What Have You Done To Your 2nd Gen Tacoma Today?

It's an adapter plate to install Oil temp and pressure sensors.

 

I installed a line out converter and a pair of amps last weekend. One 4-Channel amp and a 300W RMS Mono amp pushing a JL Audio 10w3v1.

Excuse the wiring, will be cleaning it up this weekend:

 

I don't understand the point?

How much amperage are you planning on running through those big ass wires? I'm an electrician / electronics technician by trade and it makes me scratch my head. That is a lot of work for no return IMO.

Not knocking you.I just do not understand the thought process. I could see running dedicated wiring for some huge ass stereo amplifier, but for the rest of the truck? Not needed.

 

Are you using the converter for the stock HU? If so let me know if you get the low volume hiss. I've had my truck for six months and can't make up my mind to replace the HU( don't want to ) or not. I have a couple amps, a JL10w3v1 and a set of Audison VOCE from my last truck just sitting around waiting for me to make up my mind.
You definitely won't have any power issues. lol

 

I probably missed it, but why?

 

Wires have a natural resistance which causes a voltage drop down the line. The bigger the wire the smaller the resistance the smaller the voltage drop (ie the more current it can carry). It's typically done when running high power things like winches and high end sound systems.


Say his amplifiers are seeing 11V during hard bass hits. Well now (assuming the alternator can keep up) they will see 12V or more which in turn means harder cleaner hits. (I just made up numbers as an example).

This works well for winches too. More power to the winch will mean faster/stronger pulls (though the gains may not be noticeable). It will also be safer since resistance creates heat. Too small of wires can get hot and melt in extreme cases.

 

What these guys did is, in my opinion, exactly what MAKES 4-wheeling fun & challenging... improvising, and overcoming the problems. And they did almost everything correctly to recover the stuck truck (not counting the rollover, of course). The only thing I'd have done differently is, the truck doing the snatching should have clutched/gotten off the throttle as soon as the strap went taut; that would have kept him from digging in.

I learned that one night, stuck in a peat bog, with 7 other trucks at 1 in the AM. We'd had a cookout - chicken roasted on an old refrigerator grate over an open fire, doused in white wine... some genius suggested we hit a trail on the way out...I was the last truck in line, and the only one unstuck by the time I got to the peat bog...('81 Short-bed 4x4 Toyota pickup with the 2.2 I4 engine/5-speed manual; 33x12.5" mudders; no lockers or winch). I was snatching a Ford F150 that was nose-down, up to his wipers, the nearest to me. I had about 8 snatches on him, and was making definite progress, angling each of my snatches differently so I wouldn't dig in (like the guy in the vid), but each time, the damned strap kept pulling me back into the same ruts, so eventually, we had two trucks "on a string"... lots of tension on that 3x30' strap...enough to tight-rope walk on (and we did... there was some beer involved, I won't lie ). I couldn't back up to take tension off (mud piled up behind my tires; couldn't go forward - strapped to a still-stuck F150). Finally one smart-ass suggested that we just "pick up the Toy truck, and set it on solid ground". We all looked at him... then at the truck... then at him. 10 guys lifted on the front Smittybuilt, and 8 on the rear, and we dragged/lifted my Toy out of the ruts. Several more snatches got the Ford out. He snatched out a K5 Bronco, who snatched out a CJ5, etc. It was 4 AM when we were all unstuck (and by then, sober... beer ran out hours earlier. But that was, in retrospect, one of the most fun nights of wheeling I can recall...and no one ever said anything negative about Toyota trucks after that night, LOL.

I fully understand about line loss (been in the electronics industry for about 35 years); I was just wondering what he was powering off those wires.

 

Changed my spark plugs

 

Got ya. Looks like a couple amps, maybe a winch

I have some 1/0 wiring laying around to do my Big 3 upgrade but it is basically to help run a winch, especially when I upgrade to a high output alternator and possibly a dual battery in the future.

 

Be careful mounting that lc6i. I mounted mine near the subs and the vibrations caused a screw to come loose internally and would short the system. I'm running the JL stealthbox and the lc6i was mounted behind the rear drivers side seat... Too close apparently. Didn't do any damage but I had to open up the lc6i and put the screw back in place.

 

I got my bed mat in the mail!! Sorry, too dark for pics.

Also ordered stuff to do a LED bed light mod.

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More info on both of these mods? Where did you get the tail lights and how you did the LEDs..?

 

Tail lights are Depo. Got them from eBay here,
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&vxp=mtr&item=271393222616
Look way better than stock leds and are just as bright.

For the entry lights I purchased a 10ft length of 5050 flexible leds. Cut them into 2 3ft lengths. Used the remainder for glove box, center console, foot wells and back seat. Also a few switches to turn on the inside lights only as well as turn off the frame lights. I actually installed these in May of last year using 3M double sided tape (the grey stuff). I cleaned the frame where I wanted them and simply stuck them on there. I got the idea from another member but was skeptical it would stick. They survived a southern California summer and weekly washing and are still there. I ran power from the fuse panel and grounded them to the dome light. Can't remember the wire color but there are a few threads on this. Just don't know if wire color changes between model years or not. If I can find the thread i will post it.

 

Installed new skid plate. What do you guys think, leave it silver or paint it black? I removed the badges off doors and tailgate and will probably paint them black so i'm kinda leaning towards black. The silver does looks cool though and kinda stands out.

 

If your keeping your rims silver leave the skid plate the same.

Tour truck looks clean, that how I like it. You should leave the emblems off, or only put one on the Tailgate. One thing I want to do with my black truck is paint that lower front portion of the bumper right above the skid to match, would clean up the front end a lot. Especially with your grille

 

Installed Undercover tonneau cover.

 

Leer bed shell with side access doors, oil change, front and rear diff fluid change, and tire rotation.

 

Installed my TRD grille badge



Not sure how I feel about the location, I may adjust it a bit.

 

Is that the metal one off Amazon? If so, wax the shit out of it, or wipe salt off if exposed. I had the stick on version on my tailgate. I had to take it off because it was all corroded from salt. Looked awful and no way to restore it. Unless yours is a better quality. I was disappointed in mine. Just an FYI.