bebo_junker’s ‘06 SR5 Reg Cab

Hello TW, I decided to make an introductory/build thread.

My name is Octavio, born and raised in Puerto Rico but moved to the states about 5 years ago, currently living in LA.

I played with VWs during my college years (mostly mk2s) but being from PR the love for Yotas was just always there.

Back in March I started looking for early 90s 22R trucks to make a “VW Taro” (look it up, they’re cool as hell plus probably the only reliable VW ) replica. I even sourced NOS badges, mudflaps, steering wheel, etc. from Greece.

While looking to buy one of those I stumbled across an ad selling a ‘92 rusted to death but you could see the 2nd gen in the back, so I contacted the seller and went to take a look. Even though it’s “modern” it checked all the boxes of what I wanted, single cab, 4 cyl. and 5 spd but it’s a PreRunner and the wrong body style, oh well can’t win them all.





The pros outweighed the cons and that same day I drove the pos home.



First mod was some cheap fogs and oem rubber mats.



Then I found about free shipping on some Toyota dealerships and that was the excuse I needed to order the stuff I wanted.

•OEM Rear bumper to replace the chrome
•OEM Bed rubber cover
•OEM “Toyota Accesories” seat covers
•OEM “Toyota Accesories” Skidplate
•OEM “Toyota Accesories” door sill protectors
•OEM “Toyota Accesories” hitch cover
•OEM TRD Sport Package smoked headlights
•OEM LED Taillights

 

Didn’t have no time to wrench on the truck working 84 hours a week so it sat for a month while I kept ordering parts for it. Including a set of 16x8 +0 Enkei RPT1s and 265/75s Wildpeaks.



At first I wasn’t planning on lifting the truck but the suspension was pretty much shot so a replacement was needed, decided to keep it within a budget and went with 3rd gen OR coils and brand new oem Billies.




During that time I started to spend more and more time here in the forum and got the "overlanding" itch, so went ahead and ordered some All Pro bed bars and a Smittybilt Overlander XL RTT.


Replaced the tails with oem LEDs, took all the interior apart for a deep cleaning and kept doing general maintenance.

It kept raining on and off for weeks here in Louisiana so I couldn’t much on the truck (I know, I need a garage in the worst way.)

 

Wanting to get rid of the chrome grill and rear bumper I ordered one of those eBay FauxPro grills and a OEM base bumper. Supplied myself with some prep materials, some Dupli 4q2 and went to town, was kinda surprised at how decent was the match. Some old threads claim the color wasn’t even close to DSM but is this maybe a new mix/formula? Who knows, anyways I was happy.



Notice the stupid VW sitting in my yard has a similar color to the old man tan like the Taco.



Also installed a shovel on the bed bars with some Quick Fists, XBull traction boards and a Trasharoo so everyone knows it’s the real deal No tailgates were harmed, it’s already full of scratches lol



Got the oem skidplate installed as well as a hood bug deflector (always liked how those look lol)





Installed the cruise control, and oem seat covers.

Got the front strut assemblies in, changed the oil, plugs, air filter, new CarPlay radio, speakers/tweeters and took it for a spin for the first time after the day I brought it home.

 

During that drive I noticed a nasty exhaust leak and kept getting the CEL for the o2 sensors, crawled under the truck and there it was, a nasty piece of pipe replacing the cat that Stevie Wonder welded himself. Got a replacement cat from Canada, new Denso sensors and no more CEL issues, the bumpy idle got corrected and I was happy about not seeing a VWesque cluster )Still need to get rid of the TPMS light though).

Also installed a ScanGauge II to keep monitoring the vitals, used a TW thread for that crafty/genius mount

 

I had some scheduled vacations during the whole month of June and decided to take the truck on a roadtrip, the lady wanted Florida, I had an idea quite more ambitious, after some quick planning we hit the road heading towards Colorado.



Took a quick nap somewhere in Dallas and after 17 hours we made it to Denver.




Spent a couple days in Pine/Conifer, CO






Visited some breweries in Denver as well as Garden of the Gods.

 

Then started heading west to Moab, UT.



Visited Arches as well as some trails around, this was Father’s day weekend so there was plenty of nice rigs around the area. Didn’t take much pics, fail.





I was having a great time and not looking forward at all to come back to Louisiana so let’s keep driving, off to Vegas we were.

As soon as I made it to LV (peep that BMW turn signal delete) a friend hit me up and the next day we were on the way to Mt. Charleston. That same night we drove to Nellis Sand Dunes in North Vegas and called it a day.

 

Wanted to visit the Hoover Dam for the longest so drove there, had to take every single item from the bed at the check point but shared the check area with a nice 3rd gen Quicksand, cool owner too.






Grabbed some quesabirria at Los Arcos, some goodies at Cookies and head out to the CO River Laughlin, NV. Water was like straight out of the fridge, temp was at 105°F, didn’t make a lot of sense but that water was perfect for that hot weather.

 

After 5 days in Vegas it was time to head back, I had a last stop to make.



Grand Canyon National Park, AZ




Somewhere in Texas, leaving what it felt like a random storm out of nowhere.

 

That pretty much bring me to the present day

After 16 days living on the truck, I ended putting 4800 miles on the road trip, about $800 on gas and countless memories (fuck them West coast fuel prices though)

I just got started but there’s still some things that I want to get out of the way asap, including new leafpacks to get rid of the nasty sag when loaded, new brakes and a scoop’d hood.

Also, as soon as we made it back to Louisiana I started hearing the damned reg cab coasting noise, checked for any rattling but after reading a lot I’m pretty sure is the driveshaft, truck is operating like it should but it sounds like something is going to come apart, hate it. That’ll have to become a priority I guess.

 

Haven’t updated this in a minute.

The rattling noise ended up being the cat converter heat shield been driving the truck with no issues, already hit 10k miles under my ownership.

Also bought this Speedway Blue TRD Sport AC

 

Another one, one that I've been wanting for a long time. Nothing major planned for the X other than bringing it back to factory.

Have been thinking on selling the RC but I know I'll regret it, there's also the option to ship it back home (PR) but idk yet.

 

Sold, it'll be missed.