Battleship Jones: 2015 Tacoma DCLB Build Thread

08Silverado

Adventurer
Also to answer your question I have thought about getting a small offroad trailer/utility trailer to pull in the future. It won't be too heavy or be too elaborate more than likely. If I got one it would be used to haul dirtbikes or possibly something to store all my camping gear in.
 

Adventurous

Explorer
Thank you so much for your willingness to dive deep into your recommendations! This is heavy on my mind as I'm currently packing for a trip this weekend with my two boys. Let me see if I can describe what I want to get out of my truck so I can better choose what will work best for me and my application.

As most of us do, I drive this truck daily and put about 18000-20000 miles per year on it. About 90% of the time or more I'm on pavement and can't utilize the offload capabilities of the truck.

The other 10% of the time I will be traveling Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Colorado forest roads and the trails in those states. I don't rock crawl, and I don't do anything too crazy (usually)

My previous truck was Carli equipped 3/4 ton dodge that handled fast rough roads great but the truck was just too big for my taste!

My load will consist of camping gear and possibly a camper shell along with 1-3 passengers. I also like to use the truck bed like a truck occasionally and haul lumber and my sons dirtbike sometimes.

Im fairly sure I don't want to run anything bigger than a 285/75 tire.

Snow and salt aren't a concern as I live in Texas, so either of the UCA configurations should be fine. I do like the idea of an aftermarket UCA to give myself the adjustability.

Hopefully this will help answer my own question of what suspension is best for me. Money is a factor as it is with everyone but I also don't want to do this twice or more if I can avoid it.

Please respond with any feedback that comes to mind!

Thank you very much! Happy trails!

Kyle

On a side note....If I do got with the camper shell I will most likely sleep in the shell occasionally and build a sleeping platform that is either modular or easily removable so I can still use the bed in it's full capacity.

Also to answer your question I have thought about getting a small offroad trailer/utility trailer to pull in the future. It won't be too heavy or be too elaborate more than likely. If I got one it would be used to haul dirtbikes or possibly something to store all my camping gear in.

Hey Kyle,

Most of the time my truck is in the dirt it is on moderately rated or easier trails. The reality is I have no desire (nor the proper vehicle in all honesty) to tackle anything more difficult than that. That said, the hard thing to quantify is how the performance of suspension translates to reduced fatigue while offroad. My truck spends 90% of its time on the street as well and for the most part, there won't be a huge difference in the ride quality on pavement. In the dirt though its a completely different story however, when I had the OME stuff on it proved to ride too stiff and left my wife, who isn't particularly good with being tossed around, quite sore. From a driver's perspective, you had to be in the zone more to ensure you chose a proper line, didn't come off the back side of rocks too hot, and kept the speed down so the suspension didn't pack up. There was a noticeable reduction in fatigue after moving to the higher quality travel of the Icons. Unfortunately it's not easy to do anything other than share anecdotal feelings on this one, perhaps someone else can chime in with their perspective on the matter.

My recommendations in your case would still stand. Besides tires, suspension is one of the few pieces that link your vehicle to terra firma and makes one of the largest differences in how happy you are with the ride.

If you plan to sleep in the shell, I think you'll find the cab-high a bit cramped. I'm only 5'7" and ~165lbs and can't do much more than wiggle my way into my sleeping bag and pass out. The extra few inches from the mid-rise affords quite a bit more room to move around. And no fear, I use my truck as a truck too and have hauled everything from a few sheets of plywood to a ton of pavers. I definitely understand the need for utility beyond a dedicated camping rig.

Please come back if you have more questions. Modding is fun and rewarding, but it can often turn into an expensive rabbit hole. Although needs and mentality often change, being open and honest with yourself up front will go far towards making the right decisions.
 

Adventurous

Explorer
ARB Safari Snorkel

DSC_3765 by Tim Souza, on Flickr

Snorkels are a polarizing item, some think they are functionally unnecessary, others just think they are plain ugly. Me? I think they are endearingly ugly. This wasn't a mod that was originally on the to-do list, but I stumbled into a situation that was right.

A guy on Craigslist an hour away from me was trading in his truck and was looking for a MGM colored, passenger side fender to trade for his fender and snorkel. Although the rest of my truck got pelted by hail, the passenger side fender was the one piece of sheet metal on the truck that saw little/no damage. There were a couple pea sized indications, but only if you look at it from the right angle. He was cool with it, I was cool with it, so I went up with cash in hand to do the swap.

Everything was going pretty smoothly on snorkel install lite until it came to disassembling the antenna to actually remove the fender. Namely, this little bugger wouldn't budge on either of our trucks.

DSC_3766 by Tim Souza, on Flickr

We tried penetrating oil, ground down vice grips, and a hammer and screwdriver with no luck. The local auto parts store couldn't help, and neither could the local Toyota dealership. Guy said his techs usually just use a hammer and screwdriver and knock em off. No matter what we tried the nut was just getting buggered beyond all repair; in a last ditch effort I started taking apart my dash in hopes of tracing the radio wire to a disconnect.

This actually proved to be the ticket. For anyone who gets stuck here in the future, the antenna cable runs through a grommet in the firewall and goes into the cab behind the passenger kick panel area. If you remove the glove box you can reach back and feel it. It's taped to a cable holder thinger down there, then runs up along the a-pillar and has a plug behind the a-pillar trim. If you pull all that off you can extract the cable, pull it back through the fender, and free it all.

Things moved along decently after that, it's just replacing the 12,000 bolts Toyota uses to hold the fender on while doing your best to maintain some semblance of panel gaps. We ended up swapping air intakes as the newest version of the ARB has you cut off the intake nozzle where it goes into the wheel well, you can see the hose clamp in the picture below where it meets the rubber duct that runs to the snorkel.

DSC_3767 by Tim Souza, on Flickr

It took us about three hours to get everything swapped over and mostly buttoned up. I still haven't installed the a-pillar support yet, when that time comes it'll probably be with double sided tape instead of drilling into the sheet metal. In any case, the truck is going into the shop shortly to repair the hail damage and this was an affected area, no sense in making work for them. It's pretty rigid on it's own of course and stays put pretty well in the wind, just a bit of wiggle to it.

DSC_3770 by Tim Souza, on Flickr

Backing up a bit.

DSC_3769 by Tim Souza, on Flickr

Contrary to what some have reported, I noticed no appreciable increase in fuel economy. I also noticed a little increase in noise, both at WOT as well as traveling highway speeds in windy conditions. Not a ton, but a little bit.

I personally like the larger size of the Tacoma version as well as how it plumbs into the stock air intake. I was never a fan of the old cobbled together one, or the Airflow version for this truck. The only disappointing thing is nobody has approached me to ask ****** it is. I've been working on the myriad of fallacies I can tell them.
 

tjalward

Observer
Nice score! Looking very good Tim.

Question about the wiring harness up to your roof rack. I can see it is in a split look that looks to have electrical tape over it. But the zip ties - are you securing it to the windshield trim somehow, or is it just stretched taught and sitting there in the ditch/channel? I will be running my wires to the rack soon, would like some advice on what you did. Thought about using the adhesive plastic pieces that allow you to secure a zip tie - but those are more obtrusive than what I see in your picture. Thanks in advance
 

Adventurous

Explorer
Nice score! Looking very good Tim.

Question about the wiring harness up to your roof rack. I can see it is in a split look that looks to have electrical tape over it. But the zip ties - are you securing it to the windshield trim somehow, or is it just stretched taught and sitting there in the ditch/channel? I will be running my wires to the rack soon, would like some advice on what you did. Thought about using the adhesive plastic pieces that allow you to secure a zip tie - but those are more obtrusive than what I see in your picture. Thanks in advance

I can post up a picture later, but I drilled small holes in the rubber weatherstripping and ran the zip ties through those. I did that both with the OEM weatherstripping as well as the aftermarket one I have now post-windshield replacement. I tried the stuffing it in the channel method before and it would never stay put. This way is pretty stealth that as far as I can tell has no impact to that weatherstripping and would be unnoticeable once removed.
 

Adventurous

Explorer
Nice score! Looking very good Tim.

Question about the wiring harness up to your roof rack. I can see it is in a split look that looks to have electrical tape over it. But the zip ties - are you securing it to the windshield trim somehow, or is it just stretched taught and sitting there in the ditch/channel? I will be running my wires to the rack soon, would like some advice on what you did. Thought about using the adhesive plastic pieces that allow you to secure a zip tie - but those are more obtrusive than what I see in your picture. Thanks in advance

IMG_2854 by Tim Souza, on Flickr

There we go. You can see the raised lip of the aftermarket weatherstripping that I drilled a hole through. The OEM stuff wasn't so bad either, just lift it up a bit and get in there with a tiny drill bit.
 

Adventurous

Explorer
Dropped the truck off at the body shop this morning for an undefined amount of time. This is to repair the damage sustained in the hail storm in early May. They'll probably think I'm a tad weird when they see the interior is stripped of pretty much everything except the driver's seat. What can I say, I have projects that can't wait. :D

A10A8C5F-7033-4C86-BB79-F44135BF30EE by Tim Souza, on Flickr
 
Can you share some more color on the ride difference between the kings (especially vs icon) and the effectiveness of the clickers? Please link me back if it was covered in a previous post, lots of pages to cover!
 

Adventurous

Explorer
Can you share some more color on the ride difference between the kings (especially vs icon) and the effectiveness of the clickers? Please link me back if it was covered in a previous post, lots of pages to cover!

Oh but I wish I could. Unfortunately, I now have a big beautiful box of King shocks sitting on my garage floor just in time for my truck to disappear into the shop. The original plan was to have them on well before this but a significant delay in their acquisition means I now have to wait until after.

So, tune back in, I'll be sure to report on the differences between the two as I'm just as curious as you are!
 

Adventurous

Explorer
Truck isn't back, but the final version of the appraisal for damages was submitted by the body shop. In no particular order, the truck will undergo the following:

- Replace & repaint hood
- Dentless paint removal on bedsides, tailgate, all 4 doors, driver's fender (passenger was replaced when snorkeling) and some light places on the cab
- Repaint driver's side fender
- Pull front and rear bumpers & roof and cab racks & snorkel
- Pull topper
- Remove front and rear windshields & most of interior
- Replace and repaint roof
- Repair damage to both a-pillars and roof rails above b-pillars
- Blend re-painted areas into adjacent panels

Total for all that work is just north of $10K. With any luck I will see it at the end of next week, and hopefully before Christmas.
 

bdosborn

New member
Swapped out spark plugs this past weekend. The job was fairly straightforward with the exception of 2 things. 1, the stupid little boot on the spark plug socket kept coming out of the socket and sticking on the plug upon re-installation. Fought with that for a bit before opening up the rubber boot with a drill bit. 2, the forward plug on the driver's side bank was a real PITA to get to and my hands still have the wounds to prove it.

That's so weird, I changed mine for the first time too last weekend and had exactly the same problems. Thanks for the tip on the spark plug rubber boot. A long set of needle nose pliers solved my problem of getting the coil connector on and off...

Bruce
 

Adventurous

Explorer
That's so weird, I changed mine for the first time too last weekend and had exactly the same problems. Thanks for the tip on the spark plug rubber boot. A long set of needle nose pliers solved my problem of getting the coil connector on and off...

Bruce

Funny you say that, after doing the job I went out and bought myself a long set of needle nose pliers. Hindsight is 20/20 I guess. I'll have to keep that in mind for next time.
 

DaVikes

Adventurer
Hey Tim, after changing plugs, did you notice any difference in performance, fuel economy, etc? Did you use OE plugs or aftermarket? Plugs are on my to do list this spring.

Ross
 

Adventurous

Explorer
Hey Tim, after changing plugs, did you notice any difference in performance, fuel economy, etc? Did you use OE plugs or aftermarket? Plugs are on my to do list this spring.

Ross

I can't say I noticed improvement in any of the above, I was doing it more because it had come due at the 30K service interval. I used OEM Toyota iridium plugs (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004T1PLDW/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1). I checked gaps prior to install and they were all within range.

If nothing else, changing out the plugs means I can kick that can down the road and adding anti-seize upon install means I no longer have to worry about a frozen plug ruining my life at some point.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
185,528
Messages
2,875,553
Members
224,922
Latest member
Randy Towles
Top