3rd Gen Magnetic Gray Thread

Nice!


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Installed TRD shift knob replica

 

Used a rubber grommet for Honda PVC valve.

 

To be honest I have no idea why I have never posted on TW until now, I guess I'm just an internet lurker. Bought my 2016 Sport used off of Craigslist back in 2017 with 24k miles for a screaming deal. I bought it on blocks before I even knew what a proper lift was. Needless to say I've learned a lot over the years and with Covid shutting down I really started to wrench on the truck.

Original Craigslist Setup: Rolled with this setup until March 2020. During that time I didn't change a thing and had a nice time rubbing my fenders every time I went off-road. This setup had a SnugTop topper, standard leafs and original sport shocks stretched out on a 2" block with some 285s on 17" wheels hahaha. I hated it the more I learned what I had but was just saving money to make big moves.


Suspension, Sliders and Rear Locker (March 2020): Finally made the leap. I had these items all professionally installed for a couple of reasons. The first is that I didn't know anybody who had a garage or even a driveway where I lived. The second was I didn't know anybody who had a welder. The third - I was too much of a weenie to try and install these myself besides all of the above. I think I could get the install done now (finally have a driveway at least) and have gained a lot more knowledge working on my truck and my buddies trucks in the last year. Anyways, I got some 96" BAMF Rock Sliders welded on and King 2.5 Remote Reservoirs front and rear - also threw in the OME Heavy Duty Dakar leafs in the rear. I also got an ARB rear locker / compressor installed. At this time I was rollin on the same Craigslist rims and the same (now bald) tires as I bought it with.


Steel Front Bumper and Full Skids (December 2020): I chopped the front end of the truck off before I went on a long trip to Mammoth / Death Valley in December 2020. My buddy and his brother had some pretty serious setups so I wanted to be able to get up and down some trails without tearing off my front bumper. This is a BAMF Alumnisteel Front Bumper and I absolutely love it - especially because it's a 2 piece style set up (winch cradle is steel, aluminum shell bolts in over the cradle). I also added full RCI skids besides the fuel tank. Right after I added the bumper, I did a CMC over at my buddies place and then threw on a set of 16x8 SCS F5s with 0 offset along with some Falken Wildpeak AT3W 285s. Although I had off-loaded before, this trip was definitely the first "real" wheeling I have ever done. Ended up doing a 6 day loop weaving all though Death Valley hitting some of the famous spots - we were basically wheeling every day from 9am to 3pm and I had a blast.






High Clearance Rear, Winch and Others (April 2021): Finally, threw on the high clearance rear and a winch last weekend. Ditched that POS Leer topper that leaked all over me on various trips and bent the hell out of my bedsides. When I was up in the Sierra during the Death Valley trip the bedsides bent out so badly that I could no longer lock my tailgate. Additionally, the locks on the Leer were constantly frozen shut in any freezing conditions and I was tired of looking like I was blowing my locks every time I needed to unlock the topper haha.

Also on the Death Valley trip, I tried to use my rear locker for the first time and it blew diff fluid out through the solenoid into the engine bay. Apparently, ARB sent out some bad lockers in Feb/March 2020. I took it back to the shop that installed it and they took care of everything with ARB at no cost to me. Shouts out to Shaffer's Off-Road for helping me out there.

My April has consisted of 2 full weekends of truck stuff on me and my buddies truck. The rear bumper is a BAMF High Clearance Rear Dual Swingout and it is pretty dang sick. That thing is real heavy duty. Install was also pretty easy with 3 people. After I threw that on, I put in some TC Bed Stiffeners and that brought my bedsides right back to square and I now have a nice, sturdy and functional tailgate. After that I installed the winch while cleaning up my original cuts of the front bumper. I decided to get a Warn VR Evo 10-S winch. In this instance I just decided to cut out that "T-shaped" brace area in the front of the truck and not relocate the brain. At this point that brace barely holds any weight - I might add some relocated reinforcement if it proves to be an issue. After all my steel was on I took it to Beeps Off-Road to get a proper castered out alignment and adjust my coils. Again, since I didn't have a shock press I decided to get this work done professionally. Beeps was great and I highly recommend them if you're in the Bay Area. I also got this thing OV Tuned (87) and have been getting a solid 18 MPGs highway and the truck runs way smoother - I highly recommend it.







The Future: I am going to add the winch cradle reinforcement brackets that comes with the BAMF front bumper this weekend as well as an ARB diff breather and some RCI LCA skids because why not. Also gonna ditch the sc00p for a flat hood because I'm short and can't see over all of that airflow. After I toss these on I want to get a 42" toolbox for the back so i can open the tailgate and sleep in the bed as well as keep all my tools in there for any potential trailside repairs. I also wanna jamb my recovery kit in there and make a mount for traction boards on top of it. My final project is going to be to make some sort of tarp tent that mounts off of the bed rails in the back - I've been thinking of some wild ideas for that so I'll keep y'all posted. Truck is at 76k miles and yes - it is my daily driver.

 

Great write up and awesome truck!

 

Anyone take off their 2016 Factory MGM Fender Flares, Bumper Ends, Front Bumper Plate or Side Mirror panels ? I'm lookin to buy...

Let me know..

 

Thank you man! I have been all over the place with the build out with this thing so wanted to share with y'all some of the mistakes I've made and issues I've had. Besides the above I broke the passenger wheel hub bearing on the front at around 55k miles (so still with the original craigslist setup).

 

I have my entire factory MGM rear bumper in my garage right now. I'm in SF. Let me know if you're interested.

 

All I really need is the MGM corner pieces. I drive a Sky Silver, and I'm looking to change a few trim parts to MGM... If your willing to part it out, I'm interested..

 

Oh for sure, in that case I might try and sell it as a whole unit to an auto body shop or a craigslister...

 

Ditch the front but keep the rears. Don't need to be "that guy" throwing rocks on the highway.

 

OK, trying to sell as a whole 1st makes sense, but if it doesn't work out, let me know.

Thanks

 

So what about all the people without mudflaps on their Tacomas?

 

I highly advocate adding them... what answer did you expect?

 

I like the Magnetic gray better than the Rubicons.

 

While checking on progress at my future home I snapped a couple of pictures of two things dear to me, my truck and bike. Both got a lot of use this past weekend.

 

I just got one myself, only mine is in Quicksand. Yours is nice.

 

Thanks. My brother-in-law has Quicksand and has blacked it out. I gave(loaned) him the wheels that came with the Pro and his truck looks great.

 

2019 SR5 4x4

Added:
BFG 265/75-16
Body Armor Overland Rack
OEM Rock Rails
Pelican Cargo System
River Quiver Fly rod Vault
Ski/Snowboard rack (for traditional casting/spinning rods)
Bilstein 5100's will get installed at the end of this week.

 

Hey what grill are you rocking? Is that a DBcustom?