_kmg_ 2012 TRD OR Access Cab MT Build

I bought my Taco after months of searching on May 6, 2021. I was very picky with a long list of requirements: 2nd gen, access cab, manual transmission, TRD OR, bonus if there was an camper shell, no previous lift, etc. I finally found my Taco on Shift. Unfortunately it was silver, but everything else was great!

I'm keep meaning to start a build thread to help track modifications, trips, maintenance, etc. Better later than never. I'm going to start back filling some posts soon.

Getting Started
Here it is the day I drove it home, with 97,000 miles. A 2012 TRD OR Access Cab manual transmission. Pretty much stock! The only modifications are the shell and wiring the lights in the shell.



And here it is as of 2023-12-30

Current Modifications

• Dobinsons MRA set at about 2.5" lift (bought from @Crikeymike)
• Icon RXT leaf pack
• Method 703 wheels
• Falken Wildpeak AT3 285/70/17
• Cab mount chop
• Rear seat delete
• Super Pacific X1 Canopy Camper
• Decked drawers
• Sherpa Animas roof rack

Repairs

• Replaced the clutch at about 100,000 miles
• Outer tie rods replaced at around 125,000 miles

 

After about 500 miles of ownership decided it was time for some Decked drawers. This is my first truck, I've always wanted a platform. And I didn't have the skills or tools to build my own. I was in a bit of a hurry too! The water heater in my rental unit started leaking, my landlords decided to give me notice instead of fixing it. I needed a place to sleep for about a month before moving in. And hunting season was about to start (3 tags between me and my dad!).



Sleeping out of my truck during hunting season.

 

Access cab seats are pointless. I decided to build out a quick rear seat delete while in San Diego visiting family. My uncle has most of the tools I need. Here is my quick and dirty platform. Found some scraps at Dixie Line Lumber and got to work. After about a year with this platform I've starting to design v2. I'm thinking extruded aluminum and HDPE.

 

In April 2023 I reserved a build spot for a Super Pacific canopy camper. I spent months deliberating between Super Pacific, Alucab, GFC. I went with Super Pacific mostly because it had the shortest lead time, and the closest install location in Portland, OR. Then a long 12 weeks until my install date!

In the meantime I was due for some new tires and decided to go big and get new wheels, UCA, and a cab mount chop at the same time. All done at the local ORW.

I decided to step up in tire size to the Falken Wildpeak AT3 285/70/17. These tires are great. Road noise cut down a ton from my poorly worn out Goodyear Wranglers. The wheels are the Method 703. The upper control arm is the Elevate Off Road UCA. Here it is after the install (camper shell removed too, in prep for the super pacific).



I needed to break in the new setup on some local BLM and Forest Service roads. Everything works great. The only downside is some rubbing the drivers side when fully stuffed. Or when turning left and hitting decently sized bumps. I know some fender trimming is in my future. But hopefully I can put it off for a bit.



Since I needed to make an 8 hour drive to Portland for the install I decided to create a short road trip out of it. I called my dad to invite him a long, bought him a plane ticket to Portland and I was ready to hit the road for my July 20 install date. Unfortunately I didn't take many photos on this trip. I thought I would, but we ended up mostly driving. The fender rubbing ended up being a bigger issue once the camper was installed. I didn't expect the front to get worse, but it did. That limited my plans a bit so we decided to stick to easy dirt trails and back roads for the trip.





Here is a breakdown of the road trip

• Day 1: Reno, NV to Portland, OR for install. After the install drove to Mt St Helens for first night in the camper.
• Day 2: Mt St Helens to a campsite on the coast of the Olympic Peninsula. I had camped here several years ago when I moved to WA to work for the WCC (Washington Conservation Corps).
• Day 3: Olympic Peninsula Campsite to Port Townsend, WA. The WCC crew I worked for was based in Port Townsend. This was the first time I had been back to PT since 2013. Stopped at a few of the worksites we planted. Pretty cool to see the progress. Camped along the Big Quilcene River and did some fishing (no catching)
• Day 4: Port Townsend, WA to Wenatchee, WA area. Took the ferry to Whidbey Island, then up HWY 2 over the Cascades. Fished along the way in some of the open rivers.
• Day 5: Wenatchee, WA to Thompson Falls, MT area. Followed the Columbia River as long as it made sense.
• Day 6: Thompson Falls, MT to Salmon, ID area. Stopped in Missoula. Fished in the Clark Fork, Flathead, Bitterroot, and Salmon rivers
• Day 7: Salmon, ID to Pinedale, WY. Detour to fish in the Henry's Fork and Fall River. Hit the biggest hailstorm I've ever been in between Jackson and Pinedale. I was worried about denting my brand new camper shell! Everything survived without a scratch
• Day 8: Pinedale, WY to Provo, UT. Fished in the Snake, Hoback, Green rivers. Starting the drive home.
• Day 9: Provo, UT to Las Vegas, NV
• Day 10: Las Vegas, NV to San Diego, CA. I needed a garage to start some new modification for the truck so I stayed in SD for several weeks to close out the summer before heading back to Reno.

Drove ~3500 miles in 10 days. One of my goals for this trip was to drive through some areas I might be interested in buying a house. We found some amazing places along the way. I'm sure I can dig out some photos from my dad's camera. But we did a lot of driving, and a lot of fishing. Not much photo taking.

 

A piece of advice. Install your roof rack before you have you camper installed.

 

Dobinsons MRA installed on all 4 corners summer 2023. This was probably one of the harder suspension installs I've had. Some QA problems for various parts. And one of the top mount bots was cross threaded. Took a couple of days, but got em installed. I ordered the front springs expecting the weight of a bumper and winch. Still haven't installed either so if is really stiff on the front end.

 

Solar install, winter 2024.

I purchased the panels from BougeRV during a new years sale. I initially purchased 2 but decided I didn't want to try and install a 3rd at a later date. All 3 were installed some time in February.

I followed this youtube video for inspiration. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJIEXhnF8MU. Instead of using T track and vinyl I decided to smash the polycarbonate sheet between the roof and extruded aluminum crossbars. I bought the crossbars from tnutz.

Test fitting the panels and crossbars.

Polycarbonate sheet with panels. The Panels came with a some sort of double sided tape. About 4" wide in 3 strips running the length of the panel, and 1 4" wide strip along the edge with the wiring.

Panels and crossbars mounted

Close up of the cables on the roof

I have 3 panels, and 3 sets of wires connected to 3 branch y connector, which connects to a single 10/2 wire that enters the truck. I mounted the branch connector to a piece of aluminum under the roof as the junction box.

Parts list:

• 3 BougeRV 100w solar panels (https://www.bougerv.com/products/yuma-100w-cigs-flexible-solar-panel-with-adhesive)
• 2, 3 prong branch connectors (https://www.bougerv.com/products/solar-y-branch-connectors-y-mmmf-fffm)
• 1 polycarbonate sheet cut to size for the panels (https://www.homedepot.com/p/LEXAN-T...-Polycarbonate-Sheet-PCTW4896-6MMCL/205202473)
• extra solar connectors (https://www.bougerv.com/products/12pcs-solar-connectors-with-spanners-10awg)
• 10 awg red and black wiring for the panels to the y connector
• 10/2 awg jacketed wire for the connector into the camper and connected to the solar charger
• braided wire loom
• split wire loom
• 2 rolls of m3 double sided adhesive tape, this is between the polycarbonate sheet and the roof for extra stick. I ran it along all 4 edges of the sheet. (
  $17 Double Sided Tape Heavy Duty Mounting Tape Strong Adhesive Tape Waterproof Foam Tape Picture Hanging Strips Carpet Tape Rug Gripper for LED Strip Light Indoor and Outdoor (1in X 10ft)
  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09G5TM5VS). I used 1 and a bit more from the second roll.
• Various bits of electrical things: heat shrink, butt connectors, crimpers, insulated p clamps etc.

For the t track crossbars (it's all 10 series extrusion)

• 3 2x1 crossbars cut to 56.5" tapped with m6 hole on ends
• 2 1x1 crossbars cut to 56.5" tapped with m6 hole on ends
• 20 gusseted corner brackets (https://www.tnutz.com/product/cb-010-a-black/)
• 8 1/4" aluminum risers (buy an 1/4" bar of aluminum, cut to 4" for the 2x1 and 3" for the 1x1 crossbars)
• 10 m6 x 10mm bolts (corner bracket to crossbar) (note: I bought these bolts when I bought the extrusion. They aren't stainless hand are rusting like crazy).
• 10 m6 x 12mm bolts (corner bracket to rooftop) (note: ditto above)
• 10 roll in m6 nuts for the crossbars (these are stainless)
• 10 t track nuts for the t track on the roof (these are stainless)

 

New battery installed. Interstate Lead Acid battery from Costco. $114 + $15 core fee. ~132,000 miles.

 

Could you share some more photos of your rack install? I just got an Animas 21 to install under my Super Pacific and i'm not finding a whole lot of guidance for the install anywhere.

If you could also provide a measurement of how far back from the windshield the front of your front rack feet are mounted, that would help me immensely.

Here is mine:

 

Howdy, in my opinion the 21 is still a bit too big. I had to mount further forward than I wanted to. Unfortunately I don’t have a ton of photos from the install. I’ll go grab some measurements and photos. Let me know if you’ve installed it already.

 

Hey! Just seeing this. I agree the 21 is a bit too big and yes, I have installed it. I ended up throwing a 40" lightbar up there and had to move it even farther forward to create the cut-off line with the half fairing and now I am considering un-installing it completely and drilling 6 more holes in my roof to move it back to where it *almost* lined up with the roofline.

Big 1st world problems, but incredibly annoying nonetheless. I did find a step bit that I could fit under the overhang with a 90° attachment on my DeWalt, so I didn't need to lift the shell, thankfully, but my holes weren't quite perfect, got the bolts in anyways.

Hope you've been able to get out and enjoy the build!

 

In June-July 2024 I roadtripped with my aunt and uncle around Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho over 2.5 weeks. All told, about 3000+ miles of driving. Lots of fishing, lots of site seeing. Not nearly enough photos.

A few highlights:
1. Beartooth Highway
2. Fishing at Rock Creek and the Salmon River
3. BBQ in White Fish, MT

A few lowlights:
1. Wind in Wyoming
2. Jackson Hole (too many people in such a small town)

All told, the Tacoma did well. It was especially nice to draft behind my uncle's trailer. I Managed 18mpg for awhile! Perhaps the only thing that would have made the trip better was more riverside campsites. And maybe a few lights inside the Super Pacific.

A few photos.

The truck near Jackson Hole.


While Jackson Hole can be a bit of a zoo, the views are amazing!


And a couple photos of animals while driving around Yellowstone and the surrounding area.

 

An very late update on the 2024 Nevada hunt season.

August and September 2024 my dad and I were each lucky enough to draw horns longer than ears (buck) antelope tags. Unfortunately for me I didn't spend nearly enough time in my unit before moving on to my dad's unit to scout and hunt.




Here is the campsite the night before the opener. Drove out after work, posted up for the night a couple miles off the highway on this spring. The opener was on a Thursday. I woke up early, hiked to a high point, and watched the valley for activity. Except for the side by side in the distance there was very little activity. I didn't take any days off for this portion of the hunt, so after the morning scout I deployed starlink and worked. The key to staying cool on these hot August days was to re-orient my truck every few hours to stay in the shade of the tent.



Between 9-12 there was plenty of pronghorn activity in the valley below. Mostly does and some yearlings. However, 1 really nice buck started rounding them up and rutting a bit. Probably a younger buck, but definitely a shooter. At about 1, as I was prepping for a meeting the grouped started grazing about 150 yards from me. I caught them in the background of my zoom background. Right along side the road in too. If only it weren't for that meeting I could have shot a real nice buck on the opener.

A few hours later I heard several gunshots in the direction the group ran off. So I decided to move on for the rest of the hunt. I had a hard time getting much closer than 500 yards on any of the stalks I made during my portion of the hunt. Most of the time the antelope were hanging out in the middle of the vast patches of cheatgrass. Or on ag fields. I maybe had one other opportunity, but I rushed it and the group I was chasing spooked. After a weekend behind the wheel of the Tacoma, with plenty of miles behind me I packed things up to head towards my dads hunt.



My dad's hunt was a target rich! I spent the first few days scouting and work while I waited for him. When he finally made it to camp I had patterned a few nice bucks. But we needed to sight in his rifle before we could start hunting in earnest.



In early April I ordered a hybrid bumper from @RelentlessFab. I installed it just in time for the hunt with a few lights for good measure. These are awesome bumpers, from an great group of folks. I love how it turned out. I don't know if it's the bumper, the extra weight (fully loaded for the hunt), or the wind but my MPGs seems to have dropped from 16ish to about 14.5ish. I suppose that means I need to figure out how to carry a few extra gas cans into the desert.



I ended up hunting or scouting every day of the the antelope season. I know, that sounds insane. Most people fill their tag after a weekend. But we had some beginner errors, blown stalks (other hunters), and not quite fit enough. Every day out there I learned something new.



It was interesting learning the patterns of the pronghorn while we were out there. My dad showed up the Friday before Labor day. The week leading up to Labor Day the antelope were every where, very easy to spot from the road (or even crossing the network of roads in my dad's unit). Friday and Saturday the roads were loaded with people. Both hunters and off roaders. The antelope scattered to the wind. It became really hard to spot them near the road. The nearest were probably 1 mile from the main roads. Then, come Tuesday, once the traffic died down, the antelope started getting closer and closer to the roads again. This is when we had our best opportunities.



Thursday and Friday after Labor Day were probably some of the most frustrating days of the hunt. My dad had probably taken, and missed, 5 different shots. 2 at the biggest buck we had seen all week. All under 350 yards. Now, I know my dad is generally a good shot. But buck fever is a real thing. It just seemed too unlikely that he could be that bad of a shot. After comparing the optics setup, practice dialing with my Leupold vs his hold over style scope we decided to try my rifle on the last afternoon hunt of the trip.



After missing those two shots on Hank the Tank (we'd seen that big buck 3 days in a row, only really getting a shot Friday morning on him) we decided to head out to an entirely new area near some alfalfa fields to see if anything jumped out at us. About 15 minutes into our drive we spot a lone buck about 400 yards off the dirt road we are on. I quickly check the map, it's public land. My dad jumps out of the truck, sets up for the shot. I start waving a game bag and the buck starts moving closer. At about 330 yards my dad takes the shot, 5 seconds later a poof of dust. "Buck down!". Sure enough he nailed him right in the heart with the first shot he's ever fired out of my rifle. We drive the truck right up to the antelope, butcher him in the shade of my camper, and enjoy tenderloins for dinner that night.