13 DC TRD - Post Jeep Build

I purchased my brand new 2013 Double Cab TRD Off Road Tacoma on Friday August 16th! Now I get to start tinkering again.

I had a 2008 Jeep Wrangler (pics link) that I setup on 35s with lots of armor and even more rock damage a few years ago, went to a GMC Sierra Denali 1500 (with a 6.2L V8 and 410HP - link), and now I got the Tacoma.

I'm going to set the Tacoma up to be mildly modified but still as capable as possible. I hate mud so I will be avoiding it at all costs (I have broken 2 axles, flooded an engine, and ruined a transmission in mud in my various vehicles... Finally learned my lesson). I'll post updates and pics as I progress, mainly for my own self gratification.

Brand New:



Currently:


Current Mods:

Performance

• Magnusson Supercharger (link)
• AFE Magnum FORCE Stage-2 Si CAI w/Pro 5R Filter Media (link)
  
• AFE MACH Force-XP 3" Stainless Steel Cat-back exhaust (
  aFe Power (49-46022-B) MACH Force-Xp 3" Stainless Steel Cat-Back Exhaust System with Black Tip for Toyota Tacoma
  link)
  
• URD 160 Degree Performance Thermostat (link)
• Flexpod (link) with AEM Wideband AFR and Boost gauges (
  $365 AEM 2 Gauge Display Set - UEGO WideBand A/F Ratio Gauge (30-4110) + Boost Pressure Gauge (30-4406)
  link)
• HP Tuners (w/ Pro cable connected to AFR and Boost gauges)
• EBC Stage-5 Superstreet Brake Kit (
  $259 EBC S5KF1347 Stage-5 Superstreet Brake Kit, BLACK
  link)

Lift, Tires, Armor, Equipment

• Toytec 2" Ultimate Lift Kit w/ Bilstein 5100s
• OME Dakar Heavy Duty Rear Leaf Packs (link)
  
• FJ TRD Wheel Center-cap Mod (link)
• Goodyear Wrangler® All-Terrain Adventure With Kevlar®: LT265/75R16
• Stock 2013 TRD Off Road 16" wheels
• Front US Offroad Hidden Winch Bumper (link)
• Superwinch Tiger Shark 9500 w/ Synthetic Line (
  $727 Superwinch 1595201 Tiger Shark 9500SR 12V DC Winch 9500lb(4309kg) Single Line Pull with Hawse Fairlead 3/8" x 80' Synthetic Rope Corded Handheld Remote
  link)
• Factor 55 Flatlink (link)

Lighting

• Kustom54 HID Retrofits (H1 Panamera) with:
  • K54L Elite H1 Bixenon Projectors
  • Panamera Switchback White/Amber
  • Flat Black Housing Paint
  • 5000K K54L HID Kit
• H11 12V/55W Xenon Yellow Halogen Fog Lights (
  $27 Hella H71071132 Optilux XY Series H11 Xenon Yellow Halogen Bulbs, 12V, 55W, 2 Pack
  link)
• LED Bed lights
• LED Rear facing lights (between tailgate and bumper)
• LED Interior lights (dome and map) (link)
• LED 3rd Brake lights (link)
• LED License Plate lights (link)
• LED Reverse lights (
  $15 JDM ASTAR Super Bright AX-2835 White LED Bulbs For Backup Reverse Lights
  link)

Exterior

• ReveMoto paint matched scoop hood
• Front Windows Tinted
• Stock Running Boards removed
• Toyota Bed Mat
• Baja Rack (link) or stock Toyota roof rack (depending on my mood)
  • ARB 3110 Awning mounted on Baja Rack
• Diff Breather Tube Extension Mod (link)
• ECG Fabrication Raptor Grill (link)
• Tailgate Pop-a-lock (
  $101 Pop & Lock PL5400 Black Manual Tailgate Lock with Bolt Codeable Technology for Toyota Tacoma
  link)
• Trailer Harness Relocate (link)
• Leer 100RCC with Thule Tracker ll Roof Rack

Interior

• Viper 5706V Alarm w/ Remote Start
• Homelink Garage Door Opener in Headliner (link)
• Mini Mag Light Center Console
• Maps light on with Dome light Mod
• Console Vault
• OEM Style Switches below radio for LED Light Bar and Rear Facing LEDs (link)
• FJ Illuminated Fog Light Switch (link)
• CURT 51170 Proportional Trailer Brake Controller (
  $200 CURT 51170 Spectrum Original Equipment Style, Integrated Electric Trailer Brake Controller, Proportional
  link)

 

08-19-13 -- Front Windows Tinted

08-24-13 -- Stock Running Boards removed

08-27-13 -- Lift Kit Received
Toytec Ultimate Lift Kit



08-28-13 -- Power Distribution Center Pre-Assembly
5 x Relays, 10 x Fuses, ~$75; Write-up coming after installation is complete





08-29-13 -- 1000 Miles



08-31-13 -- Lift Front Coilover Differences
Toytec Coilovers are noticeably larger



09-01-13 -- Front Coilovers Installed



09-02-13 -- Lift @ Night (sorry for the dark pic)



09-03-13 -- Coin Tray Holster Mod w/ PF9 (link)



09-03-13 -- Console Rocker Switches Installed
Switches from OTRATTW.com



09-04-13 -- Mini Mag Light Center Console

 

09-05-13 -- Better Lifted Picture

 

Coming along nicely! Thanks for posting links for all your mods.

 

Great start! Nice truck. Look forward to seeing more.

 

09-08-13 -- Removed Mud Flaps

09-08-13 -- Installed Homelink Garage Door Opener (link)

 

09-12-13 -- CombiCam Locking Bed Storage Compartments (link)



09-15-13 -- BAMF Bed Tie-Downs
These will also double as CB-Antenna mounts! My CB mounts screw right into the hole in the center perfectly.





09-15-13 -- Interior lights Jumper's LED upgrade (link)

Before:


After:


09-17-13 -- Maps light on with Dome light (link)

 

09-21-13 -- Tailgate clamp theft prevention mod (link)


09-21-13 -- Matt123 IFS 10g Skid (link)


09-22-13 -- FJ TRD Center-cap Mod (link)


09-22-13 -- Power Distribution Center (PDC) Installed
5 x Relays, 10 x Fuses, Waterproof, 50amp supply w/ breaker, custom clear acrylic mounting plate, total cost around $80



09-22-13 -- Bed LED Lights and Bed Mat
Marine Lights (

$23 Shoreline Marine LED 8" Strip Light, White

link) controlled via PDC

 

09-25-13 -- Console Vault


10-01-13 -- New Tires!
255/85/R16 BFG KM2s on stock wheels


10-02-13 -- Mounted spare in factory location (link)
New spare wouldn't fit in factory location without trimming. Removed spare tire wings and trimmed exhaust (spare touched stock exhaust).

Trimmed Pieces:


Driver Side Clearance:


Passenger Side Clearance:

 

Holy shit nice truck lots of mods so soon lol

 

Haha, thanks. I haven't even received my license plates yet it's so new, still rocking the temp paper tags

 

10-03-13 -- Hypertech Speedometer Calibrator
Speedometer was way off with the new tires and I already tend to speed too much so the speedometer reading 85mph (TX-130 is awesome, 85 speed limit) but actually going 92 is kinda a problem... Now it's right on the money (compared to my iPhone and my Garmin GPS)!

 

Sweet looking taco, buddy! Gonna sub it for sure, curious to see what all you do with it.

 

Nice truck!

 

What are your thoughts on the tire size so far? What did you need to trim? Any chance you have pics from the front and rear? This is probably the route I'm going to go with mine, I really like how clean it looks!

 

10-07-2013 -- First Road Trip, Lift + Tire Impression:

Current Setup:

• Toytec Ultimate Lift Kit, AAL, Front Coilovers @ 2.5"
• Stock UCAs
• 255/85/R16 BFG KM2s on stock TRD-OR Wheels
• Spidertrax Spacers
• Trail Gear Carrier Bearing drop

300 mile Round Trip weekend experience:
I decided to drive to Houston for the weekend and went to the Indy Car races. The drive to & from was quite an experience.

No driveline vibrations at all. Huzzah!

The tires are louder than stock, louder than my old Firestone Destination M/Ts but not so loud that it's awful. With the radio on, I barely even hear them. I haven't flexed things too much but haven't noticed any rubbing so far (I've removed all of the mud flaps including the little baby one in front of the front tires so that helps, all the front flaps rubbed before removal)

As for ride quality, all I can say is EWWW!!!! Driving at highway speeds on the nice smooth interstate or tollways is no big deal. Once I got out onto some 2-lane state highways with a nice crosswind, this setup really showed it's flaws. Randomly wandering, dodgy, bump steer, terrifying over dips and bumps as the nose of the truck dove all around.

It was even worse before I got the spare mounted back in the rear, with the rear end flying around on top of the front of the truck going anywhere it pleases. After the spare was back in the back under the bed again, the rear of the truck rides pretty much stock from what I can tell. It's really just the front that is less than ideal now.

Next Experiment:

So, now I have a set of Light Ridge UCA's (arrived today) that I'll be installing this weekend. I'm going to try and kick the caster back out to ~2.5 to hopefully fix the wandering and bump steer. I'll post if that solves it.

Overall impression of Toytec ULK:
Based on my experience, the Toytec ULK without UCAs is just OK if you want a no frills kit and don't do a lot of 70mph+ highway driving. Speed limits around me range from 75mph to 85mph and I travel ~30 miles each way to & from work every day so it's less than ideal for me. I'll see if the LR UCAs fix things, otherwise I may have to consider a suspension swap.

If I had my money back and could do it all over again today, I'd go Icon or King, based on how I've seen other Tacomas around here ride with those setups...

 

Thanks for the real world no BS report. Hopefully you can get the front end under control. I'll eventually lift mine, but not too soon. I picked up my TRD-OR DCSB on Aug 26. Right now I'm just doing my mental builds.. it's cheaper that way. ha ha. I'm not looking for too radical, so I'm still just sort of seeing what others are doing and have done. Yours is coming along nicely though.

 

So I'm originally from Lubbock, Texas, so a 300 mile road trip is "small". I drove from Austin to Houston for the Indy Car races and have a few pics / videos to share:

10-04-13 -- Dogs in their back seat
I folded down the seats, put down two old pillows,and tucked two cheap harbor freight moving blankets around the seats to protect things a little bit. These are my two dogs, a Brittany Spaniel (in the back) and a Border Collie (up front).



http://youtu.be/tUl4eaPzPhY

10-05-13 -- Indy Car Races, Not Taco Related But The Taco Got Me There...

Video of race start from my seats on Saturday, wasn't there Sunday for the crazy wreck:
http://youtu.be/veQKbzDrSKw

Hennesy Venom GT that was on display, crazy fast car:

 

A few people have asked me if the 255/85 R16s look too narrow. I took a few pics from the front at work to let you all decide for yourself. I don't think they look narrow personally, but if you are going for the jeep look, they will look a little skinny compared to 305/75's for sure:





PS: My Intro-Tech Automotive Ultimate Reflector Car Sun Shade from AutoAnything has been awesome during the TX heat. Worth every penny (5,999 pennies plus Shipping & Handling to be exact)....

 

LightRacing UCAs should help a ton. If you are diving in turns of your issues may end up being the rear. Toytecs ULK (620lb coils) is really close to OME (885 are 590lb) so there wont be a ton of change up unless you drop real bank. After UCAs focus on the rear, ditch the single AAL, and get either a three leaf AAL (ICON, Wheelers, Wheelers HD) or if you tow... OME Dakars are great, I love them, and there a little bit of adjustment (removing the third leaf, adding the DXL29). Add weight to the rear (200lbs or so) and see how that effects your ride. The stability of the rear can really effect ride feel.