Super White 2012 DCSB Offroad Build

One of the things I disliked about the ARE shell was the overhang on the inside of the bed that made the factory tie down cleats unusable. Because I had to remove the bed mounted D rings for the Total Chaos bed stiffeners I found a way to repurpose them and make a sturdy tie down that is easy to unscrew and slide around the bed rails.

 

Installed a Quicklynks Bluetooth Battery Monitor a while back. After monitoring the charge voltage for a few weeks I decided to install the HKB Voltage Booster. It was a plug and play install that replaced the Alt S fuse with the new unit that essentially “tricks” the alternator into providing an additional .5 Volts. Now my charge voltage is sitting around 14.5V at idle which is ideal for the AGM style battery that is currently installed. I also did this in preparation for a dual battery setup someday which I plan to use 2 AGMs. This should be enough to fully charge this style of battery; not only providing more use time, but also extending the overall life of the battery.

There is an excellent thread by @crashnburn80 that explains this in detail and led me to this solution linked below.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/the-northstar-agm-battery-voltage-booster-upgrade.604478/

Quicklynks Bluetooth Battery Monitor


HKB Voltage Booster


Final results after install

 

Got a fresh set of 265/75R16 Dick Cepek Trail Country EXPs put on today. So far they look and drive great! Currently sitting at 28,645 miles.

 

I was overdue for some mods... Had the System X Max ceramic coating professionally installed with some paint protection film where the cap seal sits on the tailgate because it was rubbing into the paint a little bit. I also put on some Tacoma Lifesyle black emblem overlays. Truck is looking super clean! Sitting at 34,000 miles currently.

 

Had a local muffler shop tuck the Y pipe a little further under the front of the T Case in preperation for some goodies that are currently at powder coat. After this picture was taken I used a black high temp VHT Silicone Ceramic coating to cover the new section and hopefully make it last a little longer. I had trouble finding a shop locally that could do stainless steel like factory so I had to settle for aluminized steel. It only cost $85 and took about 30 minutes which I thought was very reasonable.

 

Got all the mounting hardware painted while waiting for the rest to get back from powder. Also purchased a Waterport Day Tank and had to custom fab a drop down bracket because of interference between the cap and bed rail.

 

After coating the exhaust reroute with the VHT I decided to wrap it with some Design Engineering Titanium Exhaust Wrap as well since we ended up having to remove the factory hear shield under the T-case. Turned out pretty good. Sliders and skids should be back from powder early next week!

 

Got everything back from powdercoat today and they knocked it out of the park! Fine texture with a matte black. Only $450 for everything which I thought was very reasonable especially with the fast turn around.

 

Kind of a rush but got a fresh coat of Fluid Film installed before putting on the skids and sliders for a camping trip up to the Land Between the Lakes in KY. Ran into an issue with the 4xinnovations transfer case skid not fitting with the bolt on sliders. Reached out to Adam and waiting to hear back with a solution hopefully. Aside from that the skids are great and already got to put them to use on some forest roads!

 

Here is a closer look at the issue with the transfer case crossmember hitting the bolt-on slider bracket on the driver’s side. It needs to move forward about an inch to line up. Only solution I see would be to fab an entirely new mount on that side that works around the slider mount.

 

Here's a few more pictures from the Land Between the Lakes Trip. Perfect weather to get out camping with the family. The Elk and Bison preserve was incredible. The one cow literally walked up to the truck and started licking the fender well... I guess she like the fluid film

 

Finally got around to installing a rear diff breather extension. I ordered the kit from Yota Shop just because it had everything needed and was about the same price as sourcing all the parts individually. Ran it behind the tail light and used a suspension clamp to secure it to an existing stud back there. The hose was the perfect length for this (6 ft). Turned out great and is now the same height as the front breathers in the engine bay (~36 inches/just above the top of the wheel well).

Before:



After:

 

Picked up some suspension goodies over Black Friday but in the meantime here is the home fabricated Waterport quick release drop mount to get below the cap and a 4xinnovations stainless Hi-Lift mount.



Opted to go for a 60 inch Hi-Lift Extreme and trimmed it about 4 inches to fit in the bed with a little room to spare. Cutting the cast worked pretty well with the Evolution Cold Cut saw and a steel blade and if I hadnt messed the first cut up it probably wouldnt have dulled my blade. Also got a D-Ring adapter from JeepsNeeds and have to say it seems like a genius product that increases the safety factor of the jack.

 

Bilstein 5100/OME 887 and Bilstein 5125s for the rear showed up today! Took advantage of the Wheelers Offroad Black Friday Sale. Got the longer springs in preparation for a steel bumper/winch and to help compensate for the skid plate weight. Icon RXT springs are on the way for the rear and now that I have the rear shocks measured I can order properly spaced bumpstops from Accutune Offroad and their UCAs while Im at it.

My dream setup will be Fox Performance Elite shocks tuned by Accutune all around so this is a good stepping stone to that for a couple of years until its more financially viable. I would want a backup set of shocks to run while the Fox's get rebuilt every couple of years anyways so the Bilstein ones just make sense to use for a few years and keep as a backup. Also had to snag a pic of the toys together while cleaning out the garage



About a year ago I bought this Honda CRF250L brand new for a fun (fair weather) daily commuter to keep miles off the Tacoma and save a little on gas. Its been a great bike so far and Ive put about 4,000 miles on it!

 

Got the Icon RXT leaf springs pulled apart to add in the extra leaf spring (Stage 3). Added some Fluid Film in between the leafs as well to hopefully keep them from squeaking for a while. Just waiting on the UCAs and U-bolt flip from Accutune!

 

Factor 55 goodies showed up today. Crosby steel shackles, extreme soft shackles, locking hitch pins and a Hitchlink Pro 2.0. Very high quality stuff and I can’t wait to put it to use!

 

Got the new suspension all put together and ready for an alignment!

Bilstein 5100 (set at lowest notch) with Old Man Emu 887 Coilsprings and Accutune Upper Control Arms



Bilstein 5125s with Icon RXT set on the 3rd (Heavy) option, the Accutune U-bolt flip kit (1.75 in spacer) and rear bump stops



The ride is noticeably better than stock on the road. The two biggest improvements are the heim joints on the UCAs providing a more responsive steering input and the rear leaf springs are heavy duty but soak up the bumps very well. I used to bottom out on the stock leafs with just a cap on the back and few small things. Total lift height gain was about 2 3/8 up front and 4 1/8 in the rear. I expect the rear leafs to settle a little bit and I went straight for stage 3 knowing that a high clearance rear bumper is coming soon. The rear was squatting pretty good before the Icon leafs were installed also so the lift height measures higher because of that.

 

After some back and forth with 4xinnovations to figure out the issue with the transfer case skid (even after they sent an entirely new skid plate with a longer design), we were unable to come up with one that was compatible with the bolt on rock sliders. I decided to just modify the one I already had powder coated and the bracket on the rock sliders that interfered to make it fit. Although both of the skids they sent didnt fit, they were willing to work with me and offer a significant discount for the trouble. Even if it took a while and ended up being more work on my end than I desired, I am happy with the end result. Plenty beefy for my needs.

 

Finally got the Warfab Tierod Sleeves that were on back order and installed them yesterday. Look great and should beef things up nicely for 34s down the road.
Before



After