grandpa truck build

I was fortunate enough to be gifted my grandpa's old 1999 xtra cab tacoma a year ago. When I got it, it was just over 90k miles, and we had to jumpstart it to get it home.

Me and my dad spent a few days cleaning it out, vacuuming heinous amounts of pine needles (it sat under a tree), and using acetone to clean off all of the sap.

 

Nice!

 

Pretty soon after I started driving it full time, I took it down some forest roads. I remember the very first time I pulled up to one of those donut pits and I tried getting it sideways, but on video it looked like I was just driving a roundabout lol.

For the rest of last year, I'd say at least once a week I'd go out with a couple of my friends. We'd stop by a gas station, get shitty junk food and then go and explore forest roads.

I started to get a bit more into the obstacles/features, and started driving over smaller tank traps, and started to get an understanding of what ground clearance I had. Looking for new places to wheel (I was living in Port Angeles, Washington), I found Sadie Creek ORV online and decided to check it out...

If by the chance anyone here's ever been to Sadie, they might understand how a stock tacoma shouldn't be able to get in there. I regret not getting a video, but I was somehow able to get through the tight qualifier (with the bottom of my truck scraping the traffic barrier underneath). Then, me and my friend decided to explore it for a while, and went up somewhat of an easier looking trail, which I ended up getting stuck on and had to back down and flip a tight u-turn. It took around 10 minutes to get out of the qualifier because it was harder to set up for it with my long and low ass truck, lack of flex, and open rear diff.

got home and checked everything out to make sure there was no broken parts (my friend under, looking for damage)
This was the first time I had really thrashed my truck and gotten it stuck

 

It was around this time I knew I was gonna need to put a lift and bigger tires on. I started researching, and found rough country. Thank god I was broke at the time, as if I had the money I probably would've bought either the 2.5" crappy spacer lift or the 6" DB lift.

Didn't wheel much in the early part of the year due to being busy (graduating highschool), and then I worked in wildland firefighting in the summer so I had next to no free time from mid June till September. Although, with the free time I did have, I was researching the best lift for me. I like to think that I wheel pretty hard, and so I wanted to spend more money and to get actual suspension lift, not just spacers. I ordered Bilstein 5100's, and opted to stick with stock coils in the front (which I heard isn't recommended but if it works, it works), then a 2" shackle lift in the rear that I found on Amazon for like $90. Ordered some tools to be able to do it myself, because before installing my lift, I never really did any mechanical work on my truck before. My family's always been the type of people to just drop vehicles off at the shop and let them deal with it, but if I was gonna be wheeling my truck I knew I really should be learning how to build it up myself, plus it feels good to actually understand how my truck works.

A week into September Iwas finally when I was able to get a weekend off, and I took the whole day to build up my truck. My day started around 9 a.m., and it ended with me and my dad calling it at midnight. There were a lot of hiccups, and it was a big learning experience for me, along with my dad too. He's always been a handyman, but usually with his boat or the house and not his truck so it was good to be able to learn with him. I woke up around 7 the next morning to install the shackles before I had to get to my 8:30 appointment to get my new tires installed.

 

even with just a 2.5" lift and 33"s, I couldn't wipe the smile off my face driving it home. I still had some stuff to do to it, like install the steel bumper I ordered, (and remove the old Toyota grille that I was trying to fit (ill make that thing fit someday)). I also knew I was gonna have to get a winch, cuz I held back a lot while wheeling because there was nobody else there in a vehicle to get me unstuck. Fast forward a weekish and one small wheeling adventure, and I finally had my truck fully outfitted

 

Soon after, it was time for me to move up here to Bellingham for college. The one thing that kinda sucks is that there are not any forest roads that are close to town that I can drive on, unlike Port Angeles. Though, about 40 minutes south is Walker Valley ORV. I made the trip down there a couple weeks ago, and Jesus Christ that place was a blast. I made it through the qualifier, but not without any sacrifice. On my way in, I got what I thought was a big dent on my drivers side, until it was time to go back out, and I got that massive passenger-side bed dent, along with one on the door. Not crying over it though, as I don't mind dents as long as the truck still mechanically works. Plus, they add character IMO, and hold memories of good times

 

Got a sick ass moped a week ago so I am not as reliant on this as a daily driver as I was before, plus I walk to class anyways. The only thing I use this truck for outside of wheeling is driving to the mtb trails, and soon hopefully up to mt. baker for snowboard season.

Already getting some ideas for what to do next with this guy. Definitely thinking about chopping the end of it, whether it be bobbing the bed and chopping the frame, or flatbed it and chop the frame. I live in the dorms so I don't have many tools with me right now, outside of sockets and wrenches though. Probably gonna start learning about SAS so in a year or two I might be able to throw a solid axle under the front