Brutus the Build

[infra]

Hello everyone, I've been asked by more than 1 member about my build on Brutus so I caved in and decided to start a build thread.

Brutus is a 2010 Toyota Tacoma Off-Road 6 speed 4x4 double cab short bed. I bought him brand new with .9 miles on the odometer. As you will see in the pictures, Brutus has had an ever changing build over the past few years as I wheel and camp more and learn what doesn't work or I don't like and what I do like. Brutus is approximately 32,858 miles old as of 5/4/14. I'm sure I have forgotten some stuff so as I remember mods that may have been left out, I will modify the list. The list of mods to Brutus are as follows:


Suspension mods

• Icon extended travel remote resi coilover with CDC and 700lb springs
• Icon 2.5 remote resi CDC extended length rear shocks
• Icon hydro bumps in rear
• Total Chaos uniball UCA's
• All Pro expo leaf pack
• U-bolt flip kit
• Extended rear brake lines

Wheels and tires

• 17x9 Ballistic Jester wheels
• Duratrac MTR Kevlar 285/70/17

Armor mods & Recovery mods

• CBI Moab 2.0 front bumper with headlight hoops
• CBI Bushmaster rear bumper with swingout tire carrier and fold down camp table and Blitzpro 6lz back up LED lights
• Warn M-8000s with synthetic line
• 48" Hi Lift deluxe mounted on rear bumper
• Pelfreybilt Off-road full skids
• Avid Off-road welded sliders with kick out
• ARB snatch strap and ARB tree strap

Recovery & Camping tools

• Bully Tools heavy duty round nose shovel mounted on bedrack with swagman clamp
• Fiskars X27 36" splitting axe mounted on bedrack with swagman clamp
• Fiskars X7 14" hatchet mounted behind passenger side Rotopax with quickfist clamps
• Fiskars 18" machete/saw tool
• Trasharoo

Electrical & Lighting mods

• Blue Sea aux fuse block with 150 amp circuit breaker mounted on custom plate
• Uniden 520 Pro XL CB
• Relentless hood CB antenna mount
• Wilson Silverload 4 foot antenna with heavy duty spring
• OKLEDLIGHTBARS 20" cree LED light bar mounted on a BAMF behind the grille light bar
• OKLEDLIGHTBARS 50" cree radius LED light bar mounted on TRAC Performance roof mounts
• LED light strips mounted under hood
• LED light strips mounted under bed rails
• LED interior dome lights and LED interior map lights
• Rigid Industries Dually LED lights with amber covers
• Anytime backup camera mod

Exterior visual mods

• Blacked out Tacoma badges
• Sock Monkey TRD Expedition bedside decals
• Weather tech in channel window vent visors

Interior mods

• Wet okole seat covers
• Custom carpeted wood panels with Molle vehicle panels
• Center console organizer
• Weather tech all weather floor mats
• Limo tint all around

Other miscellaneous mods

• CVT Mt. Shasta RTT
• Box Rocket bedrack *modified*
• Rotopax gas paxs (3) 2 gallon gas, (1) 3 gallon gas, (2) 2 gallon water
• Rear diff breather mod
• 19 gallon stainless steel water tank mounted in stock spare location

Now on to some pictures of Brutus!!!


Here he was the day I brought him home

CBI high clearance rear bumper, CBI front bumper and Pelfreybilt skids

Switched out Jerry cans to Rotopax

LED lighting

Box Rocket bedrack, CVT RTT, and Sock Monkey bedside decals

Aux fuse block and custom Molle panels

Random trail or camping pictures

 

[Mister Blonde]

Brutus is beautiful! Awesome rig!

Sent from my HTC6500LVW using Tapatalk

 

[mizeide]

Thanks for creating thread! Do you ever miss the softopper? I keep going back and forth between a rack height similar to yours where a rtt would be partially below the roofline or a rack tall enough to clear a softopper underneath. Any thoughts?

 

[infra]

Thanks for creating thread! Do you ever miss the softopper? I keep going back and forth between a rack height similar to yours where a rtt would be partially below the roofline or a rack tall enough to clear a softopper underneath. Any thoughts?

Actually I still have the softopper and soon will be building a rack that goes over the softopper. So I'll be able to switch racks out depending on what type of trip I'll be doing.

I really like my Box Rocket rack for shorter trips and like not having the RTT above the roof level, only thing is that if I use the annex with the RTT at that height then it sags a little due to the lack of height.

For my more extended trips I'd love to use the softopper with the rack over it, even though the RTT would sit above the roof level creating more drag as well as changing the center of gravity. It would provide me with more storage opportunities for gear and I wouldn't have to keep tossing stuff in the cab. At that height it would also allow me to use the annex as it is intended to be used.

 

[Box Rocket]

Looking good man!

 

[lofreqjeff]

Beautiful! I think I know that camping spot - is that Turkey Creek? I was just out there a few months back where we started in Mammoth and ran Rug Rd and spent a night at Turkey Creek:

 

[infra]

Beautiful! I think I know that camping spot - is that Turkey Creek? I was just out there a few months back where we started in Mammoth and ran Rug Rd and spent a night at Turkey Creek:

Good eye, yes sir that is Turkey Creek. Same exact camping spot, we had lots of trucks and tents so I just parked it in the wash.

 

[Wainiha]

You did it right for sure. Very nice. Can you tell me about the camo storage in the back. No seat? Where did you get the pouches? What do you carry in them?

 

[infra]

You did it right for sure. Very nice. Can you tell me about the camo storage in the back. No seat? Where did you get the pouches? What do you carry in them?

Why thank you sir. Since 99% of the time I go on trips I am by myself I saw no need for the rear seats, usually I just throw bags and gear back there. So I removed my rear seats and measure and cut plywood, carpeted both boards, drilled holes and bolted the wood into the brackets that the rear seats mount to. I then attached vehicle molle panels to the boards and put many different molle attachments/bags on the panels. Some hold paper towels, binoculars, hand held GPS, Personal Locator Beacon, Sat Phone, flashlights, first aid kit, hygiene kit, knives, as well as a bunch of other gear. I welded up some brackets that bolt into the location for the lower part of the rear seats, I am then able to fold the boards down and they lay flat and I can stack gear on the back of the boards. I bought the vehicle molle panels off ebay, and then bought most of my molle attachments/bags from my local Army Surplus store.

 

[BurbanAZ]

Great looking build. Love that it looks like you really get a chance to get out there and use your truck.

 

[mike2100]

Thank you for posting pics of your rear bumper and swing out. I wish cbi had more pics of the options available.
I see you have the rear camera anytime mod. How much does your camera "see" with the spare tire and fuel containers mounted to the swing out? That is the ONLY thing delaying my purchase of a bumper/swing out. I've never had a rear camera before and now I'm hooked.

 

[infra]

Great looking build. Love that it looks like you really get a chance to get out there and use your truck.

Thank you sir, I definitely do my best to use it for how I built it. You ever see me in the Old Pueblo, don't be shy and say hello.

Thank you for posting pics of your rear bumper and swing out. I wish cbi had more pics of the options available.
I see you have the rear camera anytime mod. How much does your camera "see" with the spare tire and fuel containers mounted to the swing out? That is the ONLY thing delaying my purchase of a bumper/swing out. I've never had a rear camera before and now I'm hooked.

If you would like more pictures of the rear bumper let me know and I'll do my best to get you pictures of what you need/want. The rear view camera on Brutus is also the first rear view camera I have had on a vehicle and love it, but after mounting the HC CBI rear bumper and the spare on the swing out....it makes the back up camera pretty useless. I have learned to deal with is so far, but soon will be figuring out a way to relocate the camera from the handle on the tailgate to somewhere on the rear bumper itself.

 

[mike2100]

If you would like more pictures of the rear bumper let me know and I'll do my best to get you pictures of what you need/want. The rear view camera on Brutus is also the first rear view camera I have had on a vehicle and love it, but after mounting the HC CBI rear bumper and the spare on the swing out....it makes the back up camera pretty useless. I have learned to deal with is so far, but soon will be figuring out a way to relocate the camera from the handle on the tailgate to somewhere on the rear bumper itself.

Actually I am also a little worried about things attached to the swing-out blocking other drivers' views of the tail/brake lights or even the license plate. Not just for drivers directly behind you but mostly for the ones that are offset a bit. It sounds a little silly but I got pulled over on a test drive here in Maryland because the dealer has their salesmen attach the temporary tag by shutting the strap in the tailgate. Well the tag was partially blocking the left tail light and the cop didn't like that.

It looks like your spare doesn't block the lights but the rotopax might. Do you happen to have any pics at night with the lights on from a few car lengths behind the truck?
It looks like your

 

[infra]

Actually I am also a little worried about things attached to the swing-out blocking other drivers' views of the tail/brake lights or even the license plate. Not just for drivers directly behind you but mostly for the ones that are offset a bit. It sounds a little silly but I got pulled over on a test drive here in Maryland because the dealer has their salesmen attach the temporary tag by shutting the strap in the tailgate. Well the tag was partially blocking the left tail light and the cop didn't like that.

It looks like your spare doesn't block the lights but the rotopax might. Do you happen to have any pics at night with the lights on from a few car lengths behind the truck?
It looks like your

Actually you are correct, and I have also been a little worried about it but obviously it hasn't been a huge priority of mine or I would have fixed it by now. My rotopax on the swing out do block the drivers side taillight a little bit from a view directly behind my truck, and gets worse as your view becomes more angled from the passenger side. I have not been pulled over for it yet although I fully expect it to happen sooner or later if I don't come up with a solution soon. My plan is to relocate all my gas rotopax onto the passenger and drivers side of my bed rack and then put my water rotopax on the rear and situate them so they would be mounted as if they are standing up instead of sideways. It's really a simple fix, all I have to do is unbolt my mount and turn it 45°


I do not have any pictures from behind the truck at night, but I'll definitely try and remember to get some over the next few nights and I'll post them up for you

 

[Delmarva]

Looks good Jason