my 03 doublecab "build-ish" thread

Alirght, this is my first attempt at tracking anything i have done on the truck, i don't have many pics nor really any of progress. i am currently deployed in Afghanistan so if this seems choppy or like an awkward order/structure its because the internet is a PIA and only lets me post ina broken up manner.
i can list what i do have, had and am planning with whatever pics i have available to plug in. when i get home and continue this thread i will add more to it and hopefully be less of a failure at my keeping up with it.
february 2013 i bought my 03 from a TTORA member who i used to work with (USMC)-he's a Huey pilot, I'm a mechanic and used to fly in the back as a door gunner with him in Iraq.i picked it up with about 115k on it, 33 inch toyos mts on raceline rockcrushers (though the prior owner thought they were eatons i recently figure out what they really are)SAW coilovers that were severly needing a rebuild and had way to heavy of coils on it, the rear leafs were holing on via a shackle lift and AAL (they quickly began to fail once i had weight in the truck and/or flexing on the trail). All-Pro front bumper,no skids, did have glassworks front glass and that's about it. a good start and i ended up getting it for a price i was very happy with. i took it from Camp Pendleton to New river a couple weeks later- hell of a maiden voyage- i rode her hard the whole way, only problem was refueling, had to trickle the gas or it backed up and kicked off the pump- each refuel took about 30 mins- awesome when you get 13 mpg!
here is how she looked when i bought it minus the canbak- it was in need of repair and it helped drop the price a bit for me, i will be getting a softopper eventually-maybe.
i welcome any and all feedback, suggestions and questions

 

first thing i picked up, prior t leaving Cali was to run over to All-Pro and get front skid and the transmission skid plate. once settled in NC i ordered Trail Gear rock sliders from frontier off road- awesome guys to deal with and got a discount for military and pirate4x4 member. got them on and did the "grey wire mod" and headed out to uhwarrie for a day.. took my two sons out at 5 am on a Saturday, drove the 200 miles there, wheeled all day, met great people and drove 200 miles home-got in around 11... not a hiccup all day and i had a full load of tools, spare part my spare, a 37 spare for a friend and a cooler of food and drinks, kept up fine with all the rigs on 37+ without a problem, i was impressed and so were they.. my boys- now 4 and 7, love this truck now more than my old TJ

 

it took a while but i found a set of "lightly used" icons ext travels and set them aside in the garage until i was able to afford new UCAS. Headstrong offroad for the win, great price,fast shipping, couldn't have been happier. the parts sat in my garage for a couple months until i had time to do the swap but when i got around to it i found i was missing one of the ball joints somehow. Headstrong jumped through hoops that day and got one overnight to me, they wouldn't let me pay. again, i can't say enough good things about them, I'm sure it was my mistake and they still took care of me no problem.

 

well, when it was time to do the front end- it was time to do it all at once so i also got total chaos spindle gussets, EBC pad and rotors.
when the gussets went on that took most of the day to do it right, heat in front of the propane heater, then torch, short weld and "cool" in the preheated sand, then start the process back over.. came out great though and good peace of mind.

 

pulled the bed and added demello frame plates for the back- no twisting or failure now!

 

other little things done thus far would be the spider trax front spacers, painted the wheels since the finish was AFU, deckplate mod. i also got a large steel drawer/structure that is now hardmounted in the bed, it fits the bed perfect and when extended out it is just a touch past the end of the tailgate- it was just meant to be, my hi-lift is hard mounted above, i will have to search for pictures and update later.

 

Awesome truck ! Love the fiberglass fenders and soft topper

 

since i am currently deployed my wife is taking in the shipments of truck stuff i have been ordering.. so at home waiting for me are my OME Dakars with AAL, aluminum tie down track system for the bed, ubolt flip, shock brackets (build a cross member and relocating). if i have the time i may build a rear bumper and tire carrier since i will no longer be able to store the tire under the bed, but i wont have much time prior to heading out to recruiting duty.
i plan to do a "hidden snorkel" behind the fender to the passenger compartment and will keep a cap to plug it up when not needed to hopefully cut down on noise a little and hopefully a winch in the near future. eventually i may end up going 488s and an arb up front.. just not sure if i want to sink that money in and commit to IFS vs SFA..time will tell

 

i just got a couple pics from a friend that helped redo this drawer. it was getting junked at work so we "saved it" and moved some parts around, aluminum flat top, painted it all up and hard mounted it to the bed of the truck. the hi-lift is obviously planted on top. the drawer is extremely beefy, and heavy, but it adds a nice place to keep everything and secure. i will be adding a bed track system and making this removable once i am home though.

 

so i got back from Afghanistan the week before thanksgiving and made it home to NH right before the holiday. spent some time with the wife and kids, grabbed my truck and headed back to NC, 850 flawless miles-except the stunning 14.5 MPG- maybe something to do with the speed..don't care, if mileage was abig concern i wouldn't own this truck never the less do what i do to/with it anyway!... that weekend i ventured from Jacksonville to Uhwarrie OHV park-about 200 miles away, and got 16 MPG, weird 45-55 MPH..whodathought...i didn't get to put on any of my parts i bought while deployed,no time and wheeling took precedence.
on to the pics from andrea- my friend ryan's wife
this one is at the end of the trip, but it atleast gives a line up..
the far left is aryans CJ with a chevy 4.3, d300,arb'd 44/9,linked 37snext to him is a tj with a 318,d44s and 35s, and the brown cj is on 38s with a 4bt, its not done, has alot still needed but is straight badass, he trashed his springs and found some weak links he has to work out but it kept going the whole time, and who doesnt love the sounds of a cummins CJ anyway!


let the trails begin

 

sick rig dude! built very nicely! I just picked up an 03 4x4 last week hoping to do some similar stuff with it

 

i needed help in 2 spots up the trail daniel, one of which i am positive i could get without the tug but i couldn't risk the breakage, i'm the only one who didn't trailer and i have another 800+ journey to do prior to Christmas. i guess i have matured from the 15yr old kid that started wheeling into a boring 30 yr old more worried about buying the kids transformers than i am about conquering every molehill









there was no significant drama on the truck..nothing broke.. i did manage to toss a 60LB rock up between myself and a ledge during a hill climb, it crunched up the rear quarter and tail light on the drivers side...mashed out the dent around the light housing as much as i could to set the light back in with duct tape, everything still worked! got home and plastic weld/RTVd back together, eventually ill buy a new light.. i don't really care about the bedsides since someday the rear fenders will be glassed since both sides are pretty beat up

 

that brings us up until this past friday... when the parts started going on nd the cutting began...
sorry no pics of the spring swap.. but we installed but i purchase Dakars and the AAL-so we assembled that, Sky MFG u-bolt flip and their axle relocation bracket...all of it went in w/o a hitch.. i need longer u-bolts in order to set the axle back the full 1 inch, right now its set to .75 and the u-bolts are maxed out. i also ghetto built a BPV relocation bracket out of scrap, nothing special...this pic is prep for the real project

good bye shitty crossmember

ryan welding in our homebrewed box kit, keep in mind my whole rear frame has the demello plates, so this is overkill-perfect, eventually the tanks will get dropped to finish boxing everything

my sexy self doing cleanup, both sides boxed

yes, this is a crossmember with new shock brackets-not welded yet




shock tabs clocked up and welded, spare tire reel in place.. its is offset to the right so the wire is centered, i can run a 33 spare (that's a 31) easily and it has a couple more inches ground clearnace than it did in the stock set up


i have my 10 inch travel bilsteins on it right now but only net a couple inches of down travel, the measurements when we were flexing out made it look as though i will be able to run 7100 short bodies 14 inch travel, at full compression i will have about 2 inches of shaft to go and i doubt i will have enough droop to max them that direction, its perfect in my mind and i wont have to worry.
if anyone has input as to which valving i should go with i saw many options through poly performance for these and i am clueless

 

i got distracted and never took pics with shocks installed nor the completed project and its dark now..ill get some tomorrow..it has alot of rake but i'm hoping it settles another inch or two..i have a good amount of weight in the bed with my drawer and a bunch of crap in it..
all and all i couldn't be happier..the cross member wasn't planned like this, we just rolled with ideas and it was a home run in my book.. we were just going to leave the factory one and add a bar for the shocks and only plate about 6 inches for that bar to mount too, our end result is WAY better!

 

Well she is up for sale.....