Lift, wheels and tires and various other weekend mods.

This ended up being way longer than I meant to write but it happens. After a few weeks of collecting parts and getting everything I needed (so I thought.... overconfidence strikes again) it was finally time to do a lift. I had access to a vehicle lift and various tools at an Army MWR "do it yourself" car shop but a lot of the tools are worn and you never know what will be broken or missing. Overall it was easier than I thought but I did run into a few issues that took some shade tree mechanic ingenuity to overcome. The majority of these issues would have been really easy to alleviate had I been in the US but being Army stationed in Germany, I get to try and find parts and supplies here or wait for things to ship from the US. Not really and option when your truck is apart. Also shipping large items is an issue here. We have a 50lb and 70" limit from USPS and shipping to my German address is a PIA. There is a lot of paperwork involved if you don't want to pay customs/ import fees and taxes. The following is the list of work done over the last few days and cost.

2014 DCSB TRD off-road
- SAW 2.0 coilovers- 350.00
- OME Dakar AAL added to TSB spring pack and overload. More on the reasoning behind this to follow- 90.00
- Black 16x7 TRD Off-road Wheels- 750.00
-255/85r16 Toyo Open Country M/t- 500.00
-color matched grill- 150
-painted my rear bumper- 75.00
- modified mud flaps- 10.00
- pop-n-lock electronic lock (don't remember cost)
- blacked out emblems- 90.00

Saw Coilovers- I picked these up on the for sale forum in pretty rough condition. They had no leaks but were corroded and had some rust. I didn't really care because they are going under the truck anyway and the price was to good to pass up. I cleaned them up before install by soaking them in coke for a few hours then taking a brass brush to the worst of the rust and corrosion. What I couldn't get to I gave a quick pass with a dremel and wire wheel. Sprayed them off and called it a day. Install was super easy and only took a few hours. Getting a torque wrench to the center upper bolt (closest to the engine bay) is impossible for me without cutting metal so I torqued as tight as I could with a box wrench and called it a day. Overall super easy and had no major issues. Adjusting kind of sucks but a section of pipe gave me the leverage I needed. The finish on these is really soft though so I scratched the crap out of the adjustment collar. It happens. 2.75" of lift gained. No additional weight on the front end right now.

- OME AAL- so I made this decision based on a cost analysis. My intention after getting back CONUS next year is to add the OME Spring pack. I would have preferred to do it now but shipping from the states would be way to much money for me. I went with the OME AAL as a temp fix. The cost of 90 USD shipped in 2 days from a German vendor was good and i can use them with the Dakar pack when I get it. If needed. The Dakar pack is available here but not in stock so it's a 2 month wait and will cost 550 euros for the springs alone. Not worth it when vendors on the forums have much much better prices. I didn't want to use blocks for a few reasons. I didn't want to wait for shipping, didn't want to use blocks with a performance front and didn't want to spend that much on a truely temp fix. Blocks are available here but run about 350 euros for the kit because they are technically illegal for German road vehicles. As service members we can get away with it but for the reasons I mentioned refused to go this route. End of the day I decided a leaf is a leaf and I would make it work.

This turned out to be a bit harder than I thought and took some work. I started it Friday after work thinking I would have enough time before closing (3 hours) but was wrong. I ended up cutting the stock spring retainers and having to play with leaf position and lining it all up. The AAL is much stiffer than the stock springs and due to length ended up being the second spring in the pack. Took some playing with c clamps and a hammer to get it to all line up. At the end of 2.5 hrs I had 1 side done and no time to continue. Driving home with some serious gangster lean was fun but good thing it was only 4 miles. Went back Sat AM and finished the second side in a 1 hr. I ended up using 3/4 steel bar stock to fabricate spring retiners. Basically bent it in a U at 2 3/4 inches, used the stock plastic pads and fastened with a 3" bolt and nut. Not ideal but will work until I get real spring retainers. For some reason Amazon refuses to ship these here so I will contact one of the vendors from here. End of the project ended up with 2" of lift. This is taking into account the heavy roll up bed cover on the truck and oversized spare. I am still using the stock shocks, will change them eventually but I think I can get away with them now for just on road driving.

- wheels and tires- I hate chrome and wanted to black everything out. The stock wheels are fine but didn't really like the look so I splurged on these. I could have had mine powder coated here but it's a 3-4 week turnaround time and that wouldn't have worked. I would have been able to find 2 spares to run with mine giving me 3 stock spares and tires had I gone this route but came up 1 short. Instant gratification also has its appeal. I will get them coated anyway, black or dark gray as a second set for wheeling or other tires.

The tires I got here cheaper than I could in the US, even without shipping. If I like them I will buy another set before I leave. I removed my front mud flaps for clearance and ended up trimming about a 1.5x0.5" section from the bottom of the fender flare that was running. I clear the cab mounts easily.

I have SPC UCAs sitting in my garage but they did not arrive in time and I am leaving for a few months for work. It will have to wait until I get back.

- grill- I had played the plasti-dip game with my chrome one and it looked like crap. I know people love that stuff but honestly I think it's ugly. I love the idea and it's great to use to see how something will look before going permanent. With that said, the whole it looks great until you look really close explanation doesn't work for me. I may strip the chrome off the stock one and paint black as a second grill or use it as parts for when I screw up mine trying to do a mesh grill insert.

- bumper- once again, chrome sucks and i had a decent dent in it from letting the wife drive my truck last winter when her Grand Cherokee was in the shop. I pulled the bumper (way harder than I figured), sanded the chrome down and beat out the dent. Cleaned it up as much as possible then sprayed with etching primer, filler primer, truck bed liner, gloss auto enamel and finally clear. Drove around without a bumper for a few days but it turned out great. Now I am sitting on a replacement bumper bar I was going to PC or colormatch so I need to either return or sell.

The rest of the work is just random mods but overall this is a super easy truck to work on and you can tell it was designed to play with.

 

Shockingly enough, a month later no problems have surfaced and I didn't screw up anything!

 

Do those wheels rub anywhere with the 255/85r16's? IIRC they are 16x7 +13mm offset with a 4.5 bs?

 

Looking good!

 

17+ TACOMA TRD PRO 16IN ALLOY WHEELS(GLOSS BLACK, 6 ON 139.7MM W/ 13MM OFFSET) - TOYOTA (

$364 PT758-35170-02 Genuine Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro 16-In. Alloy Wheel - Gloss Black w/Center Cap (Fits: 2005 & Newer Tacoma / 2007-2014 FJ Cruiser / 1999 & Newer 4Runner) (1)

PT758-35170-02)

I believe you are right on the backs paving, i checked when I bought them but can remember what it was. That sounds right though.

I of course rubbed on my front flaps, before I took them off and a small section of the rear of the front fender flare when in reverse. Slight trim took care of it. No need for s CMC and I didn't install the LR UCAs I bought because of time. Going to list those bad boys as soon as I get to 50 posts.

 

How much for the LR UCAS? Shoot me a pm.

 

How about 425 shipped.

 

What is your caster set to? I'm thinking that 3*+ of castor and those shouldn't rub. Also, anymore pictures?

 

TOYO open Country MT in 255??? for 500$ where?!

 

Yeah was a ridiculous deal. I thought I got quoted the wrong price from the tire shop here in Germany but it was correct. I am going to buy a second set before I move back to the states in Feb and ship them with my household goods!

 

I don't remember off the top of my head but I'll find the sheet. However it was set it barely rubbed on the flare as it was. Was only at full lock in reverse and was a 1/4" section. I trimmed more than that because why not as I was at it.

 

@Valhalla18D

Did your 2nd gen lug nuts work with the 3rd gen TRD PRO wheels? I have been looking at pictures and it seems the 2nd gen lug nuts (at least on my TRD Sport) are longer than the 3rd gen lug nuts I've seen.