Shepdog08's 2011 Regular cab 4x4 build

Here's another generic build thread, lots of parts, more money, some tragedy, etc etc...
Anywho, in 2013, right out of college I was looking for a regular cab 4x4 shortbed truck that got decent mileage. I looked at Ford, Chevy, dodge, tundra, nobody had what I want til I stumbled on this thing in the dealer lot:
2011, 2tr-fe, 5 speed, 4x4 with 41,000 miles and a certified preowned warranty good till 100,000. Bingo.
First thing I did was install 265/70/16 BFG AT's and plastidip stock wheels
then thanks to TW I found relentless fab and ordered their steel bumper DIY kit, welded it up and powder coated it at work. Great price, and great product, only pain was trying to figure out how all the pieces go together and what angles to weld them at. Lot of time tacking things together and cutting back apart... no instructions, no angle measurements, and not even convenient photos. But I'll still buy their stuff again, it's tough! As I'll soon show.






It looks pretty bad ass, right? Wwell as another small project I drew together a design for a bar that mounts in the bed, to save my back window from an ATV attack. CNC plasma cut with my initials on it too, then I had it bent, welded it, then powder coated.


Sadly after all that fab work, a few months later I got into a wreck. Minus all other details, it was my fault, and I hit a Honda Civic from behind going 60 mph. Car was totalled and sent off into the ditch. All I got out of it was a scratched hood, busted grill, and a cracked headlight. RELENTLESS BUMPER TOUGH AS HELL. I drove away after the police and the wrecker showed up.
Only... apparently I slammed on the brakes so hard it locked them up. I got about a half mile before i had to have the wrecker pick me up. Here's the wrecker driver with my truck loaded up. Truck is in neutral, parking brake is off, and it's not even tied onto the wrecker. Pretty major lockup. Lol

Either way, I used the insurance money to get a scooped hood and TRD smoked headlights. And had to fix a small seam weld on the relentless bumper that popped. No biggie.

Installed an LCE short throw shifter later, and also machined a custom shifter knob from a block of scrap bar steel at work.
This year, I have been fighting the junk OEM LUK clutch for 15,000 miles, so finally at 80,000 miles, I get the LCE Pro Clutch put in.
Here's what the stock pressure plate looked like. Freaking great...
Also put in the Marlin Crawler shifter seat, and refilled transmission with Redline MT-90. IF YOU HAVE A 2TR 5 SPEED THESE WILL MAKE YOUR TRANSMISSION SO MUCH MORE FUN TO DRIVE! It was like night and day, difference. I couldn't believe it. A clutch that actually holds and that you can actually feel, with a tight shifter pattern and solid shifter feel. It makes it so much better. I love it.
Anyways most recent mods are full synthetic oil from front to rear, and also ordered a set of BFG AT KO2 in a little bit taller 265/75/16 on some PRO COMP LA PAZ series 29 wheels. Besides some minor rub on the passenger side plastic fender liner they look and work great!
And that's how she looks today.
If you've managed to view this far, future plans are custom beside stickers from CBOY808 (they look sweet, and I haven't even put them on yet) , ICON coilovers and probably a Detroit trueTrac for the rear (been hearing interesring things how it works with OEM traction control) . As well as RELENTLESS DIY rear bumper, probably some sliders, and maybe making my own skid plates. Who knows, depends how much money I have to spare. Any advice or comments or questions, let's hear em.

 

Nice truck man. I would absolutely buy the bar across the front of your bed if you made and sold them. My Grizzly's bumper is too tall and scotching the front tires gets old and makes it too long for the tailgate to close.

 

always wanted a 4 banger 5 speed 4x4 reg cab.

Sweet looking truck man! the oem steelies dipped like that looked DAMN good!!

 

Lookin real nice OP!Diggin that bed mounted bar you designed!Can be utilized for a lot of usages!

 

Yeah I was planning on making a few more but I don't have enough time myself to build them. My Honda recon sitting on 25" Mud Lites fits perfect... however I learned this year that a Rancher on 26's won't work. The front of the bed flexes too much if the wheeler is in low, and the bumper is too high. Smashed the window anyways, $600 to replace. Doing it again I would tie supports into the side bars.

 

However if anybody wants them I have all the design files for the bed bar with cad drawings in PDF and DWG form plus a materials list.

 

Had CBOY808 make some bedside decals.
This truck isn't a TRD, SR5, or some kinda dumb TRD clone, so I wanted something simple that looked good and gave homage to the devil horns thing I had going on... so here's what I scribbled up
And here's what CBOY808 sent me back:

What do you guys think?