After search high and low for a semi reasonably priced Tacoma I finally found one that my accountant aka- the missus approved of.
it’s a 2017 Tacoma TRD access cab.
104K on the clock, mainly highway miles- originally purchased in Central Oregon. Serviced at the dealership. Clean CarFax.
recently traded in on a new Tundra.
It will get front & Rear bumpers, sliders, wheels & Tires. Might just go with 285’s . Yes I want 35’s but that would be a ways down the road since it would require a regear.
1st big upgrade will be a canopy for the mutts



have a bunch of crap like seat covers, floor Matts etc in order






it’s gonna take a little while to push button starting.
Not gonna rock crawl and beat the crap out of it
more a take the grandminion and the dogs camping sort of truck

 

So clean! Can't wait to see how you personalize it.

 

Nice! I can't wait to see what you do with it.

 

Thanks, lots of small stuff being delivered by Amazon and other vendors
I will get some updated pics posted this weekend

Thanks Chad!

I did order the canopy this week, prices have gone up a lot (over double) from when i last bought one for my 05 tacoma 17 years ago.
I would have loved to applied the $$ to bumpers/sliders but needed to prioritize the shell for the mutts. Hopefully it will be here mid August

 

I have done a few miscellaneous things- seat covers, a locking center console:




Not a huge fan of chrome Peterbilt grills so I swapped out the TuRD grill for a matt black
grill



not sure if I will wire up the raptor lights or not.

this mornings project was to fix a manufacturing defect my 2005 Tacoma also had, a low hanging
rear view mirror. Found a ByrdDawg Industries machined mount that raises the review mirror up 3 inches
Cool thing is also has a Ram ball mount integrated for a gps or phone mount

 

I kept a bunch of the lights from the 4runner
Swapped out the factory fog lights this morning for some Diode Dynamics SS3 clear fogs



should be a huge improvement over stock

 

So after driving this thing for a few weeks the off white light of the halogen heads they had to go .
swapped them out for some H11’s and H9 LED’s that had some awesome reviews on Amazon and would break the bank


the high beam h9’Have a driver so installed the first of many zip ties to hold them in a protected place



one thing that has bugged me is how low the seats sit, it was the same in my 05 double cab
found some machined aluminum spacers for the front and pucks in the rears
feels a lot better in the driver's seat and will give me room to put a locking drawer under the seat I had in the 4runner





and the last thing today was just because ‘Murica

 

Annnd you're off and running! The seat covers look great, raising the mirror makes a lot of sense, as does raising the seat. So far thoughtful, useful and nice mods.

 

thanks! It’s nice having a reliable project again


since I got this thing I went back and forth about de-badging the truck.
decided to go for it and busted out my adhesive eraser.
about 20-30 minutes with the heat gun and the drill I had it done











hoping the canopy I ordered will be here soon.

 

Yaaaaaaaaaaay!!!!!

 

Decided to fix a manufacturing defect today.
the stock back up lights suck on all of the Toyotas I have owned for the last 36 years.
I kept all the lights from the 94. I have done something similar on most of the trucks
found a spot on the tailgate that would have enough clearance and cut some holes

 

Decided to fix a manufacturing defect today.
the stock back up lights suck on all of the Toyotas I have ownedfor the last 36 years.
I kept all the lights from the 94.
found a spot on the tailgate that would have enough clearance and cut some holes

 

150% correct on back-up lights, those should do the trick and they look nice there.

 

thanks!

decided to throw some retro stuff into the Tacoma.
swapped out the auto shift knob for the Low Range OffRoad locking hub shift knob that started in the 81, ended up in the 94.
now it’s in the Tacoma




now I just need to figure out a way to get the shift boot attached to the shift knob

also got the canopy installed today

 

Found a wiring adapter on Amazon that allows to power a dash cam off the mirror circuit so I didn’t have to run a wire though one of the A pillars.




i was trying to figure out a good phone mount that didn’t involve a suction cup or sticky thing on the dash.
a couple of vent mounts I had tried would work for awhile and than turn to crap.
so google found this Hondo Garage mount. Great reviews and will support a tablet off road


it’s compatible with a bunch of the Ram mounts I already have so put a magnetic ram mount to ise




no night pics but I have replaced everything but the dash lights with LED’s
The upper center console pops right out

 

I am a little jealous of the shifter knob, really cool that it's been traveling with you from truck to truck too.

 

thanks Habanero!

cool little feature I discovered today while punching buttons on one of the submenus for the center dash screen-
found it has an inclinometer! I was debating about installing one out of an FJ cruiser but don’t think I will now

 

Having a locking tailgate is great but busting out a key every time is a pain.
Seems like the 2019+ Tacomas have a remote lock for the tailgate.
I picked up a Pop and Lock remote kit off Amazon.
it adds the actuator to the tailgate and it’s wired into the stock power door locks so now the tailgate unlocks using the remote.
Biggest pain of the install was trying to get the wiring back through a small plastic clip in between the bed of the trick and the tailgate.
only other hiccup was that at some point Pop a lock swapped the wires in the harness at a connector so when I unlocked the truck it locked the tailgate and vice versa.
Easy fix to just swap the wires at the connector where it going into the door circuit at the kick panel.
Pretty straightforward install, I used about 40 zip ties on this project