2BigTaco
5️⃣ Platinum
Hello and welcome to my build thread! Thank you for visiting and I hope that my build will inspire as I have been inspired by many of the awesome rigs out there. Outside of my regular day job, my passion is in photography and capturing everything this green earth offers. This is the basis of my build. I wanted to build a rig that was my daily driver and capable enough to drive past the general boundaries of everyday vehicles to capture what can't be seen everyday. Modularity was the key.
My first step was finding the perfect platform. Toyota has been in my blood for years starting with a 1984 Toyota pickup, 2001 Lexus GS300, and a 2012 Scion XB, with the occasional Honda sprinkled in between. It was a given that Tacoma was going to be it. I researched for months and ended up flying from Southern California to Phoenix on December 18th 2018 to take delivery on my 2019 Toyota Tacoma TRD 4x4 Off-road in Cement Gray. I drove 400 plus miles home and fell in love with the truck. Below you will see the time line on my build and my thoughts around these mods. I'll be adding to this thread as I go along. Enjoy!
December 18, 2018 - Took delivery on my new truck.
December 24, 2018 - First mod was to replace all the halogen with LEDS. Up front I replaced lows and highs with Auxbeam H11s and the fog lights with 3K LEDs
December 26, 2018 - Of course I had to replace the interior lights also.
January 10, 2019 - I wanted to take my truck out on its first snow trip so I upgraded stock rollers to 265/75/16 BF Goodrich KO2 Load E tires. I know there were a bunch of tires and everyone has their preference but I didn't have any experience in off road tires so I went with the majority as a baseline. I've been happy with them so far with minimal road noise and no problems in trips so far.
January 18, 2019 - I really didn't like the stock grill on the 3rd Gen and definitely looked at different options but the Pro Grill was just classic...but not at $400. So I ordered a Praux Grill from Runnin4Tacos. I'm still undecided on the raptor lights.
February 22, 2019 - I searched and searched for a solid and good looking roof rack to mount recovery gear and an awning in the future. There were a lot of options but I kept coming back to the Prinsu. So what the heck.. I pulled the trigger. I stallation was easy, but tedious doing it by yourself. It was cold here in socal so it was tough getting someone to leave the warm house and help.
February 23, 2019 - First step in armor. Rock sliders (aka side steps for my girlfriend). This was another item I did tons of research on. I found Ryan (@shmellmopwho) on Tacomaworld and had nothing but positive reviews. Im a big supporter of grass roots small business so I hit him up. Eight weeks later he messages me that my sliders are done. These things are SOLID!!
February 28, 2019 - Now it was time for a major mod. SUSPENSION! So many great companies out there it was hard to decide. I spoke to many other people on their likes and dislikes but one big thing to me was cost. I had to be realistic in my budget and what I'd really be using my truck for. I wanted something for long dirt roads and trails, great on the pavement daily, and wallet friendly. I knew I was going to be doing a lot of crawling but still wanted to be able to get through some moderate stuff when necessary. I went with Icon's Stage 2 kit and the SPC upper control arms. Since I already had the tires, I decided to throw in some new wheels. I went with 16x8 VTX Classics with -12 offset and 4.5" back spacing for a nice stance. I'll probably be moving to 285's on my next set of tires. So far they have been great and I'll put them to their first test on our Mojave Road trail in April.
Before
After
March 6, 2019 - This truck is my daily driver so I really wanted a lockable tonneau cover to also try and keep gear clean and dry. I went with a Diamondback SE cover because it has a 400lb dynamic rating on top of it and it looks pretty bad ass.
March 13, 2019 - Time to prep for lighting. I'm in no way anywhere close to being an electrician and way too lazy to want to run wiring in and out of the cab. I wanted an easy way to wire up all my accessories into one place under the hood and have a minimal number of switches all around the cab. My answer was the Switchpros SP-9100 mounted on Powertrays aluminum tray with the Bluesea buss bar and relay. Inside the cab I used the SDHQ cubby replacement panel for simple and clean look. Installation was easier than I thought.
UP next are my KB Voodoo hi rise bars and tent, Caliraised bed stiffeners, and lights.
March 29, 2019 - Added some @Baja Designs S2 Sports for ditch lights. Wiring was easy using the SP-9100. Lights are great so far but just unsure if they are bright enough. Might need to just get the S2 Pros
To be continued...
My first step was finding the perfect platform. Toyota has been in my blood for years starting with a 1984 Toyota pickup, 2001 Lexus GS300, and a 2012 Scion XB, with the occasional Honda sprinkled in between. It was a given that Tacoma was going to be it. I researched for months and ended up flying from Southern California to Phoenix on December 18th 2018 to take delivery on my 2019 Toyota Tacoma TRD 4x4 Off-road in Cement Gray. I drove 400 plus miles home and fell in love with the truck. Below you will see the time line on my build and my thoughts around these mods. I'll be adding to this thread as I go along. Enjoy!
December 18, 2018 - Took delivery on my new truck.
December 24, 2018 - First mod was to replace all the halogen with LEDS. Up front I replaced lows and highs with Auxbeam H11s and the fog lights with 3K LEDs
December 26, 2018 - Of course I had to replace the interior lights also.
January 10, 2019 - I wanted to take my truck out on its first snow trip so I upgraded stock rollers to 265/75/16 BF Goodrich KO2 Load E tires. I know there were a bunch of tires and everyone has their preference but I didn't have any experience in off road tires so I went with the majority as a baseline. I've been happy with them so far with minimal road noise and no problems in trips so far.
January 18, 2019 - I really didn't like the stock grill on the 3rd Gen and definitely looked at different options but the Pro Grill was just classic...but not at $400. So I ordered a Praux Grill from Runnin4Tacos. I'm still undecided on the raptor lights.
February 22, 2019 - I searched and searched for a solid and good looking roof rack to mount recovery gear and an awning in the future. There were a lot of options but I kept coming back to the Prinsu. So what the heck.. I pulled the trigger. I stallation was easy, but tedious doing it by yourself. It was cold here in socal so it was tough getting someone to leave the warm house and help.
February 23, 2019 - First step in armor. Rock sliders (aka side steps for my girlfriend). This was another item I did tons of research on. I found Ryan (@shmellmopwho) on Tacomaworld and had nothing but positive reviews. Im a big supporter of grass roots small business so I hit him up. Eight weeks later he messages me that my sliders are done. These things are SOLID!!
February 28, 2019 - Now it was time for a major mod. SUSPENSION! So many great companies out there it was hard to decide. I spoke to many other people on their likes and dislikes but one big thing to me was cost. I had to be realistic in my budget and what I'd really be using my truck for. I wanted something for long dirt roads and trails, great on the pavement daily, and wallet friendly. I knew I was going to be doing a lot of crawling but still wanted to be able to get through some moderate stuff when necessary. I went with Icon's Stage 2 kit and the SPC upper control arms. Since I already had the tires, I decided to throw in some new wheels. I went with 16x8 VTX Classics with -12 offset and 4.5" back spacing for a nice stance. I'll probably be moving to 285's on my next set of tires. So far they have been great and I'll put them to their first test on our Mojave Road trail in April.
Before
After
March 6, 2019 - This truck is my daily driver so I really wanted a lockable tonneau cover to also try and keep gear clean and dry. I went with a Diamondback SE cover because it has a 400lb dynamic rating on top of it and it looks pretty bad ass.
March 13, 2019 - Time to prep for lighting. I'm in no way anywhere close to being an electrician and way too lazy to want to run wiring in and out of the cab. I wanted an easy way to wire up all my accessories into one place under the hood and have a minimal number of switches all around the cab. My answer was the Switchpros SP-9100 mounted on Powertrays aluminum tray with the Bluesea buss bar and relay. Inside the cab I used the SDHQ cubby replacement panel for simple and clean look. Installation was easier than I thought.
UP next are my KB Voodoo hi rise bars and tent, Caliraised bed stiffeners, and lights.
March 29, 2019 - Added some @Baja Designs S2 Sports for ditch lights. Wiring was easy using the SP-9100. Lights are great so far but just unsure if they are bright enough. Might need to just get the S2 Pros
To be continued...
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