Back to basics 2014 CCSB

Everybody else seems to have a build thread so I figured I'd start one as well.

I've been off-roading my trucks since I was 16, starting with typical highschool 2wd ranger mud bogging in puddles on the side of the road, to getting my first 4x4 stuck within 45 minutes of owning it, to wheeling a stock 94 toyota pickup through SAS on 37s, then a Titan on coilovers, my Duramax with a camper on the back (bad idea, bad noises everywhere), to the 1988 toyota I rebuilt from meth-fab one-ton swap to now, over the past 6 or so years. 40" red label crawlers on beadlocks, double bed bob, dual geared cases, locked front and rear, caged, etc


I decided I wanted a newer, nicer, fun car as a DD, and somehow got roped into this thing:


It ended up being one of the craziest 8 month roller coasters of fun, intoxicating engine notes, speed, fear, repair bills, frustration, lost money and relief I've ever been on.

I decided I really wanted to get back to basics and get back to simple camping, exploring, adventuring and just being outside, so I decided to get a Taco. I eventually settled on a 2014 CCSB TRD Off Road, previously owned by Toyota as a loaner of sorts. Super clean, low miles, ready to be molested



Sold off the side steps, rear bumper grandpa step deal and bed extender, bought a super cheap Amazon 30" lightbar, and started planning out upgrades. Got the lightbar installed with a less clean plastic cutting job than I would have hoped, but...oh well. Looks good from 5' away...



Also bought a set of craigslist tires, 265/70-16 Nitto Muds on KMCs that I'm debating putting on or just keeping for the rims and looking for some 265-75s. Forgot a pic of those, I'll upload later.

Now I sit, waiting to get my Coilovers, UCAs, rear spings/AAL, shocks, sliders, etc to get it up and ready to go cruise big bear and possibly more. The idea for it is to be my simple, stock wheeler, maybe sell the crawler/camper combo I usually take to the desert and have fun wheeling a stock-ish truck again, because nothing's really very fun in the crawler anymore unless its the Hammer trails in Johnson Valley...

 

Been scouring the net for a camper shell and other parts, researching skids, sliders, armor, etc and stumbled on a nice little Craigslist find... DV8 rear bumper, returned for a few scuffs. Thing is BEEF. I have some lights coming for it as well.

 

That's some epic boulder crawling in that photo! Respect!

 

Thanks, it's fun, but just seems like a lot of work to make any trip happen, so it only happens a few times a year, and the last 2 I went on I only made 1 trail before breaking enough to demote me to passenger/drinker/shittalker/photog the rest of the trip

 

Dat Flex though. haha

Nice score on the rear bumper.

 

Got some new bling installed yesterday

 

nice rides way better doesn't it? and keepin the sway bar, eh ?

 

Ride is night and day. The DSC adjusters are nice, but I need to run them near all the way closed for a decent ride without blowing through the travel. Good thing my buddies at Accutune are going to get them re-valved. Fox is out of stock on my rears, so it's an odd ride right now, you can tell how bad the rear is over just about anything, compared to the front. I'll play with the swaybar once I get the shocks dialed in, but right now it doesn't seem like it's getting in my way for anything yet. Going to get an alignment today hopefully, then get my tires on and see if I feel like getting new Falkens this week before heading up north to go camping/wheeling.

 

Right on man. wheels and tires are going to be a game changer for sure. I just pulled the sway bar off when we installed the shocks. I don't miss it.

We are in the same boat now. I've got the 2 inch lift block the truck came with and the stock bilsteins and it rides like complete garbage compared to front.. lol I was looking at some 2.0s for the rear to hold me over but I'm just going to wait until do a spring under set up and get some real shocks. I had 2.0 fox on my rover years ago those things heat up in 2 seconds in any high speed sections.

Get those wheels and tires on and post some pics!

 

I had some 2.25 SAWs on my old titan that worked great on stock suspension, I'm sticking with some Fox 2.0 performance series resis for now, and then maybe someday I'll get towers or something and get some 2.5s but likely not haha, I'm lazy.

Yours looks super level for having a 2" block. The fox's were set at about 1.25" over stock height it seems. When we pull my fronts to re-valve I'm going to probably up the preload some to get it a little taller for crawling clearance, and then put an AAL pack on the back from a buddy.

Believe me, I can't wait to get these rims/tires on, im really over the stocker grandpa look...haha. I was going to get an alignment Sat but the install and testing dragged a little long.

 

Well, got the alignment and the rims and tires on...and it rubs everywhere haha. I did some initial trimming of the fender and liner but looks like I need a but more, and these aren't even the 285/75s... Probably need to crank these up a little bit more than "leveled" too

 

Well that didn't take long...

I ain't about that mud tire life. I am, apparently, really into that rubbing all the hell over life tho. DGAF and wheel it this weekend

 

lol looks better. New tires 285?

 

Went from 285-70 Nitto Mud tires i got off craigslist to 285-75 Falken wildpeak AT3Ws from Americas' Tire.

Now I DEFINITELY hit the body mount and a pinch weld or two, maybe some more fender liner/flare. I'll hammer it back/trim it/burn it with fire until they sort of kind of fit tonight. I'll box it in when I get back from this trip. At least it doesn't seem like a sharp edge to really do damage? I'm getting some rub on straight compression tho, gonna have to see where, or leave it and find out when it rips something off. I'll be adding probably an inch more preload when we pull them to put the Accutune valving in and get my rear shocks on. Going to dick with the DSC too, back off a little on the low speed.

 

Took the Tacoma on it's maiden voyage up to West lake near Fresno and then a day trip over to Strawberry Lake to push the limits of my tire clearance. Tires rubbed everything, all the time, even after body mount trimming, inner fender trimming and fender flare trimming. Seemed ok at home, but on the trail it hit pretty often. Definitely need to do more clearancing and plating the body mount, possibly some more flare trimming, definitely trimming of the rear flare, as it was really rubbing and eventually popped my flare partway off on the passenger side. I'm thinking of just trimming the whole inner attachment flange off and taking some of the fender itself with it.

Rear was on bumpstops whenever it had a load in it, so definitely need to get my buddy's AAL installed as well as crank the front up another inch once Accutune tunes the fronts.

In true overlander fashion, I took way too much crap with me on this trip and will be downsizing a bit for next time, as well as adding some bed lights, bed braces, floormats, some better gear organization/retention, and eventually some sliders. Enough yapping, on to the pics

 

Sounds like a party. Crank up the front like you said and throw the add a leaf in should be night and day better.
Looks like a cool area.

 

You know it's funny, this is the first wheeling/camping trip we've ever gone on where there wasn't a single silver bullet in sight. We all brought good craft beers and didn't even drink all of them. Wheeling the taco is night and day from my crawler. Gone are the "F it, imma drive by braille one handed and peel out everywhere" thoughts, and in are the "What was that noise, wait is my alignment ok, shit I hope that wasn't my rocker, why am i wheeling this thing that's worth more than my next 2 vehicles combined". Getting old and responsible sucks.

Can't wait for my rear shocks to come in and get this thing a touch taller and a bit more spring rate in the rear.

 

Nice rig.. lived in the high desert for 2 years loved it out there also had a titan with fox 2.5 up front an 2.0 in rear. Was a great set up did Barstow to primm a few times an big bear 2x.

 

So I guess camping spurred some spending sprees this week. And opportunity knocked.

Picked up a set of bed corner braces from @At The Helm and have the bed braces on their way as well, since I'm sure the amount of off-roading I plan to do will eventually cause some damage. I plan to use the brace to mount a bed light/eventual dust light using one of the crap Amazon flush mount LEDs I impulse bought for my bumper and promptly got replaced with some GG Lighting lights by a buddy of mine. Then ended up stumbling across some sliders for sale here and cruised out to pick them up, as well as some Icon 2.0s to tide me over until my foxs finally come in.

 

Well done sir. I hate it when those impulse buys happen. You have too many of those and you are going end up with another built truck if you're not careful.

Now you just need skids, front bumper, winch, front Long travel, rear long travel, bed rack, RTT........................

I was actually scoping those Icon rears. haha Curious how much different the ride will be.