Hodakaguy's Overland Tacoma Builds - On to new adventures!

[Hodakaguy]

Lots of progress today......Picture Heavy!

Started this morning by installing a 110V NOCO power plug on the side of the camper. This port will connect to a IOTA 15A AGM onboard charger (to be installed soon).

The NOCO power port

I'll be sealing the port to the camper with Sikaflex 221....Good stuff.

The port will be going into the battery compartment just aft of the vent.

Pilot hole drilled....committed now lol.

2" hole drilled.

And power port installed and sealed.

Next up install the Hypertech inline speedometer calibrator. This is a small unit that goes behind the instrument cluster and allows you to correct the speedometer for larger tires. Drives me crazy seeing the speedo off from the GPS

The Hypertech unit.

Installing the unit. I routed the USB cable down under the dash and stored it up out of the way, if I need to make tweaks to the calibrator to get the speedo spot on with the GPS I can just plug in the computer and easily make the changes without having to remove the dash again.

Time to install the new SSO (Sothern Style Offroad) Hybrid bumper. Here I've installed the Baja Designs 30' light bar and the winch fairlead.

Installing the synthetic rope on the Warn Zeon 10S. The anchor setup to the spool is pretty slick.

We connected the winch to temporary power and with my dad pulling on the cable spooled it in. Once the assembly is on the truck we will properly tension the cable.

Mounted on the bumper.

Now the fun part....trimming the plastic. Grill removed and laying out the cut lines.

A cheap HF Die Grinder and a skinny wheel made quick work of the cutting.

Continued Below.....

 

[Hodakaguy]

Continued from above.....

Nice and clean.

Edge trim installed.

The factory bracing for the lower edge of the plastic bumper. This portion of the brace will interfere with the solenoid pack on the ZEON winch, other low profile winches will clear without modification but I wanted the ZEON unit. I really don't want to remote mount the solenoid pack so I decided to cut out this portion of the brace and fabricate some replacement braces that won't interfere.

My father starting to fabricate the new braces while I get ready to cut out the middle section of the brace.

Brace section removed.

New braces built and painted.

And braces installed. Lots of room for the winch now

With the center brace gone I supported the wiring harness with a snap tie.

Bumper in place, trim came out pretty good.

Running the winch wiring. I split some rubber hose and placed it under the tie points for the wiring. Drilled two holes and ran the electrical wiring out behind the drivers headlight assy.

Outside again

More to come.....

Hodakaguy

 

[patoz]

Is this one going to get a snorkel kit also?

 

[Hodakaguy]

Is this one going to get a snorkel kit also?

I'll probably eventually add one, I like the benifits for desert driving

Hodakaguy

 

[patoz]

I'll probably eventually add one, I like the benifits for desert driving

Hodakaguy

Good point, I hadn't thought about that. :safari-rig: But then there's not too many deserts in Florida, so why would I? :suning:

After you get a chance to use that winch a few times, I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts on it. Once I finish my off-road camping trailer, I'll be adding a winch and bumper to the front of my F-250, so any info good or bad, will help me make a decision on which one to get.

 

[Hodakaguy]

Good point, I hadn't thought about that. :safari-rig: But then there's not too many deserts in Florida, so why would I? :suning:

After you get a chance to use that winch a few times, I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts on it. Once I finish my off-road camping trailer, I'll be adding a winch and bumper to the front of my F-250, so any info good or bad, will help me make a decision on which one to get.

I'll post up the results

Hodakaguy

 

[Hodakaguy]

Starting to install the Switch Pro wiring unit and dual battery wiring.

I'll be running a Switch Pro unit that has 8 programmable circuits for electrical accessory distribution. First up I mounted the Switch Pro onto the PowerTray mount.

Local ground installed to the Switch Pro, Blue Seas fuse panel and ground buss bar.

Fabricating 1/0 battery cables from high quality welding cable. These cables will connect the truck battery to the aux battery through the ACR (Automatic Combining Relay).

Running the batt cables.

I places loom over the section passing by the battery tray and added a piece of rubber hose as an anti abrasion guard.

Next up I will splice into the factory wiring harness and extend it over to the smaller passenger side battery, this battery will become the truck starting battery. The larger drivers side battery will supply power to the Winch, Lighting, Camper, Air Compressor etc. The ACR will keep both batteries charged up while allowing me to manually combine the two battery banks for higher amp loads when winching or for jump starting a dead truck batt off the aux batt.

The temporary red fuse holder going to the camper will be changed out and cleaned up before it's finished. Still need to add the rest of the lock nuts on the ACR tie down bolts as well.

More to come...

Hodakaguy

 

[Loubaru]

Thanks, I like detail work . I work for a natural gas pipeline and have held many positions from Lead mechanic/operator to Instrument Tech.

Hodakaguy

Williams ? I have a friend that works for them as an IE Tech....I for an OEM but mostly deal with rotating equipment.

 

[Hodakaguy]

Northwest Pipeline ? Goldendale maybe ? I worked in that building about 35 years past. Also Battle Ground Yard, Oregon City & Washougal compressors. Vaguely remember they looked like giant Nordberg engines.

I've spent time at that station as well

Hodakaguy

 

[Hodakaguy]

Time to finish up the battery wiring.

I'll modify the OEM battery connector to work with the new style terminal. Here's the OEM unit.

Cutting the OEM unit apart and re-shaping. Camera got bumped into art mode in this shot.

And connected.

I removed the temporary red fuse holder that connected the Aux batt to the Four Wheel Camper. The wiring is re-routed to the Blue Sea fuse panel. I'll be using printed heat shrink wire labels to identify all wiring and make future troubleshooting and identification easier.

The wire label machine.

Camper wiring labels printed.

And installed.

Running fused power to the Blue Sea fuse panel and SwitchPro unit.

Factory positive terminal

Here I've cut off the factory battery harness end so I can extend the harness about 6" to allow connection to the ACR.

Splice completed.

And all wired up. I installed a 300 amp fuse on each end of the 1/0 positive cable connecting the two Batteries, this will prevent a vehicle fire if the cable ever grounds out for any reason while allowing enough amperage for jump starting a dead starter battery from the Aux unit.

As it is connected now the Group 35 passenger battery is the truck battery and connected to the starter/alternator. The Group 31M drivers side battery is the Aux battery and provides power to the Winch, SwitchPro (Lighting, Air Compressor, Front Locker, Etc) and camper connection. When the FWC is removed from the truck the Aux battery will also supply power to the ARB fridge.

I still need to fabricate some guards to protect all exposed positive connections.

300A fuse on the Passenger side main batt.

More to come.....

Hodakaguy

 

[patoz]

Gooks great! Just out of curiosity, how did you make the splice in the factory battery cable?

 

[Adventurous]

Looking spiffy! I especially like the labeled battery cables, I wish I could justify spending the money on a heat shrink label maker.

Do you happen to recall what gauge the OEM cables are? For some reason I have it in my head that they are 2 gauge and as I will be installing my dual battery here shortly, that would be a helpful thing to know.

 

[Hodakaguy]

Gooks great! Just out of curiosity, how did you make the splice in the factory battery cable?

Just a standard but splice and proper crimp tool.

Hodakaguy

 

[Hodakaguy]

Looking spiffy! I especially like the labeled battery cables, I wish I could justify spending the money on a heat shrink label maker.

Do you happen to recall what gauge the OEM cables are? For some reason I have it in my head that they are 2 gauge and as I will be installing my dual battery here shortly, that would be a helpful thing to know.

The OEM wiring is 2 ga, you remembered correctly

Hodakaguy

 

[Hodakaguy]

Lots of work done today....

Time for the truck to get a breath of fresh air.

ARB Snorkel arrived. Time to get invasive again on the truck.

Removing the inner fender liner. I decided to do this while leaving the fender flares in place, didn't want to snap any tabs on the flares. Managed to get all but 4 of the retaining clips holding the inner liner out in one piece (They are a pain).

Air box removed.

Setting up the template and marking locations for the required holes.

Pilot holes drilled

Bolt holes drilled to proper size.

Preparing to cut the large hole using a small air saw. Installing painters tape to protect the paint during the cutting process.

All bare surfaces coated in primer.

And top coated with two coats of Blitz black paint.

Removing the alignment tabs on the outlet of the air box so the new rubber boot fits/seals properly.

Installing the new air boot through the fender.

The vertical portion of the snorkel attaches to the A pillar with a small bracket and 3 bolts, the instructions tell you to mark it out and drill 3 holes in the A pillar where you will bolt the bracket in place. I don't mind drilling holes in the fender but won't do it in the cab if I don't have to. Instead of using bolts I'll be attaching the bracket to the A pillar with 3M VHB tape, this tape is ultra strong and will hold the Snorkel secure without requiring holes. I've used this tape on past vehicles in similar situations and it's held up very well.

This is where the bracket attaches to the snorkel and to the A pillar.

Bracket with tape applied.

Continued Below.....