Sidetracked's DD kinda,sorta build thread

Pickled up a 97 extended cab earlier this month to replace my old DD. Took a while to find one in good shape for a reasonable amount of money, but finally found one I liked. Miles were a little higher than i was hoping for (235K), but it should be fine for a while.

Basically stock right now with 31 ATs on 15" black steelies.

 

Plans are changing constantly as i look into getting parts for it, but the original goal was to build a nice DD that i could take to some mild trails or go play in the snow a bit if i wanted to.

So far my plan is:

- front and rear bumpers (not sure yet, maybe Trail-Gear, maybe plate style)
- header and exhaust
- freebies, like deck plate mod, etc
- 2-3" lift using custom spring packs for the back sourced from the piles o leaf springs i have scattered around and tundra billys and coils for the front.
- 285/75/16 KM2s on Method NV machined wheels
- gears of some sort, not sure yet on the ratio. I think i have like 3.58s right now and they suck. 4.10s would probably be the easiest to find, 4.30 or 4.56 would be better i'm sure though. I want to keep the rpms down on the freakway since the whole point of this truck is to have something nice and relatively economical to drive.
- what else...hmmm... oh yeah, lights, duh .

Probably be pretty slow going for awhile, but i'll do my best. Trying to sell my 44" Boggers to recover some money that i spent getting the truck and also still have the sidetracker to maintain for Ultra$

 

Got my Boggers sold, time to get some parts coming in

Still waiting on the Bilsteins and tires to get back in stock and then i can get this thing going.

Any thoughts on a diff drop for a 2.5-3" lift? must have, good idea, or don't need it?

 

Can't wait to see where it goes. Subbed

 

Still waiting for bilsteins and tires so got started on other things...

Few teaser pics of the 40" radius roof bar mounts we're working on, should have these done soon...

 

Got some more parts in

Going to get tires mounted up tomorrow, now i need to find some coils. Leaning toward OME 883s since the Tundra TRD coils are like twice the price and i'm not having any luck finding used ones

 

Tires mounted up. spending most of my time prepping the SideTracker for Stampede right now, but i'll have some time to get busy on the Tacoma soon.

 

well motor took a crap awhile back and it sat for a year or so. finally got a motor, so took the opportunity to get a bunch of stuff done.
replaced motor
got lift on - custom pack with cut down 63's and billys in the back. billys and OME 883 coils in the front. rear is a little stiff, will need to re-work the packs a bit.
TG rear housing with elocker
4.30 gears