CrewServed
"That" guy
What's good, ExPo? I've been lurking for a little while, gathering ideas and inspiration from some of the awesome rigs you guys have been putting together. I've done as much homework as I can stand (for now), and have finally pulled the trigger on purchasing upgrades and equipment to begin taking some vehicle-dependent expeditions.
It's easy to just throw wads of hundred dollar bills at something, buying the coolest of the cool-guy kit, but I'm approaching this project with pragmatism and finance in careful balance. I've broken my upgrades and equipment list into "Must Have," "Should Have," "Nice to Have," and "If There's Money Left Over" categories. I'll explain each purchase as I post them so that other noobs like me can get an idea why I've arrived at a certain brand of kit over another, or why I chose to purchase or forgo purchases.
I'm starting with a 2005 Toyota Tundra Access Cab (TRD Off-Road package). I bought this rig in 2009 with 48k miles on the clock from a guy who was originally from Vermont. This comes into play later. Much later. Four years later, in fact. I've now got 106k on the clock and had some long-standing issues as a result of a fender bender on I-80E in Truckee, when me and everybody else on the road slid inexorably into the center median and into one another, as well. The D/S fender was crushed a mere 6 months after I'd bought the truck, and I learned later that the P/S sway bar link also broke.
I've since repaired the sway bar links, and then saw to doing something with that mangled D/S fender, since it seemed silly to make so many upgrades and additions to the truck without first addressing the jacked-up body.
Here I've got the old fender torn off. It was trickier than I thought it would be, and I ended up having to buy new grommets to replace the ones I destroyed in the process. For those of you messing with 1999-2006 Tundras, the plastic grommets for mounting wheel well liners and fender flares are available online and are known as C22 grommets.
I sourced an aftermarket pre-primed fender on Amazon for a whopping $107 (yay Amazon Prime!) and dry fitted. Fit was off and needed some help from a Dremel with a cutoff wheel. I actually pondered leaving it primer black, but decided against it, since paint and metal oxidation are certainly threats to this new panel.
The newly-painted fender is mostly installed. Hell yeah.
Bam! Finished!
On the list for performance upgrades are exactly three items.
1. New shocks all around. I'd actually like some advice on this from some of the experienced guys in the forum. I've zeroed in on the Bilstein 5100's, but am not 100% set just yet. I know for sure that the leveling spacer in the front struts of this rig is a no-go. What's more, I noticed while I was farting around inside the wheel well that the seals are shot in the OEM shocks, there's a considerable amount of rust around the head of the shock, and I'm getting some gnarly scalloping on the inside lines of the front tire treads, plus some pretty uneven wear in the front tires.
2. New shoes. I'm pretty set on getting five BFG T/A KO in 285/75/R16. I currently have Nitto A/T Grapplers on these aluminum TRD wheels, but they've got at least 60k miles on them.
3. New wheels. This is driven mainly by the fact that I've got 3" aluminum wheel spacers that the previous owner installed on this truck. I assume that it has something to do with tire rub in the wheel well, but I'm new to this, so please correct me if I'm wrong. I don't like the spacers. Just applying my rudimentary knowledge of how stuff works, I don't think this is as solid a setup as just having wheels mounted directly to the hubs. That said, what's the solution to tire rub? Says on the internetz that the TRD wheels have a 4.5" backspacing. Is the solution to buy a new set of wheels with a shallower backspacing? Also, what's the consensus on getting plain-Jane black steelies for this rig instead of a pricey set of wheels that'll induce cringing every time I mash them up against rocks and other harder-than-metal items?
Alright, thanks for reading all of this, and thanks in advance for your input. Stay tuned for an update of some equipment I recently received from Santa (aka the UPS guy).
It's easy to just throw wads of hundred dollar bills at something, buying the coolest of the cool-guy kit, but I'm approaching this project with pragmatism and finance in careful balance. I've broken my upgrades and equipment list into "Must Have," "Should Have," "Nice to Have," and "If There's Money Left Over" categories. I'll explain each purchase as I post them so that other noobs like me can get an idea why I've arrived at a certain brand of kit over another, or why I chose to purchase or forgo purchases.
I'm starting with a 2005 Toyota Tundra Access Cab (TRD Off-Road package). I bought this rig in 2009 with 48k miles on the clock from a guy who was originally from Vermont. This comes into play later. Much later. Four years later, in fact. I've now got 106k on the clock and had some long-standing issues as a result of a fender bender on I-80E in Truckee, when me and everybody else on the road slid inexorably into the center median and into one another, as well. The D/S fender was crushed a mere 6 months after I'd bought the truck, and I learned later that the P/S sway bar link also broke.
I've since repaired the sway bar links, and then saw to doing something with that mangled D/S fender, since it seemed silly to make so many upgrades and additions to the truck without first addressing the jacked-up body.
Here I've got the old fender torn off. It was trickier than I thought it would be, and I ended up having to buy new grommets to replace the ones I destroyed in the process. For those of you messing with 1999-2006 Tundras, the plastic grommets for mounting wheel well liners and fender flares are available online and are known as C22 grommets.
I sourced an aftermarket pre-primed fender on Amazon for a whopping $107 (yay Amazon Prime!) and dry fitted. Fit was off and needed some help from a Dremel with a cutoff wheel. I actually pondered leaving it primer black, but decided against it, since paint and metal oxidation are certainly threats to this new panel.
The newly-painted fender is mostly installed. Hell yeah.
Bam! Finished!
On the list for performance upgrades are exactly three items.
1. New shocks all around. I'd actually like some advice on this from some of the experienced guys in the forum. I've zeroed in on the Bilstein 5100's, but am not 100% set just yet. I know for sure that the leveling spacer in the front struts of this rig is a no-go. What's more, I noticed while I was farting around inside the wheel well that the seals are shot in the OEM shocks, there's a considerable amount of rust around the head of the shock, and I'm getting some gnarly scalloping on the inside lines of the front tire treads, plus some pretty uneven wear in the front tires.
2. New shoes. I'm pretty set on getting five BFG T/A KO in 285/75/R16. I currently have Nitto A/T Grapplers on these aluminum TRD wheels, but they've got at least 60k miles on them.
3. New wheels. This is driven mainly by the fact that I've got 3" aluminum wheel spacers that the previous owner installed on this truck. I assume that it has something to do with tire rub in the wheel well, but I'm new to this, so please correct me if I'm wrong. I don't like the spacers. Just applying my rudimentary knowledge of how stuff works, I don't think this is as solid a setup as just having wheels mounted directly to the hubs. That said, what's the solution to tire rub? Says on the internetz that the TRD wheels have a 4.5" backspacing. Is the solution to buy a new set of wheels with a shallower backspacing? Also, what's the consensus on getting plain-Jane black steelies for this rig instead of a pricey set of wheels that'll induce cringing every time I mash them up against rocks and other harder-than-metal items?
Alright, thanks for reading all of this, and thanks in advance for your input. Stay tuned for an update of some equipment I recently received from Santa (aka the UPS guy).
eepwall:
