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Teton Taco Build Thread

Teton Taco

Teton Taco

4️⃣ Gold
Rig of the Month (2x)
Tacoma3G Supporter
Tacoma3G O.G.
Hi guys,
This is my build thread for my 2018 TRD OR DCSB named Teton after the first place it took us after we bought it. It was purchased in April 2018 and has been growing faster than I expected, but I am loving every minute of it.

Day 1:
1.jpg

As it sits now:
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Armor:
TJM Front Bumper W/ coastal offroad hoops
RCI +4" Rear Bumper
SOS Concepts Sliders
Coastal Offroad full skid plates
Victory 4x4 LCA skids
TJM bumper to front skid transfer plate

Lighting:
40" single row LED Bar (mounted on Prinsu)
30" Single row LED Bar(Behind Grille SDHQ)
2x 10" Single row LED Bar( Behind Grille SDHQ)
2x 2" Spot Light LED pods (Ditch lights)
2x rock lights installed in TJM Bumper
2x 40W rear LED Pods installed in RCI Bumper
Rear chase light bar mounted on custom rack
Waterway 6 switch controller

Suspension and Wheels:
Front Suspension:
-King 2.5 Extended travel coilovers
-JBA UCAs
-DRT Fab boxed spindles
-ECGS bushing
Rear Suspension:
-14" Bilstein 7100s
-Archive Garage trail series shock relocation
-Archive Garage Hammer Hangers
-CS047R Heavy Dakar Leaf Springs
OME carrier bearing drop
3 degree shims
35x12.5x17 Kenda RT
17" KMC Canyon Wheels

Accessories:
Prinsu Cab Rack
Custom Build Soft Topper Rack
Bestop Soft topper
Mt Rainer CVT RTT
X-Bull Recovery Tracks
Smittybuilt 10K winch
Dobson Snorkel with cyclone pre cleaner

Upcoming Mods:
Camburg trail series long travel
 
Last edited:
Weekend trip to break in the new Dakar leaf pack.
 

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Dakar Leaf Pack Bushing Fix

I started having some weird popping noises coming from the back end of the tuck every time I backed down the driveway or turned over a drainage dip in the road. I figured it was my rear leaf spring bushing as they were getting pretty old with it being a second hand leaf pack. I had replaced the front bushings on install and decided to hold off on the rears because they were in pretty good shape.

So after tearing down the leaf pack I found the rears to still be in good condition surprisingly, but the brand new fronts I had installed 5K miles ago were worn out of shape and trashed. After some research I found that with the front bushing eyes on these springs there is a gap that the bushing like to try to escape out of, and sure enough mine were doing the same thing.

This was only after 5K miles, another 5K and these would have failed completely. I didn't want to be replacing bushing every 5K miles either as its a pain in the ass. My solution was to weld the bushing eye closed to remove the gap that bushings were being forced into. Just had to remove some rust and used sand paper to clean the gap out with and boom proplem solved.

Not the prettiest welds, I cleaned them up after the picture but you get the idea.
 

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Man, your truck really went from 0 to 100 in your first two photos. Solid, complete build!

Do your Dakars squeak like crazy? Did the bushing weld eliminate any noise?
 
Tyler said:
Man, your truck really went from 0 to 100 in your first two photos. Solid, complete build!

Do your Dakars squeak like crazy? Did the bushing weld eliminate any noise?
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Thanks! Most builds seem to go like that lol.

I replied to the other thread as well but yes my Dakar's squeak like hell and its super embarrassing in parking lots. I was using fluid film to hide the noise but after this bushing fix it seems have have solved the squeak for now.
 
Teton Taco said:
Thanks! Most builds seem to go like that lol.

I replied to the other thread as well but yes my Dakar's squeak like hell and its super embarrassing in parking lots. I was using fluid film to hide the noise but after this bushing fix it seems have have solved the squeak for now.
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Yup, it's super embarrassing and apparently you can even hear mine while driving down the road next to it. I haven't been able to calm it down. I guess I should try fluid film. How long does that last though?
 
Tyler said:
Yup, it's super embarrassing and apparently you can even hear mine while driving down the road next to it. I haven't been able to calm it down. I guess I should try fluid film. How long does that last though?
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It'll last a long time on paved roads but once you hit dirt it seems to loose it touch pretty fast. One can goes a long way though.
 
When I rebuilt my Dakar pack and added an extra leaf to make it an HD plus 1 pack, I greased every single one of the little bushings between leafs as well as added little rectangular sections of cut bicycle tire rubber in between each leaf where they made contact. You can easily see where they're making contact and rubbing together which is creating the squeak. Greasing all the little bushings and adding the rubber has eliminated the squeak completely from my leaf pack. It's been easily 5 months now without noise from my pack.
 
Mr. Nobody said:
When I rebuilt my Dakar pack and added an extra leaf to make it an HD plus 1 pack, I greased every single one of the little bushings between leafs as well as added little rectangular sections of cut bicycle tire rubber in between each leaf where they made contact. You can easily see where they're making contact and rubbing together which is creating the squeak. Greasing all the little bushings and adding the rubber has eliminated the squeak completely from my leaf pack. It's been easily 5 months now without noise from my pack.
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Good to know. I'll try that when I install my airbags that are in the mail.
 
Last Resort Leaf Spring Squeak Fix

After dealing with continued squeaks from the rear end, I found these 2.25" speedway motors leaf spring liners. I've heard of some people using bike tire or new plastic shims, so I figured if I just lined each spring with these it would take care of the problem for good. For the standard weight leaf pack you'll need two sets of the liners, for the HD pack you'll need 3 packs to completely cover each leaf.

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Well those look killer. Wish I had found them before I cut up a bunch of bike tires ??.

Definitely report back on the results please. ?
 
Teton Taco said:
Last Resort Leaf Spring Squeak Fix

After dealing with continued squeaks from the rear end, I found these 2.25" speedway motors leaf spring liners. I've heard of some people using bike tire or new plastic shims, so I figured if I just lined each spring with these it would take care of the problem for good. For the standard weight leaf pack you'll need two sets of the liners, for the HD pack you'll need 3 packs to completely cover each leaf.

View attachment 18561View attachment 18562View attachment 18563View attachment 18564View attachment 18565View attachment 18566
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Did they work out for you? I was planning to do the bike tires before I ended up with a whole new leaf pack instead (not to fix squeak).
 
Tyler said:
Did they work out for you? I was planning to do the bike tires before I ended up with a whole new leaf pack instead (not to fix squeak).
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So far so good, however they are covered in ice currently. What leaf pack you go with?
 
RCI Bumper Upgrade

Went with an RCI Bumper instead of a High Clearance for a couple reasons.
  1. Didn't want to cut my bedsides
  2. Wanted to keep back up sensor functionality
  3. The RCI bumper has a better departure angle then most high clearance bumpers
Also, for those asking, you do not have to use the $300 rigid backup lights for this bumper, the hole dimensions are 2"x5.25" with mounting slots for the bolts on each side. There is no reason anyone should be running $300 reverse lights, that's a joke.
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Teton Taco said:
RCI Bumper Upgrade

Went with an RCI Bumper instead of a High Clearance for a couple reasons.
  1. Didn't want to cut my bedsides
  2. Wanted to keep back up sensor functionality
  3. The RCI bumper has a better departure angle then most high clearance bumpers
Also, for those asking, you do not have to use the $300 rigid backup lights for this bumper, the hole dimensions are 2"x5.25" with mounting slots for the bolts on each side. There is no reason anyone should be running $300 reverse lights, that's a joke.View attachment 18808
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That looks really good compared to the stock bumper, and it’s obviously much more functional. Good tip about the lights, I totally agree with you on that.
 
Teton Taco said:
RCI Bumper Upgrade

Went with an RCI Bumper instead of a High Clearance for a couple reasons.
  1. Didn't want to cut my bedsides
  2. Wanted to keep back up sensor functionality
  3. The RCI bumper has a better departure angle then most high clearance bumpers
Also, for those asking, you do not have to use the $300 rigid backup lights for this bumper, the hole dimensions are 2"x5.25" with mounting slots for the bolts on each side. There is no reason anyone should be running $300 reverse lights, that's a joke.View attachment 18808
Click to expand...
I really like that bumper! One day I’ll join the club!
 
Dang I’m gonna have to order me the liners. Every where I go that a speed bump is present I always get embarrassed that my truck squeaks so loud.
 
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