5lugger build on a budget!

I personally like the ride height of the stock 5 lug The longer i stay on these forums the more i realize how in a minority i am.

Anyways, it looks good and much more like the 4x4's now. I may be doing a couple of those mods myself, thanks for the ideas.

 

you've found 1 if you still want. i have a stock one outta an 08 i bought,not lookin to make money on it i just upgraded. how about 50 shipped?

 

I like the ride height but want more ground clearance so I'm in a pickle... On a recent camping trip I was driving my 5-lug off road nothing major just some hills, my truck is completely stock and got around fine but there were times my mud flaps were less than an inch from the ground. I will probably end up doing the lift and bigger tires to make it more capable.

 

235/75/15 you can fit without rubbing on stock height 5lugger. Some nice A/T's and your truck will perform much better offroad even at stock height.

 

how did you get the resonator out of the truck? and did you notice any improvement after taking it off?

 

I took off few clips in the front of the fender liner, pulled it back, exposing the resonator. There is 10mm bolt, I took off, than I just yanked it out! Make sure you don't take off more of those fender liner clips than necessary, those are a bitch to get off and non reusable

I didn't really noticed a difference other than the truck being louder at high load at low rpms. For example when you have cruise control on in 5th gear at 65mph and you go up slight incline.

The opening of the resonator is slightly smaller than the opening on the air box, plus the air has more direct route to the air box, rather than being channeled through the resonator. So theoretically this "should" yield some gain, which would be very small... Maybe 0.5rwhp - 1rwhp IF that...

 

08WhiteTaco: Did you have to cut down the length of the longer bolt (at the top of the struts) when you installed the Fat Bob's as instructed to when installing the ReadyLift?

 

Yup, I had to cut the bolt.

 

thanks for the info.

 

Few updates;

Did the first oil change on the Taco (since I owned it) with Castrol Syntec 5w20 & OEM Toyota oil filter. I used the over sized filter, part#

$54 90915-YZZD3 Oil Filter 1 Case (QTY 10)

90915-YZZD3

Acquired OEM Toyota engine skid plate, thanks to Steve (OH-MAN here).



I will be putting it soon. I have test fitted it and the mounting platforms which stick out from it will have to be ground out & bolt holes drilled. I also got some D rings from Steve which I will be putting on pretty soon!

Also gotta take her in because the blower motor fan has been making noise at low speed, I will try to get it taken care of under warranty, I printed out the TSB and will be taking that with me when I go to the stealership...

 

do you have any measurements of these? i'm going to be getting upgraded rear shocks pretty soon and they don't come with boots, and i know the stock one's don't fit.

anyway, truck is looking good!

 

Thank you! The boots can compress quite a bit, they fit fine on the longer Fat Bob's shocks.

 

My Taco got a X-mas present! My girl got me TRD grey ball shift knob. The knob has 6 speed pattern for V6 Taco/FJ, she couldn't find 5 speed TRD knob for my Taco. The knob fits perfect and I am very happy with it, the knob feels really good in my hand!

Here are some pictures of it;

 

Did you notice any horsepower gains or increased fuel mileage with the TRD shift knob? Looks nice

 

Nice truck man! I love the look of lifted 5 luggers, I think it's the simpleness or something.

 

08Whitetaco: Your truck looks great! Im thinking about putting the fat bob's kit on my taco, was the install pretty straight forward?, or did you run into any snags?, thinking about doing it in March, Any advice?

 

This is definitely my favorite thread I've encountered on TacomaWorld to date. Thanks for sharing!!!

 

It was straight forward for me but I am highly experienced turning a wrench, I have few engine swaps under my belt. Make sure you have long breaker bar or steel pipe to put over your ratchet to break loose the control arm bolts. You will need to cut some bolts, one on top of the stock front struts and one which holds the leaf springs together, I did it with hack saw, it will go much faster with sawzall...

If you run into any issues, pm me. Make sure to get alignment after you install the kit.

Thank you guys for the kind words & props! I injured my left knee and will need surgery so i can't drive my baby I already miss driving her and I had naughty thoughts about trading her in, but decided to keep her! I am pretty sure I will be getting a locker for her in the spring Look forward to some 5lugger wheeling pictures!!

 

Added few more budget mods.

D-rings;




Lockable bed storage compartment. Both locks are keyed on the same key. Adds some level of protection for my ratcheting tie downs.





Next mods on the list;

The cheap;

- finish installing OEM engine skid plate (need heavy duty drill bit)
- TRD all weather rubber floor mats
- OEM 6cd changer
- Fog lights
- OEM intermittent wiper switch
- TRD 1.3bar radiator cap
- TRD oil cap

The not-so-cheap;

- powertrax no-slip locker
- LC Engineering Header
- 4.10 or 4.56 gears

 

Finally finished installing the OEM skid plate. Now this is not so easy job. First off the front mounts on the skid have to be ground off/drilled out;




Skid ready to go on, pictured with mounting hardware 8.8grade HEX bolts from ACE Hardware, same as i used for the Front OEM skid.



Skid is ON!




Rear mounts. I used the stock location on the skid and drilled the holes in an angle...



Now this is not an awesome thick steel aftermarket skid plate, but those cost in neighborhood of $200. I have gotten both skids on for less than $40 in drill bits and bolts. Both skids have been donated by Steve (OH-MAN here on TW). For that cost you can't beat it, these skids in the end should protect better than nothing. The bad part is that the engine skid will have to be removed every time I am doing an oil filter change since it covers the oil filter... However the engine skid can be removed in less than two minutes with 13mm wrench and 13mm ratchet...