Flatbed,35’s and Mainly Parked For Repairs

Oooo nice pics dude! Man your truck is changing real fast. haha Definitely looking forward to seeing more pics of everything on it. How you liking the OME lift so far? Ride good? And which flip kit did you go with? I'd really like to get new bumpstops with a flip kit as well for my next mod.

 

Thanks Mike. Yeah its changing a little too fast, so my new years resolution was to cool it on the MODs. Just got to get my rear HC bumper on and im pretty much done for this year. Definitely got to get more pics, but its way too cold outside.

As for the lift, without the weight in the front the ride was rougher than stock, however it wasn't terrible or intolerable, just a little rougher. With the bumper there, there is a HUGE difference over stock...This is all just road testing as I haven't been able to take it anywhere, but the roads are so rough here in Windsor that its a pretty close comparison . All in all I am super happy with the suspension.

The flip kit is from all-pro, and I have the superbumps from wheelers. Much cheaper, and they ride a lot softer than the timbrens from what I read. With the load of wood, I was on the bumps, but they are suppose to squish down a bit more. With that said, the dakars with the bumps were fantastic handling the load.


Wish I could have installed my front bumps but I didn't have time to get a wrench big enough to take off the stock bumps....summer time I guess.

 

Yea its pretty crazy how fast the mod bug bites eh! I went pretty hard myself and I'm kinda cooling off from it as well. Just small odds and ends now, I like how my truck is and I just wanna enjoy it.


Good to hear your suspension is working out for you. You definitely need to run a bit of weight for it to feel better on the road but I doubt you'll ever take off your new bumper now so no worries. Did you end up running a CB drop? Or shims? No vibes whatsoever?


I' m kinda surprised to hear you were on your bumpstops with a load in the back. They must be quite a bit taller than stock ones? All the times I've loaded my truck, (gravel, dirt, concrete etc, etc.) I've never had the truck resting on the last overload leaf. These leaf packs are really beefy and can carry weight easily. Perfect for my use! I think there are others making flip kits other than allpro?

 

So far everythings good with the lift (knock on wood). Drives great, and handles a lot better than before. Im not too sure about CB drop or shims since Ski was telling me some things did come with the OME kit to accomadate the increased angles. I do know that there is no diff drop. Its been too cold to get under there and take a look . Bumper may come off eventually to put the winch in, but that's a ways down the road.

The dakars are great, and I was too surprised when I had them on the bumps. But with the superbumps they are much taller than stock bumps, but they do compress to stock size. So with the tower on the bumps, they are really high, and it may appear the suspension is stuffed, but there should be a little bit of room to stuff it more. In the pic, the bumps aren't squished down like there suppose to. Guess im going to have to try harder . As for flip kits, there are a bunch out there. I know Relentless makes some, and perhaps a few other companies, but ordering through Ski, it was just easier to go through one of his vendors on toyotec. It works

 

I'll probably just order a flip kit from Relentless, I had good service and quick delivery when I ordered my cb antenna mount last year. Good to hear the suspension is working really well for you and just wait till we get on the trail this summer, you won't be rubbing every rock now
Can't believe you haven't shared any pics with the HC rear bumper on yet! Lets see it!

 

Yeah super excited to get out, been itchin to get out lately.

Rear bumpers not on yet. Didn't want to make the cuts and not be able to touch it up in the cold. Summer time it's a go though. Super bumped for that.

 

You and me both dude! Snow wheelin' is fun but I find I'm day dreaming of the trails up north quite a bit lately. Too bad we still a few months to go....


Good point on the painting in cold weather. It's a pain and not worth while. I'm also going to wait till spring to finish up my bumper.


Sure you're ready to cut that nice, unmolested bedside!?

 

That made me laugh probably too hard, definitely putting that in my sig if that's okay. Im hoping I am ready to cut. At the end of the day, if I dont cut, rocks will do the work for me, and I rather make it look cleaner than anything. Gotta love having a DCLB haha.


I would love to go out and dick around, and I know of a few places here and there around Windsor, but I don't have a winch, and all I need is to get stuck . Though my first Arbdeg run was pretty rough, and educational (length of the trail, strategies, dont bring the girlfriend and her 2 small dogs ), I cannot wait to go some time in the summer and test everything out.

Super pumped for that

 

Dude, I laughed out loud to this one. Words of wisdom.

Every run seems to be a learning experience it seems, but that's all part of the fun. Now that your lifted, plus armor, Ardbeg (and other trails) will be much nicer on your rig and you'll probably even challenge yourself and the truck a bit more too. As long as you're having a great time, that's all that matters! For me, the camaraderie and camping is almost as good or sometimes even better than the actually wheeling. Can't wait for summer.

 

Yeah I hope to get out this summer for a weekend, and camp. The girlfriend isn't too enthused about camping though, but ill try to convince her...

 

You could always do what Slowe does once and awhile.... drive back into Parry Sound and stay in a motel.

 

Don't even want to mention that to the GF.... Next thing you know the motel wont be good enough

 

Got bored, so found some alley ways around the house that weren't plowed.

Only Pictue my GF got of a drift that was too high. As you can see photography is her specialty . Anyways, the road way is suppose to be level with the fence on the left, and ... Needless to say I couldn't plow through it.



And some truck parked outfront pictures....



Now back to studying

 

Well I took advantage of a few group buys even though I was planning on cooling it. Anyways, in thinking of future electrical stuff that I will be putting into the truck, and all the cold weather we have been having lately, and I figured a bigger battery is in order. So I ordered a pelfrey battery box that will house a 31m battery (stock is a 27m).


Instead of doing a dual battery system, which I probably would never use to its fullest, I think this is a good upgrade, and is substantially less expensive, and easier to install. Will probably do the "big 3" upgrade when installing the battery box, as well (list never ends...)


Link to GB if anyones interested--> http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/group-buys/310705-gb-pelfreybilt-battery-cages-hold-downs.html


There stainless steal too which is awesome. Freaken HATE rust.


Also ordered 2 sets of duallys.. Set of amber floods for fogs, and a set of diffused for backup lights. Should be good.

 

That Dually GB was a really good deal. Wish I could have gotten in on that but gotta save for other stuff.. Regarding your OEM battery, you mentioned its a 27m battery, is that because you don't have a towing package? Or do all Tacos have a 27m battery?

 

to be honest, im not 100% sure if all tacomas have the same battery. That being said, I do not have the towing package, but I think/thought the towing package just came with the towing stuff (hitch, harness, etc) and a bigger alternator. Either way, this should be a big improvement. The cold weather is definitely making it harder to start in the morning.


Excited for the dually's, always wanted them, just could justify the price. After all the lights I have had, I could have just gotten the dually's in the first place. Pay once, cry once I guess.

 

I slowly learned that lesson as well. Some things you just have to do it right, the first time. I really like your idea of the upgraded battery tho. I have a dual battery tray sitting in my basement but thinking twice about installing it as well. I hate having the extra weight on the corner of the truck and I may not use it to the full potential either. Guess it depends on how far I want to take lighting, etc. but so far I really just want tot get an led light bar for upfront and probably call it a day. Look forward to your review after getting everything installed, hopefully you get to test it out in the cold weather we are having now.

 

The good thing that I really like about the upgraded battery is you don't have to buy all the isolaters/switches ect, and its one less battery to buy. The negatives is the big battery is pretty darn heavy (think 75lbs), so weight wise it may be equivalent to duals. The install should be easy enough though.

As for an LED bar, I have a blitzpro. Not quality of rigid, but I figured for the time ill use it, it will work. Had HID before and I don't think I will ever run them. Ballast takes to long to heat up, and when your using them on the country roads, you want them on and off so you don't blind other drivers.
If you do decide on blitzpro, get the double row, and not the single. The 21inch single that I have I don't find it to have the distance that my HID converted hellas had. Although it could be my aiming.

 

That could be because LED just doesn't throw light as far as an HID light can? That's just from what I read. Good to know about the double row, infact i did have Blitzpro in mind as well. How many lumens does the single row put out vs the double row? A 21" would be perfect actually. Combined that with the new PIAA 510's i'll be using in my new bumper, it should throw quite a bit of light out front. I'll have to keep my eye for the next Group Buy for one...


75lbs for a battery sounds heavy! But to have the extra juice is really nice. I'm going to have to think long and hard about where i wanna go with my setup before i decide.

 

I have no idea which will throw farther, but I do know that for my application I wont go HID with ballast, exspecially in the winter when it took so long for it to become bright.

I have this light bar which is 4060 lumens --> http://blitzpro.com/12v-led-lights/hawk-21s-led-light-rail-bar.html

but if I could do it again I would get this one--> http://blitzpro.com/12v-led-lights/hawk-15d-led-light-rail-bar.html or http://blitzpro.com/12v-led-lights/falcon-blitzpro-32d-led-light-rail.html (thought they had a double row 21" but I guess not... For the price you cant really go wrong
I don't know if you got the pia's but I heard some pretty bad reviews on them. Leaky lenses, and bad customer service. The 510's are one of the only 3inch lights, tat happen to fit most fog light spots. I was thinking of getting them until I read some reviews on here. That was a while ago though
The hardest part is trying to figure out where your going to go with the truck haha. I figured im not going to run an inverter for camping, or be going camping enough to need an inverter or accessories. I would wont the duals, if I thought I was going to ever run a battery down enough that my truck wont start. I mainly just got this for the winch, cold starts, and lights haha...plus needed to do something to the truck