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[Yotota]

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[Yotota]

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[Airborne]

Truck looks great, sounds like you have a great plan for it…thanks for sharing
David

 

[Yotota]

Truck looks great, sounds like you have a great plan for it…thanks for sharing
David

Thanks!

It's been great so far, and perfect for everything I need.

The only things I miss from my GX are the rain sensing wipers, and AWD. But the MPG hit of the AWD was rough, so I'll just need to remember to pop it into 4H on icy roads.

 

[bigd9247]

Nice truck! I too have a tendency to turn every vehicle into a project at the expense of being a good daily driver. I'm trying real hard to keep my Tacoma civilized and focus on daily comfort.

 

[Yotota]

I just realized that I forgot to mention the Rokblokz mud flaps that I installed to replace the dinky and useless American OEM flaps.

They have pretty good coverage, and the material quality is decent. But I can't say that I'd recommend them... I definitely wouldn't buy them again. They have some design issues and hardware issues, and their customer service kinda sucks.

 

[Yotota]

Nice truck! I too have a tendency to turn every vehicle into a project at the expense of being a good daily driver. I'm trying real hard to keep my Tacoma civilized and focus on daily comfort.

Historically, I am my own worst enemy for that!

The only time I didn't go overboard was when I was younger and had no money to spend.

But since then I have been far too ambitious about what I can get done (from a time and motivation perspective), and I've also been too demanding/discriminating about what I really need.

Here's my old GX:

Icon suspension with lots of other aftermarket parts, sliders, skids, lights, little mods everywhere. I loved it. But it became more than I really needed.

I won't even go into my recent Tacoma crawler project..... (1st Gen Taco, 9.5" axles, duals, 39s, lots of fab). It sat for 5 years and I only drove it three times. I'm so glad I sold it.

 

[JakeJoeBob]

Had an 05 4Runner with the 2-UZ in it, glad know i'm not just gaslighting myself that this truck is ? Great write up!

 

[Yotota]

Had an 05 4Runner with the 2-UZ in it, glad know i'm not just gaslighting myself that this truck is ? Great write up!

Thanks!

Both versions of the 2UZ were magnificent engines. The early non-VVTi engines were punchier, and the later dual-VVTi engines ramped up and then kept on pulling.

I bet it was even better in your 4runner with a little less weight. My GX was around 5100-ish lb, with pretty good weight distribution (55/45 or something like that). The AWD gave it killer traction. I could drive it harder than I needed to. I'm actually driving a bit mellower now in the Taco, which is probably for the better...

 

[Yotota]

For anyone who has ever looked into the hard folding tonneau cover options...

I shopped aftermarket and OEM accessory versions, and read install manuals for both. I definitely did NOT want to drill holes in my new bed for drain hoses. Luckily the Toyota cover includes hoses that are supposed to fit in the 1/4" drain holes at the front of the bed. This is in stark contrast to aftermarket Bakflip and other brands with larger drain hoses.

My bed has the optional spray-in liner, which I like for traction and protection. It also makes the drain holes a little smaller. I could have used a tapered reamer to clean up/widen the holes a bit. But I also wanted to link both drain hoses into the center drain holes in order to leave the two outer holes free, in case more water gets into the bed.

2ft of 1/4" ID vacuum hose and a 1/4" nylon hose tee made this work. I previously had shorter sections of vacuum hose and didn't like how it looked, but finally got it situated last night:

I really like this Toyota accessory tonneau cover. It's not 100% watertight, but I'd say it's easily 95%. Last weekend I had the bed completely full of household stuff to donate, in cardboard boxes and a few paper bags. The 30min drive to Goodwill (with a stop along the way for a donut) was solid rain, and everything stayed dry enough.

(Pic from when I installed it on the week-old truck, back in October)

 

[tacorancher]

For a 32” tire that looks sick. Nicely done.

 

[Yotota]

Ran across these pics from my install of the Trailhunter skid plates...


What came on my TRD:

Not bad, and probably adequate for 90% of truck owners. But we can do better...


That's more like it:

Install was super easy with just a pair of Rhino Ramps and one socket. 30min at most. I also used an M8 thread chaser bolt to clean up the mounting holes that hadn't been used before but that's probably not necessary.

These were a bit cheaper than the equivalent coverage aftermarket skid plates. My main motivation was to stick with OEM parts so the dealership techs know what they're looking at, and won't get confused. They know how to work with OEM stuff, and usually ONLY with OEM stuff.

 

[Yotota]

For a 32” tire that looks sick. Nicely done.

Thank you, I agree 100%. I'm super happy with how the tire and wheel combo worked out.

10mm wider on the tire and 20mm less wheel offset, resulting in 25mm more "poke" than stock, made a perfect change to the stance of the truck. And the ~12-13mm tire diameter increase was enough to notice, but not enough to completely throw off the truck.

Older pic from the fresh tire/wheel install, but pre-mudflaps:

I loved the Falken AT3W and the AT4W is just as good, if not better. It's a smooth, quiet tire for an LT C-rated All-Terrain. And so far, traction is excellent. They took a few hundred miles to break in, and have since been my new favorite tire.

My only other AT option in C-Rated LT275/70R17 was the Yokohama X-AT, which is supposed to be a good tire as well.

Toyo also makes their new RT Trail in that size, but it's an XL rated tire and the tread is more open/aggressive than I really wanted. I also have a negative opinion of Toyo tires in the PNW... they have a history of terrible traction in ice and snow. Maybe that's changed, maybe not.

 

[tacorancher]

Thank you, I agree 100%. I'm super happy with how the tire and wheel combo worked out.

10mm wider on the tire and 20mm less wheel offset, resulting in 25mm more "poke" than stock, made a perfect change to the stance of the truck. And the ~12-13mm tire diameter increase was enough to notice, but not enough to completely throw off the truck.

Older pic from the fresh tire/wheel install, but pre-mudflaps:

I loved the Falken AT3W and the AT4W is just as good, if not better. It's a smooth, quiet tire for an LT C-rated All-Terrain. And so far, traction is excellent. They took a few hundred miles to break in, and have since been my new favorite tire.

My only other AT option in C-Rated LT275/70R17 was the Yokohama X-AT, which is supposed to be a good tire as well.

Toyo also makes their new RT Trail in that size, but it's an XL rated tire and the tread is more open/aggressive than I really wanted. I also have a negative opinion of Toyo tires in the PNW... they have a history of terrible traction in ice and snow. Maybe that's changed, maybe not.

My 33.43” Falken AT4Ws are great except too hard riding (E load). Thinking to switch to C, but really surprised yours look as big as they do. It’s harder though to fill up the TH wheel wells.

 

[Yotota]

My 33.43” Falken AT4Ws are great except too hard riding (E load). Thinking to switch to C, but really surprised these look as big as they do. It’s harder though to fill up the TH wheel wells.

Yeah, I forgot to mention E-rated tires...

LT275/70R17 is also available in many E-rated options. I don't like E-rated tires on any truck that's not a fullsize, or weighs more than ~6k lb (such as an 80-series Land cruiser). It's almost impossible to find a tire pressure that let's an E-rated tire flex enough to ride well under a lighter truck.

For your Trailhunter, the options are also limited with the 18" wheels. If you changed to 17", there are many more options on the market.

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