Charlie's 95 KR to KY LT Taco

As of now, more or less

Front Suspension

Solo Motorsports Long Travel front suspension kit
Solo Motorsports W.I.Y. UCA double shear kit
Fox Factory Series 8" stroke coilovers w/ DSC
Eibach 16" 500 rate springs
Fox 2.0 2" stroke bumpstops
All-Pro cam-tab gussets
Anonymous Fab uniball-converted lower ball joints
Heavy Friction Works gusseted and powder coated spindles


Rear Suspension
OME Dakar Leaf packs with OME bushings
OME GS22 (Tundra) +.5" greaseable shackles
Wheelers 7.75" u-bolts
Bilstein 5100s - removed
Bilstein 5125 10" travel (stock location)

Drivetrain
CVJ long travel 3.5" axles for manual hubs (2022)

Wheels & Tires
Factory 15" wheels
BFG KO2 33X10.50R15

Exterior
Smittybilt side steps - removed
Hella e-code headlight housings w/ Phillips extreme bulbs
TYC '01-'04 style mirrors
ACI black door handles
Advanced Fiberglass 3.5" front fenders
Fender flares deleted

Interior
ACC "Oak" colored carpet
Husky front floor liners in Tan
BH3D Printing dual cup holder in Oak
Siless sound deadening 80 mil ~72 sq ft
Noico red 150 mil ~72 sq ft

Stereo
Custom A-pillars for midrange and tweeter (empty now)
Custom wooden speaker bracket for 6.5" midbasses (empty now)
Sony XAV-AX1000 double din Apple Car Play stereo (2021 and removed 2022)
JL Audio XD1000.5v2 5-channel amp (2021 and removed 2022)
Helix DSP Mini (2021 and removed 2022)
AudioCircle Berlin Line 3-way component set (2021 and removed 2022)
JL Audio 13TW5 in truck wedge box (2021 and removed 2022)


Maintenance (2021)
Toyota motor mounts
Toyota trans mount
Aisin window regulators and motors
Oil change/oil filter/air filter

Maintenance (2022)
Toyota windshield washer reservoir and cap
Dif fluid change/oil change/oil filter
rebuilt steering rack / new Energy Sus. bushings
New inner tie rods (mystery brand) & outer tie rods (555)
Brake calipers sand blasted and painted black
DuraGo hubs & new extended lugs & new AISIN manual hub dials
NAPA rotors and pads
Wheelers Offroad Stainless extended rear brake line
B.A.M.F. BPV relocation bracket (set at 4" lift)
Front wheel wells painted in rustoleum and front frame in Steel-It



Parts in Queue
Toyota single piece back glass
Toyota back glass gasket
'01-04 center console

Future
'01-04 seats (reupholstered)
all around window tint
Gentex rear view mirror
front and rear dash cam system
alarm / keyless entry / remote start
take apart dash and sound deaden firewall and interior pieces
paint fenders
STEREO
bumpers

More future (maybe)
Headers / cat / exhaust system
bedsides
LT rear suspension

More more future (maybe maybe)
full paint job in Evergreen Pearl
performance 3RZ
turbo

Hi, I'm Charlie and I lived in South Korea from 2015-2022. This truck was first lent to my wife and I from my father-in-law after we were in an accident in our TJ. We ended up using the Tacoma for almost a year before reaching an agreement with insurance for the TJ. He ended up giving us the truck so we sold the TJ. Since we intend to keep it for a long time, I figure I might as well have fun with it.



It's a '95 XtraCab Auto 2.7 L with manual hubs. It also has power doors and windows. When I drove it for the first time in March, 2021, it had around 115,000 miles on it.

As far as modifications go when receiving it, my father-in-law had it repainted (poorly) several years back and added the side and tailgate decals. The original color is Evergreen Pearl and the paint job is similar but definitely not Evergreen Pearl. The tailgate also has a "V6" badge, although it's a 4 cyl. I'll likely remove at least the V6 badge at some point. Lastly, it has (had) SmittyBilt side steps.

Here it is around the time we started driving it and immediately after a wash.


The truck has now started it's new life in KY.

 

CHANGE THE BALLJOINTS, probbly got it off another tacoma at the yard and never cared to remove the v6 badging. The side decal you mean the big white stripe across the whole truck? thats oem.

 

oh the tacoma at the end if the bed yeah thats aftermarket, you can take it off and put a 4x4 trd decal, many put those on as the decal didnt come till 98.

 

I've got the Toyota lower ball joints ready along with a number of other parts ready. I'll get around to it. I'm going to post stuff in the order that I've done it to catch up to now.

Also, Tacomas were never imported to Korea so someone way back when imported this here directly from America. The speedo is even in MPH rather than KPH. Our Jeep was actually imported by Chrysler so it has the KPH speedo. They don't have salvage yards or first gens here for that matter. There might be one a few in the entire country but I haven't seen it.

The father-in-law did say he put on the tailgate badging so I don't think it's OEM because I haven't seen it on others. Are you sure the side stripe on my truck is OEM? I haven't seen that, as well.

 

Wow that truck is really nice, reminds me of mine back in the day.

 

yeah the side stripe is oem

i think they stopped it in 97 tho

 

I much prefer this style of stripe. If there was something for the XtraCab like that, I'd likely try to do it.

 

there was, you can buy them online.

 

https://www.jamesdeancreations.com/95tacoma.htm

 

In June, after driving for a few months and getting word from the father-in-law that he was giving us the truck, I decided to start work on it.

I replaced the front floor mats with some Tan Husky liner since the original Toyota ones were disgusting and there were some rubber ones sliding around on top of those. I choose these over Weathertech and I'm happy with them. They fit nicely and keep the carpet from getting anymore filthier.
Husky 35113

Then, I moved over the double din head unit from the Jeep over to the Tacoma along with the metra wiring harness.
Sony XAV-AX1000

$8 Metra 70-1761 Radio Wiring Harness For Toyota 87-Up Power 4 Speaker

Metra 70-1761
I'm not sure if they still sell this model, but I don't recommend it or any similar Sony model. I've got my eyes on a few floating units for the future.

Next was the Hella H4 E-Code headlight housings with Philips X-treme Vision H4 bulbs (60/55 W).
Hella 003427811
A noticeable upgrade and worth it but still not where I want it to be. I'm thinking of a wiring harness with higher wattage bulbs in the future.

Last for June was the BH3D Printing dual cup holder (because the one over the stereo makes me nervous and I drink ice coffee in winter - can't have your heater melting your ice).

 

That one is for standard cabs. I don't like the options he has for Xtracabs. I do like those 80's style racing stripes and I like the gold against the green. So, I'm thinking about future wheel options in gold or having these wheels painted to go with some sort of gold stripe.

 

they sell cupholders for the floorshifter one it the middle and one to the passenger side. Ik someone 3d prints them on here and sells em. Yeah the pullout cupholders are sketchy. I just put a universal cupholder in the middle, but I since have a dometic fridge in the middle with arm rest and cupholders.

 

the 3rz auto is slow, i think oem tire size was 28”. I have ko2s 31x10.5 on 15” wheels with -6 offset. I got the american racing ar172 baja wheels polished aluminum because these were the lightest wheels i could find, cus the 3rz auto is slow and I have a reg cab and you have a ext cab. Just something to think about.

 

I'm pretty happy with the cupholder I have. It matches the interior perfectly and my tumbler fits in it snugly. I guess I didn't get it in the photos. Those are all upgrades I did in June spread out (but in the order that I posted).

I've done a lot to the truck and I'm going to keep posting more or less chronologically to catch up to now. Nothing too special though..

 

It is certainly slow but I don't mind that too much. I just use it for commuting around town now, not a ton of highway driving. I was also interested in some of the AR wheels and especially interested in SCS F5 wheels in bronze but I don't want 16" wheels because you really need 35" or larger tires for them to look good plus only E Load tires available. Korea car inspections are yearly and very strict so I have to be careful with that too. Fender flares have to cover. I guess I'll cross that bridge when I get there.

 

The next order of business for me was the rear suspension. I installed the following in early August - mileage at 116,000:
Dakar Leaf packs - OME-CS019R
OME 1/2" lift greaseable shackles - ARB-OMEGS22
OME leaf bushings (2 sets) - ARB-FK21
Wheelers 7.75" U-bolts - WHE-U7754X
Bilstein 5100's (rear set only) - BIL-BE5-D559-D560-PAIR





I measured a 4" difference before/after. But that was with the 2" blocks. So it seems to have lifted the rear 6" (5.7" on driver side).

Before the install, the truck was riding on factory length shocks and with the 2" blocks, the shocks would overextend even over tiny bumps and just road rough in general. After the install, it rides slightly better but is still overextending over speed bumps. Wheelers claimed that this is because I haven't yet lifted the front and they stated that 6" of lift in the rear is impossible with the stuff I ordered.

Since I wasn't (and am still not) ready to buy coilovers, I opted for the cheaper route of putting about 300 lbs of sandbags in the bed + ordered a spacer lift to level it out until I'm ready to spend more. Unfortunately, the sandbags didn't improve the ride enough.

 

i have that same leafpack with the aal and the greasbale shackles but no lift shackle

 

My main goal before September was getting my Jeep stereo over to the Tacoma. Since the door panels would be off, I decided to change both window regulators as well as the door handles. The window regulators because the truck is 26 years old and still on the originals and I wanted to do it while I had the panels off and was doing sound deadening. The door handles because I want to move away from chrome on this truck. I think black looks better. In addition, I changed the side-view mirrors to the '01-'04 style. The parts that I ordered:

Window reg and motor (L) AISIN - RPAT031
Window reg and motor (R) AISIN - RPAT032
Outer door handle in black (L) ACI - 360814
Outer door handle in black (R) ACI - 360815
Side-view mirror (L) TYC - 5290032
Side-view mirror (R) TYC - 5290031

Here is the before and after:

 

Did you also lift the front at the same time or was your front still on stock suspension like mine?

What were your measurements before and after the leaf packs?

 

Previous owner had spacers upfront and had the block in the back. I installed the kings first, my leafpacks should be here in 3 weeks. I also have a high roof shell thats always on ther and my recovery gear thats always ther so my rear will level out more since its 300-350 of weight thats always back ther. I havent measured all i know is the rear is a lil lower than the front, front is 2” lift. If youre unhappy with the leafs try Deavers leaf packs.