Mater's '19 Tacoma Build Thread

Never posted on here but I always wanted to while i have slowly built up my 2019 TRD Offroad. So here is my rigs progress over the years.

I picked it up in 2019 after a year long deployment back when crap wasn't over priced! $38K. And it was easy to find the one I wanted as the lot was FULL of new trucks. Sounds like a fever dream lol.





I then threw on a TRD Pro grille because I love the TOYOTA script like the FJ's and that chrome was just not my thing. I then got my first place with a garage and saved up enough to start buying parts for the lift.



I got Fox 2.0s Front and Rear and OME Dakar Mediums (i think i kinda regret those but I will talk about that more)







The installation was fun and was a great excuse to drop hundreds on new tools and a new tool box. I love Lowes needless to say its my toy store. I struggled getting the bushings swapped out with the rear shocks as they come with a larger bushing installed but the proper ones come with the box. I used these clamps from Harbor Freight and some part of a random tool rented from auto zone to pop the wrong bushing out.



That came out in multiple pieces haha but the new one went in easy with some grease. I prepped them with some boots as well.



I started the removal of the old parts and put in the new. I have no experience and learned it all on youtube. And it was not that hard. All together I think I spent around $1500 ish on all the suspension parts. I cant remember its been a while and I dont like to think about how much money I would have saved if i kept it stock.

Out with the old and in with the new.









Ok, so it went on well and nothing broke. And it looked sweet.


However there was a shudder when driving slow. And it felt STIFF in the rear. Like alot. I thought this was the ECGS Bushing thing and was not ready to try that fix. But I read on here that the driveshaft geometry was messed up now. Made sense and saw that i should add a shim. So I added a shim. Problem was i needed a way to keep the centering pin from being too short to fit through the shim opening and into the axel. So i took a nut and shaved it down to fit on the centering pin and keep the shim in place while sticking into the axel. It acted like a spacer basically. Wish I had a better pic but it worked.




I later got a new centering pin with a threaded nut to act as the spacer from a suspension shop. But I wanted this done now and was gonna make it work to prove I did not need the ECGS Bushing.

It worked. No more shudder. Now the problem is that the shims added like another inch of lift. I had 2" in the rear before but now i had 3 in the rear and 1.5 in the front. So I removed a leaf to lower it. This was also supposed to take out the stiffness and make it a light spring vs the medium rating it had from OME.



After putting on some new U bolts and that better center pin (And painted the shims black to protect em from rust that was appearing on em) I put the truck back under its own weight. Now the rear was lower than the front. The rear dropped to just under 1.5" of lift from stock. With the shims still on as well. The stiffness was kinda gone but it just left worse. And the rear shocks are rated for 1.5 to 3" of lift so I felt kinda nervous this was bad for them being compressed all the time. Probably not that bad but I put the leaf back on. (with new U bolts for the final time)

It was what it was. Later I tossed in a hundreds of pounds of weight for a dump run and it felt so good in the rear. (thats what she said) Maybe I will get a Leer shell some day for the rear. So maybe I regret this leaf pack but I did not want to do an AAL to mess up the OEM leafs (I kept all the old suspension parts in the event I sold it and needed to put it back to stock. Or if i just hated the new stuff). Some day also I will get new upper control arms to just get better alignment but its not needed.

Next up was the front headlights. That chrome had to go. But I like OEM. So i found a pair of like new TRD Pro lights on ebay for $600 or $900, honestly cant remember. Im gonna say $600 to feel better about myself.



But I am not gonna just be a TRD Pro wanna be. The white DRL was trash. I have seen maybe one other member on here do the Diode Dynamics led swap. So I went for it with some help from youtube.



I had to stick these in the oven to pop em open which made my wife (girl friend at the time) very confused but i didn't break anything. One of the tabs for mounting broke in shipping but JB Weld and some thin strips of metal I made for supports. I painted it black also. It's held for over a year in the AZ heat.



I put it all together and installed it. What a pain that was. But the payoff!

OLD:


New:


And the comparison!


Ok now its looking good. But now i got the urge to cover up the softex seats with seat covers. Mostly to preserve them as my dads (a 2018) are wearing out and getting glossy and dirty with all the AZ dust. So I went with Carhartts.




Looks good and my buds roasted me for them haha but It will pay off when I have kids and they get the seats filthy. Also the original seats will stay crisp for years.

But ok TIRES
KO2s I think they are 33" but zoom in and check the tire size or whatever they are bigger than stock tires. God did they look good in the bed and they smelled great.



And loved that tread pattern.



Lets take a look. Yeah I love this truck.



I did a trip to Sedona and went on the Outlaw trail. Alot of fun for my first off-roading experience.



But visibility sucked. I needed a front camera. So i got the Anytime Backup camera and Installed that. I snapped the wire going through the firewall grommet. I had to reorder a wire for like 40 bucks but thats not too bad. I then got plastic tubing to feed the wire through. That was a much better idea. I managed to stick the camera dead center by the radar and have had no issues with it messing with cruise control at all. None! Just took some trimming of plastic on the grille.




10/10

Went to Sedona again and did the broken arrow trail. Holy crap was that fun and made me think I was gonna destroy something on the truck. I came back with no damage thank god haha. The steps had me scared for my trucks body and paint. But yeah im hooked on off-roading.



So Thats pretty much it so far. This has been the build since I got the truck in 2019 and my truck will be 3 years old next month. I just picked up a 2020 8" radio off of offer up for $300 to add Apple CarPlay and am just waiting on the harness (another $150). I hope the anytime camera works without having to get a new harness and I think It will but if not no big deal. About to deploy again and will definitely be adding amber KC fog lights and the KC gravity pro 6 lights on the top. Possibly that Leer topper as well. I will probably also get the 4WP front bumper and sliders and a winch would be sweet. No rooftop tent tho. Not a camper guy haha The leaf springs have gotten better stiffness wise and I have no issues with any parts on this truck other than a clunk sometimes when starting. I think the starters got a bad tooth in its gear or whatever but it starts every time and I am working that with the dealership so its covered under my extended warranty they say. Love it all. Maybe I wish the rear wasn't so high But its not bad and its better than having the front higher than the rear.

Also currently at 41000 Miles so this year deployment will be a great break on the truck as its my daily and gas is expensive as hell. My wife will start it up monthly and drive it a bit around the block to keep it running healthy until I am back. Gonna miss her, oh and gonna miss my wife haha.

I don't really know why I posted this other than to share the build but if anyone has any questions on the stuff I did I will answer for sure.

-Mike

 

Looks great! I really like those DRLs and your head lights turned out awesome. Your truck is awesome.

 

Looks good. I like it

 

Cool write up. Good choices.

 

Nice rig Thank you for your service!!

 

Nice organized post and build, truck looks great and it sounds like you are having a lot of fun!
Good luck on the deployment and thank you for your service.

 

Man!

You held off for some time to make this post. Lots of goodies that you installed/ops check good.

Congrats on all your achievements.

 

Loving it….

 

Nice build! Thanks for your service and good luck with the deployment.

 

Fantastic 1st post ! glad you are enjoying the truck and modding . Thank you for your service Sir !!

 

Great write up, nicely done and easy to comprehend as basic taco owner here.

 

Thanks for all the support! Definitely will post again when i get more stuff added to it in the years to come. I am gonna need some more spots for switches tho haha every blank is filled. I know i can put some in the place of the cubby next to the steering wheel but i like that thing, would be cool if someone made a unit to replace the sunglasses holder with oem style switch blanks to mod out. I could get one more switch spot open for those future KC lights I for some reason think I need if meso customs restocked the switch plates that he used to make for the area by the sun roof controls. Wish Toyota had offered aux switches like for does with the ranger tremor.

 

Great build you got going. Truck looks great. I live in AZ as well. I have done some of the trails in Sedona. Which trail do you think is harder Outlaw or Broken Arrow? I have never been on Outlaw but we camp right next to it.

Thank you for your service!!!

 

Thanks man! and Broken Arrow is way way harder. Outlaw was just fun and a stock rig could do it probably in 2WD. 4WD was used tho as i stalled out in 2WD haha. Outlaw was alot of fun, saw a bunch of cows and baby cows on the trail bouncing in front of my truck while out there so my wife loved that. that was in the winter tho idk if id wanna be a cow out there in the summer haha.

 

Beautiful truck, and thank you for your service!

 

Clean build. My type of build. If I didn’t have 3 young kids and daycare and college fund I would definitely build mine really close to yours… for now i am stuck with stock.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nzxJ2vHYFk

 

Thank you for your service!

 

That's awesome. Its a front camera that necessary?

 

Man there is nothing bad about stock, i wish id go back to stock with these gas prices, i get 16.5 mpg also. Wish i got an automatic like my dad, he gets around 22 mpg.