forty2's (witty title here) '16 Tacoma

[Deleted member 1276]

Great news. This is next on the list for me!

I looked at Shapeways after you mentioned it above for your switch panel/cover. Very cool. Did you design the part?

Interesting to me how little I hear about 3-D printed parts on a day-to-day basis, when I think its going to become part of daily life at some point in the near future. Especially for parts like this.

Great to see another Quicksand double-cab 6 speed!

 

[forty2]

I looked at Shapeways after you mentioned it above for your switch panel/cover. Very cool. Did you design the part?

Interesting to me how little I hear about 3-D printed parts on a day-to-day basis, when I think its going to become part of daily life at some point in the near future. Especially for parts like this.

I did design the part. Couldn't come up with an off the shelf solution I liked for more than one additional switch (there's a single blank in the center console) and drilling holes for Autozone toggles really didn't sit well with me at all.

I'm also a little surprised 3D printing isn't more widely discussed, but maybe it makes sense because it's so very specific to individual tasks...

 

[mouse007]

Updates:

Designed a little plate for switches to replace the pointless (to me) dash pocket that Toyota put to the left of the steering wheel. 3D printed from Shapeways as my printer is unavailable to me currently. Mounted a Toyota style switch for the compressor and one for a backseat USB port:

Fits into the dash like so:

Thanks to my stupid OCD tendencies I'm not really digging the switches themselves due to how far the graphics deviate from the OEM style, but they're blocked by the wheel when driving, so I'll live with it for now.

Finally ditched the stupid OEM tonneau cover about three weeks ago on a trip down to Portland, ordered my canopy on the way back home. Truck looks good naked, but no security:

Canopy showed up a week and a half ago, but I was unable to pick it up until yesterday. It's a Leer 100XR with windoor on the left, standard slider on the right w/ petscreen, fixed front slider, carpet liner (free upgrade) and thule tracks. Color match is better than I expected. Leaks a little bit up front where it meets the bed, but I'm pretty certain I'll have no trouble chasing that down.

Bed drawer system on the super cheap. Built the box from some 5/8" prefinished maple I had laying around the shop. Put two 2" wide VHMW strips above each drawer the full length of the box so that when the drawer pivots down it will still glide easily. Cut a bunch of holes in the box to both lose weight and to give air a place to move through as drawers are opened and closed. Note, box is sitting upside down in this picture:

Drawers are made from 12mm (~1/2") baltic birch. Had to buy this material but since BB comes in 5'x5' sheets and the bed of the truck is 5' there's very little waste. The bottom of each drawer got the same 2" strips of VHMW to glide on and they work surprisingly well.

Box goes in truck. The box lines up perfectly with the top of the wheel wells and the small ledge that runs the length of the truck. Another piece of BB makes a solid platform all the way across the bed. That piece is cut into two in a zig zag joint (very difficult to see in the photo) so that the two halves can both be drilled to the box right down the center support. In spite of the short bed length there is enough room for an adult to sleep diagonally back there, great for solo runs.

There's still more to do but that's it for now, running late for taking my kid to swimming...

HA...!! The drawers are awesome, I really want to do this. Nice truck ma..!!

 

[forty2]

And we're done here:

Covered the top with heavy felt in charcoal and got some scrap Formica in black off of a friend for the drawer fronts.

Inaugural run isn't for another month so I'm going to be spending the interim sorting through my gear and deciding what's still good, what needs replacing, what's missing, and what can't stand up to the abuse of an energetic five year old:

Tents still seem okay (for the moment)...

 

[forty2]

Kind of a small update here, rollingout on my big inaugural trip in two weeks with two other adults. It just isn't reasonable in this day and age to expect a person to sit for hours without a way to charge their cell phone or other devices, so I fixed that:

It's powered off the USB switch that I posted a few weeks ago. This gives a better idea of where it is placed:

Also, my MaxTrax showed up, so that's one more thing to go in the truck that'd I'd prefer not to have to use (but certainly won't shy away from):

Now I get to continue to sort through gear until it's time to really pack up and go.

 

[Mo4130]

I know where that is!! That's ediz hook road!!

 

[forty2]

I know where that is!! That's ediz hook road!!

 

[forty2]

Two weeks in the desert kicks off at 0600 on Friday. Very last bit of prep took place today. Since I know there's going to be a least two water crossings on my journey, maybe more, I did the old diff breather relocation mod.

Started with a new breather (PN 90930-03136) and a union (PN 90404-51319):

Union replaces existing breather and connects to rubber hose:

Hose runs along the bottom of the bed over to the drives side bed cubby:

And into the cubby to terminate with the new breather:

And that's it. If I get too deep for the new breather location, I've got bigger problems to worry about than water getting into the diff.

On Tuesday I get to see how well I can cram stuff into the drawers. Wee!

 

[transworldmoto]

Can I snag the part number for that union you replaced the oem breather unit with?

 

[forty2]

Quoting my own post here:

Started with a new breather (PN 90930-03136) and a union (PN 90404-51319):

 

[forty2]

Stuff crammed in drawers:

 

[benjrblant]

How's that UHMW plastic holding up for slides? I'm familiar with it and know it can last a really long time in applications like that but i'm curious to see how it wears with the birch ply. Do you also have some sort of pin to keep the drawers from sliding out or reduce rattling?

 

[Jeff H]

I'm loving the simple build. I'm pretty sure my next truck is going to be a 3rd Gen Tacoma Double Cab. I look forward to see what all you do (and don't do) with the truck!

 

[forty2]

How's that UHMW plastic holding up for slides? I'm familiar with it and know it can last a really long time in applications like that but i'm curious to see how it wears with the birch ply. Do you also have some sort of pin to keep the drawers from sliding out or reduce rattling?

Hasn't really been long enough to say about wear, but so far it's doing fine. No pins, drawers definitely don't rattle, next few days will be the real test for banging around though, we get to Death Valley this afternoon.

 

[Roody]

Still wondering if I should have bought a TRD Taco instead of keeping the car and picking up the VX in addition.

forty2, good luck with the build...subscribed to quell my drool.