Building My Overland Tacoma: Plans, Progress, Perplexions

[Overland Hadley]

As for the toilet... A cheap (<$10) toilet seat from Home Depot will fit perfectly on top of a 5 gallon bucket. Line the inside with a small plastic trash bag and fill with a couple inches of sand or kitty litter. After use, store the small plastic bags in a large, super-heavy-duty Hefty bag until you get to an appropriate garbage can.

No joke on the super heavy duty Hefty bag.


Good idea on the kitty litter, that is something that I had not thought of. Those WAG bags are really expensive. I wonder what brand of kitty litter is best for the backcountry traveler?

 

[Overland Hadley]

looks good man, the topper is a great start!
what size rack is on it? Do you really plan to load it up enough to need 4 crossbars?
ScottG

There are a couple reasons that I have the four load bars under the basket.

1. With the basket I also bought the extension that makes the basket about six feet long. So the basket came to me in three pieces, and those three parts do not have that heavy duty of connections. So I thought a load bar under each part would be a good idea. But in the end the basket was to long so I am using the basket at its regular length of four feet. (If anybody needs a extension to the Thule MOAB basket I will sell it for cheap)

2. With four load bars the weight has more even distribution across the Thule top tracks that run the full length of the topper. The weight limit on the topper is 150-200 pounds on a smooth road. I plan on carrying, containers for 28 gallons of gas and 42 gallons of water, plus forty pounds for two sand ladders in the basket. I know that when full this exceeds the weight limit and I am planning on carrying the water in the back when fully loaded with supplies.

 

[Overland Hadley]

Needed a good laugh. Yeah no point in spending a crap load on a toilet when you can just make one. I have been slowly getting my 07 Tacoma up to where I want it. I put camburg 2.5 coilovers on the front and will be putting on custom alcan the rear next week. Two weeks from now I will add a custom rear bumper with a swing out tire gate, gas can holder, and high lift holder from CBI. I would love to have a basket like your set up on top of my truck for suff like shovels and the likes but I carry sea kayaks so no go. I have yet to travel a long distance in my Tacoma, we will next year when we move back to New England. How do you like it? It is great to see another access cab by the way.


By the way, I put 265/75/16 BFG ATs on my truck and they did not rub... at first. When I put on aftermarket wheels with a different backspacing they rubbed. I had to do some cutting. So if you are staying stock then no they will fit great.

Thanks for the info on tires. Nice to know before I spend the money.

If you want to carry kayaks and have a basket check out the Thule MOAB basket. It has load bars on top of the basket, so you can put your normal kayak saddles on top of the basket and off you go. Just watch the weight, as kayaks (even Kevlar or Carbon) still weigh a fair amount and easly max out the roof rack system. I do allot of sea kayaking, was a guide for a few years. Paddle hard, swim fast!

Lets see some pics of your rig! I really want to see your rear bumper setup.

I drove up and down the West coast for two months living out of the truck, and that was the first two months I had the truck! So yes, I have put alot of miles on in a short time. And I am a big fan of the access cab, feels like a truck.

By the way, I will be spending another two months this spring living out of the truck, out in the wilds. Look for info and photos of the planning and the trip in the coming months.

 

[Streakerfreak]

Thanks for the info on tires. Nice to know before I spend the money.

If you want to carry kayaks and have a basket check out the Thule MOAB basket. It has load bars on top of the basket, so you can put your normal kayak saddles on top of the basket and off you go. Just watch the weight, as kayaks (even Kevlar or Carbon) still weigh a fair amount and easly max out the roof rack system. I do allot of sea kayaking, was a guide for a few years. Paddle hard, swim fast!

Lets see some pics of your rig! I really want to see your rear bumper setup.

I drove up and down the West coast for two months living out of the truck, and that was the first two months I had the truck! So yes, I have put alot of miles on in a short time. And I am a big fan of the access cab, feels like a truck.

By the way, I will be spending another two months this spring living out of the truck, out in the wilds. Look for info and photos of the planning and the trip in the coming months.

Very cool. Yeah I checked that out once, but I think I am cool with what I have. Yeah, I feel the same way about the access cab. I have been holding out showing my rig until I get the rear bumber on. Soon, very soon.

I was a guide in Hell (south florida) for a few months until I just could not take the owner anymore. It didn't matter how cool the job was when I would come home to my fiance pissed off.

 

[Overland Hadley]

IPF Lights

I do a lot of driving in the pre dawn and post dusk hours while working on my photography. While the Tacoma's headlights are good, I feel a big need for better lights. Eventually I wil be putting lights on the new front bumper, but I am also putting lights up on the rack system. I went with the cheaper IPF 968 model for the racks, the plastic housing makes for a nice lightweight setup.

I was not sure how to mount the lights to the rack and ended up modifying some old heavy duty kayak saddles. They are solid and I am very happy with the results.

I am still working on the wiring as the supplied wire does not have enough length for mounting them so far up on the truck. So here are some photos of the mounting work so far.


IPF 968s mounted on the roof rack.

The lights are mounted on old Thule Hydro-Glide kayak saddles. Took the saddle part off (with a blow torch, love those things) leaving just the bracket.

Simply drilled a hole and mounted the lights. After spending a long time rummaging around to figure how to mount the lights up there, this proved to be a simple solution. I will replace the thumb screw with a locking nut shortly, so they are a little harder to steal.

The switch is mounted. I was a little disappointed in the quality of the switch, so I might replace it at some point. Drilled a hole for the wire, also had to do a little sanding to make a flat place for the switch to mount to with the supplied double sticky tape. So far the tape is holding fine.

It fits nicely in the space and there is plenty of room for more lights to come.

Also took off the LEER sticker and put this up instead. My "local" shop across the country in Colorado.

I am currently waiting on some wiring I ordered and will post some photos of that process when I am finished.

 

[Jacket]

I like what you've done with roof top storage. How far over your windshield does the Thule box hang? Is it visible from the driver's seat? I'm still trying to decide between a new safari basket versus my current Thule box for the top of my Tacoma, but I have the Mountaineer and it's just too darn long for the top of the cab.

Edit: Question - have you figured out where you will bring the wires from the roof into the cab? That's always an interesting dilemma....

For a switch idea, I bought an older Toyota OEM switch for about $6, and used it to power my aux. lights. I had to do a minor bit of trimming to fit it, but its a far better option that the IPF supplied part.

 

[Streakerfreak]

Nice, set up. Looks like I have something to do after my bumper comes. Very cool idea.

 

[Willman]

Love your rig!!!

You have a nice rack:shakin:

Love the lights on your rack setup!

 

[HMR]

Lights look good!

What bumper are you going to install?

 

[Clark White]

Awesome rig! I like how you are setting it up. I'm fairly new to this site, and haven't quite figured everything out yet, but I have already found a lot of good ideas from threads like this one. I like how the new Taco's have more places to put switches, my '00 is rather lacking in that area. I'm putting new tires on mine, and was wondering what peoples thoughts might be on the new BF Goodrich 33x9.50 size A/T? I tend to go with the taller narrower tires is better thought, but there must be a point of diminishing returns. Between the 33x9.50 and 10.50 sizes, which do people think would be better for an expedition vehicle?

 

[Overland Hadley]

Lights look good!

What bumper are you going to install?

I think that I am going to put on a Manik brush guard for now. For some reason I do not really like how the ARB bumper looks on 05-07 Tacoma's, but I do really like them on pre 04's. Another option I have been looking at is the Shrockworks bumpers, they look very nice on the 07's and also look to be made really tough. I would like to keep things as light as possible, will be carrying plenty of gear and supplies, so the brush guard would be good for that and would give me a place to mount more lights.

Anybody have a Shrockworks bumper on their 05-07? I would be interested in knowing what you think of it.

 

[Overland Hadley]

I like what you've done with roof top storage. How far over your windshield does the Thule box hang? Is it visible from the driver's seat? I'm still trying to decide between a new safari basket versus my current Thule box for the top of my Tacoma, but I have the Mountaineer and it's just too darn long for the top of the cab.

Edit: Question - have you figured out where you will bring the wires from the roof into the cab? That's always an interesting dilemma....

For a switch idea, I bought an older Toyota OEM switch for about $6, and used it to power my aux. lights. I had to do a minor bit of trimming to fit it, but its a far better option that the IPF supplied part.

I have the short Atlantis (1600, I think) Thule box. It is about six inches over the windshield on my extended cab. But even if I lean way forward I can not see it. Boxes are nice for dry stuff like sleeping bags, backpacks, shoes. Baskets are nice for wet, and or dirty things like gas cans and sand ladders.

Did you pick up your old OEM light switch at the Toyota dealer, or is there a better source for them? I already want to replace the IPF switch I put on.

I think I am going to run the wires down along the windshield and under the hood. Then run the switch wire through the firewall where the other wire clusters run. That is my thought at this time. Any other ideas?


The wires running along the windshield from the IPF lights on the rack to the battery under the hood. The gap is just the right size for the two wires.

 

[Overland Hadley]

Toyota is coming out with a new tailgate TSB in Oct/Nov that is going to replace the entire tailgate with a new design, and not just reinforce the old tailgate. I would wait for that TSB. Just watch the activity on ToyotaNation and you will see when it is out.

Thanks, that is good to know. I will watch for that.

 

[Overland Hadley]

IPF's on the rack

I finished up the wiring for the lights up on the rack. Took me a while as I needed to order more wire and an add-a-circut, but finally the UPS man brought me the boxes, and here we go.


The wire is run from the light to the inside of the Thule feet. Used waterproof connectors throughout.

The wire comes out the bottom and wraps around the back.

And then runs along the inside edge of the gutter.

Then runs down the windshield, fitting nicely into the groove along the side.

Then into the area under the hood by the windshield wipers.

And out through an existing hole in the fire wall.

Mounted the relay in a dry area by the fuse box.

Then ran the wire through the fire wall and into the cab alongside the main wire cluster.

Used an add-a-circut (can be purchases Here) so that the lights can be used independently of the main headlights. The wiring that comes with the lights taps into the high beams so the lights will only come on when the high beams are on. I want to run the lights while the low beams and fogs are on and this allows me to do that. They are also on switched power, so they can not be left on or acc identally turned on when the truck is off. I plugged the add a circut into an empty fuse slot. (note: the group of empty slots along the bottom did not work, so used the empty one in the middle)

This seems to be the best place for ease of operation.

The lights work great! They shine some, but not bad, on the hood, but I was expecting that with the mounting position. I will get some pics on here of them in use.

 

[HMR]

Nice work!