Tylers 2015 Trail Team Tacoma build thread

Hey Mate! cheers! Great Rig!!!!!

 

UPDATE POST

So... I feel like I made a huge mistake and I am paying that price.

I trusted a shop with my truck to do work that I just didn't have the tools for at the moment. It started in September of 2019. I asked to have a custom UTE deck made to replace the box. I would leave the truck with them so I could fit in between the other jobs and get it in sooner. I bought myself a 2006 Blue Tacoma to drive at a super good deal and kept it fairly stock but used parts I had lying around to give it a minor lift etc. ....

Temp Tacoma (starting/middle/finished)



oh boy... this is where it got interesting. they started the job and pulled the box and made a basic box frame from huge aluminum tubing (2x3 x.250 wall) I had given directions of what I wanted including reviewing other decks about what I liked and didn't like and talked about what I wanted. no mockup, no quote, no drawing, no rendering. first mistake..... my first mistake. At that point I should have just canceled all work and taken it back. paid and taken a loss. I was confident in the fabricators ability but apparently there wasn't a clear communication no matter how hard I tried.

Before we started I found this picture and explained this is basically what I wanted without sides up top and I wanted flush mounted doors. We also agreed that it had to be modular so that the rear bumper, the cabinets and deck were all bolt on parts so that they could be adjusted, fixed or modified separately.



To show what I wanted regarding the doors I showed this photo.



The first view of my future deck was to ask which way I wanted the lights hung... 4" heated JW speaker LED Brake and signal lights were included by me for the build.


...................... That was December 2019....
Obviously i had to come in and discuss why its so far off what was talked about.... keep in mind that the current deck area shown is also the full deck length and would have been the rear of the unit.
but... time and money invested... lets make this work right.... *****BANG BANG BANG***** shooting myself in the foot would have been easier.

My temp truck got an offer on it that I couldnt resist. new home project to distract me a 2005 4runner v8 sr5 picked off a dealer for super cheap because they miss-quoted mechanical repairs for the trade-in

Before / after


This occupied me for the majority of 2020 right to late fall... then .... like an idiot... I got another offer for the 4runner.. was told the tacoma would be brought in and finished soon anyways. so I sold the 4runner... This was another mistake. it made me drive a jeep grand cherokee for months. realizing that my truck still wasnt moving at the shop for Valid reasons (covid, management blowup, restructuring at the shop) I was keeping my cool waiting for that epic deck. knowing full well that 25-30k for a similar build was fairly normal for what I wanted and I was supposed to be under 10k..... supposed to be.

to be continued. .....

 

Continued update.....

So after months of dreaming of my truck being amazing... I decided like an idiot that 37s were also something I really wanted in my tacoma. I ran across some scs -38 ray10 wheels and 37" cooper stt pro's on a full set of 5 and decided to add that to the crazy build. When looking at the clearly visible suspension on the back of the truck I also noticed that my 14" king 2.5" reservoirs had rub marks at the top of the shock.... so kill two birds with one stone... add a cantilever design suspension under the deck where the spare tire used to go. this and tubbing in the front would allow me to run those 37" rubbers without issue. I was already running a upgraded rear axle and arb lockers regeared front and rear. Fiberglass front fenders were also already installed
Installed those rubbers myself on the truck and absolutely loved the sizing.



To show the difference in size to 315/70r17



All installed



Meanwhile.... I couldn't find a landcruiser 80 series, tacoma or 4runner to buy... so I strayed from toyota.... big mistake but its been an experience. I bought a 2007 dodge 3500 5.9 cummins.. its fought me every week that i've had it and made me love VW diesels that much more lol. While I do wish Toyota had brought the 4.5 v8 diesel over to use in the tacoma or tundra the power output from some of the VW 6 and 8 cylinder diesels is amazing in comparison. Anyways... This is my big mistake and I feel i did this out of frustration and hope. I wanted something I could modify for offroad while still keeping good economy. It kinda did both.

Tire size 285/75r18 (35.1x11.2r18) Maxxis bighorns and get 12L/100km on diesel. well over 5k cad of repairs done in just parts.


That brings me to Decembers big reveal...
During that month they finally started on the truck again... over a year after first taking it in... I figured for sure my patience had paid off.. and i got an update on my current bill........ having still not a single quote after talking about the suspension and handing a design for the quote... the work was started without approval to do what was wanted including the winch plate. $19500 rounded..... not completed ... front tubbing on the truck was done badly and the guy i originally wanted to have do the work was in the office and his coworker made some really stupid choices.... FULL F*@%NG stop to all work ordered by me. This was apparently 165 hours of work no changes or advancement to the deck itself. Price did include 2 king 2.5" air shocks to start on another idea I had. no winch in that price.



So .... I called the work out. the front needing to be fixed for free and really pointed out the excessive hours for something that should have been much cheaper.. I probably wouldn't have done any of that had I known the price. 4 months later the price was lowered appropriately and agreed upon to a much more reasonable number with a set price on finishing the work up to the deck. Another major project had been pulled into the shop so I had to wait again.... for repairs to work that was done wrong..... now i'm getting pissed. That was finalized in May... Just this week the suspension on the rear was finalized and next week ... maybe... will be fixing the front tubbing. The wheels also had to be changed due to excessive offset to a -12 dot beadlock.

Biggest mistake I ever made was trusting someone with my truck. now I am forced to do it again incase I decide to go to court later. The deck will be finished by myself and a friend with a shop over 3 hours drive from me. Planning on spending 4 days mocking up sections and he will weld it together for me while i go to and from work.

Before and Current of the truck

 

Damn Tyler that all sucks.

I’ve been wondering why no posts for so long.

Check out Instagram BF_campers get those prices noted down and as reasonable estimate as to the work requested to compare to these other guys. If you’re going to court with this all.