jspansel's 01 Tacoma

Figured I'd start a thread since I am starting to modify my truck...

01 Tacoma 4x4 5 Speed Extended Cab. 162k miles. My father was the original owner. He traded me straight across this summer for my 01 Civic since he wanted better gas mileage and they also bought a new Tundra. I couldn't say no to that.

Truck is in excellent condition.




I de-badged it all around for a cleaner look. Today I also just picked up a used Leer 100R canopy in great shape for it. Carpeted liner, dome light, sliding front window.



Next I will be lifting it 2.5" in the front with Billies and new replacement stock springs (Moog) and a 2" Wheeler's AAL in the rear. Already have the parts but wife is making me wait for them as Christmas presents.... So will be next month when I get that installed.

The canopy has gutter mounts for racks already on it so I may be getting some racks as well in the future.

Bigger tires (265/75/16) will come when these wear out as they are fairly new still. I want to paint or use bedliner on the flares and chrome bumpers/grill surround. The truck bed is already Rhino lined.

Thinking about painting the wheels black...

Will tint the front windows.

After that, I am not quite sure...

It is 75% on pavement but it sees light trails while hunting and fishing or just exploring. No rock crawling or anything serious like that.

 

Congrats on the truck! You defiantly got the better end of the trade lol

 

Congrats !

 

clean truck, I like the color.

 

Got my lift all installed...

5100s with new Moog replacement springs set at 2.5" and Wheeler's 2" AAL in the rear. Still need new shocks for the rear.



Got the springs compressed and off of my old shocks so I could reuse the bushings and top plate.. Then compressed the new springs onto the new shocks. Took a little while with the crappy rental compressor but was not too bad. I had used them before...



Here she is with just the front installed.... Rear sag!



Had some bad issues trying to do the rears myself.. just was not prepared with the kind of jacks, etc that I needed. I got things all twisted up and out of alignment. Caved and took it in to get done. Was worth it at that point.

Here she sits now: (Need to put my wheel caps back on)



So glad I went with the 2" AAL instead of the more popular 1.5". I have 1/2"-3/4" higher in the rear now. It is exactly the stance that I wanted. Very happy with it.

Will look much better with some new bigger tires on. That will be when these tires wear out though. Don't think it looks too bad with them on. I will eventually be getting a whole new spring pack with lift down the road as well.

 

Good work Jay! Looks good! I like that amount of lift.

 

Thanks! Really happy with it. Rides so much nicer now. Will be even better with new rear shocks I assume.

 

Both of mine have stock suspension. When you say "rides much nicer now", what does that mean...bumps, body roll, etc? I know my 03 has bad shocks up front, but really don't know what to expect from some lifting in terms of ride. Since you just changed yours, what difference do you see from before and after? Thanks man.

 

Biggest thing I notice is body roll. Feels much more planted to the road and doesn't feel like its floating around. Much more solid/positive feeling.

 

That would certainly be an improvement. I definitely need to upgrade the suspension. Thanks for the info.