The 05 Tundo DC Expo/Work rig

[slager]

So after almost 20 years of using my beloved 87 1st gen 4Runner as my DD Expo/Work rig I'm moving into the 21st century. I was on the hunt for a 05 or 06 DC Tundra in the mid 100k mile range. I thought that would be the best value with quite a bit of life left on it. I also wanted cloth seats, grey or green paint and hopefully a shell I liked as a bonus. And after a couple months of searching I found this 05 in Reno just 3hrs from Chico, CA where I live. It had 160k on it and was extremely clean. Definitely hadn't been abused. Here is my old baby. Never going to let her go. She will become my local trail rig.

 

[slager]

I'm a general contractor and this will be my work rig too. So first order of business will be fabricating a lumber/safari rack. Being that I don't want an under shell mount cantilevered front lumber rack I have something else in mind. I found some used Yakima q towers and cross bars on eBay to mount on the cab and will fabricate a safari rack with no upper cross bars so I can slide long lumber or kayaks on top. Here is my idea. I'll beef up the shell framing if necessary to transfer load to bedrails

 

[slager]

The Tundra came with brand new tires. Some 265/70 r17 Trail finder ATs. Which are a generic p rated all terrain. They have been driving fine but I'm kinda worried about they're puncture resistance. My 4Runner will be sitting for awhile till I have time for its next phase and it has 235/85 r16 E rated duratracs with a ton of life on them. So I thought why not just do a swap for a while. They both have wheels with 4 3/4" back spacing so it's a go! Poor 4Runner

 

[FullTankHank]

Looking forward to seeing how the rack turns out. Good find on the Tundy!

 

[slager]

So after over an hour of swapping 8 wheels I'm super excited about how it looks. I wanted 16" black wheels and I love those tires. Time for a test drive. I get about 20 ft down the driveway and there is a god awful grinding noise. Face palm!What an idiot! The calipers didn't clear. I originally was going to put just one on the front and make everything was clearing but I got so excited I just kept swapping.

 

[thezentree]

If you had driven another 20ft they'd have cleared the calipers

(I came very close to doing this with the 4th gen 4Runner wheels I put on my 3rd gen)

 

[slager]

So after 3 hours of swapping 16 wheels for no reason except for possibly ruining 2 of the 4Runner wheels. I'm back where I started. That's what I get for pillaging parts off my runner. So my question to you Expo folks is

1. Just run the Trail finders and put money into suspension first then find 16" wheels that fit and new tires.

2. Since Trail finders are new the tire shop said they'd give me $200 trade in and run the 17" wheels with 265/70 r17 duratracs but that'll probably delay suspension money.

 

[tennesseewj]

Can you not just add spacers and run the 4runner wheels?

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

 

[slager]

Can you not just add spacers and run the 4runner wheels?

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Hey thought about that but I'm just concerned the scoring I did compromised the strength of the wheel. Not sure if I want to drive my family around in a vehicle that we'll take on long road trips with wheels that the center might break out. Or is it just a cosmetic scratch?

 

[thezentree]

Those are probably ok but that gouge might develop into a crack over time under the Tundra. For as cheap as those wheels can be had on craigslist, just get a couple more and toss those for peace of mind.