The Real Silver Taco-DCSB Build

[TheRealSilverTaco]

Purchased: 2/23/2018
Miles: 9,103 (rental)
Silver, short bed, double cab 4WD with Technology Package
6 speed AT, 6 Cyl.
Santa Barbara, California

Purchased my truck via text message while at pizza shop in Beverly Hills with some friends.

Why I bought a Truck / Tacoma
I've never owned a truck. My current daily driver is a 2012 Chevy Volt. Mostly because my office is 60 miles from my home. I've reached a point in my life that I can afford another vehicle. I've always liked Tacoma's. Wasn't interested in full size trucks, just too big. I started by looking for a used 2006 Tacoma. I watched endless hours of YouTube to learn different features, modifications, etc. My search evolved to 2014-2015 and then to 3rd gen. Silver was my first choice but I was unsure about the length of the bed. For awhile I wanted a 2WD, long bed, Sport. Then thought, if I'm buying a truck, get a truck. So I changed to TRD 4WD Off Road. Ultimately I changed to short bed because I thought it looked better. A must have was heated seats. I liked the idea of the power sliding window (2017 only).

Truck and Pizza
Once everything was narrowed down, I went to Autotrader, Ebay, Car Gurus, Cars.com, etc. to find my truck. No luck. Everytime I would find a truck, it sold out from underneath me before I could get there. I test drove a few as well. One had a 6" lift and Fuel wheels with M/T tires. All I could hear on the test drive were the tires. Pass. I looked down in San Diego, up to San Francisco, Utah, and Arizona. I was actually hard to find a truck that fit my criteria. Then on a Thursday, I found a 2017 used gray TRD OR in Santa Barbara. After talking to the dealership, they said it sold just a few hours earlier. Agh! Then while I'm at a pizza joint complaining to my friends my first world struggles, the dealer called me back. He took his last 2017 TRD OR out of the rental fleet and offered to sell it to me. After back and forth questions, verification of options, mileage, pictures all around, and haggling price while sharing with my friends we settled on a price. I told him I'd be there the next morning. I firmed up my financing with my bank while on a four hour Amtrak ride to Goleta. It was sitting out front super shiny waiting for me. Test drive was awesome! The dealer threw in a bed mat for me. Total time at the dealership was about 2 hours. Which put my first drive from Goleta to North Orange County on a Friday mid afternoon. Read: 5.5 hour drive home.

Will it fit?
With the truck home, I now have to figure where to park it. I have a two car garage with a killer workbench (amateur gun smith, plastic model building). The workbench is L-shaped so one of the two stalls is taken. I spent quite a effort designing my workbench from the foot rests to the view from my Snap On stool. My house sits at the end of a cul-de-sac on a straight street. Off in the distance I have few of the Orange County side of Chino Hills and Santa Ana Canyon. I prefer to keep my only stall empty. So the truck wasn't going in my garage (wouldn't fit anyway). My tiny driveway (Southern California living) allows for only 2 vehicles - my new truck and my wife's SUV. So the Chevy Volt goes in the street in front of the house.

Look at ME
Gotta say, first few weeks of driving the truck I feel like that teenage kid driving his dads cool truck. Thinking my truck (stock remind you) is hot shit and the coolest out there. I drive slow, wide turns as if I'm an 18 wheeler. Now I notice other Tacomas out there, modified, lifted. I start thinking, what can I do to mine? I start learning about tire sizes and backspace. What size lift will fit. Patches. Cabs and bumpers. So much to learn. So I started following several Facebook groups to learn more, opened up an Instagram account and followed several there as well. This helped a lot.

What's next
I figured the most expensive modification would be the lift, wheels and tires. There are many trucks out there that have given me ideas. Some were mild, some were over the top - to each his own. For me, I'm honestly not sure what I want exactly. I do know I want lift and cool wheels. For me, I like the overland trip idea more than crawling over boulders. Something about F'ing up my truck or having it fall backwards is not high on my list of things to accomplish.

That said, for tires I selected BF Goodrich KO2's (285/70R17). I know the brand (remember, I'm a new guy) and they looked good. I'm sure they'll hold up for the basic things I want to do. For wheels, that was MUCH harder. What I wanted was SCS Ray10's in gunmetal gray. But NOOO! They are not available, EVER! And I'm not the guy to stand in line at the Apple store for the newest release of iPhone WHICHEVER. So I'm not stalking SCS in the hopes I get what I want. I looked at Fuel, KD, Helo, etc. All very pretty. When I first looked at Method, I thought, eh, basic. That's after I thought Fuel's Lethal wheels looked pretty. I wanted gunmetal NV's but, NOPE. So I went with NV Matte Black Machine face. I honestly think they'll look awesome.

On to the lift. Holy crap. This stuff is expensive! Originally when I looked at lift kits, I saw $3,000, $4,000, $5,000. (insert throw up here...). I thought, "I'll get a 6-inch lift, yea!" Until I read that geometry matters. Scratch 6-inch. I heard about 4-inch lifts, until I saw the guy on YouTube hacking his frame apart. Yea...no. I looked at Bilstein, ToyTec, Rough Country, King, Icon, BDS, and ProComp. I had NO idea what I was doing. After watching 98,387 hours of YouTube, I was still lost. So I went to Tacoma World. After reading 98,387 posts, I was still lost. So I went to Yelp. Looking up "reputable" 4x4 shops, I thought, I'll go ask those guys. My first visit was to 4 Wheel Parts. Walking in, I knew I was going to get taken. Lots of shiny parts on the wall, and 10 people working there. I talked to two employees and left overwhelmed. I then visited a well known off-road shop in Orange. They had these trucks in their parking lot that looked like they could climb trees. I later learned they are called Trophy Trucks. SQUIRREL! I spent the next several weeks learning about BJ Baldwin, the Baja 1000, the Mint 400, and the world of Trophy Trucks. Sweet.... OK, back to being overwhelmed. I walked into the well known off-road shop and stood around with my d*** in my hand wondering when someone was going to help me. Oh, yea, forgot to tell you - I don't have $300,000 to drop on a trophy truck, so I'm 'small fry'. Left that place.

I tried a few others places. The real difference was the person at the shop. Other differences were labor costs to install, and the price of the alignment. So in the end, my evaluation process was 1) am I confident the shop is giving it to my straight and will they do a good job, and 2) overall price.

At this point (April 27, 2018), I'll hold off on further details until the lift is installed. Should be done in a week.






Here are pictures of what my truck looked like the day I picked in up in Santa Barbara.

 

[TheRealSilverTaco]

First Mod: Pop Lock

The truck tailgate locks, but with a key from the 1950's. I wanted the tailgate to lock/unlock when I pressed the button on my key fob. Mostly because its the 2010's and I'm lazy.

Installation wasn't that hard, but did take some thinking. The Pop Lock is basically a servo motor that you install inside the tail gate that moves the locking linkage back and forth. The power to the servo motor comes from a wire (supplied) that you route into the cab. The instructions that come with the Pop Lock are decent. The comments here are for clarification and a couple of SPECIAL NOTES.




Routing the Pop Lock wire wasn't hard. It goes through a hole at the bottom of the tail gate, into a hole at the end of the truck bed. From there, I routed mine along the frame to the fuse box near the right foot of the front passenger. SPECIAL NOTE: To reduce swear words and the occasional throwing of heavy objects, I recommend the following: There is a black, square clip at the bottom of the tail gate. This acts to hold the stock wire (not sure its purpose) to prevent binding and the metal from cutting into the stock wire. The Pop Lock wire can go through this clip. The trick is to cut (with a razor) away some of the ribbed, black plastic sheathing to reduce its overall thickness and provide room for the Pop Lock wire to fit in the clip. You'll need to do this for the clip at the truck bed to. Wrap the lose ribbed, black plastic sheathing with electrical tape to keep it neat.




SPECIAL NOTE:
The supplied wire will route through the bottom of the tailgate, into the truck bed, along the frame, NEXT TO THE MUFFLER, up through the floor board under the front passenger seat, under the front passenger door sill and to the fuse box. Did you notice something? I could have routed the wire 98,387 other ways, but the most efficient was to run pass the muffler.

I noticed a stock wire (not sure its purpose) was on the same route I wanted to use for the Pop Lock. BUT, it was encased in a thermal protection cover. I thought, "ya know, I wonder if the Toyota engineers meant to do that, ya know...RIGHT NEXT TO THE MUFFLER!" So I went to Pep Boys and got a 2 foot open ended thermal protection sleeve (see link and image below). I put the Pop Lock wire through it and zip tied it to the stock wire.


Link to Pep Boys - Aluminized Heat Shield

The Pop Lock wire then routes to an area that is approximately under the right corner of the front passenger seat. I took a scratch awl and poked a hole and fed the Pop Lock wires through. Still water tight. The Pop Lock wire can be routed under the carpet by the front passenger seat, along the sill plate, and to the fuse box. My finger points to the wiring harness block you need. Vehicle off, unplug it. Use a razor blade and cut back the black sheathing about 3"-4". The Pop Lock green wire attaches to the green wire of the harness. The Pop Lock blue wire attaches to the red wire of the harness.



Try your key fob and lock button on your door panel first before you button everything up.

My new key fob from AJT Design. Its in cement color, about the closest thing to silver. About $40.




Second mod: LED lights
I've always wanted LED lights. So I set out to install them in my truck. HOLY CRAP! LED headlights cost ONE MEEEELION DOLLARS! Seriously, I wasn't expecting this much. To my credit (or fault, however you want to look at it), I bought my headlights from Headlightrevolution.com. Theri stuff seems to be more expensive than anything else out there. It must have been the fancy website, easy instruction videos, and flashy colors. In the end, I replaced the items listed below. But MAN THEY LOOK GOOOOOD!

1. low beam headlights - Supernova V.3 LED H11/H16; 6,000K color temperature; my wife thinks my headlights should see across town...
Headlight Revolution $140

2. front turn signals - Straight forward, simple install. Didn't require resistors.

Link to Amazon $20


3. front parking lights - To install these requires a certificate from the American Institute of Contortionists, and very tiny hands.


Headlight Revolution $16

4. rear brake lights - Straight forward, simple install. Didn't require resistors.

Link to Amazon $20


5. rear turn signals - comes with 50W resistors. You need these. Here is why: modern vehicles have a feature that will make the turn signals blink quickly (called Hyper Flash) when the vehicle senses the light bulb is burned out. A burned out bulb is like a break in the circuit (high resistance). When you replace the incandescent bulb with a LED, it gives the vehicle the sense that a burned out bulb is in the circuit, causing Hyper Flash. The orange shiny rectangle in the photo is a resistor. It tricks the vehicle to think there is NOT a burned out bulb in the circuit, just an LED, and to not trigger a Hyper Flash - but a regular flash. I will say, some folks need these resistors for their front turn signals as well (depends on what LEDs you put in). I only needed resistors for the rear turn signals. I provided a photo of the passenger rear turn signal wire connection. Wires needed for passenger side: blue and white/black. Wires needed for driver side: yellow and white/black. The wires coming from the resistor are both black and don't matter which you use. Also, once done connecting the wires, wrap them in electrical tape.

The rear tail light housing is held in with two 10mm bolts. There is an obvious top bolt and my finger points to the necessary lower bolt.

SPECIAL NOTE: Resistors get hot. You'll see that I mounted it on the inside panel (metal) and away from plastic, rubber, wires, etc. The picture is the passenger rear turn signal for reference.



Headlight Revolution $79


6. reverse lights - Straight forward, simple install. Didn't require resistors.

Link to Amazon $19


7. license plate lights - Typically, you can get an entire interior LED kit, including license plate lights. But I wanted red LED interior lights and bright white vanity lights. Not custom kit for different colors. So I purchased different bulbs everywhere to do what I wanted. Merica...

Diode Dynamics $20

8. map lights - I eventually installed red LED map lights. Why? Because I thought they looked cool.
Link to Amazon $8


9. vanity lights - For when your passenger MUST see in their pores. Basically, these little nuclear boogers slip right in, just like the stock 'fuse' lights.

Link to Amazon $9


10. rear seat cab light

I did not (yet) replace high beam headlights.

 

[TheRealSilverTaco]

BUILD SHEET (completed / planned / in-progress)

Any suggestions, please let me know.

1. ARMOR
   1. Demello steel hybrid sliders
   2. Demello aluminum front bumper, with low hoop
   3. TJM Rear bumper
   4. SaBell Co tailgate theft lock
   5. Skid Plates
2. ELECTRICAL / LIGHTING / AUDIO
   1. ThinkWare F800 Pro dash cam
   2. Front/rear always on camera
   3. TacomaBeast headlights
   4. LED lights for front/rear turn signals, tail lights, low beam headlights, front parking lights, rear back up lights, license plate lights - see post in Forum and @Therealsilvertaco post for details
   5. LED lights for map and vanity - see post in Forum and @Therealsilvertaco post for details
   6. Hondo Garage radio knobs (REMOVED)
   7. Hondo Garage perfect squeeze cell phone mount
   8. Hondo Garage perfect squeeze iPad mount
   9. Stereo
      1. Kenwood DDX9905S touch screen head unit with Apple Car Play
      2. Subwoofer
      3. Door speakers
      4. Amplifier
   10. The Taco Garage Dash Multi-Mount
   11. Engine bay lights
   12. Bed lights
   13. Raptor lights from @runnin4tacos
   14. Viper alarm (DS4+ with smart start, GPS, tilt sensor, impact sensor, glass break sensor)
   15. Sound deadening
       1. Dynamat (floor, doors, back wall)
       2. 5mm foam (headliner)
   16. SwitchPro 9100
   17. PowerTray
   18. Odyssey dual batteries
   19. Off Grid Engineering Dual battery kit
   20. Fog Lights - Baja Designs Squadron R Sport - driving / combo, Amber
   21. Front bumper lights - Baja Designs Flush Mount Squadron Sport - driving / combo, White
   22. Front bumper lights - Baja Designs Flush Mount Squadron Sport - spot, White
   23. Chase light mounted to Prinsu Rack - Baja designs S2 - driving / combo, Amber
   24. Work light (rear facing) mounted to Prinsu Rack - Baja Designs S2 - driving / combo, White
   25. Area light (side facing) mounted to Prinsu Rack - Baja Designs S2 - work area, White
   26. Rock lights - Baja Designs Rock Lights or KC Cyclone
   27. Ditch lights - Baja Designs S2
   28. SDHQ ditch light brackets
3. COMMUNICATIONS AND NAVIGATION
   1. Apple Mini iPad mounted to Hondo Garage perfect squeeze mount with Premium Gaia GPS
   2. Two-way radios from Midland X Talker T51VP3
4. TRUCK BED
   1. Bed molle system - CaliRaised
   2. Bed stiffeners - Total Chaos
   3. Header rail - Toyota OEM
   4. Flag pole mount - CaliRaised
5. INTERIOR
   1. TRD vinyl Silver letters glovebox, front and rear sill plates - see @Therealsilvertaco post for details
   2. Nano Hybrid Carbon 35% window tint to match rear windows - see @Therealsilvertaco post for details
   3. Katskinz Leather seat covers with silver stitching
   4. Custom Leather with silver stitching for door panels, center console, dashboard in front of passenger, shifter and e-Brake boots
   5. Headliner and A, B, C pillars covered in black suede
   6. Fire extinguisher
   7. Center console organizer tray from Sevens Sparta
   8. Center console organizer grid from Vehicle OCD
   9. Center console lid Grid-It organizer from Cocoon
   10. Flash light with mount
6. EXTERIOR
   1. TRD Pro grill - see @Therealsilvertaco post for details
   2. Pop Lock - see post in Forum and @Therealsilvertaco post for details
   3. AJT Key fob - cement
   4. Side window deflector - Auto Ventshade 194768 in channel
   5. OEM Toyota bed mat
   6. OEM Toyota tonneu cover
   7. Prinsu Cabrac
   8. Tailgate letter Insert inlay - chrome from Complete Appearence
   9. Black 4” tall American Flag on both passenger and driver side front doors
7. SUSPENSION
   1. Icon Stage 4
      1. 58735 – 3.0” 2.5 Extended Travel C/O with Remote Reservoir
      2. 58450DJ – Tubular UCA with Delta Joint
      3. 51100 – 1.5” Rear Expansion Pack (AAL)
      4. 56503R – 1.5” 2.0 Aluminum Remote Reservoir Shock
      5. Cab mount chop
8. DRIVE TRAIN
   1. differential breather
   2. Redline Tuning hood struts part no. 21-27015-02
   3. AFE CAI Ram Air Scoop
   4. Exhaust
      1. MBRP S5338P 3" cat back single side exit
      2. MBRP T5115 10" angled rolled chrome tip T409 Stainless Steel
9. WHEELS/TIRES
   1. BF Goodrich KO2 A/T 285/70 R17
   2. Method NV 305 Matte Black Machined Faced Size: 17x8.5 Bolt Pattern: 6x5.5 Offset: 0 Backspace: 4.75"
10. RECOVERY
    1. SmityBilt 98510 X20 synth rope 10,000 lb.
    2. Factor 55 Hawse Fairlead 1.0
    3. Factor 55 Ultrahook
    4. Factor 55 Ultrahook rope guard
    5. Maxtraxx
    6. Hi-Lift Xtreme 48" (installed in bed)
    7. ViAir 400P portable compressor with Yome digital tire pressure gauge
    8. D Ring shackle 3/4", 7/8" locking pin, 22K lbs break strength
    9. Tow Strap - Gear America 4" x 30' 13K lbs WLL
    10. Snatch Strap - ARB 2-3/8" x 30', 7,600 lbs part no. ARB70SLB

 

[TheRealSilverTaco]

Reserve

 

[tacomiyagi]

Welcome to the Tacoma family brother! That was an entertaining read. Glad you found what you were hunting for. Our passion and group is a blessing and curse. Just depends on the circumstances. Cant wait to see where your truck evolves...

 

[Catfish]

Welcome brother. if you hae any questions feel free to DM any one of us here! check out my build too! as i have a silver taco as well! long bed tho.

 

[bonifacio]

SPECIAL NOTE: To reduce swear words and the occasional throwing of heavy objects, I recommend the following: There is a black, square clip at the bottom of the tail gate. This acts to hold the stock wire (not sure its purpose) to prevent binding and the metal from cutting into the stock wire. The Pop Lock wire can go through this clip. The trick is to cut (with a razor) away some of the ribbed, black plastic sheathing to reduce its overall thickness and provide room for the Pop Lock wire to fit in the clip. You'll need to do this for the clip at the truck bed to. Wrap the lose ribbed, black plastic sheathing with electrical tape to keep it neat.

View attachment 190

I ended up buying one of these because I didn't like how it was cut.