2009 SR5 Keep it light

I bought the truck with 105k with a brand new frame, lca’s, and recalled leaf springs. It already had the leer cap. Picked it up and the next day brought it for a 8 day hunting trip. I discovered the new leaf springs weren’t going to cut it. And so it began. I wanted to keep it as light as possible.

I replaced the springs with Wheelers off-road 5 leaf HD packs (minus the overload), U bolt flip kit, and Fox 2.0 shocks. Both factory front struts broke just about the lower mounting eyelet, so I put Fox 2.5 coilovers in with total chaos uniballs UCA’s with the ride height set about an inch over stock. The sway bar was a hassle so now it lives permanently in the shed.
We love to get out and camp and hike, so I made a sleeping platform for the bed. I wanted to keep the platform level with the tops of the fender wells, to utilize headspace. I notched 2x8s to fit down into the pockets formed on the bedsides and tried to use aluminum wherever else to keep it light. I also needed to fit my cooler with the platform in place so I made a bracket with a removeable panel. Panel in the sleep, panel out for cooler transport

A few other little things like window tint, LED’s for the dome lights, WeatherTechs, mudflat trim, and anti mouse mod.

I wanted a taller tire but as close to the same weight as the factory tires and wheels, so I went with 16” TRD rims and 235/85/16 Cooper discoverer AT3s. I sandblasted the rims and painted them bronze

Where I hunt at times is anywhere from 13-25 miles of dirt road and I was wanting more lighting, so I put in a Caliraised 32” combo bar as low as I could mount it to help in the snow

Next was protection. Mobtown aluminum skid and an Allpro aluminum read bumper

The tires set inside the fenders about an inch and a half and I scored a set of new in the box 1.5” wheel spacers from a guy I work with for $40, which brought the tires right to flush

I’m not sure what it weighs but I’m getting 18mpg in the cold weather and up to 23mpg in the summer. That’s hand calculated with the 4% increase in tire size. It’s needed both front wheel bearings, drivers cv shaft and East Coast gear supply bushing, O2 sensor, and water pump. I replaced the noisy heat blower with the newer design. It’s my daily and adventure rig so it probably won’t see many other changes, to keep it simple and reliable.

 

Nice looking truck and tasteful mods, well done!

 

Nice looking truck, and good choice on the tires!

 

Nice little build!

 

I ended up making my own bed stiffeners to help with the weight of the cap
That’s pretty much wraps it up. Now I let it take me to awesome places

 

To ease the stress on my OCD, I also changed out the rusty chrome lug luts to black.

Ahhh, much better

 

Dang man! What's your OCD have to say about that trashed brake rotor! Lol

 

Touche, sir