Northern Explorer's 2015 TRD Off Road Tacoma

GPS Mount

The GPS is a hand me down from my Colorado. Idea stolen from the A-Pillar RAM mount thread over at Tacoma World.

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I'll eventually hardwire this in.
 
Rock Sliders

With weight being an issue with this build, I was looking for a basic set of rock sliders. Basic to me means no square tube, no kickouts and no extra beefy mounting plates. Just a simple set of sliders to protect my rocker panels. I found what I was looking for at Marshal Offroad Fabrications. They don't publish the weight online but they ended up weighing 44 pounds each. Just slightly above my estimate. I decided to go with bolt on this time so that I can take them off if I ever need to do maintenance.

As they arrived.
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Grade 8 hardware and backing plates.
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After priming.
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Solo job.
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One minor flaw. Easily corrected with a file.
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Angled 20 degrees up.
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Ready for the rocks. Still need to drill three holes on each side of the frame to complete the install.
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Rattler

Thornton Melon's Kid
They look good! I use Duplicolor spray-on bedliner on stuff often. It seems to hold up to the MI winters ok.

No stainless hardware?
 

BajaSurfRig

Active member
@northernexplorer did the air deflector you made help get any MPG back or has it only helped out with keeping noise down? My camper is lacking in the aerodynamics department and I am wondering if building an air dam like what you have is worth the time?
 
They look good! I use Duplicolor spray-on bedliner on stuff often. It seems to hold up to the MI winters ok.

No stainless hardware?

Nothing stainless on these. This is a summer only truck so hopefully I won't have the rust issues I had with my sliders on my Colorado.
 
@northernexplorer did the air deflector you made help get any MPG back or has it only helped out with keeping noise down? My camper is lacking in the aerodynamics department and I am wondering if building an air dam like what you have is worth the time?

I have to think that it must help a little with aerodynamics. I'm sure it's such a small amount that it would be hard to measure but even a small amount adds up on a 4000 mile trip. The wind deflector that you see on my truck was made for my Chevy Colorado with this camper. It's a little small (48 inches wide) for this setup. Ideally it needs to be four inches wider and about two or three inches taller. At very least it eliminates bug splat on the front of the camper which can be hard to clean off.
 
Air Bag Axle Bracket Extension

I decided to get the axle bracket extension rather than fabricating a shim under the existing bracket as I had previously mentioned. There wasn't much left to the original extension after customizing it for my needs. They needed to be shortened and three new holes needed to be drilled.

Line showing where I made the cut.
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After cutting and drilling.
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Repainted and installed.
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Rattler

Thornton Melon's Kid
Sorry to hear about that second Tacoma. I will never forget that message a few hours after we left your front yard about that tree coming down. We were just past Newberry. That was crazy!
 

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