The Great Smoke's Semi-Build

THE GREAT SMOKE'S BUILD​

2011 TRD OFF ROAD PRERUNNER​

PURCHASED JULY 2011​

CURRENT PICTURE--AS OF SEPTEMBER 2014


Exterior
- Front Window Tint
- Tailgate Debadged
- Pinstrip Debadged
- Plasti-Dip Side Emblems
- Plasti-Dip Front Emblem
- TRD Skid Plate (Painted with Bed-liner)
- UWS Low Profile Toolbox (removed)
- Access Limited Soft Tonneau cover
- Husky Liner Mud Guards
- NFab Running Boards
- Customized TRD Decals
- OEM Roof Rack
- LED light strip along the inside of the bed
- Horse Stall Mat as a bed mat

Interior
- Weathertech DigitalFit Mats (front and rear)
- Paracord 550 customized door grips
- Customized center console organizer

Suspension
- Bilstein 5100 all around
- Front set at 1.75 with ToyTec 1/4" Spacer on both sides
- 1" block in rear

Tires
- 265-75-16 Toyo Open Country AT2
- 16x8/-4.5 Moto Metal 951 Rims

Future
- Wheel spacers (Maybe) ​

 

This is a modest build comparing some of the great ones that are on this site, but it's the journey of my truck!

My first Tacoma that I ever owned (1995.5 Extra Cab) along with my first tacoma that I purchased (2006 Access Cab)


The mandatory stock photo to introduce "Smoke":

With the upgrade I was able to keep most of what I had on the 2006, which is awesome.

The windows got tinted and the OEM mud flaps were replaced with shorter ones (Husky Liner Mud Guards):


I was happy with the truck until...........

I got sick with the TacomaWorld fever.

New bling for the truck were placed. While I was at it I got my white-letters flipped inside:


"Santa" brought me some n-FAB running board, which I installed on the same day:


I decided to plasti dip my front emblem and also painted the TRD Skid Plate with bed-liner stuff:


After about a year, the lift and tires were installed:

The before:


The after:


The pinstripes started to become flaky, so I decided to remove it. I never liked it in the first place anyway. For those who may be curious, I used non-acetone nail polish removal, a credit card, soap/water, and wax. Came out alright with no damage to the paint.


On a side note, I was getting getting bad vibes between 50-60mph with my current set-up and it was driving me nuts, but thanks to this website I discovered hub-centric rings. I went ahead and ordered me some as well as some Gorilla lugs and installed them. After the install, I was very pleased to find no vibe. Best 50$ mod known to man.

After seeing many write-ups and pictures of people debadging their trucks, I was skeptical mostly because I did not want to have any 'shadowing'. One day, I was like 'screw it!' and debadged the tailgate and couldn't believe how stupid easy it was. It was one of these mods that I wish I had done a long time ago.


Since the picture--I have taken the V6 off, leaving only the side emblems

With the beautiful weekend we had around here, I took advantage of it and plasti-dipped my side emblems.


The overall look after the emblems has been blacked out.


TRD Decals came in!
About halfway through the process of using a hairdryer/goo gone/my nails to remove the original decals, I grew impatient with this approach so I ran to Advance Auto and picked up a 3M removal wheel. Needless to say, I'm a true believer of the product now. It made the process a whole lot faster.



Next came Smoke's first "offroad" trip. I went with a couple other friends to the Jocassee Georges area and had a blast. I strongly recommend you guys to make a trip out there if you haven't already. It's one of these hidden gems:



Here's a few pictures that my friend took:




I saw this idea on a jeep forum and decided to pick up some Paracord 550 and went to town.

Also ordered/installed some front DigitalFit mats by WeatherTech to go with the ones I already had in the rear via a group buy.

Finalized my customized center console organizer. It's not perfect, but it does its job just fine.


The front rake was bothering me as I wanted a more 'leveled' look so I installed (with the help of a friend) two 1/4" spacers to the front end. This helped level out my truck from being almost 2 inches lower to approximately 1 1/4" lower in the front.


The latest addition is a tonneau cover by Access. It's been on it for about a month and I have no complaints. It makes traveling easier.


I finally got around to fixing my broken antenna. I now have my radio back

After debating on which roof rack I wanted, I finally settled on an OEM rack, which I got for $235 at the local dealership (they matched the price I found on TRDparts4U):


I also added the LED light strip that came with my cover:

 

Looking good bud

 

Thanks man.

 

Looking good man! I really like the color of your truck!

Quick question, do you still happen to have your Prerunner badge from the back?

 

Sweet ride.

 

Appreciate the kind words man. As for the badge, I threw it away as soon as it came off of the truck. Sorry!

 

Hey man--your truck is looking pretty good too!

 

Awe darn, I want to put one of the 2nd gen Prerunner badges on my truck esp now that I converted mine to 4wd!

 

Sorry man! What was involved in the conversion? I might be doing this to my truck down the road. Was it difficult to do?