DIY TSS relocation (2022 with front camera)

While I'm all about capitalism, C4's ridiculous pricing had me say some certain words about their offering... Anyways, I fabbed a serviceable bracket with hand tools and a drill / drill press with step bit, and a vice. It's simple to do and I was going to violently pat myself on the back for making it in 1-1.5 hours, but it showed error codes the first two test drives within a few minutes of driving until I adjusted it right.

I used the C4 bracket video on YouTube as a guide and used 3/8" hardware for the body mounting and 1/4" for the three sensor bolts.

Notes for those who want to DIY:

1. Use metal that's thick enough to not flex. It needs to be nice and stationary. But don't overtighten the two body mount bolts as it sandwiches some plastic for the front bumper cover or grill. So lock washers or just some thread locker at a low tq might not be a bad idea.

2. By my best judgment, the ideal angle is 3-4 degrees downward and 2-3 degrees towards the center of the vehicle so as to paint a picture at about 100' in front of the center of the vehicle. So far I've driven around 20 minutes on the highway using cruise control and no errors with these approximate angles. I had started with directly straight from the new position which is about 6" towards the driver side, and straight ahead vertically. It showed an error within minutes of cleaning sensor / deactivated.

So on my 2022 with front camera has the TSS at the bottom of the lower grill area. See picture. Other years have it higher up in the same lower grill area. So results may vary. I raised mine sensor about 6"+ and just barely is below the metal across the middle grille area.

I recommend doing this yourself if you're generally a handy person or $200 shipped for a simple bracket bothers you. I expect it to show an error at some point until I fine tune it but I feel confident I'm very close to making it happy.

I'm sure C4 makes nice stuff but I don't much like them as $180 plus shipping for this bracket is kind of mean. No one is forced to buy it, but come on. $60-$80 seems much more rational to me. I happened to have random metal brackets and hardware I cut, bent, and painted so it didn't cost me anything luckily.

If someone wants me to show pictures of some of the brackets I chopped to make this, happy to help just message me.

Austin

 

I’d be interested in longer term results. I too cannot stomach the $169+tax & shipping for a fairly simple bracket. I am still unsure if I will need a relocation bracket or not. Currently deciding which way I want to go with this build

 

Longer term meaning what? I wouldn't think a metal bracket would change or fail once installed correctly.

 

I’ve had the TSS shut off cruise control when it was sunny and clear out saying that I needed to clean my sensor. Looking for a couple weeks of use and maybe different weather? 20 minutes isn’t really enough

 

Yes that's the error it told me, too. And I expect it to show the error again at some point but I'll keep adjusting.

 

Update: Errors less frequent but still occurring. Adjusted from the above degrees to 0-2 degrees towards horizontal center, 3-5 degrees vertically downwards. I'll see how this next setting does.

Another possibility is that the sensor's bottom 1/4 has nothing in front of it (hole opening in grille) whereas the top 3/4 of the sensor has to go through the plastic bumper cover. This could cause a confused reading, perhaps.

 

Agree, going through different materials might cause bad readings. I appreciate you documenting your research on this, and your attention to detail! Please keep the thread updated on how it goes. This will be great reference material for anyone considering a full bumper.

 

Yeah, I suspect there's a reason that the grille has an opening for the radar.

 

Drove about 25 min to work today before the error message started. Discovered the sensor was not level with the ground, off by like 5-8 degrees. Ashamed. Leveled, and showed error code within 5 minutes.

For tomorrow, I've adjusted it up so that the bottom edge of the sensor's rectangular shape is level with the bottom of the mid level grille bar. Shown in picture. Still at same angles on x and y axes though I'm still just eye balling it.

Another idea is to remove the black plastic protector that's a part of the lower grille and fasten it to the sensor in the new location. Perhaps an even surface as the first it encounters could satisfy it.

 

Preliminary success!

My morning 50 minute commute went well. I had re-bent the bracket to get the sensor level without using shims. I then added washers to the body mount to raise the sensor as indicated in the last post. While I can't verify that bending and re-installing the bracket wasn't a factor, I lean towards raising the sensor as the main factor that led to success.

Side notes: while using cruise control, there were two times that phantom vehicles were indicated on the center display of the gauges. The first time there was a truck to my left. Possible that the TSS is aimed a bit to the left. The second time it happened there were no vehicles around. Perhaps the radar reflected off the road. Or both instances were due to the road, indicating it's pointed downwards too much.

Also, I have a feeling that driving in darkness makes the sensor more forgiving. Or it could be coincidence. Obviously too small of a sample size to form an opinion.

Cautiously optimistic.

 

Roughly two hours of driving on various roads, speeds, and traffic conditions and so far no errors.

 

Another hour of driving, no errors. Asked wife if I should add "automotive engineer" and "master fabricator" to my resume; said No Comment.

 

Day number whatever, no errors. I wanted to add some extra information though. The steel bumper is on.

So to be clear, my 2022 with Multi Terrain Monitor has the TSS mounted flush with the bottom edge of the lower grille. This is different from other years where the TSS is at the top of the lower grille.

The vehicle was stock except that there was about 100 lbs of skid plate over the front axle which should increase the rake / lower the front height by roughly 1/4". That number is made up, loosely based on working on cars off and on for years. Could be 1/8" or 3/8". Doubt it would be more than that. The tires are also 0.6" higher than stock. 265/70/17 Nitto Terrain Grapplers, listed by the manufacturer as 31.6" diameter, replaced with Cooper Discoverer ST Maxx 255/80/17 listed as 32.8". Hence, 0.6" increased ride height. The TSS never showed an error, just adding some extra information.

I have little doubt at some point I'll be adjusting the TSS bracket again. I'm likely getting a 2.5" front lift and 2.0" rear. According to many Tacoma owners, just a lift will upset the TSS system.

The MTM front camera shows no errors, either. I'm currently waiting on two extra frame bolts I need for this bumper that I couldn't reuse as mine didn't come with them. Anyways, the bumper will come off again and I'll modify the front camera then. As it is, the bumper cover has the needed roughly 3/4" space between the steel and the body panels to allow flex during articulation. However, the front camera is at the top edge of the lower grille And I was hoping to get away with not cutting into it. I was wrong, but I didn't cut into it. So as of now it's pressing lightly against it, angling it slightly up. But, luckily, it doesn't mess with the top down camera angle that much or show error codes. So, I may be removing the plastic camera assembly and extending it onto the top edge of the bumper on a small custom bracket to match the angle it was at while not having the bumper impede vision, making it almost visually correct as stock. I'm quite happy to find that the camera doesn't get upset when angled or partially blocked. Should be an easier fix than the TSS.

Here is a current picture of the bumper. It isn't quite level but like I said, it'll be removed pretty soon.

Side note, if you need any metric fasteners or hardware, I can't recommend Belmetric highly enough. You can replace or add most any fastener on our vehicles with them.

Also, look how cute my pup is.

 

A happy dog

 

There hasn't been any errors or observed changes since the last adjustment. Drive a lot since over the week or two. Just got back from a 400-500 mile road trip. No more updates here until I lift it and it messed the sensor up again.

 

Good info! Hopefully if it’s dialed in it wont trouble you one you lift higher

 

Thanks, but I'm fairly sure it will. I'll likely lift my front first as there's more weight on it plus the factory rake, which will tilt the angle. It's all good though. Now that I know I can find a solution I'm not fretting about it. I might even make a nicer bracket for it at that time after I measure it's current angle properly for once.

 

Update.

During a cross country drive it rained hard and did the normal Clean Sensor error message. Something like radar disabled, clean sensor.

So when I first got the car at 6,000 miles, I didn't really trust the adaptive cruise control as it seemed to randomly not see an approaching car in my lane or it would slow down some with no car present. I prefaced with that because I basically don't trust the system even when it's working as intended though technically it could be just my vehicle and not all 4Runners. However, it was in excellent shape when I got it and without any signs of damage / wreck.

So, before and after the rain storm during the trip, it'll start seeing imaginary cars and begin slowing at a moderate rate. I may adjust the sensor to angle slightly upward as I am thinking it is confusing the ground with a vehicle. But no errors when it does that and all other safety sensors / systems are still working fine. I really like the cross traffic alert and lane departure.

If I hadn't mentioned it before, the big steel bumper has been on the vehicle the whole time the sensor was properly aimed.

Oh, and I still need to address the front camera. It's pushed upwards a bit which makes the top down view look off but throws no error codes or anything else.

Once CBI decided to send me an extra bumper skid plate I ordered a month ago, I'll be taking the bumper off again, neaten up the plastic bumper cut edge, figure out what to do with the camera, and then level the bumper properly.

 

Works fine still, though at night sometimes it has gotten confused and slowed down when it shouldn't have but as stated, pretty sure it did that sometimes before modification.

 

Currently in same situation. Relocated the sensor to the side of the camera. I keep tweaking it but haven’t found the right combo yet.

 

Feel free to message me if you want more pictures or advice / experience.

 

I definitely will. I’m waiting to to adjust anymore until I put my lift on. Which should be in the next couple of weeks.I kept adjusting and then thought I’m going to have to do again.

 

I'm in the same boat, same bumper/skids. I will play with the homemade bracket i made a bit more and if not get the C4 one and see if that helps me! I also heard this can just be calibrated with a techstream but haven't gone that way yet as it would be costly.

 

I had it close where it would only drop out for a min or so about every 30 to 45 mins but now I have my lift on I need to make adjustments again.