RSB's Radiant Red Tacoma build

[RSB]

After much consideration, I ultimately decided to not go with a fully enclosed box to hold the battery & air tank. I believe the added height I can get by shortening the brackets, the skid-plate I can get by re-designing the tray, additional strength w/the gussets and center support, and better protection from the elements with a sealed batt box—would be huge improvement overall. I figure I would always get the tank re-powdercoated when needed—just as I would with the rear leaf springs. In the future, I will re-evaluate and see if changes are needed.

Again, I appreciate everyone taking the time to give me input on this and I look forward to the finished product. I've been waiting to get this done now for nearly 6 months! :Wow1:

Here's a rough sketch of the final design...

 

[RSB]

It was reminded on TTORA that I forgot to post photos of the rear light bar. So, here it goes...

A custom bracket was fabricated to mount the rear light bar to the canopy. It doubles as a tray for holding something I still can't think of yet...

Rubber washers were used in conjunction with the steel washers to help prevent leaks (w/plenty of silicone of course )

Unlike the front, the rear light bar also has a directional feature. Therefore, it could only be oriented one way. Otherwise, the LEDs would indicate the wrong direction when the arrow buttons are pressed on the control box. Consequently, I couldn't flip this one to omit the wiring above the brackets either.

Additional wires for the control box were zip tied to keep them secure. The wiring runs to a quick disconnect for when the canopy is removed, shown here:

From the disconnect, I ran the wires through the bed to the driver-side tail light—the same way the canopy brake light was wired. From there, the wires run underneath the truck along the frame rail and through the firewall to the control box in the cab. From the control box, the wires run to the auxiliary battery inside the engine compartment.

Outside view...

 

[TRUIZ]

What is the point of having all of those LED lights, seems kind of overkill and ricky rescue to me. Your truck reminds me of a fire engine.

 

[Mr. Leary]

What is the point of having all of those LED lights, seems kind of overkill and ricky rescue to me. Your truck reminds me of a fire engine.

When you spend a lot of time on the road, you come across folks who need help. A setup like Ryan's would have come in handy during our Palo Duro scouting trip. Its always good to have at least one truck in the group that is highly visible in case of an emergency situation.

 

[Wes Craiglow]

What is the point of having all of those LED lights, seems kind of overkill and ricky rescue to me. Your truck reminds me of a fire engine.

Cops think he's a fire captain, so they leave him alone.

(And therein lies the secret to his booming moonshine biz.)

 

[RSB]

Thank-you for your comments. The flashing LEDs have proven to be very useful. As I've said before, I wanted them installed on the truck for additional safety and higher visibility during vehicle recovery and in situations when I'm pulled off to the side of the road. I use these lights much more often than I originally thought I would! They were really helpful last winter after some of the ice storms we had here in Oklahoma. People were stranded in their vehicles everywhere. Without the lights, I likely would've been rear-ended a few times while helping pulling people off the ice!

What is the point of having all of those LED lights, seems kind of overkill and ricky rescue to me. Your truck reminds me of a fire engine.

 

[RSB]

Haha I think they do!

Cops think he's a fire captain, so they leave him alone.

(And therein lies the secret to his booming moonshine biz.)

 

[Youngunner]

I've been envious of the lights since you got them! I'm looking to install some myself since i use my truck for SAR. Just have to wait for funding...

 

[RSB]

Still waiting to get with my fabricator to finish-up the rear cross member. In the meantime, I had an opportunity to test out the reliability of the laptop mount while playing near one of our local rivers a few weeks ago.

Unfortunately, the mount didn't hold up as well as I though it would with the way I have it positioned. If consideration for a passenger wasn't a factor, it could be adjusted in a much stronger position.

This wasn't acceptable to me, so I ordered a few more RAM parts to give the mount additional support.

I had a bracket lying around and cut it to fit beneath the shifter. I secured it using an existing screw to give the parts something to anchor too:

Here it is complete...

The mount feels much stronger now and I managed to still keep it from interfering w/the leg of a front passenger. I'll post an update on how well it holds up after my trip to Colorado in a few weeks. :sombrero:

 

[RSB]

Back from a great weekend of wheelin' w/friends in Clayton, OK. The rest of the group changed plans last minute, so our trip to Colorado is postponed for awhile.

The laptop mount has proven to work exceptionally well on some of the most brutal trails I've ever taken my truck off-road. It didn't need to be adjusted once! :victory:

Without the sliders, these trails would have been off-limits! They got beat-up pretty good...

In preparation for another trip to Arkansas this weekend, I discovered the driver-side UCA lower slug had separated from the spindle! The c-clip came loose on both the driver AND passenger sides...

Total Chaos never heard of this happening before and suggested I weld the slug to the spindle directly. I don't anticipate taking the truck on level 4-5 rated trails again anytime soon , so I'm not considering this an immediate priority. However, putting it back together was! In addition, I will be replacing all fender snaps and screws and trimming down the fenders some more. The Line-X sadly, isn't holding up as well as I was anticipating on the inside of the wheel wells.

 

[Wes Craiglow]

Looks fun! You're a brave, brave man. Indeed, each time I get into places that that, I break stuff, too... grrr!

 

[RSB]

Haha ya it was a blast. Definitely took a toll. Had to drop the skid plate to tighten-up the steering rack too. My friend Chris is his Cherokee on the same trail right behind me...

This section was really tricky. A few seconds later, here's what happened...

:Wow1: Thank God it stopped before rolling down the hill!! We quickly hooked him up to another rig and yanked him back down to the ground.

Looking back at the photos, I started off the same way—but veered to the driver side a bit, just enough to get around it. Otherwise, I might have done the same thing!

Looks fun! You're a brave, brave man. Indeed, each time I get into places that that, I break stuff, too... grrr!

 

[TangoBlue]

Whoa! Good thing he didn't have doors... allows for rapid drainage of the drivers spontaneous bowel and bladder release during that little trick.

 

[ywen]

Did you line X the bottom side of your bed? I see it's all black..

 

[RSB]

:xxrotflma

Yes, he put them back on after that!

Whoa! Good thing he didn't have doors... allows for rapid drainage of the drivers spontaneous bowel and bladder release during that little trick.