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tandemgeek · Jun 23, 2019

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irayfz6 · Dec 8, 2018

Welcome!

MJ-12 · Dec 8, 2018

Welcome to TW

buckhuntin-tacoma · Dec 8, 2018

Welcome to TW...Thank you for your service!!

Bigdaddy4760 · Dec 9, 2018

Welcome to TW!!

2Dayvid · Dec 9, 2018

Welcome to Tacoma World! It was your username that caught my eye. And then I see a triplet! That's pretty awesome! I'm a bicyclist but my wife and I don't do tandems. We're both too independent, so we both ride separately. Oh..and nice Taco!

boogie3478 · Dec 10, 2018

tandemgeek[OP] initial post: ↑

Greetings and salutations from the currently cold and dreary deep-south.

I'm a long time Toyota truck owner who recently traded in the 2006 Tundra SR5 Double Cab we bought new back in October 2006 and put 155,000 miles on for a lightly-used 2017 TRD Sport Edition Tacoma 4x4 Crew Cab with the long bed. The 2017 was bought new in Oct 2017 and was showing 10,699 miles when we made the "Certified" vehicle purchase from Beaver Toyota.

It was more about finding the "right truck" for us not any particular type of seller, or even color; it needed to be: a Gen3 4x4 with the crew cab, long bed as well as some creature comforts and the hands-free technology stuff. This particular TRD Sport at Beaver Toyota also had the Premium & Technology packages, so it was something of a unicorn. It also had the Toyota Southeast Region's "Stealth" running boards and is sporting a 3-section bed cover. We did a win-win deal where everyone walked away happy. Great dealership by the way.

Here's a photo of the truck "as it was" when it followed us home on Nov 28th.

In terms of what's been done over the past 10 days, there's a laundry list:
- The cloth seats / carpets / mats were all deep cleaned/shampoo'd
- All the warning decals have been removed from the visors
- The truck bed alignment pin was moved to center the bed on the cab
- All of the various emblems on the painted surfaces were removed, i.e., de-badged
- The TRD Sport edition decals on the sides of the truck bed were removed
- The paint received a preliminary compounding, polish and a base coat of Zaino CS
- "Stealth" running boards were removed and sold on Craigslist
- A lightly used set of Nfab Predator take-offs were bought locally and installed
- A BedRug bed liner went in on Wednesday night
- The factory mud guards have been added
- The factory sill protectors have been added
- An iPod 7 Nano has been covertly installed above the QI charger
- The front windows were tinted to 35% using a Ceramic / heat blocking film
- A set of gunmetal TRD Pro 17x7 wheels w/Nitto G2's in 265/65R17 went on yesterday
- The front end was leveled with a set of Bilstein 5100's

So, as of right now here's how the truck looks:

The things that are still on order but not yet delivered include:

- A set of perforated, black leather seat covers from Leatherseats.com due by Xmas
- A color-matched A.R.E. Z-Series bed topper due-in in January
- A black TRD Pro grill due by this coming Tuesday

As for how it might look with the Z-Series bed topper, I did a little photo manipulation to add a topper that is similar to the Z-Series to my photo as part of a visual study to determine if the suspension should be raised another 1". Once the shell is on we'll need to correct the rear ride height anyway and will likely add rear Bilstein shocks. There's still some upward adjustment points left on the front Bilstein's so we're thinking a 2" lift will be about right since the 200 lb bed topper will net out 1" of the 2" rear lift. So, this is what it would look like with the topper and that 2" lift:

FWIW, here's the Tundra it replaced; notice any resemblance?

So, if you're still with me because it's winter and your enjoying crappy weather like us, here is some other background:

- My first Toyota truck was a new '89 SR5 X-Cab 4x4 V6. It went 10yrs / 250k and we still sold it for $5,500. Black and debadged.
- The second was a new '85 4Runner Limited 4x4 in that really nice gold color with the tan leather interior and a light honey-oak dash kit. This was my wife's daily driver. It went 9 years and 195k before the head gasket developed a leak.
- We took a hiatus from Toyota's for a while, picking up a couple Z71 Suburbans, Mustang GT, Mercedes 190E-16V, Honda S2000, etc., before moving back to Toyota with the 2006 pictured above. Sadly, the 2006 was plagued with front-end issues from day 1 that have continued to this day which is why it was time to change horses. It also chewed up a rear diff acorn cluster at 80,000. But, when it was running well it was a great truck. My wife finally decided she needed a 4dr for running her mother and the grandkids around, so we sold the S2000 and she now has a 2017 Accord Sport SE. I downsized my motorcycle "fleet" from a '03 BMW R1100S, an '11 Harley Wide Glide custom, a '13 Honda F6B, a '13 Harley CVO Road King and a '17 Harley Road Glide Ultra to just the Ultra when I retired.

As for why these Toyota trucks (and the Suburbans) have all been covered vehicles, as my user name suggests, we're into tandems... tandem bicycles to be exact. The covered beds make great mobile garages for the long bikes and, well, we also have a 3-seat triplet that needs a very long roof for portage.

Me, born in Reading, PA, and lived a bunch of places: Ramsey, NJ, Arlington Heights, IL, San Antonio, TX, Kokomo, IN, Washington, DC, Redlands, CA, and around the Marietta, Georgia, area since 1991. Her, born in the Atlanta area and been here her entire life. We met in '91, married in '93.

I'm a former Air Force guy who went into Aerospace for 34 years and joined my lovely wife in retirement this past July. We spend most of our free time cycling, motorcycling, playing with the younger of 6 grandkids that range in age from 3 mo to 18 yrs and otherwise enjoying life.

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Welcome to TW!

mattgecko · Dec 10, 2018

Welcome!

ChoeTaco · Dec 11, 2018

Welcome to TW!!! Nice mods so far.

ODNAREM · Dec 11, 2018

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#1
tandemgeek [OP] Stealthy Contributor

#2
irayfz6 TTC #0249

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