LiquidArrogance is taking Jennifer up to the lake

Another boring build thread. Nothing special here... doing this more for me to have a place to watch the truck grow than anything else.

Tacoma ownership has been a dream of mine pretty much ever since first watching Back to the Future (hence the title). Earlier this year my love/hate relationship with my Subaru Outback ended in engine failure. We were able to pay off our minivan and decided to finally make my Taco dreams come true.

Purchased in early August for $48,332.59 including taxes / fees. DCSB in SSM. TRD Sport 4x4.

Long-term goal for the build is to have a solid adventuremobile for taking me and the fam (wife and our three boys) camping off the beaten path (which we'd already stretched the Subie well past its limits in doing).

Out with the old and in with the new...




First few things I threw in were K&N filter & Weathertec floor mats.

First "upgrade" was the ubiquitous knockoff Pro Grille with FMVSS108 identification lamps (*cough* raptorlights *cough*). Don't hate.

Also installed ARB rear-dif breather behind tail light. Not planning on fording any rivers any time soon but seemed like one of those things I'd rather have on when I need it than not have on and wish I had it.



Trying to keep the black-on-silver thing going so next few aesthetic upgrades included yanking off the factory bed decals and replacing with matte black (I cut these myself with a small desktop plotter). I already had the SnugTop ordered at this point so I moved the new decals down about 1.5" to make sure they'd sit below the topper once it was installed.



Front bumper was on my "someday" list of mods... but after seeing one fairly close by in Buy/Sell/Trade I decided to jump on it. Linked up with @Catfish21 to snag the Brute Force Fabrication bumper which I installed the next day (that bumper cut was nerve wracking!). Added the mythosaur skull with the desktop plotter for funsies.





Next up on the "didn't plan to spend this money yet but something I wanted some day popped up on Buy/Sell/Trade" list: Hooked up with @SLO/TACO to snag this Victory 4x4 roof rack and got it thrown on (light bar was generously included with purchase but I haven't hooked it up to power).




At this point in the truck's life I'd already taken the boys for a few mini camping trips, but the roof rack served us well on our first all-family truck trek. First night was at Walker Pass east of Lake Isabella and then we shot over to AZ and spent a couple nights on Hualapai Mountain. It was nice to be able to use the Thule for extra storage but this trip made me really wish we had the SnugTop which had already been on order for a few weeks at this point.



Thankfully the wait on the SnugTop wasn't as bad as expected and it arrived just a few weeks later. I got the Rebel w/ roof rails (plan to add the Victory rack eventually), "sportsman package" (reinforced roof), sliding windoors on both sides, and there was a special running at the time for a free tilt-open front window. Whole thing was about $3,300 installed. Ain't cheap but it's what I wanted. Also stoked w/ how the bed decals came out not being partially covered up by the topper.



Setup as of 01/16/22



2023 Setup. Put about 27k miles on her in 2022. Got some real sliders, too, thanks to @GHOST SHIP





Next projects are:

• @MillerCATCorp CatShield install (installed 11/11/21)
• I'm already a couple months into the waiting game on my Ironman 4x4 Foam Cell pro kit (installed 01/09/22. shoutout and thank you to @GHOST SHIP for the install and cab mount chop. highly recommend you hit him up for install/fab work if you're anywhere near SoCal: GHOST SHIP: fabrication/installs)
• ECGS bushing is in-hand and I plan to throw it in when I do the lift (installed 11/16/21)

Planned projects include but are not limited to:

• Try and be patient and snag some @SCSPerformance F5s... hopefully. Got tired of the Instagram games and ordered some FN Five Stars 17x8.5 -6mm 1/04/22
• Tires... almost certainly going to stick with 33s
• mezo tails installed 12/24/21
• diode dynamics DOT fogs installed 01/11/21 (snagged 'em on sale from Hotshot Offroad thanks @memario1214!)
• winch
• replace light bar w/ a real light bar
• on-board air compressor
• skid plates
• Victory rack on the camper shell
• real sliders (I'm liking the Relations Race Wheels ones, but I also dig these if they ever happen) Sliders installed in 2022 thanks to @GHOST SHIP
• Considering rear bumper w/ swing outs
• spiker engineering hood struts
• kicker speaker swap
• GMRS
• UltraGuage Installed 01/26/22

 

Looks awesome!!

 

Dude I can’t wait til this thing is lifted and sitting pretty. I’m still considering those bronze F5’s you showed me. I just bought the 4R, so mods are taking a backseat… kind of. Lol.

 

Love the silver!

 

Thanks!

At first I was a little bummed and wised I'd been able to find cement but I'm loving the silver now... Especially now that Kia, Nissan, and everybody else seem to be coming out with their own non-metallic grays. I still dig it, but the SSM is growing on me more and more!

 

Had a couple butthole puckering moments but got the ECGS bushing installed this morning. Considering my previous "mechanic" portfolio included basically nothing but oil changes and brake jobs I'm pretty happy about it.

Couldn't get the removal tool behind the old bearing at first. Tried tapping and in the process damaged several of the "rollers" in the needle bearing... so at that point I knew I had to figure it out since there was no going back. Managed to get it back in there with a couple good taps. Pretty amazing feeling when you first start seeing it move. Realized after I got it out that in smacking it in I destroyed the rear lip of the needle bearing. Spent a good five minutes magnet fishing... hopefully didn't miss anything but from looking at the damage and the shards it seems I got everything.

Had a heck of a time getting the new bushing to start flush (and that was after leaving it in the freezer for two days and spending on the official ECGS install tool). I found that my initial trouble was in trying to hit the end of the tool to start it... instead I switched to very light taps around the edge of the tool to get it started, and then transitioned to hitting the end of the tool once it was straight and snug.

Whew! Time for a beer and then start trying to get everything put back together...

 

DIY winder tint. It's far from perfect and I know where each and ever single gnat's hair imperfection is... but w/e... looks decent, keeps the heat out, and I saved a few bills.

I did 5% up front and 20% in the rear. I figured the 20% would stack w/ the factory tint and even out. From the outside it did just that. From the inside it's mind boggling how much better I can see out of the rear windows. I might end up yanking the 5% off the front and re-doing lighter.

 

Looks good! Seems like a tight fit in the back with 3 kids. It's already tight with us with a 5 and a 4 year old.

 

Thanks! It's a tight fit to be sure. Oldest is seven so probably right about the time I'm "done" with the Taco I'll be wishing I had a Tundra

We have a Honda Ody for "real" road trips... only going to be relying on this guy to get us camping so we'll see how long we're able to make it work for

 

Oh man, look at this clean ass CA truck. Definitely miss the CA weather and how easy it was to keep a vehicle clean and maintain it all around. What part of CA are you in?

I see you got the bed step too. Is yours the OEM Toyota one? I went with whatever the other brand is and it doesn't line up at all. Too damn cold to mess with it right now.
I also had 5% tint in the back and 15% up front on my previous Subaru but you just can't see anything out here in Montana at night. It was pretty dangerous. So I chose 25% all around this time.
Kind of breaks my heart that a snug top is so expensive. With everything else I am doing I just can't justify it. Yours looks great though. Any plans for a bed rug or anything?
Anyways, good luck on you lift! Did you get tires yet?

 

When I first saw you posted in here I was like, "Awwww crap I told them I was too scared to post in Roast my Tacoma and they hunted me down here!"



I'm in California's little Texas (Bakersfield).

Bed steps came installed from the lot so I assume they're the OEM predators but hoping to get some real sliders on eventually. I love the Snuggy but yea that price was killer... seems to be everything in the world right now!

And speaking of killer prices: That's a negative on the tires. Wheels should be in next week, but the tires I'm looking at are over 300 a pop... holy crap.

I'm looking at 285/75/17 but want to stay in load range C and have only found two options far. I don't plan on rock crawling, and most offroading will be sand with some snow in the winter. I've got a hefty bit of highway driving I have to do for work so on-road performance is important to me and a big part of the reason I'm trying to stay in load range c. I won't be seeing snow nearly as much as sand... I know the Toyos have a better snow rating but overall it seems the Nitto is the better reviewed (and far more expensive!) tire.

toyo open country a/t III
LT285/75R17 117/114Q (Toyo Product Code: 355690)

nitto ridge grappler
LT285/75R17 C 117/114Q (Nitto Stock Number: 217210)

 

Only reason I didn't go with the Open Countries this time (I've had them on 2 different vehicles including an F150 that had the previous gen and the newer AT3's) is because I didn't think they looked aggressive enough and the wildpeaks stood out to me for a medium between mountain tires and something that's actually functional year round where I live in Montana. Next year I will be getting dedicated snows mounted on stock rims though. But yea, I agree about the price. Holy crap. I went from a truck to a Subaru and was loving the cost of things, then like an idiot decided to go back to a truck lol. Contemplating life choices now.

Both tires seem like great options. Can't wait to see it!

 

Lookin' pretty fly for a Bako Guy!

Hey, I'm over here on the coast (AG) behind the dunes and curious how Bill Wright was to deal with? I bought my TRD OR on 7/31 at Lompoc but had searched Wright's inventory and they also wanted my trade something awful. Anyway, I'm looking at getting a Rav4 now and they've been pummeling me for sales. It's slim pickin's over here so I'm entertaining a visit over there at some point, maybe including a trip up to Kernville to hang in the lodge for a weekend or something.

 

Great looking truck and thread! I also liked the RRW sliders and got a set a few months ago. Quality seems great, instal was easy and I’ve got no regrets. I will say, I only ordered them because I got in on a group buy, otherwise they were too expensive for my blood. Running4tacos sells them rebranded as well. The top plate is one reason I was sold on them, even though their site and all is banned from being linked here. I had no problems with communication or shipping.

 

You know how we do out here in California's little Texas! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbd-gn0GVlA&t=0m21s

Bill Wright was fine but I don't have much to compare it to. I've only every bought three cars at a dealership and two were at Bill Wright.

I was originally looking at the Rav4 and was eyeballing the Tacomas when I went to test drive the Rav4. At that time they had both the Rav4s and the Tacos marked up 3k over MSRP. They originally offered me 1.5k off the markup on the Rav4 and I left to think it over. Wife gave me the greenlight on the Taco so I went back a couple days later and offered them 1.5k over MSRP for the Taco which they accepted. There were a couple waits during the paperwork process that were a little longer than I would've liked them to be, but nothing too bad. Finance guy didn't push too hard on the bullshit options when I refused everything.. maybe three minutes of hassle trying to talk me into extras but nothing overly pushy or annoying and he let up quick when I stood my ground.

My other purchase from them was about 12 years ago for a Matrix and that was uneventful (plus I had a buddy who was a fleet purchaser with them have the deal worked out ahead of time with the manager for me so that made it easier).

If you're coming from AG you might also check out Freeway Toyota in Hanford. I don't have any experience with them but they had some decent Taco stock when I was shopping. Haven't checked recently but they had a fully loaded Pro I had to talk myself out of when I snagged the Sport.

 

After months of waiting and pouring over the Ironman 4x4 Foam Cell Pro thread, I finally got my lift installed!

First and foremost: Huge shout out to @GHOST SHIP for doing the install (and cab mount chop) for me. If you are anywhere near SoCal I can't recommend this dude enough. Worth the drive even if you're *not* near SoCal. You can check out his thread here: GHOST SHIP: fabrication/installs







So here's how she looks once all is said and done:




I went with Ironman's "constant load" option for front and rear. I removed one (third) leaf from the leaf pack (some folks in the Ironman thread were ending up with 6" and 7" of lift in the rear with the constant load -- yikes!). I initially ended up with exactly 4" of lift in the rear and 1.75" in the front. (after driving home ~100 miles with a ton of tools and the old suspension in the rear plus ~20 minutes of light wheeling at Hungry Valley on the way home for funsies )


I wanted to get the front up higher but obviously didn't want to take the shocks off and the compression tool from AutoZone doesn't fit these coils anyhow. I found if you unlink and swing the sway bar all the way forward you can use the spanner wrench to make adjustments on the truck.... albeit far from ideal. After dousing everything with a liberal coat of silicone spray, I was able to use to use a big persuader bar to get them to budge (and you can see what the spanner wrenches thought of my mechanical advantage!). I had to keep stopping every couple turns to hammer the spanner back into shape. This system wouldn't be nearly as bad with a beefier spanner... guess I'll need to try and find one.





But the important part is: It worked!

Once all was said and done I was able to get her level (I guess not level... but sans Taco lean) with a lift of 3" in the front and 4" in the rear -- pretty much exactly what I was after.



Anywhoooooo.... overall very happy with how everything turned out. Now time to save up for tires 'cus right now she's looking a little oafish with these tiny shoes on!

 

Thanks I'll have to poke around the forum on what happened w/ RRW. Didn't know there had been a thing with them... Like you I really like the look (especially the top plate)... I think it complements my plate bumper better not to mention the overall more angular look of the 3rd gens. I dig the tube steel sliders on the 1st/2nd gens but RRW nailed the angular look and I haven't seen any others quite like 'em!

Good heads up on R4T, too -- I'll have to check those out.

Forgot to mention: From one Zelda nerd to another: I dig the username!

 

i think it was customer service related but I’m not 100%.
Have you seen my bedside decal? Lol

 

If it's the one I'm thinking of I know I saw it on here somewhere (I think in a thread devoted to bedside decals but now I can't find it). Hyrule Edition w/ the triforce and I think maybe link's sword IIRC. If it is the one I'm thinking of I remember thinking it was awesome!

 

Thats the one!