Battleship Jones: 2015 Tacoma DCLB Build Thread

[Adventurous]

Luckily my truck, unlike myself sometimes, is firing on all cylinders. The Hellas didn't work cause I forgot to attach a ground wire. FAIL.

Also, learn from my mistake. Get some screw protectors for all positive terminals of the aux. fuse block. In my gloved, and numbed hand state I dropped an allen wrench on the terminals of the 100A breaker. Twice. I'll be getting some protectors tonight. See above.

 

[jeffjeeptj]

Good judgement comes from experience


...


Experience comes from bad judgement.

 

[Simo_4x4]

Beautiful truck !!! and very good works on it !

 

[tacozord]

Looks like my hand was just forced. After emailing BFG to ask about the removal of the 255/85R16 Mud-Terrain KM2 from their website I was told that it has been discontinued and will not be re-released. Full size spare tire ordered!

I recently contacted BFGoodrich, because these are the tires I wanted to put on my truck. Here's the conversation:

Me:

I just came across this message that states the KM2 255/85R16 is not necessarily being discontinued. Instead, BF Goodrich is making changes to the tire and that the tire should be available again sometime in July/August. Can you please confirm?

http://www.fjcruiserforums.com/forum...970-post2.html


Thank you

BFGoodrich:

Mike,

The LT255/85R16 KM2 does have a projected launch date of March 2015 which is subject to change in either direction. Our suggestion is that you contact an authorized dealer to see about pre ordering because stock will be filled in the way the orders are placed (stock may be limited and orders may have already been placed).

Sincerely,

Jon
Consumer Care Department
Certified BFGoodrich Product Expert

Me:

Thank you very much for the information. Can you confirm if these tires are exactly the same as the version that was just discontinued? Or were changes made? What was the reasoning for the stop in production? The reason I want to know is that I found a set of tires that I want to buy. But if there are differences with this new tire coming out in March 2015, then I may hold off and buy the new one.

Thank you again.

BFGoodrich:

Mike,

The reason for the stop in production is so our plants could start including the European stamp of approval on the sidewall of the tires. That stamp simply makes the tires legal to use in the United States as well as Europe. This will be the only difference between the two KM2's as they will be made and look the same (plus the ECE symbol).
Sincerely,

Jon
Consumer Care Department
Certified BFGoodrich Product Expert

So...with this GREAT news, I went ahead and bought five new tires for my truck. They were a bit difficult to find, but I got them. I now know that I can be confident about finding a replacement in case I need one.

P.S. Great build!!! :clapping:

 

[Adventurous]

I was curious to know if a full size 33" spare would fit in the spare location. Can you get a pic once you have it mounted up in there and see how it fits?

I'm also curious how well this will work cuz I'm not that sold on the rear bumpers with tire carriers for the Tacoma's.

Got the 33" spare up there and managed to take some pictures this evening. It's tight, real tight. Despite what the pictures show it is up against the driver's side shackle hanger, up against the exhaust hanger (doesn't touch the exhaust), is close to the trailer hitch, and is close to the path of the rear axle. I'm going to keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn't shift, if not, it looks like a viable option.

20150311-P1010362 by Tim Souza, on Flickr

20150311-P1010363 by Tim Souza, on Flickr

20150311-P1010364 by Tim Souza, on Flickr

20150311-P1010365 by Tim Souza, on Flickr

 

[Adventurous]

On the plus side, I took my truck in today to get the 5K Toyotacare service, an alignment, and the spare tire mounted and balanced. I asked the alignment tech to push the wheels forward a little bit. He dialed it in nicely, no more rub.

 

[brianjwilson]

Looks good to me! Though I'd push the tire back into the hitch if possible to prevent the axle from contacting during compression.

 

[AxleIke]

I'm off Wads and 108th up by the airport. You are a Rising Sun member right? I'll be at the meeting tonight, come say hi. It would be nice to put a face to a name.

I am, and hope to be at the April meeting. I have been out a lot with work over the past two years and haven't made as many meetings as I'd like.

 

[Yulli]

That fits in pretty tight, but it fits. Thanks for the pics.

 

[Watt maker]

Just read your whole thread, what an awesome build and pretty close to what I want.

Is it me or is your spare tire really close to the exhaust? I'd keep an eye on that.

 

[Adventurous]

Buncha smart cookies y'all are. After having an additional bumpstop for my ride to work today I got under the truck again tonight and stuffed the rear tire as far backwards as it would go. It opened up a bit more room for the diff to clear the tire. It was kissing before, but now there looks to be adequate room for full travel.

Although it just occurred to me that I didn't think to take a picture of the pumpkin -> tire clearance like before. I'll have to snap another one.

The question also, rightly so, arose as to the clearance with the exhaust. Once again, I'm not going to lie, it's a pretty tight fit.

20150312-P1010369 by Tim Souza, on Flickr

That's the point where the tire comes the closest to the exhaust. Luckily it's where the heat shield is, so the tire is somewhat protected, but I'm going to watch it closely anyway.

Lastly I decided to clear up my differential breather. The clear hose didn't quite fit on the axle barb as well as I wanted it to which kind of defeats the purpose. I had 5 or so feet of 1/4" fuel line laying around that I re-routed things with. It fits rather snugly over the axle barb but as some insurance I added a piece of heat shrink to protect the hose-to-barb interface and then added a hose clamp for insurance on my insurance. At the other end it took a big of finagling to get the hose over the breather cap stem but in the end I triumphed there to. I personally think it looks, and should function, much better.

20150312-P1010368 by Tim Souza, on Flickr

So, nearly final verdict is that the 255/85 fits up under the bed, but just barely. I'm going to see how it works out in practice as I'm not 100% sold on having it under there given how tight things are. At some point a few years down the road when I add a rear bumper with a tire carrier I'll get it on there.

 

[brianjwilson]

Some people just cut the last bit of exhaust before the tire.

Another option if you're worried about heat is a heat shield or wrap. There are a ton of different products on the market.

http://www.hawkinsspeedshop.com/hea...-shield-thermo-tec-silver-6-in-wide-x-12.html

 

[Watt maker]

Looks like you got that breather covered! Personally, I'd rather have the spare underneath as opposed to having it on a swing away tire carrier. Very likely I would need to haul something with the tailgate down, wouldn't want the spare swinging around. Looks like you have just enough clearance between the exhaust and tire though. You could possibly pull the spare to the left some as well.

 

[Adventurous]

Given the inevitability of ripping off the 7-pin trailer plug, I decided to do something about it. The two ways most people get around it are to make a bracket that puts the connector facing the ground, or, find a way to put it in the bumper. I went the bumper route as it looks cleaner and more OEM'ish. To the install!

First off was disassembling the Toyota 7-pin plug. I don't have many pictures of this as it was a bit of a pain, but the basic steps are.

1. Unbolt the plug and bracket from the truck.
2. There are 4 tabs around the perimeter of the plug that need to be depressed. These hold a cover on in the inside of the connector. It sucks trying to hold the cover open while fishing the cover out and making sure all of the tabs stay depressed, but, with enough manipulation you can get it pulled out.
3. Remove the O-ring behind the cover.
4. Pull the white plastic cover out. Once again, it is snapped into place and requires some work to get it out.
5. The wires will now pull out of the back and you should be left with the separated plug and the wiring harness.

Tada!

20150313-P1010370 by Tim Souza, on Flickr

Not wanting to re-use the Toyota plug due to the weird shape, I sourced one from Amazon. It was a sealed Pollak connector. It was the right shape so I grabbed it. Feels like a quality unit.

20150313-P1010371 by Tim Souza, on Flickr

I chose to mount it right next to the license plate. Taped up the bumper for cleanliness, marked the center of the hole, then gave it a whack with a center punch to keep the drill bit from wandering.

20150313-P1010372 by Tim Souza, on Flickr

I drilled out the center with a bit slightly smaller than the hole saw arbor bit to make it a little bit easier to get things going. There's no going back now!

20150313-P1010373 by Tim Souza, on Flickr

Even more now going back now. Took a 2" hole saw to the bumper and cut out a big ole' circle to fit the plug.

20150313-P1010374 by Tim Souza, on Flickr

Test fit the plug to figure out where I needed to drill the mounting holes. Drilled all 4 and primed them up to hopefully prevent any rusting. Done! Time to mount the plug.

20150313-P1010375 by Tim Souza, on Flickr

Like an idiot I forgot to take a picture of where the stock wires connected to the plug to figure out what color wires went to what terminals. After a bit of googling I came up with following:
White = Ground
Red - Left Turn
Brown = Right Turn
Black = 12V hot
Blue = Brakes
Yellow = Reverse Lights
Green = Tail Lights

All wired up. Things aren't all twisted up so I'd wager that it's right. Not to mention I rarely tow anything, so if it's wrong I guess I'll find out in a few years.

20150314-P1010376 by Tim Souza, on Flickr

4 5mm button head cap screws later and it's done! Very good looking.

20150314-P1010377 by Tim Souza, on Flickr

 

[Watt maker]

Very nice. I always wondered why the OEMs thought that would be a good place on a 4x4. At least the plugs on the 4Runners are tucked up a little better.