OkieYota's Cement Hard Shell Taco Work Truck Build

Hello Tacomaworld ,

I decided I wanted to log my mods and the progress of my truck and hopefully give others ideas and pictures like the ones I have sought out when making decisions about modifying my Tacoma.

I work on pipelines as a Company Representative between the gas company, contractors, and landowners. So I spend about 1/2 my time on highways, about 5,000 miles a month, and the other 1/2 driving across farmers fields, terraces, dirtroads, pastures, creeks, ect... So my plan for this build, albeit a mild one, is to have a vehicle that is refined enough to enjoy driving interstates , capable enough to allow me to drive through pretty much any terrain, and organized enough that I can proficiently work out of my truck and still have room for passengers and my family when I'm not out of town working .

I bought this truck new out of Iowa in July of 2018. I live in Oklahoma but this truck came in about $3k cheaper than what I could find them for down here. I'm sure i could have found a cheaper truck in another color or package down this way ,but since I spend so much time in my vehicle I wanted to make sure it was exactly what I wanted.

I will TRY to add pictures of everything I have already installed but will gladly take requests if you want to see a certain modification in more detail.

Thanks!



Current Status

The day I picked it up.

2018 Tacoma TRD OffRoad DCSB Cement with Premium JBL and Tech Package, Only dealer add-ons were

All weather floor mats (actually good enough to not warrant buying weathertechs in my opinion)

Sill protectors

And a chrome exhaust tip and front licence plate mount (removed and will sell)

Refinement mods

Rek Gen Mudflaps

Screen protector for radio

Cut some stall mat from Atwoods into a bed mat so things quit sliding all over the $@#!% place.



3X remote start from 12v Solutions for use with factory remote, through JayRobot

Pop-n-lock tailgate lock for use with factory remote

had A.R.E. add factory remote capable lock to Campershell

Future -Window tint, clear bra, ceramic coating, want to change headlight and fog bulbs to match bluish/white hue of LED running lights ( this bugs me for some reason when the fogs and DRL are on), Switch out chrome grille surround for black SR surround, debadge

Capability mods

RCI standard angle bolt on rock sliders with fill plate rattle canned semi gloss black



RCI Lower control arm skids, to keep t-posts, sticks, cornstalks, ect.. hopefully out of my cv boots


Caliraised Bed Stiffeners.


Future- Lift (undecided either bp-51 or fully adjustable fox), superbumps, u-bolt flip, TRD -Pro front skid plate, Mid and transfer case skids ( was going to use pelfreybilt but they went bankrupt), receiver hitch skid, exhaust reroute, wheels , firestone MT's , led lights both offroad and strobing amber for work, and more i'm sure.

Organizational mods

Ram Mount Tough Tray Laptop Mount

Ram mount adjustable laptop screen support

Ram mount flat arms (allows laptop to be closed while in mount)

$4 “power caddy” to hold chargers and extra cable ram mount sells something similar for 4x the amount of money but I just used a kitchen utensil divider from Walmart



Ram mount Stubby cup holder base with regular length arm with t slot ball adapter (Holds up my cell phone booster and makes for a solid phone mount)

WeBoost cell phone booster



400 watt power inverter

OG Fab plain theme molle panels for center console (swapped out the supplied bolts for self tapping auto trim screws and painted spacers, screws ,and panels with a coat of semi flat paint)



Center console organizer off of Amazon (best $12 ive spent on truck yet)



A.R.E. Z Series camper shell- Fold down sliding front window, sliding side windows with screen, carpet , led dome light, trimless edge, clothes hanger rod, roof tracks, remote back hatch lock works with factory remote.




Gutter bin - literally a piece of guttering I trimmed to fit under the track on the side of the bed .
Works great for holding marking flags and flagging ribbon which is usually strewn all around the truck bed and looks better than I expected




Steralite 40gal rolling stackable boxes (x 2 )$20 each from Walmart


RokBloks ultimate tailgate seal

Future- Possibly a bedslide or drawers, truck bed molle system for mounting fire exstingiusher , shovel, probing rod ect... , Prinsu cab and topper racks




!!Bonus Material !!
Here are a few pictures of some current and previous trucks/toys



Tundra (sold after 7 years and 180k miles)







Reeper (still own)







'16 Taco (sold)






'13 Taco (no longer have)

 

Great choice with Z series. Looks great

 

Appreciate it, I was going back and forth between this and a snugtop but due to dealer locations I went with ARE but I couldn't be happier with it no more backseat full of junk all the time.

 

How much for z series cover? I have the exact truck.

 

It ended up being right about $3200 installed with the options I chose

 

How do you like the Tacoma compared to the tundra? I work out of my truck and the single cab is getting to me. Thinking of going to a tundra.

 

It depends on what you need the truck to do . My truck just has to move me my luggage and a very limited amount of equipment through pastures and fields and the woods and for that it is great. The two things I miss about my tundra was the power adjustable seats and that the rear was just stiff enough that I never hit the bump stops which I seem to on my tacoma from time to time .

Honestly if you can afford it the tundra can do everything a Tacoma can do and some more . I just didn’t want to spend 50k plus on a platinum tundra when I could get a fully loaded Tacoma for under 40 .

 

Right on man thanks. For me the extra room and 6.5 bed vs the 6 will make a huge difference

 

Problem is I want to keep my single cab but don’t think that’s possible