Hour's 2012 Regular Cab 4x4 Build

Figured I'd create one of these since I'm finding it impossible to resist the urge to modify. Truck: 2012 White Regular Cab 4x4 Tacoma - 5spd Manual. Purchased July '12 with 1 mile on the clock - Colorado baby!

I am the TL;DR boss so please excuse the lengthy posts that I am notorious for. Scroll to pictures

Current Modifications

Bilstein 5100's up front @ 2.5"
Wheelers 3-Leaf Progressive w/ factory overload (Bilstein 5100s rear finally)
16x8.5 Level 8 Tracker, LT265/76/16 Hankook Dynapros (GY Silent Armor sidewall damage after 10k miles grr)
Ranch Camper Shell (very basic, very useful)
Backup light hack with auxiliary backup lights (DIY thread)
Black headlight mod, blacked out front emblem (plastidip failing after 6 months)
Pioneer AVH-P1400DVD head unit with Scosche 2012 dash kit
Rockford Fosgate Prime P165 6.5" Components
JBL 600.1 Amp (old school) powering 1 x 10" BOSS sub
Tits sleeping platform in back with sleeper sofa matress

Current Photos

(er.. the one with the new wheels)











Timeline

Stock, Still Temp Tags

Already started taking it places where I used to take my Legacy (fishing, bowfishing). Enjoyed not bottoming out quite a bit. Not sure if I'll ever own another vehicle with low ground clearance or low profile tires again.

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Then, at the same spot, I got stuck on my stock dunflops. Lake mud is pretty tough anyway, but 4wd got me out of it thankfully. Looked like a dry perimeter of a lake bed, entirely crusted on top. Apply weight and you're in the crap.

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So, I bought some tires because Sears was having a pretty awesome sale. I considered getting Duratracs but they were going to take a while to get in, were more expensive, and had less of a rebate going for em. Instead, got 265/75/16 Goodyear Silent Armors and couldn't be happier. They had some issues a couple years ago with this tire, resolved it, and I felt confident in buying. Quiet, comfortable, do well on the iced over streets that I live on as well as great in deeper snow.

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And took her to 12,000 feet

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Then I decided I wanted wheels, but was kind of sore about the fact that I would have to fork out cash for the wheels and remounting my very recently mounted tires. Decided I could live with the stock steelies without spacers or anything, and derped them to see if I liked the look.

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And took her back to 12,000 feet to the resorts for fun

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Pre-shell Pics:

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Christmas Eve Snow, 2012!:

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Very good start! Truck looks great with the black'd wheels.

 

Proper fitting camper shell installed this morning. Everything is dirty, especially it.. has chunks of ice frozen on it. Of course, the hoses and everything else are frozen so no washy. Head unit installed, stock speakers sound 100% better - can't wait to hear with components installed. Putting that off cause it's not getting above 20*F out for a while, at least with stereo install I could warm up truck and close doors.

Oh yeah, I love Fort Collins, Colorado. And GY Wrangler Silent Armors... nothing accumulates in tread

 

Nice. I like the idea of buying base model and building up. You can make a truck pretty sick with the money you save over getting all of the factory options/models/upgrades.

 

Worked well for me since I loved the black/white look. I do kind of wish I had gotten something with a little more cargo space though, but not bad enough to have spent so much more for one. Kinda sucks to stack your groceries on the bench seat beside you and hope they don't fall on the floor / in to your shifter. I did move my cargo net (the one for soccer moms, not full bed covering net) to the very rear. Got groceries the other day and it was so awesome to just lift the glass on the camper shell and drop them in the net.

Anyway, only progress since this post was I installed the head unit. 2012 scosche kit worked well after all. Conditions were not great for doing this (15*, snowing, dark) but I brought OEM in to remove clock, assembled the scosche kit and new headunit together, wired everything up (including parking brake bypass with radioshack relay, works like a charm) and threw it in.

I forgot to hook up the clock/airbag thing first, after putting everything together. DOH. Took it back out (scosche comes out way easier than OEM did), put it all back together. Forgot those 4 bolts. DoubleDOH. I work worse when I haven't had a few beers I have front USB and aux in ports, which sucks since our stereos are way up top. I got sick after about 2 hours of having a giant white iphone cable dangling down and near my shifter, so I just opted to use these tiny flash drives (can kind of see in first pic, bottom right corner). This one was 8gb and I got it on sale for like $6. It protrudes from the headunit(or PC) just enough to get a grip on it, so much better! Wrote some software a couple nights ago in like 5 minutes to compare my music directory to my flash drive contents when plugged in to PC, syncs all the absent music in a snap. I love being a programmer

 

I may be picking up a regular cab soon - also in Colorado - and wanted to ask if you had any rubbing with those tires on the stock wheels? Looks great!

 

Thanks man - zero rubbing at all. I've searched for 'rubbing with 265/75/16' on many occasions when I was about to purchase and for everyone saying 'you may rub', there were 50 replies saying 'I have that size, I do not rub at stock height on stock wheels'.

G'luck with your upcoming purchase! If a regular cab suits your lifestyle then I don't think there's a more affordable 4wd option out there or I would have considered it back in July when I was car shopping. I couldn't afford anything more than a reg cab, knew I needed 4wd, and as a single younger guy with no kids.. it just made sense. It does suck sometimes to have your entire front seats filled with crap because it's raining outside and you just bought groceries, but you can do a tool box / tonneau cover / camper shell, depending on how much $ you wanna drop.

 

I've noticed similar feedback in the threads I searched on. Thanks for confirming for your tires. Still pleased with them?

I drove a regular cab for about 1.5 hours on Saturday. Specifically took it up I-70 to see how it did in the hills. I was pretty pleased with the 2.7, plenty fast for me as I won't be towing anything. I'm coming from a '12 Wrangler Unlimited with a 4.5" lift on 37s - I'm just not in love with it, and I find I still turn my head for regular cab Tacomas every time I see one. I've just always wanted one. I drove an access cab, but found the feel and sound of the cab hollow, and I'm not interested in the double cab. The regular cab is just right for the commute and trails, and I will be running with a camper shell which offers plenty of dry storage. I'm pretty excited about the prospect of finally getting a Tacoma and was all grins the time I spent in one over the weekend.

Now I just have to sell my Jeep, but in CO that shouldn't be too hard.

 

Nice. I've struggled up I-70 near Red Rocks and it only has gotten worse up toward the mountains.. Maybe that's where it turns to I-76, can't remember. It gets there, just have to downshift quite a bit and try not to lose momentum (cars cutting in front of you, etc). I've learned that if I see a slow moving truck at the base of a hill to not bother passing cause I'll likely run outta oomph soon after. As far as tires, yep - still loving em for the look, ride quality, noise, and traction. Street has been a sheet of ice for the last two weeks due to snow, while I hear cars and trucks spinning at the stop signs on my block every day I just move right along.

Edit: Dang, somehow some dust got in the headlights. I blew on everything just before seating on the grey back of the light to try and get any dust out, but still failed on that. I didn't touch the inside of the lens once so at least there aren't any grease/fingerprints. Hopefully the dust will burn out in a little while. Turn signals are pretty damn dim unless you're directly in front of the truck. It should be adequate for cars I'm behind to know my intentions, and cars facing me (like a 4 way stop) should have no difficulty seeing them either unless the sun is shining directly on me. I'm not sure it'd be any different with factory lighting in that scenario but they're definitely dimmer. Got flashed for brights 3 times in a 10 minute rural drive, two people I was behind were fiddling with their rear view mirrors, and someone I was driving behind slowed down to 15mph in a 35, I guess because he thought I was being a jackass with brights on. Oops! I found a flat parking lot with a building directly ahead and it didn't appear as if my lights were shining too far off to the side nor too far up/down.. the cut off on drivers side is definitely lower as it should be, so I'm not sure. I'll mess with it more when I do lift in the next week or so.

Did black headlight mod yesterday/today. What a pain in the butt.

Suggestions for anyone else trying this:

1. Don't do it when it's really cold out. I started early AM on the 7th and heard a lot of things snap on the grill. Also the little white body-matched pieces directly beneath the headlight (about 2 inches tall x 8 inches long), yeah pull the clip out nearest the grill area, but try and pull as horizontally across toward the middle of the vehicle to undo the slide clip at the far end (exterior side of truck). I broke that a bit too. It all fit back together fine, but it was definitely a moment. Cold, brittle? Dunno
2. When you're told to 'pry' at the headlight perimeter after heating it up, use the screwdriver just to get an edge exposed, then use your fingers. If it doesn't start to stretch and pull widely apart, it might not be hot enough. I had to do 350* for 12 minutes and it still wasn't easy - my oven is small (headlights would only fit in one orientation) so i lost a lot of heat fiddling with that. I also didn't understand how much 'prying' was involved, so I pried every inch around the headlight for the first one only to realize it was too cold. Not too cold to #%!@ the grey plastic backing. That light saw lots of silicone to ensure a good seal since there were permanent gaps from disfiguring grey plastic.
3. When putting the surround piece in after you paint it black, watch for the little alignment tab pictured. I realized this putting the second light back together, so I had to remelt and redo the first, which only took 15 minutes thankfully. Glad I hadn't siliconed or reinstalled it yet.
4. Maybe don't paint the turn signal area. Tint maybe, but probably not paint. I'm sure it'll be perfectly visible at dusk and night, but it's really a weak bulb and needed some reflectivity in my humble opinion

The alignment prong thing I reference:





Anyway, looks neat, blacked out the emblem too. Used Rustoleum 2x Coverage flat black for metal, wood, plastics. It didn't seem too durable After 18 hours of drying I put them in the oven to prebake, preheated to 200*, turned it off, threw em in. Any surface touching the cardboard stuck to it when I tried to remove it! Thankfully I did the main surrounding part face up so only the back was affected, but the turn signal reflectors are too wobbily to stand straight up so they went face down. Had to touch up with..Sharpie! Thankfully you can't tell on the vehicle.

 

That looks good dude, I also have a white base 12 RC and been dabating about doing the headlight, how long did that take?

 

Way too long :\ Doing it over again I could probably have the headlights off the vehicle in ten minutes. That third bolt people reference was accessible (still not easily) by undoing two screws on the splash shield by each front tire... I think that bolt took the longest.

Then cracking them open, could probably do in 15 minutes per light from preheating to fully opened. Paint, meh.. I prepped with a duplicolor paint prep rag I got from autozone for a buck or two and let dry for a minute. Painting was maybe an hour with many coats and some dry time between them, but I then let the paint dry overnight. I wouldn't rush that part, or maybe you can find a faster drying paint than my rustoleum stuff. Putting back together (had I done it properly), 15 minutes per light.. reinstall, 15 minutes.

All in all, if it's your first time, expect it to take 3+ hours if you find some magic paint that dries instantly.

 

There was never any power to begin with

But no, I didn't change my driving habits to accommodate the larger tires. Still have to downshift in same places on interstate if I lose momentum. Do it! Duratracs are roughly the same price as the tires I bought, I just had better incentives getting the Silent Armors. My $160 prepaid visa should be here any day I think with the lift that I hope to install shortly, the duratracs would have looked a little better.. but it's all good

 

I would have done 33's but didn't want to cut a bunch of stuff up, I saw somewhere that you were considering the Iron Man lift and your expected height gains.. I know some of the reg cab guys I've found on here with the bilsteins up front @ 2.5" and 1.5" AAL in rear (with factory overload I've found, after PMing) were able to run 33's with minimal trimming. I guess the aftermarket wheel backspacing can help make this possible too, but since I'm too thrifty for wheels any time soon that was the TKO for my thoughts of 33's. I'm not sure I can afford to lose any more oomph anyway Curious to see how much weaker it feels with the lift too. A truck with a lot of wind resistance + lift + more rolling resistance + elevation... ehhh

I calculated that our trucks have about 123 hp to the crank in Laramie At 15% drive train loss, about 104 to the wheels Obviously we'll never be speed demons but it might be wise to consider how important appearance is over tolerable driving. I'll surely post up pics here with my lift and 265s to give you an idea since I figure I'll be achieving a little over 2.5" lift in the front, but I'm sure with wider wheels that protrude a little more from the wheel wells it'd look more acceptable. Gelo's running 265s, looks good to me.

 

Two things suggest that you're balling out of control here-

1. Having lift installed at dealership
2. Speaking of super chargers

You still running dungflops? I didn't feel like they were very good to be banging around on rocks... though I'm a nancy and don't know how much I want to thrash my goodyears either - mainly because I don't want to lose one and then have severely mismatched tread depth - paying to shave a brand new tire down seems like a crappy ordeal as well. Guess that could happen with an unrepairable flat too. I hate tires

 

Updated first post to make it a little more organized with current mods and current pics first, timeline kinda later. Just made this little comparison of how she was a little over a month ago with just plastidipped wheels and tires. Crazy change.

 

Im really diggin your 2012! it looks so clean and i have a hard time not staring at it when i see you post! do you have any pictures of how much room you have in your camper and when its fully loaded ready for camping? I'm wanting one but still debating if its gonna be a good decision to drop the money for it

 

Thanks mang Unfortunately no shots of in the shell with camping gear cause I haven't loaded her up yet. I love (okay, obsess) over the concept of two 2x6 boards laying across the special cutouts meant for this purpose, and some heavy plywood. Add a nice futon mattress and you've got the ultimate camping setup for <$100, much less if you find a used futon mattress even.

My buddy is actively texting me about going to Coachella music festival in California so the idea is fresh on my mind. Way I see it - is do what most people do and get under-bed storage totes to go under the sleeping platform. Pack other crap on top until you reach destination. I like the idea of a high-rise camper shell but in all honesty, when I camp I drink. I don't get claustrophobic so the way I see it - I'll weasel my way in with two feet head room or so, pass out with a little 12v fan running in my slider window (120mm PC fan wired to cigarette lighter plug, connected to the 12v socket I'm about to install in bed)... and I put cathode lighting in there this afternoon actually.

If the time comes where I need to haul a bed or a couch, yea I'm toast - I'll have to recruit a friend to help me take the shell off and also try and figure out where the hell to store it. The other 364 days a year it's PERFECT.

I'm extremely pleased with how inexpensive making my truck look like I wanted required - spraypaint, plastidip, tires, cheapest lift option (that wasn't blocks), and a camper shell. Dundundun!

 

Thats a nice basic truck you got there. I had a 2012 2 door just like that but black. 265 wranglers no lift it was actually very capable but wanted a lift and it was already struggling on the highway at 75, so I got a 4 door.

 

^This

 

It's nice as hell right now, I was actually sweatin' earlier in a hoodie. Traffic is kind of bad with students around, I just take alternate routes that might not be quicker but less students/bad driver college girls - thus more enjoyable.

I was actually thinking of coming up to WY today to Curt Gowdy State Park but I guess it's too late for that now.