The Taco.

[SteveG]

Excellent little trucks. I'm a Ford guy but man, do I love our Sequoia.

[Becks_Bronco]

I won't lie, the Broncos sure look better, and have a hell of a lot more character, but at 178k miles, and over 15 years old, this little truck doesn't squeak, rattle, leak, or act like anything other than a great little truck. I hate admitting it, but it really is so well built, it puts American vehicles of the same vintage to shame.

[Becks_Bronco]

Now to put on the new to me flares...

The "Pad, Body Outside" as Toyota calls it, comes with a thin strip of self adhesive foam on the back side. I decided to put the pad on before i installed the flares, but i have a feeling at the factory they put the flare on first, slide the pad in, then remove the adhesive backing. Doing it my way was tedious, and it wanted to keep rolling under even though i peeled and stuck as i went. I can't imagine anyone in a factory getting paid to take as long to install them as i did, so there has to be a better way.

I did the front two flares first, and there was about 4" of extra pad. Trimmed it off, no big deal. However, the front flares are substantially smaller than the rears. Doubtfully less than the 4" of leftover i had. This is where i realized that there must be a different part # for the rear. After installing the pad on the rear flares, i had about 3" of flare left without pad. Luckily i saved the 4" cutoffs from the front, and was able to bridge the gap. I would recommend finding the rear part # and ordering two front, two rear, or just four rear ones. Doesn't really make a difference in the long run i imagine, but i kind of wish the pad were one continuous piece.

At first i tried installing the flares without the Scotch double sided tape, but the holes don't all line up perfectly (within an 8th of an inch, but not perfect) so the flares didn't really want to sit exactly right in the front. Pulled them back off, slapped on the sticky tape, and now they're fine.

[Becks_Bronco]

Before


After

[Becks_Bronco]

Did Gold Mountain Trail, and Heartbreak Ridge / Pontiac Sluice. The Tacoma did an awesome job. Great wheelbase, and plenty of power, grip, and ground clearance. I'll post some pictures;

[Becks_Bronco]

Rear shock hoop from Solo Motorsports.

[Becks_Bronco]

[Becks_Bronco]

got out and dirtied my shiny new shocks up... The area around Calico was excellent for both high speed stuff as well as some light technical rocks and hill climbs. Truck performed awesome.

[Becks_Bronco]

Picked up my truck from Creative Fabworks in Anaheim last night. They always surprise me by taking care of all the small stuff. Threw in the bed re-inforcements without even asking. Offered them extra $$ since it wasn't part of our original negotiation, but they said no. Super stoked on how it came out, and it makes me really happy to be able to support friends.

The amount of hardware used to anchor the cross rails shocked me, but i am not complaining. This thing is rock solid, and will probably outlive the truck. It's not painted because i haven't decided on light tabs and antenna mounts yet.

[Becks_Bronco]

Hey Steve, recognize this?

[ChaseTruck754]

Dig the radio mount location - it fits right in that old "change holder" location.

[dtbback]

New fender flares look great! Really diggin the bed rack!

[Becks_Bronco]

Dig the radio mount location - it fits right in that old "change holder" location.

So glad it worked out. That change holder was useless anyways. Any little bump it would fall open anyways.

[Becks_Bronco]

Got my tent!

Trip to big bear is planned for next weekend, so i'll be able to report back on comfort etc. This thing is really well built, and kudos to Tepui for having someone come in on the weekend to allow me to pick it up, and help me instal it.

[Nick]

I dig it!

[ChaseTruck754]

That poor rack! Can you tell we got some rain & you also live a couple miles from the beach...?

Tent looks good though!

[Becks_Bronco]

That poor rack! Can you tell we got some rain & you also live a couple miles from the beach...?

Tent looks good though!

I know right

If I had built it a week later, the WD40 would have kept it looking brand new...

[Becks_Bronco]

I hard mounted my antenna to the bed rack. This way i can keep the rear window closed, and possibly even replace it with a one piece window. This also allows me to take the antenna off so i can fit in my garage, parking garages, drive throughs, etc without the fuss of trying to feed the coax under all my stuff etc.

[Becks_Bronco]

It's no Bronco, but the limited travel works pretty well.

[Becks_Bronco]

Finally got around to wiring up my switches so that the lower LED's are illuminated whenever accessory power is on. I.e. whenever the truck is running. I wanted to wire them into the gauge backlight, so they came on when i switched on the headlights, but i could not find a suitable power lead for that.



The top part of the switch illuminates whenever the accessory is powered on.