MDNGHT BUILD

As she sits today (July 11th, 2015) - Got my MT Classic III's installed as well as removed the front grill covers. She's coming along. Looking at sliders now.








Beginning:
I got my 06' taco at the end of June 2014, I believe it had two previous owners; one was a girl and the other was an older gentlemen. I think it was the older guy who did a few mods to it. When I bought it, it had an aries bull bar, pace edwards tonneau cover, and had some grill inserts.





The first mod I did was install a 2.5" hell bent steel front end lift spacer and 2.0" add-a-leafs for the rear lift. I regret getting the spacers, at the time I didn't know enough about suspension... I also got my BF Goodrich KO's (285/70/R17) and wheel spacers. I haven't done any trimming and I haven't removed the front mud flaps.




Here are some pictures after a nice wash, letting that midnight blue sparkle:








A few pictures from one of the grid roads that aren't maintained during the winter. Only a few spots like this without much snow. The road is actually really sandy during the summer but gets nice snow drifts during the winter.





Installed my OME 887 coils, 90021 struts, N182 shocks, and LR UCA's. The front is a bit higher but not as high as I thought it would be. I did the upgrade to replace old shocks and struts as well as improve my ride from the spacer mainly.





My yamaha YZ250F I race a couple days after I brought her home! She isn't quite as clean anymore haha...

Suspension:​

1st suspension setup:
Front: 2.5" Hell Bent Steel spacer (removed)
Rear: 2.0" add-a-leaf

2nd suspension setup:
Front: OME 887 coils and 90021 struts
Rear: 2.0" add-a-leaf and N182 shocks

Wheels & Tires:
Tires: BF Goodrich KO's - 33's - 285/70/R17
Wheels: Black MT Classic III's - 17" rims with 4.5 BS

Exterior:
Aries Bull Bar - mixed opinions about how it looks. (removed and sold)
Tonneau Cover - removed during the spring and summer so I can get by dirtbike in the back and close the tailgate. (removed during the spring and summer)
Grill inserts - I'll probably remove these when I get black rims so everything matches better. (removed and gave them to another taco owner, exact same truck but an AC instead of DC)
Tube steps - might remove these, I think it'll look cleaner. (removed)
Removed front mud flaps
Plasti dipped skid plate

Future Mods:
- Black baja style wheels (Purchased black MT Classic III's)
- Goodyear MTR's with kevlar? So nice...
- TRD cat back exhaust
- 885 or 887 coils (Purchased 887 coils)
- OME shocks/struts (Purchased OME 90021 struts and N182 shocks)
- SPC light racing UCA's (Purchased)
- Front and rear bumpers
- Dakars
- Sliders​

 

Loving the truck! Not a huge fan of the bull bar and tube steps, but to each his own. Excited to see where this build goes.

 

Yea it was on it when I got it, it's nice during hunting season at night if a deer jumped out but otherwise I think I'll be taking it off. Also contemplating removing the tube steps for a cleaner look.

 

Took the bull bar off, I think I definitely like it better.

 

Truck looks great!

 

Thanks, should look even better when I install my OME lift and get new rims

 

Looks great!

 

Thanks, I checked out your build and it looks really solid right now

 

Installed my OME setup and am really happy with how it turned out. I definitely feel more at ease knowing I have a proper suspension setup rather than just a spacer on top of my coil.

Next up should be rims! Then maybe bumpers.... Gotta spend my money somewhere right?

 

Washed today:

 

Subbed
In the process of ordering OME kit with 887's and 2" aal..

 

Sweet, I love the ride of my 887's and AAL! Just got back from the States, was there for the 4th of July, hiking, and visiting relatives. Haven't even opened my laptop or made a phone call in 10 days .

Picked up my MT classic III's there and am really loving how the truck is coming together. I'll post pictures tomorrow after I wash what looks to be a couple thousand bugs off the front of my truck.

 

Here's her all cleaned up with the new rims. I also removed the front grill covers that were chrome so that everything matches better.

 

Oh yea, here's the spade I got from my grandpa. He was a gunner on a battleship in WWII.

 

Plasti dipped my front skid plate yesterday. Really pleased with how it turned out and I'm loving the look of the truck even more. Next up I'm looking to do the front toyota emblem as well as the other badges.



These are the only photos I have right now of the skid plasti dipped. As you can see I got into a bit of mud today... Fun at first, pain to clean up properly...

 

How did going with the 285's affect your MPG's?

 

With no lift and 265 highway tires, I was getting about 18MPG ish. With the lift and 265's I mostly got the same mileage. Once I put the 285 AT's on along with the 3" lift I dropped to an average of about 17MPG. The fuel efficiency didn't seem to change too much, the 285's have a larger rotation so your speedometer will read 100km/h but you're really going 104km/h, and then I believe once you get up to like 120km/h you're actually going closer to 130km/h (I'm Canadian so km/h )

The other thing with the 285's is that your engine has to work a bit harder to get them rotating since they're bigger than 265's. All in all, it's not a lot you'll notice and the MPG loss isn't huge either.

 

Lookin good!

 

I should have known, you're so damn polite! haha

 

Sorry!