Alu-Cab Install and Adjustments

[KrucksGarage]

Just a couple quick install notes that might help others...

If you have an Alu-Cab Contour canopy on your 4th gen, and you're a taller person like I am, I thought I'd share an easy solution to the low hanging lift gate, when open. I bought the canopy straight through OK4WD, the US importer in New Jersey. I bought it through Chuck and worked also with Jon, their Alu-Cab expert to work out a few adjustments. These guys are awesome!

The factory rear gas struts are a little short for me and leave the rear gate opening far less than the side panels. I'm 6'6" so that was less than ideal for me. Jon sent me a set of longer struts but they wound up being a touch too long to cycle to full close. We then tried these extenders and that's the ticket! I have them doubled up on each side, they are metric in thread and length, but added about 1-3/16" in total length to the struts and that extra length transferred to 5 inches more on gate height. The gate started out at 71" from the garage floor as it was from the factory, and now it opens to it's max at 76.5", which might be a little high for some but is perfect for me.

For the third brake light wiring, I actually sourced the SmartCap T harness, that would normally come with a SmartCap canopy, that plugs into the 7-way trailer connector under the truck. You simply disconnect the backside of the trailer plug harness and run this T harness in series with the trailer wiring circuit. I then routed the 2-wire pigtail up through the passenger side taillight housing area and drilled a hole in the steel vertical bed support just ahead of the taillight. I then wired on a Deutsch connector on both ends for the connection. The Alu-Cab just came with an open 2-wire pigtail that you can install whatever connection you want. The SmartCap harness comes with a Toyota/Lexus based connector that I cut off in favor of the ones I have on hand. Sourcing the matching connector proved to be a hassle and costly in area. Maybe they're more readily available in South Africa where all this is made...?

I still have to build and install the interior light harness for the 3 LED light fixtures. Rather than tap into the bed side lights like some do, I'll be running to the battery direct and installing a toggle switch inside the rear gate area to turn them on from the rear. I'm shopping products for that setup.

Hopefully the info is helpful for some

one.

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[DeadSetMonkey]

Looking good!
Any issues with water ingress? I see some rainy day photos.
I have just installed a SmartCap (installed by the cap dealer), but the roof leaks!

 

[KrucksGarage]

Looking good!
Any issues with water ingress? I see some rainy day photos.
I have just installed a SmartCap (installed by the cap dealer), but the roof leaks!

I'm thrilled to report that the Alu-Cab doesn't leak a drop! I'm pretty impressed with it. The front corners of the bed I might do a little more butyl rubber to close up those factory gapped Toyota bed corners. I did a little bit of that but it could use a little more, and a large roll came with the Alu-Cab product for that use due to how Toyota manufactures these beds. The factory D-rubber on the bottom edge of the canopy on the first round of these was installed accidentally at the factory before shipment, as there is a front panel that gets installed that sits on the front rail of the bed before the rubber seal is to go on so the D-rubber comes off, which consists of drilling two rivets in the rear corners, peeling the D-rubber and adhesive off, the filler panel goes in with a foam-rubber seal, then the new D-foam seal goes on which at first look I thought would be inferior to the D-rubber but it is actually more robust and seals down on the plastic Toyota bedrail caps nicely. They sent a tube of SikaFlex as well, since some of their full camper models they recommend removing the bedrail cap, sealing the cap to the body and then installing the camper. I did not do that for my canopy and so far, no water intrusion from under the rail caps. The bracket and shim system Alu-Cab uses for installing to the truck makes it nice for the air-gap adjustments and all seem to work well together. I adjusted it around the bed a few times getting it to where I liked it for seal, cab clearance, and lift gate function / fitment.

I was looking at SmartCap products too but I don't like how they went to the 3-piece roof (for shipping purposes) on the 4th gen Tacomas, and just have too many seams with 7 different panels that are assembled. The Alu-Cab is welded aluminum and ships as a complete unit with no bolt-together seams for the main construction. The only bolted pieces are the bottom of the lift gate, and the front filler panels (bottom and sides). SmartCaps are nice and look good, but I read about too many people fighting through issues with seals, lock mechanisms, paint peeling, etc. so I shyed away from them. I hope they can get you resolved and squared away. You might have some re-torquing to do over the years/seasons to keep up on the weather seal flange areas but a lot of people are very happy with those and have little issues. I live in a wet climate area most of the year so I couldn't risk it.

 

[treemandan]

Looks great! I picked up an Alu-cab Contour as well, can't wait to install it.

Are you able to share how you sourced the SmartCap T-Harness?

I reached out to SmartCap to see if I could just buy the harness from them but they needed a cap serial number before they'd sell me one.

 

[KrucksGarage]

Looks great! I picked up an Alu-cab Contour as well, can't wait to install it.

Are you able to share how you sourced the SmartCap T-Harness?

I reached out to SmartCap to see if I could just buy the harness from them but they needed a cap serial number before they'd sell me one.

I had the same problem when I tried to buy it direct, no go. I went through my local canopy shop, which is Canopy World in Bremerton, Washington. The manager's name there is Scott. Maybe look them up and see if he can help you out and ship it to you? it's a nice product, spendy, but works well. I think there are a few others out there but this was easy and once I went through Scott I got it surprisingly quick.

 

[Lets_Taco_Bout_It]

Just a couple quick install notes that might help others...

If you have an Alu-Cab Contour canopy on your 4th gen, and you're a taller person like I am, I thought I'd share an easy solution to the low hanging lift gate, when open. I bought the canopy straight through OK4WD, the US importer in New Jersey. I bought it through Chuck and worked also with Jon, their Alu-Cab expert to work out a few adjustments. These guys are awesome!

The factory rear gas struts are a little short for me and leave the rear gate opening far less than the side panels. I'm 6'6" so that was less than ideal for me. Jon sent me a set of longer struts but they wound up being a touch too long to cycle to full close. We then tried these extenders and that's the ticket! I have them doubled up on each side, they are metric in thread and length, but added about 1-3/16" in total length to the struts and that extra length transferred to 5 inches more on gate height. The gate started out at 71" from the garage floor as it was from the factory, and now it opens to it's max at 76.5", which might be a little high for some but is perfect for me.

For the third brake light wiring, I actually sourced the SmartCap T harness, that would normally come with a SmartCap canopy, that plugs into the 7-way trailer connector under the truck. You simply disconnect the backside of the trailer plug harness and run this T harness in series with the trailer wiring circuit. I then routed the 2-wire pigtail up through the passenger side taillight housing area and drilled a hole in the steel vertical bed support just ahead of the taillight. I then wired on a Deutsch connector on both ends for the connection. The Alu-Cab just came with an open 2-wire pigtail that you can install whatever connection you want. The SmartCap harness comes with a Toyota/Lexus based connector that I cut off in favor of the ones I have on hand. Sourcing the matching connector proved to be a hassle and costly in area. Maybe they're more readily available in South Africa where all this is made...?

I still have to build and install the interior light harness for the 3 LED light fixtures. Rather than tap into the bed side lights like some do, I'll be running to the battery direct and installing a toggle switch inside the rear gate area to turn them on from the rear. I'm shopping products for that setup.

Hopefully the info is helpful for some

one.

This looks amazing. I’m sold on Alu-Cab, but I can’t seem to find an option that has a window on one side and a solid panel on the other. In my mind, I’d want one side to have all my camp kitchen shelving, utensils, cookware, etc and the other side a window so either the pup can get fresh air or whatever. Do they let you order an extra side door panel?
TIA

 

[KrucksGarage]

This looks amazing. I’m sold on Alu-Cab, but I can’t seem to find an option that has a window on one side and a solid panel on the other. In my mind, I’d want one side to have all my camp kitchen shelving, utensils, cookware, etc and the other side a window so either the pup can get fresh air or whatever. Do they let you order an extra side door panel?
TIA

Thank you. I would call Jon Van Wagoner at OK4WD in New Jersey. They are the importer for the US, as these are made in South Africa. Jon is the in-house Alu-Cab expert there so call Jon and see if he can get a door swap option completed for you. I can't imagine that you couldn't, but I have no idea if that would be a customization thing after ownership, or if Alu-Cab would offer to build one like that. You'd be waiting a while in that case. Worse case you'd have to replace one of the doors and purchase an extra, maybe they have doors in stock at OK4WD. There is a bonded seal that acts as a rain gutter when the door is open, so I don't think the swap would be super simple after the original manufacture is done but I bet he can walk you through what it takes to deal with that.

 

[Lets_Taco_Bout_It]

Thank you. I would call Jon Van Wagoner at OK4WD in New Jersey. They are the importer for the US, as these are made in South Africa. Jon is the in-house Alu-Cab expert there so call Jon and see if he can get a door swap option completed for you. I can't imagine that you couldn't, but I have no idea if that would be a customization thing after ownership, or if Alu-Cab would offer to build one like that. You'd be waiting a while in that case. Worse case you'd have to replace one of the doors and purchase an extra, maybe they have doors in stock at OK4WD. There is a bonded seal that acts as a rain gutter when the door is open, so I don't think the swap would be super simple after the original manufacture is done but I bet he can walk you through what it takes to deal with that.

so I’m sold on the Alu Cab, but the local overland company out here in Seattle wants to charge $900 to install. They said there are some things different than for what had to be done with the 3rd gen tacos. Is that a reasonable charge or is it easy enough to do myself?

 

[KrucksGarage]

so I’m sold on the Alu Cab, but the local overland company out here in Seattle wants to charge $900 to install. They said there are some things different than for what had to be done with the 3rd gen tacos. Is that a reasonable charge or is it easy enough to do myself?

I believe you're referring to Mule Expedition Outfitters in Issaquah. I live in WA also and spoke with them. They seem like a cool place, knowledgeable and nice and I was referred to them by a friend, whose friends is the owner. I would have bought there but they had just received their shipment (from OK4WD) and only order every 6 weeks or something like that and I didn't feel like if I placed an order through then that I could guarantee receiving one in the next shipment so I tried my luck going to the source. I spoke with Chuck, and he had three there, all window models which I preferred, all spoken for and destined for dealers. He asked if one of them would release interest in one and got me into one and shipped it to me direct. It was planned to be shipped to my house but I got antsy when it hit the local dock in Tacoma and went to intercept it before the third party shipper picked it up because scheduling would have been tough to schedule.
$900 is probably not unreasonable since it can take them I think it was 5 hours they told me plus parts. I installed mine myself but I prefer to do that anyway. It's not hard just takes a little time to dial in the fitment and seal area. I had the luxury to take my time though and see that it got done exactly how I wanted. You'll need a buddy to help get it on the truck. I used my lift and did mine alone so if you have access to a lift that's an option. I used slide-lock rings that fit in the top rails and lifted it from those. I still need to wire up a circuit for the three interior lights but everything else is done. It doesn't leak a drop in happy to report!

 

[myrr]

I ordered from Mule in Issy a few weeks back. Having them do the install as well, the fee seems reasonable to have them to take responsibility against leaking and doing the wiring. Now I just need to sell my tonneau cover...

 

[KrucksGarage]

I ordered from Mule in Issy a few weeks back. Having them do the install as well, the fee seems reasonable to have them to take responsibility against leaking and doing the wiring. Now I just need to sell my tonneau cover...

Yea for sure. I'm sure they will treat you right. they seem to be a pretty reputable place and they were good to talk with on the phone. I was just too impatient and needed the canopy for a planned trip that wouldn't support the timeline of ordering and hoping one came in on the next shipment. Please post up some detailed pictures of the installation when you get it installed!

 

[myrr]

Will do - I didn't make this most recent shipment so it looks like it will be a few weeks.

 

[Robknob]

Great post. How have you found dust intrusion. I’d like to avoid taking off bed rail caps.

 

[KrucksGarage]

Great post. How have you found dust intrusion. I’d like to avoid taking off bed rail caps.

I haven't been too concerned with dust intrusion yet, especially at the bed rail, but I haven't travelled the dusty mountain roads during the dry part of summer yet to know if I'll have an issue. However, these canopies, just like SmartCap, have a positive pressure ventilation system. In the front panel mid, towards the top on Alu-Cab, vs. the roof unit the SmartCaps have. That's one of the things I like better about Alu-Cab, living in the wet area I do. It serves to add just a minor bit of positive pressure into the bed space to not allow dust to blow in while travelling on dusty terrain. Reports say it works good, but I don't know for myself yet.

 

[StreeTaco]

I removed bed caps (easy) , and ran some foam weather sealing tape underneath. Also, it would be very difficult to properly seal up the two front gaps with the butyl tape without removing the bed caps. Remove caps-butyl tape the gaps-install caps-continue to butyl tape the new gaps left by the caps.

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