Evolution of Magneto

Project Magneto, cus it's Magnetic Grey Metallic, get it!?

'10 4x4 DCSB, TRD OFF-ROAD
4.0 V6, AUTO, MGM​

IG: TheStevo1000

RECENT PIC:

Soooo, shortly after I bought my Taco, my buddy (who had a 6100 Class truck and a fully-built 4-link Ranger prerunner) helped get me addicted to off-road racing. I resisted doing anything to it for a few years, then went with an Icon mid-travel kit front & rear. Then someone on TW had to go and give me a hell of a deal on a LT kit.......


All the shit I've spent too much money on so far:
[Side Note: LT on your truck doesn't have to cost $30/40/50k. Advice: Always be on the lookout for used parts or sales/deals. Try to do a lot of the work yourself. If you don't have the resources/skills, make friends with people who do.]

TC +3" LT Kit w/ Fox Coilovers (front)
Wheeler superbumps
TC gussets - lots of em
Cab mount chop - done by Relentless Fabrication
Icon 2.5" RR (rear)
Icon 2.5" hyrdro bumps (rear)
U-bolt flip kit -from Relentless Fab

Fully boxed/plated/braced frame - done by me, here
McNeil glass
Plated weld-on sliders - built by Relentless Fab
Mid & T-case Relentless Fab skids, 1/4" alum
Custom tube bumper and alum skid - built by @RelentlessFab
Lots of LED lights - Rampage LED from Relentless Fab
Method NVs 17"x8.5" w/ 2 full-size spares - from Samco Fab
35" Short-course race tires
Spidertrax 1.5" spacers
Re-geared to 4.56 - parts from ECGS, install by Samco Fab

Soon to be:
Shock tower cross brace (over the engine)
DTF LT SUA Kit
Fox 3x18" bypasses
Custom bedcage
Custom rear tube bumper/tire carrier
Fox 3x8 bypasses (for front secondaries)


I won't bore everyone with pics of my truck when it was completely stock. Everyone here knows what a stock Tacoma looks like.

After some new tires, powder-coated wheels, plasti-dip grille & rear bumper, and tinted windows & taillights (Summer 2013) (Still almost stock...):


Hangin out with the FJ:


New Relentless skids (looked like that for about a day):


Aaaand a week later:

I'd recommend the 1/4" aluminum skids - waaay lighter and still beefy

For suspension, started out with Icon mid-travel in front, then later in the rear:




Highly recommend Icon MT for anyone looking to upgrade suspension, but doesn't want to go all out with LT. HUGE improvement in off-road performance and ride, and if you can find the parts used (which you can), not too expensive.

Flexin' on a stump:


At Gold Lake with RelentlessFab and some other TW dudes:


Local trail run with the Reno Tacos (Fall 2014):


This is where the cool shit begins...

At this point my plan was to do a slow LT build, starting with SUA kit and bypasses in the rear. Then I came across a great deal on a 1-month-old complete Total Chaos LT kit from a TW member...


As most people of TW know all too well, this latest addition began a never-ending buying spree of truck parts. Front LT kit, check. Now I need new wheels, new tires (35"), new fenders, a bumper, new skids, gusset/reinforcement work, etc.

Started with beefing up the rear half of frame. Boxed it up to crossmember under the cab, plated the outside by front spring hangers, and added some new tube crossmembers. You can see how I did it here.


Starting on the front end work:

@RelentlessFab built a badass one-off prerunner tube bumper with mount for 22" light bar and a 1-piece 1/4" aluminum front skid with the front frame crossmember cut out.



I like blue:



Bought my front fenders from a TW member, picked up the rears from McNeil.


Bought some good 'ol 17" Method Race Wheels. I hate the look of silver or gold bolts on rim, so had mine powder coated charcoal grey to match my truck


Picked up a set of 6 new short-course race tires - super soft, awesome off-road, but noisy as hell on the road...


At Sand Mtn (Spring 2015):




My glass bedsides were getting destroyed from the dirt/rocks blasting off the front tires, so added some black vinyl with a second clear layer. It has held up extremely well.



Mountains around Reno:

Near a mine out in the desert:

More to come...

 

Finally time for new gears!!!


Swapped in 4.56 Nitro gears (from the ECGS group buy) front and rear. Truck is back to normal after those heavy 35"s!

 

Subbed! Truck looks great Steve. Now for stage 2... rear end LT

 

Giving the taco an IV of diff fluid:


New rock sliders! With plate solid-welded to frame:

 

Bad ass truck man. It looks awesome.

 

Awesome truck man! How is running full LT in the front with Icons in the back? Does the rear have a hard time keeping up?

 

Thanks!

Thanks. Not as bad as I thought it would be, but yes the rear can't keep up with the front. The Icons are awesome though, especially for a MT setup, and the hydro bumps help a lot. I'll be really happy though when I get the rear LT done.

 

Shiny new shocks for the rear end - FOX 3.0 x 18" QUAD BYPASS

 

Some winter pics:

 

Awesome truck! The gear oil IV is pretty creative.

 

Thanks

 

Awesome truck! It was really cool seeing it in person at the Mod day.

 

Finally gathered up the long list of parts for Phase 2...or 3, or whatever. I've always wanted 18"!


Mounted an Odyssey battery in the bed. Only spot that really makes sense is right above muffler, so I wrapped the bat in heat shielding. Made a bracket for some jumping studs in the engine bay.
(There must be 1000 zip ties holding everything on my truck)

 

pfffft.....I came here hoping to read about the x-men


awesome truck btw OP

 

Thanks. hahaha I'm not even really an X-men fan, just think it's a cool name