Otto - The Tundra

Toyota runs the front cab body mounts way long on their trucks, it keeps the wheels from being able to get into the foot well during an accident. Unfortunately that also means the larger tires like to rub on it.... Pretty common to do a "body mount chop". Basically it just nips the outside corner off.

Body mount chop parts came in. I am thoroughly impressed. for $25, they cut and bend the plates, and send a laser cut template with them. Line the hole in the template up with an existing bolt and outline. Cannot get better! They are from SDHQ
 

Roof rack finally!

Using 8020 profile. Had to make some angled spacer blocks, man a mill would be nice. Flap disk worked. Just making up for the curve in the roof.

Spacer, and everything all bolted up.

Tight to the roof, and added zero height. The shark fun antenna is still taller.

Added a rubber strip to the top.

Body mount chip is a must. I have done many in my time on Toyotas. 

In reply to Professor_Brap (Forum Supporter) :

Yep, I just need to find the time to pull it into the shop. I don't rub that bad unless I really stuff it, so that's good.

I did drive with the ditch lights last night. Either need to aim them way up or way out, the glare on the hood was so bad I just turned them off.....

These finally showed up! RCI sliders, ordered May 18th..... They are pretty nice though, and super beef.
 

awesome build.. 

I'm debating ford vs. Toyota for my truck in a bit.  The toyota has the reliability and I'm partial as many of my friends work for the company...    This iihs report has me moving the other wayl.. as toyota did pretty poor in crash testing..  https://www.iihs.org/ratings/class-summary/large-pickups

decisions decisions.

Fueled by Caffeine said:

awesome build..  I really debate about a toyota vs. a ford..  I like toyota from a build quality standpoint, but that thing is so thirsty.. I just cant justify it as a daily.. 

Yeah, honestly had the Bronco come out on time it would have been a massive contender.... But I needed a truck now, and I dont see them shipping before Jan realistically.

Yes its thirsty, but I am hoping its Toyota quality, and its a simple tested drivetrain.

On the Bronco, its turbo, can be more stressed engine, and worse in low speed (need to spool) off road. And I REALLY hope the program the 10speed better than the Ranger. I kinda want to drive one still, but I love this truck. Its a little massive, but it just easts gear and highway miles. 

In reply to java230 :

It's an awesome tuck for sure..  I do 60 miles everyday for work.. it's  a gallon more +/- for a ford vs. a tundra..  at $2 a gallon not a big deal.. at $4 a gallon a bit more worrisome.  I also edited my post to be a bit nicer, cause I didn't want to threadcrap..

In reply to Fueled by Caffeine :

Yeah it sucks gas, especially in the city..... But I knew that going in. Price you pay for a big v8 and 6sp.

I didn't even look at the crash data honestly. I am surprised with the amount of airbags etc in this thing! And headlights also, Mine has the LED, which come on a lot of packages I believe, and they are pretty darn good IMO.

I have thick skin 

In reply to java230 :

My connections at toyota say two years ish and the new truck will address most of these issues.  I'm hearing s turbo engine and more speed transmission to compete with other trucks out there. 

In other news a colleague's brand new dodge ram caught on fire on the highway last week. Hes taking his money from dodge and buying a tundra

In reply to Fueled by Caffeine :

Yeah I hear turbo v6 from the Lexus is the rumor. I like the big v8 at this point. Turbo is definitely better for fuel economy, but has some trade off's. I think even just a 8sp would help immensely, but Toyota doesn't like change. Use what works and is well tested.....

Fire in a new truck is crappy! 

Bolts at the back edge, next to the gas tank sucked. A lot. Probably 45 mins on one stupid bolt..... Hydraulic lift table is awesome tho.
 

Been bad about keeping this updated..... Catching up!

Well look what showed up!

Seems well built. But I hit all the edges with a flap disk, they were super sharp from cutting. Powdercoat doesn't hold up well on sharp edges.

Now to figure out TSS sensor relocation.

My safety orange goodies arrived! New 7/8 Kinetic rope from ASR, and matching shackles. Good to finally have to leave in the truck.

Well here we go! Bumper is back from powdercoat.

Service position. Note the grill is supposed to be put back on before bumper goes on..... I didn't....

Comeup 12.5rs and fog lights installed.

Bumper on!

Reinforcement brackets that bolt into the stock tow points. IMO good not to just rely on the frame horns.

Wiring in the rain....

Wires from the solenoid pack to the winch itself were lice and long, and color coded too! Bolted the controller straight to the bumper next to the winch. T slots in the back made it easy! There is no good access to the controller. You can get to it from the front, barely. I figured if I was buried in a mud pit etc I really wouldn't want to try to plug the controller in under water. So all the wires got extended.

8 conductor marine tinned wire was used. Not much room to spread the splices out, so its a little ugly.

Goobered the back of the plug with dielectric grease and wrapped up.

Whip up a little aluminum bracket.

Now the plug is next to the washer bottle under the hood.

Weatherpacks on the OE wiring for the fog lights.

Off to find a Xmas tree! Got rejected right around the corner sadly... Rain on snow makes for some snotty stuff, and being alone I didn't want to push it too far.

Going on a New Years trip with some buddies.... Was going to take the big truck, but Dunes+Big truck sounds like trouble.... So I have two days to get the tundra ready for winter camping.... Yikes. Need to get awning on, re mount the bumper lower.... BMC probably wont get done since my dad stole the welder!

Whipped up some awning brackets, playing with the new powder coater.

A little stainless hardware



Mounted. It feels solid.

So, strange question--have you found the sliders to help with frame rigidity?  Those burly tubes look like they'd almost be stiffer than a C-section frame rail, but that's just my (poorly) calibrated eyeball.  When I owned a Tacoma, the lack of frame rigidity drove me nuts, but looking at those sliders makes me wonder if I could've snagged a set of sliders and "fixed" my complaints.  

In reply to rothwem :

I think the Taco frame is wek where it kicks up behind the cab, these wouldn't have helped much I dont think?

However.... This is on their website :D

java230 said:

In reply to rothwem :

I think the Taco frame is wek where it kicks up behind the cab, these wouldn't have helped much I dont think?

However.... This is on their website :D

From the drivers seat, it was hard to tell where exactly it was flexing, could've definitely been at the kick up, which wouldn't let the sliders help much.  In that pic of the tundra, you can see the bed sagging down though...so maybe the sliders aren't doing much for frame rigidity like I thought they might.

Is the whole thing C-Channel frame?  I'm wondering if that's how Toyota decided to tackle their frame rot issues from previous generations lol.

BTW - sweet truck!

In reply to rothwem :

Yeah I think the rigidity issue is behind the cab mostly. 

In reply to russ_mill :

Its boxed in the front, C in the back half ish. It is a double layer C at least. Iirc it changes mid cab 

My OCD kicked in..... I have done everything I can to keep height down. I realized I could have mounted the awning mounts to the bottom of my cross bars.... That drops me 1.25" 

Now the hard part, I had to get the awning mounts lined up perfectly, the lower bolt goes inside the crossbar.... Them slide the 4 tabs into the sots, and tighten with a 1/4" box wrench on a allen driver because that was all that would fit between the roof and cross bars..... But its done.

Too many floppy bits to line up....

Structural angle has a radius on the inside edge, oh well. Its beefy.

Tighter to the body, but still clears. Done.

Next up, bumper and cab flex enough to rub on each other.... Not ideal. Pull it all back apart.... Not as much vertical adjustment as I had hoped.... Its a little lower, but not much. May need some felt/clear bra in the corners.

Also tried relocating the TSS sensor. No luck. I think it can just see the top face of the bumper... It has a 20 degree downward vision angle. Ugh. Its epoxied in place now  Looking for a "pro" grill as it relocates the sensor up from where mine is, but down from the original location so it should miss the hoop.

Great NYE, almost flipped the truck, but otherwise it was awesome!

Turning left and steep downhill, front edn slide ~2' sideways, pass front tire was just a few inches from the edge heading into a ravine. Friend winched me backwards and all was good.
Just about to the top of the hill.







This one got a little hairier.....


We were able to anchor him to a rock, and the back corner of his bumper. HiLift winch to add some tension and pivot the front of the truck back down hill off the anchor.... It was entertaining.... A lot of work since he was at the top of a big ass hill.

Well after reading through the Tacoma Wrold fog light thread (after ordering my BD fogs....) I decided to get some Diode Dynamics SS3 Max's. Long story short, the BD lights dont really meet SAE standards, and are pretty dim. The SS3's are Much more road friendly than the BD, and way brighter.

Now the C4 bumper is not designed for the SS3's so it took a bit of doing.

First the mount will need to be modified to sit further towards the front of the light to hit the hole in the mount on the bumper.

Original plan, bracket that would go UNDER the C4 tab, bolt to the light bracket and tab. No dice. Holes are too close together, hits tab on bumper.

Plan B, weld that bitch together. Just use front hole. (its TIGHT, but still has adjustment on light)

In the powder coat oven now....

Toaster oven works great for little brackets getting powder coated.

And adapter harnesses made, get a weatherpack crimper if you don't have one, WAY better than needle nose etc. Even if they are the cheap ones.

And here we are SS3's in the C4 bumper. They fit the holes fine IMO

Brackets from the back.

And the money shot! DD right BD left (yes they are on, you can kinda see the yellow around the tire print)

DD is aimed a little lower, and has much tighter pattern. Ill get night shots at some point. Have another set to install on a different rig 

Love the truck. My wife has a SR Utility 2018 Tacoma 4x2 for the farm. Lease was up. She was getting a DCLB 4x4 SR5. Dealer made a huge mistake, corporate got involved (35 page thread on Tacomworld). In any event, really tried getting her into a Tundra for the same price - but she didn't want the v8 and the size :(

Toyota corporate stepped up, and shes waiting for her new 21 loaded to the gills DCLB4x4 OR Tacoma. Luckily shes getting it for almost $12k off, due to the messup. Will start a thread when she gets it, but I love your truck, and keep checking this thread 

In reply to mr2s2000elise :

Thats no fun! I came from a 4runner so its definately bigger, but it EATS gear when camping etc. 4runner was stuffed to the gills, there is actually room in th cab on this one. MPG is what it is, I knew that going in.