*Rickashay's 04' Tundra* - A build of Compromises

HHIRunner

Observer
Canada rocks. But you guys have a ton of excellent places to go in the US too. And your gas is cheap. haha

Yeah we definitely have some nice places to see in the States, I just haven't been there too see it in about 9 months. Definitely miss driving quite a bit, should be weird when I get back behind the wheel for the first time in August.
 

rickashay

Explorer
Yeah we definitely have some nice places to see in the States, I just haven't been there too see it in about 9 months. Definitely miss driving quite a bit, should be weird when I get back behind the wheel for the first time in August.

I hear yah, driving is so fun. I love it, especially when you've got good weather.

Speaking of which.... today I drove 10 hours from Calgary AB to Vancouver BC with the Tundra. Truck did excellent and once again proves to me why I like it so much. Just rock solid on the highway even with the big meaty tires. I dropped the truck off in Jason's capable hands at Cruisin Offroad. He will be doing a set of bolt on sliders and a custom cage in the box for me. SUPER excited to get it back and get the ARB mounted up. Jason and I have been brainstorming back and forth for a while on a design for the cage. It's going to look pretty awesome! I'll be back in two weeks to pick it up.
 

rickashay

Explorer
Let's see some drawings or something...

I've got a bunch of ghetto drawings but nothing official.

It will have the RTT mounted to it sticks up above my roofline by about 3-4". This way I retain some rear visibility and also retain access and storage underneath the tent for my DH bike etc. It will have a roll bar at the front of the rack which will have mounts for a wind fairing and also be a crossmember for mounting a canoe above the tent. Rear will have a removable roll bar behind the tent for the rear portion of a canoe rack. Will have some cool tube work and dimples as well as a couple other cool ideas. Oh, and it is going to work with my Tonneau Retrax cover! Really happy that I'm going to be able to keep my gear dust free and dry 99% of the time. It will be full box length but should be easily chopped 10-12" for when the bed bob comes.

Can't wait to see what Jason makes!

Yah I'm super excited. It's all supposed to be done by this weekend and then powdercoat next week. Sliders too.

Here is a cool pic from an old gas station on my way to the coast last weekend:

IMG_4843.jpg by Addison Rickaby, on Flickr


IMG_4836.jpg by Addison Rickaby, on Flickr
 

rickashay

Explorer
Eagerly awaiting updates!

Yah same! lol Jason from Cruisin Offroad sent me some in progress pics last night. It's coming together great! Very excited.

The truck is looking great. Those clean lines are really making me hate the brush guard I have on mine.

addison i love your truck, just wish it had a rake and sat about 2" higher. its sooooo smooth

Thanks guys! Keeping a clean rig is hard! There is that line between throwing money at a truck and buying expensive parts and throwing money at your truck on the right things. Keeping it looking clean is definitely within the scope of all my builds!

Higher? Come on I worked so hard to keep it low! We'll see what happens when these Fox parts go in... might end up bumping the front up a hair. When the Chevys go in over the winter I'm sure it will end up with some rake, I like a little too myself.
 

rickashay

Explorer
Well I'm getting pretty excited. Flying to Houston tomorrow for work and then back to Calgary Friday morning. Then fly to Vancouver Friday night to pick up the truck! Going to be a busy week/weekend but I'm really excited for the much needed sliders, which in my eyes are the essential piece of armor to confidently hit the trails. As soon as I'm home the ARB RTT will be installed on the rack and I can polish up the little details before camping season really takes off. Still have a couple ods and ends to complete on the interior like a mounting panel for my rear fuse block and to stain the cargo platform. Additionally I'll be wrapping up the JDM FMU at some point but admittedly it's low on my priority list. My goal is to have all of the below installed before the July 4,5th weekend. Starting to do a parts inventory, lot's of goodies waiting install:


IMG_4845.jpg by Addison Rickaby, on Flickr

In addition to the above I will be doing coil tower gussets when the front end is torn completely apart. Might even try to weld these in myself but we'll see. Also doing new OEM front wheel bearings and LCA bushings once I tear into it. Lots of work but the entire front end will be pretty much new. The Baja Designs XL-Pro lights will replace the small Rigid Duallys up front. The Rigids will be going to the tent cage for rearward/camping lighting. The rear Fox shocks are 10" stroke so they are longer than the off-the-shelf Fox shocks for the rear of the Tundra. These have a longer compressed length but I can't use all of the uptravel anyway and need more droop instead. I am hoping to gain 2-3" of droop by running these longer shocks. Still planing on Chevy 63's with air bumps and 12" Fox CDC 2.5" shocks in the spring but who knows, if this setup turns out nice enough I may just run them as-is for a couple seasons.
 
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dstn2bdoa

Adventurer
Love the Tundra, good work.

Could you give us a tire update? Are those Toyo's holding up well?

I'm going to be in the market for new tires on the Power Wagon and am curious to why you like them so much. What makes them so great? It will spend its life in snow, desert and rocks.

Thanks in advance for your input.
 

seanpistol

Explorer
Haha, did you not hit your washer bottle either?





Such a bad design... JJC/01Tundra relocated his reservoir to under the hood with something he made himself out of PVC. On the drivers side, the bracket for the fender behind the headlight hangs unnecessarily low. If you remedied these two things, and then tucked the winch as far in as possible, like this guy did behind his stock bumper....



You would actually have a bumper that's high and tight.
 

rickashay

Explorer
I'm getting excited bud. I'm around if you need a hand with install

I'll be in touch. I could use a hand for sure especially with the LCA's. I'll text you though....

Love the Tundra, good work.

Could you give us a tire update? Are those Toyo's holding up well?

I'm going to be in the market for new tires on the Power Wagon and am curious to why you like them so much. What makes them so great? It will spend its life in snow, desert and rocks.

Thanks in advance for your input.

I'm going to snip a comment I made in seanpistol's thread:

"I've ran the following in the past few years:

265/70/17 ST Maxx - Used ot be on my Tundra. Still had dedicated winter tires but was often caught in the cross season with them. Better than an MT for sure in the hard pack snow/ice but still lacking compared to a dedicated winter. IMO a great single tire to do all things well. An alternative to look at here is the new Toyo RT

285/75/16 Mickey Thompson MTZ - Had them on my 3rd Gen. Excellent in deep snow, very good offroad. They wore excellent and balanced OK. They were the 2nd best MT I've ran in hard pack snow and ice, but still not very good compared to a true winter tire. Started quiet but quickly got louder with wear. I actually really like these... 2nd favourite tire so far.

315/75/16 Goodyear MTR Kevlar - Had them on the LX450. Awesome offroad and great in the deep snow. Terrible on hard pack ice and snow. Wore very very fast and were absolutely AWEFUL to balance. Like literally AWEFUL. I had 24-30 oz on each wheel. Yes, that's right. Loud on highway.

265/75/16 BFG KM2 - Had them on my 4Runner. Good on the highway as they are quiet (the quietest MT I've ran hands down). They balanced well and wore very well. Fairly light too. Offroad they were mediocre in the mud/rocks and downright aweful in hardpack snow/ice and not good at all in the deep snow. Would never run them again (for my uses...).

315/75/16 Toyo MT - Now on the Tundra. They are loud IMO... but so were the Kevlars and the MTZ's. I can't say which was louder as they were always on seperate vehicles at a different time. IMO loud and MT go hand-in-hand. All of them are liveable so turn up the radio or insulate the cab better. Toyo's have been absolutely stunning in deep snow and offroad (mud and rocks). I ran them half the winter but I wasn't driving the truck much. They were as good as the MTZ around town on hardpack snow/ice. Still not even close to a dedicated winter tire (or probably even your duratracs). I did get caught in a gnarly storm one night coming back from Banff. White out blizzard with 5 feet of visibility and ice everywhere. I drove slow and had it in 4wd the whole time but I survived and for an MT I thought they were quite reasonable. Again, very similar experience with the MTZ and honestly a similar tread pattern. Yes they are HEAVY but are wearing very very well. Will buy them again unless I try a Toyo RT next. Oh and they balanced better than any tire I've ran to this day. Japanese quality!"

So un summary: good tread wear, awesome deep snow and offroad traction, very very durable, measure true to size, balance amazingly, and very liveable as an MT in the winter on hardpack snow and ice (just have to drive like your in a truck with MT tires...).

Haha, did you not hit your washer bottle either?

You would actually have a bumper that's high and tight.

I did hit the fluid reservoir... did I forget to mention that? I used a heat gun and a stainless steel water bottle. Heated the plastic to the point it was getting malleable and then used the stainless water bottle as a mold and pressed it on the hot plastic tank. I now have a slight indent there and the tire clears. I am definitely aiming for a low profile and tight bumper when the time comes but winch choice will play a large role in this. Really thinking about the new Warn Zeon 10 Platinum... or the 12.
 
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