aturk's mid-travel, double-locked, pavement princess

2019 TRD Off-Road

This truck started as a 3rd vehicle, leased. I'm a homeowner and have always had sports cars and a sedan sitting around as a daily driver. Long time “car guy” and have drag raced, road raced, etc. At the time when I leased the Tacoma, I had a 2013 Acura TL AWD, and a 2014 BMW M235i. The Acura was getting up there in miles (120k), but it was paid off, mint shape, and I could sell it for a chunk of cash - freeing up some liquid cash and lease the Tacoma for cheap. Tacoma would allow me to get into something new and not have to worry about much for 2 years. Wasn't sure if I would like the Tacoma, but they have had good reviews and I always liked the looks.

Right off the bat, I do some basics to the Tacoma (stereo upgrades, wheel spacers, window tint). It was coming in handy for house stuff, and I loved using it to carry my mountain bike to the trails instead of the roof rack that was on my Acura. Couple months further down the road, I sell my Acura for house mod money.

My BMW had been modded for years, and I was getting bored. So decided to lift the Tacoma after about a year of it being stock. Went with Eibach Pro Coilovers up front, 1" block out back, SPC uppers. I didn't want to cut anything or have driveability issues, so just went with a 2" lift up front, 265/70/17 tires on Method 305 wheels. This let me take it on a few tame local trails and I really enjoyed it. Unfortunately it was still pretty low as far as lifted trucks go, didn’t have any armor, and I didn’t feel comfortable beating it up. I reached a cross roads with it, keep it as is….or take it further…

This was about summer of 2021, my lease was about up, Tacoma prices were sky high. Used car values were sky high. Time to sell the BMW and buy out the Tacoma lease (Tacoma only had about 8k miles).

Did an off-road driving class (biggest waste of time and money ever) and the instructor let me fall into a rut (he wanted us to do the hard line) and I smashed in my passenger rocker panel. Also watched a guy in a stock Tacoma rip his plastic rear bumper to pieces. I think every vehicle had received some kind of damage, which amazed me for a "Level 1 off road driving class"

Fixed the rocker panel, ordered Greenlane aluminum sliders, and ordered a rear bumper. Realized I'm down to 1 vehicle only, and I wanted to see just how good I could build this thing out. Simultaneously, my dad and I planned a cross country trip to Colorado and Moab for September 2022. This was a good excuse to spend WAY too much money on the truck in attempt to make it perfect.

My goal was to keep it LIGHT, while having full armor, full bumpers, etc. My thought was 5.29's and 34's on a light truck should make it drive better than it did stock, especially being tuned. Goal is 17-18mpg on the highway.

Front Suspension:
Fox 2.5 DSC Coilovers with valving from Accutune
600lb Front Springs
SPC Upper Arms
Wheeler Super Bumps
DRT FAB - Cab Mount Relocation
Sway Bar Delete

Rear Suspension:
Fox 2.5 DSC Tundra Shocks with valving from Accutune
Icon RXT Leaf Pack (Set to Option 1)
Archive Garage Hammer Hangers with Crossbrace
Archive Garage Fabricated Shackles
Archive Garage U-Bolt Flip
Archive Garage Speed Bumps
Wheeler +2" Rear Brake Lines

Armor:
RCI Aluminum Skid Plates
Greenlane Aluminum Sliders
ATH Standard Rear Steel Bumper (non-hidden hitch)
SSO Slimline Hybrid Front Bumper (Tubular)
DRT FAB LCA Skidplates
DRT FAB Hitch Skid
SmittyBilt X20 Gen3 10k Winch with Synthetic Line

Tires/Wheels:
Method 705 17x8.5 with 0 Offset
Method Valve Caps
285/75/17 Nitto Ridge Grapplers C-Load
BORA .75" spacers (front and rear)

Exterior Lighting:
BHLM Headlights with MLED 2.0 Projectors (Quad Projector High Beam)
Diode Dynamics Amber DRL Conversion
Meso Stage 2 Sidemarkers
Hikari High Beam Bulbs
GTR Lighting Amber Turn Signal Bulbs
Meso Ultimate Turn Signals
R4T Raptor Lights and DRL Harness
Diode Dynamics SSC3 Max Fogs, Amber Backlight
Diode Dynamics SSC1 Ditch Lights, Amber Backlight
Baja Designs 20" Combo Light Bar, Amber Backlight
Diode Dynamics SSC3 Sport Reverse/Camping/Work Lights
Meso/Morimoto Ultimate Tacoma Tail Lights LED

Interior/Other Electronics:
Kicker Audio Upgrade (200x4 Amp, Tweeters, Front and Rear Door Speakers)
Noico Sound Deadening
Weathertech Floor Mats
Meso Ultimate Dome Light
Meso Map Lights
LED Visor Lights
Amazon.com Glovebox and Center Console organizers
TacomaGarage Shift Knob
Rough Country Speedo Correction Module
Switch Pro 9100
SDHQ Switch Pro Mount for the engine bay
SDHQ 3d Printed Switch Pro Mount for the cab
Duracell AGM Battery from Batteries Plus
SDHQ Billet Terminals
TRD Battery Hold Down
TacoMods Radio Knobs
Meso Extended Fuse Cover
Rear Seat Delete, 4" Memory Foam Mattress on top
XPEL Ceramic Window Tint
Viofo Dash Cam

Engine/Drivetrain:
5.29 Nitro Gears by ECGS
Harrop Front Locker
ECGS Bushing
OME Carrier Bearing Drop
J&L Catch Can
OTT Tune

Misc:
Rear Diff Breather (breather mounted in gas filler area)
Swingcase in bed with recovery gear
Meso Gashole
Lomax Urethane Tonneau Cover
TacomaGarage TRD PRO Grill
Exhaust Chop after axle
Screen Protech Speedo Film
ARK Front Wheelwell Splash Guards
Ceramic coated with Gyeon MOHS Evo by me


COMING SOON:
Powerbrake Big Brake Kit
DRT FAB Front Spindle Gussets

CURRENT PICS ARE IN THIS POST.

 

The glow up stages:

 

Does she get used as a truck?

 

Wow, I think I need to ditch my audio build before it sucks up any more money and move onto suspension and tires.

 

Got some brake upgrades done. Truck was on good rotors and Powerstop pads which was an improvement over stock but I still needed more to be happy. Painted rear drums to clean it up and installed the Powerbrake BBK.

 

They look good under the wheels too!

 

Made it to Fort Fisher beach for the weekend, the Fox suspension is leaps and bounds better than the Eibach it replaced (just comparing beach performance).

 

Just an update - 1200 or so miles on my 5.29's.

Did my first full highway road trip, 340 miles or so straight, averaging between 65-75mph. Truck averaged 18.2mpg, with speedo correction.

Truck has 34's, and about 400 extra pounds over stock. For this trip it was carrying an additional 350lbs.

This is on the latest version of the OTT tune. Truck drives very good in the current state.

 

Truck has been muddy back to back weekends. Amazing the difference from 32s to 34s with gears and bumpers.

 

Back to show truck status!

 

I had some War Fab tie rod savers sitting here, I needed a fresh set of SPC upper control arms (mine had developed some lateral play), plus wanted to do a coilover adjustment (another 10mm lower to get the ride a little better). Finished up with a fresh alignment.

 

Trucks coming together nice!

 

Installed OEM Power tailgate lock and Mountain Hatch cover.

 

Been slacking on updating this, got a bunch of little shit to post. But also splurged and got an Alu Cab. Between the rear seat delete for the dog, running 34's and hammer hangers and the spare needing to be in the bed, plus the tonneau cover, I had nothing left for room.

Alu Cab just released their Contour Canopy with windows so I had to be the first to get one

Alu Cab was chose because of the light weight, very rare to hear of any QC issues.

Downfalls are the Alu Cab shells don't photograph great, they look super boxy in pics, but they are dead sexy (IMO) in person.

 

amazing

 

That Alu Cab looks good, I been deciding on the Contour for some time and now I am sold.

 

Couple new pics

 

Awesome build man! In Charlotte as well. Picked up my Taco a little over a month and a half ago. I'll be using this build thread for my suspension set up.

 

How have you been liking the PowerBrake kit? Any reason you went with that set up as opposed to the StopTech BBK? Would love your feedback! TIA