Dirtslngr Tacoma build

Just another high school build

Okay so I figured it's time to start one of these, as I am actually starting to build it up a little bit. I got this the summer of '11, after selling my heep grand Cherokee. Needed something reliable and more stock than my last 4x4. I had always loved toyota's and was jealous of my buddies 4runner. Alright:
Specs: saved from PA, 02 extended cab sr5 , 2.7L, 5 speed, 4x4, ADD hubs, stock 4.30 gears and 265/70 tires

Here's a current picture :



Mods to date are :
BudBuilt front IFS skid
ARB bumper
4xinnovations sliders w/ kickout
265/75/16 treadwright mt/r on GY mt/r casings D-rated
Bilstien 5100s all around, on middle setting
Pinch weld mod beat to hell

 

Bought the truck from a dealer up in Philadelphia, PA. Flew up with my dad and drove the 800~ miles home. I learned to drive on the road home (5spd) , I think we stopped at a church parking lot somewhere in VA along the road.

Did a lot of wheeling stock, at Little mountain


Clearance was quickly an issue. See where the rear diff dragged

Also went to amicalola, old Bucktown, Dawson forest area





Local trails a mile from the house





I had a delivery job at the time so I got a lot of seat time in my truck driving that summer ( about 750 miles a week). I think my first purchase was a set of wet okole Trd seat covers, which I love. Second buy was a set of sliders about a month later, which we welded up at home in our shop. It was a good experience and coated them in rustolem bed-armor, which looks great and has held up to quite a few tree rubs on tight trails.

 

Did some maintainence, full mobil one synthetic oil change and replaced gear oil in transmission, cleaned and oiled the k&n drop in filter (came with the truck), new spark plugs and coil, new master and slave cylinder.
Also installed a ARB bumper, winch is soon to come. it's going to take a little work to line up perfect, the drivers side tow hook will not bolt in. I did not notice a drop in ride level, looks about the same as it did before with billies set at 1.25" and stock coils. I did notice a bit more roll in the front end in turns and a bit bouncier suspension.

I made the drive down for Durhamtown off-road park's Save The Park ride 2/25. A lot of built rigs there, I traveled down and met up with some Tacomas. A lot of buggies from pirate and jeeps attended.








Here's a link to all of my pictures for the weekend
http://photobucket.com/albums/sbonnoiv/durhamtown%20save%20the%20park%202012/?sa=true

I quickly realized I needed more clearance, a locker, and real skid plates.

 

Which brings me to my current state, I have had my Budbuilt installed for about 2 months now. i haven't had the chance to test it out on much other than sliding over a few logs. More to come!

 

few more updates/pictures:

bud built:







Wheeling at snowbird in Murphy, NC
super crappy pics i know, oh well






LC











the rawk was too big:






Steve of Southeast Overland winching me over, good guy.

 

looks good man.

 

Looks great! I would reinforce those bud builts before you dent the shit out of them. Makes it much easier when they are straight. Mine are bent to hell and its making it a lot harder.

 

I have seen some people use angle iron, right? I was going to use 1/4 plate probably, I planned on buying a sheet of it to build a belly pan with.
What are yalls thoughts?

 

Im going to do something like this.




Same for the front one, except if the angle iron wont fit then ill use some plate.

 

sweet. oh and i definately dented the gas tank skid on that last rock obstacle. i was getting winched off though, i had a steep drop off behind me so forward was the only option. also got slammed onto the frame rail, but looks like just a gouge, not bent. i have alot of ideas for a gas tank skid..

 

Would you mind sharing some of those ideas? I dented my gas tank and it stops working slightly under half a tank. I figured I should reinforce it before I completely mess it up. Thanks.