At the Wife's Discretion 2000 Build

Just to start with, (best Forrest Gump voice) "Mama always said, stupid is as stupid does." And I sure does a lot of stupid shit, so forgive me if I seem slow. I'm not the best on computers or at taking pictures but figured I should share my experiences with everyone because it seems like all my projects take about 10x longer than what folks say it will and never as smooth. Although, no complaints I end up learning a lot.

I bought this truck In early 2015. Got a decent deal for one in my area with the little rust it did have. The frame was solid and had just gotten declined by the dealership for the buy back. The guy who owned it before me didn't really give it much TLC so I had a bit of work ahead of me. Hope you enjoy the build.

As it sits now (nothing too special)



Specs:

• 2000 SR5 4X4
• 3.4L V6
• Automatic Tranny
• Current Mileage: 140,000 (MAR2016)

Suspension:

• Tundra Bilsteins 5100's up front (set to max)
• Tundra TRD front shocks
• Polyurethane LCA bushings
• Camburg Uniball UCA's
• All Pro stainless steel extended brake lines
• All Pro Leaf Springs (non expo)
• All Pro Greasable Shackles
• Bilstein 5150's (I think, All Pro said they were the ones I need and I just nodded my head and put em on)

Armor/Recovery:

• NOTHING SADLY!!!!

Wheels/Tires:

• Yokohama Geolandar 33x12.5x15
• Couldn't tell you what kind of rim or back spacing (they came with the truck when I bought it)

Exterior:

• Debadged
• Removed my Chrome fender flares
• Running Boards painted Forest Green
• Herculined the whole truck and painted white over
• Drop in bed liner with Herculiner underneath
• Painted LCA's
• Painted Skid Plates

Interior:

• Not so fancy radio
• Green LED Conversion (domes and cluster)

Misc:

• Deck Plate Mod
• Removed the sway bar
• Bed extender

Future Mods:

• Tube Armor (Probably do the fab myself unless I can find for super cheap)
• New headlights (undecided at this time)
• Rear Diff Breather
• 01-04 Center console (If I ever find one)
• KC Back up Lights
• A bunch more lights
• Sound dampening like Madjik Mans
• Herculine the frame
• 1" Body lift
• Homemade Satoshi Grille
• Plus about a million more that I can squeeze in there before the wife gives me that dirty look

 

Basic Oil Change Gone Bad

First thing I did with the new truck after I talked them down to what I wanted to pay was throw on some new tires because the new ones were completely out of balance. Since they were giving that lovely wobble during the test drive I didn't notice what felt like a bad tranny shifting hard (I'll explain later). I also had a check engine light on that indicated I had a bad O2 sensor.

After having Firestone do a check on her and buy there lifetime alignment (amazing investment BTW) they turned up that my No. 1 spark plug was completely seized and advised me they could not get it out, but that my O2 sensors were okay.

Stressing now I went online and got a bottle of Aero Kroil (also AMAZING!!), and some new Denso spark plugs and wires. I started with spraying the Kroil in the spark plug port. While it sat I began to take off my skid plates to get at my oil drain plug. When I did I got a face full of coolant, yum. Come to find out I had a bit of a leak that was unnoticed because it was collecting really well in the skid plate. FYI there are three different radiators for our truck...I tried them all before I found the right one (Thank you Advance Auto parts). While that was going down I was able to slowly work my one spark plug out MM by MM over the course of a three hours. Possibly one of the most stressing moments I've ever had working on a car. Luckily all went well and the check engine light went off.

Same time I:

• changed the tranny filter and added fluid
• bled the brakes
• swapped out the power steering fluid
• changed the oil to Mobile 1 full synthetic and their filter
• did a coolant flush (using genuine Toyota coolant)
• lubbed everything I could get my hands on

 

I'm a Craigslist fiend and one lonely day came across what I think might be the deal of a lifetime. A local guy threw on a brand new set of Camburg UCA's and Tundra TRD coils and Bilstein shocks for 500 bones. I basically ran out the door yelling "Honey, I love you, I'll be right back, no time to explain." He had received these in error and I guess got to keep them, don't know how that works but... The only thing I found wrong with them was that the metal sleeves were for the Tundra not the Tacoma. Amazingly enough I called Camburg and explained, they actually sent me the new sleeves at no charge, so kudos to them. I'll use them in the future for sure.

This then prompted me to pull the trigger on getting the All Pro Offroad rear kit to match everything up. This was a horrible mistake. I recieved the leaf springs and they were already rusty as hell. I called them and was advised they'd had gotten other customers saying the same thing and that they just hit it with a little Rustoleum black paint. I asked for a few bucks returned to my card to cover the paint and was told no. I had everything I needed in the garage already so no worries. I moved on with my life.

Sadly when I started pulling all my old stuff off my bolts holding the front shocks on were completely seized as were my rear shackles and one of the eye bolts. I went ahead and took an angle grinder to them and ordered bolt replacements from the local dealership. If you have to do this make sure you specify that you need the washer and the nut and the total might be close to $20-40 depending on how many you cut off.

I now also needed new shackles and loved the idea of having greasable ones. Since All Pro's shipping was fast and easy and there website was easy to navigate. (Like I said before I'm a bit special and that easy to use website is a huge bonus to me) I gave them another shot. Once again not impressed. They sent/charged me for more bushings even though I had the ones that came with the leaf springs, and once again the bolts now came rusted to all hell. I called them again to let them know but this time wanting money back for sure. I didn't specify how much but the actual owner called which I thought was amazing and a great gesture of the company and advised I would be getting some refunds. This was also because they never applied a military discount to my orders. That was about 4 months ago, the greasable bolts are disgustingly rusted now, my leaf springs are showing major signs of rust (I should have taken them apart to treat them because the insides I couldn't get at is whats rusting now), and I never did get that refund. So I highly recommend anyone looking into this company to look else where. The Deavers are more expensive but probably wont rust on you right away. Sorry for the rant...but the story needed to be told.

After all set backs I got everything replaced, and the truck drives great now. This also fixed the axle wrap I was getting that I was mistaking for the tranny shifting hard.

At this time I also:

• replaced inner and outer tie rods
• lower ball joints (greasable Moog part)
• brake lines
• rear shocks
• new front shock retainers and polyurethane bushing there too
• brake calipers, rotors, and pads
• painted my skids and sway bar
• painted my wheels
• front bump stops

Old shocks with the spacers.

Camburgs in and also a shot of my old tie rods, rotors and calipers before I replaced them.

My skid plate a rusted so bad there was a hole. So I filled it in and covered these bad boys with Corroseal (100% awesome rust converter off of Amazon) Used it on my sway bar, LCA's, leaf springs, and wheels center caps.

The bushings on the LCA's are hard as hell to get off. Had to use the ball joint press and a torch.

This is with just the front done and not the rear. Serious rake on her. Also painted the wheels while they were off with Rustoleum's bed liner spray.

New rotors and calipers in the back.

Bucket of old parts

 

When I bought the truck all clear coat was gone, on the top there were multiple rust spot as well as a few on the front under the headlights. Id been researching for the last year the best way to paint the truck as I don't have an air compressor and finally decided using a roll on bed liner (Herculiner) would be the best approach. So after I begged and pleaded with the wife I was on my way to Lowes.

I grabbed:

• 2 gallon kits of Herculiner
• 3qts of gloss white Rustoleum paint
• 7 cans of clear coat
• tape, trays, and paper
• All together a little over $200

The process consisted of a light coat of Herculiner, followed by a slightly heavier coat, and then a super thick one. I let it sit I believe 24 hours and then applied three coast of the white. Then just sprayed the hell out of it with the clear coat. If anyone else tries this I'd highly recommend taking off the tailgate, lights and at least the rear bumper, door handles and mirrors. This would have come out much better if I would have myself. So far its holding up great and I get compliments on it all the time. I also hit my running boards with the Herculiner for better traction.



So I sanded the whole thing down and anywhere I got to bare metal I hit with some primer.

This was the close up of the worst hole in the roof. I had to fill her in. The black stuff is the Corroseal after it dries and the its rust converting thing.

I taped off the whole thing thinking i was just going to do touch ups and realized the whole damn thing was going to need a "touch up". Huge waste of tape.

All the shinny spots are also the Corroseal. From the stuff kicked up I had little rust spots all along the door panels.

The hood obviously had some of the worst spots.

Then she was black...

This was the first coat I believe. You can still see a bit of the white.

And shes white again.

Also in the process got rid of the badges and the stupid fender flares. My over all goal is to get rid of ALL chrome on the truck.

 

Reserved.

 

Welcome
and good luck with the build.
You are getting right to it. Very nice.

 

Thank You! I've been working on the truck for awhile now just never thought what i was doing was special enough to do a build. I finally got to the point where I started forgetting what all i'd done so I figured it was finally time.

 

nice rig, diggin the white rhino liner on it, would love to just use a pressure washer and thats it on my truck

 

Thank you. Don't even need the pressure washer. Since its an oil based paint on top of the bed liner the dirt rolls right off making it to where the rain takes care of almost all cleaning.