New Build: T100 SAR and expedition rig

[Derek24]

I just bought six of these for my roof basket on top of my camper shell for backup lights and side alley lights. Really well made, all aluminum, and nice stainless hardware. I hooked on up to my battery to see how bright they are and wow, just one would work for backup or alley lights. They are also waterproof and look cool. They are a flood light and throw lights everywhere.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009ES619S/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00

 

[RMP&O]

Good choice on truck! The T100 has become my favorite Toyota truck. If I was building a rock crawler I would go with an older mini-truck but for overland use I think the T100 is perfect. Especially for what I like to do which is outside the USA (when I can) and so an older lower profile truck is nice. The Tundras are to big for me and what I like to do. I had an 04 taco and it was to small. I think the T100 is just about right.

On my taco I had the 3.4 with the TRD S/C also. I went through a lot of dramas getting it set up right but in the end it was dialed in nicely. The p/o of your truck may have already done a lot of this. Do you have the 7th injector kit? If so is it TRD or URD? Not all S/C 3.4s will have a ping problem but a lot do. The 7th injector is the solution however the TRD one is problematic and the URD one is super good. An air fuel ratio gauge or test can tell you if you are pinging. In case you didn't know the oil in the nose cone on the S/C should be replaced every 50,000 miles tops. In fact the manufacturer of the S/C (can't recall their name off the top of my head) recommend changing the whole nose cone out every 50,000 miles. I recall it was about $200 for the whole nose cone assembly, we changed it out once on my truck during my ownership. I also had some Doug Thorely headers and a SS Jardine Exhaust. Had the headers ceramic coated. Love this mod a lot, recommend it! URD has the headers and exhaust. I also think it is a good idea to do the timing belt and water pump just a little more often on a S/C 3.4. Say every 70-80,000 miles. The Walbro fuel pump upgrade is also nice and worth the effort. Just get on the URD website and drool away! They are very helpful folks over there too.

With good maintenance and proper care I think you can get a ton of miles out of the engine and super charger. However, the S/C manufacture should be consulted not TRD and I think they suggest rebuilding it every 100,000 miles. if the motor went in your truck I would jump on a 4.8 Chevy super fast. There is a guy in Vegas who sells turn key Chevy v8's. The 4.8 is only $2k, three wire hook up, retains A/C, CC, p/s, ect and has nearly 300hp. Behind it I would go a 4L60E ($650 fully rebuilt out of SLC) mated to a Toyota t-case. In my mind this is the perfect combo in the T100.

Cheers

 

[Arclight]

Thanks for the tips! I made some more progress on the T100:

1. Replaced the timing belt, water pump, idlers, tensioner, cam/crank seals, and drive belts. I ended up making a few special tools:

FYI, there is a GM service tool that will work for setting tension on your Toyota belts. It's cheap because nobody wants it. Check eBay for:

Kent - Moore Tools J-36018 Belt Tension Gauge for Quad 4

2. Got a roof rack and started modifying it. I used generic truck/van ladder racking for the cross bars. I made a wing-nut style mount for the Hi-Lift and TIG welded it on. My Quick Fists also came in, so I mounted up my shovel. I think I'm going to replace the floor with expanded mesh and make new cross-bars, but it's a start:

3. The new tires - here is a pic of the Goodyear Silent Armors if anyone is interested:

So far I've only had them on the highway and they're quiet and well-mannered. I'll be trying them out in the snow tomorrow and will let everyone know how it goes.

4. Got all of my recovery gear and supplies sorted out. Here is what I've got:

and this is how it all stows:

Arclight

 

[crisco]

awesome progress. im going up into the mountains tomorrow... i also got new tires but havent been able to try them out yet. maybe ill see you around on the trail sometime. (probably going to cleghorn road off 15)

 

[Arclight]

Crisco,

We ended up camping at Holcomb Valley, outside Big Bear. It got down to the teens as night, but was pleasant in the daytime. Conditions were a combination of slush and ice and the tires did pretty well. How was the wheeling up at Cleghorn?

On another note, I picked up some more nylon bags from Fry's and organized things a bit better. Those luggage tags cost about $2/each at Kinko's.

Arclight

awesome progress. im going up into the mountains tomorrow... i also got new tires but havent been able to try them out yet. maybe ill see you around on the trail sometime. (probably going to cleghorn road off 15)

 

[crisco]

that looks great! we had a blast at cleghorn, then went over to crestline, had pizza at top town, then down the rim of the world. nothing too crazy, but lots of fun celebrating my b-day with the wife and kids.

we saw a little snow but no bigger patches like the one in your picture.

 

[Arclight]

So I got the roof rack a couple of weeks ago off Craigslist. It's a Con-Ferr, and the previous owner had installed a plywood bottom and some u-bolts for mounting. I didn't really like this setup, so I vowed to finish fixing it up before my next trip.

First off, I had bought some ladder racks made for a work van. I really like the gutter-mounts - they're solid and have tie-down tabs at the top for a ratchet strap. And the price for the whole kit was about what I was going to spend on just the ears from NRS.

This is the one I bought:

http://www.amazon.com/Highland-2006200-Black-Heavy-Carrier/dp/B0002MABL

But the telescoping bars looked kind of lame and didn't let the rack lie flat. Also, the "artificial rain gutter" mounts that came on my shell are 36" apart, meaning I just had a u-bolt through plywood on the back rail. I really wanted a metal-to-metal connection.

First off, I stripped it down to just the rack and built a set of 52" cross bars from 1" square tubing. I drilled though and spot-welded a lock nut on the bottom. This way, I can remove the rack with 4 bolts and just have the cross bars for hauling lumber/etc. The holes are on 2" centers.

I did the layout with some 1-2-3 blocks and got it tacked together straight.

Next, I made a set of mounting tabs for the rack itself:

Here is where they mount:

And I welded some expanded steel in for a floor. This ended up being a lot of work, as I had to tack some additional metal in around the whole perimeter. I finished the floor with Rustoleum bedliner paint and bolted it all up. I forgot to get a good picture of the floor, but here it is on the truck. I went to West Marine and got a nice stainless steel cable made to just the right length for locking up the Hi-Lift.

The weather was nice last weekend, although the wind caught us on Sunday. This is looking down from North of Joshua Tree Park.

Arclight

that looks great! we had a blast at cleghorn, then went over to crestline, had pizza at top town, then down the rim of the world. nothing too crazy, but lots of fun celebrating my b-day with the wife and kids.

we saw a little snow but no bigger patches like the one in your picture.

 

[crisco]

thats a great job on the roof rack! i am planning on setting up a roof rack too, i might use my yakima rack as a starter. but your custom fabbed roof rack is giving me lots of ideas.

awesome pic from joshua tree. ive never been on the north side but i have been up and down berdoo canyon on the south side lots.

cant wait to get time to go out again. we should plan on doing a meet or trip sometime and see if we can recruit a few others.

 

[Wainiha]

I like the low-battery disconnect.

Has it been used yet?

Are your fuel trims affected when the bat. is disconnected? Especially with the S/C(fuel mods too?) I would think the ECM would have to "relearn."

Better than being stranded though I guess.

 

[Arclight]

I tested the low-voltage disconnect on a variable power supply, but I have not ran my battery down to the point of needing it yet. While it probably does reset the fuel trims, so does killing your battery.

In any case, the truck doesn't seem to run that much differently after a reset. I forget how much the long-term fuel trims adjust for - maybe 10%


John

I like the low-battery disconnect.

Has it been used yet?

Are your fuel trims affected when the bat. is disconnected? Especially with the S/C(fuel mods too?) I would think the ECM would have to "relearn."

Better than being stranded though I guess.

 

[Arclight]

I worked on the truck some more. After the desert trip a couple weeks ago, I decided I really wanted more shade. I started with a 6x7' tarp from Harbor Freight and used a bunch of clamps and some PVC to dummy up a prototype. A trip to Lowes for some 1/2" EMT, connectors and a couple of 3" clamps, and I had this:





The pieces are as follows:
(2) 6' EMT conduit pieces, attached to tarp with fender washers and #12 sheet metal screws
(2) 7'2" EMT conduit pieces, with a joint in the middle
(2) 90deg EMT connectors
(2) 3" Bessey clamps, with 2" of 1/2" OD round stock welded on
(1) Harbor Freight 5'6"x7' tarp (item #69255)
(2) Tent stakes and guy lines (optional)
(1) Small canvas bag (storage)
(6) Harbor Freight bungee cords with ball ends

Total cost: $40 or so

This rolls up into a bundle about 4" in diameter and 72" long. It bungees neatly to the roof rack or stores inside. The C-clamps are fixed to the bumper and the post welded on provides a socket for the EMT to drop into. I replaced the 10-24 and 12-24 screws on the removable EMT connectors with thumb screws, and welded some 1/4x20 nuts to the EMT that attaches to the bumper.

We'll see how it does in a good wind. So far, it seems pretty good, especially if I guy the sides down.

Arclight

 

[Arclight]

Next up, I organized the bed a bit with some storage racks from Springtail Solutions.

I went with (2) of their 30x7.7" FJ Cruiser MPAC racks and attached them to the inside if the bed. These racks are made of laser-cut sheet metal, cut to fit the military MOLLE webbing gear. The product looks very nice and the edges are all braked to make them 1" thick, with mounting tabs on the inside. They are very stiff.

This is the unit:


I repacked my EMT gear into a red M3 Bag I found on Amazon and racked up some of my other gear, such as the trouble light and assorted gear. I also mounted up the fire extinguisher with a Quickfist clamp.





Arclight

 

[Wainiha]

I tested the low-voltage disconnect on a variable power supply, but I have not ran my battery down to the point of needing it yet. While it probably does reset the fuel trims, so does killing your battery.

In any case, the truck doesn't seem to run that much differently after a reset. I forget how much the long-term fuel trims adjust for - maybe 10%


John

Ah, good point on killing the battery. Duh.

 

[Arclight]

Work has been busy lately, but I finally got a chance to install my solar panel. I have an off-grid cabin and have bought all of my solar stuff over the years from Northern Arizona Wind and Sun. Looking through their catalog, I noticed that they carry the "unbreakable" line from Power Up. This is a 30W crystalline panel that has no glass. Instead, the cells are laminated to a sheet of stainless steel. Here's a pic:



I debated mounting this to the middle of the roof rack, installing some rivnuts and attaching it to the cab, or creating some sort of bracket to extend it off the front of the rack. Then I visited Harbor Freight and found these 90lb magnets for $5.00 each:



I added some 1/4x20 stainless steel bolts (3/4") and nuts, and then coated them in Plastidip to prevent rust and protect the paint.



Getting the bottom side to be flat was tricky. I finally resorted to dipping the top, letting it dry, poking the bolts through some cardboard, and painting the bottom coating with a brush.

And here's the finished product.



Another view:



And the charge controller. I went with a Morningstar 4.5, as it's small, inexpensive and I've had good luck with these.




The charge controller is mounted inside the small comaprtment behind the driver's seat, along with the Blue Seas fuse box. Seems to be working great!

Arclight

 

[CYi5]

I'm diggin' your solar setup. We have pretty similar methods for preventing battery drainage in the field. Do you think 30 watts is enough to keep your battery topped off? I'm not sure if you were planning to add a fridge or not, but I read on here around 60w is the magic number for fridge duty. I suppose they could always be doubled up in the future, just curious on your take on the setup.