Your unique mod on the 1st Gens

That ball mount plate with the Scosche mount....that a single piece?

 

Its a ram short arm, with ram adhesive ball mounts on both ends. Couple ways to skin the cat on the dash end but these were easy to work with

 

ah gotcha, looks like you trimmed it to be rectangular. I thought it was a an entire switch blank pop in.

i had a ram ballmount bolted to my blank and the blank tabs just snapped on me. Probably just going to buy another blank to re-bolt the ballmount and roll with it

 

man, I wish my memory worked, I saw someone selling 3d printed plates w the ball attached once, I just haven't been able to find them again

 

Are you talking about the ones that I designed? https://www.shapeways.com/shops/nzb-sculpture

 

and thats why I love Tacoma world, lol

Yep, those are the ones!

Hows the interference fit on yours? Mine wiggles a little since its not a factory load bearing plate

 

I gave up on adjustable phone mounts since they always seem to move around. That’s why I made the MagSafe mount that’s also in my Shapeways store.

 

Minor unique touch...Removed my wobbly antena and installed a shark fin antena to give my 22yr old Taco a slightly modern look.

Also slight interior ugrade and "Tacoma" embroidered rear back rest with snug fitted, slim fit 10" sub.

 

Does the sub rattle the back plastic trim mounted like that? I previously had tried mine in that position but it was horrible how much it rattled everything

 

Still does but very little compared without sound suppressant.
After I completely gutted the entire insde of my truck, I heavily lined the entire floor, walls and doors with Dynamat. The sound suppressant helps dramatically with sound quality.
Keep in mind I'm not shooting for hard core bass. I just wanted better sound quality inside the cabin than the o.e.m stock set up it used to have.
I'm good with new set up. The new double din JVC stereo, Alpine R-series speakers, Rockville 10" sub and couple of amps is good for now.

 

Nice. Yea I've done the same to the back wall, but I have yet to gut the cab and do the whole thing.
At the time when I tried it, I didn't have any deadening. I do like the spot you chose though. I've had mine strapped to the driver side rear seat cusion for years and it's held up just fine, but does go into overheat protection every now and then on hot days since it's sitting on top of that thick cushion.
One day it would be good to move it to the same spot that you have to clear up some room.

 

Yep. That's why i placed a slim fit sub in that location, because of the limited space in the back.
I hope you get it done soon. It's worth it.
Besides the floor, walls, and doors, it also helps to deaden the entire jump seats storage area. That storage lid unbolts easily.

 

Yea when I plan to do it, I'll definitely pull the cubby area. The eventual plan is to do some MLV on top of the butyl sheets for max noise reduction.

 

I dug through this thread and I have not seen a response from Dirty Pool.

I'd be more then willing to buy a pair for my 03.

 

SUMMARY: I modified my tailgate to have multiple opening positions to haul full-size sheet goods flat in my 5' bed with only 20" of the material hanging out unsupported. The mod involves altering shoulder bolts and installing them into the tailgate. It retains the factory-length tailgate cable


Shoulder Bolt installed into top of tailgate


Cable attached to new "pin"


Tailgate in "halfway" position


4'x8' Sheet of 3/4" Ply loaded


Side angle of 4'x8' Sheet of 3/4" Ply loaded. Only 20" hangs unsupported off the back. Not bad for a 5' bed.


The strap is crucial to keep sheet from falling between the wheel wells (and from falling out of the bed of course).


BACKGROUND:
I don’t haul full-size (4’x8’) sheets goods very often, but when I do I get temporarily jealous of full-size trucks' ability to lay a full sheet flat between the wheel wells. If you have ever tried to fit a full-size sheet in these trucks, you have likely felt my pain. Plus with a mere 5’ bed on my rig, you got to put every inch to good use… for hauling sheet goods of course.

Historically, I’ve gotten away with spanning the wheel wheels with a strategically cut length of 2x4. The sheet is then laid between the 2x4 and the tailgate. However, I get a little sketched when my sheet good is cantilevered 3’ out the back of the bed, bending like crazy going down the road. Depending on the sheet good, I have needed to buy more 2x4s to support the cantilevered load from potentially snapping on the way. But then the 2x4s need to be laid on the wheel wells and they tend to fall, defeating the point of having them. Just not a great experience overall and requires some unique strapping to make it work.

Inspired by the Ford Maverick’s multi-position tailgate, I came up with a similar solution. I used a modified shoulder bolt on the tailgate to add another attachment point pin for the tailgate cables. The cables are reattached to the new “pins” and the tailgate is now roughly aligned with the surface of the wheel wells. Unfortunately, the tailgate is not long enough to position the pins to have the tailgate and the wheel well surface be perfectly aligned, but it is pretty close.

With the tailgate in the “halfway open position”, I can put sheet goods directly on the wheel well and rest it on the tailgate. From the front of the bed to the tailgate in this position, it is 76”, which is only 20” of overhang for sheet goods, much less sketchy looking. Add a strap across the sheet to keep it from sliding off those damned curved wheel wells and you’re good to go.

So far the pins have held up well. I’m able to put my full weight on the edge of the tailgate (~200lbs) and it feels solid. I’ve transported 4 full sheets of 3/4” ply like this with no issues. I didn’t calculate a full weight rating but with the light-duty stuff I do, it’s unlikely I’ll exceed it.

If I could improve this system, I would like to extend the flat area of the top of the wheel wells a couple of inches inward. The extended surface would aid in placing the sheet across the wheel wells and the sheet would be less likely to slide down between them while loading. I may do this in the future....

 

I dig that. I did something similar but basically run two sets of tailgate straps.

Untitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr

 

That's pretty awesome. Do you know the specs on the shoulder bolts?

 

Do you have both sets mounted on the bed, or do you swap them out when you want to do this?

 

both are mounted so the swap is less than 5 seconds:




The secondary set is pushed in the bed when not in use.

 

Is it just me or has the second strap deformed the pinch weld that it crosses over?