MartinDWhite 2004 DoubleCab 4x4 TRD build

Suspension will get something, but there is no solid plan yet. OME with 882 in the front is the current thought, with dakar rear springs. This kit

Coilovers maybe and airbags in the back maybe. The truck tends to go from no weight in the back to a full load of travel and camping stuff a lot.

 

Weekend progress.

Front bumper mounted...but there were a few issues. The license plate is on and hinged for access to hitch.

1. The control module for the winch does not fit anywhere in the bumper so it is getting remote mounted under the hood on the passenger side by the ABS brake module. This requires longer 2 gauge control wires which are on order.

2. The LED blinkers from relentless don't have any connectors and I don't want to hard wire them in place since the bumper has to be able to come on and off to mount the winch and lights.

3. The windshield wiper bottle bottom is exposed. I will fab up a replacement bottle and relocate it.

4. The factory skid plates barely do not fit. The bolt holes that mount to the bumper are too close to a ledge. The skid plate mounting holes need to be moved forward about 1/8 inch. This same problem exists on the aftermarket plate pictured below. The holes on it need to be moved forward about 1/4 inch leaving about 1/8 inch of material in front of the mounting holes on the skid plate. I am thinking about moving the holes on the bumper instead of modifying the skid plates.

Over all I am very happy with the bumper and how it went on. It looks great and fits well. The few minor issues are all easy to address.

So without further ado, there are some pictures.

 

I was able to fit the solenoid inside the bumper, just had to turn it sideways and drilled a hole for a screw to go through.

 

Blinkers wires in parallel with a water tight. This will allow bumper on and off much more easily and look more professional/factory than wire crimps.

 

Put the winch on. Here are pictures. In general the wires from winch to controller were extended from the factory 1 foot to to 5 feet. The control is mounted under the hood between air box and ABS module. The winch control switch plugs in and routes out the hood for now. In cab switches are the menu soon.

now for the pictures....

Inside of the M8000S controller with original 1 foot wires


New longer wires on winch


Hole to get wires from bumper to inside engine bay. Lines with rubber to prevent damage.


Winch in the bumper (this will be the second time the bumper has been mounted).



Winch controller mount, on a bracket I fabbed up.




All buttoned up and wired. Ready to be spooled in.



It was dark when I finished spooling it in, and I like this picture.


Lights will be mounted this week.....I hope. This is with factory skid plate. Hopefully the new skid plate will also get mounted this week.

 

Made a little progress on getting the front bumper cleaned up. The inner fender linings are trimmed and the original outer bumper supports are removed. Its the stuff outlined in red on the left picture, it is gone on the right picture of the same area.

The windshield water fluid bottle still needs to be relocated or protected in some way.

 

The mounting nuts for the skid plate looks like this on the relentless front bumper. The hole center is about 7/16 inch from the front lip. My factory skid plate has about 5/8 inch from front of material to the bolt hole center. I just ground off the extra and mounted it up. The after market skid plate (3/16 plate steel) will need to have the holes slotted forward to leave about 1/4 of material in front of the bolt slot, OR I can cut the nuts off the bumper and weld them further away from the lip. I am leaning toward moving the nuts, but that is so much more work (taking the bumper off and then putting it back on again). Anyone have any thoughts?

 

New tires. KO2 265/75R16 on 5 matching rims so rotation can include all of them.

 

Well.....The new tires rub the driver's side frame rail at full left turn. Grrrrrr.

 

Nice!

 

CVT Mt Shasta added and getting some use.



Love this thing. The only issue with it mounted so low over the bed is that the front window can't be opened. The rods that hold it open would hit the cab.

 

To address the new (slightly) bigger tires rubbing on the frame, I put on some BORA 0.75 inch spacers. They stopped the rubbing on the frame and exaggerated a little rubbing on the mud flaps. The mud flaps are now gone on the front and there is a little rubbing on the plastic fender well. I will address that with a few zip ties. The windshield washer fluid bottle is also rubbing. Since it sticks out under the front bumper, the plan has always been to move it, guess that is a higher priority now.

 

Nice truck! I was thinking of doing this mod for the reservoir - it starts a few pictures down the post:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...trail-rig-and-bs.159436/page-398#post-8802626

 

Good link. I still haven't addressed the rubbing of the windshield washer bottle, and that looks like the solution. It has now been worn away enough that it only rubs when at full left turn and some compression of the suspension.

 

Nice looking rig.

 

Recently I was out in a trail and need to open the hood on a hill, in a weird spot. It was difficult to get the hood prop in place while hiding the hood open..... So I bought the redline hood struts. These took about 20 minutes to install. They are awesome!

Pull the hood release lever and the hood pops up about 1.5 inches. Then push the release lever in the grill and lift about 4 inches and the hood lifts itself the rest of the way.

I left the hood prop rod as a fall back, but I never want to use it again.

 

Mounted some maxtrax with a couple U-bolts and plates I whipped out.



To which my girlfriend promptly pointed out that with the tent open the window won't open if the maxtrax are still on the mounts. Doh. Guess they come off to open the window for now.

 

Just finished a 255 mile weekend trip with two half days of 4x4 offroad in the middle and got 16.05 MPG.

 

Started mounting ARB air compressor.

Made a bracket
Mounted bracket to engine bay
Mounted compressor to bracket
Hood closes
Need to run wires next....