Dave Bennett
Adventurist
A few more Death Valley pics
Doc's 05 Tacoma Build Thread
- Thread starter Dave Bennett
- Start date
bigreen505
Expedition Leader
Nice trip pics! Can you tell any center of gravity differences between the Flippac and your old RTT setup?
Dave Bennett
Adventurist
Big difference, much more agile feeling now between the 'Pac and the OME Dakar springs.
We were very impressed by the versatility of the FlipPac on this trip - it felt lightweight even with all our gear and unlike my old rack/RTT system I never once felt top heavy when off camber.
In camp, it is a dream as we now have shelter from the wind/weather to cook and eat if we wish AND privacy for changing and restroom activities with room to stand up, even for my 6'4 frame. We also learned that it does very well in gusty, high wind situations. It is really nice to finally have a real "expedition camper" that we can tackle most any trail with AND live in comfort once we get to our destination.
The shell holds ALL of our gear and then some and we had very little other than our jackets up front in the cab with us. On previous trips with our old system we had quite a bit of "gear creep" and disorder in the cab which drove me nuts - now there is room for most anything we could imagine, protected from the weather and theft, in the back where it belongs
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heeltoe989
Explorer
Big difference, much more agile feeling now between the 'Pac and the OME Dakar springs.
We were very impressed by the versatility of the FlipPac on this trip - it felt lightweight even with all our gear and unlike my old rack/RTT system I never once felt top heavy when off camber.
In camp, it is a dream as we now have shelter from the wind/weather to cook and eat if we wish AND privacy for changing and restroom activities with room to stand up, even for my 6'4 frame. We also learned that it does very well in gusty, high wind situations. It is really nice to finally have a real "expedition camper" that we can tackle most any trail with AND live in comfort once we get to our destination.
The shell holds ALL of our gear and then some and we had very little other than our jackets up front in the cab with us. On previous trips with our old system we had quite a bit of "gear creep" and disorder in the cab which drove me nuts - now there is room for most anything we could imagine, protected from the weather and theft, in the back where it belongs
Dakar springs kick butt! I love mine, great flex and wicked load carry!
Dave Bennett
Adventurist
Seriously one of the best mods on the truck to date :costumed-smiley-007
heeltoe989
Explorer
yup!
and when I added the extra leaf I was even more impressed with the flex and loading! I love that fact that you can grease them too which is great for Canadian winters in keeping the leafs working good.
Dave Bennett
Adventurist
What grease are you using and how is it applied?
heeltoe989
Explorer
I'm using amsoil series 2000 grease and I'm using a needle grease fitting on my grease gun to inject the grease into the first few leafs. I do it every so often to keep them working good.
Overland Hadley
on a journey
OME Dakars = Good
"Gear Creep" = Bad
Glad you stayed with the Tacoma. Looks great.
"Gear Creep" = Bad
Glad you stayed with the Tacoma. Looks great.
Dave Bennett
Adventurist
Thanks Nathan!
HMR
Rendezvous Conspiracy
Doc- The FP looks like a perfect fit on your Tacoma. :drool:
Did you get much dust entering through the tailgate on the DV trip? If not, what's your trick for keeping the bed clean?
After a few days in DV I usually have a fine layer of dust covering everything inside my shell. Most of it comes through the space between the tailgate and bedsides:
Did you get much dust entering through the tailgate on the DV trip? If not, what's your trick for keeping the bed clean?
After a few days in DV I usually have a fine layer of dust covering everything inside my shell. Most of it comes through the space between the tailgate and bedsides:
Dave Bennett
Adventurist
Dust Ingress
I get a small amount, but 99% is kept out since I used black RTV to seal all the drain holes in the composite bed/cubbies and did a real detailed job sealing the entire tailgate area with a combo of RTV in the corners near the bed hinges and rubber bulb gasket everywhere else.
Here are some pics from the build that show some of the detail work:
Notice the doubled up bulb gasket in the door frame, and the tinfoil in the corner - this was used to build up the RTV there so I could form fit it once the tailgate was shut, the foil was removed once cured.
All areas where the tailgate contacted the box were given strips of rubber weatherstripping including the bottom edge/interface between the box and tailgate, and all gaps in the corners between the shell window and top of the tailgate were filled in with smaller bits cut to fit. Make sure you get in those little storage boxes with RTV and do the tinfoil trick around the tabs that hold/hinge the doors.
I get a small amount, but 99% is kept out since I used black RTV to seal all the drain holes in the composite bed/cubbies and did a real detailed job sealing the entire tailgate area with a combo of RTV in the corners near the bed hinges and rubber bulb gasket everywhere else.
Here are some pics from the build that show some of the detail work:
Notice the doubled up bulb gasket in the door frame, and the tinfoil in the corner - this was used to build up the RTV there so I could form fit it once the tailgate was shut, the foil was removed once cured.
All areas where the tailgate contacted the box were given strips of rubber weatherstripping including the bottom edge/interface between the box and tailgate, and all gaps in the corners between the shell window and top of the tailgate were filled in with smaller bits cut to fit. Make sure you get in those little storage boxes with RTV and do the tinfoil trick around the tabs that hold/hinge the doors.
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Overland Hadley
on a journey
RMP&O
Expedition Leader
nice link...thanks for that! I need some of this myself. I was going to use some garage door weatherstrip but...it makes it hard to close the tailgate. That is not really a problem though it is opening the tailgate. So much pressure on it I fear it will get broken at some point, the tailgate handle or mechanisim that is. I tired to shim out the tailgate but not enough adjustment in it. The garage door weather stripping fits perfect though and appears to seal it up very tight. I was looking at a tailgate seal kit from JC Whitney but this one from Cabela's kind of looks better.
Overland Hadley
on a journey
Works good for me. It will not stick to plastic, so I do not have it along the bottom of the bed, but I have never had a problem with much dust coming in there.
Install it and then drive a dusty road, it will be clear where dust is still coming in and needs more sealing.