2012 Tacoma Doublecab work truck

[hornytoad]

BUSTED!

Waysurf called it on the 4x8 plywood twisting off road. The platform actually pulled off a Thule crossbar yesterday on some mild wheeling. Also the wind noise is horrible, watching my wife grimace as we were heading out of town and hearing the "drumming/whistle" for over an hour was embarrassing. 4lbs of under body coating and foam isolation pads did not help the wind tunnel/drum effect that is caused by the steel stressed bars/stressed plywood/sheet metal roof. SIGH

For now I am going to remove the plywood deck and potentially will remove the cab crossbars due to wind noise. Maybe my ears are sensitive but with the mileage I drive on the highway, every little thing starts to drive me bonkers after 1/2 an hour at 75-80mph. I might just leave the cross bars on the back for large loads and return the front rack system.

On the plus side the 245 75R17 BFG combo rocks, the stock mudflaps caught a bit on some trees/rocks but a little trimming should have that handled. No dragging bumpers or factory skid plates. However I do see a set of Bud's aluminum skid plates in my future and a set of sliders. NM is too rocky to leave a transfer case/body panel to chance.

[hornytoad]

Not much to update, changed the engine oil over to synthetic, de-badged the doors so my company graphics look better and getting everything ready for the Summer/Fall field schedule.

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Is it just me or has the gas mileage on Taco's gone down lately?

My former work truck was a 2010 6speed manual w/ access cab and a small RIDGED toolbox in the back at got 17mpg on the highway.

I have gotten two or three 17mpg tanks with most of the fill ups being 15.5 mpg. Hopefully this road trip will give Toyota a chance to prove me wrong, hell I'm not even getting the EPA estimates with cruise control and an unloaded truck.

[Kermit]

Might get more mpg's after the motor breaks in...Tacos are begging for a diesel...the gasser mileage is rather sad for the size of the truck.

Have you looked at the Ford Eco-Boost, my buddy gets 22.3 HWY 18-19 City....

[ericvs]

Have you thought about building a bigger wind fairing/deflector in the front? The one you have on there is not at wide at the platform itself. If you had one that spanned the width of the platform (and 'hid' the towers and most of the bars) I think that would help with the wind noise. The one in this pic is bigger than you would need, but you can see he has his entire rack hidden behind the fairing (or wind scoop as it referred to on this site). I got this pic from this thread:
http://www.expeditionportal.com/foru...t=wind+fairing
also check page 8 for a wind fairing as well.
If your fairing followed the plane of your windscreen up and just over the height of the platform, I think that would help reduce/eliminate your noise issue. Please note, this will not help the offroad flex issue

[Kermit]

Please note, this will not help the offroad flex issue

Flex is easy to deal with, just build it in two sections, or a ladder rack style.

Kargo-Master-Heavy-Duty-Pro-II-Ladder-Rack_lg2.jpg

[robert]

The bed and cab are going to flex too much for you to use a solid system like that; even just going down a bumpy road you can watch the flex in the side view mirrors. You could always separate it into two pieces with bracket on the ends so you could drop a filler piece in. Also you're going to get enough air moving between the cab and bed that a solid surface is going to make a ton of noise. If you have a sliding rear window open it while driving down the road and you'll see how much air and road noise there is between the two. As noted, your wind deflector probably isn't doing a ton to help either.

[hornytoad]

kermit - looked at the fords when truck shopping the taco is the smallest double cab pickup that I could live with. Plus the Eco boost isn't avaliable in a double cab 4x4. I was really impressed by the 2012 turbo diesel that Ford put in the F250 but I didn't like driving a small building around.

613duramax- I looked at thule stuff for a sightly wider fairing and the 44" (which is on there) is the best fit. With their new plexiglass/mounting I guess I could build a new center section and make it 6" wider or so and clip everything on it. hmmmm you might be on to something

robert - yeah the wind noise/echo was intense for now I am running just the bars and ditching the platform idea. I would be neat for photo taking but that was the main idea for it. The bars will be perfect for picking up fencing supplies, well casing, conduit, 2x4's ect...

I'm going to be shaking things down on this trip and will see what else needs to be moved/stored somewhere. I'm thinking 1 or 2 1/2 bed length shelves in the back and maybe a first aid/fire extinguisher mounted on the roof inside the windoors.

[Kermit]

kermit - looked at the fords when truck shopping the taco is the smallest double cab pickup that I could live with. Plus the Eco boost isn't avaliable in a double cab 4x4. I was really impressed by the 2012 turbo diesel that Ford put in the F250 but I didn't like driving a small building around.

.

Thanks.

You better tell my buddy Josh, who has a double cab eco-boost 4X4 that they don't make one...

Not his but you get the idea...

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[hornytoad]

I knew that gas mileage was going to be a crap problem. Range being the biggest concern with efficiency just being the sand in my shorts (irritating but not life threatening). I bought the truck knowing that I was going to have to live with gas cans or spring for a new tank. After reading the post and following up with auxiliary gas tanks, can mounting, plumbing problems and CEL problems I called up Shayne at Custom Exhaust Specialties in Bend and had him build me one of their 35 gallon tanks. The serious downside is the time needed to go up to Bend OR and have the tank installed. That will be done this winter when field work winds down and I can con a few friends into driving up/ back with me. So now I have to live with the 250-300 mile range.....

Seriously Toyota??? My rental jeep wrangler unlimited had a 400 mile range stock! (with 19mpg) I still had to fill up the truck daily but I could rest a little easier knowing that I could go look at a project two counties away and not be stuck in the middle of no where NM.

Where is the 25mpg small pickup??? Oh yeah the last one of those was built in 1985 - SA front end, manual hubs 22RE fuel injected motor.

[ericvs]

fairing 1.jpgfairing 2.jpg

613duramax- I looked at thule stuff for a sightly wider fairing and the 44" (which is on there) is the best fit. With their new plexiglass/mounting I guess I could build a new center section and make it 6" wider or so and clip everything on it. hmmmm you might be on to something

what about a whole new fairing?
Check this dudes (I know it is a car, but it is a pretty nice homemade fairing.)