Dad’s Tacoma

Hey gang. First timer here. My dad wanted me to have his truck after he passed and I want to do him proud. I also am not wanting to get too aggressive. Mostly looks upgrades. I plan to use it f or occasional logging road/camping use. I just tinted the front windows last week. Looks great. Tires are next on the list as they are original (2014). I am thinking of going with 32’s and 5100 bilsteins up front to level and maybe go from there. Maybe Vredestein pinza’s in a 255 75 on factory alloy 17’s. I am not wanting to change coils or UCA’s if possible. Do the 5100’s really raise/level up the front? I am new to the Taco world. Hopefully I will upload an “after” picture soon. Thanks for y’alls insights.

 

Welcome to TW..Sorry to hear about your Dad.

 

Welcome!

 

Welcome to TW. Nice looking truck! You can use stock coils with the 5100's. You'll have to have access to a spring compressor or take the units to a shop to have the springs removed from the old shocks and put on the new shocks. The 5100's have an adjustable 'clip' that the coils sits on with a few different settings. The if you raise the clip, the coil sits higher, raising the front end of the truck. You wont' need new UCAs as long as you stick under about a 2" lift.

Edit: You can compress the springs while still on the truck too. A bit more risk involved and you need to careful. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkVLBOnAifc

 

I am planning on taking it to our local regional tire chain (Les Schwab) to install the shocks, new tires and alignment afterward. I could definitely do the shocks myself but time is a factor so it is just easier you have them do it. Thanks

 

sorry about the Oldman, its never easy, been there...

 

Thanks JAGCanada. The advice is greatly appreciated. I plan to do the shocks/tires up front first, see how she sits and then address the rear elevation if/when necessary. I could be off the mark with the 255’s but I have 305’s on my F-250 and I kinda wanna try out some “almost” pizza-cutters

 

Sorry to hear about your dad. My condolences.

Your truck looks good. The first thing that I would do is replace your tired and hazy headlights.
Second, I would get new tires.
If the ride is poor I'd look at 5100s (mine was, and I did. I addressed the Taco Lean, but otherwise kept the stock height), but I would leave it alone otherwise.

 

Ya. Headlights are also DEFINITELY on the punchlist. Yikes! Without having shopped around too much , Extreme Terrain had some headlight options that looked decent. Maybe something in the 2-300$ range with turn signal LED’s. Thanks for the sentiment, btw

 

Pops lived out at the ocean so she was a swampy little pig when I got ‘er. There were a couple snail shells on the fender wells even! We are in arid central WA so it should dry out well. It cleaned up pretty good. He bounced the front corners off of the carport posts on both sides. It 99% rubbed out. I replaced the right front bumper corner cap and rattle canned it. Not bad! I will post up some after pics with shocks/tires/headlights/tint done

 

Might want to try and restore the OEM headlights first, Cerakote or the 3m kit are both solid. You'd be surprised what they can bring back to life but worse case scenario you're out less than $20 and an hour of your time.

 

Welcome and sorry about pops

 

Well I opened Pantera’s box and decided to read a bit about headlights before i drop several hundo’s on it. Holy crap that is a deep rabbit hole. Not sure what to do now after reading the exhaustive post about halogen vs HID vs led. I like the cool looking aftermarket stuff that I see in the 3-400$ range but I don’t want lights that perform worse than if I just clean and polish originals. If anyone has thoughts I am all ears

 

Clean and polish the originals and see how that goes first. If you find the ligths aren't bright enough for you, this upgrade provides a lot of additional light withouth changing the headlight housing or the look of the vechile. https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...-not-led-or-hid.398066/page-276#post-30460164

 

Sorry to hear about Pops. Almost ALL aftermarket headlights suck for these trucks, they WILL leak. OEM is still the best. You have an 11 year old truck, you dont get fancy LED or RGB headlights unless you like throwing $$ away. If youre just doing Forest Roads, I would swap out the tired ass front coilovers with 3rd gen Off Road ones. They will give the nose about an inch or so lift, and then address the sagging rears as well. These trucks are GREAT stock for what you want to do, if you go with a lift kit add in an ECGS bushing as well. I would start at the basics, change all fluids, make sure you get the frame fluid filmed or wool waxed, clean it up, and go from there. I run 265 75 16s on fuel wheels on my truck and have never had an issue off roading. Oh, and look up the unifilter mod as well. Seat Jackers also changed the front seat height to make it more comfortable also. Enjoy the truck and welcome!!