New here with a unicorn. '18 DCLB 4WD w/ bench seat

So I sold my 2014 Tacoma RCLB (6' bed) 5MT, 4WD. It took me a long while to find that truck but I needed a bigger bed for the work that I do. That and I've always hated the way Tacoma seats were positioned.

I needed a Tundra... but that meant giving up the manual tranny.

... but at least I could keep the bench seat option.

So I went about searching. High, low, right, left. I could only turn up with 2WD versions or if they were 4WD, they were pretty beat. 2 months later I found one about an hour away. The price was a smidge more than I wanted to spend but I was bored one Sunday and decided to check it out.

It had everything I was looking for: 8ft bed, double cab, front bench seat, 4WD, a color other than white, "3rd" gen.

I ended up walking out of there with it.





Still getting used to the additional length. It's turning radius is about 2x that of the Tacoma.

Anyway, first things first! Bed Liner. The truck came with a plastic liner with no bedside rails.



I ripped the bedliner off and....



That explains the brand new plastic liner.

Off to Line-X we go!



Then I had to tackle the tie-downs



Ignore the hoop thing, that was a custom order for a customer.

Wire wheeled the brackets and threw some powder on it.

 

To add to the mods...

I threw in an intermittent wiper stalk ( plug and play ) to battle misty rain.

And then I needed a power locking tailgate. I picked up a pop and lock and wired it up. As a side note, the instructions call for the blue wire to go to the red and the green wire to go to the white/gray. That's backwards.

The blue wire needs to go to the white/gray and the green wire goes to the red ( in my case, it was more of an orange/red? )

Next on the list of things to do is to install a Sony XAV-AX5000 so I can have Android Auto.

I also have a vanity plate coming but that's a surprise.

I'd like to throw a lift kit on it eventually and some bigger tires but with the kinda fuel mileage it's getting right now, I think I'll just leave it as a work truck (I'm getting 12 city/18hwy right now)

 

Welcome from SoCal!

 

Welcome angryrobert. Nice work truck you got there.

 

Welcome from TX!

 

Welcome from Ohio

 

Welcome from Mo. from one Unicorn Work Truck to Another!

 

welcome from so cal

 

Welcome from NY.

 

Thanks everyone for welcoming me!

@ezdog I was about to pick up a RCLB but the only seller in the area that had one was a total douchebag hah. Otherwise I would've sprung on one.

 

Welcome from Colorado

 

It was not an easy find for me either!
I drove from STL to Chicago to get this one and it was at a Toyota Store and had been the Lot Truck there.
I think I am the only guy who seriously wanted an RCLB that they got in there and walked away with a pretty smoking deal and it has 40K on the clock!
I love the thing!

I have had a 2001 RCLB for a long time too and am happy to move up though I still love the old beast too.

 

Welcome from Nevada

 

welcome

 

That’s a unicorn!

 

Welcome from TEXAS

 

Welcome from Georgia from one Unicorn to Another!

 

Welcome from Ontario Canada

 

Since you guys are talking about unicorns...
Here's a unicorn of the unicorns. Not mine, saw it on IG.

Single Cab PRO ???

 

Howdy from DFW and nice truck

 

Welcome!

 

Thanks guys! Glad to be here.

Quick question. I didn't want to start a thread on this so I'll see if you guys know.

When I purchased my 2018, my girlfriend jumped in the passenger seat and instantly went for the sun-visor. No mirror. She GLARED at me.

Was this an optional item? Can I grab one off of another Tundra and slap it in?

 

Hi @mattgecko ! I was the guy that emailed you about the long bed lights missing from your site a few weeks ago. I'll be ordering your lights soon!

 

Welcome from southern NJ.
DCLB's are kewel!


T

 

WANT

 

Welcome Ron! Nice rig you stumbled upon!

 

Alrightey! I've been throwing more parts at the Tundra. Btw, thanks for all the welcomes! I feel like this is turning more in to a build thread than an intro thread, though, hah.

Anyway. First off is a Pedal Commander. I didn't like how the Tundra had throttle lag. The Pedal Commander was a 2-second install. Hardest part is figuring out which setting you want. I set it to Sport +4 and it basically sent a wide-open-throttle signal when the computer sensed any throttle input. Tires and LSD were put to work! Eco mode is basically useless. Felt like the V8 turned into an L4. Over the course of a week, I settled on City -3. Good throttle response while still retaining some MPG.

Not sure if I would buy it again, given another chance. You either sacrifice massive fuel mileage for rippin performance ( I was getting 3-4 mpg at Sport +4 ), turn it in to your grandpa's truck or you meet in the middle... pretty close to factory.

Second is a Sony head-unit. The XAV-AX5000. I've always hated the factory stereos. I've used the one in my Tacoma and my buddy's Corolla and they're all the same, awful. SO I installed a new head unit and made sure to get the interface unit so that my steering wheel controls remained intact:



She fit like a glove and everything's gravy. My only complaint is that there's no more volume knob, which kinda bugs me. I'm contemplating throwing this thing in my Ford work truck and getting something else. I digress, moving on.

My next thought was to get a FRAC system. There's literally no info on using the FRAC with an aftermarket stereo. It's said that if you retain the existing factory connectors, it'll work. But it seems nobody's tried it. Well the interface harness that lets me retain my steering wheel controls retains the factory connectors (IIRC, they're the 20 and 26-pin connectors 24 and 28-pin connectors). It basically went: Tundra > FRAC harness > interface harness > stereo

Install was a bit of a pain but mostly because in an effort to fish wire through the dash, I stuck TIG filler wire down the wrong hole and had to rip the glove box assemblies apart to get it back out. Otherwise, it's just soldering and zip ties. Removing the front grille was pretty straightforward. 4x 10mm bolts + 2 xmas trees up top and yank the bottom of the grille forward.

On a side note, it seems there's not a whole lot of info on removing your glove box either for the 3rd gens. You need to remove your door sill, pull up on it. Remove the kick plate on the right, one plastic nut and pull it towards the rear of the vehicle. Remove the immediate cover above the footwell, there's 4-5 slots to stick a screwdriver in. Stick it in and push the screwdriver backwards. IIRC, there's a couple screws on either side to remove as well. Disconnect your battery and depress the brake pedal to discharge the system. The knee airbag is above the panel you just removed. Takes 3x 10mm bolts to remove. No need to remove the yellow connector if you don't want to fuss with it. The glove box is held on with 3-4 screws at the top and that's when my neighbor came over with some beer. I'm pretty sure it's just a few more bolts at the bottom and voila! Not the most helpful but it'll get you most of the way. My memory goes out the door as soon as I get an alcohol in the sytem.

So in she went this weekend:









It worked without a hitch! I'm pretty happy with everything as it is now. I have a TonnoPro Tonneau Cover coming in the mail and I think I'll be set!

Also, I had one casualty:



If you get a chance, pick up some of these from Harbor Freight. I believe they're about $30 each. DON'T run them over with your truck. They implode. But they're great for climbing up in to your engine bay or for a quick step on a jobsite. I leave one in every one of my trucks now!

 

The only reason I am not changing the radio in my truck is the lack of volume knob on any of the mainstream aftermarket units?
Not a single one of them.

 

Ok, there is this one: https://www.crutchfield.com/p_158XAV210/Sony-XAV-AX210SXM.html

I've put one of these in my girlfriend's Nissan and then one in my Tacoma. They're great! I should've gone with that one but I wanted a marginally larger screen.

Edit: Matter of fact, I might still pick one of those up. That volume knob is indispensable for anybody born before 1990.

 

Yeah they have stopped making an actual VC in favor of the bigger screens.

I am not going to do it unless I can get the whole deal in one unit regardless of how terrible an inbuilt Nav unit might be.

So I stand by my statement if I include Nav which I do.

You might be right about the Age vs Knob thing?

Electronic VC does not work for me and I am not going to rely on Screaming from a phone for anything at all.