Finally pulled the trigger!!

After several months of deliberation, I finally bought another one, my 4th 2nd gen. Drove a 3rd gen for long enough to figure out it wasn't for me. Gave up on it and tried a new Ram 1500 for a bit as well, but ended up with a new friend: a 2014 TRD Offroad. Yes, it actually is an Offroad that someone put a Sport hood, Pro Grill, and painted back bumper. EXACTLY what I wanted, a TRD offroad that looked as good as a sport! Best of both worlds. It already had wheels shod with the tires I was going to buy (KO2's), and 5100's all the way around. The ARE lid was in fantastic shape, I just added some interior lighting. I've already pulled the crap front diff bearing out and installed the bushing. So far I've logged over 300k miles in 2nd gens, and have only turned a wrench when I wanted to. Never had real issues once I figured out how to get the the vibration out of my '05. Really looking forward to finding a few new photo spots in the AC lol. Hiking, dirtbiking, or riding the grizzlys to new photo shoot locations is fun for a while, but man, just staying cool and dry is going to be nice. Having 4wd with a factory e-locker is just icing on the cake! Took these pics in my front yard tonight. Hope you guys have a good night.

 

Nice rig!

 

Awesome front yard! Oh yeah, very cool truck too.

 

Great shots and yard! Nice looking truck too, hah. Love the TRD Pro grille on the silver.

 

i'll second that, sweet front yard, and truck(s), and photoshop skills? you take those with an iPhone or something fancy? my dad just kicked me down his old nikon D80 so now I'm like super into photography (i don't know what the emoji is for self deprecating sarcasm).

 

That is one nice truck. Your front yard looks like the front yard of Heaven.

 

Thanks 'Gold! Nikon here as well. No photoshop though, but I do use lightroom. These cameras and lenses are expensive as women lol.

 

One of the nicest trucks I've seen! Nice job pulling the trigger!

 

This was supposed to be a favorite, but I blew the focus I've got 21 acres of trails/ boulders to play around with right here at home. 140 feet of elevation change as well. Makes for good ATV four wheeling, but I'll have to widen a few trails if this becomes a habit!

 

Looks good. I did the same thing with my silver Off Road. The colormatched parts really make a difference.

Swap out the mirrors and door handles next

 

Thought about doing that as well, and could have done it with ease while II was dynamat-ing the doors. The hood scoop was painted black when I got it, so I had that painted with the chrome bumper. But I kinda like the contrast too, and decided to leave the handles and mirrors black this time. My silver '08 was a sport (all color matched factory), and I just wanted something different this time. Hated to give up the long bed, but if you want an offroad the short bed is the only way you can get it. I will say the turning radius is noticeably better, so it's just a small trade-off.

 

Can't hide money

Beautiful spread brother. Beautiful truck. I'm looking for a sport hood myself. Hoping someone will trade +boot lol. Painted my bumper as well. Trd performance with sport looks. Wetsand and buff your mirrors of you already haven't, it'll make them look amazing until you find a set of sport mirrors, if that's what you're into(that's what im into, for the record).

What's this talk about front diff bearings being crap. Is there a memo I missed?

 

Your truck is why I love the 2nd gen, no doubt I'm happy with my 3rd gen (though my FJs engine and transmissions run circles around it...), when I saw your rig I can't help but love the whole look, great grab. I'm a 3rd gen owner who's a closet 2nd gen lover...

 

I'm just pasting this from my reply to an earlier message about the same question. Too lazy to retype it:

The carrier bearing on the driver's side of the front differential is a well-known, well documented issue. On paper, its a good design...a very low friction needle bearing. In the real world, it has a lot a slop in it that allows the inner cv joint to wobble off-center, creating vibrations that feel like a tire being way out of balance. Some people spend days at the dealership having the needle bearing (or entire diff) replaced with...you guessed it..another needle bearing. Within a few thousand miles, the vibration comes back due to the new needle bearing wearing in. East Coast Gear Supply sells a regular bronze plain bearing, and the puller as well, to fix this problem. And it works! Takes an hour or 2 to do the fix. Be sure to buy the bearing driver as well. These guys have had these out for a while now, and have a great rep as well. Check out the vids:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOvoM5irtEc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzdakZGs1Dg

 

Ahhh... yeah. My driver cv has the usual tacoma play in it. No vibes though. That's going in the archive for sure. Thanks!

 

Nice looking rig! congrats on the purchase

 

Good looking truck man! What camera do you shoot with and is it just edited in lightroom or something similar? Shots look amazing!

 

Thanks Rman. I still use an old nikon D5000 (7-8 years old now) and a D750. Lightroom is the only software I know how to use, and it does a great job on .nef files (raw). Tried photoshop a bit, but never got the hang of it. These were just some quickies. Planning on doing a lot more scouting now for astrophotography shots. Hard to find really good spots without all the light pollution here in NC. Here's a couple from right here at home:

Standing in my front yard looking south over our house (mine is on the right, parents live on the left):

From Jones Pond at the bottom of the hill we live on:

This was standing on my porch a few weeks back. That horizon is about 45 miles to the north west of us::

I hiked about 18 miles in the NC mountains to get this one May 27 this year. 54 pound backpack, 24 of which was camera gear lol. Good glass is heavy! This was my first real attempt at a milky way shot:

All these were taken with a D750. Lots to learn!

 

Great looking truck! Nice picture taking skills.

 

Lots to Learn? Your picture taking skills are incredible.