Pacific Northwest 2004 tacoma build

I have hunted and fished and been exploring trails in the Northwest for over 35 years in many different 4X4's large and small.
This last summer I wanted to try a small agile truck build to get into the tight spots that keep the average Joe out lol. ( Read into this... Very heavy brush and blackberry bushes and rocks and things keeping me from a nice fishing hole.)

I bought my truck completely stock from original owner then built it to work well for me in rocky, hard mud / clay trails around me here in Southwest Washington state (Pac NW). The truck has only 109,000 miles on the whole truck now. Only about 6,000 miles on it since I have done most of the mods. It has been enough miles to really enjoy what it can do now.

I really wished I had pictures of the truck stock. I forgot to think of the before and after shots lol.

Armor is an area that I got into analysis paralyses and could never make my mind up on the balance between looks, protection, weight and price. So….. I ended up doing nothing at this time :-/

Suspension wise I did not want a tall lifted truck. I wanted to be able to get under tree branches and brush and not too high of center of gravity. I focused more on being able to travel our crappy logging roads with mud holes big enough to swallow a truck. Some places I needed to get to fish or hunt would require me to spend several hours each way on these roads.

Just posting this so maybe someone might get an idea or two to help them make your own decisions.

I kept the interior stock. I like clean uncluttered interiors.

I just installed a Uniden CMX 760 CB in the lower center console between the seats so it does not show unless you take it out. 4foot Firestik CB antenna and Heavy duty spring mounted it using CBI off-road Hood mount. (Really strong mount)

456 Gears front and rear.

New CV Axles New lower ball joints

Custom Magnaflow exhaust routed for high clearance all of it welded.

Dick Cepek 255/85/R16 extreme country tires

Konig from FN Wheels Five Star 16X8 +0

ICON Suspension system Stage 4

Icon Ext Travel Coil overs with Reservoir.

Total Chaos UCA's

Rear springs are OME Dakar spring packs.

Competition clutch stage 3

URD Short throw shifter

LC Engineering performance High Torque flywheel 30LB billet steel. ( I believe this was the 8lb heaver one than stock.)

Motor:

Stock except for AFE CAI and optima battery.

 

Very nice!!! ​

 

Truck looks great

All cool trucks in PNW

Your lift is perfect
How is the CV angles ?

 

Thanks! Here are some pics of the CV Axle Drivers side from front side and back side. I hope it helps. I've had Zero issues crawling all day long. I'm a careful driver by nature and always prefer slow controlled wheeling so my setup is over kill but thats part of the fun!

 

Thanks you for the pictures

Is it ok to have Cv angled that way?

That’s the reason I haven’t lifted mine yet
Due to fear

 

The actual angle after few thousand miles on the suspension has settled.
It's my second first gen Tacoma and both lifted same height. The first was a 2001 4 door auto and I had over 115,000 miles on it with thousands off-road miles with no problems. IFS CV axels are almost always going to be the weak link when compared to solid axles for example. Stock angle of CV axles are strongest but I'm not rock crawling I do climb many large rocks, stumps and logs in course of going trail riding and never have had an issue with either truck. I find this setup to be ideal for on road ride and off-road ride, travel and durability have been great for me. I know of several people on trail rides with me that have carried a spare CV axle with them lol.

 

My dad's '01 has over 400k on it and runs and drives perfectly. Good little trucks

 

How are the DC's on and off road? My tires are starting to look worn and I'm thinking of replacing them.

 

I love them! As far as road noise and manners they are very decent for a more aggressive tire. On the trail they have been very durable on rock and surprisingly good in loose sand / gravel and of course they rock in the mud!

 

Did you make a build thread to get 50 posts so you can put your TRuck up for sale ?

 

Well, I did want to help the PNW people represent lol. It was a fun build and one that I'm really happy with for both on road manners and trail driving. I did not imagine myself selling it after taking so long to find a good base truck to build from. I thought it was interesting in looking at how I built this one now as an "Older and more experienced" guy as compared to the crazy crap I was doing to my trucks 20 years ago when " On road ride quality" was not something I ever even considered as a thing people would even think about when it came to trail trucks lol. I actually hoped my son would want me to pass it on to him but he has his own Taco and has no room for another.

 

Very nice truck!

 

Thanks!

 

What a dreamboat, she's GORGEOUS!
Unfortunately, I just recovered my dad's 99 Taco bRegCab 2.4 from evidence... Not the way either of us imagined, but in short, I inherited my 1st 1st gen Taco. Dad was a machinist/engineer/fabricator/millwright/have-hands-will-build sorta guy too but HEAVENS, she is FANCY! Beautiful job in and out!

 

someone please tell me where those seat covers come from.