Nate's build

Cooper is a tad quieter on the street, better wet and snow traction(street), better deep snow(offroad), better rock(crawling) and hard packed dirt traction when compared to the MTR. Honestly, I feel the cooper has performed a bit better in every situation I've encountered.
I have a set of the Falken's waiting to go on a new project rig of mine soon as well (35x12.50R17) so I'll be testing them this spring/summer. Initial impression is the Cooper has more Tech designed into it, but the Falken performance is totally TBD.

 

Haha yeah. If I do stt pros I'll get them in 37x12.5, they measure out to a true 35.5" tire.

 

Looks like you hit Cleghorn a lot, assume you live close by in IE? I'm in Fontana (for better / for worse)

 

Hmmm.... that's interesting. I've considered 37's for further down the road, but that'd mean I'd have to get 17s for that. Which wouldn't be so bad if I also didn't plan on changing my bolt pattern at some point too.

I have family there and also grew up there but live out in Ventura. Most of my build took place in the IE so cleghorn was good for a quick shakedown before going any further to more difficult trails. We typically hit Gleghorn, Big Bear, Johnson Valley and Ocotillo Wells. Proximity to all these trails is one of the good things about being in Fontana. Out in Ventura, there really isn't much for off reading.

 

Well, There goes all practicality. Gonna be interesting clearing for these things.

Also got a replacement winch line and aluminum fairlead. Weight difference between this and the steel Warn hawse fairlead is insane

 

Let me know how those work out for you. That was one of my choices when I was buying my last set of tires, but I chose the non directional Iroks.

 

Nate, could you measure the actual tire height horizontally for me, after you get these mounted?

 

That's what I had in mind along with the cab mount relocation and cutting back the firewall and replating. At this point I just miss taking the truck out and want to get back on the trails asap. I don't see myself taking the time to make things super nice this go around.

 

Will do man! I was comparing them to a new 35-12.5-15 MTR I have in the garage and they seem to look narrower even with the same stated width.

 

Ah okay. I mean to measure horizontally across the tire to see how tall it is, ie: 35" or 35.5".......

 

North ran those, but I'm sure you already knew that. I was thinking of the same so it'd be awesome if you did a very thorough write up on how/what you did to get them to fit. That way I won't have to guess!

 

Here is 89 lbs of sound deadening from the recent group buy. Because there's mud terrain loud, then there's Swamper loud.

80 sq/ft of the regular deadening and about 10 sq/ft of each the foam and double thick stuff for the doors. Compared to some Dynamat Extreme I had lying around, this stuff is way more gnarly.

Matted as much as I could on the rear bulkhead, floors, roof, C pillar and part of the trans tunnel. I left the area that'll be cut for the dual cases for a later time. Basically remove as much as you can, lay on the deadening, then put it back together.

Still need to do the doors.

 

Yeah. There were a few guys I've seen recently running swampers, north being one of them, so I figured I give them a shot. @NYCO just got a set of intercos so it was fresh in my head. Plus, if I could make the 35's fit with mid travel, 36's should be doable but everyone else I've seen with 36's had a body lift. I don't plan on doing that. Maybe a cab mount relocation. I'll be sure to document the process.

 

@Rusty15Tacoma I feel like going over to the 2nd gen forum and trolling everyone by asking if these will fit with a spacer lift and no cutting.

 

Those tires are specced to be around .5" less than some of the "37" sizes. I'd be shocked if you didn't have to do some kind of tubbing, opening up the wheel well a bit.

 

Other random shit in prep for the prinsu access rack going on soon. Cap rack already on but never took photos of that. Pretty straight forward though.

Got one of the lower profile antenna from an older Tacoma and basically gutted it to stuff 10 lbs of shit in a 5 lb bag. It's not pretty but it works. Never liked the shark fin and with the smaller one it'll help fitting the prinsu rack.

Different plugs. Old has one chip. New shark fin has two.





Everything works as it should. I honestly don't know what both chips do. I know one is for the Sirius/XM radio but have no clue on the other.

I also had the roof of the cab and shell clear wrapped last summer in anticipation of having the racks on and not being able to clean under them regularly.

 

I definitely plan on doing so if I can't make it happen with a big fucking hammer.

 

Thanks to Eric @RelentlessFab for the tailgate reinforcement and bed rail quick fist mounts.

Packaging was outstanding!!

Remove the factory cap

Checked fitment and it was absolutely perfect


Just used some spray on bed liner for the time being to see how it'll hold up. Only sprayed the part that'll be exposed. Only thing I had to do was drill 3 holes where the factory cap has some indexing pins. Two on the bottom and one on top.

Next you'll have to enlarge the holes with a step drill bit to be able to reuse the factory cap with torx bolts.








Only thing to add is you'll either need to remove the rubber tailgate bumpers or trim them down if you reuse the factory fiberglass cap. That small amount of extra material puts extra tension on the tailgate handle to where it feels like it'll break when pulling on it to release.

Once again, great product Eric!!

 

Glad to hear you like the reinforcement Nate! Thanks for the positive feedback and great pics/write up!

 

Ha! Make sure you put "4 inch block in the rear" as well!

On a serious note, from what I've read around the net is the TSL's are about an inch taller than the MTR's you previously ran. I don't expect there to be too much more work to get them to fit. However, I don't know how hard it was to clear the 315's so my assumptions are probably wrong.