Lost in the sauce build

Took me long enough to finally build this thread. Build has been through many iterations over the years and could never find its identity. I’m pretty good where I’m at with it now (that’s subject to change lol). You will soon learn that like women with boob jobs, they keep going bigger and bigger. You’ll know what I mean later. That said I’ll start off with how it all started.

This was when I picked up the 2018 TRD Pro double cab short bed from the dealer (Hamer Toyota) sometime in March 2018.

I left the truck unmolested until 2020. After being stuck at home, wanted to go out to the desert to find some place to shoot long range away from everyone. Those ventures led to me getting stuck and blowing tires like a total noob. One of the first mods if it counts is changing my tires to M/T. All at once and with a help of a buddy, we installed a Prinsu roof rack, bed rack, body armor front bumper and a Smittybilt winch.



A little over a year and some wheeling (2021), it was time for a lift and bigger tires. Got the good ole CMC and 33” BFG KM3’s. Added a Cali raised light bar and ditch lights. Threw in some Method 17” 702 beadgrips. Also added a RTT so the wife could come along on camping trips.

 

2021: the rolling avalanche effect.

No reason at all to change my upgraded Icon suspension from the year before but did it anyway: Fox 2.5 DSC’s with remote resis front and back. Added Deaver stage 2’s as well. Cali Raised rockslides took awhile to get but eventually arrived. Had to find a way to mount my bigger side 33’s outside of the bed to make room for gear. I opted to keep the rear bumper since they weren’t an issue - so I thought. Went with a very new company at the time - Dirtcom trailswing.



Hated the damn MPG’s and the lack of power. Regeared to revolution 5.29’s and should’ve done the front locker while I was at it but I would soon regret that. Several desert trips and having to clean up dirt over and over, it was time to cover up the bed. Several google searches and YouTube videos and hours researching on this forum led me to RLD designs bed cap - that would become one of my biggest regrets (go see the RLD Designs thread on this forum). I’ve come to grips with it these days and modified around it.



An obsession with keeping the BSM and banging on my rear bumper as I pointed out earlier. led me to purchase the 4WP bumper with the BSM option. Well, that was an issue since the trailswing was not compatible to the 4WP rear bumper - doh! Well, I settled without BSM’s and got me the 4WP swing out parts.

 

First half of 2022 - start of the point of no return

Started the year with adding a Dobinson’s snorkel with an onboard compressor.



Got an OV tune and voila, pep in the step came back. The search for self-identity didn’t end and continued as the year went on. A trip to Arizona proved to be worthwhile but I really wished I had a front locker and skid plates. Major jump to dirty fives and skids. Planned a trip to Moab and soon more lessons will be learned. Threw in a front locker while we’re at it and that was the beginning of the steering issues, but continue to bear with me. Shots of Sedona and Moab below.




Pic above shows how mangled my low profile front bumper was. It was no match to a week long trip to Moab and more specifically the infamous Trifecta. To add insult to injury, I completely destroyed my rear bumper/swingout. I lost the handles on the swingout on passenger side. I had a genius idea (sarcasm) of strapping the swingout to the cab rack on top of the RLD. I was lucky the whole canopy did not fall off the bed smh. A bent inner tie rod threw off the steering. Threw in a new one, got an alignment and called it good. Sike! That would soon doom me again.

 

2022: second half - LT or bust

Invested in a group buy for a JD Fab LT kit through Yotamafia and the major reconstruction started. Received the whole kit very quickly and called JD Fab to source the 934 CV kit. While I was at it, I thought why not have the guys who make this install it for me. Stars aligned and had an opening for an install week of Memorial Day. Got it back after 5 days and dropped it off to @GHOST SHIP to throw in the rest of the mods in the rear suspension as well as The Fab Fours front bumper. Kings baby!!! Just in the nick of time, my buddy calls me up from Texas and says he just bought a 4Runner and wanted to do an Offroad trip in a few weeks. I said, perfect.



Soon I continue to demolish my steering in central CA. The lakes in Fresno (strawberry, red and coyote lake) exacerbated my steering issues. The suspension performed flawlessly with no issues at all. Again, my damn 4WP rear bumper was a failure point so it was time for an upgrade to a high clearance bumper but that won’t come till the end of the year. Meanwhile, I snagged a Trailgear dual transfer case and got it installed. Next trip up was another stop to Moab and a week in Ouray/Telluride, CO.


That was a fun trip but when I got home the alignment just couldn’t get right.
With the truck down after numerous trips to an alignment shop, someone got tired of taking my money and me asking why I needed to keep coming back. The culprit was found and someone with a bit of honesty revealed that my steering rack was blown. At this time, this never ending mod got me thinking two steps ahead. It was time for a modified tundra steering rack. That was a headache in itself. The steering rack was not far forward enough so the tie rods made contact with the spring cup on the shocks. On top of that, the giant 934 CV housing was also making contact with the steering rack but that wore off some over time. With the rack issue settled - it was time for another boob job - jump to 37’s and the return to BFG KM3’s. but before stuffing those in, a full proper tub job was in order. Also picked up the high clearance rear swingout from Brute Force Fab.

 

New bungs for Tundra rack. Third pic below is where the 934 cv’s make contact with the tundra rack. 4th pic is the tie rod with warfab sleeves making contact with spring cup of the shock.

 

More pics of the 37’s, tub job and inside the hood. First pic is where the battery sits. Was raised up some but still clears. 2nd pic shows the cutting above the cab mount for clearance to stuff 37’s. 3rd pic is the modified windshield wiper fluid reservoir. Can get them at Amazon.

 

2023: time to get lit

I think you’re catching on to the theme here: more trips = more broken parts = mods.

Starting off the year addressing the rubbing issues for the steering. Used a longer shock rod end to clear the spring cup. Also added Camburg clevis and JD fab heim tie rods. They are beef!



All beefed up and ready to conquer some tough trails. Planned another road trip to Moab and off we go again with some carnage. Going up Hell’s gate proved to be a challenge. When the white smoke showed up and the motor shut off my heart skipped 3 beats. For sure I thought that’s it, motor blown. The steep incline was too much for our tacos. I would eventually address it later on in the year. To add insult to injury, my top heavy ass taught me a lesson: don’t mess with gravity. Slipped off on my passenger side and gashed my door handles. Boy was I lucky that’s all the damage I took. The rest of it went to where it needed to be: front and rear bumper (that brute force fab side hoop is a life saver).



Damage assessment was minimal so onwards to some other things to address. Got sick of the bump stops in the rear prematurely hitting so I took the rig to Deavers and added some stability. Rear leveled out plus some. Also lowered the spring rate in the rear. The big 37’s and reckless wheeling caused the front wheel bearings to wear out. Brakes was also magnified. Felt like grandma driving around town so hooked up with @Ricardo13x to get bearings and shortly after some new R1 concepts brakes and KSP wheel spacers.

Took a long weekend out to Big Bear to do a prep run for an upcoming trip to AZ in June. That short trip turned my rear drive shaft to a pretzel.



June was right around the corner so off we went again and ventured to conquer Backway to Crown King. Lots of fun for me taking all the hard lines money can buy and eating them up like Pac-Man.



Upward and onward. Returned home to CA to continue our trip to Big Bear. On my way to rendezvous with the group and I decide to play another game of Russian roulette. As I reach Big Bear, all of a sudden I hear and feel a pop - uh oh. Quick reflexes had me turn to the next street over to my right hand and parked the rig. Holy shit, my rear passenger wheel and tire is gone! Where the hell did it go? Guy driving behind me pulls over and asks if I was ok. I says yeah I am. Still in shock, I asked him if he saw where my tire went. He tells me it flew down the hill to the right. Thank goodness. Imagine if that was on my driver side flying through oncoming traffic. FML. 9 lives keep dwindling down. Drum brakes are bullet proof, I dragged that for at least 25-50 feet with all that weight. After calling my buddies up, we search for the tire and find it downhill in someone’s property. Called my wife to pick up my spare wheel spacers and drive up to big Bear to drop off the wheel spacers. Wheel spacer wheel studs are junk and completely broke off. PSA: don’t buy KSP wheel spacers.




Despite all this, I gather my bearings, install the sketchy wheel spacers and go home for the night. Frantic search for a solution had me thinking of new wheels but I know if I was going to change wheels, I’d only do bead locks. Weight is an issue and wheel spacers scared me to death. Reason I went with KSP 1.5” is to address the rubbing in my shocks. More research convinced me that BORA was the way to go (Spidertrax doesn’t make 1.5”). Installed those and off we continued to our trip up 395.

Biggest bucket list items about to be checked off: The Rubicon Trail. First up, time to shed major weight. Dropped the roof rack and changed the RTT to the lightweight and low profile Alu-cab LT-50 (my 4th RTT lol).



The Rubicon was much like the trifecta but about 3 times longer. Non stop rocks after rocks. This was perhaps a once in a lifetime and I don’t know when stars would align again so I lucked out and somehow made it up Soup Bowl. When in Rome right?



That trip again resulted in several broken parts. Once again, my rear driveshaft were brutalized but still good and I completely blew both my rear drum brakes. Had it not been for my dual transfer case, I would’ve needed a tow outta that trail. Pinion seal was also bashed in due to the RCI diff skid design. The lip of the RCI skid was smashed against the u joint area causing the diff to weep some oil. The rear swingout was also damaged and needed to be re-welded and reinforced. Once I got to Truckee, I had the rear lines plugged and refilled my brake cylinder. Rented a car, drove to Reno and had my shaft beefed up. Done with weak driveshafts! Drove home carefully but made it nonetheless.




Back to @Ricardo13x for more mods: rear disc brake conversion, transfer case skid plate repair, rear bumper swingout repair, welds taco front diff reinforcement, BAMF diff skid mod with outlaw overland rear truss, transmission fan and cooler mod, J&L oil catch can, new front camera, Diode dynamics interior light, Baja Designs rock lights, Powerbrake BBK, and finally uniball LBJ conversions on the JD fab LCA. I also got a Stinger Tacoma head unit and went up to dirty nines.

Sheeeeeeeeeew I’m sure I’m missing mods but what a year!!!

 

2024: will it finally end

New year who dis? As @Ricardo13x likes to say. Started off the year with a bang. @MT AYON helped me bang out a Baja Designs ditch light install. I added some preload in the king shocks. Then off we went with getting these JD Fab Howe TC pump installed but not without hiccups. The pressure on the pump magnified the leak on the rack so we pulled it out, had it resealed, re-installed, put new fluid in, got re-aligned and called it good. The truck will sit in the driveway for now till I’m ready for more adventures but that will have to wait as in a few days, wife is expecting and the hobby is gonna have to take the backseat. Onwards and upwards!



Here’s how she sits as of today:

 

Man I love the Cavalry Blue. My Tundra was that color.

Beautiful truck. Braver than I. I can't cut into the body work. Stock life for me!


@LarryDangerfield I think I found your spirit animal.

 

Love this truck! Big brother @lit_taco4x4 has all the stories and gained massive trail experience.

 

Nice build you have going. I bet the engine smoking was quite the scare! Haha. How are you liking the BBK? Think that’s next for my build

 

thanks brotha, the trying times that sucked such as walking a few miles after being stuck led to this deep rabbit hole lol.

 

Thank you, it is a game changer. You will stop on a dime!

 

Disregard, I misread your message. BBK ftw!

 

What were your thoughts after the re-gear to 5.29 with the 33's? Did it help with mpg's at all?

I'm currently on 32's and would like to go to 33's when it comes time to replace these, but I'm hesitant to impact fuel economy any more than I already have since this is my daily and its used for cross-country trips.

 

it did a little. The OV tune rounded it out. I’ve since upgraded to a different tune by a local guy. Many tunes out there. I say before even jumping in to re-gear, see if a tune can do it for you. Ask the tuner if you can get re-flashed for free in the event that you re-gear. Most of them do. Good luck.

 

bro you did all this and still have spacers??????????

 

wheel spacers are not uncommon and it’s only in the rear. I thought about getting a fusion axle or a ford 9 but my rear axle has seen abuse and haven’t given me issues so why fix what’s not broken?

 

Hey @lit_taco4x4,

The Rig is looking dialed! How are you enjoying your lighting setup? With your current setup, do you see any lighting zones you may need help with?

Best,
Bill

Bill Sonevongxay | Forum Sales & Support 
Email: Bill@bajadesigns.com Phone: (760)560-2252

 

Hey thanks Bill! Love the Baja designs set up. All of them are in my exterior lighting and no complaints. If I could add something in my bed area, that’s something I’d add to my mod next. Mainly because I have a closed canopy/camper set up and gets pretty dark in the interior of the bed. Open to suggestions.