Builds Drftsub's Cruiser Build Thread (1 Viewer)

[drftsub]

Hey all, may as well start this.

A little while back I decided that I was going to sell off our rather built long travel 07 Tacoma crew cab long bed and move V8 and shorter wheelbase.

We were at a point that I was either going to spend a significant amount of money making the Tacoma more "EAF" , but knew its suburban length wheelbase and small cab for the two of us and a Shepherd (and bed we could never fully seal from the dust) and lack of power with the added weight were annoyances that I couldn't get around. So the search started for what we would build as our next adventure rig.

We had originally looked at v8 4Runner's, then moved to GX470/460's. These had particular attraction as all my rather expensive front suspension could swap over with minor adjustments, but then figured if we were going to do the move, move to beefier everything and just get a 200.

I picked this one up outside of Dallas, TX in August with a set of BP51's , TC UCA's and a couple other odds and ends done already for a price significantly cheaper than anything I could find in CA with similar miles and stock.

I got to know it fairly well during the 1800 mile drive home, and was very happy with the on road behavior and comfort during my 30 hour sprint.

We promptly took it out the next weekend to hit some trails outside of Gold Lake and verify that I wanted to put the Taco up for sale, the cruiser surprised me with how well it did being so close to stock.

We were prepping to list the Taco when we returned, and after posting a few photos of the Cruiser was messaged by a friend who wanted the Tacoma, and it sold at my asking price before listed.

The build of the Cruiser has now started, and will be a little slow at first due to some life events happening in the next year that will require selling our home and moving inland, so home projects are the priority for now.

For the first stage of the build we are planning:

• Move over my Batwing, Quik Ensuite, etc.
• Wheels and Tires - move to 17's and 35's Done!
• Drawers / interior minor build out
• Aux Battery / charger - LifePo4 100ah and Redarc BCDC in!
• Skids / Sliders / Ultralight rear bumper / swingout build up (Ill fab these)
• Front bumper from Proline ... I think
• 12.5 Comeup Winch
• Gears / Lockers most likely, testing how it feels with 35's and this may wait until after the move.

Second stage we will:

• Better aux lighting
• Hood solar panel
• 40 gal Aux tank (we will be held to short trips till after we move, no real need yet)
• Further build out of interior, permanent install comms, sort the interior electrics for ideal long trip nav.
• Fabbed roof rack / hardshell tent
• Suspension will switch to Tundra long travel, King 3.0's, Hydro bumps f&r, custom rear links and some other suspension ideas I have to help the cruiser deal with how I typically run in the dirt and sand but still be happy in the rocks.
• I am sure a bunch of other things I havent even thought of yet...

Anyway, thanks for having me , and thanks for the platform!

 

[drftsub]

To start this off , this last weekend I managed to do a few things:

Got the 35's mounted

Wheels are 17x8.5 +0
Tires are the new Kenda Klever RT in 35x10.50R17 , Pizzacutters FTW!

I will say that the clearancing required wasn't too bad, and required:

• Removal of mud flaps
• Trimming the inboard side of the sideskirt plastic
• Clearancing of the support for the inboard bolt of sideskirt plastic
• Heatgun molding of the front of the fender liner
• Minor trim of the front bumper lower edge

It will hit the dirt this weekend so we will see how it does when stuffed and what else may need to move.

Also removed the 60 side of the rear seat (this will be a 3 seat Cruiser when the drawers go in) which my pup was stoked about:

Also got the 8020 extrusion in the factory rack and mounted my Batwing so we have shade for this weekend.

 

[g1701gst]

Congrats on the 200. I like your wheel and tire selection. Any more pics of the Tacoma, cuz that looks like it would be fun to high-speed rally.

 

[TimCFJ40]

Really interested in how you like those Kenda RTs. They look great!

 

[drftsub]

Congrats on the 200. I like your wheel and tire selection. Any more pics of the Tacoma, cuz that looks like it would be fun to high-speed rally.

Here are a few I have with me. It was a great rig and a ton of fun, and definitely spent some time both airborne and sideways haha.

 

[drftsub]

Really interested in how you like those Kenda RTs. They look great!

Initial impressions are good but will update once I have had some more time with them. I love the pizzacutter size and the price is also amazing at sub $200 a tire.

 

[grinchy]

Tell us more about the rims. Are they true bead locks?

 

[drftsub]

Tell us more about the rims. Are they true bead locks?

Unfortunately not, they are what I like to call “Bro-locks” . I love the wheel, and it’s not available in 5x150 without the fauxlock.

I did go back and forth about having them converted by OMF , but I can always do that later.


They are made by Fifteen52 who have been around the automotive world for some time but are just starting to play with trucks.

 

[CJ3Flyer]

“Bro-locks”

 

[tbisaacs]

I prefer “bro-verlanding”

 

[silverhorse]

@drftsub looks great! would you mind a straight shot pic of the rig so I can see how far the wheels stick out? love the wider stance!

 

[drftsub]

@drftsub looks great! would you mind a straight shot pic of the rig so I can see how far the wheels stick out? love the wider stance!

Not the best photo, but they barely poke with the narrow tires. I do not expect rubbing in the rear and the front can be dealt with, this thing will get wide glass fenders eventually anyway so if I need to clearance these that’s fine although not ideal for now.

 

[silverhorse]

looks really good with tire wheel combo! I'm liking the more narrow taller tires these days... how much lift do you think you have?

 

[drftsub]

looks really good with tire wheel combo! I'm liking the more narrow taller tires these days... how much lift do you think you have?

Thanks, and considering it came to me with the lift on I dont have much other than parking next to other 200's, which are surprisingly common in Santa Cruz for some reason, I see 2-3 on a daily basis and have seen as many as 7 in one day here.

That said Its probably around the 2.5" ish area, and I am considering lifting the front up a little more.

 

[drftsub]

Last night I thrashed to get a secondary power source in as we are leaving today to go out this weekend.

As I do not have drawers yet, I needed to keep my setup fairly removable while I wait on @cruzerDave to get the new design out so I can permantly install all this stuff.

Went with a 100ah LiFePO4 from Battleborn, yes they were a little pricier than a DIY, but considering timing I didn't want to play with all the variables, and it came with great reviews and warranty. I may do a DIY 180-200ah setup after I do some more research

To charge it I went with the Redarc BCDC with the Lithium profile, and wired accordingly.

Under the hood ran through a 100A Bluesea breaker.

A little VHB to keep things together for now, we will see how this does for the Dometic CFX75DZ compared to my last AGM setup.

The Anderson plug pops up through the hole in the carpet left from the seat removal, so I can unplug and remove when home. The pigtail on the feed side let me place the battery setup basically anywhere I need it to be.

 

[Mogwai]

That is sick! Those Battleborns are the way to go for plug and play, they are literally "drop in replacements" for lead acid and have built in BMS. And as far as price, those things are actually a good bang for the buck. 3k to 5k cycles... In comparison that is 6x to 10x the life expectancy as a Yeti Goal Zero.

How are you planning to draw power from it, I assume you'll connect an inverter?

Edit: I'm going to do something exactly like this and mount in the same location, I have enough room behind/in my "drawers" to fit all the power components plus around 18g of water if I can ever figure out a solution I like.

 

[drftsub]

How are you planning to draw power from it, I assume you'll connect an inverter?

Edit: I'm going to do something exactly like this and mount in the same location, I have enough room behind/in my "drawers" to fit all the power components plus around 18g of water if I can ever figure out a solution I like.

I am running a simple dc "cig lighter" plug and have the fridge plugged into it. I will be running a Redarc Smart Start Load Disconnect but it didnt arrive in time. The end plan will be for this to feed a dc fuse panel in the rear and that should run:

• Fridge plug
• Aux rear lighting
• Power to the RTT for lighting / phone charging
• Water pump
• inverter for when the wife wants to make margaritas in the desert

I may need more than 100ah lol.

For your water tank, I am planning on having these guys make me a custom bladder : Smart Bottle for Camping and Outdoor Applications , there are a few other places for custom soft bladders as well .

Bladder doesn't require venting , adds very little weight, and can conform to irregular shapes.

Once we have the drawers in, I am going to build a matching height platform that takes up the space where the 60 side of the seat was. Dog bed can go on top and allow for space to put water storage, batteries, etc plus a few cubbies for storage.

 

[tbisaacs]

Last night I thrashed to get a secondary power source in as we are leaving today to go out this weekend.

As I do not have drawers yet, I needed to keep my setup fairly removable while I wait on @cruzerDave to get the new design out so I can permantly install all this stuff.

Went with a 100ah LiFePO4 from Battleborn, yes they were a little pricier than a DIY, but considering timing I didn't want to play with all the variables, and it came with great reviews and warranty. I may do a DIY 180-200ah setup after I do some more research

To charge it I went with the Redarc BCDC with the Lithium profile, and wired accordingly.
View attachment 2097953

Under the hood ran through a 100A Bluesea breaker.
View attachment 2097958
A little VHB to keep things together for now, we will see how this does for the Dometic CFX75DZ compared to my last AGM setup.

The Anderson plug pops up through the hole in the carpet left from the seat removal, so I can unplug and remove when home. The pigtail on the feed side let me place the battery setup basically anywhere I need it to be.

View attachment 2097959

@TonyP ran a similar setup, but I believe he put the BB in the primary battery location and moved the starter battery to the passenger side.

 

[Mogwai]

I am running a simple dc "cig lighter" plug and have the fridge plugged into it. I will be running a Redarc Smart Start Load Disconnect but it didnt arrive in time. The end plan will be for this to feed a dc fuse panel in the rear and that should run:

• Fridge plug
• Aux rear lighting
• Power to the RTT for lighting / phone charging
• Water pump
• inverter for when the wife wants to make margaritas in the desert

I may need more than 100ah lol.

For your water tank, I am planning on having these guys make me a custom bladder : Smart Bottle for Camping and Outdoor Applications , there are a few other places for custom soft bladders as well .

Bladder doesn't require venting , adds very little weight, and can conform to irregular shapes.

Once we have the drawers in, I am going to build a matching height platform that takes up the space where the 60 side of the seat was. Dog bed can go on top and allow for space to put water storage, batteries, etc plus a few cubbies for storage.

Alright keep me posted on the bladders, same direction I was going and went to Alibaba, talked to a couple manufacturers but they wanted like 200 units haha.... They are nice though, heavy duty. I like that the bladders are light weight, removable, etc... Ideally I'd be looking for (2), each about 9 gallons either long and skinny (width of the truck) and stack them, or side by side. One for shower, one for drinking. Have you seen the "drawers" I built? There are some things I'd change and it's a bit over the top but more important than the drawers is all the space behind them that fit the rest of these goodies. 200 Series Not-a-drawer "Drawer" Project

Toward the middle you'll see a view without the top on, electronics on the wood and water in that space where you see the carpet. At least that's the idea.

Edit: and I hope you don't mind I'm cluttering up your build thread. DM if you want to take this off line!

 

[drftsub]

@TonyP ran a similar setup, but I believe he put the BB in the primary battery location and moved the starter battery to the passenger side.

I was heavily considering that , but saw something about operating temps and changes to life expectancy / state of charge and decided if I could keep it inside without too much issue, save the underhood space for air compressors etc.