Z's Approach/Utility Build

I have been dying to get out in the truck but life has been too busy. It's also having some electrical work done to light up the new tent and shell, so it will be very exciting when I finally get it back! In the mean time... did a little bucket list checking over New Years... It's not a tacoma, but at least it's a Toyota. No, it's not mine, but I got to drive!

 

Ok, it's gonna look like I've been busy, but some of this dates back a bit! Oops! Chronologically:
ARB compressor and Slee mount:

It fits... but it's pretty tight and I'm pretty sure something is going to gnaw something else apart eventually in there..

Improved badge, pop lock gate latch, and ARB tailgate thingamajig:

Needed more lights:

Buttons for lights:

I've been having some battery angst and thought this would be a good idea... and sure enough I am having battery problems, as you can see. Optima yellow tops. Hmm.

Another awful pioneer stereo, but it has CarPlay and may make the iPad obsolete... we'll see:

And some lights for the tent and shell:

Stereo, lights (inside and out) and switches all done by Santa Rosa Cartronics. They do an awesome job - super clean.

A couple more things to tie off and I'll get some shots at night. Heading off to DV next week!

 

Some more shots of the switch panel and tent/shell lighting & power:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...nd-tricks-thread.585193/page-98#post-27061550

Copied here:

I finally got things wired up the way I like. Heraco lights - they look nice but they were HORRIBLE to deal with - totally unresponsive. I had the folks at Santa Rosa Cartronics do the wiring. They do a very clean/pro job. But I wasn't happy with the little panel they made for the switches/USB power, so I 3D printed one that has a little recess so the switches don't get mashed by stuff in the bed. I may make a metal one, but this will have to do for our upcoming trip! Switches are: shell lights, tent power, voltage monitor shut off (I don't like things drawing power - even a little) and voltage monitor for main and house batteries.

When this guy makes more I want to know!

 

Cross posting my DV mis-adventure:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/death-valley-off-road-adventures.60777/page-299#post-27114013

 

Pulling some posts from elsewhere to document my super silly Sherpa Rack soup up project. Goal was to clean the side plates up while making accommodations to mount a Yakima water tooob and keep it lower than the top of the camper. Here it is for posterity:

Got my side plates back from SendCutSend - pretty happy. There is a slight difference from the prints I made to check my profile, so not sure if that's SCS or my printer, but I think they're close enough. Did a little fit check - time to drill some holes in the truck!


I made some parts yesterday... brackets to hold the light bar and the water tewb.


Doing a little test fit of all the parts:



Got the rack back from the powder coater. Hopefully we get a break from the rain and I can get it on the truck!



A couple sunny days - enough time to clean off the truck from a winter's worth of rain and duff and then it was time to drill holes in the cab. I was NOT looking forward to this process. I dislike taking the headliner out so much... hopefully this is the last time.

Ready to battle the cab roof:


This is the main problem... I really didn't want to take the camper off but drilling for that back hole was making me feel nauseous.


A friend turned me on to these cool deep-hole marking pens!


Not the recommended approach for center punching...


This drill kicked this problems ass! Fit just barely and I was able to drill a pilot hole from the outside no problem! PHEW.


I drilled the holes bigger from the inside, assembled with nice fasteners (the folks at Sherpa were incredibly helpful did not condone pitching the supplied rivnuts...) and then slathered the whole thing with Sikaflex. I also trimmed the gutter covers to go around the little rubber mounts.




Bolted down...


And, with the water tank mounted. I sort of out thought myself here - the bolts are right in the middle of that tube and I almost had to go find a small child to reach under the rack to get the fasteners on, but 15 minutes of swearing and fiddling and I got the thing on tight.


All assembled!