Long Time Lurker, Barcelona Red DC Sport 4x4

Hello Tacoma World.

I have been a long time lurker and just recently fulfilled my dream of building up my truck. I had a '96 S-10 with a body lift for many years, have always been a Toyota fan (first vehicle driven was my uncle's '81) and finally was able to purchase my dream truck in October 2009. I have been looking extensively on Tacoma World, Custom Tacos, Car Domain, Tundra Solutions, TTORA, and Expedition Portal to get ideas on building up my truck and have taken some great ideas from Tacodoc, Toku58, and Jrobson (and plenty of others) on how I wanted to outfit my truck and make it look. I started out with practical stuff such as outfitting the truck with tow straps, chains, a toolbox, maglight mount, etc. Once my wife gave the go ahead for a lift, I decided to first add some nerf steps so that she could get in and out easier, then planned for the lift. I am a huge fan of ARB products and plan on building the truck to go camping and hopefully some expedition style traveling, so I opted for the Old Man Emu setup with the heavy 886 springs and complete Dakar Leaf Pack in the rear with add-a-leaf. She surprised me for my 30th birthday with allowing me to purchase the wheels, tires, and lift and I have just now received it and put it all together (some stuff was on back order and had to wait for awhile). This is where the truck stands now.

The next step will include an ARB bumper, Warn XD9000, some HID lights. Long term mods will hopefully be some type of rear bumper with tire carrier, ARB locking diffs and onboard air, snorkel, and maybe a cargo rack and more lights if I can fit in in the bed and still keep the tool box. I'm sure there will be many more minor mods, but those are the major ones I have planned. We also enjoy camping, so we have plans to get a Coleman/Fleetwood E3 popup to travel with and this will be the next major purchase.

I hope ya'll like what I have done so far and I look forward to interacting with the community that I have learned so much from.

Day 1:


I Love What You Do For Me... Toyota!!!

Toolbox and Decals:




Nerf Bars:



Lift and Tires Delivered:



First half of lift install done:



Those tires must be heavy:



Closeup of OME Shocks, 886 Springs, and Micky Thompson ATZ Tread:



Done and as she sits now:

 

Welcome to TW!!

 

Welcome aboard!

 

Welcome from NV!

 

Welcome to TW from Sparks, NV
Good choice with OME. Bet it rides a little stiff until you get your bumper.

 

It does ride a little stiff, but not too bad. I mentioned that my uncle has an '81 and it has the solid front axle and pretty stiff suspension from Toyota that was so popular then. I find that the ride is very comparable to the old truck, so if you have driven one of those, you will know what it's like.

 

Good looking truck man, welcome!

 

Welcome from Georgia! I notice you still have your mudflaps on with your new tires & lift, what size tires are you running? do they rub at all?

Good looking truck!

 

Nice-looking truck! Are you running a spacer along with OME lift springs? Those CV angles look high.

 

nice looking truck man, those wheels look real nice

 

Welcome to TW.

 

Welcome Nice looking ride!

 

Nice truck man and welcome from Kinder.

 

Thanks for all the feed back.

@ jhu616 The tires are 285-75/16 running on 16x8 Dick Cepek Torque wheels. There is no rubbing while going forward on flat ground even at full turn, haven't checked under full compression; LA is really flat so it's not very often that I would get in a bind there. Sometimes it does rub a little when backing up and turning hard. For what ever reason, it only does it while backing and I think that it is on the front side of the wheel well, not the mud flaps. I saw on here somewhere that you could mod the mud flaps to prevent rubbing, but I haven't done that yet as I think it is on the front, not the mud flaps.

@ KenLyns Yes, I do have a spacer installed, it's the 13mm. You can see them in the pic with the lift in the bed near the bottom. I also have the front diff drop kit installed. I didn't know that the springs were that much longer than stock, so I opted for them thinking I would want the extra space running the 285 tires. If I see undue wear on the CV's, they may come off, but I do plan on getting a bumper later, so hopefully that will squat the front down some and straighten up the angles.

BTW some vendor advertising: I ordered the lift from Wheelers Off Road in Oregon and was extremely pleased with my service and the folks there. I would recommend them again to anyone. Like wise, I got the tires and wheels in a package deal from Desert Rat (tires, wheels, mounted, balanced, and shipped cross country cheaper than ordering local!!) and would be happy to order from them again.

 

Those ATZ's look like an MT. How are they on road?

 

nice truck man, looks great! thinking about putting the same lift on but think all go with the smaller spacer on the 886's..

 

@jbmccul
They are pretty nice on the road as well as off. There is a little road noise, but you really don't notice it unless you are cruising on really smooth asphalt and aren't listening to the radio. I do notice the tire size obviously when accelerating and braking, but that would be with any bigger tire, not just muds or ATs. So far, I am extremely happy with them.


I am also happy to report that when I figure my mileage I am still getting 16.5-17 MPG out of her on the 33's while driving local (mix of town and hwy). Granted this is driving , but i'm trying to save. I have not gotten the speedo refigured, so I am actually traveling more miles per fill up than the trip meter says. GPS says I am doing around 54.5 when speedo is on 50. When I figure my mileage, I take the trip meter number and multiply by 1.1 and then divide by gallons. (I know I should use 1.09 but it's close enough for me). Not sure where MPG's will end up on a Hwy trip (55), but I know that if I went interstate (75) it would go down. I have a trip planned to the inlaws coming up, so we will see then.

 

Awesome, you should come on the off-road trip at the end of the month

 

Aloha