The Amocat- 2005 Tacoma

[aardvarcus]

WDB,

Yeah I considered them, I just wasn't sold on the durability or lock-ability. It would be ok for straps and jumper cables, but I don't know about much heavier items. I don't want lots of lbs of tools coming loose at an inopportune time. I would be more inclined to pursue one if I had a bed cover/lockable tailgate on the truck.

I tend to obsess, and I don't like it when something is not as good as it could be. I typically end up dissatisfied and do it over, like taking out a tool chest toolbox that I thought would work good enough to put in other fancier storage that frees the bed up more.

[freebeard]

The ultimate would be a half-tonneau/toolbox on tracks, so you can slide it from the rear to the front as necessary.

[aardvarcus]

I got my Pelican 1520 cases mounted to the bed and stuffed with some tools. Sorry, I forgot to get some pictures, will do that soon. I was able to remove the big aluminum tool chest and gain back an extra 2’ worth of length to my bed. A couple of tool bags are temporarily in my backseat until I can clean up my tool storage situation. I am thinking I need to put in some dividers so that I can better organize my junk. Also some of my less often utilized equipment that is bulky but lighter in weight needs to go back under the rear seat, like my come along and some of my straps.

Put the truck to the test for material hauling last weekend, went to Lowes after some 2x12s, expecting to get 8’ and 10’ sticks. However my local Lowes no longer has 2x12s except in 12’ and 16’ material, and most of the remaining 12’ ones were junk, leaving me with four 16’ and two 12’ pieces to haul. I did not have time to have them cut them in half. Hauling 16’ sticks in a 6’ bed which is only 7.5’ with the tailgate down leaves a lot to be desired. (Yes I need a trailer…) I thought I was going to strap them onto my half shell, but after some experimenting, I discovered that I could fit six 2x12s through the opening of the sliding rear window, after laying down a towel on the window frame, with the tailgate in the up position. I wouldn’t recommend this for long distances, but it got me out of a pinch.

Back to fuel economy, these 255/85R16 modified all terrain tires appear to be hurting me about 2mpg or around 8% compared to 235/85R16 street tires. I need to get my new street tires ordered ASAP. My progress on my other Tacoma related projects has all but ground to a halt due to other work and commitments. I hope to have a few hours to make some progress in the next couple weeks.

[aardvarcus]

Got some photos of the bed storage cases, you can see they don’t stick out much past the existing wheel wells. The only bad thing is that 4’ wide material would have to sit on top of them, but it wouldn’t have fit between the wheel wells anyway. I don’t haul 4’ wide sheets that often, so it is a compromise I can live with, especially compared to the toolbox which had me giving up 2’ of my 6’ bed.

I went ahead and ordered some tires, decided that I would give the Cooper Discoverer A/TW a try in LT235/85R16. (I love tall skinny tires.) I researched this decision to death, as my initial reaction was to get another set of Michelin LTX M/S2 or the new Defender LTX in this size. The new defender was not out, and the Michelin rebates don’t start back up for a few weeks so I would have waited for that to come.

The Cooper A/T 3 was met with rave reviews when it was released, but I didn’t care for it’s lack of siping. The Cooper A/T W appears to be very similar tire to the A/T 3, only with many more sipes. What finally pushed me over the edge to give the Cooper A/T W a try was the Consumer Reports test which showed that they had basically the same rolling resistance as the Michelin M/S 2 that I had previously been running, so hopefully my MPG will be about the same with them. I hope that test is correct.

According to the specifications, the Cooper A/T W appears to check all the boxes I wanted as a highly siped street oriented all terrain. I will just have to wait till they get here and see how they do.

[wdb]

Those look to be really nice cases! But they do sit pretty far above the tops of the wheel wells. My Taco has notches for dropping 2x4's into which, along with the tops of the wheel wells, create a platform for 4 foot wide stuff. You would need something taller than a 2x4 in order to lift the pieces above the cases. It should still work though.

[aardvarcus]

Yeah, my Tacoma has those slots too, and the cases have rendered those all but useless. I honestly didn't realize they would and up quite that high. I tried and tried to find a "just right" case, but short of having a box custom made ($$$) I had to compromise. I figure I will just leave the tailgate up if I have to carry full 4x8 sheets, which would get the sheets up above the cases in the back. Or better yet, get a small utility trailer.

[aardvarcus]

In my never ending quest to start lots of projects without finishing the previous ones, I have been looking a redoing my front air dam. Currently my front air dam is mounted just in front of the frame of the truck which is set quite a bit back from the front bumper, and the existing air dam is rather flat in the front. I would like to move the air dam forward closer to the bumper, and incorporate more of a curve along the entire length of the dam.

My current plan is to mount an aluminum frame just behind the front bumper up above the bottom of the bumper, hidden from view. Then I can attach new rubber conveyor belt material to that frame, where nothing rigid would stick down. That way I maintain all my approach angle. My initial plan is to have the dam extend straight down, and not run a splitter on the bottom. I see some new OEM air dams look as if they are all angled backwards, I am not sure if this serves a function or is just styling.

I attached a very crude sketch/diagram of what I am planning, so I would like everyone’s feedback on this design, or suggestions for a better design.



In non-aerodynamic news, I got the rest of my tools semi-organized into my Pelican Cases and under the rear seat. I ended up cutting out part of the sides and the bottom of the stock plastic under seat liner to reclaim lots of valuable space along the sides and in nooks and crannies. All the tools and heavy items are in the pelican cases, and my extra tow straps and come along are under the rear seat. I have noticed a lot less spinning of the rear tires since I relocated the majority of my tools back there a couple weeks ago. I only remember spinning once at the trouble spot, in 2wd when the roads were damp and I wasn’t paying as much attention to easing out on the clutch. So hopefully that will keep me from prematurely wearing as much life off of my new set of tires, which are supposed to be delivered today.

[wdb]

I'll let the aero wizards weigh in on the design plans. I'm looking forward to pics of the construction process and end result. I'm seriously contemplating an air dam on my truck.

[freebeard]

The optimal location would be at the vertical red line. Would there be a gap between the aluminum frame and the bottom edge of the bumper? Would the curve be equal to, more or less curved than the face of the bumper?

[aardvarcus]

WDB,

I would highly recommend an air dam, even with my less than ideal initial version I noted a decent increase in handling.

Freebeard,

Yes, the further forward the better, especially with reducing front end lift. I don’t think I will make it to the red line for practicality reasons. I am not exactly sure exactly where the aluminum frame will land, I need to get outside and mock it up to tell. I will try to seal between the air dam and the bumper if there is a gap.

The air dam needs to be curved more than the front bumper, the center section of the Tacoma bumper is quite flat until you get to the outer edges, then there is a significant curve. This is different than my old Chevy trucks, which have at least some curve coming out in the center. Makes me want to make a contoured bumper cover to give a little more curve up front.