BigFishAllDay's Truck Thread

I noticed it looked a little different, I dig that a lot.

 

You could post it up in the Elite forum and see who bites

 

Nick, I just found this. Lovin the bronze wheel on the tan truck, A LOT!!! I wasn't sure how it would look but I really like it. Being the OG owner of those wheels I am happy to see them with you! haha

 

It was on my list to fix. I swear!

It wasn't ordered with the light hoop. I know that for sure. I was going for a super clean look with the plan of putting the offroad lights behind the grill. I totally questioned if I got the right bumpers but decided to keep my mouth shut.

 

Oh, hai!

 

Thanks. It's one of a kind at this point.

We'll see how it goes. I'm not going to make any rash decisions.

Hey, Chris! I couldn't be more stoked on how things worked out. The bronze works great with the paint color on the truck, and I couldn't have worked a better deal for the wheels. Being the current owner of the wheels, I'm happy that you passed them on down the line to the right person who would pass them on to me!

I know it was. You may soon have the opportunity to see what the bumper would have looked like without a hoop.

 

Damn that truck looks good!

 

Damn!! That truck is really nice. Now you have two front lockers that'll never get used. All you need is a couple EAF stickers and you're set.

 

Thanks, Diego. I find myself doing the "one last look over my shoulder" thing most times that I park it somewhere and walk away.

Not sure what to make of that post, Chris...

#1... I don't know what EAF is, you'll have to educate me on that.

#2... I've used my front locker several times in the 4Runner... all of them while snow wheeling. You have unique opportunities thanks to the fact that you have snow measured in feet covering the surrounding landscape for 3-4 months out of the year, creating abundant snow wheeling opportunities. That being said, I'm sure you get to use yours a little more. Beyond that I'm not sure what you're getting at... maybe you can clarify?

 

Nothing really,,just pulling your chain. Thought you posted way back that you'd be calling once you got the front locker installed.

eaf is expo as f..., I'm sure you figured out,,,another joke not trying to get you riled up.

 

Dude, the front locker was installed on the '01 a few weeks prior to the CO trip last summer when you and I ran Black Bear. Then there was the Jambo after that. So, in fact, I did call once I got the front locker installed.

 

Picked up a shell off C-list for $200... ATC brand with dark green paint and a degraded clear coat up top. Hindsight says I overpaid. I intended to have it painted to match the truck, but upon closer inspection there are dozens of shallow cracks in the fiberglass itself and new paint would show all of them. The shell also needed new supports for the back glass and some weather stripping so I'm in it for about $240 total. I'm thinking at this point I'll use some aerosol spray on bed liner, take it to black, and keep my eyes peeled for a matching shell to pop up for sale locally. I found one in Tuscon, but it's 14 hours round trip and the gas cost alone would put me upside down.



I also put the front sway bar back on. The truck handles much better now for daily driving.

Last but not least, a teaser..

 

To follow up on the last post, I got some work done on the truck this weekend...

First, I completely de-badged the truck and laid down some fresh vinyl from @CBoy808. I've had my eyes on the retro stripes for a long time, and was considering putting them on my 4Runner for awhile. Now that I have a Tacoma, it just made sense to give them a go.

It's been awhile since I last applied vinyl, but it went smoothly. The only snag I ran into was nearly slicing the finger print/pad off my left pointer finger trying to lift the emblems with a razor blade. Good times. I now have blood and sweat in this truck, but no tears yet.









After the badging/decals situation was sorted, I installed some 1/4" bump stop spacers from @Wheelers Offroad on the front control arms. These will have roughly the same effect as a 1" body lift with regard to tire clearance, and should help me manage the F5s/285's off road until I have the chance to cut more material out of the wheel well. I got some SuperBumps as well, but those are going on the 4Runner.



Last, I decided to start messing with the Elite front bumper to see what it's going to take to straighten it out. I hooked one end of a ratchet strap to the stinger, and the other end to the rear bumper on my 4Runner. After loosening all the mounting bolts, I put enough tension on the bumper to level it....






With the bumper level, the mounts looked like so...

P/S:



D/S:



I went ahead and stuck some washers where needed to get it closer to level and tide me over until I can cut the mounts, but they're definitely going to need work. Note the strap of metal running along the bottom of the frame rail is bent downward at the front with the bumper sitting level. The whole mounting surface needs to be rotated back ~5 degrees.

 

BFAD, I'm on here even though I don't have a Tacoma. You know how the Toyota love goes -- Super clean truck and love the low miles.

 

Taking it to a whole new level, Nick! I thought I had it in a decent place but you're making it look even better.

BTW, I have the FSM and tailpipes for you. Let me know when you want to come by or have me drop them off.

 

There is a place for 4runners on this site... https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/tws-active-4runner-builders-bs-thread.382470/page-436

 

Do those bumpstop spacers just limit up travel? Have you tested them out? Wondering if it's harsh when they hit

 

Thanks man. For some reason I didn't pick up that you are in HI... got the package and thought "cool, this is the first thing I've ever had shipped from HI". I'll post some pics in your thread for future buyers.

Thanks for stopping over to check out the thread. I've been on this forum a few years now without a Tacoma, so I definitely understand.

I'm glad to hear you like the changes, Tom... I'm always curious to see what your thoughts are. I'll get in touch with you this week/weekend... I'm on nights through Thursday, but will be back to normal people hours for the weekend.

As long as you can keep up with 10 pages of BS per day...

Yeah, Wheelers sells them to fine tune the SuperBumps, I guess because the SBs can compress more than the stock bumps.

Using them with the stock bumps, the bottom out will be the same as it would be stock, it will just require less up travel to get there. I haven't taken measurements, but based on ~6" of up travel on the stock setup, with 2" between the bumps and the frame I get a ratio of 1:3. Based on that quick estimate the spacers should limit up travel by 3/4", maybe 1" tops. The net effect is the same as a 1" body lift.

I won't use this truck like the long travel guys use theirs... the only probable times that I'll be on the front stops will be while articulating the suspension/crawling, and that's exactly when I need them... to keep the front tires from chewing themselves up on the firewall and tearing off the flares. The rest of the time I'll just remember to slow down a little for the big hits.

 

Thanks for that info. That is extremely helpful. I hadn't ever thought about it from that perspective. I didn't even realize Wheelers sold those spacers...they don't seem very easy to find on their website. I'll definitely look into modifying the front bumps on mine based on what I end up with.

 

Those retro hood stripes look great! I've always thrown around the idea of putting those on..