Thanks! It'll get another round of tweaks as some items arrive (starting to trickle in). Will be putting Goose Gear down the passenger side of the camper (storage front, drawers back). ICON is also supposed to have shipped a replacement brain for the CDEV system (as it won't sync with a phone currently). Some molle panels for above the GP Factor table on the door. Likely a Sherpa roof rack as they make one that fits in front of the alu-cab, hoping to put some of my tools/recovery/etc. stuff up there. And rather than carting around leveling blocks, one of these days I'm going to push the rig a bit more, so figured I would invest in a set of MaxTrax to both help when needed for their intended purpose...and also to use to level the truck for camping. This summer, I just spend to use it for mostly *camping*, less for more demanding off-roading, so probably looking to order up some protection and recovery (sliders, skids, front bumper, winch) later in the summer/early fall. Around then, some of my personal schedule opens up in ways that I hope allow me to start leveraging the off road capabilities of the rig more than I expect to for the next few months.
Might as well start at the beginning. "Sawatch" (2022 Tacoma)
- Thread starter TCBTacoma
- Start date
ChristelandChantal
Rank III
Explorer I
Finally got in a roof rack that fits with the canopy camper (with the table option on the alu-cab, it greatly reduces the options for roof racks that fit). Also bought a couple used alu-boxes to bolt on up there. They look uneven in this picture, enough so that I'm going to go down a look when I get a chance. After having to go back and forth from the condo to the garage while measuring and drilling out the boxes to fit, I might of gotten them a little off without noticing (and I had to finish before the Avs played game 1).
Was loading some stuff into the truck at lunch, and snapped a couple shots of some other goodies in the back...goose gear came in, got rid of the alu-cab bag that was up front for molle panels, molle on the door, and a magic hot water box as well.
ChristelandChantal
Rank III
Explorer I
Thanks...the project I knew I could knock out this evening...it hit a few snags. Was just doing a grill insert swap, but...I have a minor fitment issue (think I can resolve this, but have to take it back off again...which means at LEAST 4 more elevator rides), there's an issue with how the MTM (front-facing camera) is mounted, and I have to do a little work with the electrical for the lighting to work on it.
With a little complaining aside, when I get it sorted I'll be very happy with it.
With a little complaining aside, when I get it sorted I'll be very happy with it.
This has really come a long way since I last saw it. Very nice.
I thought I liked to pack a lot of stuff. I bow to you Jedi Master.
Keep it coming.
I thought I liked to pack a lot of stuff. I bow to you Jedi Master.
Keep it coming.
Thanks, it has come a long way. Really though, you're craftsmanship and work on your truck makes me wish I wasn't in a place that made it so hard to do the work myself (but I still say the woodworking you do is FAR beyond my capabilities, regardless of tools and space).
Thanks. I am wishing I would have done my project in Aluminum know. The quality of wood I was able to source between Home Depot and Lowes was not really what I had hoped for. My local cabinet lumber supplier has been only working with the local cabinet shops as of late and many of us weekend warrior types have been shunned. That may all change with the interest rate hikes real soon.
Quick update on the insert. The owner of DBCustomz gave me a call and we talked through things. There are multiple options that Toyota uses for their front-facing cameras, and I have a different one than he thought..meaning I wasn't crazy, this doesn't fit. He wanted me to send it back to him (he would pay for all of this) with the camera/bracket so he could ensure that he got the right fit and could anticipate these in the future...but I decided that I would just glue it in place (it's not the most useful camera on earth, so I'm not going to lose a ton of sleep about it not pointing down 5 degrees or something...and it's more stealth this way than any *correct* way, I like the stealth). The wavy part can be remedied with a little less pressure on a couple of the bolts to allow the surround to return to its normal shape. With the serrated flange nuts, he's never had a problem with them coming off, even if they're just hand tight (I question this, so I'm going with a little loctite as well). Lastly, the electrical. As he said, this is a tough one as everybody has different hopes for electrical. It was shipped to connect directly to the battery, and came with a metal screw for the ground...but I figure I have enough grounds already, so I'll just swap out the connector for a slightly bigger one so I can use an existing ground point.
So, hopefully, before bed tonight, it'll all be wrapped up!
So, hopefully, before bed tonight, it'll all be wrapped up!
Sawatch now has a new insert, all smoothed out, MTM hooked up (glued in), and wired for business. It's pretty *neat* (although a bit useless as this was just done for aesthetics). You can select any color on a color wheel (so not just like 5-10 color choices) when you have it in *solid* mode. When you pick animation mode, part of the animation is a color (so you don't get to pick the color directly). Meaning, with many (most?) of the animations, it has 6 different options (can't recall...but like green, blue, red, white, yellow...can't recall them all right now), so that actually counts as 6 animations. But that's just for context when I say there are 200 different animations, but I think that means probably 35-50 unique patterns (as some of the multi colored animations don't have the 6 different variations since it already uses multiple colors). Fun to play with, love the look of the insert's design with the matte black truck much better than the stock OR insert.
(sorry for the background noise on the video, and I'll probably get one while out camping this weekend when it's not quite so bright out, but the lights weren't set to their brightest setting either).
View attachment IMG_1526.mov
(sorry for the background noise on the video, and I'll probably get one while out camping this weekend when it's not quite so bright out, but the lights weren't set to their brightest setting either).
View attachment IMG_1526.mov
Enthusiast III
So, planned on doing a section of the Colorado BDR this weekend (today actually), but knew I wanted to play around a bit yesterday and then just find a nice campsite and relax. So, headed to Buena Vista, and then headed out of town west for a bit to see what I could find (technically this is part of the BDR too...but it's all asphalt for a while so I didn't really consider this part of my BDR weekend). Anyway, long story short, got on dirt once, then on some slightly more fun dirt, then found another fun-looking trail, and right as I was starting it...tire pressure warning came on. The trail I was about to do is multi-use, so people hike/bike/jeep/etc., meaning there's a parking lot at the start of it...and since I just started the trail, I was maybe 100 yards from the parking lot. Made it back to the lot with about 17psi, swapped the tire. By the time I got back to BV, nowhere to get a repair/replace (it's kinda close to the sidewall, I need a better tire person than I am to know if it's repairable). So, rather than heading out for a full day today, I decided to start heading back (but find a nice campsite to at least get one night out). Found a pretty good spot, but a bit busier than I would have liked with ATV type traffic (in this situation, it was perfect, but it wouldn't be my go-to spot unless I was just getting in sleeping and heading back out the next morning...unless I got into ATVing or something...then maybe.
Either way, a couple pics from the trail...oh, and I did mount up a Demerbox for some tunes while out (I like it). And in one of the pics, you might notice that I was watching the AVs game (there was a weak cell signal, my booster helped...until I opened my tent, then something about that ruined any reception...booster or not).
First patch of dirt I found let me to this pretty lake, Rainbow Lake IIRC (but this is just a dirt road, nothing really exciting...but better than pavement, and there is a campground in here, but it's pretty busy with people as well):
Then up over Cottonwood pass, and as I went down the other side, I realized I was getting about as far as I wanted from BV, since I still planned on that being my starting point for the next day. Found a short, but fun little trail that I used to make a little bit of a loop, and when I got back on the main road just head back up Cottonwood. It wasn't really sketchy (although we all know pictures don't do anything justice), but a bit more interesting than it looks in this picture. One factor was that it's so tight, you don't really get to pick much of a line, you just have to deal with what it gives you.
Either way, a couple pics from the trail...oh, and I did mount up a Demerbox for some tunes while out (I like it). And in one of the pics, you might notice that I was watching the AVs game (there was a weak cell signal, my booster helped...until I opened my tent, then something about that ruined any reception...booster or not).
First patch of dirt I found let me to this pretty lake, Rainbow Lake IIRC (but this is just a dirt road, nothing really exciting...but better than pavement, and there is a campground in here, but it's pretty busy with people as well):
Then up over Cottonwood pass, and as I went down the other side, I realized I was getting about as far as I wanted from BV, since I still planned on that being my starting point for the next day. Found a short, but fun little trail that I used to make a little bit of a loop, and when I got back on the main road just head back up Cottonwood. It wasn't really sketchy (although we all know pictures don't do anything justice), but a bit more interesting than it looks in this picture. One factor was that it's so tight, you don't really get to pick much of a line, you just have to deal with what it gives you.
We stayed at Rainbow lake last summer and rode the Ducs over Cottonwood and down into Gunnison. Great place.
It is pretty out there, was trying to post another pic or two before...but got busy.
Just starting a trail outside of BV...the flat:
Ran across a couple guys that were *almost* stuck, made sure they got out, and followed them up to a decent camping area, a nice evening, and a relaxing morning before heading back to Denver.
The F250 in the shot was the. *almost stuck* truck, the mud on mine shows a bit of what the road was like (compared to how it looked in the tire change shot):
Couldn't miss game 2....
Drizzly evening:
Lovely morning:
And this one is out of order (from when I came through BV knowing I wouldn't find an open tire shop, but also knowing I had to look):
Just starting a trail outside of BV...the flat:
Ran across a couple guys that were *almost* stuck, made sure they got out, and followed them up to a decent camping area, a nice evening, and a relaxing morning before heading back to Denver.
The F250 in the shot was the. *almost stuck* truck, the mud on mine shows a bit of what the road was like (compared to how it looked in the tire change shot):
Couldn't miss game 2....
Drizzly evening:
Lovely morning:
And this one is out of order (from when I came through BV knowing I wouldn't find an open tire shop, but also knowing I had to look):
Oh and a comment from a discussion with a friend today that I should mention. On post #35, the second picture is a rather narrow trail. I now have some nice lines on the vinyl where the branches ran down the side of the truck (more than a few, that trail was kind of the width of a reasonable side-by-side). Gave it a wash today, and a bit of a wipe down (not much, just enough to get the dirt off), and I'm very happy with the vinyl. Since I don't have a garage where I can do the car care I used to, I got the vinyl as I hoped it would be a bit easier on maintenance, as well as protect the paint (back to a garage where I can have the right tools and products to protect the paint as well). I'm ELATED with some marks on the vinyl as those would have been on the paint (and they weren't enough to dent, so my expectation is that these will mostly not exist if I ever remove the vinyl). So, while I think the matte black is a *cool* look (why I made that selection), the actual purpose of wrapping the truck seems to be a worthwhile investment (but, until I take it off, I won't know for sure).
Got out for a couple nights on the Colorado BDR section 4. Decided to head home as I was getting into the I70 corridor as the 4th weekend got underway, and have an electrical problem I can't quite sort out. My battery and RedArc got out of sync somehow (battery % was all I thought initially). Problem now is, that the battery (or RedArc is doing something to prevent the voltage) can't run the fridge. BUT, I can run the fridge off my EcoFlow and charge my EcoFlow off the truck (not ideal, but it gets it done in a pinch). But a few pics from getting out over the weekend:
Mushroom Gulch camping:
breakfast...strawberries were even better than the pancakes
some tunnels outside of BV, just off the BDR, but close enough that it's worth a little side trip
rocks
longest water crossing of the trip, but the earlier place where this river got crossed had an interesting approach that I should have photographed (thought I left my rear bumper behind):
camp 2, heading up Weston Pass
Nice views along the way:
Not really a difficult place to get to, but there was a sign....the truck wanted to pose next to it
Mushroom Gulch camping:
breakfast...strawberries were even better than the pancakes
some tunnels outside of BV, just off the BDR, but close enough that it's worth a little side trip
rocks
longest water crossing of the trip, but the earlier place where this river got crossed had an interesting approach that I should have photographed (thought I left my rear bumper behind):
camp 2, heading up Weston Pass
Nice views along the way:
Not really a difficult place to get to, but there was a sign....the truck wanted to pose next to it
