Switcheroo - 1 Bored Clerk's 2013 Tacoma Build

[brianjwilson]

Correct on the timbrens. I don't know if the table is still up on the timbren site, but the all pro kit comes with the A515-55. 1000lb nominal rated capacity, 2400lb bump capacity, 3.75" tall, 1.5" tall when fully compressed. the standard Tacoma timbren kit ships with taller timbrens that have a higher load capacity.


Hey look at that. Timbren picked up on all pros idea and now offers their own "active off road bump stop" kit with the same timbren, u bolt flip kit etc.

http://timbren.com/products-page/ses/ABSTRFK/

It's $215 shipped while allpro is $269 without shipping.

http://www.realtruck.com/timbren-active-off-road-bump-stops/abstrfk.html


Here is a link to the table, showing the different rubber springs available from timbren.
http://timbren.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Table-of-Dimensions-r070815.pdf

 

[1 Bored Clerk]

Interesting. I like how they turned up the ends of the u bolt plate to help keep it from deforming. Mine haven't deformed but it's still a good idea.


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[youngdogs]

I've got a lot of catching up to do here! The first 1/4 mile of the rubicon was great but we didn't end up running past gatekeeper. Ill explain more when I get all of my other updates done: new rear suspension and LRA fuel tank!


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So why did you stop at gatekeeper?

 

[1 Bored Clerk]

Well, we were at the trailhead at the same time that some other folks from Washington happened to be there. We left at the same time and sort of formed a little 'pack'. Extra vehicles is always nice, right? Anyway, there were some things we saw that made us slightly uncomfortable with them (they were totally nice, it was more driving style and mechanical soundness). Plus, we plugged in our CB so we could chat with them and it was dead. No clue why, it was just dead. I have no doubt we could have cruised through gatekeeper but the truck in front of us was having mechanical issues already so we bailed. It felt like too many things gone wrong in the first 1/4 mile of trail (with pretty much no obstacles). The vibe was bad so we decided to heed the warning our guts were giving us and said bye bye. It would have been a drag, bang and slam fest though. I already knew that from the short trip to gatekeeper. Dragging my stock bumper and trailer hitch through there wouldn't have been so fun. So that's why we turned around.

We'll go back but we'll likely go as part of a big group event like rubithon or something like that. I don't like the big group atmosphere but it would be nice to run the trail the first time with a TON of support and knowledgeable folks.


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[1 Bored Clerk]

Refrigerator research!

So, we've revised our camper plan a bit which will require that the refrigerator (yet to be purchased) live inside the cab of the truck. Cool...but how convenient will that be? Looking at specs and pics of popular refrigerators, Engel and ARB mostly, I became concerned about loading and accessing food as well as cleaning out the fridge should it need it. The height of the 40something quart fridges seemed problematic to my eye on all fronts. I started wondering if a 30 something quart fridge would work for us. Looking an specs and holding up rulers, it became clear that I needed a mockup! So, I grabbed the interior and exterior specs for the Engel MT35, some foam core board and a hot glue gun. A little while later I had something I could test fit into the truck!

It looks, roughly like the exterior dims work pretty well. Can still use one back seat and it appears that the lid will open far enough to access the fridge freely. There is also plenty of room for reasonable seat range for us. Not a ton of recline but that's not a huge deal for either of us.

My mock up is accurate to within 1/4". How the lid actually hinges and its actual shape would impact how far it opens but I think it's good.

It would be handy if the lid was reversible so that it would work better on the passenger side. I haven't actually looked into that. I believe the fridge will be way more handy on the passenger side as that's how campsites are set up as well as curb side access.

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[BentBomber]

I'm digging the build. I just picked up a 2012 Access cab TRD O/R. The only difference is mine is a manual tranny. I've been thinking of trying to mount up a fridge in the back of mine too. I'll keep an eye on what you come up with.

 

[1 Bored Clerk]

I just realized that the MT35 opens from the short end. They don't open along the long edge of the refrigerator until you get into the 60qt models. I'll have to alter the lid on my mockup to see if it's still viable. I think that may make access worse. Though, as I understand it, you can slide the lid off the hinges and take it off altogether if necessary.


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[toyotech]

I have a Whynter and it opens on the long ways. Makes it much easier to get to in the back of my access cab tundra.


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[1 Bored Clerk]

Yeah, I assumed that. I haven't modded my mockup yet to see but I'm a little bummed about it opening along the short edge. It may not be an issue. I've seen MT45s mounted in AC Tacomas with no complaint about access so maybe I'm overthinking it.


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[1 Bored Clerk]

Knocked out (most of) a quick project yesterday: the water 'system' for the truck! It's all very exciting.

We decided not to over complicate the whole water system by having a pump, hot water, and a ginormous water tank. So, we based it on two Scepter MWCs (Military Water Can...clever name, no?)

I'm not inventing anything here, just duplicating what I've seen then regurgitating it for all to see.

Virgin MWC. Green.
I might have picked blue if I were to buy these but we had 6 green ones in the garage so the decision was easy.

Fyn-Spray WS-67 galley pump faucet, an extra MWC cap and a cap wrench (just in case my feeble computer jockey hands can't open the can)

First step is to take the nut off of the faucet and lay it inside the new cap so you can either mark or eyeball the location of the hole you need to drill. You want to take all of the large spout on the cap and leave enough clearance to get the nut to seat under the cap.

I clamped the large spout in my little vise (machine vise?)

Use a 1.25" hole saw to drill out the spout for your faucet. I held the vise handle by hand and went slow with the hole saw until I was just about to hit the vise. Then I stopped. It's not cool to hole saw your vise...DON'T DO IT' SON!

Because the cap has a crown to it, you'll cut through all of part of it and not quite all the way through all of it in some cases. No biggie here, it was paper thin so I was able to pull it right out.

I finished and deburred the hole with a small rat tail file and a little 100 grit sandpaper.

Then I cut off the retaining ring. This cap and pump will just screw on when I want to use it so I won't need the retaining ring. Used a box cutter to cut it off. Easy.

Mount the pump!

Done! To keep it military, I used some 550 cord to tie the non-pump cap back.

Pump works well. Very easy to pump and flows a decent amount of water. You're not going to clean a circus elephant with it but it'll fill a pan nicely.

The only thing left to do is get some food grade plastic tubing to put on the end of the pump so it'll reach the bottom of the MWC.

Go make your own. It took all of about 20 minutes. And some $$$....and tools...and 3 gingerbread cookies.


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[Greenbean]

Nice mod there.

Bookmarking this one!

 

[1 Bored Clerk]

Finally swapped out my creaky all pro expo springs. All pro was super cool and sent me a replacement set of springs due to the mad creaky nature of my first set. A few hours of work and the new springs are in and have been completely silent for a week now. It's like driving a whole new truck!

It was completely obvious why the original set was creaking as soon as I dropped them out of the truck. The very top of the military wrap was rubbing the inside top of the spring mount. I guess that first set was a bit out of spec?

Anyway, just want to give a shout out to All-Pro for awesome customer service.




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[1 Bored Clerk]

This little lovely showed up today.

The collection of 'stuff' for the camper build has started. The plan has also been modified since the original post. More to come on that...


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[1 Bored Clerk]

So, I finally started my rear bumper build. I'll post up a screen shot from CAD when I get a chance so you can see where this is headed. Until then we'll have to make do with pictures of stuff gettin worked on.

It was well past time to get rid of this. I already cut the tailpipe but not before smashing it soundly into the sheet metal. It's not terrible...can hardly see it unless you're looking underneath or from a distance. So, yeah, will be going high clearance. Or, more accurately, kinda sorta high clearance with cut bedsides.

Took the rear bumper off. If you have the factory tow package, the bumper and hitch are as one and you take it all off together. If you really look at how it's mounted, you can see that if you only loosen the two bolts closest to the axle and remove everything else, the bumper will just sit there. Then, from the back, you can tilt the bumper up and slide it right off the back of the truck. Slick.

I started by measuring and creating some templates in CAD. Then I had some metal laser cut and bent as the basis for the bumper. Here they are!

Here they are bolted to the frame and looking dope. Too bad my measurements were off...a lot. Oh well, $44 down the drain. Went back to CAD and made some tweaks. Just picked up the new brackets today. I'll see if I corrected my error this weekend.

While I was waiting for new brackets to be made, I started working with the main cross tube. 2" X 4" 3/16" wall rectangular tubing. I printed out some dimensions from cad so I could get to cuttin.

Carefully scribe out everything so you know what to cut. Then get it all wrong and redo it. I seriously can't believe how much I've screwed the pooch so far on this project! Haha.

Did some work with the angle grinder and cutoff wheel then took it to work to use the bandsaw...saved me Sooo much time!

More bandsaw

Then it was time for some wicked straight cuts. Clamp a nice thick pice of straight steel along your cut as a guide for your angle grinder.

If it works for an X-acto knife, it'll work for an angle grinder!





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[1 Bored Clerk]

And, sure enough it works awesome! Just remember that your straight edge won't be straight for long so swap it out when necessary.

Lots of nice cuts!

Equal pieces means you done good.

Hitch goes here. Don't worry, it will have much more support.

Some internal bracing for the hitch

And that's where we are right now. More updates soon!



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