BlakeM's 2017 build thread

Painting the bumper tonight.
Dirty whore in the background.




That was fun. The KO2’s have to go though. I need something mo betta. Mud tires. 295s or 305s.

 

Installed bumper today. It was pretty damn easy.




Cuts made.


Everything stripped off.


Test fit just to make sure everything matches up before installing the winch.


Here’s where I mounted the solenoid.


Then it was time for beer. Started bullshitting and it got dark.

Spooling on the rope.


And the finished product. I’ll have to get better pics in the daylight tomorrow.

 

Looks great!!!​

 

Thanks man. I’m shooting for next weekend to do the 63 swap, but it might be the weekend after next.

I also might be getting new tires in the next few weeks. The KO2s are nice, but I think some STT Pros would be better for me.
Then I have to start saving my pennies for a rear bumper. There’s a good chance I’ll be moving to TX soon, so I probably need to slow down with the build just a little.

 

Nice! That should turn out awesome. You are going to have a very capable rig.

What part of TX? ​

 

Cypress.
That’ll get me 4.5 hours closer to the good stuff out west.

 

Cool! Well I hope everything works out for ya on that end.

Have you looked into Nittos?

 

I hope it works out too. I’m not moving for less money, that’s for sure. Lol

I looked at Nittos, but not real closely. I’m definitely going to check out the options before I just dive in.

 

Got the front suspension installed today. OME 886s and JBA UCAs. The UCAs were a huge pain in the ass to install. The tolerance between the insides of the UCA and where it attaches to the frame is TIGHT. Trying to get the washers between the frame and the UCA bushing was almost impossible. On top of that, somehow the threads on one of the long bolts got all screwed up. I called the closest Toyota dealer and luckily they had the bolt in stock and, to my surprise, was only $17. I was expecting, oh I dunno....a LOT more.
Right now the truck is Bro AF with the front higher than the back.

Tomorrow, the Taco is going under the knife, er uhh....the torch. 63 swap is happening! I’ll try to take lots of pics and hope that we have enough beer to last until the end.

Goodbye 5100s and stock coils.


UCA install


Uh oh


Does this look like a McDonalds theme or what?







I know my dad browses the Taco world sometimes, so I just want to take a sec to say thanks for all your help today, and damn near every time I work on my truck. It is GREATLY appreciated.

He’s the kind of guy that’ll watch you work for a minute, then snatch the wrench out of your hand, knock out the job and have you thinking “WTF just happened”

 

Nice work! Looks good!

 

The 63 swap is complete. Gawd I really hope the springs settle some. A lot, actually. It rides like a damn Cadillac though. Lol
Here’s a peek. I’ll have to get some pics during the day.

 

They will settle. Patience, Grasshopper.

 

haha

Did you have any vibration when you first did yours?

 

Slight. It'll go away. Go flex them bitches out!

 

Matching spare came in today.



Time to CMC then go pick out some new tires.

 

I was planning on hanging out around the house today and take it easy. Maybe get the yard work done, then boil some crawfish and toss back a few beers. A friend of mine got stuck in his Jeep and called me to go pull him out. Before I could make it to him, someone else passed by and saw him, so they snatched him out.
While I was out, I took a little detour and snapped a few pics.

 

Has the lift settled? How much height did you get from it? From your most recent pictures it's still looking pretty high. I am looking at the OME with Dakars kit on Toytec, looking for like 2-2.5" and keeping a similar tire size so I'm wondering if mine will look similar to that or not.

 

So when is the jump to some beefier tires?

 

I’ve dicked around with the front so much, I’m not sure exactly how much lift I have. My best guess from trying to remember measurements is somewhere around 2.25”-2.5”
I’ll probably get some adjustable coilovers some time in the future.

The rear is ~2.75” higher than stock. This is also a guess. I removed a leaf and ran just 2 leaves for the past few weeks to speed up the break in process. This weekend I repositioned the shackle hangers and added the 3rd leaf back in. I’m sure it’ll settle just a little bit more and I’ll be making small adjustments as needed.

The only thing I know for sure is when the truck is on level ground, the back is 1.5” higher than the front.

 

What, you don’t like the roller skate wheels?




It’s happening this week.
295/70/17 STT Pros
Best price I could find is $1,649.xx out the door.
That’s for 5 tires and lifetime alignment.