Adventure Rig DCLB Build

Figured I would start my build thread. The beginning of May I picked up a new to me 2009 DCLB TRD sport. Besides the shell that was installed by the previous owner the truck is stock. Only 75,000 miles on it and all service done by a Toyota dealer.

My plans for this build are simple to make a solid dependable rig for adventures. I am an avid whitewater kayaker and trail running. I travel every weekend chasing rain/water in the mountains of the south east to go kayaking. Lots of driving highways and back roads and forest service roads. Also plan on using this truck to travel across country to kayak and bike in Colorado and California. So dependability is the key to this build!

I have a small tear drop camper that we pull around now with my Subaru OB (camper only ways 650lbs). Besides camper weight the truck will be loaded with kayaks, mt bikes and camping gear. If I'm not pulling the camper then I plan on building a platform inside the bed to sleep on and store our camping gear.

Upgrades I'm looking at in the near future are...
1) Replace worn out stock shocks with bilstein 5100 front and rear
2) AAL or new leaf pack in the rear to help handle the weight of the shell and gear
3) Paint/coat the frame to keep from rusting (the truck has surface rust now but hoping to keep it from getting worse)
4) Side step / rock sliders....not needed for heavy off roading but more for accessing roof rack and protection from trees while on forest service roads
5) Bed stiffeners to keep the bed from spreading due to weight of shell and gear
6) Front receiver / recovery point. Again dont need a full on new bumper but would be nice to have a recovery point in the front

Those are the short term plans I am sure this list will grow and grow the more I read on here and learn!

Thanks
-bv

 

pictures of my truck

 

Picture of my Outback I use now and our teardrop camper. The plan is to use the truck for our weekend adventures and the OB is my everyday car

 

Made some mounts for a shovel and ax. Some Amazon t nuts and flat stock worked great for mounts. Have to say I love having the track built in to the bed. Makes mounting some much easier!

 

After reading on here about the beds flexing under weight I went ahead an ordered a set of bed stiffeners from Total Chaos. Install was very easy and straight forward. The brackets pulled my bed in 1/16" on each side. Not much but better safe than sorry later on

 

When I bought the truck the wheels were in bad shape. The silver was peeling and they looked bad. Once I need to replace the tires I am going to replace the wheels but until them I figured I would pain them. Ended up chipping all the coating off I could with a scrapper, then sanded the wheels. Wash and dry and them multiple coats of flat black paint/primer. I think for a 6 dollar fix they turned out pretty well. Time will tell how long they last!

 

Good looking truck! I’m going for a similar blend of capable and dependable. Best rigs out there for boaters and bikers (room for Improvement in the mpg Dept).
Always good to find WW folks on here!

 

Thanks man!

Yeah the MPG are not as good as my Subi but well worth it to have a 6 cylinder

 

Long beds rule! Looks like that trailer will need a lift as well.

 

I had new shocks installed on the truck, Blistien 5100's front and rear. I set the front on the second ring from the bottom (about 1" of lift) but with the old leaf pack and the weight of the shell I got the bro lean. So after talking to @Headstrong I ordered their Off-Road 3 leaf AAL package to compensate for the weight of the shell and gear that gets loaded. The AAL should arrive next week and hope to get it installed soon after. This should put my stance back to about 1" higher in the rear and the front until loaded down.

 

After painting my wheels black the chrome emblems didn't match the theme of the truck. I decided to try plastic dip...never used the stuff. I clean the emblems, masked off around the area and applied 4 coats. I waited 30 minutes between each coat. The plastic dip seemed to work pretty well. Not sure how long it will last but it was easy enough to do

 

Ive owned my Tacoma for about a month and first thing I noticed was the rust on the frame. After taking the truck to the dealer and having the frame inspected (it passed) i wanted to paint/coat the frame. Lots of reading on TW and it sounded like POR15 was the best solution for what I wanted. So after about 3 days of work I finished my frame. I am very happy with how it turned out. Clean loose rust off frame, use metal prep, 1" foam brush for the POR15, then use the top coat to cover any areas that will see direct sun light. I just hope it last for a long time!

 

My @HeadStrong Off-Road 3 leaf AAL arrived today and I got it installed with no issues. I'll post pictures soon. But first impressions are I got about 2" of lift (I left the over load in). Ride seemed firm and so far no vibration. I'll drive the interstate tomorrow and see if any new vibrations show up at higher speeds. Can't wait to load the truck with gear and see how she preforms

 

Drove the truck to work today, 30 minutes of highway speeds and not a single vibration! Didnt have to lower the bearing or add shims to the axle!! Here are some pictures i took during the install

Headstrong 3 Leaf AAL right out of the box. I got the kit that came with new U bolts.

 

Jacked up the rear of the truck, set her on stands, then used the flow jack to move the axle around. No issues getting it all back together. You can see the new leafs are much thinner than the OEM leafs. I have a total of 7 leafs counting the overload

 

Got the rake back I was looking for (rear a bit higher than the front). Picture is with no weight in the bed (just the camper shell). Once I add camping gear and kayaks I think the truck will sit about level. Very happy with out this turned out!

 

Had time today to remove the blower fan for the AC. It had been making some noise when turned up past the second notch. You can see why after I dropped the fan lol. Just a few nuts in it!

 

Nice build!

 

I'm in Knoxville, too. Nice.

I live in South Knoxville and mountain bike a lot.
You're into whitewater? I'll be boozing and cruising the Hiwassee this weekend

 

Nice!

Im in north knox but work in south knox. I mt bike some but trail run a lot on the south loop. Love me some whitewater! Been boating for over 10 years. Never get on the Hiwassee much more of a class 4/5 kind of guy LOL