Being the broke 17 year old I am I've done a couple cheap mods lately

First, I SOLVED THE CUPHOLDER CONUNDRUM.



Wrapped some duck tape around the hanger part of this one to kep it from sliding side to side on the glovebox.



This one slid in between the clear plastic of the gauge cluster and the red plastic of the dash with some duck tape to keep it from hopping out at all.



then i was looking for something at night and got so annoyed at how much my dome light sucked so i planned a solution in my head and went to autozone to find a set of two 12 inch LED light strips. they had all sorts of colors and sizes but i opted for white. about an hour later i wired them into the dome light by stripping and twisting the wires around the prongs that hold the old bulb. worked perfectly. then i used super glue to stick them to the headliner because the 3m on them sucked and they kept falling. the difference is incredible. when they come on i can see absolutely perfectly clear and they even light up all the way to the cargo area in the back.

they even look pretty cool when turned off


daytime shot


night time!


hope you guys like!

 

I about died laughing when I read that. lol Just caught me. So how does the glove box like the extra weight out on the trail?

 

I havent had a chance to hit any trails yet but it has had full drinks plopped down in it with no complaints, the glovebox is already crammed full of tools and stuff. latch has never even acted like it wanted to fail. im not saying put a route 44 in there then go do jumps, but it takes a bottled Dew or a regular fast food cup easy as pie. oh and i forgot you get 4 of those cupholders from walmart for like $2

 

I bought those same LED srtips to assist my dome light too. Did you wire them to their own switch or on the dome light's circut? I was considering using the dome circut so they would come on on either side when the doors open too.

 

alot of cool ideas in here. i have taken and used a few. figure i share one of mine
i got one of those closet shelves. used two ubolts and two hinges mounted all together to the shelve. than added two more ubolts where i can mount the shocks to the rear half of the shelve. the shocks are to strong so i CANT pull it down, still looking for some weaker ones that will still hold it up. added some re enforcement bars around the rear and sides of the shelve just incase. this allow me to throw my element ramps, shovel and axe up high so i can access the stuff i have below.

 

Wow. Toyotech that is a great idea with the shelf. It just gave me so many things to think about with my 4runner. Thanks.

 

I wired them into the dome light circuit. i dont have soldering tools so i just twisted the wires around the little prong things that the old dome light was held by. sounds sketchy but it worked perfectly. just take the housing down and do it from the back. then run the wires right out like i did. i love it.

 

Toyotech, can you provide a bit more detail about the gear shelf. Really slick, I need to look at this closer

 

Whoa. Cool idea man..... Totally going to be stealing this in the next week or so!

 

I second this. I carry a lot of crap and would love to be able to keep my cargo area clean.

 

best pictures i got for now. lmk if you guys need better ones. the rear u bolts are bolted to the hinges. than the hinge is bolted to the cargo basket.

 

That's the coolest thing I've seen in a long time. Now I gotta get me a first gen roll bar.

 

How well do the supports hold up with the basket loaded and bouncing around on a trial?

 

nothing moves at all. the shocks are way to stiff so they dont compress at all. just tested the basket out this weekend and it was a bumpy ride on the trail. nothing moved or broke. its pretty solid and with all the stuff i have on there. it weights atleast 50+ lbs and feel safe putting more weight if needed.

i threw it together really quick because i needed it for that weekend. im still looking for a better shock or way so i can pull down on it to grab stuff and still be able to shot itself back up and stay up

 

heres one where its hinged down. i just move the shocks from one mounting point to other. this picture was during test fitting. it has since been painted and axe is better mounted. got some stuff on order im gonna try to add to it for easier removal of shovel



trail tested

 

What if you only used one shock for it to go up and down and had a latch for when it was up?

 

tool boxes that have lids that open up using shocks. i just dont know if those will be strong enough. the ones i have now, even with one shock i cant pull it down. the frame/basket flexes too much will i try to hang on it from the middle lol. the fold out/locking arm they use for ladder might work but i really want the look of the shocks. i really want a pair of weak shocks that can be locked when fully extended. i dont know where i would install a latch tho. i dont use the ramps much so ill have to keep looking for the cleanest but cheapest way for this to work. electric actuator would be cool if i got them for cheap or free haha

 

Covered my carpets with febreeze antibacterial spray... I vacummed the heck outta it and figured a good "kill the last guy's funk" spray over was in order.

We are replacing the front left caliper and the rear axle gears tomorrow. There's a bad bearing in the backend and it grinds like a muvv. No good at all.

 

PVC cup holder for the map pockets
https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f199...l#post51872692

 

I could be way off here, but I can't find this mod anywhere else, so I think I invented it.

This could very well apply to other year yotas with a.d.d. front diffs, but I'm not sure.

I call it "Selectible T-case mode"
I did this on an 01 tacoma with manual trans.

Want to use your low range without your front diff engaging? I do. Lots, when starting out on a big hill with a trailer, or just wanting to creep. Without being in 4wheel. Especially on pavement.

Theres a sensor on the t-case of the 01 tacoma that activates the 4wheel drive when you shift into low range. Unplug it. Thats all. You can use low range and the front diff will not try to engage. And if you want 4low just hit the 4WD button on the side of the shifter like normal. Ive been running this mod for a while now and theres no hickups. Promise

Again, Ive only done this on this particular truck. But knowing a fair amount about the general workings of the 4wd on these trucks, id say it will work for any yota with front A.D.D. diffs.

If anybody has done this please chime in. I honestly did search on this before I attempted to take credit. And havent found anything.

Hopfully I didn't miss it