"Pepe" My little mule. Slow Tacoma build

[IronRoberts73]

So its been a while since I was able to do anything besides work and take care of the family. My Cherokee is parked in long term storage in my shop. I just didn't have the time to put towards it, and hated cutting corners on what I wanted to do with it. So after a really rough 2015 things are looking up for us, work is slow but steady bills are all paid off and over all things are settling down.
One of our goals was to budget enough for new vehicles. The wife got her new to us Tahoe and I lucked into a 2015 Texas edition Tacoma. Funny thing is that the dealerships had the mileage posted wrong on the internet sales page and the result was a huge price reduction. Someone added a zero to the mileage reading and instead of 35000 miles on a 8 month old truck it was actually 3500 miles.
I originally wanted a older access cab 4wd but knowing I have the jeep for the really rough stuff I decided to go with a prerunner. Not really looking for a 2wd truck but finding this one at such a great price convinced me.

Stats:
2015 short box double cab
SR5 V6 Prerunner
Texas edition ( basically wheels, tires, tint, 3M chip guard coating, alarm and trim package)
Added a DeeZee below the rails tool box for recovery gear and tools. My standard over the top medkit, fire extinguisher and road emergency kit. I have always installed K&N air filters in my vehicles and believe in them. Temporary Puck and block leveling kit to get it out of the weeds. Weather guard mats and good cordura seat covers inside.
Goals:
Weekend camping/ dirt road touring rig. Something we can load up with the kids and gear and spend the weekend exploring the back roads and parks of Texas.

So this is where it sits as of now waiting for the big brown truck to bring my brush guard and light bars. As well as looking to upgrade the shocks to something with a little more beef lol.




Cheers!

 

[IronRoberts73]

I love when you order something wait for the delivery finally it shows up (Busted all to heck). Not a happy camper at all my brush guard showed up and I knew I was not going to be happy when the driver tells me you may want to check it over before you receive it. Honestly what was left of the box had literal TIRE TRACKS ON IT! One mounting plate and headlight Loop Were bent about 45 degrees out of alignment and all of the mounting hardware was missing from the box. I never even unloaded it from the freight truck just signed the refusal paper and told them to send it back. I will say the only bright moment of this situation so far has been I will say the only frightened moment of this situation so far has been Jack at 4wD Empire my email to them about the damage was answered before the freight truck left the driveway. So now I have assurances that one will be ordered to go out drop shipped to my home open of business tomorrow.

 

[IronRoberts73]

Finally stopped raining long enough to install the bed rack and basket. I fabbed the rack with my 10 yr old harbor freight welder, 1" pipe and some gussets I found on amazon for a ridiculous low price. The basket is another amazon find. It will by no means hold a roof-top tent but it should hold our camping gear and water tight boxes just fine. The whole thing is bolted into the load rails with 2x2 angle I trimmed to sit along the top of the rail.

 

[owyheerat]

"Pepe" My little mule....

I love the name of your build...I believe its from the movie 'Romancing the stone'?

Very nice truck too...

 

[IronRoberts73]

I love the name of your build...I believe its from the movie 'Romancing the stone'?

Very nice truck too...

Thanks! And you are correct sir thats one of my favorite movies although you will never catch me trying lupes escape lol.

 

[IronRoberts73]

So during the last week or so I have been adding things here and there. First off another trip to the alignment shop to correct the camber, caster and toe. Turns out their machine was out of calibration and they called me to bring Pepe back in for a free of charge correction. Nothing extreme but enough to cause uneven tire wear later down the road.
Here in Houston we are getting pretty serious rain every week seems like and it hits about the time I try to work on the truck. Between the monsoons I have been able to wire up the front LED bar and a set of switched backup lights that can also be used for work lights. Mctuning has drop in Toyota switches in several configurations so everything will be tucked away in the factory dash with no modification.

I started the rear lights by cutting a template for the holes out of vinyl then laying out where to mount them so as to clear the bumper mounts and the tow package.



Then protecting the surrounding area with frogtape.



I used a angle grinder with a cutoff wheel to cut the pattern and a mill file to clean everything up.



A quick shot of primer and I bolted them in place with some SS 1/4 20 cap screws and nylock nuts.



Also on the to do list was a budget awning for camp. One section of 1" EMT conduit, some hooks, eye bolts and a light tarp. I also used extension poles, tie down straps and a handful of carbineer clips. total cost $15 its not going to win and awards but its light tough and blocks the sun.







I also replace the stock rear shocks with a set of bilstein 5100s, the fronts will be swapped out in the near future. Other than putting together a hardware kit and a electrical repair kit that's about it for this week.

Cheers!

 

[whwv]

I like the awning! Going to adapt the idea to build a ghetto awning which attaches to the top of the SnugTop topper on my Tacoma.

 

[IronRoberts73]

I like the awning! Going to adapt the idea to build a ghetto awning which attaches to the top of the SnugTop topper on my Tacoma.

Thanks I plan on making a longer pole so I can use a larger tarp. I can store a 5 foot section in the bed and with a coupling I will be able to use 2 sections and a 10' cover.

 

[IronRoberts73]

well quite a bit has changed since my last update a few trips under the wheels and a few upgrades. first being Toyota had to spring for a new set of tires for selling me a vehicle with recalled rubber, apparently BFG rugged trails have a couple hundred thousand tires that are poor quality rubber. as I was cleaning the tires and wheels I noticed one of them had a significant tear in the sidewall.


The dealership stepped up after some negotiations with the manufacturer and replaced all 4 with a 80% prorate so I was able to step up to a 275/75/17 AT KO2 for the cost of labor and taxes.


I have also added a secondary blue sea fuse box a 300A stinger isolation solenoid and a group 24 deep cycle house battery to the system.
Now I'm off for Christmas and down with a flu so I'm tinkering with some matte vinyl to see how it would look with a black rocker stripe.


Hopefully I will get over this crap before too long so I can get out and enjoy the 80* weather here in Houston lol.

 

[(none)]

Great looking truck. Good deal on the tires.