MaineFarmer's Expo Camping Build

Hello TW,
I have recently purchased a 2001 Tacoma SR5 4x4 with a little over 200,000 on the clock but has a fairly clean body and a fresh frame courtesy of Toyota.

Like the title says this is my first tacoma. On the other hand I have owned several other Toyota pick up trucks ranging from a first gen a t-100 and several regular pickups. All have been modified by myself or previous owners. I have a thorough understanding of what they can do, my only problem previously has been rust. Frame rust... The Toyota curse in New England.
So I am now happy to have a truck that has a new frame and May last awhile.
I will load pictures of everything soon.
In the past 5k miles I have noticed tire wear ad have decided to replace all of the wear parts in the front end, starting with TREs and a fresh set of shocks and springs in the front.
I picked up a set of TRD Tundra struts for a decent deal and have finally gotten the top mount plates from NAPA.
I will post pictures of the process for any others that are curious. I have read a few (or a bunch) of threads about this and have figured a few things out.
The struts came from a 2003 TRD Off-road Tundra. I am hoping for around 2 1/2" of lift.
Next in the list is a rear spring pack to level the rear out and provide around 1000# bed capacity.
The question I have is should I replace the bushings in the bottom of the strut?
Thanks for reading, stay tuned for pictures later..

 

Well today's progress was amazingly smooth. Not one snapped bolt and only a little swearing. sorry no before pictures, and I forgot to measure but I would guess around 3" of lift was gained maybe a little less.
And this is the stream I went for a little jaunt down.

 

Awesome need to search on that tundra suspension

 

I finally had a day to run the little toy through the wash and oh man it needed it. But Maine in the winter quickly replaced all the sand and salt I removed. But I gotta couple pictures of it clean. This is mostly the base line for this truck. I can't seem to own a truck and not start modding it.

 

Cool truck. It looks like the rear tires are different then the fronts.
-Charlie

 

Lately I have been taking a welding class and have been rather busy, but I am also starting to have a few things to show. My first project was welding up a set of sliders, to keep the sheet metal less dented up than previous vehicles. Here in Maine we have tons of granite boulders and trees, lots of trees.
I found that they were an easy project to accomplish given a bit of time and a welder. I drew out my plans a few times, looked into every DIY weld up kit and then went and priced out the materials. At least for me going to the local steel supply shop netted me 30' of 2"x2" .120 wall square tube for ~$80 and later I had a machine shop cut 8 3"x4" mounting plates from 1/4" steel and a set of gussets 1"x3" triangles from 3/16" steel. After all the materials were stacked up I got to cutting with a 4 1/2" grinder with cut off wheels. Now this is just my opinion but if you try to use a cut off wheel go with the good ones, the first 5 I bought were the cheapo harbor freight variety, and they burned out fast. The guys at the welding supply store sold me on Walter zip one cut off disks, though a bit more expensive (~2x the cost) they last much longer!
One of the few issues I had when attaching these new sliders was the frame seems to be 1/4" narrower at the front, and only the front most mount, which I didn't account for. I will be sliding a plate of 4"x4 1/2" steel behind the mount to fill the gap better than just bridging with a weld. I went with welding the sliders on, first because unless they get mangled they are gonna be on the truck for the rest of its life, and secondly I didn't have the money to fabricate mounting plates that run the length of the slider ( kinda like some of the better sets on the market). If I ever happen to make a second version of these I will make them bolt on with full length mounting plates, and probably try to mess with Aluminum to help keep the weight down.
At the same time I was working on my sliders at home in the garage I was playing with a plasma cutter in class working on making my very own Maine Resistant front plate bumper.
The core section of the bumper is all 1/4" plate cut into shape then bent at a local machine shop (cost to bend $15) and braced with 1/4" gussets. The rest of the bumpers structural design is made from 3/16" steel for strength and maybe a hair less weight. The top of the bumper is going to be 1/8" as I don't see too much force being applied there, maybe except me climbing over it once in a while.
And now for a couple pictures, more will follow.

 

Place holder for pictures

 

I finally have had some time today to work on my front bumper! Time for a few pics.

 

Today I have continued on finishing up this portion of my front bumper. Grinding all of the welds flat on the outside.



Removed the bumper for a quick coat of primer inside and out.




Then a shot of Rust-oleum Undercoat (Professional Grade) to help keep the rust down until I can finish this project up.



If anyone has any questions or suggestions I will happily answer/ receive them.

Does anyone have any suggestions for a good set of recovery points? And have any of you mounted a 21" LED bar below the winch tray? Here>>

My thoughts are it may be the lowest point on the bumper and therefore the first thing to take damage... I am thinking about welding tabs onto the gussets to mount a plate of mesh (maybe expanded metal? Suggestions?) to protect from sticks and such. But I'm still concerned about snow or rocks doing damage. Thanks.

 

Today (well late last night) I finally bit the bullet and ordered a nice shiny set of new shoes for my tacoma. I have rear and re-read tons of threads on tires. I ended up deciding on the new Mickey Thompson Baja ATZ P3 all terrain. They should be at the shop Thursday or Friday!! It's time for the mid matched set to move over to my woods beater RAV4. If anyone has given the ATZ P3 tires a try let me know. There seems to be little long term info on them but I have loved all other Mickey Thompson tires I've owned.
They are 285/75/R16 and will be going on FZJ-80 wheels (4.5" BS 16x8 0mm offset) and we will see if/ where it rubs.
Just a stock image from the web, but it should give an idea.

 

Lookin good!Enjoy the creativity and moding!

 

Thanks. It's all fun modding.
The next couple projects will be building a custom leaf pack to raise the rear up and building a canoe rack and eventually a RTT platform.
With spring on its way in its time to lose the cap.

 

Today's score: 4 Goodyear Duratrac 285/75/R16 with some decent tread left. I got them for a steal at $100from a buddy at work. I'll have them mounted tomorrow for some photos.
Should I mount them on my 16x8 FZJ80 rims or can I throw them onto the stock steel one on there now? I think the stock ones are 16x7, is that wide enough? And will they have the right back spacing?

 

Good looking truck. Subbed for more.

 

x2

 

Nice craftsmanship on the sliders and bumper? Did you design the bumper yourself? Again kudos

 

If looking at what other people have made and trying to replicate what I liked, then yes I designed it. Lots of drawings then I started making a template from cardboard.
Thanks for the compliments! It's great to hear.
Here are some pictures of the bumper mounted up.

 

Thanks, I look forward to being able to post up more as I progress. I have enjoyed giving back a bit of my experience. It sure has been fun.

 

Finally the weather, time and new tires allowed me to go play around in a trail near me.





And this is my buddy's 4Runner


And playin on the granite

 

Went to the beach to gather some compost for my garden and couldn't resist playing a little.