Andrewprime's Black Backcountry Build

Sadly, my beautiful 01 Tacoma was in a wreck and declared a total loss :/ I was super bummed about it, as I planned on having that truck for many years to come.




Luckily, after about a month of searching I found an amazing deal on the beauty.




2007 Toyota Tacoma Extra Cab, 4l, 6 speed manual, SR5 package (no TRD)


Super low miles (well, less than 90k) and really clean. It was everything I wanted, and more, plus it was stupidly underpriced for my market. Now she’s mine and I have a few ideas already for what I am going to do.

Mostly I want to get rid of the chrome on the front end, but I also want to level it out a bit. The bed is going to be where all the magic happens (heh), mostly because my favorite use of the truck is as a second home when camping, rock climbing, biking and skiing.

 

Sorry about the loss of your previous truck, but congrats on your new one! She's a beaut!

Start a build thread and update it as you go along!

 

Had some fun this weekend with the 90k service plus a few fun installs. I still need to do the oil change for the diffs and the transfer case, but I did get the spark plugs changed and the engine oil/filter as well.


Turns out that the spark plugs had NEVER been replaced: had densos down one side and NGK down the other… They were pretty crusty, glad to have them changed!



The fun stuff I did was install my old Pioneer head unit with a trim kit I got off of Amazon, Looks just like stock and repping the TRD background image as ever! Very glad to have this in, feels like my old truck again, plus finally being able to play music off my phone!



I also pulled off the super stealthy lower valence light bar install (Inspiration/details here). Holy shit balls is this thing bright! It’s going to be super useful for driving up the canyons early in the morning to get some backcountry skiing laps in before work. I'll get some pictures with the light on/the light at night later. Unfortunately, pictures just don't do it justice.




My buddy came over the help and do the same lightbar install. Now we match a little too much. All that’s missing is the OEM style push switch I ordered for the bar, just using a stupid looking one for now…

 

Light Bar on! So stoked about this. I searched high and low for a push switch that would match the OEM switches in the cab. I finally found what I was looking for on ebay from the seller On Board Air.

I went with this one, but the seller says he will send an orange back lit version -

 

All wired in and I'm really pleased. Not exactly the right color, but it's close enough for me!

 

Most of the way through my 90k service now, just need to change the front diff oil. But now it's snowing! So I need to find swarm dry place to finish 'er up. I the mean time, I got these sweet custom TRD decals from CBoy808 and stuck them on. I think they look damn good.

Thanks for hooking it up man.

Here's a closeup


Also, my wheels seem to be missing this center cap. Anyone have an idea of what brand they are? I'd love to find a replacement so they all match.

Front - with cap


Rear - without cap

 

SO I got a few gift cards for Christmas and finally pulled the trigger on the new suspension. Just bought this kit with front and rear Bilstien 5100 -


It includes the Front Ride Height Adjustable Shocks (# 24-239370) & Rear Shocks (#

$91 24-186728 5100 Series Shock Absorber

24-186728). The part numbers look right based on what I've seen around here. I wanted to verify that I don't need to lift the back for these rears to work. My plan was to level the front end by using the middle setting on the front shocks (with stock springs) and do nothing with the rear leaf packs, just want to option to raise the rear in the future.

I am also planning on starting construction on the bed in the back soon, so I'll come and post some photos of that!

 

andrew,sorry to here about your old truck. but that new truck is sweet. you got a nice rig going there, love the topper. i have a similar setup,i call it my fish car/cabin in the woods, i love to camp out of it when i'm trout fishing.

 

Thanks jwctaco, loving your custom decals man! They were probably my favorite mod so far, really set you apart IMO. I definitely use mine for some trout hunting, we have some pretty remote locations you can go fish here in southern Utah that are secluded, stocked and require 4x4! Plus it's nice having a bed behind you wherever you go...

Have you played with your truck's suspension at all? This is my first time messing with it, and don't really think the benefits of a full lift would be worth the punch in the mileage.

 

the fishcar is going to get the billies 5100x4,maybe air bag.or add a leaf. waiting on my tax return, so this spring. this is a new truck,4 months,have not used it in trout camp yet. bought a snugtop ,bedrug, can't what for the maiden voyage.

 

Those look very similar to mine. Are they American Racing Mojave? Mine were on the truck when I got it last month, but one of the center caps was broken. I looked around for replacement center caps (and even bought a couple sets), but they all looked cheap. So when I put new tires on a couple weeks ago, I just left off all the center caps. I like how it looks.

 

They do look really similar to the Mojaves. I can't seem to find any with the silver ring around the black. I don't mind how they look, but I wish they wouldn't rust...

I installed my 5100's this past weekend and I am super stoked on how it came out. I didn't take any photos, but there are a few guides around. The one recomendation I can make for the DIYers out there is to use a floor jack to remove the front springs/shocks. Feels way safer that a cheap spring compressor, trust me. Thats how I did the driver's side. Just be careful and use common sense. Here is where I got the inspiration - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5E6u7dC7EHg

Anyway, here are some photos of the end result. I ended up setting the fronts to the second ring up from stock (some .85 inches according to the instructions). Now the front is very close to the same distance as the back.



Straight On

 

So, along with the platform I am building in the bed, another thing I want to turn this thing in to a true backcountry vehicle is a backup battery capable of jump starting my main battery and powering all manor of lights bars, interior lights, CB radios and an in bed power inverter.

Because of how many little projects I want to do based on the auxiliary battery, the cheapest first step is to just get a second battery and figuring out a way of installing it. I plan on following this easy guide Expedition Portal and was thinking of purchasing this battery from Home Depot - Nautilus 27 Dual Purpose Marine Battery. I think that this should be a fine choice, but what do y'all think?

The other question I had involved the effect of always having this battery charging and rarely discharging it all the way? Since it's always going to be hooked to my alternator (via the starting battery) and I probably wont be running much off of it most of the time I am worried I will somehow damage it.

 

Love that sticker.

 

Thanks man, its courtesy of CBoy808. He does some really nice work. Check him out!