Build Thread: '05 Tacoma for Search & Rescue

[BriansFJ]

I'm loving this thread.


(It would be nice to have some SAR threads on this forum. I'm pretty new to the whole thing and am keen to learn. My 2nd rescue this past saturday)

That's a good idea!:wings: If you don't mind, I'll roll over to the Fireside Chat area and propose to the mods that they create a SAR sub-forum in the Adventure Activities area. Seems like more than a few of us into SAR here.

 

[Desertdude]

Copied this thread over to SAR :wavey:

 

[DarkHelmet]

Vision X HID lights installed...

I just installed a set of 6503 HID lights this weekend. They are BRIGHT. Very well made. I also have a set of clear covers for them with Butyl rubber seals that seal out dust, etc. making it easy to clean the lights off without having to remove the covers. They have very high quality harnesses included with the lights so install was a snap.

The 6503 features an adjustable beam from spot to flood. It is controlled by a second switch from in cab. That means a second wiring harness to install with a couple servo controller boxes that need a bit of extra space. Not a huge deal for the added feature of being able to change the beam pattern to suit your driving conditions. Infinitely more useful than a high/low beam configuration IMHO (although Vision X also offers a high/low HID lamp as well that is 35W/50W). The servo in the lamp housing moves the bulb itself forward and back to change its position within the reflector, there by changing the beam shape. Pretty slick!

Pictures to follow.

- DH

 

[Overland Hadley]

The 6503 features an adjustable beam from spot to flood. It is controlled by a second switch from in cab. That means a second wiring harness to install with a couple servo controller boxes that need a bit of extra space. Not a huge deal for the added feature of being able to change the beam pattern to suit your driving conditions. Infinitely more useful than a high/low beam configuration IMHO (although Vision X also offers a high/low HID lamp as well that is 35W/50W). The servo in the lamp housing moves the bulb itself forward and back to change its position within the reflector, there by changing the beam shape. Pretty slick!

Is there a dark area in the center of the light beam that is normally associated with adjustable reflectors?

How does not having high/low beams affect oncoming traffic?

Looking forward to pics.

 

[DarkHelmet]

Is there a dark area in the center of the light beam that is normally associated with adjustable reflectors?

How does not having high/low beams affect oncoming traffic?

Looking forward to pics.

- I haven't noticed a dark spot at a distance. I did a quick limited test after wiring them up. The road had street lights so I didn't get a good view of the beam at a distance. Up close on a wall there was a prominent bright spot at the very center of the beam.

- These are strictly off road lights. They will not be used as auxillary driving lamps. I may add some LED lamps lower on the bumper for use as aux driving lamps.

Pics coming tomorrow. Just drove from Seattle to Boise tonight so I'm off to bed.

- DH

 

[DarkHelmet]

Lights are done...

I finally got around to wiring in the servo controllers for the adjustable beams. Beam adjustment is near instant with a flick of the servo switch. I am very happy with them so far. We had two rescue call outs last night but I didn't really get a chance to test out the lights. I'll have to try and get out next weekend to give them a try.

- DH

Installed on the ARB Bumper:

Hidden switch location until I get a couple more factory Fog Lamp switches:

Light housing:

Clear covers with butyl rubber seals. Very nice and solid to protect the lenses from rocks, etc.:

Clear cover installed:

Standard black covers:

Flood beam:

Spot beam:

Flood with factory high beam:

Spot with factory high beam:

 

[DarkHelmet]

Gremlin Found! (finally!)

It took having my wife bounce up and down on the bumper to duplicate the noise while I crawled around underneath the truck. I found that the top, inner edge of the ARB bumper on the left side is making contact the the edge of the fender. It is metal on metal contact and the paint is worn off the bumper edge with some small metal shavings. Definitely the cause of several weeks of searching.

There is a good 1/8" to 1/4" of clearance between bumper and fender on the right side. The gaps all around on the right are bigger than on the left. I am going to take the truck in tomorrow and we'll loosen the bolts and drop the bumper on the left side a smidge for clearance. That should finally clear it.

- DH

 

[DarkHelmet]

Arts & Crafts Day

I had a corner marker burn out on the last search mission, driving around the foothills. Not a big deal but it got me thinking about keeping spare bulbs in the truck. So today I picked up a small Pelican 1060 case. I cut some foam that I had laying about the garage and presto! A watertight, protected case holding a pair of all bulbs for the truck; (2) headlights, (2) brake lights, (2) front/rear turn, (2) corner markers, and a few assorted ATC fuses for accessories. The only thing left to add that I didn't have on hand was 1-2 reverse light bulbs, and some mini-ATC fuses to fit the standard Toyota fuse box.

This will live under my rear seat with my bed net, duct tape, TP, and recovery strap.

The tape holding the foam to the lid is visible:

I also cut out the part # from the packaging so I would know at a glance what bulbs to buy to replace any used ones.

 

[BriansFJ]

Update?

DarkHelmet,

Any update on your build? You're off to a good start...

 

[soonenough]

DarkHelmet - do you have any more pics or info about the antenna mount (and antenna) you used? I'm taking the Ham exam next weekend and I want to mount my antenna in the same location. I'm trying to decide between a fender mount L-bracket bolted to the fender or a lip mount clamped to the hood.

 

[DarkHelmet]

Nothing new...

Nothing new to report. Hoping Santa will bring me that Amsteel Blue line for my winch. I also need a few more LED lights in the bumper area for forward warning. People just weren't pulling over on my last code run. Need some more red LED up front.

As for the Antenna. It is a Larsen 5/8 wave on an NMO150 mount and L bracket. I purchased it all (including the V8000) from Universal Radio (http://www.universal-radio.com)

The L-bracket rubs a bit on the hood initially so I took a ball peen hammer and flattened the inner edge of the fender. This provided clearance for the bracket between the hood and fender. I prefer it to the set-screw type that clip to the edge of the hood. I think those mounts are big and clunky.

 

[DarkHelmet]

Update 5/1/09!

Well a few things on the truck:

I had knee surgery last week and so the truck hadn't been driven in almost two weeks by the time I went out to it last night. DEAD! This is the second time this has happened. Something, somewhere is putting a slow drain on the battery to where if it sits for a week or 10 days the battery is dead.

* Options?

1) Dual battery system - that is the long term plan, a full dual battery set-up with all the accessories wired to the aux battery and the main battery left for starting only (with the exception of the winch connected to it).

2) Short term: Some sort of disconnect or master switch to disconnect everything from the battery when the truck is sitting.

* Clean-up wiring.

1) I wired in an aux speaker for my VHF radio and hooked up the Radio Rebroadcast function on my siren so I can have the VHF piped to my external siren speaker. Works like a champ when I am outside the vehicle and want the reception of my truck mounted mobile over a hand held if I am in the back country.

2) Cleaned up some of the wiring to the radio tower with some loom and wire wrap so it looks a lot cleaner.

3) Installed a support bracket for the radio tower pole so that it doesn't vibrate around nearly as much on the nasty washboard roads. I ordered the standard RAM support bracket but it didn't quite fit the way I wanted/needed it to so I ordered up a few extra bits from RAM and cobbled together a better one that mounted to an existing factory bolt location, avoiding having to drill the floor. I love RAM! They are like LEGO's.

* LIGHTING:

I have a new product on the way from Vision X. These are supposed to be the HEAT! They are 10W LED lamps pulling a mere 0.75 amps each but producing 900 Lumen - the equivalent of a 100W Halogen. All in a little 2"x2"x2.3" Aluminum housing. And they have tracks on all sides so you can build bars and cubes, etc. They also are available in Spot, Flood, or Euro beam. I have (4) Spot and (2) Floods coming and will build two bars of 3 each and mount them to the "antenna" tabs on my ARB bumper. I'm really looking forward to trying these out. They are supposed to revolutionize off road lighting.

Vision X is also working on 45 degree connectors so you can make angled ends on a bar for side lighting. They also have tube mounts to make for easier mounting to tube bumpers, etc. They are due to have some battery packs as well to make the individual light heads mobile for use off the vehicle.

As soon as I have them installed I'll have some pics compared to standard headlights as well as my 35W HID lights.

http://www.visionxusa.com/led/s1100/

That's all for now.

 

[DarkHelmet]

Finally...

The Vision-X LED pods are installed. They are bright as all get out, with very low amp draw. In fact, I mounted another flood to the receiver hitch frame and wired it to the reverse light wire on the trailer harness and no issue with amp draw. Didn't even need a relay in there and now I have a reverse lamp that is actually worth a darn anywhere besides the grocery store parking lot. These things are great.

I wired them into my factory fog light harness since it wasn't being used. It works great and uses the factory switch. I just need to do the Fog Light Anytime mod.

I finally got around to doing the Diff Breather Extension Mod before a trip with some water crossings.

And an unexpected windfall in the form of a mid-year bonus from work (first time in 3 years) means I am going shopping.

On the shopping list:

1) A couple more factory fog lamp switches so that all my aux lighting controls are clean and tidy.

2) Synthetic winch line. Still undecided on brand and source.

3) A respectable Hi-Lift mount for the bed so I can stop strapping it to the spare tire in the bed with a ratchet strap.

4) Perhaps a Wedco jerry can and bracket for the bed as well.

 

[wRadar]

Hey, DH!

Haven't seen you around in a while - since last year some time, on the TTORA board. Good to see your build is coming along nicely!

Did you ever get those shopping list items purchased? If not, I have a few recommendations, having purchased some of that stuff myself (winch line, Hi-Lift mount, etc).

Winch line: I got the Viking AmSteel-Blue winch line from www.winchline.com. It's kind of pricey, but, from what I can tell, WAAAAAY safer than steel winch line. I've only used it once, but it's been fine thus far!

Hi-Lift mount: I don't remember if you have a bed box or not. If so, one option for mounting the Hi-Lift is to mount it to the bed box. I did mine so, when mounted, the Hi-Lift is actually resting on each of the wheel well humps in the bed. In other words, it is supported with the Hi-Lift mounting bracket, but most/all of the weight is actually on the wheel well humps. This keeps the mounting brackets from pulling down on the relatively thin (weak) metal walls of the bed box. The mount is made by Hi Lift, and is called a 4XRac, and is somewhere around $30.

Hope the build's going well, and that your knee's all healed up! I'll post up some more pics of my rig at some point, as I've added a lot of stuff (another radio, more lights, etc, etc). I'm having a bumper built, too, and plan to add on-board air to it - as soon as my Viar kit gets in!

Take it easy, man!
-Radar

 

[DarkHelmet]

Hey, DH!

Haven't seen you around in a while - since last year some time, on the TTORA board. Good to see your build is coming along nicely!

Did you ever get those shopping list items purchased? If not, I have a few recommendations, having purchased some of that stuff myself (winch line, Hi-Lift mount, etc).

Winch line: I got the Viking AmSteel-Blue winch line from www.winchline.com. It's kind of pricey, but, from what I can tell, WAAAAAY safer than steel winch line. I've only used it once, but it's been fine thus far!

Hi-Lift mount: I don't remember if you have a bed box or not. If so, one option for mounting the Hi-Lift is to mount it to the bed box. I did mine so, when mounted, the Hi-Lift is actually resting on each of the wheel well humps in the bed. In other words, it is supported with the Hi-Lift mounting bracket, but most/all of the weight is actually on the wheel well humps. This keeps the mounting brackets from pulling down on the relatively thin (weak) metal walls of the bed box. The mount is made by Hi Lift, and is called a 4XRac, and is somewhere around $30.

Hope the build's going well, and that your knee's all healed up! I'll post up some more pics of my rig at some point, as I've added a lot of stuff (another radio, more lights, etc, etc). I'm having a bumper built, too, and plan to add on-board air to it - as soon as my Viar kit gets in!

Take it easy, man!
-Radar

Hey Man!

Yeah it has been awhile. I did pick up an Amsteel Blue line from Winchline.com as well. Haven't had a chance to use it... maybe this winter. I need to get something for the Hi-Lift and get it mounted. I don't have a bed box so I will probably do the same thing you did and let the weight rest on the wheel well hump. Also need to figure out a solution for my full size spare as it won't fit in stock location so it is taking up bed space, and then a solution to secure a couple Jerry cans for gas somewhere in the bed. Currently using tie down straps but would like something more solid.

- DH

** Pics from recent SAR Mission: