Tex's 2012 Tacoma Off-Road

I am not new to the site at all. I have been here for several years just lurking around. I do not post at all here, I mainly just read all the info that is here. A little about myself, I was in the Marine Corps for eight wonderful years! It had it's moments but all in all I did appreciate the time I had in the service. But I have a wife, two kids and I owed them more than the Corps. My wife stood by my side and supported me through the constant work ups and deployments. My first Tacoma was a 2008 PreRunner, and I traded it in for my 2012. I was going to get an FJ but they did not have one at the time. But this time I did it right and got an off-road. It has the entune and jbl speakers blah blah blah. I bought the tacoma because I purchased the Icon RR for the 08 so i did not want to go through the trouble of selling and buying the suspension for the FJ. Somehow I managed to finally finish A BUILD! When I say "A BUILD" I mean this is only one of some of my projects. I have a Kona Coilair Supreme mtb frame and have slowly bought parts for it. I just need wheels, tires and forks. My other car addiction is my honda. Its a 2000 EJ8 with a k20a2 heart that I have probably spent more on that then everything in this truck. Cars, trucks are addicting I finally committed on one project and finished my truck.

Mods
-Front Icon RR
-Wheeler's Off Road AAL
-Icon 2.0 smooth body
-B.A.M.F CMC
-Konig Countersteer
-Goodyear Duratracs 285/75/16
-5% tint rear, 20% front

To the pictures: July 2012/ Traded White Taco for a Blk Taco




The goodies









This was a gift from my wife the day before fathers day. She bought this for me just so I can do the lift. She is awesome!




Took me a while to organize the box.

What I used for the swap not including some of the tools I ended up getting at auto zone, i.e ball joint separator.







Before




Decided to tackle the rear first thinking it was going to be easier than the front! Nope. It was not hard just time consuming. I used the ratchet straps to keep the rear up because the jack was a P.O.S. it helped swing the rear from place to place.


I kept the overload because it had the bracket for the rear brake lines. I had to do the rear left twice because I messed something up.


These things are beefy and just look sick!


Removing the front suspension was a breeze. I pretty much just looked at the front and figured out how to do it by eye. I just looked online for the torque specs of some bolts. I am a Heavy Equipment Mech/ Boat Mech , I worked on things that were a lot more harder then this.







My boy Polo watching dad work.



He walked around all of 5 minutes before calling it quits. It was fucking hot that day in Houston. Not to mention the humidity. Definitely not SoCal. Oh how I miss my home with full size garage and ocean view!



Here is proof of me turning wrenches. That sad little jack that does not deserve to be called a jack. If I had a good jack I would of saved so much time on this lift.



I dont have a picture of the truck lifted, I think I was just too tired and forgot too. But the next day I was up and went to Discount tire and got my tires mounted. The guys there were drooling of the awesomness that appeared before them. hahaha













I like how much the Duratracs stick out. It is perfect for me.



Some PlastiDip fun. This stuff is so damn easy to apply its idiot proof. I did tape off at first but then I just said f-it. What ever over sprayed I just used a terry cloth and it came right off.





How she sits today. I had tint installed yesterday because it is so damn hot and my kids are sweating in the back even with the a/c on full blast. That is the main reason why i got it. The looks of it is just a plus.





That is my build. I hope you guys enjoyed the pictures. I would like to thank the Tacoma World community and the vendors that I purchased things from. Thank you for taking my money. hahaha This forum is very informative and the people here are cool. But most of all thanks to my wife that supported me through this hobby of mine. Thanx



My family at an Astros game on Memorial day. I know the Astros suck but eh what ever. They are my team and I stay true to them.

 

First off thanks for your service to our Country.Truck looks great,noticed you went from a long bed to a short.Just curious,did you dislike the longer bed?Take care and enjoy that great looking family of yours.

 

Here are some random pics of some cool training I did while in the Corps. Not many people get a chance to go to an off road school for free. Now let me tell you, before I went to this course I thought the HMMVV was crap but I guess we had the ferrari of HMMVV. Any who these things can climb and take a beating.


I know it does not look like it but it was steep.





We drove from Reno out to this place. Mountains everywhere and out of nowhere, BAMN....Sand! I am sure some of you know where this is.


This was our exit exam. Could not knock down cones and had to follow the course correctly.


The toy I had. This was just a basic m4 that we trained with.

 

Thank you for the support and kind words. I did not mind the long bed. It came in handy and didn't really bother me. Could fit my bike on there without having it at an angle. haha But the short works just as well and corners a lot better. But the main reason why I got a short bed was because they dont have that option for the off road pckg.

 

Some eye candy for the honda guys here. This is a cruise control delete from karcepts. I was bored, so i polished it.







Also my engine tuck harness from wire-worx. Hector does some amazing work, attention to detail is awesome.



Not mine, its from another member at k20a.org but I hope to have it looking like this.



and my kona frame

 

Nice truck, very subtle mods make all the world of difference.

 

Thanx Large, I don't think I will go crazy with mods. But its clean and simple. Maybe some more cosmetic stuff. Like color mathced grill and mirrors but deff some sliders.

 

that wheel and tire combo is sick
awesome pics from the driving school, those HMMVVs were made exactly to do that short of stuff

 

The wheels are awesome and tires look great. I have some other pictures of the hmmvv on its side. Where I can literally touch the ground with my hand.

 

Go 'stros!

Good looking truck as well