still need to get my accessory switching installed.

 

Accessory Wiring

I've been working on a wiring diagram for how I plan to get things connected. I have a RedArc Redvision system waiting to be installed, but there are a few steps before I do that.



Manager30 IO

• RBus to Redvision
• CANBus to Battery Sensor
• 50A midi to crank battery
• Solar positive
• Ignition trigger?
• Postive merged with House battery positive to Redvision
• Negative merged with Battery Sensor ground to Redvision

Redvision IO
30A

1. Fridge
2. Water Pump
3. S8 40"
4. S8 30"

10A

1. WeBoost
2. Scene CD
3. Scene CP
4. Scene BD
5. Scene BP