The SR thread, let's see them!

FINALLY got my new SR 4x4 yesterday. Nancy at Lou Fusz in St Louis took great care of me. This thing rides and drives great! Now I can park my Ram 2500 and daily drive this. So much handier to get around in. I am a real estate appraiser so I drive a lot.

 

Put a Borla S-Type on my V6 taco about 2 weeks ago. For anyone looking to do some moderate upgrades this would be at the top of my list after wheels and tires. Install was fairly simple, took about an hour and a half, and after all was said and done, set me back about $950. Not obnoxiously loud or drone-y on the highway, but certainly a welcome change from the stock exhaust. I drive all highway miles around 65mph and take trips to the shore on the weekend and have no complaints at all. Didn’t take a noticeable hit in my MPGs either for those of you who have longer commutes like me and monitor you gas mileage.

DISCLAIMER: for those with the 4cyl the beginning of the catback exhaust flange is much further forward in your exhaust system so I recommend doing some research before you buy an exhaust. If you have the V6 double cab, you will need an adapter piece (sold on website) to give you a bit of extra length

 

Fogs are a relatively easy upgrade but are well worth their weight in gold in my experience. I bought an OEM set of LED fogs from a guy on this site that came right off his TRD Off Road and the install only took about 2.5 hrs (including taking the airbag off and putting a new turn signal stalk). Also I recommend doing retrofit for your headlights instead of getting aftermarket, I hear they never seem to fit as good as you’d want them to

 

SR5 265/75/16 cooper stt pros. Stock suspension and lift

 

The older I get the harder it seems to see at night. When I bought this truck the immediate impression I got at night was that the lighting was poor. I felt like my first gen lights that were 18 years old worked better.

Thanks to this gentleman:
@crashnburn80

I have become well read on all things lighting. After aiming my headlights properly (they were aimed pretty low) I decided to go with a higher efficiency H11 bulb (Phillip's +60). This helped me see down the road much better than the stock H11.

I also learned that the LED bulbs I put into my OR Wide Angle halogen foglight housings were helpful in blinding oncoming motorists, so I replaced them with the stock H11 bulbs I took out of my headlights. This too was a pretty substantial improvement especially when it came to perephial lighting.

Like I said.. I'm getting old.. backing out of my dark driveway with tinted glass just seems to be a hassle and nothing seems lit up enough. This had me reading some more and eventually led me to:

Mod16: Upgraded reverse light bulbs
Purpose: Functional Vision
Cost: $15
GY6.35 HIR bulbs installed after reading this:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/gy6-35-hir-921-reverse-light-upgrade-vs-high-power-leds.474996/

I've had these for a while. Now that I'm finally getting ready to fix my tailgate and bumper I figured I'd pull the tails and get this one scratched off the list.

Once I get the tailgate/bumper squared away I'll be going to @no vtec 4me to get a basic BHLM.

Once I get my lights back I plan on doing the H9 low beam upgrade I read about here:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/3rd-gen-hid-vs-led-vs-halogen-h11-projector-headlights.589465/
and moving my Phillip's +60 H11s into my foglight housings.

Thanks to folks on these forums for providing such detailed and relavent information. Our stock SR lighting leaves a lot to be desired. These upgrades are a cost effective way to boost the usable light output utilizing the stock housings.

If I hadn't read through this I would have been the guy blinding oncoming motorists stuffing LED bulbs into Halogen projectors

Once I use these at night I'll post back here

 

Looking forward to hearing how this all turns out!

 

I got a second to compare my reverse lights vs my sons taco this evening. The difference is pretty noticeable.
1. The hotspot is much larger
2. Useable light extends a bit further
But... for me the biggest difference is
3. Drastic increase in perephial lighting

This is going to help me see the edge of my stone driveway and back out onto a narrow unlit road much easier.

These pictures dont really tell the story, but let's just say that my driveway is roughly 50' wide at the rear of my truck. That 50' width is nearly entirely lit.



I ain't the best photographer, but let me tell you that the light throw is farther, more saturated, and a LOT wider. Its damn near a 180° spread. This modification is a close 2nd to the bed mat.. I know it will prove to be a super useful upgrade for me.

The only drawback I could pick at is that the light is intense and somewhat blinding. When looking at my truck vs my sons truck from the back, you couldn't really look directly at my reverse lights, it was too intense to focus on... his weren't difficult for my eyes to focus directly on.... However..... it is a reverse light and 99% of the time it's not going to be an issue to other motorists.
Here is what I got

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...wQFnoECA8QAQ&usg=AOvVaw2Yfha-RmcsxOwND5AiQ0qu

Heres pictures of the boxes... sorry.... no pictures of the lights.. I didnt want to mess with them too much.. they were tiny.


Again thanks to @crashnburn80 for doing all the legwork and posting some genuinely useful information.

 

My SR Utility shined up. Getting an Eibach lift installed in the future then 255/75/17's mounted on FJ steelies. Having the rims powder coated white. Going for the NATO look.

 

Nice beard

 

Any issues with rubbing? I’m looking at either the 265/75/16 or 265/70/17 on mine. Not sure what wheel offsets work without any issues rubbing though.

 

2.7 4x4 did great in Colorado

Stock aside from the topper, 245/75-16E Firestone X/Ts, WeatherTech mud flaps, a power outlet in the bed and Seat Jackers





Nice sleeping accommodations


2.7 + 65 MPH =

 

Just got them yesterday 245/75/16 to 265/75/16
On OEM TRD wheels,16x7
No center caps yet, coming in but not sure if I want them
No hits no rubbing
Stock SR and looks that much better

 

I just got a quote on some similar tires at that size and now im even more excited!! Changes the whole look of the truck. Looks great!!

 

And so...

It's been 2 and 1/2 months since my truck got rear ended.


I'll spare the pictures but basically my tailgate got dented and folded right on the stamp and my bumper got bent downward leaving me with what looked like a saggy diaper (especially on the passenger side). My $40 DrawTite Hitch Receiver saved the day and really saved me from a lot more damage .

The goal here is to fix it good enough in my driveway and have some extra chump change for things that are important. Initially I was soooooo friggin pissed .... but shit happens and after a good month or more of dealing with these jerkoff insurance folks and their "approved repair facilities", I decided that this damage was cosmetic and I really didn't want anyone touching or painting anything on my truck. Tailgates are prone to dings, dents, scrapes and scratches, same goes for bumpers... I'll need touch up paint, but I aimed to keep all the pieces of my truck and accept some superficial cosmetic damage.

I finally received a check which took forever and had it's own annoying story, but whatever.. loot in hand = time to buy stuff to begin repairs. The tailgate could not be repaired. All 3 body shops I went to would not work on it and recommended replacement. I wasn't missing paint....just some scuffs and the huge dent. I contacted several PDR guys... none would touch it... I finally found one guy, but when he got to my house he quoted only an 85% repair for $400. He said the metal was stretched and he could only get it so straight.Heres a couple before pics


Tough to see on black but the TAC area was dented and the bottom of the tailgate was folded under. There was hard line toward the bottom that was completely gone as well -- making this line again was problematic because the metal was stretched. I told the PDR guy to do his best.. I was hopeful for a better outcome, but I kinda knew it was gonna be an eyesore... you could see ripples and it was still a bit bent at the bottom. But I was appraised of the fact that it wasn't going to be 100% repair. I really didn't take pics, but let's just say it was something I probably could have just left alone. I decided to minimize the ripple effect by ...... yes....... using DERP. I figured a satin finish would hide some of the wavyness that was apparent in sunlight. Here's some pics... I did as little Derping as I could. Thick and steady coats to get a satin sheen.




Heres some hyper focused pics.. you can still make out the ripples from the PDR as well as the bent portion of the bottom. What ashame it couldn't be 100% repaired with a PDR..

 

I'll post up the bumper repair process later this evening ---

 

The 2nd part of my repair was the bumper... again I knew going in that this wasn't gonna be 100%. The drivers side bumper corner has some missing paint and some creasing.






Likewise, the plastic step pad had some marring.



I decided I was going to live with these minor cosmetic problems. It's not going to cause rust, its hardly noticeable (especially on black), it gets stepped on, it's a bumper......shit happens.

I also decided that I WOULD NOT live with the saggy diaper bumper....
I've had some form of Tacoma for a while now.. I'm no stranger to bumper replacement. I've done a couple rears as well as a front... so how hard could this one be??? After laying underneath for a little while on some thick foam pads. I figured out these bumpers are about 7 major pieces held on by a variety of clips and screws I bought the piece I knew was bent which is cheap and not really much of a bumper...OEM as always...not worth trying to save a few bucks for crappy fitment

You can see here the old one was pretty tweaked. Trying to straighten this wasn't worth the hassle. I don't have any pictures of taking this all apart, mainly because shit was bent and it took me a while to remove all the plastic crap without loosing the precious clips.. here it is going back together.

1. Saving one of the mashed clips on the bumper step pad with some super glue gel


2. Removing the driver side bumper cover revealed the alligator clip tounge was busted... more super glue gel

Heres the part drying


3. I loosened up all 6 bolts to my receiver and all 6 bolts that hold the bumper support to the frame. Heres a good shot of what I would call the actual bumper.. this got tweaked downward. I used an old jack and a block of wood to support the bumper and receiver. Once I got things all lined up I tightened the 6 bolts for the bumper support followed by the 6 for the receiver. There was quite a bit of room for movement upward which was going to fix the saggy diaper.


4. Bumper wings cleaned up, repaired, clips all secured and ready to go back

And bolted up......

Gaps are looking good.. high and tight.


Not perfect on the bed sides, but still damn close. Much better than the 3 finger gap I had on the passenger side. This is pretty good.



.......What fun would working on your TACO be without breaking bolts... this one must have gotten weakened from the accident. The top just broke clean off... no rust, so it wasn't horrible... had to drill it out.

Luckily since I've had some form of Toyota since 2002, I had the right bolt and thread pattern laying in a parts bin.. no additional trip to the parts department necessary.

5. Wiring harness cleaned up

And all clipped back in


6.Step pad all aligned and pushed back into place.

Looking nice and straight compared to after the accident.. nice


7. Straighten that license plate. Sandwich the tag between a spare piece of plexi glass and cardboard and beat it with a dead blow hammer


8. Plate back on along with all the remaining bumper plastic clips, the tow hitch wiring harness blank, and the tag lights.


9. Tailgate (see post https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/the-sr-thread-lets-see-them.411453/page-366#post-27750886 ) back on


10. Reattaching the camera wiring harness



11. Hatch all buttoned up.


12. Prevent rust... it sucks.... ounce of prevention. I hit everything metal with this while it was apart. Even inside of the tailgate as it was drilled in a couple of places to get the dents out.

 

I showed y'all where the dents, dings, marring, creasing, and missing paint is.. from 10 feet away you wouldn't notice. It's hard to pick out the cosmetic blemishes even when you know they are there. Again --- tailgates and bumpers on pickup trucks ... they seem to be the first things to get messed up in one way or another.

 

Had my taco sr 4x4 for 2 months and i love it. Added wheels, black chrome exhaust tip, bkackes out badges, and grill and raptor lights.

 

How much did the insurance give you? looks like you could pocket a couple k

 

Not that much.. and I'm not going to say. Dont even get me started dude.. I could rant for a long while... I was told ever since covid that insurance companies have been basically trying to cut out direct payments to the actual owner.

Heres how it used to work..... you hit me... I got 3 estimates, add em up divide by 3.. that's what they paid.....I could go to the 3 most expensive places in town and get my estimated there and have a few greenbacks extra.

Heres how it works NOW.. which was enraging. You take your truck to their "Certified Appraisal/Repair Facility" . They give you an ESTIMATE..... BUT..... they tell you once they get it all apart there could be more hidden damage.... the ESTIMATE is given in favor of LESS damage. The insurance company agrees and guarantees the work done by their Certified Repair Facility, so let's say the ESTIMATE it to cost $6500 to fix, but in reality once they tear everything apart and find the "hidden damage" it's more like $7250 worth of damage/labor/paint. Ok..... so the insurance covers it no sweat... what's the gripe????
The gripe comes in when they lowball the initial estimate. Joe average is punished for fixing it himself and forced to take it to their facility for appraisal. Gone are the days of 3 estimates. The insurance company makes these rules to deter what I did here. They are assholes.

Check out my build thread ..
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/baller-on-a-budget-under-30k-build.775717/page-2#post-27752710
I got 3 estimates and put some info there concerning pricing of things on my truck and how to save a buck or 2 here and there. I didn't say how much the insurance gave me, but let's just say it was really low because they figured out what I was doing.