Bruce988jl's first and last build thread

Owner - Jason (aka Bruce)
2008 Toyota Tacoma TRD Off Road
Double Cab Short Bed - Automatic
Purchased used October 2015 with 106k miles from Acton Toyota in Acton, MA

I've never made a build thread so here goes... This is my first truck, my first time off roading anything so its been a huge learning curve. A lot has changed on the truck and will continue to change over the next few years.

ALL Photos are in following posts

Mod List:
Engine - Stock and will stay stock

Suspension
Front End
King Shocks Extended Travel with external reservoirs 700# Springs
Camburg Ball Joint Upper Control Arms
Swaybar Removed

Rear End
King Shocks Extended Travel Dakar Spec'd
Dakar Leaf Springs - Bushings removed and replaced with energy suspension bushings front/rear - stripped, painted and coated with a dry film lubricant - also drilled for plastic isolators between all the major leafs
All-Pro U-bolt flip kit with wheelers bump stops
4x Innovations Stock Shackle Replacements - did not fit with the dakars despite what I was told... using stock shackles for now.

Wheels and Tires
Toyota TRD Baja Edition 16" Rims
Firestone Destination A/T's 265/75/16 (5 including the spare)

Brakes
Hawk HPS Pads up front with OEM Rotors and new OEM Calipers
Extended Front/Rear Brake Lines
Motul RBF600 Brake Fluid
OEM Rear brakes with all springs/hardware replaced

Armor
Pelfreybilt Hybrid Front Bumper
SOS Concepts IFS/Mid/T-Case Skids 3/16th Steel
SOS Concepts Sliders with kickouts
4x Innovations Gas Tank Skid
4x Innovations LCA Skids (These needed a ton of modification to fit so be wary)
Mobtown Tailgate Skin
KB Voodoo Tailgate Cap

Lighting
Diode Dynamics XML2 LED Foglights
Diode Dynamics XP50 Reverse LED Bulbs
Diode Dynamics Turn Signals
Diode Dynamics Smart Tap - LED turn-signal unit
Diode Dynamics Interior LED Bulbs
Diode Dynamics SS18 Series Driving Bar - Combo Configuration
Sylvania LED Brake Lights
Rago Fab Dual Ditch Lights
Rago Fab LED Flood Light Pods (4 units)
Rigid Industries Midnight Series Spot lights

Exterior/Cosmetic
RobBloks Normal Length Exterior Mudflaps
Satoshi Grill Mod with paint matched grill surround
Leer 180x Bed Cap
Pop & Lock Tailgate Lock

$30 ExTang 1140 | Universal Fitment

ExTang 1140 MaxSeal Tailgate Seal
Weathertech Front/Rear Rain Gaurds
Custom Precut Front Inner Fender Splash Guards by @cnote4l

Interior
Custom Remake of the Iggy Panel with switch openings and speaker slits
CalTrend Gray Front Seat Covers
Weathertech Floor Mats Front/Rear
OEM Toyota Bed Mat
KB VooDoo XRXS Bed Cross Bars
Masterlock Truck Bed U-Lock
MOLLE Rear Panel (Needs paint and to be installed)
FatMat Adhesive Sound Barrier (will install with the MOLLE panel)

Electronic
Uniden Pro 520XL CB Radio
Road Pro Interior Speaker
Firestik 4" Antenna
Firestik Quick Disconnect CB Antenna Adapter
Bussmann Fuse Panel
Custom made wiring for the fuse panel
GTA Car Kits Bluetooth Addition to the Stock Headunit
OEM Inverter Anytime Mod with two added outlets behind the center console
Pelfreybilt Group 31M Battery Cage
XS Power Group 31M Battery with dual terminals

Recovery
Tred Pro - Grey - 2 sets
Rugged Ridge Recovery Strap
Keeper Recovery Tow Strap
Smittybilt Shackles - 4 units
ViAir 400P Air Pump
NoName Brand Valve Core Deflation Tool
ColbyValve emergency valve stems
Hi-Lift Jack 48" X-treme Jack
Relentless Fab Hi-Lift Jack Bed Holder

Misc
Rear Diff Breather Mod - Up behind the tail light
Air Conditioning Drain Relocation

 

When I brought her home:


Baja Rims Installed with Firestone Destination A/T Tires 265/75/16


SOS Concepts IFS/Mid/T-Case Skids and Sliders





CB Radio Setup - Uniden Pro 520XL CB with a firestik antenna setup

 

Bussmann Fuse Panel (Sandman's bussmann I made the harnesses and ran the rest of the wiring)









Custom Iggy Panel - took his concept and made my own design. The right side has my CB Speaker hidden behind it and the vertical slits let the noise pass through. There are 5 switch openings on the left.


Pefreybilt Group 31M Battery Cage and XS Power Battery


Mobtown Hidden Receiver Front bumper support


KB Voodoo XRXS Bed Brace with Tred Pro's mounted on them for easy access


Rago Fab Dual Ditch Lights with their LED Pods (Floor Pattern)


4x Innovations Gas Tank and LCA Skids with the SOS T-case Skid.

 

Installed:
Pelfreybilt Bumper
Diode Dynamic 18" LED Driving bar
Rigid LED pods
Sotoshi Grill - paint matched

I needed to get the bumper on before the suspension so we could set it at the right height - did this by myself with the help of a fork lift. Pelfreybilt's instructions said to cut the bumper retainer under the headlight but it wasn't necessary on the hybrid (oh well too late). Went on mint - too bad I don't have photos of it with the wheel wells pre-trim - I just took my knife and cut them right off at an 'eyeballed' level.









Its been about a solid week of driving with the suspension installed and so far I love it. I haven't had a chance to go wheeling as I don't have a proper alignment (LCA's are seized at the moment) but I managed to do a toe-and-go to get it from chewing up the tires too much.

Install was a pain - it fought us (@mach1man001 helped me a ton with the install and taught me a lot about the truck as well! He does awesome work!) the whole way and took us about 16 hours to do the entire install.

We installed the following:
Rear
Dakar Leaf Packs
King Shocks with ext resi's and dakar spec
All-Pro Ubolt flip kit
Wheelers Bumpstop kit for the all-pro's
All new bushings for the front/rear of the Dakars
Front
King Shocks with ext resi's and extended droop with 700# springs
Camburg UCA - Ball joint and all new OEM hardware with the bolt flip
All-Pro Gussetted spindles
New wheel bearing for the passengerside
Swaybar removal

Literally the first bolt we tried had to be cut off.... but finally after some bleeding and swearing the suspension was in. With the front coils set from factory at the 700# springs no adjustment was needed.
Measurements from center of hub straight up to the lowest point on the outside of the fender
Front Before - 19inches
Front After - 20.5inches settled
Rear Before - 22inches
Rear After - 24.5inches settled

The 4x innovations stock replacement shackle kit did not fit - I think it was because of the fact that my suspension was shimmed with the plastic inserts to prevent squeaking issues and this caused the leaf pack to sit a bit thicker than normal. The Shackles were limited on rotation and would impact the leaf pack when the suspension was drooped so we opted out on installing them.

Finished photos...








Installed Rob Blokz (spelling?) mud flaps since I was getting a ton of overspray on the truck and some @cnote4l custom inner fender splash shields.

 

Part Number Thread:

Gas Tank Straps/Hardware
Note: These straps are for the TRD Off Road with the plastic skid plate so the straps have two studs sticking out of them to bolt the skid to. All prices are MSRP
Front Gas Tank Strap - 77601-04020 $94.89
Rear Gas Tank Strap - 77602-04020 $106.93
Pins - 77653-35040 $18.28
Bolts - 90119-A0249 $3.51
Clips - 90468-14032 $3.48
Nuts (for skid plate) - 90179-08241 $2.50

OEM carrier bearing -

$197 37230-0K030 Center Support Bearing Assembly

37230-0K030
Frame plug kit - 04008-07735
Front/Rear diff fill washer -

$15 12157-10010 Toyota Oil Drain Plug Crushable Steel Gaskets Set of 10 OEM 12157-10010

12157-10010
Front diff drain washer -

$7 90430-24003 Front Differential Drain Plug Gasket

90430-24003
Transfer case drain/fill washer -

$7 90430-18008 , Used for Change Transmission Fluid

90430-18008
Oil drain washer -

$12 90430-12031 Genuine Toyota - Oil Drain Plug Gaskets (QTY10)

90430-12031
Radiator drain o-ring - 90069-08019

 

Looking great Jason!

 

Thanks - As much as this is a build thread I'll be posting findings I encounter with my truck along the way.

 

Looks great so far, keep up the good work.

 

How are you liking the 4x innovations shackles?

 

Honestly I just finished painting them. They look like quality parts - I have their LCA skids and gas tank skid. Mind you the LCA skids needed some wicked drilling and dragging of the holes to fit... but I'm being optimistic. I'll let you know when I get them in this weekend!

 

FIrst of all, super psyched you have a build page! Second, I just put on the same bumper on my truck, looks good!

 

Woo! Twins! haha

 

Keep me posted! I'm about to pull the trigger on a pair

 

OK, mad respect on that harness!

 

Yea... I dropped about 700$ on wirebarn/waytek wire/mouser/digi-key to get all the right crimping tools, hardware, correct automotive rated wires etc.... Problem was that a lot of the components had a minimum buy-in....

 

Quick post on my OME Dakar Leaf Pack adventure....

Initially I thought this would be a quick job however it clearly didn't come out to be just that.

Brand New Dakar Leaf Packs:
Pulled them apart - send leafs 5 and 6 out of the 7 leafs out for drilling to get spring isolators installed to minimize squeaking (Thanks @Crom for this idea)
Alcohol wiped each individual leaf down with alcohol to remove the factory grease
Pressed out the factory bushing so that I can use the polyurethane bushings I purchased for them
Sprayed with rustoleum matte black paint
Sprayed top/bottoms only (contact patches) with Molykote 321 Dry Film Lubricant
Reassembled with Prothane Supergrease inbetween the leafs

Also replaced all the plastic covers from the leaf clips with new ones since they arrived all shattered and cracked.

 

I don't mind my Dakars squeaking personally (kinda like it), but the surface rust after only one year was ridiculous. I need to take them apart and clean them up soon.

Upside is they are crazy strong. Every time I get a load of gravel or soil, the guy loading it can't believe how much weight they can hold.

R U doing extended brake lines?

 

Already did extended lines - my concern now is the ebrake line which might be the next snag but if needed i'll test it out and worse case I'll put a strap to keep the suspension droop from maxing out. From what I have read it shouldn't be an issue - although every truck is different.

 

Finally got the suspension installed last week with the help of @mach1man001 and updated post #4 (linked here)
Also installed inner fender splash shields and RB Mud Flaps. Managed to eyeball the toe in better and I ordered used OEM LCA's to rebuild so I can get my alignment done

Next up is the OEM LCA rehaul.. Will be filling the holes and ditching the 4x Innovations LCA Skids because they haven't really been necessary. I think a good stock OEM LCA with welded holes and reinforced/gussetted framework will be more than enough.
Parts on order:
Whiteline LCA Bushing Kit - PN 53312
Proforged Ball Joints - PN 101-10343 (from Amazon)
OEM Hardware:
Qty. 2 4819860011 front suspension, lower control arm, adjust cam Tacoma Camber No.2 4WD
Qty. 2 4819060020 front suspension, lower control arm, adjust cam Tacoma Camber No.1 4WD
Qty. 2 4840960020 CAM SUB-ASSY, TOE AD
Qty. 2 4845235020 PLATE, TOE ADJUST, N
Qty. 2 90119A0166 BOLT, W/WASHER
Qty. 2 90178A0001 NUT, FLANGE

 

Started on the LCA's yesterday. Popped the C-clip on the ball joint and pressed it out on the bench press. As for the bushings I couldn't fit the arm on the bench press so I reversed a ball joint hand held press (see photos) to extend instead of compress. I put about 1/4" of travel tension on the bushing and hit it with the MAP torch. They slid out like butter. I'll gave them welded up as I'm waiting for the whiteline bushings and ball joints to come in.




Today I installed the BirdDawg Tech Deck and Mirror riser. The mirror riser is a god send - literally one of my new favorite mods. I also replaced the Uniden 520XL CB radio with a Cobra (I forget which model) - I was having inline noise from the power from my LED pods and bars that would cause nothing but static from the CB when they were turned on. Swapped in the Cobra and immediately the issue was fixed.