Stumptaco Expedition Vehicle Build-Up

Since everyone else has one, I figured why not start my own....

I just (today) got finished with my custom made rear bumper with swing out gate, so I will post it up first.

I went with the Demello styling as it seemd the easiest to do. I had originally planned to copy Chris's "Baja Taco" bumper (thanks for the info Chris!!), but decided that adding the swing out gate would be easier and possibly stronger without making a tube bumper. I also dont have easy access to a bender right now (We actually have 2 benders, one hydraulic and one manual, but both are in the States at my fathers fabrication shop.) This design let me do fairly close to what I wanted, so I went with it. Ill qoute Chris and say that it was defintely "organic" as I just kind of built as I went. I snagged a OEM Chevy Blazer swing out gate and latch assembly from the Junk Yard that we have here on the military base. I used it as platform, but modified it to suit my needs.

I still have to add, (2) shackle mounts that my father is CNC'ing for me and should be ready next week. And also an integrated reciever hitch. Living in Europe, I havent been able to find any steel tubing with the inside demensions of 2"X2", Ive found some stuff that is slightly bigger and slightly smaller though, but pops is sending me a chunk of that also.

I spent a total of $167.00, including the two new Jerry Cans, paint, material(steel, wire for welder, sanding discs, cut off wheels etc), the gate assembly from the junk yard (10 bucks, I pulled it) and about 3 evenings (one entire evening was spent bead blasting the gate, and sanding) and all day today to do it.

I wont bore you guys with to many actual building pictures, as I hope the final outcome speaks for itself. Im happy with it!

My very next modification will HAVE to be upgrading suspension. I have added a sleeper platform, fiberglass ARE shell, custom roof rack, this new "tank" of a bumper, and I also have a new 16 gallon water storage tank/hot shower system that is going where the spare used to be. My Stock leaf springs are SCREAMING as I type this. I think with the afore mentioned items, this truck is ready for a 10 pack deaver set-up and some 2.5 SAW's, anybody feel like donating?? I just have to figure out to get them shipped to my APO military address....




















Tag mount, 1 stock oem taco tag light, and my rear camera

Let me know what you guys think? I will conitinue with my other mods on another post....

stumptaco said:

Let me know what you guys think? I will conitinue with my other mods on another post....

Click to expand...

Nice rear :shakin: :exclaim:


How did you get a Taco in Germany? I thought they were all Hilux's over there?

Ive already posted this once, but would like to keep everything in one thread, so here is most of the info copy and pasted from the original.


"When I got my Tacoma about 8 months ago, I couldnt decide what I wanted to do to it first... Rear Bumper, Front bumper/winch, sliders, roof rack... and like most, the list is a mile long.

I decided that the roof rack would be the best place to start, followed quickly by a rear bumper with an integrated spare tire swing out gate.

Here is my progress with the roof rack so far. I have $90 dollars in material (excluding lights), and I should have everything I need. Not bad considering the price of a manufactured unit is rediculous. I have spent the last two evenings (about 12 hours total) and I think its turned out well so far. I still have to do the following:

Make mounts for 2 rear lights and mount them.

Make lockable side mounts for my Shovel, Axe, and Hi-lift.

Make mounts to mount it on my camper shell with internal reinforcements for weight capacity.

Paint it.

And finally mount it and wire the lights.


The lights are cheap'os from ebay, atleast they have a H3 bulbs that are easily changeable, instead of a sealed beam. I paid a $90 bucks for 8 of them and figure I wont be out much if they are total crap. I love to replace all 8 of them with Light Force lights, but would have to rob the local bank to do so. Time will tell if they perform well enough. I also plan to mount the extra two lights on the front bumper when it eventually gets built."


The demensions are 7inches deep in the basket, from the top rail to the top of the bottom rail (about12 inches over all height at the top of the light hoop, no more parking garages for me!), 60 inches long overall (on the bottom, including the light shelf) 52 inches in length inside the basket, and 46 inches wide.

I used 1 inch square tubing, .090 thou. wall. The light protection hoop is 1/2 inch round bar, I made it a little high, incase I wanted to eventually go with larger lights.

Hi Wil , I bought it from my neighbor here in Germany. He is also American and shipped it over from the States when he came here. He ended up with like 4 vehicles, so I sold my little old porsche, and snagged the yota from him. I havent looked back since! He is hating life when he drives by and sees me working on it....

We are in the Kaiserslautern area of Germany with the US Military (civilian) and there are over 100,000 Americans here. Its the largest population of Americans outside of the US so these Tacomas are everywhere...

custom switch panel

Just a quick but cool little mod. I needed a place to put some switches for my upcoming mods, so I decided to pull out the old OEM 3 disck changer as it doesnt work without the OEM radio. (I still have it if anyone has an OEM radio and wants it? FREE!) I made a plate out of some thin aluminum channel I found at the local German hardware store. The pics are pretty self explanatory.

As you will see at the bottom, I had to move it up on the dash as I installed a DVD player to go with my camera system. I made a housing that fits nicely on the dash out of wood and painted it. It actaully works better as I can use the switches without taking my eyes off the road, and without bending down.


Gotta get rid of the non-working 3 disk OEM changer....
















I had to end up moving the switch panel up on the dash as I installed a din sized DVD player in the old spot. I figured when im camping alone, I might as well watch a good movie... Thanks to the color monitor for my camera system, its easy!

Sleeper platform

Last entry for the night. Again, I dont have alot of actual building pictures, but mostly pics of it as its almost finished. Its VERY similar to what Baja Taco's bed is. The under frame work is almost identical. We bought a Serta 4inch "Memory Foam" mattress for it and it is UBER nice. I use 2 of the Sylvania "Dot-It" lights on the inside for lighting. I want to get another 7 inch color monitor and mount it on the ceiling of the shell so we/I can watch movies while camping if the weather sucks....lol Might as well stay home right? :lurk:

I WISH I HAD WINDOORS!!!! :drool:

comparison picture....

I thought this was pretty cool when digging through my pictures... Its a good comparison of how it was when i got the truck and how it is in its current state. Unfortunately, it also shows just how much the rear is sagging now! I need Deavers bad....

Before...




After....




I like it!

~James

Your Taco is looking really good. Obviously your dad did a good job teaching you metal work.
May I make one suggestion though on your roof rack where it attaches to the cap. You need more than just one bolt at each connection if you are going to put much of a load on it. I would suggest at least 2 bolts through each leg, or better yet add 2 more legs to each side to help distribute the load. Also be sure to add large washers with rubber washers adjacent to the fiberglass surface. One problem with plastics (as fiberglass is) is they have a different thermal expansion than metal (rack, bolts, washers, etc.) To help prevent the metal parts from cracking the fiberglass, you should consider adding the rubber washers and help spread the load out with metal washers (fender washers are designed for this). Just a suggestion.
Looking good!:clapsmile

It is suprising to me at just how secure it is in its current state with the 1/2 inch bolts. The fiberglass on those corners is a full 3/8" thick, which supprised me as well. I was up there walking around on it just a couple days ago without any movement or problems. I weigh 304 pounds (as of this morning :eatchicke ), and I had my spare tire in my hands (65-75 lbs?) so it was close to 400 pounds with out any problem. I think with that being said it is plenty "strong" enough. I agree with you about the rubber washers, thats a great idea. I have large fender washers on the inside, but didnt want to put them on the outside (not sure why? I could have painted them as well....still may do this). The legs are "capped" on the back side so, the load on the outside portion is somewhat spread out, as apposed to just having the "edges" of the tubing resting on the fiberglass. I should have used some flat steel and made it in a "T" shape at the bottom of the leg, that would have allowed me to easily use two bolts per leg and would have distributed the force better.... you know what they say about hind sight

I had initially planned on building an internal cage for supporting the rack, but got lazy, especially after seeing how well it works without anything.

Thanks for the suggestions! I will have to scout around for some large rubber washers, I like that idea...


This is the old diagram I did, I was going to do this, but thinking I may leave it as is for now. The rack has been up there for a couple months now with a few wheeling trips and no signs of cracking gelcoat or spidering.

Really, really nice build!
I am envious of your fabricating skills...great work!

:sombrero:

Very nice! :clapsmile

VERY Impressive! Nice work, thanks for the pics!

flyingwil said:

Nice rear :shakin: :exclaim:

Click to expand...

Nice rack too!:088:

Taco build up

Wow,
That bumper came out real nice. Your truck is coming together and you have some great fabrication skills.

Out of curriosity, what size tires are you running?

Cheers :beer:,
P