Gold 03 Xtra Cab - Sometimes Kook Build and Adventures W/ Photos

Hey all,

Been on the forum for a bit, but never gotten around to posting anything, gotten a whole lotta ideas and inspo

College student building out a truck to be both camping focused, but very wheel-able, time is short, and so are funds, but the truck has gotten rad quick!

Any input or insight is super helpful and appreciated, hope you enjoy!

Links in the following should take you to that point in the build!

- Noah

Heres the Build List:

Suspension:
- Old Man Emu shocks with OME 881 Springs
- Old Man Emu Nitrocharger Rear
- ⅜ Driver Side Spacer (additional ½ inch lift to correct taco lean)
- Wheelers Offroad 3 leaf progressive add a leaf

Current Wheels:
- @SCSPerformance F5 17x9 -38mm Matte Jet Black
Current Tires:
- Toyo Open Country MT 295/70/17 - (33.5x11.6)

Armor:
- Coastal Offroad High Clearance Front Bumper
- Custom Hitch Flip and Plate ( "Rear Bumper")

Exterior Misc:
- ARE CX Classic Camper Shell - White
- After-market tailgate w/ Stiffener...sort of
- Pop Lock - Tacoma Tailgate lock mod

Interior:
- Custom Backup Cam install - Wired to pioneer radio
- Ultragage with scan gage mount

Lighting: (More to Come)
- Clear Corner Lights
- Led Reverse Lights
- Led Tail Lights

Mods:
- Firewall Tub, Bed Tub
- Fender flare Clearance
- Sway Bar Delete


Old Setup:
- Tacoma Stock Steel Wheels with 285/75/r16s Kuhmo Road Venture
- Raider Vagebond Camper shell
- Custom 8020 Roof Rack
- Hi Lift mount for the roof



Future Plans:
- Custom Fab'd rock sliders
- Custom Fab'd Rear dual swing out
- Rear Bumper (Coastal?)
- Coastal Skids
- New Tailgate with pop lock and stiffener panel (Similar to Relentless)
- ARB Compressor, wired in
- Custom Cab Roof Rack (Prinsu Style)
- Ditch Lights (F/R)
- Low Fogs
- Front Turn Signal Relocation
- Grey Wire Mod
- Custom GFC Style Canopy - go check @Ripcord 's build (Similar but very different)
- Redo Drawer System with proper 500lbs Slides
- Mount my winch (grill chop)
- Relentless Fab bumper, or a new coastal one, or potentially a custom Fab'd one
- Much, Much more..





Currently:







Stock:

 

That sand color is super underrated IMO. Love it with some black wheels.

 

thanks! Its super stock right now haha, but theres more to come! Been super busy so havnt updated anything but I will super soon.

 

Agreed. Wish that's what mine was.

Nice looking truck!

 

Nice truck man! Can’t wait to see your build

 

Hey all, it's been too long, life's been crazy lately so I haven't done a full write up on suspension. Initially I was just looking to do everything on a budget, but after finding a set of used OME struts for the front, I decided to do it somewhat correctly, at least to start. I went ahead and got new springs, and the progressive AAL for the rear, which I ended up installing with the factory overload contact in order to get proper lift. The front was well sagged before and so from axle to fender flare on the front I got nearly 4 inches of lift, but about 2.5” over stock ride height from what I've gathered. The 1.5 AAL’s on the rear combined with the overload means that unweighted the bed sits ½ inch higher than the front, but once camping gear and whatnot is added, it sits ¼ lower, close to perfect as I could get..(for now). To answer the question most will have, yes I am sitting on stock rear shocks, no they are not good, and yes they will be replaced as soon as I can. Droop travel is very limited right now, but I won't be able to really wheel it for a while, so that's ok for now. Let's get going!


Details:

Old Man Emu shocks with OME 881 Springs -

⅜ Driver Side Spacer (additional ½ inch lift to correct taco lean) -

Wheelers offroad 3 leaf progressive add a leaf -


Wheels:
Tacoma Stock Steel Wheels with 285/75/r16s


Hey all, it's been too long, life's been crazy lately so I haven't done a full write up on suspension. Initially I was just looking to do everything on a budget, but after finding a set of used OME struts for the front, I decided to do it somewhat correctly, at least to start. I went ahead and got new springs, and the progressive AAL for the rear, which I ended up installing with the factory overload contact in order to get proper lift. The front was well sagged before and so from axle to fender flare on the front I got nearly 4 inches of lift, but about 2.5” over stock ride height from what I've gathered. The 1.5 AAL’s on the rear combined with the overload means that unweighted the bed sits ½ inch higher than the front, but once camping gear and whatnot is added, it sits ¼ lower, close to perfect as I could get..(for now). To answer the question most will have, yes I am sitting on stock rear shocks, no they are not good, and yes they will be replaced as soon as I can. Droop travel is very limited right now, but I won't be able to really wheel it for a while, so that's ok for now. Let's get going!

Drove a couple hours to get some wheels, heres a mock up..




Most of the parts..


Up on the jack stands quickly, starting, pulled off the wheels, before removing the top bolts on the struts.


Bottom bolt was trickier to remove, but doable with a hammer and a center punch (I used a ½ socket extender..)
Shocks came off relatively easily and with some excitement.


Hooked up the spring compressor to the old shocks, and went to work. Always be careful not to get too far on one side, or both can come flying off at 1000 miles an hour.


Vice grips on the top, and a spanner and the top nut came off, followed by the rubber bushings, top hat, and the spring.


Reassembled the “new” strut with the 881 coils, using new rubber isolators, and bushings. I ended up using the old top hats with some new rubber, trying to keep things fresh. New nuts for the springs as well.


When you're doing this, be careful to align the bottom bolt for the shock, the one that attaches to the LCA, before releasing the spring back against the top hat, otherwise you will have a pain of a time setting the shock back into the geo.


For the washers, the ones I found had a bit too small of a center for the OME struts, so I fixed that problem with a stepped drill bit and some dremel action.


Top bolts went on first, and easily. Bottom bolts were harder. With extended travel shocks, it is required to push down on the UCA/LCA assembly to stretch the system to create room. I did this with a scissor jack against the top of the fender well. (a ⅞ socket on an air impact makes quick work of powering through the scissor jack, makes it much nicer to use.)



Once the bottom bolt was on, I went ahead and bashed out the pinch weld. Cleared out the fender liner, careful to keep the bottom bolt required for holding on the liner. I will eventually replace this with a flat headed bolt for some extra clearance, but haven't gotten around to it yet.
Before:



A couple cuts with a grinder, and a small hammer works perfectly to remove the rest, or just to bash it flat. 1” gained.


Repeat everything for the other side, careful to remember to add the drive side lift spacer for leveling. The front is done. Overall went very smoothly for never having done it before, no PB Blaster needed…yet.


Now time for the rear, the next day I went after it but nothing could be done, had to grab some PB blaster and soak everything for a couple days. 3 Coats of blaster later, still couldn't get much done with the impact, time to jerry rig a massive breaker bar and hope I don't mess anything up.


Jacked up the truck with some wood blocks, in order to out-droop the suspension, this makes everything easier later on. Starting higher, lifting more, and then out drooping.



Wheels came off, and I started on the U bolts. Socket, extender, metal pipe, and pry bar stuck in the other end ended up being sufficient, got them loose and the impact did the rest. Note I didn't remove the shock, it wasn't necessary and I wasn't replacing it, so it ended up being easier.


U Bolts off, Dif supported by the floor jack, and then work on getting the leaf pack disassembled. Lift up the Leaf pack with a scissor jack, Vice grips on the bottom head, and impacts on the top and this comes apart quickly.


With the leaf pack apart, and again the ½ extender being used for alignment, I worked on getting the new leafs into position, before inserting the bolt again from the bottom, and adding the Overload leaf back in. A weird and complicated combination of C clamps and scissor jacks was what was needed to get the leaf pack re assembled.


With the extended U bolts, the bump stops didn't fit on. A drill and ½ inch bit fixed this problem in no time.


Next came the somewhat painful experience of getting the leaf pack realigned with the axel. The way I did it was ratchet straps forward on the frame, and across to the other side. Floor jack under the axel and some application of force, and eventually things went in.



U Bolts went on, bolts tightened, wheels on, and the rest is wraps.


Overall I have very good things to say, truck drives super well, 881s handle the tires well, and bumps and rebound issues are (somewhat) are a thing of the past)!


New wheels and tires, I found a great set of 5 stock steel wheels from a second gen, which are awesome due to better backspacing. Cleared the new tires well, 285/75/r16 is the size. These do measure small, and I am looking forward to getting new tires at some point soon, looking at all the usual K02s, Patagonias, Ridge grapplers, or something else..? Might get KM3s as well depending on when, PNW winters get sloppy.

Tire recommendations are definitely appreciated, thanks!


Truck as it is after the lift:

 

Welcome To TW Noah...

 

Bed Drawer Build:


For the camping trips, or the immediately coming ones at least, I'll need to have some better storage, and currently I dont have the budget to do something better currently, bed storage will have to do, bonus this doubles as a super big bed platform which is the best for sleeping. So, before spring break, last minute, I went ahead and whipped out a design using simple rabbit joints and dedos, strong, simple, and cheap. I went ahead and got 5 sheets of mostly good plywood off marketplace and went to work!

I'm happy to offer input and long term thoughts about this design. It's good, but not perfect by any means, and this is only version 1.0. There will be another iteration this coming soon, and it will be so much better.



Starting off, here's some clips of the CAD design, made in fusion



First was getting everything cut, cut list was long, but easily tackled, and once pieces were cut it was dedo and rabbet joint time.



Joints were made with a combination of routing, and the dedo stack on the table saw, kept everything super square.


After Everything was cut, the outer box was assembled with staples and glue, super strong and long lasting.




Drawers were cut and routed, this was done with ¾ plywood instead of the ⅝ used elsewhere.


Drawers were assembled in the same way as the rest, glue, and staples, square and durable.


Drawers went in, and the top started to get fitted. Top slots in with dedos, so it's self locating, and wont move at all, it also holds everything square, added bonus.


The right drawer got cut apart to fit a stove, this vintage coleman decided to break quickly, ended up replacing and will have to rebuild this drawer, but it looked sick while it was there.


Top got screwed in, this way it fits up under the bed rails, and makes the whole system removable. Pre fit in the shop, then installed under the truck.


Fit In the truck, looks great.
Ikea mattress, Full size, ended up fitting perfectly. Post use I will be adding a lip to the front of this to make adding blankets and sheets easier.


Couple of pictures of the system in use



Final thoughts, this was great, storage worked fantastic. One thing I did and would really recommend to anyone else, I created a sliding “counter system” which was super useful for cooking or just keeping everything clean, you can see it easily in the pictures before the top, I really recommend having some sort of top surface for the drawer without the stove, otherwise with the tailgate covered space goes away super fast. In the future i'll be making a roof rack and some additional bed storage to take up some of the slack as well.

 

Coastal Off Road High Clearance Front Bumper!

So, I got super lucky the other day with a Marketplace find. I found a Coastal Off Road High Clearance Front Bumper, used, and fully assembled for 300$, risky since it's super custom to each frame, but I decided to go for it cause why not haha. This one was a pain, and honestly probably not worth buying used, just get a new one and do it right, but for that cheap I decided it was worth it for me. Didn't take a ton of pictures, but did some creative engineering and alot of cutting, but made it work!


Starting, I pulled off the old bumper, removed a bunch of bolts and brackets as I could. Snapped a couple bolts that were super seized, got them out later though.

Here's the bumper off:


After watching a bunch of videos about the install of these, I had to go back and do more cutting, chopping off the end of the frame blocks, and removing the vertical support that goes in front of the radiator as well.


Drilling the new holes was the trickiest part because I had to make sure they lined up with the weld nuts in the bumper. Didn't take any pictures of this part unfortunately.

The mounts at the back of the bumper's lower plate to attach to the frame were a bit off on both sides, so I fixed this with something creative. I took my old recovery points, and cut the flat mount with holes off both sides. I then cut out the holes to clearance the frame mounts, before using the “plates” I made to locate the bolts and act as a spacer to hold everything together. Yes, I know how sketchy this is, and it will get better. I'm gonna weld these plates to the bumper, and put a spacer behind it to avoid any crushing force, and we should be good. Luckily with this change I can fit this bumper to anybody else’s truck in the future simply by grinding off the plates I've added.


Painted the whole underside of the frame, and places where I cut got a little extra, appearances were very much benefited by this. Cleaned everything up and re-mounted.


Hi Lift works pretty well, seems strong enough for me right now


Did some touch up on the bumper, with paint it looks really good.


Future Plans for this bumper:

Frame crush blocks which hold the bumper on are too flexible. I'm gonna make new ones, weld end caps on, and make them fit perfectly to eliminate any flex in the bumper. Thinking about trying to fab up some vertical triangles inside to make things stiffer. I know these bumpers have some flex in them, so I want to try and eliminate as much as possible before I try and recover from it or add a winch. Thinking about sandblasting and repainting. If I do this, I will touch up some welds and make things stronger still, not totally happy with the last dudes welds.


Please drop suggestions for how I should deal with this and make it better for the future!

 

Love the build man I can’t wait to see what else you do

 

New Projects as of recent times!


It's been a while since I have had time to add much here on the build thread, but here are the write ups I haven't done for some time!


Bought a winch, still haven't mounted it to the bumper…


Finally got OME nitrochargers for the rear of the truck as well, youll see them in the pics here, intall was super easy and I totally forgot to take any pictures.

A buddy and I installed some tracks on my canopy, this was quick and much easier than many people say, 54” long, lots of silicone used, left the interior studs long so I can use them on the interior later on.



Started creating some roof tracks for the canopy using 2” angle iron and alot of bolts from Ace hardware. This was a super basic version of this project, and I will be making it better in the future. Just chopped the angles into sections with the chop saw, and then punched and drilled every section together to create an angle adjustable support for the 8020 across the top. The best part of this, is that as long as the angled mounts are bolted securely to the tracks and the cross bar, the cross bars are self leveling, as the 4 parallel contacting faces mean they must be aligned side to side. Super simple build, 66” roof bars, pics should explain the rest below.






Next project I decided to tackle randomly was a hitch flip. I have seen similar versions of this done, but did minimal research after I came up with a design that would seemingly work alright. My only goal for this project was to come up with a plate which could move my hitch somewhere around 8 inches above where it was, giving me much more ground clearance, and still allowing me to use the bike rack, in the time between now and when I build a proper dual swing out.


First, pulled off the bumper with some horribly bent bolts, the truck was rear ended a while back, holy crap it was banged up bad inside the bumper.




Disassembled the bumper, and mocked up the placement I wanted to see with the hitch. I won't be towing, never fear.


After some proper CAD, I took the real world moc ups and sent them into illustrator to make sure everything was square to the frame, and to print a template I could use to cut out the plates on either side.





Cut them out with the portable bandsaw, and a grinder, drilled the holes, and mounted it to the frame.




Quick test with the Hi Lift to make sure it was secure, then cut a hole in another steel plate, and covered it all up. This outer plate is just for kicks, to make it look a little cleaner.



Also painted it..


Did a brake job, new rotors and pads on the front, plus a bleed. Didn't really take any pictures, but the one thing I would add, using a combination of bolts and nuts against the brake bolt was crucial for me while trying to get the rotor unstuck, very good tricks from youtube.


Cut off my exhaust as well, little more clearance

After:



All the good stuff is to come, im updating the cover photo now with what the truck looks like, and ill make more posts when I have time soon..

 

Something Big Came in - @SCS F5’s in Matte Jet Black 17x9 with the -38offset. Lotta poke but it'll be sick


Got tires mounted and balanced, plus a long overdue alignment




Part of me misses the 16’s, and they may come at some point, likely If I want to go to a 315/75/16 at some point in the future, but overall i'm pretty happy with the look

It does not clear

Even a little



Drove it for a week cause I had no time, I had just over ¾ of a steering wheel rotation, very scary


Then made time, and pulled the front apart, Fenders, grill, lights, bumper, and antenna came off



Pulled off the shocks, and took some before pics



Threw Caution to the wind, Sway Bar Delete!

Little PB Blaster..



Some rough Sharpie Lines, Removed the rocker board, and the trim piece, along with the bolts and clips holding the internal tires to the firewall, and a used towel to hold back the wires on the inside




Went to town with the angle grinder


Got it to this point and had to call it for the day, full stuff, but not full lock yet


Same deal on the other side, sharpie, and a whole lot of grinder action


The fender liner someone had sprayed in here made a mess of the grinding work, and I was trying to cut as little as possible for now..


Big Hole


Made it happen, full stuff and lock on the drivers side


Went back and revisited the other side, now they both clear, full rotation!


Crap that's close, that's with the caster pretty much maxed out, gunna need UCA’s (Ha!)


More sharpie lines, and had some fun with the angle grinder, more carefully this time



Pretty happy with how this turned out


Cardboard template, flipped it, and cut the other side


Shocks back on, I always forget how hard this step is




Everythings back together!


Drove it for a shockingly long time, like 2 weeks, with full holes, cause I couldn't find time to get into the shop to weld it all back together,


Cut the bed sides



And the fender flares, I forgot to take many pictures of this cause it was kind of rushed to finish, pretty straight forward, just gotta think it through and go slow, I ended up using a harbor freight dremel



Quick overnight wheeling and camping trip with a buddy who used to own a first gen, flipped it..




Popped the canopy off to go get another one for a buddy, tires look massive without a cap, crazy



Tires are bigger though..


Re designed my roof rack, and threw my spare and hi lift up there, didn't like the spare there though, even if it was temporary, kinda looked cool though





Literally the only pic I took while doing the backup cam install in my “bumper,” wiring the reverse light to the camera,


Now it's time for the welding! Made the hole much bigger first


Cardboard template, the best form of CAD,


Massive sheet of 16g hot rolled used, this worked super well


This was a long night, slowly but surely pieced it together, but man was it hard to weld, the body is so thin, especially after grinding off the fender liner spray someone before me used, it was near impossible to not blow holes through, in the end we got it together, little temporary paint action, the whole fender will be painted soon, when we do the other side. Pics below






Little Flex sesh