RECONNOITERING IN THE EASTERN SIERRA NEVADA & GREAT BASIN
BY 4-WHEEL-DRIVE
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Eureka Valley, Death Valley National Park.

Coyote Ridge, Sierra Nevada.

TRD Off-Road Package -- Includes off-road-tuned suspension with Bilstein® high-pressure gas shocks, P265/70R16 B.F. Goodrich tires (truck is currently shod with B.F. Goodrich All Terrain T/A tires in stock size) with solid white lettering on 16" 5-spoke aluminum alloy wheels, electrically switched locking rear differential, fender flares and TRD graphics.

* Bucket seats

* Floor console

* Sunroof

* Power Goodies: Windows, door locks, mirrors.

Interior-CB Radio

Interior-GPS

Interior-Delphi NAV200 GPS/Navigation Unit

Interior-Cell Phone Mounting

Interior-Mount for FRS 2-Way Radios

Interior-Dash Mount for Video Camera

Interior-Additional Power Outlets

Interior-Padded Ashtray

Interior-Flashlight Mount

Interior-Glovebox Organizer

Interior-Outdoor Temperature Display

Interior-Altimeter

Interior-GPS Windshield Mount

Interior-Power Outlet Modification (Always Energized)

Accessories-DC to AC Inverter

Accessories-Power Supply/Jump Starter

Accessories-Bed Storage

Accessories-Bed Mat

Accessories-Hi Lift Jack

Interior-Interior Storage

Interior-First Aid

Interior-Ignition Key

Exterior-Decals

Exterior-Camper Shell

Exterior-Mud Flaps

Exterior-Hella Driving Lights

Miscellaneous-Camping

Sylvania Do-It Interior Lighting in Camper Shell

Miscellaneous-Tow Hooks

Miscellaneous-Timeline of Modifications/Problems & Services 

Electronics:
Scanner: Realistic 200-channel tabletop scanner, external speaker, glass mounted antenna.

Originally I had a Uniden 100-channel mobile scanner mounted to the console, however the unit failed. In its place I substituted my Realistic unit, which is actually a tabletop model that I purchased in 1989 and used in the house. With the unit's ability to run on 12v and has an external antenna jack, I am currently using it in the truck. Due to its size and lack of mounting lugs, its place is under the passenger seat.

So far it seems to stay put even in strenuous four-wheeling, other than sliding back and forth a few inches. I've grown adept to adjusting squelch and volume by reaching while driving, but other adjustments must be made from standing outside the truck with the passenger seat slid forward. It is powered by a power cord clipped along the lower edge of the console, then plugged into the 12v outlet on the lower dash.

Since the unit's speaker is located under the seat thus sound level compromised, I installed a Realistic non-amplified external speaker, which is mounted on the passenger side of the floor console where the old Uniden scanner mounted. The speaker works well and has ample volume.

The scanner has worked well under there, the only drawbacks is not being able to see which channel it stopped on, to determine which agency is speaking (although I've learned to determine with a fair degree of accuracy who it is by certain nuances in radio signal, tone, voices and items discussed which agency it is). On those rare occasions that someone is sitting in the rear flip down cushion behind the passenger seat, the scanner gets kicked, often turning off the scan function, or kicking in the manual search mode. I don't realize anything has happened until I realize that the scanner is strangely quiet.

Update 4/4/05: A list of frequencies and the agencies that are programmed in my scanner and the agencies that use them are HERE

The antenna is a Realistic glass mounted unit. It went on simply and has held well. The only location I could use was the flip-out window behind the passenger seat, as the rear window is covered by the camper shell. The only drawback to this mounting location is wind noise – a metallic hum at speeds over 50mph – although after time you learn to ignore it.

Update 2/22/08 – Antenna is bent up from these years of getting caught in tree branches while off-roading, but still receives well and its base has never fallen off of the glass.

Update 5/29/08: Recently I had reprogrammed my scanner, eliminating redundant and seldom listened to frequencies, keeping only frequencies most active in my home area and a few others that I might use for off roading in areas regularly visited. The list HERE is updated with frequencies now programmed into the scanner, as well as the old list for those looking for frequencies and agencies for their own scanning pleasure.

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The new CB in place, with my video camera placed next to it. This was taken the day before the new radio's maiden run on the Swansea-Cerro Gordo loop 4x4 Trail.

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CB Radio: In July, 2006 I finally broke down and installed a CB radio in the Tacoma. I've not owned a CB since the 1970s. My primary reason to install the radio was because heading out with Roger and Cecile Vargo on their Swansea-Cerro Gordo 4WD run, in which the caravan communicates via CB radio. In the past, I was always borrowing one of Roger's spare radios.

The radio is a Cobra 19 Ultra III, which I purchased at WalMart in Ridgecrest, California, for $34.99. I already had a Radio Shack brand magnetic roof mount CB antenna that I had purchased a few years ago and use that with the new radio.

I installed the radio in the simplest way possible. Given the lack of under-dash access, no convenient or non-invasive mounting location, and fear of tapping into wires that might cause electrical problems, I mounted the CB to the top of the dashboard using “industrial strength” Velcro strips that I also purchased at WalMart. I cut a rectangle out of the Dashmat the size and shape of the supplied mounting bracket for this purpose. I also scavenged an old, non-functioning 12v accessory, utilizing its plug and wires to furnish power from my 12v outlet. I ran the wires for power and antenna down the front of the dash – held in place by clips screwed into the dash's plastic face – and plugged the radio into the remote 12v outlet mounted on the side of the center console.

After I had mounted the radio, I realized two things – one, that the radio was weighted too far forward of center due to the weight of the microphone wire hanging, which caused the radio to want to tip forward (even cranked to the max, the mounting knobs could not hold the radio tight enough to stop this); and two, that I wished that I had mounted the radio a bit farther back toward the windshield so that the dash's increased slope would counteract this tendency. I countered the radio's tendency to nose dive by utilizing two rubber door stops wedged under the radio. These have worked well.

The radio does jiggle a bit on rough, rocky trails, but it hasn't fallen off yet. I tried hard to yank the radio off the Velcro mount as a test, but as advertised, it is “industrial strength.” I have to yank hard to pull the radio off the dash, so I'm confident that it won't fall. In fact, it's far easier to remove the radio by unscrewing its mounting knobs, leaving the bracket stuck to the dash.

One problem encountered immediately was that others indicated that my radio transmissions sounded as if they were off frequency – an unintelligible garble would be all that they would receive. However, this didn't appear to be consistent; some would hear garble, others could hear me well. It was thought that the SWR matching between radio and antenna was off, however, I couldn't get access to a meter without buying one (and I didn't want to shell out the money for a meter that would only be very infrequently used), so fiddled around with the antenna until I got something that was a bit more intelligible, although the garble never went completely away.

If you're thinking I keyed the radio without having an antenna plugged in, thus blowing the transmitter circuitry, this is not the case. I've had enough prior experience with a CB in the past to know the rule of thumb is never to key the mike with no antenna hooked up.

In 20-20 hindsight, it is likely that the radio unit was defective when purchased, but I didn't know it at the time and now it's too late to return the unit.

Update 11/23/06 – The radio to date has not fallen off, even over some very rough 4x4 trails.

Update 3/23/07 – The radio still has yet to fall off the dash. I'm confident it never will.

Update 2/26/07: Driving through heavy winds near Crowley Lake, California, high winds tore off an 4'x8' sheet of corrugated sheet metal off the roof of a nearby home and flung it in the direction of my truck. It hit my truck on the front driver side corner, then up and over the truck. The impact knocked off my magnetic roof mount antenna, which fell over onto the road and was drug alongside by the cable until I managed to get stopped to inspect the damage. Upon picking up the antenna, I found that the mast had fallen out. I made an attempt to locate the mast without success.

Returning through Bishop on my way home later in the day, I stopped by The Sound Shop Radio Shack dealer in Bishop to see if I could replace the mast. The store sold the complete antenna set (magnet, base, mast, cable) for $27.99. I really hated to spend the money for just a mast, so I inquired of the clerk if there were any masts available. He checked the backroom to see of there were any suitable replacements, which they didn't. I could hear him talking to the owner in the rear of the store, then the clerk came and offered to sell me the complete antenna for the store's cost if I paid in cash ($15.00). I handed him three $5 bills and considered myself lucky.

Update 2/22/08 – Radio has still never fallen off.

Update 3/29/08 – My buddy Graham C. has a SWR meter and he and I worked with the antenna and radio considerably over a couple of days. We ended up breaking off the bottom of the antenna when trying to loosen it up to adjust, Graham soldered it back together.

The bottom line is that the radio is defective. The first try with the SWR meter found that my antenna position did provide for acceptable SWR range. After adjustment, we got a near perfect match. However, the garble continued. And to make matters worse, periodically the transmission or part of one was perfectly clear. We tried swapping microphones with two of Graham's units without success.

In the future I'll probably pick up another radio, since the Cobra 19 Ultra III is very inexpensive.

Update 5/7/08 – A new radio has been installed, another Cobra 19 Ultra III, purchased at WalMart in Winnemucca, Nevada, for the same price I paid for the original radio. I installed the radio by simply inserting it into the brackets of the original radio and splicing in the same power plug. I kept the microphone from the original unit and hardware from the new one for spares if the need arises to replace these in the future.

Graham C. put his SWR meter onto the unit before I even applied the power to the radio for the first time and the antenna/radio match was still a good one.

The new radio transmits perfectly and clearly.

A day run is planned to run the western Death Valley area – Hunter Mountain and the Lippincott grade – in a few days; a run which will include Graham C. others; and will give a good test run for the new radio as to overall performance in transmitting and receiving over a distance.

Update 5/29/08: The day run into the western Death Valley area was run and my radio used extensively. I found that I am not receiving nor being heard well if I get farther than about a mile from others. For distances closer than a mile, my transmission and receive quality are fine. I assume my antenna is at fault, as I am using a newer mast in an old and corroded base; plus the antenna mast is compromised somewhat by being broken and repaired. I'll first try using the new base, which I still have still in its original package from my purchase as described under the February, 2007 entry. If performance is not improved, I'll replace the entire antenna assembly.

Update 6/2/08: New antenna base installed, with mast mounted at approximately the same position as it was in old base for close SWR specifications. Graham C. is out of town, so I don't have access to his meter. I also routed the antenna wire into the cab via the rear sliding window; the former antenna's cable was routed into the cabin via the driver side flip out rear quarter window, its seal thick enough to allow a very good seal with the window closed. The rear window cannot close fully due to the cable's thickness, thus noticeable noise is introduced into the cabin, but not objectionable. I also placed the antenna farther forward into the center of the truck's top, close behind the sunroof opening, to see if it enhances radio signal radiation.

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Temporary GPS location in Tacoma.

GPS – On April 5, 2007, I took delivery of a new Garmin eTrex GPS unit that I had purchased online from TigerGPS.com. I purchased only the GPS unit and a carry case presently, though have future plans to purchase a vehicle mount for use in my Tacoma.

After delivery, I checked locally to see if a generic dashboard or windshield mount unit is available without success. But, the thought occurred to me to make a temporary solution – I simply made a small incision in the Dashmat next to the CB radio and insert the belt clip of the carry case through it.

This temporary solution works fairly good – the forward lip of the Dashmat cushions and supports the back of the GPS unit. The bottom of the GPS is not touching nor vibrating against the dash, as it's recessed well behind the farthest back the GPS can move. The only real fault with this arrangement is glare off the plastic window in the case.

But I still plan on buying a generic GPS mount or a Garmin mount. I'll update this page when that occurs.

Update 6/8/07 – See Cheap GPS Mount for update.

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All: The Delphi NAV200 in place in my Tacoma or in the Honda CR-V.

The Delphi in my Honda CR-V navigating through the streets of Winnemucca, Nevada.

New GPS 2

On December 1, 2007, my wife bought me a new Delphi NAV 200 GPS navigation unit as an anniversary gift. The unit was bought at Sears in Ridgecrest, California for $199.99 + tax. The Delphi combines GPS, mapping and navigation functions. I installed it in the Tacoma because I'd be the primary one to use it. I also have used it in my Honda CR-V on one trip.

The Delphi comes with a medium sized head unit, which can be carried or mounted in the supplied windshield suction cup mount. The unit can be used as a GPS, a MP3 music player or play video or still digital photos. Mapping or media is supplied via an SD memory card slot. On the supplied SD memory card are maps for the United States, Canada, Alaska and Hawaii.

Power to the unit is via an internal lithium-ion battery or the supplied 12-volt car adapter. The suction cup mount can be affixed to your windshield or to the top of your dashboard with a supplied “bowl” that is stuck to your dashtop (in some states it's illegal to mount anything to your windshield). There is also a threaded female screw mount in the unit, it appears about the size of a standard camera tripod screw.

When mounted to the suction cup mount, flipping open a rectangular flap (which is actually the unit's antenna) allows it to be securely snapped into place. Pushing in on tabs allow the unit to be removed, leaving the suction cup mount in place.

The unit is operated via touch screen commands and four buttons on the side of the units face. You can toggle the operation buttons on and off. You can use your finger (often difficult because it's easy to touch two or more buttons simultaneously; using your finger leaves unsightly smudges on the screen, which can obscure detail at certain lighting situations) or with the supplied stylus. The stylus fits in a small hole in the top of the unit, which has enough friction that you can leave it poking up for easy grabbing.

While navigating or using the unit in GPS mode, icons show you points of interest (these icons can be switched off, as they can really clutter up the screen unless you are down at very close zoom settings). These points of interest shown are emergency (law enforcement, hospitals), restaurants, fast food restaurants, auto dealerships, auto repair shops, motels/hotels and the like. Tapping on the icons show you detailed information about the point of interest and you can then select to navigate there and the unit will give you detailed directions.

In the navigation mode, you can supply an address or a street intersection. The unit will guide you there via a synthesized female voice (the quality of which is far more natural sounding – albeit sounding like “she” was a long time smoker – than synthesized voices of a decade or more ago). As you travel, the unit will tell you to turn left or right, prompt you to continue ahead so many feet or miles, and let you know when you've arrived at your destination. Visual clues are also presented on the screen for the same thing. As you travel, if you don't stick to the directions given, the unit automatically recalculates another way to the destination as many times as necessary until you do arrive. This is good, because on a recent trip to the home of my parents, the unit tried to navigate me via dim or rough desert roads (all of which are semi-maintained and signed) instead of the paved ones that I usually travel. You can also program the unit to a destination via points and highways you set, so the unit won't try to take you over bad or barely existent roads.

The maps can be read in 2D mode (looking from above as if looking at a paper map) or in 3D mode (tilted “flyover” scene). At close range, the streets are shown with their names (in 2D only). You can orient the view north (like a paper map held upright), in which the icon showing your position moves with the curves and turns; or you can shut off the north orientation and the map will show the scene in the direction you travel (the map moves and not the icon). Zoom levels go to the extremes – zoomed out to the max it shows the entire US and Canada. Zoomed in to the max and you “see” what's only a few yards all around you. The further out you zoom, the less detail is shown and beyond a certain point all roads disappear.

I've had a chance to use it in both mapping mode (where the unit is showing your current position) and navigation mode (you program the unit to direct you to your destination). Some observations over the month I've used the unit:

• The suction cup mount has serious suction. It holds the unit in place securely and sticks as if super glued to the windshield. However, mount it to a warm windshield – on cold mornings it won't stick at all.

• At first, the unit seemed to do things that the buttons I was using wasn't telling it to do – some of these things that you have to go into the menu to do. But the unit appeared to have a learning curve built in and within a week was coming up to the settings I liked to view by default. However, some things still baffle me as the unit often turns stubborn and rebellious.

• Mapping is inconsistent – two track powerlines road might be shown, while certain paved or bladed maintained roads were not.

• The displayed altitude appears to be off. Side by side comparisons with my Garmin eTrex at known altitudes show the Delphi off by about 150 feet on the high side, whereas the Garmin is reading nearly spot on. My home sits at an altitude of 4,083 feet (based upon a benchmark), which my Garmin settles to or very near. The Delphi shows my home anywhere from 4,000 to 4,300 feet and the display changes often, even with the truck parked.

• The speed also seems off. My speed shown with the Garmin and Delphi show about 2 mph difference (if my speedometer is showing 65 mph, my Garmin is showing 63.8 mph, the Delphi 61 mph – speed is shown in whole numbers only). Permanently mounted speed radar readouts near my home show the Garmin to be pretty accurate.

• The maps are supposedly revised as of 2006. One of the icons showing an auto repair shop place it in the middle of a large horse pasture where there is no garage. Conversely, a large shopping center that was built in 2001 in Bishop, California is not shown nor the road extensions serving it.

A test in remote areas over 4x4 trails is in the works to see how up to date those maps are as to backcountry trails. Overall, the unit is useful and combined with my Garmin should help me navigate in the backcountry.

Update 2/19/08: A recent off road reconnoiter near my home gave me a glimpse at some barely existent roads, even an old narrow gage railroad grade, were shown on the Delphi. Pretty impressive.

Update 3/1/08: In the past week I had the opportunity to use my Delphi to navigate my way to, in and around Winnemucca, Nevada. I had programmed the unit previous to the trip to guide me to Winnemucca via a series of highways, using various waypoints along the way as “checkpoints” to break the trip up into bite-sized bits and keep track of my progress in the short term in relation to small towns along the way. Once in Winnemucca, I used the Delphi to guide me to various street addresses of real estate that my wife and I were interested in looking at (yes, the Reconnoiterer wants to move deep into the Great Basin, but the Sierra Nevada trails will never leave this site). Some observations:

• Driving to Winnemucca, I had opened the preprogrammed route I had entered to guide me there. Yet, even though I had input specific routes, the unit still tried to guide me over a variety of dirt roads. I finally got fed up and simply used the map display. I later found that by setting the default route type (fast route or closest route) to fast helped greatly and the unit then guided me over main roads instead of trying to guide me over any and all cowpaths that it just happened to show.

• Many county maintained dirt roads in the rural Winnemucca area were missing, even though these roads have been there and maintained for years.

• In one case, I had programmed a street address of a home my wife and I looked at last year and liked very much. It took the street address just fine, yet tried to guide me about a mile to the south where there were no roads nor homes. Two days later, I had programmed in another home in the same vicinity but on another street, yet it guided me directly to the driveway of the home we liked. Not only that, but it was displaying the wrong name for main road that accessed the street. Not knowing where the street that the property we wished to look at was, I called the real estate agent and found it was about a mile north. When I turned onto another main road accessing the neighborhood, it was again telling me it was the wrong road, yet the street sign indicated that it was the original street name that the Delphi was giving me to turn on. The Delphi was still showing the programmed address far to the south off the map displayed.

• Coming into Winnemucca from the north, I wanted to drive to a home on the southwestern side of town. On the ground, Melarkey Street (US95) stops at the railroad. A jog east one block to Bridge Street or west a few blocks to Hanson Street takes one across the tracks. Yet the Delphi showed me a route (indicated by a red line) a broad, circuitous route east, south and then west instead of simply jogging a block or so.

Update 5/29/08: Some new observations:

• A trip to Winnemucca in May, 2008 for real estate shopping in another area south of town, programming in a street address again brought up an error in navigation. The unit got thoroughly confused and was constantly trying to calibrate or orient itself, the map display spinning ceaselessly, rendering the female voice into stutter mode as the unit would recalibrate or attempt to find a new route before “she” finished her original commands. I entered the address a second time, the unit started its fits again, but then settled on showing me a route, which turned out to be false and guided me to a dead end and displaying that my destination was somewhere out in the desert a few hundred yards beyond the end of the road. I programmed the address a third time and it finally got it right.

• On a trip to western Death Valley National Park, I found a maintained road I was following suddenly stopped and then disappeared from the map after following it for about 10 miles. Zooming in one level eliminated the problem, and brought up more detail as well.

• Unit still has a stubborn streak, often when you are trying to do a simple task.

• When you want to zoom in or out one level, pushing the plus or minus button on the side of the unit's face, the map zooms out to maximum level and changes the settings to turn off tracking mode. This puts the cursor over the province of Manitoba, Canada. Very irritating when you are trying to zoom in or out while driving. What should be a simple one touch task turns into an irritating effort, and often results in non-compliance while pushing the buttons more often than necessary. And since I like to view the map full screen, it also requires that I then tap the full screen icon, difficult while underway. I don't feel it is necessary for me to pull over and park on the side of the road just to zoom in or out one level. Are you listening, Delphi??? Garmin or Magellen, want me to road test one of your units? Please???

• The suction cup base often confounded me, but I think I got it finally figured out. I'd affix it to the windshield, it falls off. If I put the suction cup on the windshield and not pull the lever back, I can't for the life of me pull it off the windshield with both hands and all my might; yet when I let it go it promptly falls off and onto the floor. A little alcohol rubbed onto the windshield and suction cup will cure this. I'm sure this is an issue with any suction cup based mount.

FRS and cell phone mount. Video mount, described below, is in the middle.

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Cell phone holder I've been using recently, clipped to the extension of the sun visor.

Miscellaneous Interior Mods

Cell Phone Mount: In the past I've purchased a series of cell phone mounts that were too expensive, too bulky and too clumsy. A cheap, simple and easy mount was purchased a couple years ago at a 99¢ store. It consists of two small and simple pieces – a plastic female clip receiver and a plastic male pin. The clip mounts to the dash, the pin mounts to the phone. I bought the set but have since not been able to find it for sale in any store – I wish I had bought more.

My former phone was an analogue Motorolla flip style phone, small and compact. Since then I've upgraded to a Motorolla digital phone, which has its own pin and belt clip receiver. The pin on the new phone is a bit larger than the female clip on the dashboard, so I simply filed a little on the pin so that it now fits the receiver. The phone simply slips in the receiver and to the dash to the right of the middle AC vents, near the top of the dash so that the antenna clears the dash top and receives a good signal.

When I charge the phone while driving, a power cord from the outlets at the bottom of the dash feeds it. The receiver is flat black and matches the dash facing. There are no appreciable drawbacks to this arrangement.

Update 2/21/05: The mount on the dash recently broke due to the cell phone's constant swinging while on the trail, which is aggravated by the weight and inertia of the charge cord. I doubt if I'll be able to find a direct replacement for the mount, so may eventually either remove it or fabricate something workable.

Update 2/12/06:

• I've still not removed the remains of the cell phone mount.

• Last December, I purchased a small pouch style cell phone holder with a belt clip at WalMart. These come in several sizes to hold various style/size cell phones. I found it held my Motorola 120e cell phone (shown in several photos) well. Looking around for a spot to hang the phone, I tried the FRS radio mount, but there wasn't enough clearance for the belt clip to slide on. Noticing the slide out extension on the sun visor wasn't very thick, I tried clipping the cell phone holder onto the visor extension and found that it slips on easy and stays on tight. I simply slide the visor extension out a few inches, clip on the phone holder at the end, then slide the extension back in. The phone is handy, stays put and is high enough to get a good signal.

• On 2/11/06 I changed my cell phone from a Motorola 120e phone to a Pantech PN-215 model flip open style phone. I continue to use the pouch to hold the phone, although it's a bit large for this size/style of phone.

Update 11/23/06 – Last winter I purchased a cell phone holder with a rotating clip and a strap to hold the phone in place that snaps to the case with a magnet. I used this on my belt for some time but found that the magnet caused problems with the phone – pulling open the strap to retrieve the phone would cause the phone to hang up and loose any incoming call. So I cut the strap off the case. Without the strap, the case was useless as the phone would drop out if not careful, so I now use the case in the truck, hanging it upon the picture hanger I formerly used for the FRS radio (see next item below). In this capacity, it works very well.

Update 11/4/07 – I purchased a phone case made for my style of phone some months ago and now the old case has been tossed in the trash. The new phone case also has a rotating clip. I simply clip my phone case to the visor extension as shown in the photo to the left and rotate the phone to run lengthwise with the visor.

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FRS Radio Mount: I often use FRS radios when traveling with friends driving their own vehicle. I found that there was no convenient location in which to set the radio where it could get a good signal (in my former truck I'd simply clip it to the visor, but the Tacoma's visors are thicker and the clip on the radio won't fit). Other spots – such as the pocket in the door panel for the hand hold or console cup holders – proved too clumsy, the radio falls off during off road travel, or can't get a good signal.

Finally I made a quick and easy – if somewhat amateurish - solution. A picture frame hanger – the type with the sawtooth bottom edge – screwed into the top of the dash facing to the left of the center AC vents, even and level with the cell phone mount on the other side. The radio clips onto the hanger and stays put even with rough off-roading. I haven't yet done it, but plan on painting it flat black to match the dash panel (it is pretty much hidden by the radio, but looks out of place when the radio is not clipped to it).

The only drawback is that the HVAC fan speed control dial is partially blocked, but still is manipulated without hanging up on the radio.

Update 2/21/05: The clip on the rear of the Motorolla FRS radio broke off when the radio got snagged recently, which also broke the back of the radio case. The radio is now junk and will need replacing.

Update 11/23/06 – I've obtained a used Motorolla FRS radio, but it has no belt clip and so it stays in the center console until use, but must sit on the seat or in the cupholder while in use.

Update 11/4/07 – I removed the bracket. It never got painted, it's never used now.

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The video mount in action. This photo was taken after I first installed the mount. Field testing indicated that one clamp could not hold the camera off road, so a second clamp was mounted at the top of the AC vents for stability.

Video mount on a recent 4x4 trip. Held well, even in heavy rock work.

Video Camera Mount: I often videotape my travels. Many scenes are shot on the fly from within the cab holding the camera by hand. During off-road maneuvers this can be very tricky – you need three or four arms and hands!

I've yearned for a mount for the inside, but all that I've found are bulky, clumsy and tend to take up the passenger seat. I've seen a couple of homemade mounts, but both of them required drilling or removal of part of the center console.

Playing around with my Sony Hi-8 videocamera, I found out that it sets fairly well on the dash with its LCD screen extended, but the Tacoma's dash is too short to allow the camera to set without falling off backwards.

I tinkered and came up with a free and easy solution using items I already had on hand – a 1” wooden dowel, a flat door hinge, a strip of Velcro and two U-clamps. The hinge is screwed atop the dowel, which is clamped by the two U-clamps between the two center AC vents. The camera bottom and the top of the hinge has Velcro stuck to them. The camera sits squarely on top of the dash with the LCD screen extended, which keeps the camera balanced horizontally. The rear of the camera hangs over the dashboard and is supported by the prop. I haven't yet done so, but plan to paint the mount flat black to match the dash.

So far it seems to work well, even if on rough roads. I've yet to rock crawl while videotaping, but I've been over some rocky trails without problem. There is some vibration in the picture and a slight tilt to one side, all of which is easy to ignore.

Another drawback is that it kind of looks clunky when not in use, but the dowel with hinge attached easily pops out from the clamps and can be thrown in the glovebox or under the seat. It doesn't block any of the HVAC controls, but does require make adjusting the dials a bit tricky until you get used to it.

Update 8/22/04: Went on some pretty strenuous 4x4 trails in the Monache Meadows and Sherman Pass areas of the southern Sierra Nevada. Camera tracked well and stayed put, even when traversing some skid plate crunching rocks and climbing some pretty gnarly hillclimbs with large stones.

Update 2/2/07: The mount is still in place and in use. The only major drawback that I've yet to overcome (although I admittedly haven't put any effort into overcoming this problem), is a tendency for the mount and camera to work their way out of the clamps and topple over backwards. This primarily happens on serious uphill, long and rocky climbs. I've yet to have the camera come completely out and onto the floor.

Update 12/29/07: I removed the bracketry for the videocamera mount from the dashboard. This was primarily because of the installation of my Delphi NAV200 navigation/GPS unit, which is placed atop the dash where the videocamera would sit. However, I also found that I was using the videocamera mount less often, thus further justifying removal.

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12v Power Outlets: Tacomas come with two power supplies built into the lower dash. Normally, this is enough. However, a recent trip proved that I needed more.

Looking around an auto supply store, I found that there are adapters that turn one outlet into two or more. A problem with these are that when plugged into the Tacoma's closely spaced outlets, the free socket is covered by the tandem unit that is plugged into the other socket – in effect you still have only two outlets. I decided to purchase a remote 3-socket head unit, bringing up my total 12v outlet count to four.

I wanted to mount this unit behind the center console armrest/binnacle, but the wires proved to be about two inches too short. Not wanting to cut and splice more wire (and thus another trip to the hardware store 15 miles away), I decided to mount the unit to the side of the console next to the scanner speaker. This looked OK and also allowed the passenger seat full travel forward.

The sockets are open and invite dust, my next modification to these will be some sort of plug or cap to cover those not in use. Bottle corks?

Update 8/11/04: Dug around in the drawers and bins in my shed, found and inserted appropriate sized cork into empty socket. Works just fine.

Update 2/22/08 – Unit still in place and works fine. Except the rear-most outlet doesn't seem to hold onto 12-plugs tight enough. I don't use that outlet much because most of the time items plugged into it don't work at all or only intermittently.

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Ashtray after padding put in.

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The ashtray with the microcassette in place in the dashboard.

“Padded Ashtray”: Since I don't smoke, I often use the truck's ashtray to hold items. I often use a microcassette recorder to make verbal notes on the road or in the field, all the units I've owned fit perfectly in the ashtray. That location keeps the microcassette recorder handy when I need it, and it keeps the unit in one place without it getting lost in all the cameras and the other electronic clutter I often have with me while on exploration trips.

Rattling around in the ashtray while off roading in the rough likely doesn't hurt the microcassette recorders, but I seldom get more than a year or two of use out of my microcassettes that I've owned; so that got me to wondering if the constant vibration and little impacts take their toll over time. One day the thought of padding the ashtray came to my mind.

The solution came in the form of left over Velcro. It's backing is soft and has adhesive already built in. I had some industrial strength Velcro left over from mounting my CB radio and the carpet-like backing is thick and soft. So I cut several pieces to stick to the back of the ashtray, the bottom, and along the front lip of the tray.

Now my microcassette recorder stays put and should ride in plush softness over the worst trails.

Update 2/22/08 – My microcassette is still riding in luxury.

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Flashlight holder: Not having access to the city stores that sell all kinds of of bobbles and beads for the off-road enthusiast, I tend to do things on the cheap and handy. Such is the case with my flashlight holder, which is simply a large conduit clamp screwed in on one side into the plastic door sill. The other side is not screwed into the floor, as I didn't really want to drill a hole into the floor. I just happened to have the clamp laying around the workshop. Now my flashlight stays put just fine. Quick and easy. I used to simply lay the flashlight in the same spot, and for the most part it stayed put, but it fell out of the truck upon opening the door often enough that I started to scratch my head and think about a solution, thus leading to my digging around my shop and finding the clamp. The hump in the floorboard at the forward end of the light keeps it from sliding forward, the width of the flashlight at the lens end keeps it from slipping out backward. One of these days I'll get a decent flashlight, such as a Maglite or a multiple LED light.

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New Maglite.

Update 12/14/05
Purchased a new Maglight at my local Ace hardware store. It's a 3-D cell battery version of light. The flashlight was on sale for $13.99, plus I purchased a four-pack of Energizer batteries at their usual price of $6.99. I had two $5 dollar Ace Hardware coupons, which were both used and so the whole thing cost me just shy of $12. The flashlight fits perfectly in my holder where the old light sat.

Update 2/22/08 – Flashlight and conduit clamp holder still in place and working fine.

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Glovebox organizer from Cabellas.

Glovebox Organizer – Recently I ordered a new hat from Cabela's and decided to get my truck something also. One thing that always bugged me when I got in there but quickly forgot otherwise was how small the glove box was. Not only small, but oddly shaped and difficult to keep neat. I never kept a whole lot in the glove box, but even a small amount of stuff in there made the small box cluttered and difficult to latch closed. It was my desire to clean up and utilize the glove box more fully, as my center console tends to get full of junk while the glove box stays relatively empty.

Cabela's retail price for the glovebox organizer for the Toyota Tacoma is $34.99. It is part number IF-52-1625 Glove Box Organizer; 95-04 TACOMA. SKU number is 50024-265.

I received and installed my glove box organizer today. My impressions:

• Unit is well made. It is not simply fuzzy, felt covered cardboard; but far more solid and sturdy. You can feel that it is made of heavy gauge material and will likely not deform if you cram the glove box full of stuff.

• Unit is small and simply slides into place in the glove box. It provides three compartments across the bottom of the open globe box, a full width shelf across the top for documents, manuals and registration papers.

• It easily accepts the large plastic envelope which holds the Toyota manual and sub-manuals (warranty, other truck systems). I also keep each year's repair/service papers in it also.

• Unit is quite pricey. In my opinion, I think it should list for around $10 less; I'd be more willing to purchase if I had to do it over at that price. However, at least it has the quality to go with the price, unlike so many other items I've purchased and paid high prices for.

Update 11/23/06 – The unit has posed no problems and works as designed. My only complaint is that the unit tends to move around a bit while fumbling around for something buried near the bottom of the box, which allows for some small items stored in the other sections to move around and drop into a section that you didn't want it; or drop in behind the divider and cock it to the point that you have to remove and replace the unit and rearrange the glovebox.

Update 2/22/08 – Unit still in place and in use.

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Indoor/outdoor temperature display.

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Thermometer in new position after 3/7/07

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Thermometer and altimeter.

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Mounting location of outdoor temperature pickup.

Indoor/Outdoor Temperature Display – Picked up a Bell indoor-outdoor temperature display/clock unit at Kmart for $11.99 + tax. Always wanted one for the truck, but had procrastinated due to the troubles I had mounting a similar unit in my previous truck. I liked the fact that the temperature probe on this model had a suggested mounting location on the forward door jamb, between the door's hinges, instead of having to run though to the area of the grill.

As for mounting the display head, after trying several mounting locations, I finally decided to mount it low on the console. This facilitated routing the outdoor temperature probe wire, leaving less of it exposed. The display head tilts, thus making it easier to see and read.

The photos show the display head in its original location. Driving the truck the following day proved that when the transmission lever is in 5^th gear, it totally blocked view of the display. Later that day, I moved the unit over to the left as far as allowed by the 12v outlets and it's now fully visible.

Update 11/23/06 – I've had difficulty keeping the temperature sensor in place. Keeps popping off. Finally gave up and leave it dangling inside the door jamb, where it seems to do no harm. The sensor's location is also exposed to warm air coming from the engine compartment, even during driving (example: it's snowing and the temperature display is reading well over freezing); and when the truck is parked the temperature reading rises dramatically. The location of the display unit low on the dash makes it difficult and inconvenient to glance and check the temperature quickly; and it's hard to read at times. I've found that the only time I generally use it is during a camping trip to check the low temperature after the truck has been parked all night.

Update 3/7/07: The original battery in the temperature unit went dead, so I decided to use the opportunity to move the unit and outdoor temperature pickup head to a new location for better readings.

The display was always too low to read quickly, and with the ashtray open (when I keep my microcassette in the ashtray) is impossible to see. Furthermore, the location of the temperature pickup head was in a bad location as it was open to the engine compartment, so hot air would blow by it when underway, and the temperature would rise dramatically when the truck was stopped.

I got to looking around and decided that the display head would look good right at the left edge of the dash, above the air outlet and below the altimeter. It was in full sight with just a glance, although the plastic on the display does tend to reflect the outside quite a bit (it did the same in its original location).

I played around with different locations for the pickup head, including running the wire out the back window; but decided for ease of running the wire would try the upper right edge of the driver door opening. There it would still get a suitable airflow but not be effected by the engine compartment. Sunlight shining on the truck all day would likely cause artifici