Taco Sauce TX Pro Build: Custom LT, 37’s, Tundra Axle Swap, and now a Back Half?

JD fab slide rack and heimed steering installed over the weekend. Just in time for some cold snowy weather.

They should be releasing their Howe tc pump kit soon and I’ll add that to help turn things a little easier. Just glad it’s nice and strong now

 

Pics of the rack prior to you installing? Looking at designing a similar one since there's less premade ones for first gens.

 

yeah... definitely gonna get on this train. Think I'm just gonna wait and do it all at once. LCA Pivots too.

 

This is all I got of it mocked up a few weeks ago. I think there’s some more buried in the thread for all the jd fab stuff

 

Interesting so that's a stock rack with a spacer on the left side of the ram? Is moving the tie rod to the bracket between the ram and the slider for correcting bump steer?

 

So it’s not a spacer on the left side. It’s a sleeve that brings the OD of that last inch to match the OD of the rest of the rack. For whatever reason Toyota turns it down 0.5mm or so just on the one side. The kit adds seals to the end of the body of the stock rack to keep debris out since you can’t run boots with it so that little sleeve is just to keep the seals happy.

And yes they move the tie rod to that bracket and forward on it to help with bump steer

 

Trailer queen status accomplished.

 

Stained and sealed the trailer deck to help it last longer, and also took the truck out to test the new steering. Everything feeling tight and right. Biggest tree I could find. Front tire 38” off the ground.

 

Festive AF for the local light parade

 

Well these showed up about 3 weeks earlier than they said they would. Little graduation present to myself.

 

Drift lights wired up. May end up moving them after a night run but I like how this spot keeps them somewhat protected.



Dust lights hopefully done this weekend.

 

Have anything to compare those to? I bought a set of used s2 pros and I have some s1’s I bought last year on Black Friday. Figuring out where I can put them on my truck

 

Not really. Up until now I’ve just been running my onyx 6 bar and cheap chase lights that have been dead but still mounted to the truck for 2 years. I almost went with the S2 for this application but figured I’d save a few bucks since it’s not a primary lighting area. Plus I was able to get 2 white ones up front and 2 ambers for dust lights.

I will say they are pretty bright and should do perfect for cornering lights. I just might have to move them from that location since they are blocked by the bumper a fair bit.

 

Oh alright yeah I have amber s1’s that I made mounts for tucked up in my rear bumper as dust lights / aux reverse lights - if you’re running those for dust lights I’d like to hear how bright they are to see if I’ll use those or the s2’s for backing up which is realistically what they’ll be used for most of the time.

 

Just finished up getting the ambers mounted and wired. I’ll try to get a night run in today or tomorrow for a review of how they all worked out.



As for reverse lights, even just that one KC cyclone is awesome. Some day I’ll find the motivation to probably redo that light and build the other side.

 

Got around to doing a little night run and test the new lights out. Pretty good spread. Dim sections between forward and side lights are pretty perfectly placed in the blind spots. Looks like 220* or so of light which is awesome.



This is the area I was hoping to light up with the S1’s so I did hit the target area even if not in the brightest spot of the light. They definitely get cut off by the bumper so getting more light on the side I’d probably have to move them up to the a-pillar on some ditch light brackets. But then I’d have more of a dim spot between them and forward facing lights seen in the first pic. Also don’t like the aesthetics of ditch lights. Who knows maybe I’ll try moving them around.



Chase lights work good and are nice and bright.



And Santa brought the Mrs and myself some new camping shelter. Fits perfect on the trailer. Also got a propane fire pit for when we are in fire restrictions.

 

Finally got her on a scale and with a full tank and no driver the truck weighed in at 5760lbs. Only 310lbs over the gvrw lol. But lighter than I was expecting, I figured closer to 6k which will probably be close if I ever get around to redoing skids and trying to flat belly as much as I can.

 

That's where I'm at. 5700 in DD form.. more when fully loaded. Think my next big upgrade is gonna be a SOS Big Brake Kit.

 

Yeah that was dd form with no additional gear and what not. I did the 4Runner front brakes and while it helped brake power, it takes more pedal to use it unfortunately. Not sure how the sos kits compare. Seems to be a problem with off road or pro models (anything with ATRAC)

 

Good to know about the 4runner upgrade. Thought about doing that. That's how mine are now.. with upgraded EBC rotors and pads. The 6 piston StopTech kits SOS has looks like a nice upgrade.. I've only heard good things.