TPayneNFA's 2016 SR5 2.7L Adventure Build

Welcome to my build thread for my 2016 SR5 2.7L DCSB. This thread will track all future changes, and I will try to keep the thread updated as often as possible.

I bought the truck brand new March 5, 2016. The truck was bone stock when I purchased it, and I began slowly doing modifications. The initial plan was to put a smaller 2" or 3" lift and put some larger tires and keep the stock wheels. However, I have since decided to turn the truck into more of an adventure rig. Yes, it is a 2WD and I understand the limitations. I currently daily drive the truck, and my end goal is to use the truck for camping and outdoor focused road trips with the family.

Build platform:
2016 Tacoma DCSB 2.7L 4x2
Photo taken March 5, 2016 - hours after bringing it home:



Current Mods: (Updated 11-15-20)


Suspension:

• Maxtrac Spindles
• Bilstein 5100 (set to top notch)
• 1" Upper strut spacer (0.5" actual thickness)
• Bump stop spacer (to compensate for strut spacer)
• Low Range Off Road 3"/1" Leveling Lift kit - Removed

Wheels / Tires:

• 17" Icon Alloy Alpha in Gunmetal Grey
• 315/70R17 Hankook Dynapro MT
• 245/75R16 OEM tires with SR5 wheels - Removed
• 265/70r16 OEM kevlar tires with TRD OR wheels - Removed

Drivetrain:

• 5.29 gears
• Carrier bearing drop
• Stock 4.30 gears - Removed

Armor:

• Fab Fours Vengeance bumper
• Plasti-dipped rear bumper endcaps
• Plasti-dipped OEM paint matched fender flares (will be applying bed liner to these sometime soon)
• Ranch Hand Legend series brush guard - Removed

Lighting:

• 4x LED pods in bumper
• 20" LED light bar on bumper
• LED low beams
• TRD LED DRL headlight conversion
• RGB LED Rock Lights
• OEM SR/SR5 headlights with BHLM - Removed

Interior:

• Coverking neoprene black / grey seat covers
• LED interior lighting
• Scosche magnetic mounts for iPhone, HAM radio, and iPad
• Custom made / DIY overhead cargo net
• Weather Tech floor liners (front and rear)
• DIY Paracord grab handles behind front seats
• DIY vinyl glove box inlays

Misc:

• Hitch receiver
• OEM style trailer plug and wiring harness
• Nerf bar steps
• Pro style grill
• Various custom decals
• Onboard air compressor
• Pedal Commander

Future / planned mods:

• DIY roof top tent (planned - not yet in progress)
• DIY 180 degree awning (in progress)
• Hooke Road (or DIY) roof rack
• DIY bed rack
• Roof rack mounted LED light bar
• Sell Fab Fours bumper and get winch compatible bumper
• 8-gang switch system
• Ditch lights
• Snorkel
• Air locker (or lunch box auto locker)
• Rock sliders
• Turbo (potentially - truck currently does surprisingly well for a 4 banger considering mods)
• PVC pipe shower system (optionally pressurized by OBA compressor)
• Interior overhead MOLLE panel
• Adjustable coil over struts for the font
• OME rear leaf pack

 

WOW ... looks like an entirely different truck, well basically it almost is huh? LOL

 

Thanks! Yeah I never imagined it would come this far back when I purchased it. Initially, I was like "Oh, I'll be happy with it stock", which then turned into "I should get bigger tires, and a 3" lift".... and so on and so on LOL.

 

Circa 2016 / 2017:

I bought my truck new off the lot March 5, 2016. This is in its 100% stock form the day I brought it home:



5 months after buying the truck, I decided to make some changes. So, I purchased a hard tri-fold bed cover, and installed a 3" front / 1" rear leveling lift kit from Low Range Off-Road. This pretty much summed up my changes / mods for 2016 and 2017.

 

Circa 2018:

Many more changes came in 2018. During this year, I removed and sold the OEM SR5 wheels and tires (needed new tires anyway), and upgraded to a like new set of take-offs from a 2017 TRD OR. During this time, I had also installed the Ranch Hand Legend series brush guard you see in the pics....


Finally got to enjoy my first North GA snow since buying the truck:




Probably what was the biggest change to occur in 2018 was when I removed the 3"/1" lift kit, and installed the 6" Maxtrac lift. Here, I have a before and after showing the difference between the lifts. As you can see, it was definitely time for bigger tires.



Since the truck looked like it skipped leg day, I got myself a set of 285/75R16 RBP Repulsors. They did great in wet weather and had excellent traction, but absolutely horrific tread life :/




I also decided to take a can of plastic-dip to the chrome grill. Just deleting the chrome honestly, in my opinion, greatly improved the look.



Later on in 2018, I decided I wanted to get more into adventuring, trail riding, camping, etc. with my truck. Nothing too crazy, since I had a 2WD. So, I sold the Ranch Hand, and started saving for a better bumper. I also found a crazy good deal for a new TRD Pro grill on Craigslist, so I sold the other grill, and picked this one up.




As 2018 came to a close, this is how the truck appeared. As you can see, I had also taken the liberty to run some custom decals off on my wife's Silhouette decal maker.

 

Circa 2019 (Part 1):

I decided I needed to put a med kit and a small miscellaneous kit in the truck and make them readily accessible from the driver seat. I sewed hook velcro to the back of both pouches so they would stick to the factory carpeting in the truck.






I got bored one day while the wife was out shopping, and decided to attempt the black out headlight mod. I set to work by removing the OEM headlights, covering the lenses in masking tape, then I baked them until I could pull them apart. After that, it was pretty straight forward with removing a few screws and applying paint.








Finished product!




Sometime later, I snagged a really good deal on this like new Fab Fours Vengeance bumper. I ended up getting it for around $600.



Some shots I took during a road trip to Blue Ridge with the wife. It was after this trip that I decided to invest in some LED pods for the fog lights...




Also around this time, I made the decision to cover the truck to run the LED DRL headlights from the TRD and limited trims. I got a killer deal on this brand new take off set for $150. No broken tabs and they were from a brand new 2019 Tacoma.

 

Circa 2019 (Part 2):

Around October 2019, it came time for new tires. I really wanted to upgrade to 35s, but none of the local shops would agree to mount them to my OEM TRD OR wheels. Fortunately, around this same time, 4WP was having a 30% off sale on sets of 4 Icon Alloy wheels. So, I picked up a set of 17x8" Icon Alloy Alphas in the gunmetal color. The nice thing is the money I sold the TRD OR wheels and worn out 285/75r16 MTs for basically paid for the new wheels. Plus the larger, wider wheel helped reduce tire wear from running too narrow of a wheel.


I also got Discount Tire to price match a set of Hankook Dynapro MTs in 315/70r17, which is the closest I could get to an actual 35" tire.


Quick shot from the day I drove the new setup home....




With all the people posting pictures of their overhead MOLLE panels, I decided I also wanted some storage overhead, but I just couldn't justify the $200+ prose tag the panels were fetching. So, I pulled the sewing machine out and crafted something on my own. I call it the "Taco Nest".





Since I was having some rubbing issues at full lock on the cab mounts, I decided to push thee suspension up 1 more inch in the front for a full 7" of lift. Yes, the truck still looks a little squatted, but I am planning to fix the issue with a new leaf pack in the rear.

 

January 2020 - November 2020:

I decided I wanted to add more lighting to the front, so I ordered a "20 inch" LED light bar from a seller on Ebay to install in the light bar cutout in the bumper. It wasn't until the unit finally arrived from China, like 3 weeks later, that I realized the light bar was terribly misrepresented ands as way smaller than what was described..... It was pretty disappointing, but I figured I could use it somewhere. So, I decided to mount it on the top of the bumper just above the actual light bar cutout. Now, my new plan is to fab up a winch mount to bolt onto the frame, then chop the current Fab Fours bumper mounts, and then weld the Fab Fours bumper to the winch mount. I will then make a custom plate to bolt into the current light bar cutout. The center of the plate will be slotted and drilled for the fairlead to bolt to for the winch.

 

Snorkel came in! Will be attempting install tomorrow.... updates to follow.

 

Its been a while since you updated. How is the build going ?