mcharfauros: Mike’s Truck and Wife’s 4Runner stuff

After almost a year and a half of ownership, and a little over 20K on the odometer, I decided to start documenting the build process of my 2017 TRD Offrod Tacoma. Looking forward to all of your thoughts and feedback.

Here’s where we are at as of 27JULY2019



A little background about myself and my family since the decision to buy the Tacoma was based on a desire to enable my family and I to experience outdoors and hit the trails together. I’m a Soldier in the world’s Greatest Army and will leave it at that, my wife and I have 3 children ages 18,16, and 6. My wife works with the local school district, so you can imagine with all of our schedules, I does get challenging at times to step back and spend good quality time with my family. With that said my wife and I decided to take on Toyota ownership head on as a team. Follow along and hopefully along the way we can all learn some things beneficial to us all.

The day we picked it up.



As of 20Mar2019




Armor:

• @Mobtown Offroad Bolt-On Rock Sliders
• @Mobtown Offroad Front Plate Bumper
• @SOS CONCEPTS IFS & Mid Skids
• @SOS CONCEPTS Rear HC Bumper
• ARB Summit Rear Bumper (removed)

Suspension:

• SPC Upper Control Arms
• King 2.5 Extended Travel Front Coil-overs No clickers w/650lbs. springs
• King Extended Rear No clickers
• ARB OME ELO95R w/extra leaf to make it a heave pack.

I bought the truck on 30June2017 after a 2 month stint with my 1st 2017 Tacoma which was a 2WD SR5. My wife and I drove to two dealerships a total of 9 hours away from our home. After having the previous 2WD SR5 my truck requirements where pretty simple and specific. 4WD was a must, it had to be a 6-Speed Manual Trans, and the pricing had to be competitive. After multiple online searches we found 2 trucks in a 500 mile radius which met out criteria. So I called my credit union and told them my intentions to trade in my SR5, they sent me a check and we were off on our way in search of the rig.

This is what I started out with: 2017 2WD SR5



We drove roughly 7 hours to Schererville, Indiana to take a look the 1st one which was a 2017 TRD Offroad 4WD 6-Speed Manual in Quicksand. I test drove it and loved being back in a stick shift. Unfortunately this dealership was asking way to much, I knew I was gonna take a hit on the trade in, but for what they wanted simply did not make sense financially.





So off we went across another state line into Illinois, to take a look at the other one on our list. We arrived in St Charles, IL a few hours later where we found this one hidden in the rear of the dealership. The sales associate drove us out back in a golf cart to see the truck, because he didn’t know how to drive stick and couldn’t bring it up front to the indoor showroom.



At this point they had my SR5 appraised where we would take a $1000 hit for the trade in. My wife and I sat down and ran the numbers, and decided to make an offer on the truck based on real invoice pricing. To our surprise they bit on the offer, we went a step further and took advantage of their financing incentives for Military personnel as well as college graduates pricing. So we went ahead and financed the truck through Toyota to get the $1500 incentive in order to recover from the trade in value depreciation. Since we already had a check from our credit union, we paid off Toyota in the following 2 months, and refinanced with our credit union.

After a whole day we did it! Paperwork was a breeze, since we did our homework. They handed me the keys, I kissed my wife and told her “Thank You”! Said goodbye to the SR5, and off we went in the new rig.



Pretty fuckin stoked!

 

2July2017

2 days after I brought the truck home, did the typical 3rd Gen FNG shit and got to work on the chrome rear bumper caps. I pulled the bumper assembly, with little to go on I just took my time and worked my way through the process. Once I got them removed I sanded them down with 300 grit sandpaper, hit them with bare material self etching primer, wet sand with 400 grit, and top coats of rattle can gloss black and clear.

 

13July2017

Having had my previous SR5, I had already ordered a set of aftermarket wheels, which were sitting in my storage. I went with a set of 16x8 Stealth Custom Series SR8’s in a Matte Dark Bronze finish. At the time SCS was out of lug nuts, so I ordered a set from Wheelers. This was my first major purchase for the truck, and really the first time I ever bought a new set of wheels so the options were pretty overwhelming. I wasn’t sure if the color would be too much, but when they showed up via UPS and I opened the box I really didn’t care. I kept hinting to my wife that the wheels were collecting dust in the storage and needed some tires, so she was kind enough to sign off on some new tires provided I could find some type of deal. Having had the BF Goodrich A/T KO2’s on my work truck, I decided that those where the set is look for. It just so happened that Sam’s Club had a promo going on, so we loaded up the wheels and off we went.

29June2017 Wheels Arrived



12July2017 Lug Nuts Arrived



13July2017 Off to Sam’s Club for Tires

 

22July2017

I came across a Craigslist post for a lift kit. A local 3rd Gen Tacoma owner stated he recently bought a new home, and had to trade in his truck. So he was selling his brand new lift kit which was still in the packaging. I wasn’t really looking to do a lift at the time, and still not to knowledgeable on all the major components. I looked into the kit which contained assembled Bilstein 5100 front struts with Old Man Emu 887 coils, rear Bilstein 5100 shocks, new U-bolts, and a set of Maxtrac 1” cast lift blocks. I looked into what the kit would cost online, and at the price he was asking compared to retail, I thought it was a great deal at $300, so I went ahead and bought the kit and had it installed at my local dealership.

Before



After

 

25July2017

I started looking into more mods and upgrades. I found a 3rd Gen Limited Grille from a local owner who upgraded his grille to the Pro grille. I picked it up for $50 and started toying with the layouts. I ultimately ended up buying a knock-off pro style Vankultre grille and settling on it.

 

14September2017

With our anniversary right around the corner, and my wife constantly making little remarks about my new truck, I dialed down on the little spending I was doing for the truck worked some numbers and added a 4runner to our driveway for our anniversary. She was a trooper and my main support system for many years. Her Honda Pilot was never really her first choice. She always wanted a 4runner, but with the growing kids some 10 years ago, the Pilot was more of a practical choice at the time. With the trade in value of the Pilot, and some cash down I think we did okay. Well now she got her 4Runner, and couldn’t be happier for her.

My main squeeze with her new rig!

 

5November2017

My wife and I went to a local event called “Stocker No Locker” at Moonlight Offroad Park in Missouri, which was put together by M.T. Scheiele Auto Repair. We decided to bring both trucks to get a feel for Offroad driving, and see what our rigs were capable of in a controlled environment with experienced folks to help up out along the way. We met some awesome people, saw some really nice rigs, and took away allot of really good information. Most important the experience for the whole family was priceless.

At the time I found the Tacos in STL thread and interacting with some of the local TW guys in the area, this was a great opportunity to put a face to the names with the TW Taco community and finally met them. Ran into @HIYota @MO Tacoma that day.


Getting fuel before heading out.



Lining up for the beginners group.



Wife in her 4runner



Lots of Toyota’s at the event

 

18November2017

I picked up my @Mobtown Offroad sliders from the FedEx Freight Facility on 13Nov2017. Got to work on prep and paint. Made contact with some local TW guys and was able to attend my first Mod Day held by now a really great friend @G.T.

With the help of @HIYota and @MO Tacoma we were able to get the sliders mounted.
I’m very impressed with the design of the sliders, installation was a little tricky but all in all a rock solid design definitely overbuilt for serious off roading.

We didn’t get much pictures of the installation, but they definitely turned out great.

 

Subbed.

 

Not as exciting as your thread, but gonna try anyway!

 

Nice job Mike. See you got the snorkel put on.....

 

Yup, appreciate the trade. Was definitely needed since we took off to Tennessee last Thursday. Allot of dirt, mud, and other shit never made it to the air box.

 

Glad to hear. We'll make something a little less obtrusive one of these days. The 31 already made it under hood with a tiny bit of work. Also the 63's are almost wrapped up as we speak.....

 

Nice, staying tuned to your regional thread for the progress in the 63’s

 

Great job!!

 

Yeah, it's been a couple years I've had it, and I change my mind alot. Not sure I could have a build thread....I'd probably shake my head at myself alot...

 

Good stuff @mcharfauros

 

Appreciate it @vrod671 , things good back on the rock?

 

Same here direction changes, budget changes, it’s exhausting. Thought I’d give the build thread a shot. If I don’t work out ehhh

 

23December2017

Being a Fuckin New Guy (FNG) I wasted some money Working on more chrome deletion I ordered some @mesojdm Ultimate Turn Signals. It was an easy install which added a subtle difference to the overall look of the truck. Pretty happy with them.