Redneck92's 02 TRD Build - DD/Trail Rig

How she sits currently


Vehicle:
2002 Toyota Tacoma TRD Limited, 3.4L V6, 4x4, 5 speed

Suspension:
Bilstein 5100 on top setting
Wheeler’s 1/4” top plate spacers
Daystar 1.25” shackles
Bilstein 5125 rear shocks
Homebrew 5 leaf pack
Sway bar removed
U-bolt flip kit

Drivetrain:
Grey wire mod
4.10 e-locker rear differential
4.10 front differential
Rear Diff-Breather Mod

Armor/Recovery:
Ryno Offroad skid plates
Trail gear bumper
Superwinch Tiger Shark 9500 SR
Jeep JK tow hook in the rear
Homebrew sliders out of 2x4x1/8

Wheels & Tires:
15x8 4” BS Steelies
35x12.50 BFG Km2’s
1.25" wheel spacers

Been a member on here long enough so figured I ought to start a build. I bought this cherry two owner grandpa truck a little over a yr and half ago


02 V6 5spd 4x4 TRD package with 148k on it. This is after getting it home and selling the camper shell. I rocked it for a little while but an open bed and tool box fits my needs much better.



Keep it stock minus cutting out the front of the air box to let it breathe a little better. When I bought I told myself I'd keep it stock for a year, kinda wish I said fuck it to begin with and mod from the beginning, lost a whole yr of wheeling because of that decision.

Did mess around with a few things for the first year though. Cleaned the headlights up.



First thing I wanted to take care of was the susp, tires, and armor.
Tires I got off a budd of mine. Wheels are mid 80s Toyota wheels and 32x11.50 Hankooks. Even being a little worn I love this tire and size, will be getting new ones here soon.

Suspension I went with 5100 billys set at 2.5 and daystar 1.25 shackle. I will be adding 882 and building a bastard aal for the rear.




For armor I went with a set of Ryno Offroad skids.


Haven't had a chance to try these out much on the rock but they will be bounced off of plenty of rocks this wheeling season. I will be building a rear bumper and sliders here soon, school and work have got me busy.

Since I do camp alot I decided to build some sort of rack. Got bored one morning since I didn't have work and came up with this. The rack is off my dads subby he never uses. Good thing because I like it to much to give it back.




I frequently find my truck having shit in the bed for camping or hauling random stuff so the aal will be an extra 3 leafs to make a 6 leaf pack. Hopefully my current pack isn't too far gone. This stuff doesn't help at all.

 

I have a bunch of random pics of this thing and no real order but here's some of them.

Me stuck at Harlan messin around


Here are some recent mods

CB mounted


New marine batt. terminals and 34-78 red top. Will be working on a different mount for it here soon.


STICKERS!!!



Added some tow points up front from a Jeep made by Rampage.





Took the rear bumper off so I can start a high clearance wrap around bumper.

This thing has seen better days, has been drug numerous times.


Random rti ramp pics. Order is stock, then stock no sway bar and billys and shackle with no bar.




Future mods
-sliders (soon)
-rear bumper (soon)
-winch
-front bumper, something similar to TG
-gas tank skid, more than likely I'll make it.
-4.56 gears (summer)
-crawl box (hopefully next year)
There's prob lots more I want to add to this thing but can't think if it right now. It's a whole lot easier starting a build when it first starts, not months down the road so I know I'm forgetting stuff.

 

Most recent pic from today, been snowing and sleeting most of the day.

 

My girlfriend got me a 48" Hi-Lift Extreme for Valentines day. Now just need to mount it to the rack. Prob gonna add a shovel and axe to the other side.

 

Sprayed the top rail of my tailgate with some bedliner. Turned out ok for how quick I did it.



Anybody have some ideas of mounting the hi-lift to the rack. Planned to drill a through hole and run a bolt through with a jam nut then a washer and wing nut to hold the hi-lift on. Need to find a way to lock it to the truck so it doesn't grow legs and run away.

 

Back when I had a rack on my taco, I used a u-bolt to attach it to the rack along with a simple gun cable lock from Walmart to secure it. Should be a few pic's of it in my build thread.

 

Finally built my sliders and welded them on Friday night. Was up till 3 to get them done for my Saturday club ride. Also did a ubolt flip and shock mounts.




Then on Saturday wheeled the piss out of the truck at Big Creek near Uwharrie. I had a blast. It's amazing how well these trucks will do with some driver training and simple mods.




Only have pics of when I got hung up on some rock. The skids plates from rhino offroad held up great. Very happy with them. They really got a hard work out yesterday for sure.


Going to make a bastard aal and get some 882 coils for the front. Should be getting 33x10.50 BFG KM2s here soon. Also might pick up a engo 9k winch from my buddy on the cheap. Planning on getting a trail gear lo-pro bumper in the summer time.

 

Did you do anything to your rear shock top mounts? Or did you just weld on new lower shock mounts/ Also, what lower shock mounts did you use?

Looks great so far. Im sure your build will be interesting to follow!

 

Stock upper mount and used Barnes 4x4 lower mounts. Need to source some shock bolt sleeves before I trash the bushing in the shocks if I haven't already.

 

Something like these ones? here

 

Those are what I should have used but I had these laying around in the shop so I made them work.

 

Ive got a rear bumper you need

 

Ordered some 33×10.50 km2's. Shoukd get them in here soon. Really gotta do an alignment now.

 

Still waiting on tires, should be in on Friday I hope. I just ordered a set of 1/4 inch top plate spacers from Wheeler's that shipped out today. After getting my fender to hub measurements I was a little disappointed. Front was at 22" and rear was at 22.5" (only the passenger side, the driver side I didn't measure but It's probably lower.)So basically an inch of lift of front and a half inch in the rear. The aal will help the rear but it's kinda sad that billys and stock coils are only at about an inch of lift now. Gonna be at least summer till I can ordered 882's and probably winter till some new leafs are in order.

 

TIRES ARE IN! but I can't get them till Tuesday. Got an appointment for an alignment on Tuesday at 8:30 so between now and then have to put these on that came today.

Wheelers shipped fast, very happy they got here as quick as they did. Also have to drop the skids and put my bastard aal in.

 

Wheel got my spacers put in. That was a utter bitch. The knuckle kinda tries to occupy the space space as the spring at full droop. Not to bad of contact though. Gonna have to stay that way for a while till I get upper control arms. I had to come up with an interesting way to get the bolt back in on the passenger side.


It did sacrifice the strap though.


Also had to take the skids off so I can get it aligned on Tuesday. They have gotten a little use so far.


Also figured out why one of the bolts wanted to run away. No threads at all.


Going to have to fix this issue here soon as well. Both sides are the same.


Truck has a little bro lean now. Gonna have to break out the flat bill hat till Thursday when the aal goes in.

 

Got a alignment done this morning. Actually got it back into spec but the front adjusters are maxed out so no more castor for either side but it drives way better now compared to what it did.


Then went and picked up my tires from 4 Wheel Parts in Charlotte. Little size difference.



Then went and had them mount at a local tire shop. I'm overall very happy with the look of these. They look like everything will clear too.


Just put the skids back on and repainted the sliders. Should have some wheeling pics from this weekend next week.

 

Subbed, nice rig

 

Truck is coming along great! What do you mean by bastard AAL?

 

Bastard aal is just adding leafs from another pack to your existing pack. Here is the finished product. Rides a little better with a more consistent rate.