Mlachica
TheRAMadaINN on Instagram
I guess it's about time I start one of these....
How about a little background before I begin with the goodies? In October of 2001 I was in the market for a truck - primary interest being pre 2001 tacomas. At the time I didn't like the front end of the 01 and up tacomas, I also thought the double cabs looked out of proportion with that cute little bed. I'll be honest, I even heavily considered a ford explorer. In the end I decided to go with reliability and went for the toyota and the silver one is what I ended up with. Yes, it's exactly what I said I didn't like haha. I was dying for a 4wd but being 19 at the time and dependant on my parents for making the insurance payment my dad put his foot down and made me get the prerunner. I'm embarrassed to admit being young and ignorant I didn't really know what I wanted to do with the truck so I ended up spending lots of time and money into it. (Pre TTORA -->) it went from having king coilovers to king coilovers and procomp 4" with kings in the rear on blocks (post TTORA -->) which eventually were replaced with Deavers, and finally - nixed the PC 4" for donahoes and camburg upper control arms. Yes, it was stupid, yes I learned a major and important lesson.
November 2004, 2wd definitely wasn't cutting it so I parted and sold the truck (thank god I ended up not losing very much money overall). Convinced that the Tacoma is a very dominant off road capable vehicle I wanted the exact same thing but with 4wd. So I found exactly that in impulse red, not my first choice for color but living in a metro area 4wd DC's were kind of rare at the time. The jist of it: 2002 DC TRD V6, 54,000 miles.
Ok, now with the goodies! Let's see if I can keep this interesting, I'll try to list my mods in chronological order. There were only a couple things from my prerunner that made it on to the 4wd:
Can-Back/Roof Rack- It's the powdercoated steel version. I wish I had the stainless version for it's weight carrying capacity and it's resilliance to rust. On paper the powdercoated steel version is rated for 150lbs. I spent a little time talking to the creator and other employees of can-back and they said that 150 is a very safe weight to carry, but it's a very well capable to sustain weight. They told me about a can-back fitted tacoma that rolled in Azusa Canyon and the can-back held up extremely well, which just recently I found out was Allen, a member of this forum. In a nutshell it's strong as hell, especially static, like for uh uhhh roof top tent or something =)
I love the soft top, it looks saaaweeeet and it's very functional. My only two gripes: 1. I wish it was weather tite. 2. I wish it was easier to keep the sides up while accessing the bed (I have an idea to resolve this)
Don't get me wrong, it withstands water perfectly in regards to the fabric. Having four individual sides (front/rear/sides) it lets in water at the corners where the sides meet. It's minimal but when you have clothes or other things you don't want wet than any water is a lot.
When the sides are rolled up they are heald by a belt and tensioner (don't know what it's called) it's like those things on backpacks that are used to adjust it's fitting. You have to fish the nylon belt through, back over and through again and when the belt starts to fray it gets harder trying to "fish". When you want something out of the bed and want to get in and out it kind of sucks having to do all that. So I think what I'll do is somehow mount an elastic loop on the inside of the can-back. So when I want the sides up (not while driving, just static) I can unsnap the bottom, grab the loop and hook it to the uprights for the roof rack - voila - no fishing. I hope I'm making sense - it's late and I'm tired =)
Lights - I kept my two LightFORCE 170's which were previously mounted on a demello front lightbar and will be going on a demello front bumper.
Now for the new stuff...first stop - Demello Offroad
Oh wait, before I went there I put in a Hayden tranny cooler - I believe it's the 579 model. Found it at pep boys for about 60 bucks. Stock, there isn't much cooling for the tranny (bottom of radiator) and I knew that with what I wanted to do it'd be best to cool the tranny, especially for longevity. Ignore the hoses in the picture - it was very temporary =)
Now for DO: Donahoe's/Deaver 8's/Bils.5100's/Hybrid Sliders/front winch bumper
I think everybody knows about this stuff. Suspension lift that rides awesome! Some protection and improved approach angle and option to mount winch and lights.
Goodyear MT/R 32x1150 and steelies - Awesome traction! Heavy rims!
More to come...feel free to any questions!
Here's the prerunner...
Here's the tranny cooler (hayden 679)
Here's the bumper, front view,
top view,
How about a little background before I begin with the goodies? In October of 2001 I was in the market for a truck - primary interest being pre 2001 tacomas. At the time I didn't like the front end of the 01 and up tacomas, I also thought the double cabs looked out of proportion with that cute little bed. I'll be honest, I even heavily considered a ford explorer. In the end I decided to go with reliability and went for the toyota and the silver one is what I ended up with. Yes, it's exactly what I said I didn't like haha. I was dying for a 4wd but being 19 at the time and dependant on my parents for making the insurance payment my dad put his foot down and made me get the prerunner. I'm embarrassed to admit being young and ignorant I didn't really know what I wanted to do with the truck so I ended up spending lots of time and money into it. (Pre TTORA -->) it went from having king coilovers to king coilovers and procomp 4" with kings in the rear on blocks (post TTORA -->) which eventually were replaced with Deavers, and finally - nixed the PC 4" for donahoes and camburg upper control arms. Yes, it was stupid, yes I learned a major and important lesson.
November 2004, 2wd definitely wasn't cutting it so I parted and sold the truck (thank god I ended up not losing very much money overall). Convinced that the Tacoma is a very dominant off road capable vehicle I wanted the exact same thing but with 4wd. So I found exactly that in impulse red, not my first choice for color but living in a metro area 4wd DC's were kind of rare at the time. The jist of it: 2002 DC TRD V6, 54,000 miles.
Ok, now with the goodies! Let's see if I can keep this interesting, I'll try to list my mods in chronological order. There were only a couple things from my prerunner that made it on to the 4wd:
Can-Back/Roof Rack- It's the powdercoated steel version. I wish I had the stainless version for it's weight carrying capacity and it's resilliance to rust. On paper the powdercoated steel version is rated for 150lbs. I spent a little time talking to the creator and other employees of can-back and they said that 150 is a very safe weight to carry, but it's a very well capable to sustain weight. They told me about a can-back fitted tacoma that rolled in Azusa Canyon and the can-back held up extremely well, which just recently I found out was Allen, a member of this forum. In a nutshell it's strong as hell, especially static, like for uh uhhh roof top tent or something =)
I love the soft top, it looks saaaweeeet and it's very functional. My only two gripes: 1. I wish it was weather tite. 2. I wish it was easier to keep the sides up while accessing the bed (I have an idea to resolve this)
Don't get me wrong, it withstands water perfectly in regards to the fabric. Having four individual sides (front/rear/sides) it lets in water at the corners where the sides meet. It's minimal but when you have clothes or other things you don't want wet than any water is a lot.
When the sides are rolled up they are heald by a belt and tensioner (don't know what it's called) it's like those things on backpacks that are used to adjust it's fitting. You have to fish the nylon belt through, back over and through again and when the belt starts to fray it gets harder trying to "fish". When you want something out of the bed and want to get in and out it kind of sucks having to do all that. So I think what I'll do is somehow mount an elastic loop on the inside of the can-back. So when I want the sides up (not while driving, just static) I can unsnap the bottom, grab the loop and hook it to the uprights for the roof rack - voila - no fishing. I hope I'm making sense - it's late and I'm tired =)
Lights - I kept my two LightFORCE 170's which were previously mounted on a demello front lightbar and will be going on a demello front bumper.
Now for the new stuff...first stop - Demello Offroad
Oh wait, before I went there I put in a Hayden tranny cooler - I believe it's the 579 model. Found it at pep boys for about 60 bucks. Stock, there isn't much cooling for the tranny (bottom of radiator) and I knew that with what I wanted to do it'd be best to cool the tranny, especially for longevity. Ignore the hoses in the picture - it was very temporary =)
Now for DO: Donahoe's/Deaver 8's/Bils.5100's/Hybrid Sliders/front winch bumper
I think everybody knows about this stuff. Suspension lift that rides awesome! Some protection and improved approach angle and option to mount winch and lights.
Goodyear MT/R 32x1150 and steelies - Awesome traction! Heavy rims!
More to come...feel free to any questions!
Here's the prerunner...
Here's the tranny cooler (hayden 679)
Here's the bumper, front view,
top view,
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With a 15 month old and lots of local trips it's hard to make longer trips. I'm dying to go back to AZ, such a beautiful area and I can't wait to make my virgin trip to mexico. :arabia: Maybe I'll see you around...
