Laxtoy’s making of the pig

This is the story of my truck, known affectionately as Grumble Pig. I’ve owned the truck since 2005ish, and I’ve changed things several times, so I am keeping up with a build thread to document stuff, found this is a good way to organize my thoughts.

Furthest back pic I could find, little side trip off the top of the world highway between Dawson City in the Yukon and Alaska. That was back in 2006, 6000 miles in 3 weeks from Seattle all over the western half of Canada to Alaska and back.

Bought it with 107k miles from a coworker, rebuilt title. He put T100 leafs in the back which gave about 3” lift and the front springs were so shot that the headlights wouldn’t aim high enough, and that’s how everything started. Found TTORA, got good or bad advice depending on your perception of what you should do with a perfectly good truck.

Pic circa summer 2018

How it sits now with Lone Peak camper, 200 watt panel, home made rack bars

Specs:
-5VZFE, 345,000 miles
-5 speeed manual
-Fox ext travel DSC resi coilovers with 700# King coils
-Camburg uca’s
-T-100 2wd rear leafs, recentered in wells
-Ruffstuff U-bolt flip
-10” Fox resi’s with LSC adjusters turned back on custom mounts
-Roger Brown/4Crawler 1” body lift
-295/75r16 Hankooks on 16x8 4” bs wheels
-Clearanced rear crossmember/spare tire holder, spare is up 2” higher than stock
-Tundra 231 front brakes
-Homemade front bumper
-Homemade rear bumper w/dual swingouts
-Badlands Apex 12k synth line winch
-Skid Row front and transfer case skids
-Homemade transmission skid
-Mercer Fab sliders
-Trail Gear diff skid
-4.56’s, ARB rear locker
-Procar Scat Touring bucket seats on Corbeau brackets
-eBay snorkel
-Morimoto fogs custom mounted in bumper
-Sierra LED 20” dual amber/white light bar
-rear Diode Dynacics SS2 Pro floods with red backlight
-Morimoto H1 projector retrofits
-Lone Peak wedge camper, installed 11/24

Under the hood circa May 2021

most recent pic with new Phocos solar charge controller, relocate cruise control
Specs:
-Dual Odyssey PC1200MJT
-Blue Sea MLACR
-Blue Sea fuse block
-1/0 awg cable
-ARB mini compressor for locker
-Duda Diesel 20 plate heat exchanger
-Noco Genpro 10x1 battery charger
-Airaid intake tube
-Phocos ECO-N-MPPT-85-15 waterproof charge controller

Future plans, possibles to change, and who the hell knowses:
-rebuild/reinstall supercharger (obtained from donor truck), debating going with new Magnuson TVS1320 and selling MP62 following rebuild
-cab swap/bed (obtained from donor truck)
-New engine as necessary (85k mile 5vz obtained from donor truck)
-front ARB locker
-auxiliary fuel tank in stock spare tire location
-Install Solo stock length lower control arms, purchased
-install 63” Chevy rear leafs, purchased 3/4 ton version, have Ruff Stuff swap kit
-install frame box kit, have set from ForestRunnerFrank99/KP Offroad
-Rebuild set of spindles, install Total Chaos gussets, have them
-interior buildout in rear of truck, copy Goose Gear
-install Propex heater after buildout, have
-purchase/install 270 awning/wall kit, several desirable options, like Alu-Cab version with squared off back- light weight
-Recaro front seats
-Install Diode Dynamics SS3 Max amber fogs, have them

Everything I did to this truck was based on need, usually when something failed or as I wheeled it harder and harder, so I got to think a lot about how I needed it set up. Unfortunately though, sometimes you just have to do things multiple times until you dial things in.

 

Where to begin? Well, close to the beginning I guess.

I started by needing to level the truck so I went with Tundra TRD coils on OME struts since I wanted to carry weight. Sonoran Steel had done a lot of these lifts on 3rd gen 4Runners, and while I liked the fact the truck now cornered like a race car, it had limitations I’d find as I wheeled it like very limited flex up front because the springs were so stiff.

Solution for this, Sway-A-Way 2.0 coil overs

So as I mentioned, I bought truck with a rebuilt title from my Ukrainian coworker. I still know the man, and love him like a brother, but anyone who knows the gig, a lot of times when you buy a vehicle with a rebuilt title that’s been “fixed” by a bunch of Eastern Europeans, it may be a bit questionable.
“Yo, Andre man, thought you said the frame was straight.” Andre’s reply…a shoulder shrug.

All of this was discovered when I tried to get my new TJM bumper aligned and I’m like what the hell is going on. A little work with a flap disc on the frame and poof! A puff of bondo dust.

Well, I cat leave well enough alone, so let’s rebuild the whole front end of the truck, radiator core support and all.Had a piece of 3/16” bent up, out with the bad In with the good. After the patch I plated both sides to the factory ifs steel, so it was plenty beef by this point.
Getting there
Happy for now.

I’d wheel and overland in this platform for a few years.
Several trips down and back to SoCal, wheeling in Anza Borego and locally and gaining confidence in a platform that was pretty acceptable fuel economy, comfort and capability wise.
But like all people too smart for their own good, I couldn’t leave well enough alone.

More to come.

 

Now I’ve got a truck that can carry a good amount of weight on c range tires but I’m pushing it. The BFG AT’s had soft sidewalls that were getting hashed on trails and the tread was chunking bad.

I’m def going up in tire size and load range so I can also carry more weight, but I’ve already felt the shortcomings of the oem brakes with stock tire size and had heard a lot from guys about how they were going to address that.

I knew plenty about Tundra brakes, but I had to get 16” wheels to make them fit. New wheels means new tires, new tires means bigger. I went with 199 S13WE because at the time the 231 13WL maybe seemed like overkill and we’re newer, more expensive. We all know when we push the limits of a vehicle, there isn’t really an overkill.

So much of what we do to our trucks comes from the importance of doing research. Sometimes you do your research, and sometimes you just get bad information.

I bought some alloy 16x8’s from Desert Rat after the guy on the phone assured me they would clear Tundra calipers. I mounted 285/75r16 Maxxis Bighorns and ran them with stock brakes. It wasn’t fun. Now the brakes go on. The guy who told me the wheels would fit was wrong and I was out $500 because they weren’t honoring shit. Worse than that, this was my daily driver so I had to find a solution fast.

I went with D window steelies and after Les Schwab assured me they’d clear Tundra calipers they still needed a 1/4” spacer. A 1/4” spacer meant my lug studs weren’t long enough.

Live and learn and learn some more. I enjoyed this platform for a while, but again, I was at a point where I was pushing the limits of the truck again

The factory tinny skids were getting bashed, and I had to be really careful not to touch sheat metal with no sliders. I also knew a locker and gears were coming.
I went back to Les Schwabb and they honored the fact the steelies didn’t fit and gave me an exchange for 16x8 alloys.

I traded a TTORA member the Desert Rat wheels for a set of sliders. I wanted round tube, but the timing was prefect to dump something I couldn’t sell and pick up something I really needed.

They have served me well and nothing says worth it like having your truck tipped over with both driver side wheels off the ground leaning on something other than body panels.

I started checking things off the list of what I wanted to get done.
Skid Row t-case skid beefed up I ditched the factory spare tire crossmember and made my own that clearanced the spare 3” up

 

Relocate exhaust over springs, reinforced frame. Had the frame checked and it was straight which was fortunate after getting wrecked a time or three. A little piece of advice- don’t cut your exhaust so it dumps under the bed. My frame has rusted on the passenger side, not the driver as has the bottom of my bed and it rotted out my spare. Shocks mounted, can still fit 35” space if I do choose. Since it’s no longer my daily driver/lumber getter I’m going swing out and want to put a spare fuel tank in that location.
Ditched the canopy because I broke the rear hatch glass making it worthless. Fabbed up a headache rack and was able to really add the ability to carry weight.
The issue with losing the canopy meant now I had no way to securely transport tools. I lived in an apartment in Seattle and every night I had to unload everything and reload it the next morning and try to plan my trips to lumber yards. Compromise I guess

 

Got any more pics of that spare tire crossmember installed? I'm gonna try to do something similar with a shock relocation like yours but while maintaining the ability to keep the spare under the bed

 

Hard to get a good pic, thought I had a pic with the bed off but I don’t. I’ll be swapping the bed at some point, can update then

 

Guess my math was off too (not good for a carpenter ) Clearanced 2” not 3”.

I used 1”x2”x1/8” rectangle, you could probably use less if clearance is your goal. If you don’t have a body lift that affects things obviously- the angles are off a bit so the measurements look offfactory 10” wide spare hangs about 8” below frame

My 11-3/4” wide spare
Hangs about 7-3/4”

 

Front bumper
I wanted it to obviously be stout. The TJM had mounting brackets with a lot of adjustability, but that meant it moved when you hit something or tried to pull with it. I welded shackle points on it but when I tried to pull with it the bumper slipped out of adjustment.

The new mounting system also made the bumper easy to install and remove, now only taking a few minutes every time I put it on or take it off. It’s now two 3/4” bolts through the frame and a couple 1/2” bolts into the body mounts. I also integrated a winch plate, when I install a winch I may still reinforce that since it’s only 1/4”I tried to make it as clean and serviceable as possible such as mounting the turn signals with welded studs. That’s been a big help when I had to swap damaged ones out or repaint.I like the profile but if I did it again I’d make it a little more streamlined to the truck. It is nice having it stick out for the protection factor, rather have the bumper make contact on trees and rocks than the sheet metal.I also wanted mounting points and the trailer hitch up front is really useful- also use it to move the boat around without backing up to it. I cut in a hole inside each turn signal because I was going to mount these little Hella fogs, but by the time I got around to it there were so many more options, it’s crazy how far LED’s came along in the last 10 years

 

I’d have a lot of fun with it at this point But I knew there were things I’d need to address Especially as I was going up in tire size again, now rolling 295/75r16’s that netted to a full 33.6”

I got a deal on some used Donahoe coil overs for $300 and planned to put 700 lb coils because the Sway-a-ways were sagging and I couldn’t find above 650 lb coils for 2.0 coil overs. One of the coils even broke, a common issue on early Saws. I now had other plans too that pulled my focus off beefing up the truckI still needed a way to carry materials but wanted to be able to mount the tent and deploy it easily. I was afraid the rack would look goofy as hell, but then I thought, who gives a shit, I need it to function.Once again the name of the game was function so I made it as easy as I could think to install and remove the tent. I captured the nuts inside the cross bars so I could just take out 4 bolts to do so.Carpenter doing metal fab.The rack also afforded the ability to have a mounting point for goodies

 

It worked out to be what I considered a success. The tent presented limited issue for running materials other than making it a little tight in the bed, but I could still store 90% of my tools and the tent made it more difficult for sticky fingered transients from making off with my shit. We’ve run this platform for 7 years now, and it has worked out great. The tent is down low enough it keeps a lower center of gravity and has less wind resistance. At this point, my wife insists we’re never sleeping on the ground again, so happy wife = happy lifeRuh Roh. I expected this honestly, but the idea of spending $2500 on new gears and a locker was hard to pass with my partner in crime. Thank you sheared spider gears, now we’re giving East Coast Gear Supply a call.

A lot of us know these guys, but they are truly one of a Toyota owner’s best friends. I had my pinion bearing go out after like 2 years from initial install and they honored the repair, paid for shipping and the replacement has worked flawlessly since. Solid dudes with a solid reputation.

One thing I had really failed to address was the abysmal stock lighting of these trucks.

When I drove back from Alaska I did all my driving in daylight thanks to extra long days in the land of the midnight sun. There was however one night in particular we drove too long and ended up having to drive in darkness which was no bueno.

The only oncoming traffic was 18 wheelers lit up like the spaceships from Close Encounters (great movie for you youngsters) and with only a single yellow center stripe and no fog lines I thought we were going to die.

We kept seeing little glowing eyes going up and over the road and I’m just like “Shit, shit, shiiiit!” I kept getting out to adjust my headlights and clean the faces but it didn’t matter, I would have seen better with a flashlight.

The whole scene culminated with me telling my girlfriend at the time you’re going to have to drive, manual transmission or not because I’d been at the wheel for like 12 hours.

Just at that moment we saw what looked like a ghost in the oncoming lane getting closer. As we are almost on it we see this giant head swing at us like a freaking dinosaur and I’m shrieking like a girl kneeling on the horn as we pass this huge moose.

My girl turns to me and says, “So is that what you want me to do?” I could have (in hind sight maybe should have, I mean would anyone really know?) killed her.
Oh well, sure was purdy up there.

Well, like a decade later enter another awesome vendor at The Retrofit Source where I got some defect Morimoto Toyota specific LED fogs for like 30% off I had to get creative cutting in the holes because you can’t drill a perfectly round hole for these skewed fog lights on a skewed surface, the hole ends up needing to be elongated. Enter some hillbilly carpentry hacks and a 4” hole saw.
I have been very happy with the results. Crisp cutoff with a wide angle view, almost 90 degrees from the bumper face throwing lots of light into the ditch. Liked them so much bought a set for my wife’s car and a buddy ended up getting a pair on his ‘10 Tacoma

 

I wish you could still get an MT in a 295/75r16 size

 

It is a shame they discontinued the RT03 in that size, good compromise between a 33 and a 35. I’m on my second set and think I’m gonna have to go down to 285/75’s when I get tires next.

 

Started to add more knick knacks. eBay snorkel (for tired of fouling my MAF sensor after days on really dusty roads), Sierra LED dual amber/white light bar added a fridge. No ice except for drinks, food became a lot easier to transport. Issue now was obviously a single battery isn’t going to cut it. dual Odyssey PC1200MJT. First one I ran as a single lasted 9 years amd wasn’t really done when I pulled it, I just followed the advice that having 2 identical batteries the same age would be sound thinking.
One issue with this truck is it has such a lack of space. Second/third gen guys seem to have a lot better options for switches and more room under the hood. I wanted switches on the dash, close to the turn signal stalk for lights and my non shifting hand for locker so ended up everything will be in a efficient spot when finished. I have yet to clean this up but have an idea of how to get things consolidated, and in total I’ll need 4 or 5 switches for lights
1. fog lights - single pole off/on with parking lights
2. Light bar- double throw; white/off/amber
3. Rear bumper lights- double throw; on with reverse lights/off/on anytime
4. Rock lights; on/off
5. Rack floods; possibly not putting these on the dash, might go in other location rounding out the lighting obsession for the front, mini D2S projectors with Apollo shrouds.

That is one of the single most valuable things about this forum is the connection with really awesome aftermarket retailers like The Retrofit Source.

The other is the extent of knowledge and creativity on this forum. It has been absolutely awesome to see what genius stuff people on this and similar forums do and I’f never have attempted half this stuff if I hadn’t seen people do it before.

For the most part, the truck remained unchanged for a couple of years because it was doing what I needed it to, carry tools and lumber and wheel on trails that I admit weren’t going to get me stuck because I mainly travel solo and I still daily drove it. It was 100% reliable in every case.
Added manual hubs- tired of burning up CV boots Trail gear rear diff skid
Fire extinguisher- quick fists are not what I want to stick with so reordered a specific mount from Amerix

 

So about a month ago I scored what I’ve been after for a while-

Initially I was just looking for a vehicle with a clean body for a swap and if I was lucky a rebuildable 3.4 liter.

For $5000 I got a clean body similar model year with a 3.4, 5 speed 4wd, with less than 90k so everything will swap over perfect.

Bonus, it’s got a supercharger!

It’s been sitting for about 3 years so there’s a lot of deterioration, but I’m going to go through it completely- pull the heads, have them ported and polished, have the bottom end gone through including have the block dipped (lots of rust) meth kit, headers

The plan is to keep the frame and suspension from my truck since it’s got a lot of modification then bolt up the goodies from the new truck.

I’ll basically make 2 complete trucks again and sell the green body, engine, trans mounted to the red trucks frame and sell it, and the way these trucks sell, I’ll probably be close to getting what I paid for the red truck.

It’s all home now after me and some buddies went and got everything but the frame last weekend and engine/trans/case which a buddy and I got a few weeks ago.

Well I had a hell of a day today. I pulled the engine, and in the process my 76 Massey Ferguson died. The engine was hanging by a chain and an engine balancer from the bucket. I was damn lucky it was on the asphalt when it died because if it was in the grass where the frame was sitting there’s no way I’d have a surface to roll the engine stand on.

I’m not at all stoked about the idea of having to go through what I expect is an issue with the fuel system. It’s simple for a diesel, but if it’s the injection pump I’m likely out north of $500 to have it rebuilt. Drag, because it’s stuck in a bad spot with the bucket down. I’m a little worried it’s going to be sitting there for a while until I can diagnose the issue and get parts and get it fixed. Those are the breaks.

Did get the engine in the stand.If the frame wasn’t in the grass I could have used the cherry picker, but when you have a tractor, why worry? Shitty part is I don’t think that tractor has had an issue where it wouldn’t run for as long as I can remember and my dad bought it new the year I was born. Fucking figures it dies when I’ve got an engine dangling from the bucket

 

Fairing on rack. I noticed when the rack is on I lose some mpg, I think the fairing helps a bit, def helps with noise/drag

Swapped in vinyl floors, good decision for dog hair/dirt, my lab sheds constantly. It is a bit noisier and the vinyl transfers more heat than carpet. When I swap cabs I plan to sound proof and insulate.

Also 1st go round on seats. Subaru Crosstrek leather.

I had issues with them right off, a good reason obviously to test/measure before you spend $600 on used eBay seats. I initially used the Subaru sliders and welded the Tacoma seat base feet to them but they were way too tall. I’d hit my head on the door jam when I’d try to look out the window when wheeling, so that had to be fixed ASAP.

I ended up scoring some Corbeau seat bases and sliders from a Tacomaworld member which helped drop them some, still to tall.

Another issue was access to the back. I removed the jump seats, seat belts, etc but I used the area for my dog and tool storage. Absolutely fucked trying to get in there with seat backs that don’t go far enough forward because the seats are made for a four door vehicle.

In the pic the driver seat back is in the forward position before I cut the stops that limit the seat back coming forward, the passenger side is after the stops were cut. Even with the stops clearanced the access to the back seat wasn’t good.

I really liked them comfort and quality wise, but even after pushing the brackets as high as I could to drop the seat and they were still too high so your center of gravity felt off and there was too little head room, especially for the passenger side.
Regardless, I was due for a solution since the stock driver seat and carpet were toast. More to come on seats down the road a bit.


Dual voltmeter on a switch, Blue Sea USB extension to Pioneer double din head unit so phone works with Apple CarPlay, dual USB fast charger. Nice for charging head lamps, dog collars, phones, tablets etc.


Andersen connector on 8 awg with Qwikfist for fridge. Less than ideal when you use the bed consistently, but this has been robust and no voltage drop to fridge.

This pile of junk is gonna be something soon.

 

Transmission skid Nestled neatly between my Skid Row IFS and t-case skid is now my transmission skid.

A transmission skid from Skid Row is like $250, so instead I spent my money on a $80 sheet 2’ x 3’ x 3/16”, along with the fact I could make it tighter to the belly.Plasma def helps speed up cuts, I used to do this with a worm drive Skilsaw with a grit blade, cuts happened at about a 1/16” a second and spewed dust everywhere. I have a press with a homemade brake, but the sheet is too wide, so I had to get creative.

I scored the sheet with a steel circular saw (nice little toy) so I could bend the sheet easily, then followed by welding the plate, ended up beef. I used the press to hold the plate flat while I welded it to prevent warping.

Then ground the exposed welds flat.For mounting points I got threaded slugs and plug welded them into the frame then ground the welds flat, did the t-case at the same time since there were just self tappers used by Skid Row that eventually stripped.

 

That skid looks great!

 

Danke- I had visions of using a piece of aluminum sheet bolted to it and the tcase skid to protect the cat from theft which is why I made it mount to the frame with the legs off the side. It was a mixed bag being harder to fabricate but also a better/stronger mounting system than just bolting to the OEM crossmember. The theft issues are less of a worry now that I’m back in the sticks and I don’t daily drive it anymore.

 

I got around to building my rear bumper about 10 years too late A lot of things that made this easier than the front- plasma cutter was one of the biggest purchases, but it’s come in very handy. Far as I’m concerned, it’s worth it just for the fact there’s not metal fibers and dust everywhere from using a grinderBought a mag drill, even a cheap one is $300, so went mid-range on a Bluerock. It’s not a Hogue (not spending a grand) but they have a replacement parts catalog and I think they’re base in WA, pretty impressed so far.Made a press brake like Swag off-road sells for my Harbor Freight 20 top press for $70 and some scrap
Bought a DEWALT porta band, nice for clean cuts without all the sparks.
Had shackle mounts sitting around for many years, same mounting as front, cut through face and welded to main frame mount plates, 3/8” plate Used 3/16 x 2” angle for the bottom, angled in a way I think will be effective at not hooking me on rocksTime to hack some bedsides Took a different, more complicated approach, because I have an inner desire to make shit more complicated Had hours of fun making jigsNot hard to see why this took me so longTurned out how I wanted with some shaping, other than the corners which I may have to smooth out with a die grinder and a welderStarted on the sides. 3/16” x 2” bottom, 3/16” x 2” x 3” top tapered to 2-1/2” to give it a little slop frame to back. That fucking piece with the arrow took me like 2 hours to figure out. I think I was completely brain-fried, when you start having arguments with yourself and losing, time to take a lap, or maybe a nap.All the little detailsSame concept as the front bumper wanted to have a receiver built inAdded quite a bit of weight but put in a square tube connected to the receiver, but pretty much made things hell for stout.

Fabbed a license plate mount out of aluminum so I could pull it to tow or for a center recovery mountMy neurotic side was indulged, some places I had no choice but to use the most delicate tool I could find so I used hand files and a Dremel tool with carbide bits.Main bumper complete, turned out alright

 

SWINGOUTI shopped around for mounts, 4XInnovations in my opinion are a stronger design. I had mine raised above the top of the bumper so about half isn’t welded to the bumper frame, but it’s pretty robust and if I get around to it I may gusset it so it actually has better coverage at the corner.

As beat as this truck is, I have a donor body that’s in great condition so a lot of the process is making it a Guinea pigOne gripe, the mounts seem to have a flaw- the hole for the mounting bolt wasn’t correctly sized. It worked if the mount was flipped upside down, but the correct orientation had to be alleviated.The end result created a little bit of movement because of the over-drilling of the lower hole.I considered pushing the bolt up from below but that wasn’t my initial plan so I wanted to stick to the design I had. The wrench isn’t really even necessary. I tightened the bolt with an impact and pretty much held the nut with my fingers and it bit into the bottom of the mount 1-3/4” x .120 square for the swing arm. As I suspected I had to play with the slack, so had to tack it then see where it sat prefect with weight. Some swing arms are 2” x 3” x 3/16 wall, but I think with cutting the distance by using 2 there’s not as much leverage.First version at the tire carrier. Always good to have some scrap around. It I ended up being 3/8” from the center web of a big piece of channel I like the height, trying to minimize how tall it is without having it be an anchor on departureLeftover plastic cutting board material makes a good slider pad and keeps the swing arm supported when closedDeStaCo 344r latches, pretty standard, used often it seems. One thing I’ve tried to emphasize when fanning stuff for myself is use parts that are common so you can find replacements. Either that or I need to be able to fabricate it.License plate is a little obscured by the handles, but think it should be alright. I have t been pulled over in like 15 years in this truck, doesn’t seem to draw a lot of attention from LEOHad an issue with the latch handle hitting the tire. As much as you plan, sometimes things turn into snags. Version 2 of the tire carrier pitched it back just enough to raise the tire and angle it away from the latch.

LATCH
The latched come with 5/16” rod and a bolt on latch plate, but my design is to have the latch hook on the top of the bumper which would likely hit the tailgate when dropped It has its complications, but it’s what I want, so I’m happy. I like the fact it has gravity on its side to keep it hooked if the handle ever pops. The handle has the release lever that you have to depress to release the main lever, so not too likely that happens, but having a heavy object that swings take off when I bombing down a rough road or on a rough trail freaks me out, and honestly was a reason I stayed away from it for so long.

I think my reasoning is as this truck has been wheeled less and has been doing more overlandy type stuff I saw the benefit of even having a place to hang a trash bag instead of carrying it in the bed because nothing is worse than having nasty shit leak everywhere. The other side of the swing out will be for 2 Jerry cans and possibly traction boards.Turned out alright, not excited to paint it, but once it starts rusting it’ll be time