Shveet's Build Thread "Clementine"

update; hard mounted the aux relay box. Also organized the cables to 3 bundles that need to be removed to open up the box again.



incase i forget since i put 4 riv nuts through the diagram



Edit: Apparently i was missing photos

 

Update; Flattened the RCI Plate

10lb sledge for the win

 

update; These are big.... Copper Discoverer ST MAXX 255/85R16.




tucked



Trimming of rear portion of front fender and wheel well to fit the tires in to make it drivable...


Heat gun the hell out of the front.

 

Update; Beat Pinch weld flat (round 1)


bottom half of pinch weld needs the power of God to move over (was using a 3 ounce ball peen and claw hammer to beat it down at first... need bigger hammer...
Everything was coated with a liberal amount of bedliner.

heat up, hold in place with a hammer, spray water on it to force the plastic to stay in place.

hub caps started to look rough

no more hub caps

 

Wheels fill in the wells really well, but still feel like a tight fit. some rubbing still exists after 500km of driving.


Pinch weld 2: Beat down boogaloo with a 3lb mini sledge.
flattened it further. picked up 2inch long stainless steel hardware and cut apart the old front mudflaps (had to be removed to be drivable)

new bolt sticks up far enough that it holds the inner fender between the pinchweld/body and the bolt itself. forcing more clearence for the new 33" tire. The bain of -12mm offset rims....
then took it on some trails to see if there is any more rubs (nothing i could hear on the trail at least )

 

page needed an update since i wanted everything in working order first


Exhaust reroute and flattened skid plates are the best things i've done.

 

Yea that flattened exhaust made a huge difference for me, but my skid plate would just at your 10lb sledge. Its a bit different design, I had mine modified.

Looking good

 

I'm working with the cock that i got


Picked up RCI plates since they had a decent reputation and they were 15% off one of the 'MeRiCaN! sales some time last year. at the time i thought that non-re-route version would do just fine and some people were blowing smoke out of their asses. Until i beached the truck on it and had some troubles moving....



yeah every inch i can get in that area i'll grab, i see the value now through experience. But since i didn't want to order new plates, i went ahead and beat down the old one and if it goes pear-shaped i can add gussets

 

Yea since its steel it will work till you dont want it to anymore

 

Stow-away lightbar on backrack (folds down to allow use of backrack)



Drill holes and Riv nut. Yest i used a regular steel Gate hinge from Homedepot.





Orange covers are from Princess Auto as replacement covers for something. Figured to zip tie them on to see if it helps. It does help prevent light from glaring into my eyes from the bar reaching the side mirrors. The orange tint helps not blind me.


Test photos;

Before;


after:


after taking the above test photos, parked on the side of the road, i started to drive ahead and not 50m from where i left two Moose crossed the road in front of me.

Lightbar paid for itself

 

Cheap RTT; Inspired by https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/cheap-rtt-for-those-on-a-budget.478273/





Mounted with 2" long square-ubolts

Need to remove some legs due to Backrack bracket intercepting legs. could adjust the entire thing forward a bit, but i'm uncertain if this is an issue with the tiedown.

 

Not much clearance on those ubolts and your bed cover, get any rubbing?

Very nice setup

 

nothing an angle grinder can't fix. but i didn't notice any contact between the 2 bars and the tonneau cover. only marks that exist was me trying to place that onto the cross bars itself and ended up scratching it...

 

Ardbeg trip Setup!

Covered up the RTT with a canvas tarp that i picked up at Princess Auto.
Used Silicone lubricant (the entire can) to attempt to "water proof" the canvas tarp. This was surprisingly effective, but i do encourage a proper Waxed canvas. I do plan on replacing the cover with a plastic shell off of something, most likely the Roof top storage pods people use.

Bed bars are still useable (there are 8 pieces of 3x3 blocks from pallets and skids in the tarp, this held down quite nicely)

Entire RTT is held down via 4x 2" square Ubolts with a rubber mat between the crossbars and the RTT's legs itself.



Set up at Ardbeg

The full setup outside


Inside;
MEC Reactor 6.5 Sleeping pad
Down blanket (twin sized)
Wool Blanket (also twin sized)

USB Fan set up by one of the opened panels to let in fresh air/ circulate it within the RTT. there is a bit of a condensation issue with the Tent cot but it's the nature of camping in the cold. Humidity management is something that needs to be taken into consideration. or just open a window.
Bluehive 10,000Mah power bank (Powers the above USB fan for 10 hours at full speed, 40+(?) hours on low speed. Was $15 in the bargain bin at Crappy tire)
Waterproof LED Light


Getting in and out wasn't too bad. Do need to make some mounts for the fly canopy poles. Currently are wedged against the frame with velro tie-downs.
fly/pole canopy ties connect to steel latches from the truck bed, Need to figure out a new position for these since it does become a bit of an annoyance if i want to put my tailgate up but keep the fly functional.

Tarp cover requires a few points of contacts of above ground trees incase of larger rain storms. I might make some posts that connect to the backrack to help. otherwise, the Rainfly canopy is small enough to cover a small portion of the tailgate and that's about it.

 

P0335 code was thrown the other day. Crankshaft position sensor possibly got submerged

incase i need to replace the sensor unit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRlxVXjkUjA

other troubleshooting stuff:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/3rd-gen-won’t-start-20k-miles.597804/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYxQYnA7xbA

Starter:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yC409CU7mU8

Altinator replacement:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9iIucCk0So


EDIT: January 2021.
ATTEMPTED TO DISSASEMBLE/ REMOVE THE STARTER MOTOR (IT'S A PAIN IN THE ASS) AND CLEARED SOME MUD OFF ONE OF THE ELECTRICAL CONNECTORS BACK IN NOVEMBER 2020. AFTER DOING THAT, THE TRUCK HAS NOT HAD THIS ISSUE AS OF JANUARY 2021

 

next practical project;
Backrack modification - L-track Water tank addition

Was thinking about the day trip (to Valens) i did to see about setting up what i have/ need for lengthy trips. Found out everything packed up just fine but i noticed i didn't really have too much water to carry (washing/ cleaning/ drinking water) i found my water storage to be questionable at best (it sits in a box with my stove and other cooking stuff) and would like to separate those two from each other. this way i can carry a smaller fuel can (something like the smaller 5 liter cans) in the same box as the stove, this way i'm not flipping over a 20L can to try and fill up the Coleman stove and it's 1 box to reach for to start cooking.

it works how as how i have it and it worked just fine at Ardbeg but could be better and figured to play with the idea a bit. Because everything is an idea and i cross too many damned ideas.

So in terms of space, i don't have a lot in the remaining 3 feet ( 2 feet of it is occupied by a mounted storage box for additional tools, straps, jack stands, etc) of the bed of the truck. so figured to do some planning on the backrack...

Rotopax fuel/water cans? i'd like to do a dry fit to see if it's worth it or not as the RotoPAX can itself is measured around 4" wide. the 6" "military" style jerry cans are a but too wide for the Hobo RTT with the rainfly on and extended.

Dual setup; mix match fuel and/or water


Also toyed with the idea of running a 4" ABS pipe at the bottom of the backrack to work as a water storage based on this consideration (this but rotated and mounted to the backrack);
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9_t4FG6Aqg


and for the price vs volume....

Going side to side on the outside; 4inch ABS at about 4 feet long (in terms of Volume about 10 Liters) - I'd be looking at spending about $60 for 10 liters of water storage (add in the hidden costs of about $30 for fittings and the adhesives, plus a mounting method, which 2 metal straps would be more than enough or something like the super long Quickfists.) The red 4inch gripper would make life easier to clean the barrel out and running my tire pump to pressurize the system would be really nice. I would also need to get my hands on the L-track to add to the Backrack (which would be an additional $120 but this is an item that i can still use for other things like a mounting mount for straps)

Which at the end of the day it's not actually too far off the price of a RotoPAX...
1 of the rotopax containers would be about (using 4wheelparts) $70 for 7.5 liters of storage (granted i would not be able to pressurize it) but would be able to remove it and use for dishes/ drinking water or swap the water storage for fuel storage to modify how i do my trips in the future.
I might have one of the few case scenarios that these overpriced monstrosities might actually be worth my while for outside storage just because how thin they are (3-4" wide compared to the 6" wide cans i already have)....

Thanks bud, that comment helped me remember this idea;

(Which is an inspiration from a long time ago that i remembered); https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/diy-pressurized-water-tank-update.502009/page-2#post-17731302
Which is where the PVC shines brighter than the RotoPax.






by adding in a few additional Tees, i can expand the water tank upwards and around with a filler cap at the top (i want to keep visibility out the back). Doing a rough estimate, 4.5 feet at the bottom, 1.5 feet for the 2 arms going up, and a 3.5 foot cross member; which works out to be about 11 linear feet of 4" PVC tube. Raising that 10 liters Capacity (from my original 4 foot idea above) to about 27 liters for a few dollars more ($52 for 12 feet $25 for 3 feet). Not Quite the 37 Liters as quoted but for 27L for 1 person is enough for some time (washing/cleaning)

to check water levels or connect up a clear flexible tube that attaches to the spigot and routing the open end above the backrack or connect back into the 90 Tee. the head pressure will transfer the water over to the tube indicating water level (see red lines above)

or Could install a water sight glass (something along this line); but would be too afraid of the sight glass snapping off due to a low lying branch.


so now all i need to do is go get some L track and mount it to the Backrack

 

This going to be a sweet mod for camping.

 

trying to use as much of the free space that i have and where i can get away with some easy mods. when i did the RAP trip, i had a 20L bottle of water slugged and strapped around in the rear passenger seat and it sloshed around to the point of spilling out a bit. ended up using maybe 1/3 of it throughout the 4 day trip. but the issue with this was less me not needing that much water, but more along the lines of pulling the 20L bottle out and trying to cap it later became e a hassle and tried using less water other than to drink, so i resulted in using smaller 500ml water bottles the entire time.

During Ardbeg, i avoided bringing that same 20L bottle and the water bottles, and stuck with a smaller 10L stackable container which was enough for 2 days, but i was clean out of water to use to wash dishes/ hands/ use to drink. so going for a longer 4+ day trip, i'll need something larger and figured this is a good start.

Figured the RotoPAX would be a decent idea since water is one thing and i can swap out a water container to hold a gas can container instead. My daily fuel can is deep inside the bed, and if i have the RTT on, i'd need to pull a hand full of things out and climb in there to get the single fuel can out. and then i remembered how stupidly expensive they actually are... $85 for just the locking mount x2, $110 for a 7.5 liter gas can, $70 for a 7.5liter water can... aaaand I'm up to $350 before taxes.

ordered 2 new 4ft sections of L-track for $135 (comes with mounting hardware and tiedowns) and priced out about $100 for the PVC or ABS pipe but i'm not sure which material to go with since PVC is generally ok with holding Potable water and Not so much for ABS....


I also just need to organize my entire bed for trips... maybe a plywood pull out drawer or something. or a better box combination to separate food, sleeping bags, toiletries,

 

RV water tank as an option....

 

BackRack modifications;
So as mentioned in the post above, here is the actual build additions.
before;

Didn't snap any photos when working on the top bar track

Bottom track construction; easy locate centers and punch

small holes

larger holes, take a can of bed liner, spray a bit into a cardboard box (flip the can and spray again to clean out the nozzle and insides) wait to dry, then add in the riv-nuts and rivet them into place
Clean up with Black paint, only stuff i have is this oil based heat-resistant stuff. so figured why not.


I'll post a complete photo once it's back up on the truck
have another project on hand