Casper's 2015 TRD Sport ==still a long way to go build

[Casper66]

Hi all! Well we started this journey with the purchase of a 2013 Tacoma SR5 2.7l automatic access cab. I loved the truck and had a lot of fun with it.



I did an ass load of mods to it. My wife and I were Girl Scout leaders for 17 years and love to camp so we decided to venture into the overlanding lifestyle in our own little way and bought a micro off road camper. Well the 2.7 with the Auto didn't like towing especially in the mountains so directly following our first camping trip the truck was stripped and traded a week later for our current 2015 TRD Sport 4.0l 6mt 4wd and what a difference did it make towing is no longer a problem and we have taken the camper some fun places.

This was the day we bought the truck I had the wheels and tires swapped over from the 2013 to this one



Then the mods began with thepile of parts off the other truck. It's been a lot of fun. My background professionally is in auto body and paint with a focus on welding and fabrication so if i can't find what i need I make it.

Below is the current up to date list of mods. It's just a simple build we use the truck as a tool to et us and the camper where we want to go:

Interior:
CH4x4 Small Toyota push switches in the console below heater controls
Grey Carhart seat covers full set
Ultraguage EM Plus
Extreme Duty Tech Deck
Ram Phone mount
Ram Gps Mount

Communications:
Cobra 75WX ST
4" Firefly antena
Radio Shack hand held CB

Navigation:
Magellan TR7 on road/ off road GPS

Exterior:
Debadge
Rago Fabrication ditch light brackets
Custom fabbed DIY relay bracket in engine compartment
Dipped the grill emblem white
DIY tool mounts on bed rail
DIY Hilift mounts on bed rail
Tail pipe chop
Best Top soft camper shell
red Line hood struts
DIY fire extinguisher mount
Cab Mount Chop Full Chop/ DIY
Lock n Roll triler hitch
Reese 11" drop hitch
Weather Tech vent visors
KB Voodoo bed rail reinforcement caps
Diy frame reinforcement plates
Tie in brackets for front bumper to frame
BHLM
Hooke Road roof rack
Shortie 14" antena

Engine and Performance:
Unifilter/ Secondary air pump mod
AC drain relocate
TRD short throw shifter
Fumoto oil drain valve
ADD W1 oil catch can
Air Flow snorkel

Drivetrain and suspension:
2004 Tundra wheels
Cooper St Maxx 255/80/17

Front:
Bilstein 5100 set at "0"
Toytec/ Eibach 521600 2.5" lift coils
3/8" top plate spacer drivers side
1/4" top plate spacer passenger side
wheeler's Super Bumps
Camburg ball joint UCa's

Rear:
Deaver Stage III leaf packs. 9 leafs with 2 overloads for 11 leafs total
Bilstein B110's
All Pro ubolt flip kit
Wheeler's Super Bumps
Archive garage Hammer Hangers with cross tube
+5" brake lines

Suspension Misc:
rear Diff breather relocate
OME carrier bearing drop

Lighting:
Caliraised amber 18w LED pods for fogs
Caliraised 18w LED pod for rear lighting
Caliraised 27w Side projecting pods for ditch lights
Caliraised 18w LED spot pods in the grill
Flush mount pods in rear bumper
Under hood LED lighting
Grill "Raptor" lights Super Bright LED's
LED light upgrade in interior dome, vanity and map lights
4 LED pods. 2 on each side of the roof rack

Armor:
SOS Concepts Aluminum front bumper with full hoops bedlined super white
SOS Concepts standard rear bumper with dual swingouts bedlined super white with black swingouts
SOS Concepts IFS skid
SOS Concepts trans skid
SOS Concepts transfer case skid
All pro sliders

Recovery/ Tools:
48" Hilift jack
Masterflow tsounami compressor
4 3/4" shackles
2 hitch mounted shackles
Axe
Shovel
hatchet
machette
2 ton come along
Skill craft emergency kit
Auto power jumper pack
Craftsman tool set
Torque wrench
Metric wrench set
Tire plug kit
First aide kit
2 C clamps
Jumper cables
12v/ 100w work light
ARB recovery strap
Engo E9000 winch with synthetic line
haws fairlead
16,000 pound snatch block
ARB deflator
ARB winch blanket
Black rhino tree strap

On the work bench:
ABS kill switch
ARB twin compressor

On Order:



All my pics are either on my phone or on Tacoma World. I had to replace my phone and a lot didn't recover so I will have to rely on copying nd pasteing.

A couple of current pics:

 

[Casper66]

@Biker Eagle IDK when you read the post but I redid it i wasn't happy with it

 

[persquank]

Sweet ride. And what a nifty little trailer.

 

[Casper66]

Sweet ride. And what a nifty little trailer.

Thanks! it is all a work in progress as most are. Each trip I see something different I need to change, make, or acquire.

 

[Casper66]

Flag pole run last year. Flag Pole Knob is in the George Washington national Forest here in Va. Wonderful trails, beautiful lake, and free camping.

 

[jakeandhisdodge]

Cool build, glad you're here in the area!

 

[Casper66]

Cool build, glad you're here in the area!

Thanks. I'm looking forward to meeting some new folks and maybe getting out some

 

[Casper66]

AOAA all toyota event in PA last year.























for those of you who have never been it's an interesting place. Abandoned strip mines, the local towns were suffering, and the owner of AOAA opened up the off road park and the towns are thriving again.

 

[Casper66]

FRONT SUSPENSION:
Bilstein 5100's set on "0"
Eibach 2.5" lift 600# coils
3/8" tophat spacer on driver's side
1/4" tophat spacer on passenger side
Wheeler's Super Bumps
Camburg ball joint UCA"s



Yes I am still running the sway bar. It makes it a bit rougher off road but pulling the camper i feel better with it in place. i started at 3" of lift. With the addition of all the armor I am down to around 2" so an upgrade may be in the future. Everythng works great, however, and CV angles are really good so who knows I may just leave it alone.

 

[Casper66]

REAR SUSPENSION:
I started with Wheeler's 3 leaf progressive AAL and Bilstein 5125's. I still have them they will be for sale. Starting to pull the camper and with the addition of the steel rear bumper with dual swingouts i deemed it neccessary to upgrade.
Deaver stage III leaf packs- - they are 9 leaf packs with 2 overload springs for a totalof 11 leafs. They are progressive packs with thin leafs so they ride really well but stiffen up and take a load really well. They provided about 4" of lift in the rear so I am stink buggin it a bit but I am ok with that evrything works great.
Bilstein b110's for shocks
All Pro ubolt flip kit
Wheeler's Super Bumps



I still have +6" brake lines to install but been a little lazy. Rear diff breather relocate also done.

 

[Casper66]

CAB MOUNT CHOP:
This is, I believe, primarily a tacoma thing. The cab mount protrudes into the wheel well and any tire 285 or larger typically requires a chop or a relocate.
For a 33" tire i.e. 285 typically only th face of the cab mount is removed and a new plate welded in relocated rearward for more clearance.
For 34" or 35" tires a more drastic chop is performed involving the whole face of the mount and the removal of the end of the mount.
Larger than 35" tires is typically a relocate and tubbing the firewall.
I have done all three of these on different trucks.
Running 255/80/17's I had absolutely no issues with clearance as these are 33" tires but skinnies. I purchased a new welder and was bored so decided to go ahead and do mine just for an excuse to play with the welder and familiarize myself with it more. I went with a full chop. It's more cutting but also more fun. I don't buy precut plates i fab my own out of 3/16" steel and add strength.

Stock cab mount:



I completely removed the end piece and the face was removed all the way back to the frame. i fabbed up new plates out of 3/16 and welded everything solid even underneith. The plates are also tapered back to allow even more clearance. The body mount bolt is left completely accessible from underneith.





Additional clearancing will have to be done if i were ever to go to 35's but for 34's 285/75/17's basically just beat the pich weld flat and it'll be pretty much good to go

 

[Casper66]

So I did something today I have been wanting to try for a while. I blacked out the center section of the hood. I wasn’t sure if I’d like it so I did it with plasti dip. If I like it I’ll peel that off and paint it with semi gloss

 

[Casper66]

Ok so I guess I am considered a fan of SOS Concepts armor. I have good reason, the product quality is fantastic, price is comparrible, lead times are short, and above all the customer service is incredible. Eddy is a great guy to work with.
It takes me a while to order big things like this as I put a lot of thought into each item so I get exactly what I need. Not usually any wants but items are configured out of neccessity.
With a short bed, bed space is very limitted and I wanted to free some up so a bumper with swingout was a big deal. Issue, how would I open the swingout with the camper hooked up out on a trail? Eddy created a dual swingout that fit the bill perfectly. I also opted for a dual jery can holder as it will also fit a propane tank or water cans. Dual light cutouts for flush mounted lights and, upon request he also added a additional light tab on the swingout so when I am loading/unloading the 4wlr in the dark when hunting I can see into the trailer better. He also added a relocate bracket for the backup camera.
Since I had already bedlined the front bumper white I ordered the rear PC'd black then sccuffed the bumper itself and bedlined just the bumper to match.






working by myself as per usual I had to get a little inventive with the bumper removal and replacement but it worked. Eddy's tolerences are tight but it all lined right up.



Just the bumper itself adds a lot of clearance.







And... I love it when a plan comes together!

 

[Casper66]

BED STIFFENERS:
It has been a thing in the Tacoma community for the last couple of years to install bed stiffeners. Tacomas have multi piece beds with a composite lining and steel exterior. Folks install heavy bed racks and camper shells and, especially if they off road, the bed will tend to spread or even worse seperate. The bed stiffeners tie the rear cornersof steel into the composite bottom and help prevent this from happening. Most vendors sell thse for over $100 which, to me, seemed rediculous for $20 in matrials including stainless hardware.
I made an initial set from some scrap 1 1/2" angle that was 1/8" thick but decided these were not beefy enough. I made a second set out of 1 1/2" angle with a 3/16" thickness and added a gusset a little higher up to aid in rigidity.
This was a simple, fun, afternoon project which did require a welder. I simply cut the angle to the length I needed, removed a section from part of it and broke it to 90 degrees and welded it together. I cut anothr section off so I could form it to the contour of the inside of the truck bed. This may seem vague but in th pictures you will understand. I also drilled the bottmom holes to match the facotry bed bolts and relocated the bed tie downs to the gussets on the stiffeners.

 

[Casper66]

Busy weekend started by installing a Hooke Rd roof rack


it’s not one of the fancy name brands but this rack is very beefy and should do anything I need it to. I can fabric cate mounts for traction boards and other items. Also comes with 4 pod lights

 

[Casper66]

So continuing a busy weekend I decided it was time to snorkel up!
I chose an Airflow America snorkel it is a little more compact on the fender and had better functional numbers. The issue was they weren’t being made for a second gen Tacoma anymore but I finally found a source.



for anybody interested in an Airfliw snorkel be prepared. What should have been about a 3 hour job turned into about 13 hours because I got the original directions with it. There is a revised updated set of directions online after I found these I removed the snorkel and installed much easier going by the new directions

 

[Casper66]

Archive Garage Hammer Hangers:

My wife got me a set of the Archive Hangers for my birthday and after the leadtime waiting period they arrived promptly. Fun project other than removing the rivets from the factory spring hangers. The Hammer Hangers did not disapoint 1/4" steel powder coated with bomplete grade #8 hardware.







I fabbed my own cross tube for about $20 in materials instead of $160 from Archive







I put the truck on a lift to see full droop. The Bilstein B110's were the limitting factor and reached full extension when the spring shackles were only about 2/3 rotated.
If anybody with a Tacoma reads this this mod is worth every penny. Even if you have stock leaf packs the hangers really tighten up the rear of the truck, improves ride, and improves handling. Much more stable when towing also. Any questions please ask.

 

[Casper66]

Some glamour shots from the beach