Wackyhacky's 2013 TaCOmarado Build

With the tail light finally open, I got to work routing my main power cable from the battery along w/ the data cord for the Victron up through the bulkhead and into the camper. The yellow & blue wires you see were done by the dealer/installer to hook up the brake light on the camper. This is also another suggestion I have for anyone picking up a CC but planning on doing the electrical themselves. Just tell them you will take care of it when you do the electrical. They drilled yet another hole in bed that I ended up having to seal to run these two wires which most people would never had run in that location just to hook up the stupid brake light. This is my last rant, but COMMUNICATION FOLKS! This all could be avoided & sorted out at the time of sale/pick up.



So, the path for how I ended up having to route all my wiring was kind of forced by the way the bulkhead doesn't line up in the rear properly. You can find a couple folks with 3rd Gen installs where their wiring can all be neatly brought in through access holes in the body under the tail light and into this cubby on the bulkhead b/c on those trucks the bulkhead sits flush with the body (and the access holes existing in it) which makes for a really clean job. I just couldn't see a way to do this without butchering the body or causing issues getting the tail light back in place due to have a bunch of extra cabling in there.

Therefore, I had to run my wiring up through the gap between the bumper and body, into the channel (lower most part of the rear bulkhead) and up through a hole I drilled to get into this cubby in the bulkhead from the channel. Drilling this lower hole wasn't too bad. I probably went bigger than maybe I needed to in terms of hole size, b/c once again, sealing this will require stuffing it w/ butyl rope or similar but I had to add two more wires to the bundle and surely others down the road.



One of the extra wires I added to the power & Victron wire was cable for adding a Rostra back up camera kit. This kit includes a camera & 25' harness that plugs right into the OEM harness of the truck in the rear which got removed with the tailgate. After cutting off what the installer ran into the bed, I also extended the yellow wire they connected to the brake light and ran it into the bundle as well so it can be tied back into the camper wiring harness with everything else.



With everything now routed into bulkhead cubby, I had to drill one more hole through the upper part of the cubby to get everything into the rear of the camper where my electrical panel is. I knew drilling through this area would be much more difficult b/c it's several layers thick and it was either drill several smaller holes dependent on wire size or one big one, which is what I opted to do. I found it was easier to do this up through cubby from the outside, but it was a lot of starts/stops till it chewed through everything and I am sure if you aren't trying to drill this big a hole it will be easier.

All the wiring sorted & up through the new access hole into the actual camper. That damn huge bunch of wires is the Victron data cord. I figured it was better off shoved in there than behind my panel. I could of course cut it shorter & re-terminate it as well & maybe I will but i hate terminating those things, so that's what is going to happen for now.



Next up, I wanted to make sure I don't have to lengthen anything. And as luck would have it, my power cords are long enough for me to connect them to the panel & still pull the panel off the wall for maintenance. Really thankful I didn't have to make any adjustments to the mains.



Next I drilled another hole above into the wiring track around the inside of the camper so I could run the rear camera harness into it and for anything else I may need to drop down to the electrical panel in the future.



With the camera harness ran up into this new hole, I tucked the camper wiring harness and camera wire into where they will sit and tested the electrical panel again for clearance issues. This shall do nicely. The cleanest thing would have been to drill behind the panel to drop these two wires down, but since the camper harness was already placed there, I did the same with the camera. It's not like it's the only wires not hidden, so it is what it is.



Finally I drilled the last hole in the camper for the day to mount the rear view camera. Once again, while this camera is a nice plug & play unit, the stupid connection between the shorter wire coming out of the camera and the extended harness is bigger diameter than the threaded stud on the camera, meaning you have to drill a larger hole to pass this connector through. I siliconed the hell out of it on both sides, but I will have to keep an eye on this for leaking b/c it's not like the camera had any kind of decent gasket around it, which I may have to fashion at some point.



Now I am just waiting on some weatherpack connector stuff so I can tie the camper wiring harness into the panel and test my connections to make sure everything is good. I also need to make sure where we think the fridge is going so I can run that wiring as well.

 

Just another small update on finishing up my wiring. I added 2 different weatherpack connectors to the panel/camper wiring to allow for ease of removing the panel for maintenance etc. One is 2 wire that currently only connects the negative from camper harness to negative buss and the other is a 4 wire that connects the lights, USB, etc. from the camper harness to my switch panel.



I also did some more "tidying up" of wiring on both the panel & camper side of things with zip ties and braided cable loom to make sure everything that could rub somewhere was protected. Finally, I also decided that back passenger side corner was really the only option for keeping the fridge due to it's size and with that decided, mounted the fridge power cable & socket to the panel and connected everything for a test fit which dropped right in place with little issue.



Then I connected everything more time & voila we have lights!




So, my first attempt ever at doing weatherpack connectors worked AOK. I got power to all the lights & USBs. I still want to check the fridge connections to make sure they are all solid and then I have to run another ground from the camper brake light down to the chassis so it will work, but we are almost there on electrical.

 

This is as close to weather pack as I got today. Trigger wires for my Switch-Pros to the main fuse box.

Nice wire job!
Do you have a link for the rear plug and play camera?

 

Hey @jimlangfordphotography, the PN for the Rostra camera kit I got is 250-8631-W. I got mine through Ebay, but there are various places selling them as Rostra doesn't sell direct.

 

Back to full press on the truck all day Sat & Sun even though I kind of wanted to go skiing again. The wife's 4Runner is going to be in the shop all week, so it was time to seal up this electrical once & for all so I can drive the truck around this week if I need wheels.

First step was getting the camper brake light working again. I lost the circuit when I tied everything else into the panel/house battery system since the brake light is getting it's positive power from the taillight. So as suggested by a few folks, I just spliced into the wiring up by the brake light, and ran a new negative down in behind the panel, chassis ground to the one of the panel mounting brackets.



With that done, I sealed up around the wires running into the electrical panel area with a big wad of window weld aka butyl rope and bolted the finished panel fully connected into place. I wouldn't mind some sort of plastic cover to place over that main power disconnect, but it should be safe enough for the time being. Then just to be 100% sure everything was working I plugged in the fridge as well b/c it was the only connection I had not tested.



With my electrical sorted for now, it was time to clear out the garage of a few other things gathering dust. #1, a new RCI engine skid plate for front of the truck that I bought months ago but couldn't pick up to put on till now. It was simple enough to get bolted up very easily of course. I went with steel for this one, but if I add more armor down the road, I think I will go w/ aluminum for the rest. That's going to be my strategy for trying to save some weight where I can anyway.



#2, was installing these high output Phillips bulbs for the headlights that get recommended a lot on TW by folks trying to improve their headlight performance. I got to try them last night, & they are definitely way better than my stock one's were, there is no question about that. I am not sure what I will do long term. I don't really need anything crazy like retrofits, but the top half of my head lights are also really starting to haze badly so something is going to need done down the road.



#3, was move the rear seat delete deck down the road towards completion because it has taken a "back seat" for awhile now with my injury and everything else. I got it back in the truck and then started down the road of mounting a strip of wood to the back of the cab below the window that will be used for securing the flip down panels to. I had it cut & marked up and ready to go months ago, so I just got it clamped in place & started drilling/countersinking the holes to secure it with self tapping screws.




Now, I am in search of some sort of latch to interface between the panels and this strip to hold them in place. They are not very heavy, so I am hoping to use something of the magnetic variety that won't be real complicated to install either, so I am currently looking at options for that. I also need to determine how these panels will be finished as well. May talk to a couple upholstery shops on that front. At this point though, I will just be happy to have the panels secured and useable as I figure that out for this season. I don't even have my lids done yet for the lower part either, but I really like the way I am able to organize the back with this set up. I got tons of stuff stashed under the deck and the new heavy duty, extended height bottle jack I got to replace the stock one (since it would be way to short now) also fits nicely against the back wall.



Then I grabbed a tube of Sikaflex and made another attempt at sealing the front corners of the bed where it's been leaking. It's really hard to see/tell how things are mating there, but I know where the bulk of the moisture is coming in, so I just shoved the tip of the tube in there tried to squeeze it full from the inside and the outside. I am terrible at keeping this stuff neat, but at this point all I care is that water stops coming in. It's currently snowing again, so we will see tomorrow morning when it melts off if I did any good.





Then for the last project of the day, I replaced my front engine splash guards with some nice new heavy ones from Rad Rubber. Mine were discovered to be deteriorating rapidly when I took them off & on a time or two installing the suspension on the truck. These seem very sturdy and use much nicer plastic clips to hold them in place than stock.

 

Backup camera purchased in preparation for mine to arrive. Thank you for providing the information as you build, it's already helping me out alot.

 

No problem. As you can probably tell, I can talk/think about this kind of stuff all day!! ha ha... I guarantee this is the only thing in my life I have documented in this level of detail.

You probably won't have the same issue (at least I hope not) since you are using OEM bed rail caps, but that shot of sika flex in the corners has so far proven to finally seal things off. That 5" of snow yesterday melted off completely and I didn't have a drop of moisture inside for the first time ever. Hopefully I will find the same if I ever drive in the rain as well.

Also, a suggestion on the camera since you haven't done anything with it yet. I will probably modify the mounting of it eventually. The view from it is very tight to the back of the camper, so while it does the trick for making sure nothing is immediately behind you I am thinking I need to somehow shim the bottom of it out some to get a wider field of view. Just something to think about.

 

That's great to hear the sealing worked for you! I'll be caulking the ever living heck out if with sikaflex as well, regardless of how good initial install looks.

Good to know for the camera, I'll make sure to check the view before securing. A small shim and caulk the gap sounds like an acceptable solution.

 

I installed one of these cameras on my friends Tundra with ARE commercial shell. I highly recommend it.

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_041COMCAM1/Crimestopper-COM-CAM1.html

https://www.instagram.com/p/B28Qy7ZFBm5/

 

On Saturday I made another visit to FORT (@YamaDirtrider & @Red Baron) to get the final (for now) pc of my suspension installed, which was @ARCHIVE Garage Hammer Hangers & Heavy Duty shackles. As always it was great to see what other projects were going on down there and I got to meet a couple other TW folks as well while I was hanging out.

As for the install, they made it look easy. Even if my left arm was healthy enough to be grinding, drilling, & hammering on things at will, they got all the right tools to get this stuff done in record time compared to what I could have done. I couldn't be happier. They even helped me out w/ a broken bolt I was stupid enough to snap off in my cross member. Thanks again Josh & Aaron.



Out with old.......



In with the new....



Ready to rock.....




When you feel how light the stock hangers are, it's not hard to see why everyone says these things make remarkable differences in the rear end of the truck. They are bulletproof heavy. It's taken away a decent amount of the bouncing I have been experiencing around 55mph on concrete seam highways and I can only imagine how it will improve things out on the trail. With this done I just need to start getting a feel for dialing the low/high compression on my Elka's, but overall I am super happy with suspension at this point.

 

Well that has me sold on adding the shackles to my Archive order…

 

i have BAMF HD shackle hanger and shackles, when mine was installed i had the same response as @Wackyhacky - after a few weeks i had a crossbar installed and i have found mine to bounce again....is amazing offroad, noticing a huge difference, and truck feels more 'planted' for sure overall.

 

Yeah, I frankly do not believe my bouncing issue is entirely one thing or the other unfortunately, though it's hard to determine the root cause when you make so many changes to suspension, wheels/tires and added weight in a short amount of time. I had some form of it even w/ stock suspension when there was no weight in the bed other than a Leer shell, but I was carrying the 70lb swing out and 120lbs of bike rack/bikes. I have read as much as I can find on the subject on TW and you get varying situations and solutions to the issue. Most all seem to have some additional weight hanging off the ass though be it spare tires, bikes, or heavy steel bumpers loaded with stuff. At a bare minimum, this is always going to be my situation though.

In my drive home since they were installed, which was an hour or so over varying road conditions/speeds, I do feel they have definitely tempered the bouncing, but is it a complete cure all like some folks on TW have claimed? No, probably not. I wouldn't be surprised if as I add more weight to the camper (over/in front of the rear axle) it also lessens the tendency to bounce, but time will tell. The bottom line is I would have done this upgrade either way. The stock hangers are barely heavy enough to be a paper weight and to me you might as well beef up the shackle too if you are going to do it and anything that keeps the rear of our trucks from feeling like it's coming apart from the cab off road is welcomed. I hammered down the dirt road by my house which is currently very rutted out and had no more of that skittish rear end feeling which is by far one of my biggest complaints previously.

@JasonLee I don't know if this helps or hurts your decision to add those shackles, but one thing is for sure, they won't cause any additional issues that I aware of, just additional maintenance keeping them greased.

 

Well shoot, add another mod to the list of things I'm going to copy you on....

Did it raise the back up for you as well?

 

No, it does not. I believe some of his original iterations of the HH (he's currently selling what is Version 3) did that with stock springs, but no I just saw him post something about that actually and Version 3 does not provide any additional lift to the rear.

 

More fiddling with my rear seat deck to at least make it functional in the short term. While I am sure I could adapt a more complicated latch system to hold the flip down panels to the back of the cab, I really wanted something simple and I think (after initial testing) I found a nice, cheap solution. I got these flat magnetic latches designed for keeping cabinet doors closed on Amazon. These things are very low profile (maybe 1/8" thick) and will supposedly hold up to 22lb of pull strength.

I mounted the magnets to the wood strip I previously mounted to the back of the cab. I wanted to also raise the magnet some up off the wood because I was also planning on running a strip of 1/4" thick neoprene foam on top of the wood strip for the wood to rest against when pulled closed by these latches. Mainly b/c the last thing I want is any noise coming from this when flexing or moving over rough terrain. So, I put the magnets on a 1/8" plastic spacer I had lying around with double stick tape, then drilled out the plastic so the mounting screws went through the magnetic catch and the spacer, securing them to the strip.



The "iron" part of the latch was then mounted to the flip down panel. The latches came with little 3M double sided tape as well, so I just used one of them under this part of the latch. Mainly for just helping to hold it in place while drilling/mounting them.



Currently, I mounted two latches on each side and then I decided to order another 4 of them (they are like $10 for 4) b/c I think I may add one more to the bigger flip down panel and maybe even one more to the small side.

Here is a short video of testing the bigger panel:

https://youtu.be/rP81mUvmUxk

These have really worked out way better than I thought they might actually, so I am pleased considering how cheap they are. I took things for a test drive up & down the seriously rutted out dirt road by my house and then off to town and back. I didn't have any rattles or hear them pop loose once when hitting a hard bump. I don't even have the strip of neoprene on there yet & they already are proving to hold things tightly & silently.

 

Next up, mounting a propane tank holder to the rear molle panel. I had originally got a simpler, but nice holder for my 5lb tank, but then a friend hooked me up w/ a free 11lb tank, so I decided I wanted the ability to carry either of them (5 or 11). Additionally, since it's going on the outside of the camper, I figured something that was capable of being locked was probably smart. The smaller the tank, the more damn expensive they are for some reason so I might as well protect the thing as best I can.

Therefore I decided to get the one made by Expedition Essentials since they were readily available and gave me the flexibility of carrying the 5 or the 11 with their additional adapter. I did feel it was kind of a splurge, but it's very well made and works flawless for what it's intended.



If you are following Alu-Cab CC builds online, you may actually think this part by EE is just another AC option for their campers because you see them being used a lot, but it's not designed in anyway to be a plug & play part for the CC just so you know. That being said mounting it was pretty straight forward.
You will need hardware though, so just keep that in mind and you will need to drill holes into the molle panel as well which is kind of funny considering it has a million holes in it already! If you are using the adapter for the 5lb (the smaller pc in the pic), it just sits inside the larger structure and mounts w/ 4 bolts that go through it & the holder.

I clamped the holder in place on the molle panel to determine where I wanted it to sit, then marked & drilled the new mounting holes using the holder as my guide for drilling.



The holes in both the holder & 5lb insert (if you are using it) are all nicely countersunk for using flat head 1/4" bolts, so I grabbed four SS 1/4-20, 1" long bolts for mounting it to the panel along with SS washers & Nylock nuts. The only rub is that in the position I wanted to mount it (maybe any position really) it's next to impossible to get washers/nuts on all four bolts with the molle panel mounted on the camper. I just couldn't get my fat hands up in there! Therefore, I did have to remove the molle panel from the rig to mount it up securely, but this was really quite simple in the end.



The finished product holding my 5lb tank. Yeah, it was a splurge like I said, but the thing is very solid and works smoothly.

 

Additionally, I finally started to fiddle with my suspension settings b/c I need to start getting a feel for making adjustments to them. I haven't touched the dials for the LSC or HSC until now, mainly b/c the truck still isn't at near full weight in the rear yet, but I figured why not. Not that I don't make similar adjustments to my MTB suspension all the time, but no matter what suggestions and experts say online, it's just going to be trial & error and it's the first I ever had this ability on a vehicle.

So you can see where things were set from the factory below (left hand pc of paper) which I would assume considers a mostly stock truck. After driving a good bit on the road and some on dirt I have felt things were pretty good, so I didn't want to make any wild adjustments. There is about 18 clicks of LSC adjustment and 16 clicks of HSC adjustment.

I confirmed everything was first set where they said it was and then decided to definitely soften both in the front 2 clicks. As they came from the factory, I felt it was still a little jarring on washboard/rutty dirt which is the whole reason I wanted this kind of adjustable suspension in the first place.

In the rear, it's still kind of a crap shoot b/c there is going to be way more weight going back there and frankly until I get that weight on the heavy Deaver's I expect things to be stiffer. I was surprised the LSC came set wide open/soft in the rear, but I have left it as is for this first test since I know my springs are still pretty sprung without a ton of weight back there.

After adjusting to the TEST 1 setting below (RH Pic) I went for a 20 mile drive over pavement and potholed dirt and it's pretty amazing how much of a difference 2 clicks makes. Having this ability in a vehicle is pretty cool. I am going to continue w/ these settings for a bit b/c the softening of both settings in the front definitely helped make things plusher over the washboard/potholes and overall I didn't feel any obscene body roll from this adjustment.



I am sure this is something that I will be playing w/ for quite awhile until I get some idea of what settings for what conditions, load, terrain etc. Now, if I could just make these adjustments from the cab with presets! ha ha ha...

 

Just a couple more odds & ends finished up this wkd when I had a moment. First I needed to finish installing the awning, which meant I needed to rivet the catch for the awning to the camper & the strap/buckle to the awing arm. This was all pretty simple and glad to see it done so the awning is 100% operational.

Mark the spot for the catch....



Drill Holes for the Catch....



Insert Rivet... Seal holes with Sikaflex & rivet that bad boy tight.



In hindsight I realized that I didn't photo the other half of this, which is drilling a hole in the last arm of the awning, which you then also rivet the strap/buckle to. These awnings pretty damn cool. It's going to be great for desert camping and just camping in general.



Lastly, since I was getting the MTB ready for the season as well over the wkd, I figured I should load up the bike rack and see how everything looks. Now that I am carrying a spare tire back there, I had to get an extension for the Rigd swing out so I can still mount up the bike rack. Thankfully I was able to keep everything pretty tight to the rear tire, or tighter than I thought I would be able to. I guess we will see how it rides. I am not in love with how much this extends things even farther out over the rear but I don't really have much of an option I guess if I want to carry the bikes. It just seems to really bounce which worries me.

 

The only solid bike rack I’ve seen is the 1up. The rest ovalize pivot holes, plastic breaks, the Kuat trays break epically due to their cheap casting, etc.

the original creators of the patent for 1up sold the original company and started a new one that they set up in Grand Junction.
https://instagram.com/quikrstuff