My Not-So-Built 2013 DCLB TRD Sport

Hey all,

Proud owner of a new-to-me 2013 DCLB TRD Sport in Silver Streak Mica. About 167k miles on the odometer and counting as this is my new daily driver. I've been poking around in the forums since the purchase a few weeks ago, asking dumb questions and just trying to get familiar. I sold my lemon-lawed 2017 Colorado Z71 a while ago and have been dying to get into a Taco, it just took me a while to pull the trigger.

I don’t have extravagant build plans but I want to make it mine, as I’m sure any other auto enthusiast would understand. Just can’t leave things alone! I do some back country camping a few times a year so my goal is to make it a little more capable than it already is with just a touch of attitude.

I'll use this thread as a place to share, to learn, to document, and hopefully to help others who are wanting to do a similar low-key build. I hope you all accept me here and share your ideas and opinions. This thread may move a little slow but I'll try to keep it steady!

Here she is in my driveway the day I brought her home:



I removed the SnugFit topper (sold locally, sorry!) and replaced it with a Tyger Auto roll-up soft top. I stumbled upon a set of 3rd gen OR wheels for a steal locally that I couldn't pass on, so those went on the truck as well.

Maintenance-wise I had my hands full. After a couple days of driving I knew something wasn't right. Under hard acceleration the truck was rumbling and bumbling quite bit. Long story short, it was diagnosed as a bad torque converter. Cool, now I know why the truck was traded in. Replaced that, problem solved. But while underneath I found a cracked leaf spring. GREAT. Suspension rebuild time as well. I went the whole 9 yards and replaced the shocks and springs with those from a 3rd gen TRD Off-Road, leaf packs, sway bar links, sway bar bushings, inner and outer tie rods, upper control arms, and lower control arms. I also went ahead and did a tuneup (plugs, air filter, cabin air filter, etc) and found that it still had the original plugs with 167k, nearly burnt to a crisp with gaps only rivaled by those found at the Grand Canyon. No idea how this thing was running as well as it was but I suppose that's a testament to the reliability of these rigs. Don't worry sweetheart, you're in good hands now.

So here is how she looked at this point after initial maintenance, repairs, and a quick glow up. Just a little different and still pretty boring:



And this is where the tinkering and modding began! I'll keep an up-to-date pic below, followed by a complete list of CURRENT mods/parts used:



- 17" TRD SEMA wheels in bronze
- 265/70/r17 Falken Wildpeak AT3W's
- Bilstein 5100s
- Eibach 2.5" Lift Springs
- General Springs HD Leaf packs
- TORCH Off Road front diff drop
- OME carrier bearing drop
- New OEM UCA's
- Mevotech LCA’s
- Mevotech inner tie rods
- Mevotech outer tie rods
- Mevotech sway bar links
- Moog sway bar bushings
- Alpharex Pro Headlights
- Diode Dynamics SS3 Sport amber fogs
- Akkon (Amazon) LED Tail Lights
- VIPMOTOZ (Amazon) Smoked LED Side Mirror Signals
- TRD Pro Grille
- Black TRD Sport badges

Finally my wishlist, which I can safely assume will continue to evolve:

- Prinsu Cab roof rack
- Awning (?)
- Skids (?)
- Sliders (?)
- Scosche MagicMount wireless phone charger
- Napier Sports bed tent

Looking forward to sharing my progress and getting to know you peeps!

 

Suspension rebuild is complete and man, what a world of difference fresh components make! Took a short test drive because the truck still needs to be aligned, but I can for sure feel that it's tighter, smoother, quieter, and it sticks to the road the way that it should. Feels like a brand new truck. I wish I would have taken measurements before and after the install, but by my eyeball guesstimate it looks like I got close to 2" of lift in the front (I added the 1/4" spacers) and more than the 1" lift in the back that I was expecting from the HD packs. I'm sure it'll settle some over time. I don't regret my decision at all to go with the 3rd gen OR suspension, it makes the truck look and drive great for my needs.

Before:


After:


Just look at all the freshness underneath:



My wheels are supposed to be ready for me to pick up today, and my tires are supposed to be delivered tomorrow. I'll take them in for mounting and balancing ASAP and wait to do the alignment at the same time.

 

Looks good. I'm also reppin a silver double cab long bed. The long beds always look better with a small lift.

 

That stance looks great!! Were you following a write up on here for the suspension install? I didn’t realize you could do that, where’d you buy your stuff?

that sounds perfect for me, a little lift but still rides like stock!

 

3rd Gen shocks, springs, and leaf packs are direct bolt-on replacements on the 2nd Gen. Pretty easy and straightforward install. Plenty of info out there on this, especially here on this forum. The parts are pretty easy to find as well, either in TW classifieds, Facebook Marketplace, CL, or OfferUp. Most people report a lift of about 1" in the front but they won't raise the rear.

 

congrats! I had to lemon law my 2019 silverado trail boss. Once that turd was gone I bought my second gen. Its so nice to hop in a truck and not have to worry about it breaking down.

 

Dang! And here I was thinking that Chevy spent all their research and engineering dollars on the Silverado, which explained why my Colorado had so many issues!

And you're right - I lost some bells and whistles by not getting another brand new truck, but I traded those for higher quality and peace of mind. I'll take it.

 

It was a great truck when the brakes decided to work lol! God they were terrible to deal with but I did end up with a $$$$$ check in the end. Fuck them!

 

Oh, tell me about it. GM reps may be the nastiest customer service people on Earth. They have zero sympathy or care and are extremely rude. I got nowhere with them and was hung up on several times until I hired a lawyer. Then all of a sudden they were very easy to work with, haha. I think they know they can be that way because most people are too lazy to actually follow through with getting a lawyer and going through the process. NOT TODAY!

My Colorado was an electrical nightmare. It would stay running without the key sometimes. Check engine light would come on randomly; one time I had it scanned and it came back with 17 different codes. Eventually they had replaced every bit of wiring in that truck, the BCM, different pumps and regulators. They finally seemed to have everything fixed and squared away, but by that point the truck had been so devalued that I never would have been able to sell it privately if I needed/wanted to (at least that's the angle we took to get GM to write me a check ).

 

Picked up my bronze SEMA wheels from the dealer after work today. These boys are SHARP.



I was also surprised with a FedEx delivery. Tires weren’t supposed to arrive until tomorrow…but…errr…only three? Hopefully the fourth shows up tomorrow because my mounting and alignment are scheduled for Friday.

 

Welp, today I took the truck up the road to grab some lunch and I heard some popping and creaking coming from the front driver's side when coming to a stop. Pulled into a parking lot and did some experimenting. Hearing the same noises when I put it in reverse. Hoping that something just isn't seated properly to torqued correctly. Guess I'm diving back into the wheel wells tonight.

 

i was told from people on this forum that you need to hit some pumps hard after you install your new suspension to help the coils to settle in. i did just that, and it was pretty noisy. hit some speed bumps and a pretty decent speed. after that, i never heard the noise again.

 

Interesting. I guess this could be what I need to do. I didn’t find anything loose or out of whack last night, so the only other thing it could be is a bad shock. That would be odd though considering this set has less than 5k miles. I’ll drive it hard for a few days and see if that works out the kinks.

On a lighter note: wheels and tires are being married and mounted as we speak!

 

meant to say "hit some *bumps* hard.

 

Wheels and tires are mounted and the truck is aligned. I heard no popping on my short drive home, so here’s to hoping the alignment fixed whatever I was hearing before.

Nowwww it’s starting to show a little attitude.

 

Love the DCLB's

 

Same! I wasn’t looking specifically for the long bed, but it’s the deal that came to me. I’m more than happy with it.

 

When I decided to get into a Tacoma from a TJ......6ft bed was a "must have". I had plans of a camper shell and sleeping in the bed. That lasted for about 2yrs until I went full Southerner and built a matching trailer

 

Mud flaps were going to come off anyway, but I guess it’s happening sooner rather than later!

 

This has the feel of a factory modified truck. Looking good