Rawlins' Vader Expo Build

As she sits today:



Bought a 2010 DCSB TRD OR, in May of 2015., here she is not long after I got her:



I started running trails with my bro-in-law in his Rubicon and realized that although I made it through some crazy shit early on, I needed some mods. Then I found TW. I've been emptying my pockets since...

Mods

Armor:
I learned quick that with all the rocks here in CO, I'd need armor. RCI Metalworks has pretty much been my go to.



Day 2 of having my armor installed, I put it through hell around Chinns Lake and St Mary's Glacier. I'm pretty happy how well it all held up.


Slaughterhouse Gulch:


Armor

Full package RCI armor

• Skid plates (pics of my truck are in several of the pages referenced by the links below)
  • front IFS
  • transmission
  • transfer plate
  • fuel tank
  • rear diff
  • LCA
• rock sliders
• the infamous "cheap eBay bumper" (ko offroad)

Suspension

• 3" ToyTec lift
  • bilstein 5100 shocks (front)
  • Icon 2.0 rear aluminum shocks
  • 3" eibach lift coils
  • Front 1/2" and 1/4" Toytec top plate spacer install
• Total Chaos UCA's
• OME Dakar leaf packs
  
• Wheeler's u-bolt flip kit with super bumpstops
• Wheeler's front super bumpstops
  
• Sway bar deleted

Wheels

• 285/75/16 BFG KO2
• MB 352 wheels 4.5" BS 16x8.5"

Aesthetic

• Front emblem black plastidip
• Removed fender flares
• Front grill plastidip

Other

• Fumoto valve
• Uniden PRO520XL CB w/ custom antenna bed rack mount
• ARB rear differential breather kit
• Kensun on-board air compressor
• RCI hi-lift bed mount - got the prototype!
• Tepui Kukenam Sky Ruggedized RTT
• RCI Bed Rack

Upcoming

• Wheeler's extended performance brake lines
• OME FK29 drive line carrier bearing drop kit
• Bed storage lock mod
• All Emblems black plastidip
• CMC
• CBI bushwacker rear bumper

 

Trip to St Mary's Glacier area

 

Just after install of new suspension and wheels. Only pain point of install was getting passenger side UCA through-bolt out. I reinstalled it reversed so I don't have such a hard time if replacing that UCA in the future.

Say what you want about Bilstein's but these puppies have been holding up well...

 

Did the cb radio install over the weekend. Had a bit of trouble with the bed rack mount, so I devised my own solution. All in all, came out pretty clean. Minimal exposed wires. Need a longer antenna though since my swr is at about 2.5:1. Also planning on upgrading mic to a noise canceling astatic, since the mic is pretty small and cheap.

 

She(Tacoma)looks real nice OP!Congrats!

 

Thanks brother, she's getting there!

 

Some new goodies came to the house today, just in time for some wheeling tomorrow:

 

Recent trip to Cascade Creek trail. Unfortunately, it cost me one of my rear fender flares, so I removed them along with the rear mud flaps. Oh well, the look is starting to grow on me but I will have to do something about the holes from the fender flare mounts. I'll update thread soon with pics of how it looks now.

 

Sweet Truck! Just Bought a 2010 Tacoma DCSB TRD OF and was looking for inspiration. Found it! Killer!

 

Thanks bro! Congrats on your Taco!

 

Recent trip to Guanella Pass area:







Earlier that day and at much lower elevation...

 

Picked up my RCI bed rack today, also put on the Tepui RTT that's been sitting in my garage a couple of weeks

 

Got a few more goodies in the mail to assist with the new weight added to the bed. Hoping to finally correct that taco lean. I didn't get the rear for the , which if I still see her leaning from the back, I will have to do. I have a couple more packages on the way, I think just my dakars.

Thank you to @Wheeler's Off-Road Inc and @HeadStrong Off-Road. I've been very happy with @Wheeler's Off-Road Inc for a while and this is my first experience with @HeadStrong Off-Road but I was not disappointed in either case. Fast delivery, well packaged and clean quality products. My only gripe would be that the Wheeler's dakar bushings were out of stock but that's e-commerce. I hope to get the latest goodies installed this weekend but we'll see how that goes. Looks like I might be booked with family events, pero aver. I'll post up before/after pics if I do.

Inventory:

• OME FK29 Driveline Carrier Bearing Drop Kit

 

Dakars just arrived. I was surprised to see they were unpackaged (didn't even get wrapped with bubble-wrap) and had quite a bit of chipped paint on the springs. I realize the paint isn't important functionally but it'd be nicer to have unpackaged them and found some new looking springs. These actually look used

 

Wow, never seen springs shipped not bubble wrapped. Throw some paint on there before install

 

Ok, so I'm not crazy. I will contact @Wheeler's Off-Road Inc before-hand to see what they say. Worst-case scenario, I'll paint them as you advised. Thanks @Bsheriff11.

 

Kelly from @Wheeler's Off-Road Inc just contacted me. It appears the norm is to not package the leaf springs and if the stars align and I get a crappy UPS driver this might happen. However, given the frequent complaints of this practice along with my experience, they said they'll be changing their practices in the future. Meanwhile, Wheeler's has told me to go out and get a good primer/paint/sealer and they will comp me for the cost.

 

my dakars from headstrong did not come bubble wrapped, and i would say the majority of us here did not have our leaf packs bubble wrapped let alone boxed.

what part # dakars did you get there??

 

I purchased the . Kelly mentioned that it's difficult to package 65 lb springs in an effective manner, which makes sense. Since the shipment was broken up into 2 parts, I only had to sign for the first package that arrived a few days prior which included everything else but the leaf packs. I would not have signed for them had the packages arrived in the opposite order, given the condition of the leaf packs. Oh well, they appear functional still.