The Red Devil (1 Viewer)

[84yota4x4]

A year ago my wife and I bought a red 2009 Tacoma DCSB with a 170K. It's not a TRD package unfortunately but it is a 4x4.

My wife affectionally named it the Red Devil.

We've taken it on a bunch of short trips in Tn or Ga for hiking or backpacking or camping. In the past year I've done some modifications to it to help suit our needs out on the trail or just to make it more comfortable in general. Our 5 year goal is to drive from here in Tn to Alaska.

I've been on MUD for a while and had a 84 FJ60 for a number of years through college. I loved that truck but needs changed and I had to let it go. I'm happy to be back in the Toyota world once again.

So I'd like to share what I've done and how I've done it to help inform/dialogue with others and to further the knowledge base here on MUD.

So far everything has been pretty small and not super sexy but you have to start somewhere…..

Present:

-Wet Okole seat covers with heated seats
-WeatherTech Rain Guards
-Dual USB Ports in dash
-Streamlight flashlight charger mounted
-Lamphus Rock Lights (6)
-Wiring Fuse block W/ relays

Future:

-Aux Driving Lights
-OME Suspension
-Warn Winch
-Wheels/Tires
-Camper Top
-Power Inverter
-Sliders
-Skid plates

 

[84yota4x4]

So here she is at Pickette State Park. Not a huge fan of the front brush guard but it doesn't look terrible and it came on the truck…

 

[84yota4x4]

Here's the work on the wiring harness and relay box with fuses. SPOD's would have been nice but let's be real. I'm a cop and make peanuts so I can't afford that fancy crap. So I made my own. The relay's go to factory switches I found at the local Pick-a-part for $5 a pop.

The box is simple but effective. I do still need to make a cover for it just to keep dust and a majority of water out.

 

[84yota4x4]

Here it is installed in the truck. At first I just ran constant power to it but very quickly realized that was not going to work. My wife kept leaving the heated seats on and killed the battery a few times. So I bought a 100 amp relay and installed it after the breaker and now have it triggered by the key.

 

[84yota4x4]

Rock Lights!! Upon investigation of the lights I found they only sent me 5 instead of 6. I emailed them and they immediately responded and another one is in the mail now. I'll get some pics of those as soon as I get the last one installed. As of now I have 4 installed….

 

[ferg]

Looks good. Might want to reroute that primary power wire, less stress will prevent a future failure. And some split loom on some of that too.

 

[84yota4x4]

Looks good. Might want to reroute that primary power wire, less stress will prevent a future failure. And some split loom on some of that too.

True, ferg. I am planning on rerouting it. It's def not perfect but I had to start somewhere.

 

[84yota4x4]

I got the last light in for the rock lights so today I'll be finishing up the install on those. The wiring is a little disorganized but it should clean up well. I do need to get some connectors so I can disassemble some the harness if I ever need to.

 

[84yota4x4]

Here's what the dash looks like so far. The small lightbulb is the rock lights and the DAC will be relabeled as Aux Lights at some point. I found the switches at a local Pick-a-Part for $5 a pop out of a 4Runner.

The Dual USB Port is really nice so your not dependent on the cigarette lighter outlet to run all your USB accessories. It was about $15 on Amazon and fits perfectly.

The rock lights are all done except for some tidying up of the wiring but they look great and are super bright.

 

[84yota4x4]

So over the holidays the Red Devil definitely got a good workout. My wife and I traveled from Chattanooga, Tn to Cloudcroft, NM and back over the course of 11 days. We hit everything from mountains to dead flats, rain, sleet, and snow. The seat heaters worked flawlessly and were super nice. The rock lights were great for navigating some tight areas in the dark and for lighting the road for others as we crawled through a blizzard at 9500 ft. I even needed the flashlight at night while digging through all our gear. The USB port charger was used pretty much every time we got in the truck for one of our phones (and we have a headlamp that can charge off of a USB as well).

Here's the basics of the trip:

Chattanooga to Little Rock, AR (stayed with family)
Little Rock to Palo Duro Canyon outside Amarillo, Tx (camped in the cold and wind)
Palo Duro to Cloudcroft, NM
Cloudcroft to Carlsbad Caverns (Awesome)
Cloudcroft to Roswell, NM (Cheeky)
Cloudcoft to Waco, Tx (stayed with family and saw the Magnolia store)
Waco to Roosevelt State Park, Mississippi (Cabin was pretty rough)
MS to Chattanooga (through the rain/sleet/snow)

I'll post some pics later when I get them uploaded.

 

[84yota4x4]

First Pic is just outside Roswell, NM

Second is a short trail we found just outside Cloudcroft, NM while it was snowing

Third is a funny little APC thingy we found along the side of the road in Cloudcroft.

 

[84yota4x4]

Here's our trip to White Sands National Monument in NM. It was 51 deg when we got there and beautiful out! So we did the 5 mile hike out to the flats… and we got stuck in a rain storm about halfway. It dropped 10 degrees in less than an hour and we were soaked and freezing by the time we got back to the truck. Thank goodness for the heated seats! Then on the way back up into the mountains all the rain turned into a blizzard. Road conditions got really bad really quickly. But we were able to make it back to the condo safely.

 

[84yota4x4]

Here's just a few shots from our day trip to Roswell. We went to the UFO museum which was interesting but really cheesy and pretty sporadic.

 

[84yota4x4]

Here's our return trip to Chattanooga over 2 days.

The Red Devil in all her nasty glory somewhere in Tx.

We stayed the night in a cabin in MS. We woke up the freezing rain falling. So we hit the road as quick as possible to try and out-run the weather front. It was pretty sketchy at times but slow and steady we kept going and were able to beat the worst of it.

 

[84yota4x4]

Optima Time! Got me a Yellow top from Summit Racing. (Who knew they'd have the best price around….)

On another note I made a pallet wood gun rack for my Mossberg and my AR.

 

[84yota4x4]

FINALLY WE FOUND A CAP!

It's a Leer 100R/100RCC w/ a Thule roof rack and a Thule bike tray (Not pictured). It has hinged side windows, a third brake light, and an LED interior light. We found it on Craigslist down in ATl for $500! We are stoked!.

I wired in the lights yesterday and added a second interior LED light for better lighting. (I had an extra LED from the rock lights)

Don't worry I have some ideas on how to clean up this wiring so it's not a snag-hazard.

 

[84yota4x4]

So I realized I never posted the night pics of the camper lights....

 

[84yota4x4]

Also today I finally broke down and bought a new front driver's side headlight on Amazon. I went to change the bulb in it and the little tab that holds the bulb retainer on it broke It already has one broken tab, its super hazy, and the amber lens inside is broke so I just went ahead and bought a new TYC brand. I know they are not great quality and will possibly get moisture in it but I'll just deal with it for the time being. I just couldn't justify shelling out $450 for two OEM new headlights so I just broke down and bought one cheap one to get me by.

And passenger's side light is in great shape so now they will almost match

In other news I've found a source for some new factory toyota Trails Edition wheels! Hopefully I'll have those in the next few weeks or so. I'll be super happy to get rid of these crappy black plastic-dipped wheels!

 

[Volunteer]

Nice additions for sure I also have the ARE, CXT top with windoors on both sides its a great top. I went with the LED outdoor strip lights on the interior and have been very happy with them for the money and time spent. I added another strip right above the rear hatch which is not in the pic below. It has the remote to control for the brightness which is nice. We did a week trip in the Ozarks last month and they worked out great seeing in the back to get our gear. I also swapped out all the interior bulbs for LED which made a big improvement. The black TRD wheels have a cleaner look IMO and they're easy to touch up after any rock rash

 

[84yota4x4]

Thanks Volunteer!

Yeah the side windows are fantastic for accessibility.

We are going up to Big South Fork area and camping this weekend for my wife's birthday. I'm really excited about it. We'll finally get to use this new Pelican cooler we were given!