Kooks Mid Travel DC Build and BS Thread

Hey all, This is my second tacoma build, and after the first, which I love, it was time for something new, I found myself wanting different things, and I felt I had gone too far down one way to undo it all just to do it again, so here we are, presenting the new White Double Cab, ready for 35s or maybe even 37's...

As it Sits Now!




Build Outline:

Suspension
Rear:
- Old Man Emu Nitro Chargers
- Old Man Emu Dakar Leaf Pack
- Old Man Emu Grease-able Shackles
- Trail-gear Axel Relocation Kit
- Trail Gear 7.75" U Bolts

Front:
- Fox 2.5 Ext Travel + Remote Reservoir C/Os
- Total Chaos Upper Control Arms (Uniball)
- Total Chaos Lower Ball Joint Conversion
- Solo Motorsports Lower Control Arms
- KP Off road Cam Eliminator Kit

Wheels and Tires:
- Misc Alloy 16x8 (- something small offset)
- 285/75/16 BFG K02's E

Misc Exterior:
- 555 Inner and Outer Tie Rods (Low Range Off road)
- Total Chaos Poly Steering Rack Bushings
- ARE CX Classic Canopy (Imperial Jade Green)
- Custom Rear Brake Line (stainless braided from BPV to Axel T)
- Weather tech Window Rain Guards
- Diode Dynamics SS3 Pro SAE Fog Lights w/ Amber Backlight
-

$306 ARB CKMA12 On-Board Air Compressor High Performance 12 Volt for Air Locker Differentials and Tire Inflation

ARB CKMA12 Hard Mounted Air Compressor
- Spiker Hood Struts

Interior:
- Pioneer DMH-W3000NEX Apple Car Play Stereo
- Ceramic Tint (5% Rear, 25 D/S and P/S, 45% Windshield)
- Backup Camera (Wired to Taillight)

First what it had at purchase: (October 2024)
2001 Toyota Tacoma Deluxe 4x4 Double Cab
Old Man emu lift on all 4 corners, with blocks on the rear (ugh)
16x8? unbranded alloy wheels with 285 BFG's (load range E, also Ugh)
Amp and Subwoofer, poorly wired removed
Remote start and key fob removed

Pics from the day I got it:





Now lets get some work done

 

Teardown: (October 2024)

I started off by removing all the old clutter installed by previous owners and giving it a good clean, out came the subwoofer, amp, and around 25 ft of unsafe wiring from below the carpet, and taking it in for a tint! Never had tint on a vehicle but after sitting in some cool ones I thought it was going to be worth it, I got 5% on the rear 3, and rear cab windows, 25% on driver and passanger side windows, and 45% on the windshield. Fully ceramic, and i'm really looking forward to the security and heat benefit's!

Tint:


and some photos of the removal process, seat came out, sub and amp removed, wiring pulled out, and all of it cleaned!






It looks so much better clean and back to stock, I was glad to find this to be less of a pain than anticipated.

While the seat was out I took the opportunity to replace the blower motor behind the glovebox, it had been vibrating really bad when on any of the 3 hightest modes, and with winter coming I wasn't having it.
I got a new Continental one from Autozone, seems to be worth the 80.00 and has a lifetime warranty



No pics of the install, its only 3 bolts, but the old one had cracked fins! that explains why it was vibrating.


Next a new stereo, the old one was broken and since this is a daily for me for the next while, I like having creature comforts. Headed out to grab a pioneer radio, but with Apple Carplay this time, and maps, very cool. I forgot the exact name but ill update this when I find the paperwork, so far its been great

Before:


Heres the Radio I decided to get, came with a backup camera which is cool


Dash came off, and wiring came out, old radio removed without a hitch and I was presently surprised to find it still had the factory brackets, was worried I was going to have to make some


Soldering this wiring harness adaptor took forever, and I lost my black electrical tape! No one will see it, so it seems fine to me.




Everything hooked up on the first try somehow, and I started putting it all back together!


Not without a quick onX check first of course


and I made the background black, so much nicer for night time driving and general appearance



Finally, I removed the stupid center caps that came with the wheels, I dont see the point, and they stick out so far

Before:


and After:


I dont even mind these wheels now, ill run them while I beef the rest of the truck up for some big (tire) upgrades

For now, Glamour shots

 

Don’t look too be a limited trim

 

my bad you are correct, I just ran the VIN again and it was deluxe not limited, I got mixed up

 

Front Suspension: (December 2024)

Tons of parts came for the taco over the last couple days and just in time! Ordered a front end refresh to compliment the new suspension components, and some goodies to dial in the engine and keep it running well!


Started off the last couple weeks with finishing up the radio install with the backup camera that came included with the radio. Mounted it in a stealthy location for now, this bumper wont last long.

Wired it using power from the taillight and fixed some wiring that had been done by the previous owner as well while I had it apart.

Once again the dash came apart and the wires came together




Power wires and cables for the camera got routed with the factory harness and through the factory ECU firewall access hole.



got it all put back together and tested, shockingly everything worked first try and it was finally time to move onto more important things that had arrived in the time being.

November 2024: Start of full Front suspension Rebuild (Mid Travel)


goodies from Total Chaos came in, unboxed it all and man its exciting to look through, high quality and durable components


Interesting to see how well manufactured all these parts are, smallest details.


grease zerks installed



full layout for todays work, lower ball joint uniball conversion and new UCA's, let the work begin.

painted up the new 555 ITRE's from Low range, summit chassis black and self etching primer has never let me down.


They came out real good.


Little before picture, front end components need some love, and man I hate undercoat.



lots of cotter pins had to get drilled out, so much sized stuff on this truck, got them off though! m18 for the win.


Previous owner on the truck had the mainseal on the front dif fail... needless to say fluid got places.


airbox came out, and the little relay mounts as well, and eventually got the bolt out,


before and after of the upper control arms, so much nicer



These ball joints were so far past gone!



after hammering, impacting, and some swearing, we got them both out of the spindals,



even these had some mix of corrosion and undercoat, but a little careful action and I got that cleaned up.






new Total Chaos Pucks are so much nicer


Cleaned up the through bolts, got them looking nice, and installed the uppers, not much to show there, just used a torque wrench and greased everything properly.


pulled out the lower ball joints without much fuss, quick comparison picture


antisieze on everything!


in and torqued, that 12 point stuff is fancy



Inner tie rod tool from harbor freight is a godsend



Steering rack bushings were so beyond toast!



Finally the front end came back together, too many hours and several siezed bolts, but alls well that ends well. Time for an alignment.



So many parts removed this go round.

 

'03 DCSB in Super White for the WIN!

 

Heck yeah! I love the color haha, and the little pin striping down the side makes it all the better!

 

Couple more projects moving into December, getting the truck ready to head out to Colorado, or as ready as it can be for now...

Got the SRQ Fab Switchpros ash tray mount, really good fitment, the switch pros itself is on order, but I was happy to get that grimy ash tray out of my car for good.


Stoked with how this looks, I had the dash apart anyways to address some wiring issues so I was happy to just pop this in as a placeholder.

Next, another small one, but some Spiker hood struts. I always wanted to do this on my last truck but never got around to it, silly how hard it is to justify 100 bucks when thousands seems so logical haha, anyways some paint, holes, and rivets later we got them in, extra 6 inches of hood height really makes a difference to, and I was glad to get this install in before I work on an ARB mount.



mounts went in pretty smooth, and before I knew it my hood opened itself.


its a silly thing, but watching the hood pop itself open to the extent of the hood release before I pull the lever in the grill is real fun, feels like a fancy truck or something!

Now onto the parts I enjoy the most, little CAD and some quick fab work.


made a nice compressor mount, holes it in super tight...should work



some cutting and grinding later, I welded up a mount and got it all dialed in.



painted up with my favorite summit racing chassis black, and mounted with a bolt through the fender well, and 3 riv nuts into the fender, pretty stout and should work for now! Unfortunately had to leave for the trip before I could find fittings for it... hopefully will be able to find stuff in colorado that will work!

Late nights mean I forget to take photos, heres an in progress of a quick mount I whipped up for some fog lights, very necessary this time of year IMO



lights are much more straight than this... no bolt through them yet so sitting a little wonky, this is just the only photo I remembered to take.

Wired both the compressor and the lights to simple ARB style rocker switches with relays, bash up job but should work for this trip... everything will get wired to the switch pro afterwards, so this will have to do for now.

 

Rear Suspension: Setup 2 (December 2024)
Overview: Old Man Emu Dakar Springs, Old Man Emu Nitro Charger Shocks, Trail Gear Axel Relocation Plates, Custom Stainless Braided Break Line (didn't use the trail-gear one) Old Man Emu Extended Grease-able Shackles,

Didnt take as many pictures and wont do as much of a write up. Huge bummer, found a bit of a rust spot on the frame, will have to patch in the future, but this is a pretty standard install that has been done again and again on these trucks. While I will likely keep the springs for a while, the shocks will go soon, extended something on the rear is coming, I just have to decide what. Anyways, on with the ride improvements.



Factory stuff aways looks so small when installing new springs, deal with that at work all the time, with some PB Blaster and the high torque impact it all came apart ok, aside from forward spring bolts of course, I always have to chop those the first time.


Now everyone can see the lovely rust hole I somehow missed... the rest of the frame is doing great, at least its fixable.



spent more time with the finger sander, got the spring mounts cleaned and then eventually painted, when I pull the bed off more time will be spent on all of the rear portion of the frame, boxing it and bringing it back up to spec.



finished and painted they turned out well,



This bracket on the BPV always seems to seize, finally just pulled it off, going to replace the whole thing with a nice long stainless line, no more dumb brackets.



An answer to all of those questions, the one that ends with the A goes on the driver side.



Next, got all the bushings in place, and setup for the new shackles. SuperLube went on everything that needed it, hopefully that will see me well long term.

The frame isnt as bad as it looks in these pictures, just undercoated, a pain, but ill sort it out in the future, maybe ill sand blast it or something.



With the bushings in, the springs went in without complaint, including the axel plates I painted earlier, new bolts are so much nicer



Due to the axel plates I had installed to recenter the axel in the wheel well, I needed to drill a new location for the center pin in the bumpstop, easy enough, all centered up after this.



New OME Shackles in, and man they are nicer than the 1 piece stock shackles, a worth while upgrade as well.



Here is the full finished assembly for now, all stacked up good.



Got a little road force balance, and it was all set for the trip to CO this winter.

 

Before I left, flexed the truck out real good to make sure stuff cleared. This wasnt going to be a wheeling trip of any sorts, but still hoped to get out and have some fun.


Finally it was time to go, first stop would be sun valley idaho to see a buddy of mine, and then it was on to colorado for the holidays.



Wet start in Portland as normal, ill just leave the highlights from here:





At the top of one of the many passes, saw a "summit road" naturally had to find out where that went, no where good for me, I need lockers haha

Eventually made it to Colorado, got out to do some wheeling, and naturally got myself very stuck, now the list grows, 35's and lockers would be pretty good.



made it to within 6 feet of the clear, just bellied out and had the tires just spinnin, never loved snow wheeling all that much



Forgot to add this, when I left I also bought air fittings on my way out, this was the final compressor setup, for now, lockers will change this, might get a manifold or something like that.



The way back was uneventful, made it home just fine, overall very happy with how the truck did.