jacobrippey Presents: Another Silver Crewcab Build

Hello. My name is Jacob and I am the proud owner of a 2004 Tacoma crew cab TRD 4WD. This is my build thread. Here is a more recent photo.

Current Mods:
Suspension:
Old Man Emu Nitrocharger Shocks
2883 Springs
Dakar Leaf Packs
CVJ CV Axles
BAMF BPV Braket
Wheelers SS Rear Brake Line

Powertrain:
AFE Reusable Filter
Deckplate Mod
Re-located Diff Breather
Transmission cooler
Hood struts

Wheels:
Procomp 7069 (16X8)

Tires:
BFG KM3 285/75/16

Armor/Lights:
ARB Bumper (with newer fog housings grafted in)
Trail Gear Sliders
Baja Design Foglights (Paranoid Fab brackets)
Stainless Skidplate
Badlands 9k Winch
Snugtop
CBI Ditch Light Brackets
Rough Country Light Relay Box
eBay Snorkel

Interior:
Acura RSX Seats
Gray Wire Mod
8" Sub
Paranoid Fab Switch Panel
Paranoid Fab Scanguage Mount

Wishlist:
Supercharger
4.56 gears
Manual Swap
Go Fast Camper

 

Backstory time: my parents bought a 2001 Crewcab in Lunar Mist (same color) in 2002. It was decked out. Was TRD supercharged, had TRD headers and exhaust. Matching Snugtop cap. I grew up in that truck. Saved our lives in a wreck. First car I drove. First car I off-roaded. My parents sold it a year before I got my learners permit. I’ve wanted one since.

I scratched the itch a bit by buying my first Tacoma in Jan 2014. It was a single cab 4wd 1995.5. Things got carried away as you can see on my build thread: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/jacobrippeys-1995-v6-swapped-tacoma-single-cab-build.464821/

 

Although my single cab was great, it was probably a little too much of a camper to be a useful truck. The lack of a backseat didn’t bode well to my future family plans either. The hunt was on for a crew cab.

I acquired the truck in January 2021 from @Camps on TW. Truck already had some nice bolt ons but needed a motor. It had a permanent CEL for a Cyl1 Misfire, but didn't misfire. They went through and changed the injectors, plugs, wires, coilpacks, and even the ECU. Come to find out that it was a walking crankshaft.

Timmy the toolman on Youtube even wrenched on this thing (What an honor!!): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-lhZIWOkyU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxvXicCba6o

Truck was bought and shipped from San Jose, CA to sunny Phoenix, AZ. Below is the for sale photo:

 

It arrived. Look at it in all of its glory! Despite it having enough crank play to ruin the engine, the truck started and drove! New engine was on order. I was incredibly impressed by how clean the truck was when it arrived. @Camps took good care of this thing.

 

I bought a tarp large enough to cover my entire garage floor and pulled the engine out of the truck. I was dismayed that the engine getting swapped in was dirtier than the engine I took out. Then I pulled the oil pan off and whoooo boy. The thrust bearing explains the 1/4” of crank play. I treated the engine to a ton of cleaning and all of the parts required to convert a JDM take-out to a USDM Spec 5VZ. Also threw on a new T-Belt, Water pump, etc. While I was doing this, I also swapped the lower ball joints with new OEM ones, because we all know what happens when those break... New OEM Radiator too!

 

Got the engine installed and took it on a roadtrip almost immediately after. Ballsey, I know. Truck held up okay towing a small trailer to Zion National park. Wasn't too thrilled that the transmission started whining and it wasn't incredibly happy towing with the 4.10 gears and 33's. Compared to my manual blue truck, this thing is a dog. Will be manual swapping at some point. Right before the trip, I also picked up this matched snugtop for a decent deal in Flagstaff. My childhood truck had the same cap, so this hit right in the nostalgia. I also like having weatherproof(ish) storage.

 

Before selling the blue truck, I harvested a couple of parts for current or future use. Although I liked the bumper that was installed previously, I absolutely adored my custom ARB. I also took the paranoid switch panel, scangauge II and mount, the RSX seats, etc.

 

My good friend Carter has the Land Rover disease pretty bad (almost terminally bad), and bought a Range Rover classic project truck with 5 brand new KM3's installed. I joked with him that if he sold it, that I wanted the tires. Well, he sold it and I got 5 almost brand new KM3's for an absolute bargain. I adore the look of these Mud Terrains, although I think they'd be better with white lettering. The spare fits (barely) and is sitting a hair crooked underneith. Learned from my blue truck that swingouts are annoying for when you need to do truck things, so that's out. Might consider a hitch mounted swing out in the future...

 

Fast Forward to Summer 2022. The transmission whine was getting worse. Unfortunately, it was a hair cost prohibitive to manual swap (at this time...) so the hunt was on for a good used trans. Bought a new torque converter through Florida Torque Converters, new oem seals and filter, and a used transmission with only 115K. Of course we decided to change it out during the hottest day of the year (119 degrees). Between the shade of my buddy's lift and 2 swamp coolers, we survived 1.5 days of sold wrenching. Whine is gone. (ignore the mess...not my house)

 

To keep the new (used) transmission happier, I added an in-line transmission cooler.

 

The RSX seats were inherited from my friend Tanner's wrecked 4runner and then harvested from my blue truck. They are night and day compared to the stock buckets. They sit up higher and hug you in all the right ways. The issue is that Honda doesn't make leather seats that don't crack and tear. This was the case for these seats. Lucky for me, another friend's brother totaled his base model RSX with cloth seats. I un-upholstered both sets of seats and reupholstered them with the cloth material. They turned out nicely. (The seats were deep cleaned after installation and look good now)


Before:



During:



After:

 

Caught the offroading bug during a very wet winter. Looks like a snorkel is in order.

 

Did you re-finish the wheels? I have the same ones, and mine kinda look like yours when you first got it.

 

I really need to. I just hit them from time to time with Adam’s tire shine and they stay pretty nice for a while.

 

Snorkel installed ✅

 

Nice lookin truck!

 

That looks great!

 

I just found your build thread, beautiful truck! I’m subscribed.

 

Truck is for sale. 160k miles. 21K. PM me if you’re interested!

 

Awesome 1st gen. I regret ever selling my 03. Wish I had deeper pockets. GLWS