RVA_TRD's SANDY Build

Fine choice of colour. Nice find!

 

Never Take Advice From an Idiot
Due to the unseasonably warm temperatures today in Virginia, I decided a nice little after school project would be to install my extended brake line that came with my lift. This way I could fully flex my truck without fear of ripping out my stock brake line. So I made my own little bleeder kit with a Gatoraid bottle and some 1/4" (I think) inner diameter clear hose. The job itself was pretty straight forward; replace the line, bleed the brake, enjoy. While I had the wheels all removed, I noticed that there was grease coming from my CV Axle, I attached a picture below. Does anyone know if it looks like these things need to be replaced? I don't know why I waited so long to do it, I guess I was just scared of messing up because, you know, brakes are nice to have. It was after my friend and I finished is where the adventure started.

I was all stoked that we accomplished the project with ease and since it was so nice I suggested we go somewhere to find a rock to flex out on to get some pictures and stuff to brag with. Well he knew just the place, it was some path off of a backroad near my house. We end up going down this path and I'm thinking "what the fuck are you making me do." Eventually we get to this mud hole and he says that I shouldn't go through it because it's like 6 feet deep and I'd sink the truck and that I should take the path to go around. Cool, sounds easy enough, nope. In Virginia it has rained for like the past month so this place was nasty. I couldn't get over to the path without sliding into the hole which I ended up doing. So now I'm stuck in this hole from hell, probably on some dudes private property, and slowly sliding deeper and deeper in. Shit. At this point I was pissed, I told him to call my friend to help pull me out, but I didn't want to give up there. I said fuck it, locked the diff, threw it in reverse, and just punched it. It took a few tries but holy shit I got out. Needless to say I turned right on around and drove my ass home. Looks like I gotta get my friend back now... Oh and while driving home the battery light came on, no clue why, it won't come on again. I just got a new battery so it shouldn't be that. Maybe alternator???


CV Axle grease. Looks like it's been slung out while spinning. Anyone think it should be replaced??

Giving her a little flex prior to the mud hole incident.



After I throttled my way out...

Better look at the hole. Looks pretty tame, but that bitch is deep! I was trying to shoot up there to the right and go around, but couldn't turn due to ruts and slick mud.

Overall it was a fun adventure making some memories and having a good story to tell. Now I gotta clean the truck again, luckily it will be another 70 degree day here tomorrow!!!

Oh and Adobe fixed Lightroom so my pirate version doesn't work anymore... Guess my broke High schoolers self needs to find another way...


See y'all out on the trails
-RVA_TRD

 

Just had to make another account lol.

 

Now that's more like it

 

Spend the Afternoon today putting on a few parts that I've had for a bit, but haven't gotten around to installing.

For starters, I had to fix my battery grounding wire. Every since my genius idea of ripping down a hunt club road with the battery unsecure ending up in all of the battery cables being ripped out and breaking my ground cable. So, a trip to autozone and about 5 minutes solved that one.

Next up was replacing my fuel filter. I know from reading the forums that your supposed to disconnect the fuel pump wire and let the truck die to relieve pressure from the lines. After 15 minutes of trying to get the stupid plug out, I threw in the towel and just went on with taking off the filter. A little bit of Aerokroil did the trick and made the nuts nice and easy to get off. What I wasn't ready for was the blast of gasoline from the lines (I guess there is some sense to disconnecting the pump, oh well). Long story short, I got gas all over myself, but got the filter in and it works, win.


Finally was the Differential Breather Mod. If you're not familiar you can find more information on it here. Basically the point of it is to extend the differential breather up to a higher point so if you were to drive through deep water the existing breather won't suck in water (or something like that). This was up there with the Grey Wire Mod on level of ease. I doubt I'll ever really need it, but just in case I have the peace of mind that I've done it.

Fuel hose connecting to differential.Filter poking out just to the right of the gas cap.

-RVA_TRD

 

New Parts!!!
Started my week off with a visit from the UPS man. He brought me an Ultragauge, 4x Innovations Rock Sliders, and some Greasable Suspension bolts and shackles (nice guy, I know).
So far the Ultragauge is up there as one of my favorite mods. You get so much information from it, it is unbelievable. I find myself being a lot more conscious about gas mileage since it's right in front of my face. When I drive like a grandma I can get a smooth 20mpg, which will save me quite a bit of money compared to my previously calculated 16 lol.

The rock sliders required some assembly upon arrival, I saw this as an excuse to use my new welder!
Turns out welding 1/4" DOM Steel draws a lot of power, I had every power source on the garage circuit turned off to in theory let me weld longer without tripping a breaker. It didn't work, I could maybe get 10 seconds of continuous welding before the breaker tripped. This put a temporary hold on the project until I could get an electrician to come and install a 230v outlet to run the welder on.

I did complete 1 weld, yea, ugly, but whatever, I'll grind it and paint and. Plus nobody will be able to see it anyways.

So by the end of the week, I'd like to have these things all painted and mounted, plus have my new shackles and bolts installed. I am also looking at installing some new U-Joints since my current ones are squeaking when I back up. From what I've counted, it looks like 6 (If anyone can confirm, I'd appreciate it).


And on a completely unrelated note, I took delivery to a new bike the other day, and boy does she shred!

-RVA_TRD

 

Sliders!!!
As seen in my previous post, I have purchased some 4x Innovations rock sliders for the build. Took a little longer than expected to weld them up and get them installed, but we got 'er done. Overall I'm super happy with my purchase. Originally I was torn between Relentless Fabrication's Sliders and these, but was eventually swayed to these since they were cheaper and in stock. It was a little more working aligning the plates and welding everything, but a great learning experience. The welds may not be the prettiest, but I'm confident that they'll hold, plus 99% of the time they are for looks.


The completion of this project prompted a mini photo shoot at the old coal miner store. Next up on the list is Diff Drop, U-Joints, Steering Rack Bushings, And greaseable suspensions bits for the rear. Sounds like a Sunday workday is in need!

See y'all out on the trails!
-RVA_TRD

 

subbbbed.

your build is similar to mine but i am a double cab LOL.

Ran across the same issues with the cvs and everything.

Best of luck to you with your build and truck. Great shots on the pics too man.

 

Good looking truck. I'm looking at doing U-Joints as well. Maybe the carrier bearing with drop since im sure its original and it doesn't like my new lift.

 

that Hilo tho, wow

 

Been a little bit since the last update, nothing that exciting has happened, but I have been working on the truck. Decided I was sick and tired of it driving like a 18 year old truck and wanted to freshen up my steering. For this I got all new inner and outer tie rod ends, Energy Suspension steering rack bushings, and performed the steering tac weld mod. In the process of doing this I went to change my Shifter seat bushing and somehow ended up buying a URD Short Throw Shifter Kit (I don't know how it happened). The Steering Rack Bushings were definitely the most aggravating part of the project, but arguably the most beneficial. After installing everything and getting an alignment, I can say my truck now handles similar to my 2004 F150, which is a huge step above the floaty and unresponsive steering I had before and the short Throw Shifter is a drastic improvement form the long throw these Tacomas have. Still on the list is my passenger CV Axle, and 2 U-Joints, I'll probably just get to those whenever.


The process of removing the steering wheel column and assembly, then welding the tube took about an 2 hours, and I was being super careful and cleaning all the dust and grime that has accumulated in there over the years.

-RVA_TRD

 

The Start of the Dream
Been a long time since an update. Not much has changed on the truck, just been daily driven to work and now off to College. Meanwhile while life was moving at lightning pace, I still found time to think about future plans for my truck. Doing this made me think of my reason for buying this truck; my dad and I had planned on building this Tacoma into a trail beast as well as a reliable first truck. Well the reliability part is a given, because you know, Tacoma, but the trail beat part is not quite what my dad’s and my dream were. Since this idea was conceived, I unfortunately lost my dad in the line of duty as a police officer. This threw a wrench in my plans, since I had this truck and dream, but nobody to share it with.

So here is the plan: Long Travel up front sitting on BFG KM3s mounted to some SCS wheels, Relentless Fabrication Armor all around, and a host of other upgrades to build it into my dad and I’s dream truck even if he isn’t around anymore. As of right now armor is ordered and I am still deciding on which long travel setup to go with (leaning with MCM). Timeframe is looking like ordering parts know and just emptying my account in order to get everything at my house before winter break so I can use my month off of school to build it all up. It’ll be a process, but one I am really looking forward to doing and looking forward to sharing here.

RVA_TRD

 

Sweet rig!

Ever thought about putting the Trd super charger in it?

I have an 04 pre runner Trd v6 I got from a co-worker’s niece. Two wheel drive but only had 70k miles. I was thinking about gettin some badass suspension and MAYBE a super charger. We’ll see.. she’s still pretty minty.. supercharger would be sick!!

 

A supercharger has definitely been a thought. Right now my priority is suspension, then any other engine upgrades. Finding a genuine TRD supercharger for a 3.4L is pretty rare, but definitely not impossible. Then there is also the support upgrades you need to feed the supercharger. I would also like to install TRD headers to help the supercharger breath. That’s all plans from the future, one step at a time here.

 

New Shoes
After having been sitting in my garage for weeks while I was at school, I finally got my Ray 10s hooked up with a brand new set of BFG KM3s (285/75r16). She rubs a little on the front, but not nearly as bad as I was expecting, MCM Fab long travel should do just the trick, but that’s for next break...