Flatbed,35’s and Mainly Parked For Repairs

After seeing @taczilla truck with the black cap, and after him informing me of one in Barrie I went and check it out. Turned out he had a bed slide too. I pulled thr trigger and got the cap and bed slide. Still don't know how I feel about it with the weight, and stuff but we will see how she goes. Came in handy when changin my sisters winter tires out today. I may try and remove one of the boxes but for camping t may come in handy.



The OME add a leaf may be in my future.

 

Nice! Is the cap reinforced for a roof rack? It should be, since it's a contractor's cap.

... but I didn't know about the bedslide!

... oh!... and air bags may be better.

 

That's what I was thinking. May call a leer dealership to check the serial number. I'm pretty sure it's reinforced as you said, contractor cap. I always check the the sellers other adds on Kijji just in case. Lol. Got everything for a pretty good deal considering the price of everything.

As for the rear suspension I'll try the OME add a leaf on my Dakar pack. Want to avoid bags as I can see them tearing when I go off-roading. If the add a leaf doesn't help, may need a beefier pack.

 

Removed driver side tool box off the cap. Today I also ordered the OME add a leaf to help with the rear end.

Definitely seeing this as more useful wth just the one box. Plus I wasn't planning on loading the driver side tool box due to the taco lean. Time will tell

 

So after running around with the cap and the slide I knew the OME

$81 d29xl leaf spring

d29xl add a leaf was in my future. So with the add a leafs here I figured I would get the truck freshened up with the install of a few other parts for a trip out east to the Cabot trail.

Got the add a leaf, new u bolts and centring pins. Was actually cheaper to order the all pro flip kit again then just new ubolts. Now I have a extra ubolt plate.


Pile of steel for a cab rack


Which hopefully looks like this:



Also I got some lights to install



Lastly not really build related but I had to get a new hi lift as I bent mine working. Kinda need the jack as the stock one won't cut it if I need to change a tire or fix something.




And just a little poser shot at my buddies work after helping a him do the rotors and pads on his car. Was a good way to end the day after messing around with his car.

 

Started building the cap rack. Didn't do much, but I got the main bars welded together and realized I may have to modify my original plan slightly.

My work station.


Had to do this on the main walkway as I had way too many flammable things in the garage.

I don't claim to be a welder, but I am really good at grinding at this point lol


The main idea


The feet will be angled on the far ends to make loading easier. Also the 1x3 pieces are currently 12inches long and are not laying flat. May have to chop a bit to remedy it. Trying to get a large footprint to distribute the weight, but the shape of the cap is making it a bit difficult. So far so good though.

 

More progress on the rack. First pic shows how I am trimming it down to make loading easier and also to try and fit the contours of the cap better.




On the truck


I will be capping all of the ends with scrap peices as well. Won't be the prettiest but it will work. Something like this. Because this isn't crazy structural components I am just piecing it together with the capped ends just to make it look slightly cleaner in s spot no one will probably see.


Got to love my bench grinder



Doing what you can wth what ya got

 

Starting capping the cut ends. Don't look to close at these welds, it was windy, rainy, and I wasn't in the groove....excuses I know. Regardless it will clean up and the welds are not structural so it's just for looks.



Start like that and bend stuff over to get the shape. Lots of splatter that day. Regardless, the grinder will clean it up.

 

Some more progress.
Have a box right now and I am going to be adding 4 more crossbars in the middle. I was able to get it within an 8th of an inch of square on all four corners. I'll take it.


On the truck. Put a foam pad down as I was by myself and didn't want to scratch it up too bad.



Didn't have it centred very well in the last picture but you get the idea. Should be good. After the four bars are tacked in, I'll go back and weld/grind everything. Then it's time to make the feet to mount it.

 

Need to finish weld, grind and begin the feet to mount it to the cap

 

Test fit

Just need to do the feet, finish weld/grind and paint

 

Got a couple things done over the past couple days.

Sleeping platform almost there. Just need the plywood, carpet and foam padding.



Fits flush so the plywood can lay flat across the bed on the lip and wheel wells. Also got the feet welded on the rack. Next I have to finish weld/grind some spots and then drill some holes and paint. Finish is coming




Also Bed slide for sale of anyone's interested

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/bedslide-2nd-gen-tacoma-long-bed.438801/

 

It's getting there




Was surprised the panel was able to power some stuff right out of the box.

 

Finally got this bastard painted and mounted. I think I really only have three work days worth of work into this entire thing. Just spread out over a month working on it when I can. It's done though


I have 4x4 14 gauge plates on the underside of the cap so the bolt doesn't rip out and it also sandwiches the fibreglass which is good apparently. Rubber under each foot with sealent around each leg to keep the moisture out. Hopefully she don't leak.

Also started my solar panel auxiliary setup.



Power from the panel will go to the control box on the right. Then it will charge the battery allowing me to run the inverter. Tested it as it was (no panel) and I was able to run some power tools off of it. Pretty stoked.

 

New ride height with the OME add a leaf.

Before

After

Going on a trip to New Brunswick in a week or two. Oil chance and solar panel to install. The. Figuring out the packing regiment.

 

Got my cab rack loaded up for a test run.


Used a dock light plug to connect the solar panel to inside the box

Here is inside the tool box


On there is the following with all the wires of course.


Goes solar panel>charge controller>battery>100amp breaker>1000w inverter.

Still have to clean up the wires as I have a lot extra by so far so good.

 

oh man.. that solar/secondary battery setup is exactly what I want to do.. may be picking your brain at some point.

 

Haha no worries anytime. I just wanted something that was completely removable and didn't touch any of the house electronics. This is a complete stand alone unit. Can actually remove it and use it use it with another vehicle or a stand alone in a tent for instance.

 

thats a great idea. I was thinking of doing something similar, and making a box to put inside the bed, or on my roof rack. roof rack would make more sense, since the panel will be up there mounted on top of a Plano rifle case.

 

Absolutely. The only thing is the battery and the electronics have to be somewhere reasonably out of the weather unless you can find weather proof stuff. I got my 100w panel, 1000w inverter and charge controller for $300ish. Battery was the biggest expense (make sure you look for a battery that doesn't out gas-agm or something)

Good luck with it and let me know if ya need anything. As of right now I can have batteries charging and even run power tools off my inverter. Pretty happy with it.