Sasquatch&Company
Sasquatch&Company
New to the form figured I would start off with a build thread for my truck. If there is somewhere else this should be let me know. About six months ago I bought a 1999 Tacoma extra cab SR5. 130k miles, 5 speed, 3.4. When I purchased the truck it was in great condition, clean, fresh timing belt, and a good documented service record. I live in Colorado and spend my summers rafting, backpacking, camping, and general adventuring. In the winter I need a truck to pull my snowmobile and that does well in the snow. I will start by reviewing what I have done to the truck so far and finish with some plans i have for the future as well as mix in any questions I have so far.
Immediately after buying the truck in Denver I drove up to one of my favorite camp sites in the State Bridge area on my way home to meet some friends and camp for the night.
I had a Smittybilt Overlander tent from my previous truck. I needed some new shocks so I started my suspension modifications with Bilstien 5100's all around as well as a toytec add a leaf in the rear. Initially I had the tent mounted directly over the bed.
The adjustable Bilstien's did well leveling the truck and giving me close to 2" of list.
After having to remove the tent a couple of times to get all the raft gear into the bed i decided I needed to raise the tent up and give my self some more cargo space to work with. I went with an All Pro pack rack. I shot to keep the tent a little below the roof line while maintaining a view out the rear view and good cargo capacity in the bed.
at the same time I added some yakima crossbars and a cargo basket over the cab.
Since then I have added some studded 31x10.5 grabber AT2's on 15" procomp wheels spaced out to clear the calipers on All Pro 1.25" spacers.
I have to say I love the look of the spaced out wheels and the All Pro spacers are really solid well built pieces of hardwear.
In addition to the new wheels. I am in the process of building a soft shell topper under my pack rack. The topper will be insulated and cover some shelves and a sleeping platform. More details on this to follow.
The build is coming along well. In the next two weeks I will be adding a trail gear low profile bumper with the weld on light hoop and 3 KC day lighters as well as a custom skid plate. Additional plans for the next stage of the build include a lower profile front cargo rack designed to integrate a 41" lightbar, as well as a cargo rack mounted behind the tent up top of the pack rack to hold Jerry cans as well as additional storage.
Farther down the road I plan on adding the matching rear bumper, jungle fender flares, a winch, and more recovery gear.
As far as advice I am soliciting from the community:
In the spring I plan to lift the truck more. I am looking at swapping out the stock coils on the front for an adjustable coil over spring that will work with the 5100's I currently have installed but I would like to bump the lift all the way to the top of the adjustment range. 3"? Has anyone done this and how does it effect ride quality? With the additional lift in the front what would you recommend as far as dropping the differential? What would you do with control arms? Any other adjustment needed to maintain good on road ride quality and proper suspension geometry? At this point i would add a 1" drop shackle in the rear as well as flip the u bolts. Any additional work I would need to do on the rear suspension at this point? Longer brake lines?
Undecided if I should bump up to 33's at this point. This truck is my daily driver.
Thanks for reading and I appreciate any advice you have for the build at this point. More photos, details and upgrades coming soon. Follow me on instagram to keep up with the build and see where I am headed next. outdooras****
Immediately after buying the truck in Denver I drove up to one of my favorite camp sites in the State Bridge area on my way home to meet some friends and camp for the night.
I had a Smittybilt Overlander tent from my previous truck. I needed some new shocks so I started my suspension modifications with Bilstien 5100's all around as well as a toytec add a leaf in the rear. Initially I had the tent mounted directly over the bed.
The adjustable Bilstien's did well leveling the truck and giving me close to 2" of list.
After having to remove the tent a couple of times to get all the raft gear into the bed i decided I needed to raise the tent up and give my self some more cargo space to work with. I went with an All Pro pack rack. I shot to keep the tent a little below the roof line while maintaining a view out the rear view and good cargo capacity in the bed.
at the same time I added some yakima crossbars and a cargo basket over the cab.
Since then I have added some studded 31x10.5 grabber AT2's on 15" procomp wheels spaced out to clear the calipers on All Pro 1.25" spacers.
I have to say I love the look of the spaced out wheels and the All Pro spacers are really solid well built pieces of hardwear.
In addition to the new wheels. I am in the process of building a soft shell topper under my pack rack. The topper will be insulated and cover some shelves and a sleeping platform. More details on this to follow.
The build is coming along well. In the next two weeks I will be adding a trail gear low profile bumper with the weld on light hoop and 3 KC day lighters as well as a custom skid plate. Additional plans for the next stage of the build include a lower profile front cargo rack designed to integrate a 41" lightbar, as well as a cargo rack mounted behind the tent up top of the pack rack to hold Jerry cans as well as additional storage.
Farther down the road I plan on adding the matching rear bumper, jungle fender flares, a winch, and more recovery gear.
As far as advice I am soliciting from the community:
In the spring I plan to lift the truck more. I am looking at swapping out the stock coils on the front for an adjustable coil over spring that will work with the 5100's I currently have installed but I would like to bump the lift all the way to the top of the adjustment range. 3"? Has anyone done this and how does it effect ride quality? With the additional lift in the front what would you recommend as far as dropping the differential? What would you do with control arms? Any other adjustment needed to maintain good on road ride quality and proper suspension geometry? At this point i would add a 1" drop shackle in the rear as well as flip the u bolts. Any additional work I would need to do on the rear suspension at this point? Longer brake lines?
Undecided if I should bump up to 33's at this point. This truck is my daily driver.
Thanks for reading and I appreciate any advice you have for the build at this point. More photos, details and upgrades coming soon. Follow me on instagram to keep up with the build and see where I am headed next. outdooras****