Learning From Previous "Mistakes" - A 2012 Tacoma Build Thread

Hey TW, it's time to start my 2nd build thread, hopefully with the intention of helping some people learn from my experiences and "mistakes" after my first build. This gorgeous 2012 Tacoma TRD Off Road 4x4 with only 61k miles will be replacing my 2006 Tacoma TRD Off Road 4x4 6MT (also pictured below), who I had up until 231k miles and sold running perfectly - she was my first truck and will be truly missed.

The New One Now-


The New One @ The Beginning-


The OG Taco-



Onto the background - I had wanted a Tacoma ever since I was a kid, and bought my 2006 Tacoma bone stock with 135k on the clock right before I started college in 2015. So much time dreaming of mods and reading stuff online finally caught up with me when I began to have some money to spend on her over the coming years. So, she got King mid-travel suspension, front and rear bumpers, sliders, skids, different bed racks/RTT's/toppers, a snorkel, etc. She was well built and very capable, but was still my daily driver who I needed fully operational for highway miles 5-7 days per week.

Here's the problem - I never found joy in taking her out and rock crawling/running demanding trails on the weekends to push the limits. I didn't want to break anything, and to be honest, didn't want to damage my baby in any meaningful way. Now I have this truck that looks amazing, with awesome mods, just adding weight and making some of the DD duties less ideal (worse MPG's, more weight to accelerate/slow down, generally more maintenance/wear and tear with certain upgrades). What I did find out that I enjoy is going off-grid, up in the mountains or out in the desert, and camping/riding bikes. Don't get me wrong, the last build was well done and I loved it, but it was too much for my realistic off road needs.

What this build will be about - Building a capable truck to take me cool places while still maintaining as much OEM engineering, reliability, and daily drivability as possible. Think of it as OEM+ with some extra customizations. Over the next couple of days, I will begin documenting the mods I've carried over from my previous truck (and why I kept them), along with the new mods I'm doing and why I'm choosing them, as this build will progress fairly quickly.

Let me know if you have any questions along the way! Everything here was thoroughly thought out (in my mind at least) and I look forward to conversation and drawing more inspiration from the TW community.

 

Where she stands today! (Mods list below)



Mods List!

Suspension:
-Fox 2.0 Performance Series Coilovers (2" lift)
-Fox

$977 2.0 IFP Fox 2.0 Performance Coil-Over Front Pair compatible with 2005-2016 Toyota Tacoma

2.0 IFP Performance Series Rear Shocks
-OME Dakar EL095R Medium Duty Leaf Pack (2.5"-3" lift)
-OME Carrier Bearing Drop Kit/Spacer
-Wheeler's U-Bolts
-4" Extended Brake Lines
-Toytec 1/2" Shim For Taco Lean

Exterior:
-Go Fast Camper w/ F+R Windows
-SCS BR6 16" Matte Bronze Wheels
-Goodyear Wrangler Duratrac 265/75r16 Load C
-RockyMounts Roof and Hitch Bike Racks
-RCI Offroad Steel Rear Bumper
-RCI Aluminum Engine Skid Plate
-RCI Aluminum Transmission Skid Plate
-RCI Catalytic Converter Protection Add On
-OEM Barcelona Red Grill

Interior:
-Wet Okole Seat Covers w/ Piping
-Weather Tech Floor Liner Mats
-Ram Offroad Phone Mount
-Toyota OEM Door Sill Protectors
-Rear Seat Delete Platform (Driver Side) By @TomTomBikes
-Dometic CF40 Fridge
-Blue Sea 1011 12v Outlet

Other:
-Tailgate Theft Deterrent Mod
-Cali Raised Bed Stiffeners
-PlastiColor Rubber Mud Flaps
-Full Throttle 27F Deep Cycle Battery
-Off Grid Engineering Battery Tie Down
-DIY Rear Diff Breather Extension

 

Also mine.

 

Sounds like you got a good game plan for the new truck!

 

May be sneaking some ideas and thoughts from here. Similar situation. Have been a Orr of a few cool builds but they aren’t suited well for a daily driver. Looking forward to seeing your plans and build.

also have 2012 (dclb)

 

In trying to prep the previous truck for sale, I didn't take any good photos of the new truck's initial progress, so my apologies for the poor pics taken along the way here initially. The starting point for reference:



Mods kept from the previous truck:

1. Wheels and tires, seen here at Discount Tire after being swapped over. I unfortunately didn't have a way to get both trucks up in the air simultaneously to swap them. My SCS wheels look the part, give the truck a great stance, and will do until I can get my hands on some BR6's in bronze or gunmetal to suit the red truck a bit better.

I'm on my 2nd set of Wrangler Duratrac 265/75/16 C Load tires and still really like them. I got 55-60k out of my last set with more life to give, and they do a good job of mixing off road performance with great snow traction. The C load rating may not be as durable as an E rated tire, but it keeps the rotating weight down a bit while being stronger than a passenger rated tire.



2. The Alu-Cab topper (I sold the red one that came with the truck immediately). What an EXCELLENT quality bit of kit, and I have a platform I use to camp under it. Both will be for sale in May, however, as the game is getting "upped" as I go all-in on the camping aspect of this build.

3. The RCI rear bumper. In addition to looking a bit nicer than the stock bumper, raising the hitch to behind the license plate helps with clearance off road, both with and without a bike rack installed. Because of the weight of the stock hitch, this doesn't add any weight. I don't plan to add an aftermarket front bumper again, since the stock approach angle, (especially with a small lift) is enough to satisfy 99.5% of my needs. I also didn't care for how chipped up the front bumper got chipped up, even with a good powder coat, after a few years. Add to that a bunch more weight, and I just don't feel like it's necessary this go 'round.

 

I think I do, and it's already made some good headway! More info to come in the next few days...

Thanks, hopefully I can help give you some ideas as I learn and make improvements this time around.

 

Next up came the lift - the first mod that I purchased specifically for this truck! The truck looks awfully filthy at the moment after a couple of snow storms, but here are some pics of the new suspension underneath. Read on for my reasoning for this suspension setup after coming off of mid-travel Kings with LSK UCA's, etc.

Here's what I went with:
-Fox 2.0 Performance Series Coilovers (2" lift)
-Fox

$977 2.0 IFP Fox 2.0 Performance Coil-Over Front Pair compatible with 2005-2016 Toyota Tacoma

2.0 IFP Performance Series Rear Shocks
-OME Dakar EL095R Medium Duty Leaf Pack (2.5"-3" lift)
-OME Carrier Bearing Drop Kit/Spacer
-Wheeler's U-Bolts
-4" Extended Brake Lines




After only a few on-road drives with this suspension setup, I can say that I'm very happy thus far. The ride is soft over the bumps, yet composed on bigger hits/whoops. Don't get me wrong, the King setup on my previous truck was nice stuff, but it wasn't right for me. A couple issues I had with the last setup:

1. Cost. The Kings/LSK UCA's/OME Dakar springs, along with all of the small accessories, ran close to $3,500 in the end in parts alone. The full setup listed above the photos was $1,580 shipped to my door, thanks to a little discount love from Wheeler's for entering my email in exchange for 10% off. Better yet, the front coilovers were on sale.
2. Maintenance. While the new Fox setup has the same recommended rebuild intervals, there are a few caveats for this one.
a. The one service I had done on the Kings ran about $1k. This includes the basic seals and oil all around, new bushings/rubber where needed, and a new shaft/stanchion for one of the rear shocks.
b. The Fox rear shocks are $170 each. A rebuild will be close to the same amount, so these will be run until they're done.
c. Having the truck down for suspension maintenance for 3-4 weeks every ~50k miles isn't an option for my daily driver, but I didn't want to give up the ride quality of nice suspension. This way I can run it until it "really" needs a service (not excessively so but hopefully more than 50k miles), hopefully someone who plans to rebuild it themselves will buy it off me cheap, and I can purchase the next (and likely identical) setup and be into it for about the same total cost as just paying for the rebuild.
d. The aftermarket UCA's helped me get a better alignment with the front around a 2.5" lift and go mid-travel, but the uniball setup adds another maintenance item. The stock UCA's do just fine on the alignment rack with the 2" lift I'm running now, and this lift height also means I won't be killing CV boots quicker than necessary. Again, OEM+!

The last setup wasn't all bad though, I knew there were some things I wanted to keep:

1. Full leaf pack replacements. Blocks are no good, and AAL's are a less than ideal situation. Going with leaf packs is never a bad idea and is worth the extra money, especially given the truck won't be a full time street queen and will see plenty of dirt roads, trails, and a bed full of camping gear and mountain bikes.
2. Extended rear brake lines. I wish I didn't have to, but knowing I'm theoretically close enough to stretching them at full droop makes these an important piece in my book.
3. High quality suspension. The ride is worth it, just be sure to understand the cost and maintenance you're in for with any given setup, along with how you're looking to balance on road vs. off road ride. I've yet to get the Fox stuff on dirt, but if anything about the enhanced road ride and composure is a hint, they should be excellent if not better than the Kings. The King setup was great at lower speeds off road, but always felt jarring at mid-higher speed stuff.
4. Aluminum bodied shocks. Because, you know, I don't live in the desert and I don't want to see or deal with corrosion on a steel shock body.

 

I finally got a break from the freeze/thaw weather for a little bit and gave her a good bath. This is where she sits today, and we aren't about to slow down! More to come sooner than later...

 

I knew when I got the Barcelona Red truck, I would finally fulfill my dream of having a red Tacoma with bronze wheels - one of the few "cosmetic" mods I do - though the slight extra width is nice to have alongside the lift. SCS BR6's were on the top of my list, but I wasn't in for the BS that they call their inventory notification system and terrible communication regarding future availability. It's not that I'm impatient or am upset that they sell out quickly (I would be happy to wait a year since I have wheels I already like) but it's WAAAAY too much work to try to give them MY money. However, they make my favorite wheels from a design standpoint. Sigh.

Luckily, I saw these wheels go up for sale on a local Toyota FB page, and now I own the exact wheels I wanted, though these are 17's and not the 16's that I would prefer. Either way, I'll find new tires and these mint wheels will hopefully be installed within the next 2 months or so!

 

Some more updates coming soon, but the bronze BR6's are on! I sold the 17" ones from the previous post, as the 16" ones I wanted came in stock from SCS. These let me keep my current tires, which is a big deal for me because the 265 Duratracs don't come in a C-load rating for the 17" size. I would say that they look excellent!

 

After sitting on my Dometic CF40 fridge for 4-5 years and never getting around to setting it up in the previous truck, it is finally in! I knew I wanted to put it behind the driver's seat thanks to the perfect fit in the access cab. Additionally, I didn't want it to take up space in the bed, as I don't want anything even semi-permanent obstructing my regular use of the bed for things like MTB hauling and other daily duties. Here's the setup:

-Dometic CF40 Fridge
-Seat Delete Platform By @TomTomBikes
-Battery Setup By Matt at Off Grid Engineering/Boulder Vehicle Outfitters

I wanted to avoid going dual battery in order to keep modifications to a minimum, along with the cost. The nice Full Throttle 27F battery ran a whopping $460, but it definitely should be all that I need in order to run the fridge for a max of 2-3 days at a time. I trust Matt's knowledge on this stuff, as electrical setups definitely aren't my cup of tea. I also have the fridge voltage cutoff on the highest (safest) level possible and I have a jumper battery in the truck at all times. There's now a 12v outlet in the middle of the rear center console running my power to the back - it looks nice and factory!

 

Setup is looking great, thanks for the shoutout!!

If anyone is interested please DM me here or check out highlineoverlandsolutions.com

Cheers!

 

Just a couple of little things taken care of today. The bed mat needed slight trimming to lay flat with the bed stiffeners installed, which only took a few minutes.



The rear diff breather mod is something easy and basic that I consider essential, like the tailgate theft prevention mod. I had everything but the union and non-threaded breather from Toyota, and a quick online order from the local dealership was all that was needed. So weird how the front breather is so high up in the engine bay, but the rear is just smack dab on the top/side of the differential. For $11 in parts, its great piece of mind for river crossings here in CO. A beer helped with the install!

 

Next mod up was a very important one. After having a catalytic converter stolen last year from my previous Tacoma (right in my apartments parking lot) I knew that I had to sort out some protection. Unfortunately, I just don't care for the design or mounting style of most catalytic converter theft protection options available for Tacos.

On a separate note, I always planned to upgrade the stock front skid back to an RCI plate like the last truck, but an aluminum one this time. Again, my offroad use isn't overly aggressive crawling by any means, and 1/4" aluminum is more than enough for me and saves quite a bit of weight. I had no plans to install a transmission skid prior to the cat theft, but then RCI debuted a cat theft protector add-on to their transmission skid plate. This is more than I ever could have asked for, and I am thrilled that such a good option exists for theft protection and an integrated skid plate system. Let the worries disappear!

 

Next up is an unusually cosmetic mod for me. I was fine with the chrome grill when I still had the silver Ray 10's on, but once the bronze wheels came in, it just stuck out like a sore thumb. Thankfully, Toyota sells OEM color matched grilles a fair bit "less expensive" than I expected once I deal hunted. Before and after:



Also, while this isn't the best photo, I paid for the first (and hopefully only) detail of my life. This truck unfortunately had crazy amounts of swirl marks when I bought it, and between my laziness and lack of tooling/time, I left the removal of them to the pros. Now 90-95% of them are gone (without a full paint correction) and the truck looks a million times better!

 

Interior protection came at the end of last week. When I bought my previous Tacoma, it already had holes in the seats and seat covers were my only option (aside from replacing the seat) to make everything look better. Thankfully, the seats in this truck were in great shape, though light signs of wear were showing on the outer driver seat bolster, so I took the leap on some not-so-cheap Wet Okole seat covers to preserve their condition. They fit pretty well overall, and aside from something more intensive and expensive like Katzkin, I couldn't find a better option when it comes to fit and overall style. I think the black with light gray accents and piping ties in really well with the other interior bits.



I also figured that, while I'm at it, I may as well go ahead and get the Weathertech floor liners that I've been thinking about. The stock all season Toyota rubber floor mats that were in the truck when I bought it are fine, but I'm a mountain biker and camper who lives in CO and wants to keep his new daily driver cherry of a truck nice, so they seemed like a worthwhile investment. Since nobody ever rides in the back seat, the stock mats are more than sufficient back there.

 

I got out for the second camping trip of the year last weekend. It was predominately a riding trip with some colleagues, but a great shakedown run of the camping setup nonetheless. The topper should be gone in the next couple of days, and the GFC is being manufactured as I type this. It has been a great (somewhat) minimalist setup, but I look forward to having some space while sleeping again, and the ability to stand inside the GFC will be awesome!

 

did you get red for the GFC color?

 

I didn't, mine will be black. I did ponder it, but I know it would drive me crazy in the end since the GFC red isn't a Barcelona Red exact match.