Back in the Tundra Game - Hank's Build

[FullTankHank]

Well it's been a while since I have been on here. Busy with life and all that it brings.

After selling my 2011 tundra, I was without a truck for a year, and boy was that year tough.

After deciding I wanted to get back into a truck, I went and tested all the brands out in the mid size, full size and 3/4 ton market. I was pretty close to going with a rclb 2018 f250 6.7, but after the dealer let me take one on a 2 day test, I just couldn't get over the regen smell. It's too bad, because the 6.7L felt like a freight train. Pretty much everything else I tried wasn't really doing it for me, either in terms of specs, comfort or overall build quality. So I thought what the heck, I should try out the Tundra again, and just week later I was back in the Toyota family.



I bought this 2018 1794 edition just as the '19's were rolling onto the lot, so I was able to negotiate a hell of a deal on it.
I absolutely love the interior comfort compared to the '11 I had, the extra seat adjustments and heat have really helped my bad back. Not to mention the 5.7L is a blast, especially after having the 4.6L engine.

Now the fun will begin Let the mods commence.

Over the next couple weeks I will be installing the following parts...just waiting for the tires to come in:

Bilstein 6112's
Bilstein 5160's
Wheelers AAL
Wheelers Superbumps
Toytec diff drop
Icon Rebound's in dark bronze -17" wheel with +25 offset
Cooper S/T Maxx in 285/75r17
RCI skidplate

It's good to be back, and I look forward to sharing my build and trips with you guys!

 

[Trikebubble]

Congrats and welcome back. Love my Tundra. Have fun with the mods.

 

[Marine]

Nice looking truck, congrats

 

[FullTankHank]

Thanks guys, I'm definitely looking forward to seeing how it feels with the Billstein setup. It should make a good interim suspension setup while I take the time to plan out which way I would like to go suspension wise for when I end up switching over to 37's eventually.

 

[FullTankHank]

Well looks like the cooper's are out of the picture, as they seem to be on some kind of backorder through the two suppliers I'm using. So I decided to take a chance and try a new tire out, even though the coopers did great for me on my last tundra. Got 5 of these bad boys coming early next week.

Yokohama Geolander M/T G003

From what I have read, they are supposed to be very quiet, and comparable to an a/t in road noise.

 

[philcam]

I'd be very interested in your review on the Yokohama Geolander M/Ts. I ran Yokohamas for years and was very happy with them. I went with a set of Coopers last time because the new G0003 had been introduced but were not yet available. They may be my next tire.

 

[FullTankHank]

Yeah, I used to have some Geolander A/T's on one of my Tacoma's, and they did really well offroad, despite not having a very aggressive tread. Will definitely put up a good review of them though.

 

[Watt maker]

Congrats on the new Tundra! I've been enjoying mine so far.

 

[FullTankHank]

Thanks @Watt maker , I read your thread on tundras(com). You got one hell of tundra yourself, especially in that rare dc pro combo.

 

[FullTankHank]

Last piece of the puzzle arrived....will be installing late next week.

Little teaser shot here. Love how these look

 

[JCMatthews]

Well?

 

[FullTankHank]

Been swamped at work. Here are some quick pics taken after the install. Excuse the dirt and rain. I'll update later with my thoughts on the setup. I'll just say for now, that I'm pretty happy







Loving the Icon's even more now that I see them mounted up...



They don't stick out too much with +25mm offset and the 285's



And the lame driveway pic to go with it. It's offroad christening will take place soon

 

[Dalko43]

Awesome Tundra!

What is wheel and tire size?
Disregard, I found the answer in your initial post.

How does the stock 4.30 gearing handle 34's?

And is that Bilstein suspension the same as what's on the old TRD Pro?

 

[nuclearlemon]

looks sexy. i used to love yoko's. just haven't had a rig to run them on. be interested in how they do for when my coopers run out.

 

[FullTankHank]

Hey @Dalko43 , Thanks! The stock 4.30 gears do pretty well with it. The tires are definitely heavier than stock, and you can feel it, but it still has a lot of power to push this beast around without difficulty, even up steep grades. While similar to the old trd pro suspension, the 6112/5160 combo is different. Not as soft as a pro suspension, but fairly close.

Thanks @nuclearlemon ! I have run yoko's a few times before, with the regular Geolander A/T's on a Tacoma, and a few others on some cars I had. So far, other than the small noise increase, I am very happy with them. Can't wait to give them a shakedown off road.


Overall, my initial impressions have been pretty favorable.

As mentioned, the tires are a little heavy and a little noisy. Although for the noise, they are only slightly worse than when I had Cooper S/T Maxx on my previous Tundra. But the ************ look of them in person makes up for that, at least so far. They also seem to track to road imperfections less than the coopers did for me.

The wheels are great, the ride is definitely improved over the stock 20's, even with having moved from P rated tires up to the E rated yoko's. Will be good to have the extra piece of mind when airing down, since there is a lot more sidewall to work with now. Looks wise, they've really grown on me, especially the color offset between them and the silver of the truck.

Suspension is nice, I figured that moving to these tires would negate some of the positive changes the 6112 combo gave to the ride of the truck, but I'm happy to say it is still better than stock. The ride is more controlled now, especially in turns, with the body roll having been substantially reduced. It has also smoothed out smaller road imperfections a good bit, though some of that could be from the wheel size decrease. The wheeler's aal's didn't really make the rear ride any rougher, so that is great. Plus, they give the truck the right amount of rake with the 6112's set @1.9", imo. You don't want want to be squatting like a dog when your all loaded up or towing.

I'm definitely interested in seeing how this suspension handles off road conditions, and will hopefully be able to report back on that soon.