SubCultureNM's (Another) White TRD OR Build

Figured I'd start a thread on the mods we're doing to my wife's '17 DCSB TRD OR 4x4. The truck is her DD here in Houston, and she commutes from Katy (far west side of Houston) to Clear Lake (bay area) for school. The truck isn't the most sensible commuter, but it's what she wanted, and we won't live in this 'wheeling wasteland forever.

So, we actually started out with a very early '17 DCSB TRD OR 4x4 in Inferno. Then, on our way back to Houston from NOLA last New Year's Eve, this happened.




I'm actually really happy we hadn't gotten too far into modding that one. Once they pulled the bed to begin repairs, we quickly got a call from the adjuster that the truck would be totaled. I was able to pull the Shrockworks rocker guards and Rigid driving lights off the truck before turning it over to insurance.

So, we quickly bought this one:




Within a week, the suspension, wheels, and tires were on order through our buddy Dave at BRAVE Motorsports here in Houston. Took ADS awhile to build the shocks, but we ended up with the following:






I'm a huge BFG fan, having beat the living hell out of a set of 37" KM2s on our two-door Jeep Wrangler, and now running 37" blue label Krawlers on it. Not shown: Total Chaos heim joint CAs, Icon add-a-leaf, Toy Tec u-bolt flip.

Based on a year's worth of driving the Inferno truck, and my utter disgust with its auto trans, I knew a re-gear would be in order, but we decided to get the first round of parts on the truck first. So here's how that looked:




I do a lot of my own wrenching, but Dave is a friend, and one of the most talented fabricators I know, so we turned the truck over to him for the install. He also installed the Shrockworks rocker guards from the previous truck, and did the CMC.

We got the truck back on a Friday evening, Saturday morning we left to go camping in Big Bend Ranch State Park.




The truck performed exceptionally well, though BBRSP doesn't have much in the way of true 'wheeling.

 

After our round-trip to far west TX and back, while quite surprised by the truck's drivability with 33s and stock gears, we pulled the trigger on Nitro 4.88s, a front ARB air locker (I mean, since the front diff was going to be opened up anyway) and the ARB high output twin compressor. No pics of the install, but one of Dave's guys fabbed-up a bracket to mount the compressor.



Some installed pics of the suspension:




I haven't done too much to the truck since getting the gears and locker installed. I have a Switch Pros 9100 sitting at the house, waiting for some misc stuff to come in so I can install it and use it to run the compressor and locker. I also installed the Rigid lights from the Inferno truck.

 

We just got back from a hell of a Jeep trip to Moab, including running Hole in the Rock (~160 miles S/SW of Moab) for the 4th time. Now it's time to focus on getting the truck ready for a trip to Silverton and Ouray, CO in August. Plans are to tackle Black Bear, Imogene, and Poughkeepsie Gulch (and, yes, I am going to make a run at The Wall on Poughkeepsie!)

Just for fun, a couple gratuitous pics of our other projects:




Goals for this truck: low, capable, streetable. She won't ever see bigger than 33s (those trails are what the Jeep is for). I want to be able to drive this one to trails rather than putting it on a trailer. But I want it to be as capable as possible. SO, additional planned mods: SDHQ hidden winch mount and a suitable winch (def. a Warn); more armor; suspension refinement (Archive Hammer Hangers, etc.); Marlin Crawler Taco Box, before we leave Houston and move back west (oh yes, it will happen). What can I say? I'm addicted to the 235:1 we have with the 4-speed Atlas in the Jeep.

 

Nice truck!! Let’s see some more of that Ef hatch

 

Thank you! As requested:

 

Some other minor stuff. After the accident in the Inferno truck, considering the at-fault driver did not have insurance, and considering my wife's 110 mile round-trip for school, we had Momento M5 1080p front and rear dash cams with GPS installed:



Also had a Compustar security system with remote start installed. Since we will use the ARB compressor for OBA as well as locker actuation, picked-up this handy kit:



Forgot that we also picked up this accessory mount from BAMF. It will likely hold a shovel and some other misc. stuff. I plan to order his HiLift mounts for the driver's side of the bed.



I'm still waiting for the misc. parts to show up to install the Switch Pros unit, and we have some additional recovery gear to buy. Otherwise, the truck is pretty much ready for CO.

 

That thing is clean !

 

Thank you! She's just a driver right now (as much as she can be, without AC in Houston) but will become a full-on project sooner or later.

 

It's silly, but my wife has caught the patch bug. I may have contributed a few of these.

 

Where did you source the leprechaun patch with the Toyota emblem? Thanks.

 

Amaesing Decals & Patches. It was their limited St. Patty's day release.

 

Thanks!

 

Received the rest of the parts I was waiting on to do the Switch Pro install. Stay tuned!

 

Haven't updated this thread in awhile due to work, travel, and prep for our recent trip. I haven't yet installed the Switch Pros, but grabbed a Hi Lift for the trip, as well as mounts from FWP Fab here on the forum. Mounted a pair of Quick Fists to the BAMF rack for my fishing rod and a shovel, as well as the Pelfreybilt front skid.




We then hit the road to CO via my MIL's in west TX. Two adults, three dogs (one Rottie) and all our gear! Our first night in CO was spent on the trail to Red Cone, which we ran the next morning.

The lower part of Red Cone is pretty chewed-up and difficult in places. We wouldn't have noticed in our SWB Jeep on 37s, but in the truck it took some careful lines:




Just off the first (steepest) descent from the top of Red Cone:



We ran Webster Pass down from Red Cone, which felt SUPER narrow just off the pass:



We then made tracks to Fairplay and across Mosquito Pass and spent the second night in Leadville:

 

The next morning we headed to Crested Butte, by way of several small CO breweries. We set-up camp about seven miles up the road to Pearl Pass:



The next day we ran Pearl Pass all the way to the Aspen side. Starting up to treeline on the CB side you're looking at the back side of the Maroon Bells:



There are some rocky, semi-difficult spots on the CB side:



The approach to the pass felt really narrow in the truck vs a Jeep:



At the pass:



I REALLY wanted to drive the Aspen side of the trail, just off the pass. It is spectacularly rocky, which provides LOTS of stories of cut tires:



We had zero issues, and made it down to this semi-difficult spot, the last on the trail:



All in all, an excellent day. Early August is also raspberry season in CO, which we took full advantage of. Only downside to Pearl Pass is its length and location; we didn't have enough time to run it in reverse or to run Taylor Pass back to the CB side, so we literally had to drive from Aspen to Buena Vista to Salida to Gunnison to get back to camp.

 

The next day we ran Schofield Pass to the Devil's Punchbowl to Lead King Basin. We'd run Schofield two years prior in our Jeep; it was much more exciting in the truck!

Starting down the difficult section towards Devil's Punchbowl:



We actually made use of the Shrockworks rocker guards multiple times on this trip. I'm pleased to say they held-up perfectly:



The other sketchy spot on this side of the trail:



Enjoying a birthday beer at the punchbowl and letting the dogs play in the water:





We then ran Lead King to Marble. The Wells (FunTreks) book lists Lead King as hard; it's easy as can be, but very scenic:



Overall, for nine days on the road, we got three days packed-full of 'wheeling, and four nights camping. It may sound like a lot of driving for little reward, but it was so much fun, and so enjoyable. We're looking forward to next summer!

 

So, here's how she sits right now (towards the top of Lead King). Simple, extremely well-built, effective. Still have minor things planned for her, but nothing major (winch, complete the Pelfreybilt skid plates, Pelfreybilt rear bumper, some aux lighting). Now it's simply a matter of facing the challenge of 'wheeling, living in Houston.

 

Been a long time since I've updated this post. Reckon I'll do so, if for no other reason than documenting the truck's mods for my own reference.

After that first CO trip, we started beefing-up the skid plates. We'd installed the Pelfrey front skid and bought a lightly used mid skid before they tanked. We also bought a BAMF t-case skid which took forever to have installed, mainly due to the exhaust re-route that's required. As always, I took it to our friends at BRAVE Motorsports to do the exhaust work, and to modify the front skid with an access panel for the oil filter housing:









That t-case skid and the Shrockworks rocker guards saved us for sure on a recent 'wheeling trip to UT.

 

I did finally get the Switch Pros installed with the Power Trays mount and all their accessories, and used the SDHQ bezel in the cab. Right now it's only running the ARB compressor, the front locker, and a light bar behind the grill:





Back at the beginning of January we made the trip to 5 Star Car Stereo in Clearwater, FL to have them install an audio system in the truck. It's been years since we've had anything other than stock audio, so this was a big treat. We're running a Kenwood Excelon HU, AudioControl D-6.1200 amp with DSP, Morel 6x9 mids and highs in front, and 6.5 coax for rear fill, and a Kicker Comp RT truck box. Bass isn't overwhelming, bit it sounds great overall:

 

Some small, misc type stuff. We had BRAVE Motorsports install the Marlin Crawler LCA mount gussets:





Before long we'll have them do the TC UCA mount gussets as well. I also installed DuroBump front bump stops:





For Christmas I bought my wife the Tacombeast/Spyder Auto headlights without doing any real research. They look great, but the LED DRLs and turn signals are super dim, and the low beam pattern/cut-off is weird. With proper aiming they're completely livable, but I wouldn't buy them again:



We also had the CW Wraps hood graphics installed:



We damaged the stock plastic rear bumper caps on this last trip, so we're waiting on a Shrockworks rear bumper. It's a pre-production unit, but will be a huge improvement and will provide peace of mind on the trails. Anyway, that's where we're at, currently.