2002 4WD TRD ideas

Hello, Ive had this truck for about 2 months. It's got about 120k miles on it. I've pretty much been on here checking all he build threads and such. I live in Florida and theres no rocks really to climb over or anything. A few questions and opinions I need answered.

1)Lift or not to lift?
2)Stock(painted black) or new wheels?
And what are these wheels? They are a members wheels I liked but I can't find that thread again. This is it as it stands. I just got a new front bumper because it got rusted from its 2 years of Its life it spent up north. That is the only rusted part, the frame and everything else is good. I'm thinking of getting a black grille and a elite front bumper. Trying to base my truck off that one. I love it.

 

Is your truck on the right?

If so, IMO:

Debadge
Paint grille surround black
Paint chrome bumper black
Paint wheels black
Paint rear bumper black
Lose the tool box (unless you use it). If you use it, paint it black

Save your money and don't lift it... like you said, you don't crawl over anything. Maybe spend a fraction of that money on Line-Xing your bed.

JMO, of course.

 

^^^ agree on painting stuff black, if you really want a lift go with a 2"or something to save some money, but I personally would spend the money on the bumper... Remember if you get an elite bumper you are going to need some better coil overs and such

 

Definitely try blacked out instead of the chrome, plastidip to see if you like them and if you don't just peel it off, I did my front bumper and its holding up really good

 

I would start it off with a 3"body lift and some sweet rockstar rims!

 

Rockstars are for mall crawlers! Some Mickey classics would look good, or pro comp rim. I have Moto Metal 951's and there a bit fancy for me but a nice mix of black and machine. Check craigslist for wheels and you will find a set for cheap sooner or later. I would just do suspension upgrades w/mild lift. Like level with new leafs and coil overs or 5100's. thats my plan for mine.

 

Thank you, mines the one that doesn't have anything done to it. My toolbox is full of my fishing gear. My bed is rhinolined when I bought It. I was just gonna lift it for the look to go with the elite bumper. That Chrome bumper part I'm having to replace from the rust. Ill just paint it and then put it on. The current one has the bolts all rusted out and I need to cut the bolts. Can anyone help me out here? Can anyone take a picture of their chrome bumper on the inside so can see where the bolts are I need to take off? I will end up painting the toolbox black. Do you suggest any paint brands, types? Plasti-dip will work will all of this?

Why would I need to replace my coil overs if I add an elite bumper?

I am seriously new to all of this. I had to look up what I coil over was. I'm mechanically inclined you could say.

My flare/fenders are faded a lot, I've looked at a few threads on how to shine them up and all I could dig up was:
Peanut Butter
Pentrol

Will plasti-dip work for this too?

 

Compensate for the weight

You can plasti dip your fenders but I personally would just repaint, idk how long the plasti diop would last on fenders

 

You could always try the heat gun method too

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZ8jGm6vIfk

From what I hear it's hard to get a nice even look to it with that method though

 

Ya that might work if our fenders were made from playschool! Kidding but not really

 

I wouldn't do this on ours. The 98-00s are fiberglass.

But the 01-04s are a high density polyethylene

 

I repainted mine and I think that's the best way to go IMO, I looked high and low for ideas for re-Shading, I guess you can call it, and ended up repainting and I am glad I did because it will last longer and looks 10x better than brand new ones, I might bed line them in the future though

 

You might give Mother's "Back to Black," I think it's called, a try. Works pretty good on oxidized rubber and black plastic trim. Or at least for me anyways . . .

 

I've used the back to black on mine, doesn't work on the flares. But it does work on just about every other plastic piece on the truck. Doesn't matter if it's black or not.

 

So krylon fusion paint then? It that good enough for the flares? Do I need to take them off or should I just tape around it? So plasti-dip everything chrome. What paint do I use for the toolbox?

 

Take them off, sand old.paint off, prime it and then paint do that for the best results, you can take the weatherstripping off but be care full because you can ruin them and i heard they are hard to find, I painted over mine and them scraped the paint off of them, preparation is the key though

 

01-04 fender flares are different from 98-99.

01-01 flares are a type of plastic versus the 98-99 which are fiberglass.

When you remove the 01-04 flares you will break 99% of the clips that are behind them, so you'll have to buy more. If you buy them from a dealership it will run you about $40. I have the part numbers are the following:

$6 90904-67036 90904-67037

90904-67036 - you wil need 8 of these.
90904-67037 - you will need 20 of these.

I recommend that you do not remove the weatherstripping when taking off the flares. I removed my flares with the weatherstripping still attached to them so I do not have to worry about ruining it. Just tape off the weatherstripping when you go to paint.

 

So I can't just plasti-dip them?