Schattenjager
Expedition Leader
This has been an interesting journey. I am a believer in snorkels - my time in Alaska proved their worth in hundreds of miles of dusty road travel. They inspire a bit of peace of mind when fording water too, but we all know a petrol engine in deep water is a recipe for mayhem, snorkel or not.
I have used the excellent Safari snorkels on three rigs thus far and came to expect top shelf components in complete, well thought out kits. However, when it comes to the new Tacoma, the only option is modifying a Hilux snorkel to fit. As much as we might like to think our trucks are Hilux's in disguise, they are not. Not close in fact, and the surgery required on the Safari brand is significant and the final fit shows clearly that it is not an appropriate application. Enter Airflow.
Airflow advertises their kits as being for the Tacoma 05+ and sure enough, the snorkel body fits the body lines nicely. It is nearly a $500 kit, so my expectations were on par for that of Safari. I was woefully wrong. The kit is shipped in bags, presumably to save on shipping. (there are a lot of savings in this kit, sadly) Once the snorkel body is removed, it is immediately apparent that the manufacture uses a more primitive material in a less than detailed mold. The molded graphic was pock marked and the snorkel itself was oddly textured, but in random places vs a uniform appearance. Upon further inspection of the kit we (two other snorkel experienced installers helped) noticed that there was no sealant (can't use silicon because it kills the MAS) and we were missing all the clamps. So we made a trip to the hardware store and returned to start the project. The instructions were very poor - mine came with black and white low rez images that were really no help unless you're testing for an ink blot psych evaluation. The wording was poor as well, with harrowing vagaries such as 'cut the end off' when in fact all three of us interpreted what the 'end' was differently. The template was cut very precisely and careful attempts were made to line it up on the fender. Guess what? Yup - no dice. Either the top line worked or the door side, but not both. All of us being experienced, we soldiered on undaunted and confident we could make this work. Further examination of the kit showed a very sub par hose similar to that used on clothes dryer wall connections. The elbows were molded slightly out of round and this made using the clamps a bit trying. I made the poor choice of butyl mastic for a sealant - this is sticky, stringy and gets everywhere. Perhaps urethane mastic would've been a wiser choice. Nonetheless, the kit fit very poorly and I was unable to reconnect the air inlet pipe to the intake from the fender junction.
Frustrated, I called TRDParts4u (Toyota of Dallas) and spoke with Barbara in parts. I made it VERY clear that I was not asking for anything: no money back etc but did want to share our experience. She was surprised to learn of the issue as she had this same snorkel on her truck. She passed my information on to the Airflow distributor and his call the next day is when things became interesting.
Again, I made it VERY clear I was not asking for anything. He made it very clear that he did not want to read a negative review until he exhausted all means of making this right. After reviewing a few of my grievances, he failed to listen and only made comments such as: 'we had to stay in budget' and ' to build it better would cost a fortune.' I shared all of our shared opinion that the snorkel body should travel outside the fender a la Safari instead of the masochistic, inside the fender with crap parts kit as provided. He said that was ridiculous and it would cost too much to redesign the system, which I understand. He stated that my being nice was merely a tactic on my part - and I did not understand all the complexities of this venture. The conversation ended with him telling me he would ship a new elbow (which did help reconnect the intake tube to the filter housing) I received it yesterday and spent three hours today touching up the install.
Over all, I am very dissatisfied with this Airflow kit and would not recommend it to anyone at it's current price of near $500. Far better to go the route of modifying the Safari and having a properly made unit of high quality. If no one has ever used a Safari kit, the Airflow may seem fine since there is no benefit of comparison. However, the three of us did not suffer this lack of information. Ultimately, I do not TRUST the airflow to have a proper seal at the numerous connection inside the fender. I do not think it will keep the intake from ingesting dust filled air in the vacuum created by the engine. I sure as heck do not think it will do crap for keeping water at bay either. This should be a $200 a snorkel body with $30 worth of parts to hook it up.
Ultimately, I will buy a new fender, paint it and go the Safari snorkel route.
To be perfectly clear, I am posting this merely as an FYI for those shopping this market and to stoke the search engine a little. This is my experience and the opinion is shared by others who witnessed the carnage to my truck. Did I mention the kit's need for me to remove a bracket inside the fender???
Sorry, no install pics as we were distracted aplenty. Here is the final product:
I have used the excellent Safari snorkels on three rigs thus far and came to expect top shelf components in complete, well thought out kits. However, when it comes to the new Tacoma, the only option is modifying a Hilux snorkel to fit. As much as we might like to think our trucks are Hilux's in disguise, they are not. Not close in fact, and the surgery required on the Safari brand is significant and the final fit shows clearly that it is not an appropriate application. Enter Airflow.
Airflow advertises their kits as being for the Tacoma 05+ and sure enough, the snorkel body fits the body lines nicely. It is nearly a $500 kit, so my expectations were on par for that of Safari. I was woefully wrong. The kit is shipped in bags, presumably to save on shipping. (there are a lot of savings in this kit, sadly) Once the snorkel body is removed, it is immediately apparent that the manufacture uses a more primitive material in a less than detailed mold. The molded graphic was pock marked and the snorkel itself was oddly textured, but in random places vs a uniform appearance. Upon further inspection of the kit we (two other snorkel experienced installers helped) noticed that there was no sealant (can't use silicon because it kills the MAS) and we were missing all the clamps. So we made a trip to the hardware store and returned to start the project. The instructions were very poor - mine came with black and white low rez images that were really no help unless you're testing for an ink blot psych evaluation. The wording was poor as well, with harrowing vagaries such as 'cut the end off' when in fact all three of us interpreted what the 'end' was differently. The template was cut very precisely and careful attempts were made to line it up on the fender. Guess what? Yup - no dice. Either the top line worked or the door side, but not both. All of us being experienced, we soldiered on undaunted and confident we could make this work. Further examination of the kit showed a very sub par hose similar to that used on clothes dryer wall connections. The elbows were molded slightly out of round and this made using the clamps a bit trying. I made the poor choice of butyl mastic for a sealant - this is sticky, stringy and gets everywhere. Perhaps urethane mastic would've been a wiser choice. Nonetheless, the kit fit very poorly and I was unable to reconnect the air inlet pipe to the intake from the fender junction.
Frustrated, I called TRDParts4u (Toyota of Dallas) and spoke with Barbara in parts. I made it VERY clear that I was not asking for anything: no money back etc but did want to share our experience. She was surprised to learn of the issue as she had this same snorkel on her truck. She passed my information on to the Airflow distributor and his call the next day is when things became interesting.
Again, I made it VERY clear I was not asking for anything. He made it very clear that he did not want to read a negative review until he exhausted all means of making this right. After reviewing a few of my grievances, he failed to listen and only made comments such as: 'we had to stay in budget' and ' to build it better would cost a fortune.' I shared all of our shared opinion that the snorkel body should travel outside the fender a la Safari instead of the masochistic, inside the fender with crap parts kit as provided. He said that was ridiculous and it would cost too much to redesign the system, which I understand. He stated that my being nice was merely a tactic on my part - and I did not understand all the complexities of this venture. The conversation ended with him telling me he would ship a new elbow (which did help reconnect the intake tube to the filter housing) I received it yesterday and spent three hours today touching up the install.
Over all, I am very dissatisfied with this Airflow kit and would not recommend it to anyone at it's current price of near $500. Far better to go the route of modifying the Safari and having a properly made unit of high quality. If no one has ever used a Safari kit, the Airflow may seem fine since there is no benefit of comparison. However, the three of us did not suffer this lack of information. Ultimately, I do not TRUST the airflow to have a proper seal at the numerous connection inside the fender. I do not think it will keep the intake from ingesting dust filled air in the vacuum created by the engine. I sure as heck do not think it will do crap for keeping water at bay either. This should be a $200 a snorkel body with $30 worth of parts to hook it up.
Ultimately, I will buy a new fender, paint it and go the Safari snorkel route.
To be perfectly clear, I am posting this merely as an FYI for those shopping this market and to stoke the search engine a little. This is my experience and the opinion is shared by others who witnessed the carnage to my truck. Did I mention the kit's need for me to remove a bracket inside the fender???
Sorry, no install pics as we were distracted aplenty. Here is the final product:
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