PcBuilder's 2018 Tacoma Build

It'll happen. I have no intention of getting rid of him. Just need space to do the work. Someday I'll own a home, I hope. ha.

 

I know that feeling. It's not quite as bas as your garage situation, but I had to move some stuff around to mess with our water softener. With the amount of camping junk, tools, and maneuvering 3 vehicles around to get both vehicles out of the garage made me wish I had a shop. Although with the new rear suspension I may not be able to fit in the garage without lowering the tire pressure, so that'll be a new nightmare in itself

 

Ha! that would be funny. And also quite annoying.

Yeah you can fit 2 vehicles which is much better than my 0.5 vehicles hahahaha

Oh well. Someday.

 

Yeah, the garages built out here are actual 2 car garages which is nice. And having a true attic space helps to store some of the junk we use like once a year. If I can swing it I'd like our next house to have a 3 car garage just so I can dedicate one bay to being the "workshop". I'm fairly certain I won't be in a position to have a shop until much later in life and at that point I think I'd rather build my own house too.

 

Frank really was my template, until you went long travel. It is, and has always been, my favorite truck on here. I'd love to see him in trip reports again.

 

Yeah an oversized 3 car would be fine for me for now too.

But man, I really want a 30x40 minimum shop. Just grew up with that shit in my life and I really want it back. Plus not too hard to find that out here. But now costs have just sky rocketed. Even building is probably not an option for me anymore.

 

well what are you waiting for! Get that LT hahahaha

Seriously though...its pretty great. But also...bad, cause you drive too fast, which means more shit breaks..haha

But thanks! Cool to hear that. Someday it'll get back.

 

I'm in a 3rd gen now, I'm trying to keep +2 in my sights.

 

ah nice. That's what I'd do with that platform. +2 and a SUA setup of some kind. Be awesome. Ton of choices with that platform though suspension wise.

 

This, plus the creature comfort upgrade, is why I moved on from the 1st gen. I'm getting too old to fabricate every little thing, and the aftermarket support for 3rd gens is phenomenal.

 

helps it's basically the exact same frame basically as the 2nd gens so a lot of suspension stuff carried over. Would have been interesting if things had shifted again like they did 1st gen to 2nd gen.

 

Yup, one of only a few things they got right on this thing.

 

Doesn't sound asshole-ish at all man, I appreciate the reminder. I've definitely been watching for how much I get sucked into TW or any other activity that's not based in the real world. Better to get out for a ride or a drive then to fantasize about what I could do to my truck. That said, I do have a few things lined up and want to make sure I have some idea of where I'm going down the road with stuff I've already initiated. The high clearance cross bar for the hammer hangars is a good example- I'm not at the point where I can look at it and say "that's nice but it would limit my ability to do x,y or z compared to the normal bar." But I think guys like @PcBuilder14 and the folks like yourself that comment on his page can help me out there, and it's great to have access to you all. And if someone says "save your money" I always appreciate their point of view..

absolutely true, and probably will be for a looong time. I do wish I had driven it more stock, but I threw 265/75's on pretty quick then went to some Bilstein 6112/5160's and an Icon Rxt in rear. Maybe a rookie mistake, but what's done is done- Only then did I start asking questions like "did I always have that weird harmonic in the rear?" and " Is that grinding on the drivers front the sound of my cv-axel needle bearing breaking down?" etc etc. Ah well, I'm not taking it back to stock at this point, but plan on doing "minimal" stuff ( I realize minimal is relative) while I take the advice to drive the hell out of it and see what comes up... And I do like the idea of eventually going to a larger tire- I imagine it's like when I went from a 26" mountain bike wheel to a 27.5 and then a 29". I can just roll over stuff on that 29 I never thought I could on the 26- But I only appreciated it because I knew what the 26 was like so.. drive what I'm on now and plan/ save/ ask a ton of questions for what I think might be on the horizon.

 

I've got sliders and 265/75's. I'll go get in some trouble and when I smash up my bumpers I'll think about replacing em- Sage advice.

 

yeah your in perfect setup. Decent shocks, sliders to keep you from fucking shit up too bad. And some better tires. Now just go enjoy it for a while.

Then when you go 33/35s you'll love it. But want to regear..decide on lockers..skids, bumpers, re doing suspension to fit your driving style wants and needs.

Also go wheel with other people with other trucks setup different and steal all the ideas you like. If possible ask to drive them. You'll be amazed how similar and yet totally different everything will feel. I love doing the "truck swap". We do it often in my group, mostly because it is fun haha but for someone like you it'll show you a LOT.

 

Did some mods for the GFC. Ordered a Duluth seat back bunker for some better organization of stuff we always take camping. With the new orientation of my spare tire to utilize the organizer I had to remove the fridge handles to fit it where I want. Swapped them out for some straps made out of maxtrax straps I had laying around and it works great. Wish I would have bought this a lot sooner. Should drop us down to bringing only one Plano box for dry goods and kitchen stuff.




Also swapped out the factory foam cushions for my Exped megamat. Drilled some 1” holes into the two squares that are normally inside a mattress cover. Requires a little more breakdown time by having to fold over and compress the mattress for about 30 seconds. Otherwise the mattress will push out the tent material when you’re trying to close it. But imo it’s worth it for a comfortable nights sleep! Here’s some pictures to give you ideas @turbodb

 

Pretty slick setup- how much you figure your spare weighs?

 

Based on the individual weights of the tire and wheel it should be somewhere around 96lbs not including the wheel weights for balancing. It’s not light, that’s for sure haha

 

Really like the way you've built out your truck. Would definitely like to get mine to something similar down the road.

I'm curious what your thought process was going with the GFC over some of the other options like Alucab or Vagabond and whether you see them as competitors or fitting a slightly different consumer. Seems like the majority of opinions on this site point to those other options as higher quality but maybe that's in the context of a full camper build, where as the GFC still allows for the maintaining of some truck-like utility.

Interested in how you see it.

 

It really came down to price when deciding which way to go. The GFC has been great for the price, but all three have different things about them that make them good in their own way.

The GFC is the lightest and cheapest option out of the three you mentioned.

The Vagabond has the best sleeping platform in my opinion due to the extra length that it has over the cab.

The Alucab is the most feature heavy, waterproof, and fastest turnaround.

I don’t think you can go wrong with any of them, it just depends on how you plan to use it and sometimes you won’t know until you buy one. If I was to do it again I’d heavily consider the Vagabond for its sleeping platform setup as I think it would suit us better with how we want to camp/sleep with a kid. But they do have quite a long wait time and I’m able to make the GFC work for us pretty well.