Battleship Jones: 2015 Tacoma DCLB Build Thread

[Adventurous]

Well it definitely looks better!

I hear you on the littering. I've been seeing more and more in the last couple years close to home. More and more people are moving in for high tech jobs from the south and mid west, and camping spots and river play spots are starting to look more like places I've been in the south. Lots of trash thrown out and a lot more cigarette smokers throwing butts out. It is infuriating. We witnessed a lot of it the other weekend playing at the river. Of course we went back with trash bags and picked up their **** but I fear it is just getting worse and worse. This is after I spent 30 minutes picking up cigarette butts in and around our camp sites after my 15 month old picked up a cigarette butt and tried to put it in her mouth.

That's disgusting and sad to hear that its juts as prevalent out there. At some point here I'd like to invest in a Trasharoo so I can pick up even more than I do now, but if I spent all my time picking up trash I'd probably never have an opportunity to get out and do anything.

Looks like a fun weekend! I've been following your build, because its similar to how I want to set my truck up. I just wanted to caution you on the below statement:



Rifles and shotguns are expensive and have great resale value so they're big theft targets. Even if the cases are empty, they're usually easily recognized as gun cases. I'd hate to see someone screw up your rack system or otherwise mess up your truck trying to cut them off the rack. If it were me, I'd find a way to hide the guns inside the truck somehow, perhaps under the rear seats?

Thank you for the compliments! I also appreciate the insight, I hadn't considered the theft aspect of things. Right now behind the back seats are being used to store my recovery gear. I suppose I could move that to some cases on the roof to make the space but the unfortunate reality is that I need to free up some space somehow. I'm sure I'll gain more utility when I build the platform and drawers for the bed, but I don't see that alleviating all of the issues. I guess sometimes all you can do is do your best to discourage theft and after that just have to rely upon the gradually declining goodness of humanity to be decent folks. Having had some things stolen from me in the past I totally get where you are coming from.

 

[ripperj]

We were in Acadia NP last month, you see more trash walking to a trail head from your car in parks in Ma and CT than you will in an entire week of walking around Acadia, I couldn't believe how clean it was.
Litter bugs suck!

Sent from my Passport using Tapatalk 2

 

[P2W]

Adven thanks for carin' enough to leave it better than you found it.
I would have to second the suggestion concernin' keepin' hardware in a visible location. A vault would be the most secure solution, keepin' em outa sight would be the next best. Nerdowells don't care about background checks, ifen they can go around that by way of takin' em off your hands, they will.

 

[idahocartel]

sub'd great build

 

[Adventurous]

No major updates but I did throw in a set of Redline hood struts this past week. Unfortunately being only 5'7" it is a bit of a hassle to get the hood open and involves walking around the truck hoisting it a little higher until I get around the side in order to get the hood prop in. Honestly I feel that Toyota should have done this from the factory but whatever.

Installation is very straight forward and the company includes some of the best written and illustrated directions I've encountered. It took 2.5 hours from start to finish working diligently as I don't like punching unnecessary holes in my truck.

The first step was to rivet the brackets to the underside of the hood. A quick tap with a center punch and a few seconds with a drill bit (taped so it doesn't punch through and pierce the outer hood) and I had the holes drilled. I put a dab of black RTV on the inside of the hole as well as on the rivet itself to prevent corrosion on the bare metal. Note to self: RTV and anti-seize are the herpes of the auto world, the gift that keeps on giving. Anyway, the process was much the same on the bottom bracket. There was a bead of seam sealer along the inner fender that prevented the bracket from being placed exactly where the instructions called for, but I shifted it 1/2" forward with no ill effects. Plopped the self tappers into the fender, hooked everything up, and marveled at how the hood self raised and the ease at which it shut. I very much like this mod and would highly recommend it for those in a similar position.

20150904-P1010431 by Tim Souza, on Flickr

20150904-P1010432 by Tim Souza, on Flickr

 

[tacozord]

Yeah, the hoodstruts are a great easy mod. Looks good!

 

[tacozord]

next do a hood lighting kit with a PROP switch.

Exactly!!! But don't buy a kit. Just do it yourself. I've got details in my build.

 

[ddog45]

I hate finding so much trash in the woods. I seem to find the most trash in Poudre Canyon and Red Feather Im not sure if its college kids or what. My adventure trailer comes home usually full of other peoples trash. I sometimes bring a rake if I know I will be in a high use area.

 

[Adventurous]

I hate finding so much trash in the woods. I seem to find the most trash in Poudre Canyon and Red Feather Im not sure if its college kids or what. My adventure trailer comes home usually full of other peoples trash. I sometimes bring a rake if I know I will be in a high use area.

Good to hear from a fellow Coloradan! It's funny because while some of the other places we have camped have had a relatively small amount of trash at the site, this one was above and beyond. Between the shell casings, broken glass, and plastic remains in the fire pits you could probably have collected several trash bags full. It makes me wish that I had more storage space so I could do just that.

 

[Adventurous]

Been a while since I've updated this thread. Wedding planning and getting the house winterized has taken up the majority of my time.

In the realm of slightly unfortunate news, the back end of my truck developed a clunk that I only noticed when backing up faster than 5mph and popping over the angled curb into my driveway. After grabbing a bunch of stuff and wiggling it I discovered that the rear shock on my passenger side has some wiggle to it that can be felt where the shock shaft goes into the body. I've contacted Icon to inquire about the issue and am waiting to hear back. Anyone else ever experience anything of this nature? I've never felt a shock with any sort of play in it that isn't blown although this one doesn't seem leaky.

 

[brianjwilson]

Huh, that's too bad! I'm sure they will take care of it.

 

[KiwiKurt]

why only 1 LED light bar??

















jk..... looks good

 

[E.Roy]

Other Tacoma owners have found that same clunk noise in the same scenario of backing up or out of their driveway and tracked it down to loose leaf spring u-bolts. The Tacoma manual calls out a rediculously low 37 ft-lbs on these u bolts. I recommend you check those and tighten them to about 80 ft-lbs

 

[Adventurous]

why only 1 LED light bar??

jk..... looks good

I know you say that in jest but if I had the $$$ at the moment I'd totally slap another (albeit smaller) one on the bumper instead of the Hellas. I have been very thankful for the additional light navigating some of the back roads and passes here in CO at night. It has on several occasions saved my bacon from creaming wildlife of various varieties.

Other Tacoma owners have found that same clunk noise in the same scenario of backing up or out of their driveway and tracked it down to loose leaf spring u-bolts. The Tacoma manual calls out a rediculously low 37 ft-lbs on these u bolts. I recommend you check those and tighten them to about 80 ft-lbs

I torqued mine to 85 ft-lbs after install and then again a week or two after that. I'll check them again when I get home but the clunk did seem to be reduced after fiddling with the shock and re-setting it's position. Then again it would be foolish to rule anything out, so I'll throw a torque wrench on the u-bolts when I get home for good measure.

 

[Jesmor3]

Just caught up on your build, it's awesome! Great collection of trails this year too. We might be doing Baja soon if you or anyone want to join and add that too your list for 2016!