Building a Toyota that fits Douglas

[DouglasVB]

Thanks everyone! I went ahead and ordered the anti-rodent device that @Johnny Utah suggested. I'll see if I can stomach any of the smells (Irish spring, pachouli, menthol, etc).

I'm contemplating making my own hose system like Roger Brown sells (and many other companies these days) for both air down and air up. They've got most of the parts at Harbor Freight or Home Depot. I like all of the points that Roger makes for the hose inflator/deflator system.

I wonder if it would work to hook up one of these auto deflate valve things to a spare Schrader valve on a hose system.

 

[DouglasVB]

I'm contemplating reinforcing the front bumper mount and frame with something like the RCI reinforcement bracket. I'm not sure if it'll work with my Body Armor 4x4 bumper though.

 

[DaveInDenver]

I'm contemplating reinforcing the front bumper mount and frame with something like the RCI reinforcement bracket. I'm not sure if it'll work with my Body Armor 4x4 bumper though.

Did you have to remove the factory aluminum crash bar and brackets? What about the cosmetic brackets that hold on the stock bumper? These would I assume a completely bare front cross member and bumper intended for that. I don't think, for example, these would work with an ARB.

 

[DouglasVB]

Did you have to remove the factory aluminum crash bar and brackets? What about the cosmetic brackets that hold on the stock bumper?

The Body Armor 4x4 bumper was already installed when I got the truck. I think those things you mentioned were already removed based on Step 8 in these instructions.

 

[allen.wrench]

When I do replace my front stock bumper I'd also like to get a beefer connection to the frame like RCI's brackets. C4 Fab might make something similar.

Not to toss out any previous inputs about deflators. Just curious. Anyone try the Apex design deflators?

I've been following Apex lately and taken notice of them because they started offering, supposedly, the only functional/reliable anti-sway bar quick disconnect for Tacomas.

What's your opinion about the sway bar @DouglasVB ?

Allen

 

[DouglasVB]

When I do replace my front stock bumper I'd also like to get a beefer connection to the frame like RCI's brackets. C4 Fab might make something similar.

Not to toss out any previous inputs about deflators. Just curious. Anyone try the Apex design deflators?

I've been following Apex lately and taken notice of them because they started offering, supposedly, the only functional/reliable anti-sway bar quick disconnect for Tacomas.

What's your opinion about the sway bar @DouglasVB ?

Allen

I haven't formed an opinion on the sway bar yet. My old truck didn't have sway bars but it was also highly modified and drove like on the road. This truck has stock suspension and tires at this point so it is very well behaved. If I were to do something to the sway bars, I would want it easily reversible for street driving because it's really nice to have a truck that drives more like a car on the freeway.

Edit:

I think you're talking about these disconnects?

 

[allen.wrench]

Fair nuff. I'd also prefer to keep my truck well behaved on the street since she's my DD.

I think you're talking about these disconnects?

Yes. Those are the disconnects I noticed.

Allen

 

[DouglasVB]

Fair nuff. I'd also prefer to keep my truck well behaved on the street since she's my DD.


Yes. Those are the disconnects I noticed.

Allen

They look pretty good. It's a similar idea to the quick disconnects that Roger Brown makes for mini trucks. (When did he start putting ads on his site?! On mobile, I'm getting a lot of ads )

 

[DouglasVB]

This evening I installed an under the hood anti rodent device (the one that was recommended earlier in this thread), a winch link (replacing the hook), and a better front license plate solution.

Here is the noise and light show device (anti rodent rave machine) installed under the hood. I might put a second one on the other side later. I trimmed up the zip ties after the photo.

Here is the winch link installed. One issue is it's now the low spot on the front bumper. So when I'm out wheeling, I just need to remember to let a little slack out and tie it to the bumper shackle mount point.

This is probably the more interesting thing... I lost the mounting point for the front license plate when I installed the winch. So I found some 2" tube mounts on Amazon and a license plate mounting plate plus some 8mm bolts and nuts at Home Depot. That license plate is never going to move again

Now I need to pick a good licence plate frame for the front. On the back I'm going to put a "Keep Oregon Green" frame.

The next bigger project will be to install the air compressor in the bed side wall. Maybe later this week I'll try to do that. This weekend I'm hoping we'll be testing out some of the 4x4 capability. Worst case, I'll take one of my scuba tanks with me to air up the tires.

 

[DaveInDenver]

FWIW, I realized the other day working on a friend's truck that I was hearing a periodic high frequency ping. He had a little gizmo called a MouseBlocker on his battery. I asked him if it worked and he said he's never had mice try to nest and it's been on the truck the whole time he's owned it. That's I think at least 10 years and he lives on the way up to Grand Mesa in a place backing up to open space that would certainly have them. So it would seem how ever this thing works does the job.

 

[DouglasVB]

FWIW, I realized the other day working on a friend's truck that I was hearing a periodic high frequency ping. He had a little gizmo called a MouseBlocker on his battery. I asked him if it worked and he said he's never had mice try to nest and it's been on the truck the whole time he's owned it. That's I think at least 10 years and he lives on the way up to Grand Mesa in a place backing up to open space that would certainly have them. So it would seem how ever this thing works does the job.

It's probably the same as what I got. It just emits a chirp or ping at a high frequency. The things I have also does a multi colored light show at regular intervals.

I put a trail camera under the truck but I haven't seen any rodents yet on it. I also have the rat traps out but haven't gotten anything. Perhaps we don't have any rodents at the moment by my truck.

 

[DouglasVB]

I've been thinking more about three things that are somewhat related. I'm all ears for opinions/thoughts/etc on these topics.

Canopy/camper/tent/flatbed

I started another thread to talk about what people are doing these days. I'm trending towards doing a DIY build out of aluminum t-slot framing and using the OEM bed. I would likely extend the frame down to the bed floor and have it go across areas that are stronger. I'm a bit worried that putting much weight on the bed sides directly will cause the whole bed to break apart considering how flimsy it is. The main driver for DIY aluminum t-slot is that it's very reconfigurable for future changes/expansion/flatbedding/etc. I also used to work with it a lot when I was designing and building industrial equipment -- it was great for making sturdy frames. Considering how many companies are selling canopies made out of the stuff, I'm guessing my concern about the joints coming apart in high vibratory environments aren't well-founded.

My most immediate need is a canopy that I can use to haul more gear around than the tonneau cover I currently have. An intermediate need is being able to have an awning to get out of the sun especially for SCUBA diving when setting up and tearing down pre/post-dive. The drysuits we wear really get toasty if you're standing in the sun. A longer-term desire is to have a setup where we can fold out the camp kitchen to be accessible from the outside, have good access to storage of our gear, have more out-of-the-weather space (maybe more awnings with a room tent setup that attaches to the awning?). And finally the longest-term desire is an easily deployable sleeping solution that doesn't take as much time as our ground tent to setup and teardown. (We currently have an REI Kingdom 4 person with a "garage" attachment and with the two of us, it takes ~45 minutes to an hour to get fully setup.) So my idea is to expand from an initial t-slot aluminum canopy to handle all of this other stuff over time. I know I've ardently been "team ground tent" for a long time but having something that's quick to deploy and is spacious is becoming more of a priority.

It would be cool someday to have a flatbed that I can slide a camper or cargo box on and off of easily. But that's definitely more long-term.

Am I crazy to consider doing a DIY aluminum t-slot setup?

Auxiliary power loads

Those who remember my old truck, The Albino Rhino, probably remember all of the fun I had messing around with auxiliary power loads like lights, radios, the air compressor, the fridge, and other stuff. Well... I'm starting to trend in the same direction on this truck I've already got four auxiliary loads on the truck including a dash cam (it has "parking mode" which I do use), winch, bumper-mounted light bar, and the anti-rodent device. And more are coming in the form of my small fridge (and eventually a bigger fridge), heated seats, and blah blah blah. Here's a list of loads I'm seeing in the semi-near future:

1. Under hood anti-rodent device(s)
2. Winch
3. Bumper light bar
4. Air compressor
5. Aux power outlet in the back seat of the cab
6. Heated front seats
7. Under hood light
8. Dash cam
9. 2m/70cm radio
10. GMRS radio
11. CB radio
12. Spare for future other radio (maybe a dedicated APRS 2m radio)
13. Power for the bed/future camper stuff
14. Spare #1
15. Spare #2
16. Spare #3
17. Spare #4
18. Future solar charging
19. Cab-mounted voltmeter

I need to put together a wiring schematic, pick fuse blocks and such, and decide on which of many different mounting solutions I should get for this. Already there are too many auxiliary wires hanging off of the battery terminals

I'll also probably need some of these loads to be switched so they only are on when the engine is running (heated seats, voltmeter, etc).

I've got some spare Blue Sea Systems fuse blocks from prior projects that I should be able to use. I'll probably need to get one or two odds and ends though.

Second battery

Something that was problematic in my old truck was how often I ran down the battery just with a few small house loads. I couldn't keep the fridge running overnight. I killed many batteries over time (thanks Interstate for replacing them for free most of the time!). So I am wanting to have a second battery for all of my house/aux loads. It looks like LiFePO4 is the new hotness for this application. It seems a bit more complex to have a LiFePO4 battery versus traditional lead acid or AMG batteries, and it's more expensive up front.

I'm still learning about LiFePO4 for this type of application. It seems like I would want at least a 100Ah battery. And if that wasn't enough, I could get a second 100Ah battery easily enough. I would need a DC-DC charge controller to not stress out the alternator and to provide the right voltage to the LiFePO4 battery for charging. I could have a manual battery isolator switch to gang up the two batteries in an emergency for starting purposes or just use jumper cables.

It looks like the battery management and monitoring system is quite important to keep these LiFePO4 batteries happy. And it seems that probably it would be better to NOT have it under the hood but instead somewhere a little more temperature controlled like under the back seat or in a hypothetical canopy/camper. I'm seeing various batteries with specs like 32f-110f or -20f to 120f for their standard operating envelopes. The DC-DC charge controllers seem more restrictive with their rated operating ranges. It seems like some of these batteries now also have either integrated or optional accessory heaters if you're expecting to be in cold temps. I haven't seen much yet for cooling the batteries -- someone must make a micro split unit that would be very efficient for both heating and cooling a small, well-insulated battery compartment

I would also want a solar charging setup. Probably I'd put the panel(s) on the top of the canopy/camper. It looks like flexible solar panels (less wind resistance) and a MPPT charge controller are the way to go these days.

Do I connect all of the aux/house loads to the LiFePO4 including things like the winch and future heated seats?

Is LiFePO4 the right choice for me?

Where should I stick the LiFePO4 battery, charge controller, and blah blah?

 

[Squishy!]

Do you follow Ripcord on IG? He has free DIY plans for an aluminum frame shell and tent.


View: https://www.instagram.com/p/C7MsQWIgFuy/?igsh=M2M5dnY1aG02ODhu

 

[DouglasVB]

Do you follow Ripcord on IG? He has free DIY plans for an aluminum frame shell and tent.


View: https://www.instagram.com/p/C7MsQWIgFuy/?igsh=M2M5dnY1aG02ODhu

Yup I follow him! It's been cool watching him iterate his designs.

 

[Squishy!]

Yup I follow him! It's been cool watching him iterate his designs.

I've been tossing around the idea of doing a hardtop for the 1st gen out of the extruded stuff.

 

[DaveInDenver]

Note to reader, long technical post!

Do I connect all of the aux/house loads to the LiFePO4 including things like the winch and future heated seats?

Lithium are still generally not an option for large current loads such as starters and winches. There are a few options for drop-in sizes that can handle starting a gasoline passenger car engine but I'm not aware of one that would on paper be a clear choice to drive a winch.

It's not that LiFePO4 or other lithium can't dump tons of current. They can. It's just that to do it safely without going in to thermal runaway is a balancing act and the majority of cell configurations and BMS aren't going to be intended for that.

Most 100 A-hr batteries are going to want to stay at a fraction of capacity on both charge and discharge, say on the order of probably tens of amps continuous up to maybe 1C for a short burst. IOW a typical 100 A-hr would do 100A for maybe 5 seconds and might support an indefinite time charge/discharge up to about 50A.

Even the so-called dual purpose LiFePO4 that can start an engine will have a fairly strict limit. So they'll do say 5C, e.g. a 500A discharge for a 100 A-hr battery, but it'll be time limited to a short burst. Even then they'll probably suggest that for longest life you may still wish to limit to 0.5C most of the time.

You can't run the standard cranking tests intended for lead-acid on lithium. They simply don't work the same way over, especially low, temperature and the cells themselves don't self regulate like lead-acid. It's a function of physics and chemistry. It's not insurmountable but takes more involved solutions to achieve and so won't be the standard market options.

My $0.02 is the effective option for a truck is to leave the stock electrical system intact as much as possible. Hang the winch off the starter battery like we normally have done for a long time. OEMs have done the work to make the stock charging system work and a winch is close enough to a starter motor that you won't hurt anything and it'll work reliably.

Run the aux system isolated using a DC-DC charger from the stock charging system. I put the solar into the aux battery. The logic in my mind is that I am not routinely stressing the stock system so when I park as long as my battery isn't old and failing there's low risk of being stranded for a dead battery. So no need to charge or even float it on solar. Chance of being stranded totally can be mitigated to practically zero carrying a jump pack.

The aux side I think should be 100% charged after driving all day so feeding solar into it at camp is about keeping it at 100% over time. So I size my solar to be 2x or more the normal consumption, which in my case is mainly just the fridge. So it charges during the day, runs down at night. If it's sunny all day I can run forever like this. Picking the battery is about sizing it for rain or short fall/winter days. I only have about 50 A-hr for that aux battery, which is enough to go about 48 hours without charging before I risk being at zero. My fridge uses about 1.5 A-hr per hour.

My DC-DC can do about 200W (about 18A maximum), which means it takes about 4 hours of driving to get my aux system back to a reliable 80% (this being bulk stage) from fully discharged and will be close to 100% after about 6 to 8 hours most of the time (a few hours of absorption). This may or may not be sufficient depending on your system. But remember that the size of the DC-DC will determine wire size of the feeding branch.

I ran an 8AWG from the front to back so when my DC-DC charger wants max power it'll need to see around 20 to 25 amps and will flirt with low voltage protection setting. This means that I can only tolerate the alternator voltage minus the voltage drop of the wiring. This can be significant running 25A down 20 feet of 8AWG so this is my practical limitation. Going to a larger DC-DC would not work because it would keep shutting down due to under voltage at greater than that 200W draw. I'd have to run a much larger branch, which I didn't think was necessary for my use.

Notice this is not a safety question but functional. I can run quite a bit more than 25 amps on 8AWG without risk of melting insulation but it's a voltage drop and stock alternator/regulator limit. When driving down the road my stock alternator settles at about 13.8V, give or take, so my V drop limit is about 1V total (remember it's a loop twice as long as the run itself). My 8 AWG 20' run (thus 40 feet loop) has about 0.065 ohms of resistance and I get about 0.6V of drop across it at 25 amps. At full tilt I'll see 13.2V at the DC-DC input and I set my LVP at 12.8V (this being the point where I'd want any load on the stock battery to turn off absolutely). So I have about 0.4V of elbow room to allow for variation over temp and what-not.

 

[DouglasVB]

I've been tossing around the idea of doing a hardtop for the 1st gen out of the extruded stuff.

It wouldn't be very hard to make. Just grab some butyl tape to make the seals and you'll be good to go. It's easy enough to use any of the free online design tools to figure out the lengths and cuts. I think there are about a half dozen companies that actually make the extrusions so you can shop around on price a bit.

 

[DouglasVB]

Note to reader, long technical post!

Lithium are still generally not an option for large current loads such as starters and winches. There are a few options for drop-in sizes that can handle starting a gasoline passenger car engine but I'm not aware of one that would on paper be a clear choice to drive a winch.

It's not that LiFePO4 or other lithium can't dump tons of current. They can. It's just that to do it safely without going in to thermal runaway is a balancing act and the majority of cell configurations and BMS aren't going to be intended for that.

Most 100 A-hr batteries are going to want to stay at a fraction of capacity on both charge and discharge, say on the order of probably tens of amps continuous up to maybe 1C for a short burst. IOW a typical 100 A-hr would do 100A for maybe 5 seconds and might support an indefinite time charge/discharge up to about 50A.

Even the so-called dual purpose LiFePO4 that can start an engine will have a fairly strict limit. So they'll do say 5C, e.g. a 500A discharge for a 100 A-hr battery, but it'll be time limited to a short burst. Even then they'll probably suggest that for longest life you may still wish to limit to 0.5C most of the time.

You can't run the standard cranking tests intended for lead-acid on lithium. They simply don't work the same way over, especially low, temperature and the cells themselves don't self regulate like lead-acid. It's a function of physics and chemistry. It's not insurmountable but takes more involved solutions to achieve and so won't be the standard market options.

My $0.02 is the effective option for a truck is to leave the stock electrical system intact as much as possible. Hang the winch off the starter battery like we normally have done for a long time. OEMs have done the work to make the stock charging system work and a winch is close enough to a starter motor that you won't hurt anything and it'll work reliably.

Run the aux system isolated using a DC-DC charger from the stock charging system. I put the solar into the aux battery. The logic in my mind is that I am not routinely stressing the stock system so when I park as long as my battery isn't old and failing there's low risk of being stranded for a dead battery. So no need to charge or even float it on solar. Chance of being stranded totally can be mitigated to practically zero carrying a jump pack.

The aux side I think should be 100% charged after driving all day so feeding solar into it at camp is about keeping it at 100% over time. So I size my solar to be 2x or more the normal consumption, which in my case is mainly just the fridge. So it charges during the day, runs down at night. If it's sunny all day I can run forever like this. Picking the battery is about sizing it for rain or short fall/winter days. I only have about 50 A-hr for that aux battery, which is enough to go about 48 hours without charging before I risk being at zero. My fridge uses about 1.5 A-hr per hour.

My DC-DC can do about 200W (about 18A maximum), which means it takes about 4 hours of driving to get my aux system back to a reliable 80% (this being bulk stage) from fully discharged and will be close to 100% after about 6 to 8 hours most of the time (a few hours of absorption). This may or may not be sufficient depending on your system. But remember that the size of the DC-DC will determine wire size of the feeding branch.

I ran an 8AWG from the front to back so when my DC-DC charger wants max power it'll need to see around 20 to 25 amps and will hit low voltage protection setting. This means that I can only tolerate the alternator voltage minus the voltage drop of the wiring. This can be significant running 25A down 20 feet of 8AWG so this is my practical limitation. Going to a larger DC-DC would not work because it would keep shutting down due to under voltage at greater than that 200W draw. I'd have to run a much larger branch, which I didn't think was necessary for my use.

Notice this is not a safety question but functional. I can run quite a bit more than 25 amps on 8AWG without risk of melting insulation but it's a voltage drop and stock alternator/regulator limit. When driving down the road my stock alternator settles at about 13.8V, give or take, so my V drop limit is about 1V total (remember it's a loop twice as long as the run itself). My 8 AWG 20' run (thus 40 feet loop) has about 0.065 ohms of resistance and I get about 0.6V of drop across it at 25 amps. At full tilt I'll see 13.2V at the DC-DC input and I set my LVP at 12.8V (this being the point where I'd want any load on the stock battery to turn off absolutely). So I have about 0.4V of elbow room to allow for variation over temp and what-not.

Thanks! That all makes sense.

I'll keep the winch on the engine battery. I'll use a DC-DC charge controller. I'll have the lithium battery either under the back seats (seems like a common place to put it) or in the bed inside the hard top (the more likely place I'll put it).

I do have a jumper pack that has worked faithfully for a half dozen years. It's already sitting in the back seat floorboard.

In the short term if I have to leave the truck parked for more than a couple of days at a time, I'll just throw a battery tender on it. My parking spot is close enough to an outlet that I can make that work. (Not that I want to leave it sit more than a day considering the rodent issue)

 

[DouglasVB]

I started on installing the ARB twin compressors in the All-Pro-supplied bed pocket over the weekend. I'm waiting for some bits and bobs to come this week to finish plumbing the compressor before I install it.

Since I've got a '22 Tacoma, there was no OEM drivers side bed pocket. But there's plenty of space for one. So I decided I'd cut in the hole and install one myself. There are plenty of guides on Tacoma World and elsewhere but it all boils down to taking some measurements from the passenger side bed pocket and transferring them over to the drivers side, and then using a drill and a cutting tool to open up the bed liner. I used a sawzall and it sucked. You can see the cuts weren't super great. I used whatever blades I had available (wood blades) and it burned through three blades making those cuts. I think if I were to do it again, I would use a dremel or similar small cutoff wheel tool.

I'm planning to use a little epoxy around the edges of the hole to glue everything back together so there is less chance of splitting or breakage later. The twin compressors and steel pocket are heavy enough that I am a little concerned I'll be doing fiberglass work on this bed in the future. But I haven't really seen any reports of that problem so maybe I'm being overly paranoid.

Even with the crappy cuts, everything is hidden behind a face plate so it won't look bad. I'll epoxy closed the one cut that deviated off to the side.

I opened up the compressor cover to verify everything was good inside. I've bench tested that it turns on and both compressors run.

I didn't grab a photo of the new pocket but you can see it on this link. The compressor will mount low in the box and to the front of the vehicle. I'm going to relocate the air intakes (they would be at the lowest position in the box) to be at the top of the box using some temperature and vacuum-appropriate tubing. I'm also going to remotely mount an ARB quick air coupler in the box on the tailgate side. I'll be using an 18" long piece of braided stainless compressor hose to take air from the outlet on the twin compressors over there and then I'll have a sheet metal bracket (I've got some sheet metal I can bend up by hand into the right shape) to mount it. I'm also going to have a tee underneath of that quick connect fitting to have some nylon DOT air brake tubing come off via a push-to-connect air brakes fitting. I will in the future have a remote mounted quick connect fitting probably up by the front bumper to make it easier to access. I'll also eventually install an air tank so I can run small air tools in an emergency.

I'm still working out exactly how I'll turn the compressor on and off. I will mount an ARB compressor switch in the box itself (there are holes specifically for that although they were cut slightly too small at the factory so I'll have to use a file and open one up a little bit). I think I am also going to get a Toyota-style short switch to mount in the cab rather than use an ARB switch so it looks more OEM.

I've found one company that 3D prints custom switch layouts for my lower drivers side switch panel. They're currently not printing them but hopefully in a few months they will. The reason I'll have to get a custom printed panel there is because I've got a tall Toyota OEM switch for the clutch cancel button on the lower row of switches and all of the other people making expanded switch panels for this location don't take that into account. Below is a photo of the current switch panel.

I can fit another 3 or 4 switches on the top part of the panel. I'm in the future planning to get a front-facing camera so that will require a button. I'll also have a button to turn on the rear-facing camera without having to be in reverse. So there's two more buttons plus the compressor. And I'm sure a some point there'll be other lights that I'll want on switches.

The lower center console switch panel is destined to have two seat heater buttons this fall. This truck didn't come stock with seat heaters so I'm planning to install them. I don't want to have to tear apart the dash to put in the OEM seat heater buttons that would require replacing the entire face plate for the climate control system so some OEM-style seat heater buttons will go into two of these slots instead. That'll leave one hole open here which might end up being the compressor switch at least temporarily.

There are some folks making a replacement lower center console switch panel that adds an extra switch but it requires modifying the dash and taking it apart to add it in. It looks like way more work than I'm interested in doing to get one more button down here.

Then there's the upper console location for more switches. Several companies sell expanded switch plates that'll let me have four or five switches plus the SOS button (not that I pay for the subscription). I'm planning to add a button up here to allow for 2WD low range. I think I remember seeing a mod that would allow me to use the locker in 2WD or 4HI. That would be useful as well, assuming the locker and gears can take that. Those buttons would go up here.

There's a person manufacturing some nice harnesses that help with splicing in extra switches to have appropriate dimmable backlighting. He stopped doing direct sales and now sells them via places like Cali Raised, Tacoma Beast, or Guild Outfitters. People have tested it up to adding 7 additional switches all daisy chained together without a problem.

I'm expecting to be done with the compressor installation by the end of this week although probably I won't have the cab switch installed by then. I haven't ordered the cab switch stuff because I need to pop off the lower drivers side panel and take a look inside to see how the previous owner spliced in the LED light bar switch. And also I need to take a look behind the lower center console switch plate to see what's up there. But I can get the compressor up and running using the rear pocket switch.

 

[DouglasVB]

I got the ARB dual compressors installed in the All-Pro Offroad / Trail Gear bed pocket mount and the wiring routed to the engine bay today. I've still got more to do with the wiring in the engine bay and into the dash but it's getting closer.

A word of warning: This was such a huge pain in the butt that I do not recommend doing it to mount your compressor out of the way. Seriously I spent like five hours on my back under the bed with my arms way up in the side panel screwing around trying to get the box installed. That was a long, miserable time spent trying to thread four nuts onto bolts and tighten things down. I hope I never ever have to remove that box because it's a PITA. At that point I'll just flatbed the truck But hey if you have tiny hands and long thin arms, maybe this is an easy mod for you to install!

Now that I've posted a warning for anyone who might be thinking of doing this mod...

Here is the compressor stuffed in the box along with the wiring and an ARB quick connect I put together with some metal strapping I had laying around. The hose exiting the box is going to be deadheaded for now but eventually will connect to DOT air brake line that'll go to a remote air chuck and an air tank someday. It may also feed a water tank to pressurize it for showering and etc. Someday...

I should note that the box is not bent to exact spec. The flanges with the oval bolt holes are a bit wide and this caused me great consternation.

Here it is with the door on it and the metal frames as it will be when installed. This is a lot of steel!

Note that the door latches may seem like they need to be bent inward at this point. Don't do it! Once installed, there is also the thickness of the composite bed to take into account.

Also note that you can get either keyed locking or non-keyed turn knob latches. When I bought this a few months back, there was a backlog on the keyed. I think I'm happy with the non-keyed because it's one less thing I need to worry about lubricating and keeping water out of. Plus I'll always have a bed cover. Plus there's basically no way for someone to remove the compressor without removing the entire box and that would take hours even with a hammer or a saw.

They included this strange plastic tape with the kit and said to cover all of the holes that didn't have bolts in them. So I dutifully did so. I needed a little electrical tape to finish the job. Who knows if this stuff will stay on the box more than a few months.

Note that I pushed the compressor switch into the box when I mounted the box so that it wouldn't be in the way. That made things MUCH easier. And then I pushed the switch back into its permanent position once the box was mounted.

Here the compressor and box is installed into the truck. You can see the switch hanging down before I put it back into its hole. I also hadn't put in the switch blank in the hole on the opposite side of the box.

A few tips:

• Get a friend to help. It will save you a LOT of time.
• Remove the bed light (or the blank panel) to gain access to install the nut on the upper rear bolt. There is a tab to release on the bottom of the blank panel or bed light. I used a thin knife blade to pop the tab back and then the light came right out. I did NOT disconnect the light because I was fearful of losing the cable into the abyss between the newly installed metal box and the rest of the bed.
• Get four bolts for the four corners that are longer than you think you need.
• Get two bolts that are shorter for the two middle holes.
• I put washers behind the two middle hole bolts so there was some force distribution with the composite bed.
• I used some 2 part epoxy around the cut edge before I installed everything to hopefully inhibit any crack growth in the composite bed. I let it dry completely before proceeding. I also coated the insides of the six holes.
• Partially removing the fender well liner gave me enough access to get the top forward nut in place and tighten it.
• I was able to get the two bottom nuts on first enough that then I could use some leverage (a big screwdriver) to rotate the the box up and more aligned with the two bolts that I then inserted at the top corners.
• I tightened down the two middle bolts before I installed the box.
• There are two metal frames that come with the kit. It's a bit confusing how they go together. The frame that the metal door fits into perfectly (thinner edges) goes on the outside. Then next comes the frame that has a thicker edge. Then comes the composite bed. Then on the other side of the composite bed is the box. The instructions and photos online were not super clear on this.
• It is probably worth test fitting the box and everything before installing it and installing the compressor.
• I have no idea how you would ever install the compressor once the box is in place. Everything needs to be installed when it goes in.
• Use a small file to remove the powder coating on the switch hole that you'll be using on the box. They didn't size the hole correctly to take into account the powder coat thickness. The rocker switch won't fit otherwise. I hit it with some Rust-Oleum back spray paint after removing that little bit of powder coat.

One somewhat annoying thing is that this box is in no way sealed. If you dunk the back end of the truck in a creek, this box is filling with water. I'm considering if I want to use some epoxy or flexible caulking to at least close up the hole along the edge of the box to prevent wheel spray from getting into the box as much.

Here's another view of the whole thing with the switch now in its proper place and the switch blank installed on the other side. I had originally planned to have the fans facing up and some hose to relocate the air intake filters to the top side of the box but I could not figure out how to achieve that within the space constraints present. This configuration with the fans pointed down turned out to be the only way I could make it all work.

Here's a closer view of the switch tucked away. I'll also have a switch in the cab to turn the compressor on and off but this switch will be nice if I forget to turn it on in the cab or whatever. It's always nice to have options. Plus the harness that came with the kit had a provision for this switch already.

Here it is with the door installed. I had to bend the metal tabs on the latches a little outward to make it all fit correctly. Otherwise the latches wouldn't close. But now that it's all together, everything is tight and it looks good. You'd never know what a massive PITA it was to install this.

The next thing to do is route the wire loom. It's a big, fat loom that's way too thick for its own good. I ended up routing it along behind the spare tire and up the passenger frame rail after much fighting with trying to find a good routing up the drivers side frame rail. The problem I ran into was there was no good way on the drivers side to get it past the front drivers cab body mount without having to route it behind a head shield. I could have gotten a cable heat shield to put on and maybe that would have worked but I wasn't thrilled about introducing a wire loom into that area. So instead I ended up going up the passenger frame rail and was able to sneak everything up into the engine bay just in front of the front passenger cab body mount (behind the rubberized piece of fabric that acts as a splash guard).

For now the wiring is coiled up out of the way next to the airbox on the passenger side. It's a bit too short to reach the battery directly. And I need to get the cab wiring sorted. Plus I need to figure out what I'm doing for an engine bay aux fuse block.

I've got my master cylinder reservoir in the place where many of the aftermarket fuse panel brackets end up going. I think there are some relocation kits although I'm not sure I want to relocate it. I'm considering putting a fuse panel instead on the passenger side in that big open space between the air box and the AC/heater lines that go into the cab. If anyone has ideas, please let me know!

I do have a couple of Blue Sea fuse blocks kicking around in my stockpile of stuff. Maybe I can use these rather than having to buy something new.

Anyway that's where I'm at right now. I have applied power to everything and the compressors do turn on from the switch in the box in the back. So now I just need to:

1. Mount the switch in the cab and do some wiring with a plug-and-play-ish harness for switch dimming (I picked up this kit from Guild Outfitters to make it so I don't have to cut into the truck's harness for that)
2. Buy a new left side switch panel with more holes for switches
3. Select and buy an aux fuse mounting solution for the engine bay (this is the part I haven't figured out yet)
4. Buy any other aux wiring stuff that I don't have

The RCI bumper reinforcement bracket also arrived today. I'll probably install it some night next week.

The take-away message from all of this is that it's a huge PITA to install this. I never want to do it again