2001 Toyota Tacoma Prerunner - Project Venture Toy - Tech

When we got rid of the stock bumper we lost our original turn signals. We found replacements in the form of some amber clearance lights at our local truck supply store. We added them to the bumper and wired them into the original lighting harness.

We added a loop to the stinger bar to catch our winch hook while not in use and finished up the front bumper with the addition of an aluminum front skid plate for looks and to minimize brush and debris getting to the radiator.

We chose to use an Odyssey battery from EnerSys. These use absorbed glass mat (AGM) technology to produce a battery that is non-spillable so we never have to worry about acid leaks or corrosion. Common sizes are available and the batteries are a bit heavier than normal due to their dense cell construction.

We chose to use The Odyssey PC1500/34-78 model which has both top and side terminals. This allows us to connect the factory cables to the top posts and then wire the winch separately onto the side terminals. Not all dual post batteries are capable of sourcing high current at their side terminals, but the Odyssey batteries are rated for full current at both sets of terminals.

The PC1500 is just a bit wider and shorter than the stock battery, but it still fits on the tray just fine. We're now equipped with 880 cold cranking amps under the hood. We fabbed a simple aluminum plate hold-down bracket to keep the battery in place.

The Tacoma originally had two speed sensors mounted in the transmission tailhousing. One was used for transmission control and the other to drive the speedometer cluster. The Inchworm adapter we used provides the machined holes to accept the stock Toyota speed sensor used for transmission control. However, the speedometer sensor was removed. In its place we are using this speed sensor unit from a Jeep TJ sourced from Advance Adapters.

To adapt the TJ speed sensor to the Tacoma speedo cluster and to calibrate the speedometer we used an Abbott Electronic Ratio Adapter (ERA). This small unit provides the ability to choose a multiplier to account for any combination of gear ratios and tire size to provide accurate speedometer readout. The ERA accepts the pulsed signal from the TJ sensor and modifies it to the correct pulse rate needed for the speedo. We mounted the unit in the passenger side kick panel where it is accessible. Using a speed run and checking displayed speed versus that on a handheld GPS, we calculated our error and adjusted the internal ratio switches to obtain the correct multiplier we needed.

We wanted to add some additional lighting for night running. In the past, we've typically used the common 55W tractor utility lights in the rubberized housing. But, with the recent trend in LED lighting, we thought we'd try out something different. We found these compact LED units from Roundeyes as an alternative. They offer the lights in a number of colors. These are the regular white variety.

The speedometer sensor on the 2001 Tacoma does not go to the Engine Control Module (ECM), but simply goes to the speedometer cluster. With the TJ sensor mounted in the tail of the Atlas, we needed some way to electronically mate it to the cluster.

The Roundeyes lights throw out a dispersed light pattern under the vehicle. The LEDs aren't quite as bright as the tractor lights but do throw a nice pattern of light just where it's needed. We like the fact they mount most anywhere and current draw is only 1/3 amp versus about 4-to-5 amps for a tractor light. You can leave these on for long periods at night without suffering significant battery drain.

Another cool light we got from Roundeyes was this 12 LED array dome light. The center tube and padding on our rollcage had all but obliterated the useful illumination from our stock dome light. This LED replacement plugged into the factory socket. We extended the wiring a bit and were able to stick it to our rollbar padding overhead. This flat little panel puts out tons of light.

The lights are relatively small and sit very flat. This makes them easy to install in tight locations under a fenderwell or inside a framerail. The LED itself is the small circle in the middle of the rectangular diffusion lens.