2015 Tacoma TRD Sport Double Cab Build

[l_vandyke]

How is it with RTT on you camper shell?

So far zero issues. The shell has a few cracks already in the fiberglass when I bought it used that haven’t gotten any worse with the added weight of the RTT. I’m the only one that has slept in the tent so far and I’m around 180lbs. I haven’t gotten to install bed rail stiffeners yet either

 

[Casper66]

i hate dealing with va police. The only tickets I’ve ever gotten in my life have been in va. One of them gave me three tickets. Speeding, no registration for the camper i was towing, and the dodge I was driving had smoked taillights

Pretty typical. That reminds me I probably ought to find the registration for the camper

 

[l_vandyke]

Pretty typical. That reminds me I probably ought to find the registration for the camper

It’s very frustrating. My out of state tags are like magnets to them

 

[l_vandyke]

Few updates to the truck. Nothing too major. Went back to stock headlight assemblies to better match the ARB bumper fog lights. Also put my old LED bar that I had on the truck a few years back. Eventually I’ll switch over to round pod LED lights instead of the light bar

 

[l_vandyke]

After doing quite a bit of shopping around online and talking to several people I decided to make the switch from my soft top Tepui rooftop tent to a hard shell tent. Got the tent from Hi-Vis Overland. It’s called their “Watchtower” model. Only have a few pictures of it, for now. Hoping to get to take it out this weekend and test it out (weather and work permitting). Also found a good buy on a used BajaRack for the cab of the Tacoma. Has a few scratches and chips, but nothing that can’t be easily fixed.

 

[l_vandyke]

The extra weight from the new ARB bumper and the stock coils were causing the front end to sit lower than I liked. Also I noticed some of the bumps were getting a little tougher, so I decided it was finally time to upgrade the suspension system. I had been running Bilstein 5100’s but they had about 85,000 miles on them and were getting pretty soft. Would have loved to gone with the Old Man Emu BP-51 set-up, but that is definitely out of my price range. So I ended up going with the Old Man Emu Nitrocharger shocks. I already had the heavy duty Dakar leaf packs so I didn’t need to change anything there. As for the coils on the front I went with OME heavy duties because I also plan on throwing a winch in with the bumper sometime in the future. So far I really like the ride quality and look forward to putting them through their paces

 

[l_vandyke]

Haven’t updated in a little while. Have done quite a bit of work on the truck with all the quarantine crap going on lol.

- Vinyl wrapped the rooftop tent. The white from the shell of the tent on top of a black truck made it look like there was a mattress on the truck

- Stealth Custom Series Ray10 wheels and bumped up to a 285/70/17 tire from the 265/70/17

- Fab Fours rear bumper with tire carrier

- Bedslide installed and Midland MXT275 GMRS radio

- After months of research and really wanting one (but not wanting to pay the money) I finally settled on a fridge freezer for the truck. Went with the ARB Zero 47qt Single Zone fridge freezer. Built a little platform in the back of the cab for the fridge but I’m also going to mount it in the bed on the slide on some trips.

- Also have a split dual battery kit on the way from Off-Grid Engineering that I will hopefully get installed and get the fridge wired up before a trip this weekend

 

[RoarinRow]

Haven’t updated in a little while. Have done quite a bit of work on the truck with all the quarantine crap going on lol.

- Vinyl wrapped the rooftop tent. The white from the shell of the tent on top of a black truck made it look like there was a mattress on the truck

- Stealth Custom Series Ray10 wheels and bumped up to a 285/70/17 tire from the 265/70/17

- Fab Fours rear bumper with tire carrier

- Bedslide installed and Midland MXT275 GMRS radio

- After months of research and really wanting one (but not wanting to pay the money) I finally settled on a fridge freezer for the truck. Went with the ARB Zero 47qt Single Zone fridge freezer. Built a little platform in the back of the cab for the fridge but I’m also going to mount it in the bed on the slide on some trips.

- Also have a split dual battery kit on the way from Off-Grid Engineering that I will hopefully get installed and get the fridge wired up before a trip this weekend

Lots of good modding!

 

[l_vandyke]

Been MIA on here for a while. Didn’t realize it’s been well over a year since my last update. There have been some significant changes to the truck

Spring 2021, I decided to sell the roof top tent, camper shell, and the Bedslide. All of this way to fund a major DIY project I had wanted to build a year prior, but honestly was too intimidated to try.

I discovered Ripcord’s Instagram page a few years back and was very impressed with his DIY wedge camper build based on a GFC camper. His plans are available For download on his website along with a build list. Following his plans, making a few deviations of my own, me and my dad decided to build one for my truck.

We definitely didn’t have access to some more sophisticated tools and equipment that would’ve made parts of this job much easier and prettier. We were able to knock it out in approximately 6 weeks working on it on weekends and some days after work.

It’s far from perfect. I camped in it through 2021 without doing much to it. I wanted to use it a bit and see what I liked and what I might want to change or add to it. Definitely been some bumps along the way, fault, but I’ve learned a lot.

Anyway, here’s some pictures of it from different trips last year. Only other thing I’ve changed on the truck other than the camper are the addition of some airbags. Highly recommend them if you plan on putting extra weight on the rear.

 

[l_vandyke]

Figured I would post some pictures of the build process as well

 

[l_vandyke]

More of the build process

 

[l_vandyke]

Installing the tent canvas and the side and rear doors

 

[l_vandyke]

Recently installed insulation on the ceiling and covered it with indoor/outdoor carpet, used a bed molle panel that a friend no longer needed for my bulkhead, and got some modified quick disconnect awning brackets from Brad with Hi-Vis Overland in SC. Hell of a guy, can’t recommend him enough.