Paradise Blue Single Cab First Gen Build!

x2 aluminum alloys 100%

 

Dang Cletus this truck looks really familiar

 

This guy right here helped me out tremendously with my lift. It was hours upon hours of aggravation and stress.

I will say, get a ball joint removal tool of some sort before lifting. Learned that the hard way. Pics and more updates coming soon, way too physically worn out.

 

The instructions said 4-5 hour install time... 4-5 hours for the rear... all day after church on Sunday for the front

 

These are facts.

 

Alright I feel awake enough to make another post so here goes.

After 12 LONG hours of frustration, flying mallets and ratchets, and a now broke ratchet strap with @cwells35 we finally got my skyjacker lift on. The difference may not look like much in pictures, but it is huge in person. I also polished up the plastic part of the front bumper and gave the truck a quick wash.

Issues we ran into:
-had to cut off the u-bolts
-upper ball joint had to come out, neither of us had tools to do so, so to HFT we went
-the shock shaft in the strut would just spin when we would tighten/loosen the nut on top
-lost a lock nut for the drivers side strut, later found one at my house seemingly made for the strut
-probably will need new brake lines soon, wouldn’t hurt anyways
-trying to meet the upper control arm to the new lifted strut was probably the biggest struggle, and what broke a ratchet strap.
-Colby’s dog Henry led us on a chase and killed an hour for us

All in all, it was worth it. Truck is getting regeared today at my mechanics shop. I was intending to do it myself but he gave me a good price and I really don’t feel like being under jack stands anymore. There’s also the piece in mind that the labor is guaranteed.

Didn’t take many pictures, I just had my mind set on finishing the truck. I’ll post what I got.

 

^^^^

 

So after about a week of having all the work done to my truck, here's a little update on how things are going.

-The 4.30's are wonderful. I can have the truck in 5th going 35 no problem. I used to have to at least be moving 55 to have torque to accelerate.
-There is a noticeable difference in torque. It has more now than it ever has, and climbing the 7% grade is a lot easier on the truck. 4th gear, 50% throttle will hold 70-75.
-The difference in height is outstanding in person. The wheel and tire combo look amazing on the truck.
-The speedo is about 10-12% fast. I plan on doing some research into speedo gears and what not to fix that.
-I got some LED lights for the parking lights, license plate lights, and the dash to go in this week sometime.
-Ordering some new shift knobs and a front diff drop kit to help with the CV angles.
-Not particularly a fan of the leveled look, and I'm not tearing the front apart to adjust the strut, so I am planning on getting a 1" block for the rear. I load down the truck quite often so I want to keep a slight rake.

My plan for the near future is:
-try and save up some more money first off
-Seat cover
-Install power inverter and new LED lights
-Trailer receiver hitch and harness
-On-board air system

 

Lots of good info here on getting the speedo right.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...d-and-adventures.484602/page-28#post-17243636

 

Installed the power inverter with aluminum sheet metal and self tapping screws. Wired it to the switch panel, which will handle 360 watts which is more than what I’m using it for anyways. Currently have my phone charger plugged into it as well as my Milwaukee battery charger.

Currently in my garage I have:
- Reese hitch receiver
- Reese Tactical hook & D-ring. Had SUPER cheap at Tractor Supply close to my work.
- Trailer wiring harness
- CBI ditch light brackets
- Traveller LED pods
- Freedom Off-Road Tubular UCA’s

Trying to get over being sick with a terrible sinus infection to do more work. I’m finally starting to get better so I might try to do some stuff tomorrow like put the lights on. I don’t want to get any sicker trying to work on the truck.

 

Control arm day! Finally time to put in my new UCA’s, diff drop, and alignment. Honestly this whole thing was a breeze. I’d say, and @cwells35 may agree, the hardest part was removing the snap ring from the upper ball joint. It was more time consuming than anything. All of the fasteners came off relatively easy since we just lifted the truck. The truck does ride and turn a lot better, and I imagine I will have more wheel travel once it’s all said and done.

Trailer hitch is also on; the Reese hitch has like little to no tolerances putting it in, but we did get it in and hooked up the wiring. I’ve got a 1” block lift for the rear coming to get rid of the leveled/slight squat look.

 

Alright. Picking up some bucket seats today and have no clue what kind of seat covers/ center console I would like the best. Please tell me some ideas!

On another note, I sold the Freedom control arms to @cwells35 because they wouldn’t work on my truck. The lift was apparently too high for the control arms (even though advertised as 2-4” lift control arms, mine being a 3” or just slightly higher). So I’m back to factory control arms and new upper ball joints.

On another note, I installed the Rago Fab Dutch light brackets and light pods by Traveller from Tractor supply. Wired them to my first switch on the RC light controller. They’ve been on for about a month now and there’s no water behind the lenses and they’re just as bright as ever.

 

Welcome to the site.
Ive got a 1997 reg cab too.

Check out my build link, you might find a mod you like.

 

So me and @cwells35 cut up some locust firewood and I’ve got to say, the little 2.7L quite impressed me pulling close to 4K pounds of wood and trailer. I guess the 4.30’s really shined in this case!

 

Not that we arranged the wood to look like more than it was

 

Yes sir. Basically a 32x9.5. Pretty cheap too.

 

Honestly not bad once everything broke in. It did ride like a 3/4 ton truck for like the first two weeks, considering the new add a leaf and why not. But once everything broke in, I haven’t really noticed a huge difference. Definitely a little stiffer, but not terrible.

 

Hello all, I apologize for the huge lack in posts since I haven't really worked on the truck much lately. Just a few updates since I'm here (I'll add pics when I get around to it):

-Finally got around to putting the 1" lift blocks in the rear to level out the truck, and it did so to the 1/8". So now, the truck technically has a 4" front/3" rear lift.
-Added the ditch lights with mounts from Rago fab (long time ago)
-Swapped the bench seat for buckets and added a custom console from a Jeep YJ
-Ordered extended brake lines from Marlin Crawler
-Ordered rear drum brake kit, belts, front crank seal, spark plugs, tie rod ends, and clutch master cylinder since it is time for all of them and I finally have time to do it
-Had my exhaust finally re-done. Did not want some hillbilly backwoods exhaust system anymore, so I had the pros slap on a Flowmaster Super 44, as well as a new tailpipe since mine was rusted out of the muffler. It's somewhat loud, aggressive, and they did it for a reasonable price.

 

Another update to this somewhat dead thread now. Bought a new daily driver- '15 Ford Focus ST. Its a bad little hatchback. Not driving the truck much anymore, but still doing a few things to it every now and again as time/money allows. Currently working on a few things:

-Sound deadening material in floor, door panels, and rear wall
-Vinyl flooring from AutoCustomCarpets
-Fixing interior water leak
-Replacing CB setup (Was Uniden 520 mounted under and left of the steering column) with a new setup I will show after it is done. Not 100% sure how it is going to work but I'll update when it is finished. Planning on working on it when I get home. It will be 100% custom and take some fab work, but we'll see how it goes. If i can't get it to work, I'll do the classic 520-in-the-ashtray mod.
-Adding back carpet/trim since truck was a factory bench seat truck, so there is no trim/carpet
-Cleaning up the interior wiring for the subwoofer/CB
-Neoprene seat covers from RockAuto
-Removed the center trim piece on the shifters. I have always hated the look of it, plus loved the look of just the plain shift boots like in the pre-Tacoma trucks
-Planning on next week installing new CV axles, LBJ's, TRE's, and possibly lowering the truck one notch on the strut
-Planning on soon repainting the bumpers/plastic trim gloss black.

Currently on a work desktop on lunch break so I'll add pics when I get back to the house.

 

Here’s a before pic from two years ago, then a during and after picture. It’s a world of a difference. Planning on painting the metal piece holding the shifter boots in the floor black today, to match the boots.

Referring to the CB radio setup, I now have a Cobra 29 hooked to a K30 magnet on the roof. Never could get the toolbox mount to work. Personally I believe the toolbox was poising as a second antenna, interfering with the antenna itself, thus the sky-high SWR. I’ve got a 1.2 across all 40 currently.