What have you done to your Tacoma today? 1st Gen Edition

Killed my battery on the Tacoma and the 4Runner while installing coilovers on the 4runner

 

Yes, I believe it's necessary if you drive unpaved roads at speed with and sort of weight on your rails. The side to side forces will begin to stress it.

 

Interesting. I didn’t know this was an issue.

 

It's a cheap apache case from harbor freight. Def weatherproof, only water that seaps in comes from the switches on tip.

It's been a delicate game to make the bed do everything I wanted. I had them in perfect placement in the old toolbox, but the old tool box kept me from being able to load a motorcycle in the bed and get the tailgate to mostly close. Not to mention it severely reduced bed space for fire wood, cases for trips, etc. So I set out to create a more open space in the center while trying to occupy all wasted space on the sides. I already have this issue solved to be able to see the switches (even though it is only 4 and easily memorizable) by 3d printing a wedge, gluing it to the door, and gluing a mirror on that. Boom, can easily see the switches from standing outside of the bed.

I originally wanted the switches in the ammo can just like I had on the original toolbox setup but by the time I add the switches, the light, and a fake wall to protect all of the wiring, a false bottom for the blue sea, I am losing a bunch of storage space while not being able to access any of those things easily in case a fuse blows or there is a wiring issue.

Old setup for reference:



Sometimes you need to sacrifice certain conveniences to get all the functionalities you want. With this setup especially I can still put the bike on the right side and have two long cases (my dry box and my camp kitchen) on the left side of the bike like in this pic:



Haven't officially retested it yet but based on measurements it will be fine.

Pic of the lights with the soft top on:

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

 

yesterdays pole line run

 

I figured I'd have to pull the bed to do that.

What size rivets did you use for the top side?

 

Don't recall exactly. Guessing 3/16" stainless. Length would depend on how thick of steel you use for the brackets.

No reason you couldn't use bolts either, just wanted something as low profile as possible to work with my GFC & seal.

 

Yea I can't really do bolts for the sake of my topper and seal as well.
I'll look into some appropriate rivets for that part.

 

Hauling lumber and watching parts stack up! Still waiting on shock absorbers to arrive. Stoked to do the steering guide modification to the newer style. I love making vehicles handle better and can’t wait to start installing this treasure trove of parts and more!

 

What I “picked up with my Tacoma today “. Finally talked my dad out of this TIG, been working on em for years and he finally admitted he doesn’t need it any more. Comes with free lessons from him as well. I’ve been welding MIG for over 30 years but always wanted to learn TIG

 

Today marks the 5th anniversary of me tearing apart my truck.


I should really get it done huh.

 

I put some orders in for goodies for it... but yea.. basically

 

I couldn't. But kuddos bro.

Izzys bday today!

 

Well I wish little man the very best Birthday!

 

Got a 33 for a spare tire now. Didn’t want to bend the brackets to fit so I had them extended 2.5 inches to the rear and welded on. Clears exhaust and brake lines. Bad pics but you get the idea

 

Was busy today.. Dorkel is in, rtt rack over the canopy. Rago bed stiffeners and ditch light brackets. Some cheapo Colight ambers. I’ve given up spending big cash on lights just to have them crack from rocks. Tomorrow tackling the Cats, O2 sensor, catback. And if the wife feels up to it, mount my rtt on this klunker haha.

 

Did you up size the exhaust pipe?

 

magnaflow is 2.5" piping.

 

Ty sir!