My Build - 2004 White V6 4x4

I've gotten a number of good ideas from this forum. I thought I would post my results so far. Kind of an expensive hobby.

 

It had definitely seen some wear & tear. It had been used for offroading - not always with success. And there was a lot of deferred maintenance.

 

A couple of months after buying it, I got rear-ended by a Camry. That's when I discovered the all-steel Tacoma bumper. The poor Camry. I had a scratched bumper which was replaced with a shiny new one. And as soon as I got the truck back, I noticed something...

 

There were a few problems that came with it. One odd one was the right front tire that was rubbing on something - but only when I turned right going up an incline. It was pretty loud though - enough to alarm passengers. So it was early on the list of things to be fixed. Also discovered that the tires it came with provided NO traction in the rain.

First was a set of BF Goodrich All-Terrain T/A KO tires all around.

This is when I discovered that the prior owner had upsized the tires without upsizing the suspension. I decided to stick with the 265/75 R16 tires. This however made the rubbing sound worse.

Interestingly, though this is a 10-year-old truck, it was originally sold at the closest Toyota dealer to me. It had lived in a few different states. My guess is a military guy who had been deployed a few places. Anyway, I went back to the dealer, and they had a bunch of maintenance records on the truck.

After getting all the mechanical checked out at the dealer they noted that all four shocks were in need of replacement. They didn't have the official ones in stock. However, the mechanics suggested that maybe I didn't want to go with the stock ones. They suspected that replacing the shocks MIGHT solve the rubbing problem. However, they suggested that I research a Bilstein 5100 kit first. They were certain that would solve the problem.

This forum being part of that research - I think that's how I found the forum actually.

 

So then, I decided to try out some of what sockmonkey offered in the way of TRD decals. I think that on a white truck the darker gray would have stood out better. But I'm nevertheless a satisfied customer.

One trick was getting all the adhesive off the paint without damaging it. Home Depot had a couple of interesting products. One was a rubbing compound with some mineral oil (I think) that they suggested for removing things from paint. They also had a kit for removing wallpaper that had a handy little plastic scraper. With a bunch of paper towels and careful scraping, I was able to get the old one off. The new one went back on as per the instructions. Very happy with the results.

 

There were three main functions I wanted a truck to perform:

1) Haul my bike to places I could ride it.
2) Get to hiking trail heads on rough "roads" that wash out.
3) Haul supplies.

One of the considerations in hauling stuff is security. It seems like an SUV offers a better solution than a truck. However, a mountain bike is 67 inches long - making it hard to fit inside an SUV. But a 72-inch Tacoma bed is the best bike hauler on the planet.

What I chose was the LEER 100XQ. It has a SUV look, which hopefully helps it blend into a parking lot without looking like it's full of expensive Snap-On tools. It's big enough to fit in a couple of road bikes nicely - about the easiest way in the world to haul a bike around.

And it secures supplies nicely. It held three cribs perfectly in their boxes between the wheel wells, and three mattresses on top. We were hauling five hours to an orphanage. And lots of other supplies stuffed in the nooks and crannies.

It's really nice to be able to stop for a meal without worrying about someone messing with your load. It's also a nice safe place to put a couple of expensive bikes. The windows are dark enough that even in bright sunlight, you really can't see if anything is in the bed.

If I had it to do over again, I might downgrade. The windows don't really open wide enough to get a cross breeze through the back. Windows that open up on the sides and allow access would make it easier to move stuff around without climbing in. Unfortunately, the protruding knobs on those kind of windows would seem to invite a thief with a hammer to whack them off and look at what is inside. Not that a window is going to deter anyone motivated.

The other unanticipated problem was that my truck had had a bed liner for nine years. When the cap was fitted they trimmed off the top of the bed liner so that it would fit properly. That's when we discovered that the bed liner had rubbed off the paint all around the top of the bed. Putting a cap on a new truck wouldn't result in this problem.

Oh, and a truck cap like this is a bit of an investment. I decided to add the Thule roof rack tracks which must be done at the time they make it. Who knows, perhaps I'll take up kayaking...

 

One problem with the truck cap with dark windows is that it's very difficult to see through when backing up. In bright sunlight its slightly possible to see through, but at night virtually impossible.

Unfortunately I discovered this the hard way: trying to back up in a dark place and not being able to see anything. It was weird - there was a red glow from the brake lights, but it seemed like the back up lights used to be bright enough to see SOMETHING. I concluded that in the dark, the back up lights weren't enough. I made arrangements with the same shop that did the 5100's to add some reverse lighting.

I wanted some "before" shots, and asked a friend to take them while backing up in a dark place. And...that's when I discovered something else wrong. The brake lights lit up nicely - including the LED 3rd light on the LEER cap. But no reverse lights. The first picture is while I was slowly backing up for the person taking pictures. But again - I couldn't see them at all and was afraid I would bump into them.

It seems that my reverse light switch failed. Once that was fixed, it was possible to hook up the Rigid Dually LED Floods. They are tied into the reverse lights. They are definitely bright enough to annoy the neighbors if I back out in the middle of the night. And they are bright enough to see through the truck cap windows at night in a dark place. I wasn't expecting that. Somewhere on this forum I read about someone who had put these on as reverse lights. I can attest that they are fantastic for backing up when it is dark. I am looking forward to winter so I can get use out of them after work every day.

They are mounted just forward of the bumper. They are surprisingly small when installed. Hopefully that will be a good place to avoid any angle-of-departure problems.

It seemed silly to have more light backing up than going forward. So, I looked at additional options for forward lighting. In the end, I decided that the stock lenses were just too clouded to hassle with. I've heard enough unsatisfying stories about aftermarket headlight assemblies to be wary. The shop I work with really doesn't like HID kits either, and have people always returning when they burn out. So, for the time being, I just replaced the lenses and the headlight assemblies with new ones. Definitely not the least expensive option. But if you look around at all the Toyota and Lexus vehicles, you see so many with clouded-over headlights. The powertrain will last for so many years, but headlight cataracts really make a vehicle look old, don't they?

The next mod will probably be some sort of forward-facing lighting. I'm leaning towards the Rigid SR or SR-Q family that could be tucked into the front bumper, since we've determined that nothing will fit behind the grill.

 

Did the same thing with my 2012, mounted two Rigid LED lights in the same location. I had mine wired to where they will turn on anytime the truck is in reverse, but there is also a switch in the cab that allows me to turn them on and leave them on anytime.

This is nice for when you need extra light at the rear of the truck at night (example camping or loading the bed).

My guilty pleasure is flicking them on when an *ss might be doing something like tailgating or driving behind me with their high beams on!

 

Yes, I am thinking about adding a switch. I'm going to test and see how the lighting works in certain situations.