YotaGuys Pseudo-Build

Greetings!

I sold my last Tacoma August-ish 2010 and have been kicking myself ever since. The gold one is my old 2002 4X4 DC
I was browsing COPART auto auction and came across a pretty good deal, I bought it right away and hopefully I don't regret buying it since I didn't look at it in person first. If I hadn't bought it right then (Buy it now) I would probably not have won the auction 12 hours later. It does have a salvage title due to a minor collision and theft but other than a few dents on the roof it looks really good. I've been doing all my own work for about 8 years now and can handle pretty much anything it needs. My current truck was stolen as well and it's been great for almost 2 years.
This is going to be a more practical replacement for my 2001 F-250 7.3 SuperDuty (22 feet long and 7000 pounds of diesel power isn't very practical)
The basics about the truck:
2005
Black Sand Pearl
4X4
Double Cab
Auto
Based on the picture, maybe a small lift?
About 147k miles
Fairly clean interior

More recent pictures:

And the camper shell to replace the bed rack/tire carrier.

 

Small lift, but the right side atleast looks in good shape.

 

For the record, I didn't steal either of the trucks...

Here are the rest of the auction pictures. I'll have some reconditioning to do but even after the fairly outrageous fees from COPART I ended up getting a pretty good deal, I hope. I get to pick this one up on Friday!

 

It is Friday and I finally picked up my truck. Drove with my mother in law from Tucson to Phoenix to get it and then a nerve-wracking drive back. It needs hopefully just an alignment and some minor things. Look for WTB list coming soon. Pics will also be coming soon.

I know I need side mirrors and a center brake light if someone has good spares.

 

Congrats OP on getting back in the Tacoma.

 

Thanks! It's a little bit of a project but I'm glad to be back.

 

Stopped by my local dealership for a new key. They ordered my new rear leaf springs for the recall. Since the rear is going to back at stock height. I'm going to remove the strut spacer lift garbage the PO put on and go stock height for a while.

 

Pretty truck, OP. Drive it like you stole it!

 

Last post was May 28th... here we are 6 months later and all I've done is replace the drivers side window switch panel with the wrong color replacement, put new side mirrors on and do a terrible job of plasti-dipping it and an even worse job of removing the plasti-dip.

4 of the last 6 months have been spent in a giant sand box and I have 2 months left... time to start ordering parts. I already ordered a TRD Sport wheel for a full size spare. Wife is at the house to collect parts.

I registered my truck on the Toyota website and apparently there were service records listing the mileage at 161,XXX in 2013 so the truck probably has over 200,000 right now and someone replaced the computer with a lower mileage one? Would this even do that? Roll the mileage back 50,000? Oh well... I figure I'll never be able to sell it... time to go full mentally handicapable/developmentally disabled.... and then put it in storage for a year while I'm in Korea...

Things it NEEDS (if you have them I'm interested):
-Full tool kit
-Center console lid with working latch (tan)
-I should probably flush/bleed every fluid in the truck
-4X4 system rebuild (if this is even a thing)
-Remove spacer/block lift (in progress)
-Brakes?

Things precious wants:
-All the armor things (front/rear bumpers/sliders/skids... all the things)
-A real lift (4"-6")
-Enough LEDs to make Stevie Wonder tell me to turn them off.
--New Stereo
I imagine that this is a partial list

 

I may be 8000+ miles from home but I'm still acquiring parts for my truck...
@Sleipnir is hooking me up with 5100's and OME 887's, I'm going to source some UCAs and figure out what I'm going to do about the rear after Toyota replaces my rear leaf setup under the TSB thingy.
My wife went and picked up a lightly used set of 265/70/17 Duratracs for me, I don't want to go spend $700+ on a new set of tires when the truck is going to be put back into storage for a year in 7 months.
I also ordered a $30 car safe so I can lock up my Glock when I'm at work, the government is touchy about personal firearms in their buildings. I'm not terribly concerned about it being stolen from my truck on a military base but it's required to be locked up.

I can't wait to get back and finally work on my truck.

 

Good luck with the truck and thanks for your service

 

I bought one of these:

$60 Wolo (619) Big Bad Max Air Horn - 12 Volt, Black

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B008J151H4/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

I'm still out of the country but I've spent a lot of money on the truck...
1. Matching TRD Sport wheel for full size spare
2. Spare Duratrac to match the other 4
3. Fumoto Valve
4. Caliraised Fogs with 18W Ambers
5. Extra LEDs
6. More LEDs
7. LEDs for other people
8. Eagle Eyes Headlights
9. UCAs are pending

More to come...

 

Little update:

-I installed the Eagle Eyes, terrible. The grille no longer fits with the new headlights, the drivers side LEDs don't work and I need to figure out how to get the angel eyes to work. I may just buy another set of stock headlights... not impressed at all.

-I installed the Wolo Big Bad Max airhorn, blew a fuse, replaced fuse with stronger fuse, so far so good. Much louder than stock.

-I discovered that the connection for the passenger side fog light was cut off at some point, someone is an idiot, so now I get to try and fix that. I plugged in the CaliRaised LED fogs but they wouldn't turn on. I have to figure out where else the wiring got jacked up and fix that as well.

-The Duratracs were installed and are louder and more rough than the old tires but at least I'm not running 2 bald tires and 2 different sizes anymore. The spare tire did end up being a Load range E and the other 4 aren't, but hopefully the spare just sits and isn't needed.

-The representative from the LED company said that the order should be shipped out in the next couple days, so I have that going for me.

-I ordered Freedom Off-Road UCAs, I've never heard of them before but for $269 I figured I can try them and see how they are. The pictures are terrible, my phone is 3 years old and was outdated when I bought it. the companies website could use some attention, there seem to be a lot of things missing from it, I bought through ebay. 99% chance they are made in China.
The control arms themselves are fairly basic, "heavy duty" tubular control arms, some reinforcement at the point there the tubes meet at the ball joint housing and again on the points where they mount to the truck. these are sealed ball joint UCAs, not uniball, probably one reason why they are so much cheaper. The paint missed on a couple spots and the welds aren't amazing, but since I'm not doing any hardcore off-roading anytime soon they shouldn't fall apart. They are advertised for 2"-4" of lift, I'll be running 5100's with OME 887s and should have 3 inches up front, so these should be just fine. I'll get more pictures once I get them installed.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Freedom-Off...ash=item43fd0d891f:g:7zUAAOSw-0xYb5XF&vxp=mtr

 

Installed the CaliRaised Amber LED Fogs tonight. Passenger side is a little crooked, but I'll fix it later. Picture is terrible.

 

And the LED shipment has been delayed until at least Friday.

 

My wife helped me get my rock lights installed.
You can see the CaliRaised LEDs and the Eagle Eyes that don't really fit.

 

Got started on the front suspension today. Drivers side UCA bolt refused to come off, turned into a circle, I cut the ball joint off and now the truck sits on jack stands until tomorrow.
Did the sway bar delete since that was the only thing my tires were rubbing on.

 

I did some suspension things recently... this is most of the setup I'm going with (AAL not pictured)

Old garbage spacer lift

The ball joint that just wouldn't budge.

And finally getting it all back together. Rear will be done soon-ish.

I discovered a crack in a thing. Terrible picture.

Installed some 24W aux rear lights, poorly wired and probably temporary (testing the product)

And them on (much brighter at night)

The P/O poorly wired the stock system back in after removing his aftermarket setup. One of the wires started melting and smoking and my stock head unit was dying anyways. Got this display model for 1/2 price. Spent <$200 on the whole thing (install kit, wiring harness..).