Let me just start by saying how much I love this website. What an incredible resource and inspiration; such a pleasure after all the hostility over at the various car/motorcycle/4x4 forums. I picked up a 96 Tacoma 3.4 5-speed last summer with 114,xxx miles, a half-assed 3inch lift and 32 tires. Coincidentally, around the same time, my girlfriend and I decided to plan time off work and travel the US. In the last couple months, I've done a few things in preparation for our adventure. I know that none of the things I've done are revolutionary, but I finally feel like I've made some progress and would love to share. I know I've learned a lot from all of you.
First off, I swapped the stock wheels with some black steelies. As I said, the previous owner had decent tires but I didn't like the way the stock rims looked. The new wheels improved the stance immensely.
Once we decided to do our trip, I pulled the trigger on new suspension and a jeraco mid-rise cap. I ended up going with the following for my suspension:
- 3" Toytec/Eibach front coils over Bilstein 5100's
- All-pro expedition rear leafs with Bilstein 5100's
- Front differential drop kit
The front setup was a breeze but the rear was high enough that I had severe driveline vibration. I immediately shimmed the center-bearing which made it drivable, but ended up adding 2.5 degree shims to pitch the rear diff up a bit. Problem solved! The rear is a little higher than i'd like, but i went with the expedition spring because they can handle the additional weight of my sleeping platform.
For lights, I grabbed some Hella 500's and 55W 5000K HID kit from DDM tuning. It was a fun little project getting the ballasts mounted well in the Hellas, and well worth the effort. Needless to say, I can't drive around town with them on, but I'm sure they'll come in handy when we're off the beaten path. For those of you that are interested in this, don't get the "black magic" series as I did. The crosshair interferes with with the ballast when it's seated correctly, so I ended up having to add a spacer which means the ballast is further away from the lens, which means the light beam is more dispersed then it should be. It's subtle, but I'll eventually replace the black magics with the standard 500's.
As I started to think about living out of the truck I decided we'd need a second battery. I bought the IBS-DBS Dual Battery System with Microprocessor from Sierra Expeditions and an Optima yellow-top handle the load of our accessories. The kit seems expensive initially, but when you look at the price of welding cable these days, it makes you feel a little better. Not to mention this is one of those kits that actually comes with EVERYTHING you need and was actually a blast to install. I was prepared for much more of a project, but I was up and running in an hour or two! Once the aux battery was installed, I added a Blue sea fuse box in the bed(with the battery), and another under the hood. I figured this was a smart way to run accessories in the front of the truck off the aux battery in the bed. Can anyone tell me if I should have a fuse/circuit breaker between the aux batt and each fuse box? I'm no electrician and I just can't decide how important that is.
For onboard air, my grandfather gave me a super cheap Master Flow MF-1050. I wanted to make use of it and after some research, found out it's actually a great little pump. First I had to drill out and tap the stupid non-standard thread on the pump's head so that I could use a standard quick-connect. After that, I ended up buying another air compressor from sears for $49 that came with a 1 gallon tank, which is what I wanted, and took everything else off it. It came with a manifold and pressure regulator that I could use, and even though it had a pressure switch, I replaced it with one from VIAIR with a relay built in. The pump is bolted to the bed behind the passenger side wheel-well, directly above the 1 gallon tank which I stuffed up in the fender behind the rear wheel. When I flip the switch in the cab, the compressor runs until there's 110PSI in the tank. Then it shuts off until pressure drops below 80PSI IIRC. Its a simple and powerful little system, I just need to get a check-valve between the pump and the tank and I'll be all set.
We'll definitely be needing onboard water for showers, cooking, etc. so I did some research on tanks and got a great tank for amazingly cheap from randpcarriages on ebay. Definitely check them out, I got my brand new 21G tank made from polyethylene for $35. I also bought a Flojet Water Pump, and a Camp Chef HWDS Triton Hot Water Heater to hook up for showers. I like this system because I didn't want the added complexity of a heat-exchanger but I do plan on showering and will want hot water for that. I plan on having a cold water system, plumbed to a faucet of some sort, and then I'll hook up the water heater/shower when we need it.
Water Tanks
Water Heater/Shower
Water Pump
My latest project has been the sleeping platform, which is coming along great. My goal was to maximize storage, hold the water tank in place and, of course, provide a bed for us to sleep on. I'm using 3/4" exterior grade ply that I painted with water-based polyurethane.
And that's where I'm at for now. We're planning to leave mid-march, so I don't have much time left. I'll be working over the next couple weekends to finish up the sleeping platform and any other loose ends. I'll be sure to keep this thread up to date.
First off, I swapped the stock wheels with some black steelies. As I said, the previous owner had decent tires but I didn't like the way the stock rims looked. The new wheels improved the stance immensely.
Once we decided to do our trip, I pulled the trigger on new suspension and a jeraco mid-rise cap. I ended up going with the following for my suspension:
- 3" Toytec/Eibach front coils over Bilstein 5100's
- All-pro expedition rear leafs with Bilstein 5100's
- Front differential drop kit
The front setup was a breeze but the rear was high enough that I had severe driveline vibration. I immediately shimmed the center-bearing which made it drivable, but ended up adding 2.5 degree shims to pitch the rear diff up a bit. Problem solved! The rear is a little higher than i'd like, but i went with the expedition spring because they can handle the additional weight of my sleeping platform.
For lights, I grabbed some Hella 500's and 55W 5000K HID kit from DDM tuning. It was a fun little project getting the ballasts mounted well in the Hellas, and well worth the effort. Needless to say, I can't drive around town with them on, but I'm sure they'll come in handy when we're off the beaten path. For those of you that are interested in this, don't get the "black magic" series as I did. The crosshair interferes with with the ballast when it's seated correctly, so I ended up having to add a spacer which means the ballast is further away from the lens, which means the light beam is more dispersed then it should be. It's subtle, but I'll eventually replace the black magics with the standard 500's.
As I started to think about living out of the truck I decided we'd need a second battery. I bought the IBS-DBS Dual Battery System with Microprocessor from Sierra Expeditions and an Optima yellow-top handle the load of our accessories. The kit seems expensive initially, but when you look at the price of welding cable these days, it makes you feel a little better. Not to mention this is one of those kits that actually comes with EVERYTHING you need and was actually a blast to install. I was prepared for much more of a project, but I was up and running in an hour or two! Once the aux battery was installed, I added a Blue sea fuse box in the bed(with the battery), and another under the hood. I figured this was a smart way to run accessories in the front of the truck off the aux battery in the bed. Can anyone tell me if I should have a fuse/circuit breaker between the aux batt and each fuse box? I'm no electrician and I just can't decide how important that is.
For onboard air, my grandfather gave me a super cheap Master Flow MF-1050. I wanted to make use of it and after some research, found out it's actually a great little pump. First I had to drill out and tap the stupid non-standard thread on the pump's head so that I could use a standard quick-connect. After that, I ended up buying another air compressor from sears for $49 that came with a 1 gallon tank, which is what I wanted, and took everything else off it. It came with a manifold and pressure regulator that I could use, and even though it had a pressure switch, I replaced it with one from VIAIR with a relay built in. The pump is bolted to the bed behind the passenger side wheel-well, directly above the 1 gallon tank which I stuffed up in the fender behind the rear wheel. When I flip the switch in the cab, the compressor runs until there's 110PSI in the tank. Then it shuts off until pressure drops below 80PSI IIRC. Its a simple and powerful little system, I just need to get a check-valve between the pump and the tank and I'll be all set.
We'll definitely be needing onboard water for showers, cooking, etc. so I did some research on tanks and got a great tank for amazingly cheap from randpcarriages on ebay. Definitely check them out, I got my brand new 21G tank made from polyethylene for $35. I also bought a Flojet Water Pump, and a Camp Chef HWDS Triton Hot Water Heater to hook up for showers. I like this system because I didn't want the added complexity of a heat-exchanger but I do plan on showering and will want hot water for that. I plan on having a cold water system, plumbed to a faucet of some sort, and then I'll hook up the water heater/shower when we need it.
Water Tanks
Water Heater/Shower
Water Pump
My latest project has been the sleeping platform, which is coming along great. My goal was to maximize storage, hold the water tank in place and, of course, provide a bed for us to sleep on. I'm using 3/4" exterior grade ply that I painted with water-based polyurethane.
And that's where I'm at for now. We're planning to leave mid-march, so I don't have much time left. I'll be working over the next couple weekends to finish up the sleeping platform and any other loose ends. I'll be sure to keep this thread up to date.