Building a Toyota that fits Douglas

[DouglasVB]

@DaveInDenver has me thinking more about the longer-term plan on the truck. The goal is to at least attempt to keep up with @Squishy! and @HoneyBadger and @TacoDane which means I need a minimum of 35" tires and no fear of body damage.

I haven't spent hundreds of hours of reading forum posts yet but it seems the way to get into the 35" or bigger tire range is long travel suspension and a bunch of work trimming stuff.

I'm pretty sure with my lack of welding skills and lack of welder that I'll be looking for a shop to do a lot of the work required for the more serious suspension modifications. I could have the Marlin Crawler kit welded on then. And any other armor that should be welded rather than bolted.

In my old 4runner, I did smash in the stock gas tank skid plate pretty good. I also was constantly smashing the rear diff on stuff. Luckily it had welded on armor on the diff so it took the abuse. And the belly skid plate that the t-cases were mounted to got heavily abused. I expect I'll be doing the same dumb stuff with this truck soon enough. 😅

The main things I'm going for now with skid plate purchases are:

1. protect the expensive catalytic converters
2. be ready for future upgrades and not have to buy new/different skids
3. protect the underside of the truck now
4. buy once, cry once

I don't want to do suspension mods until after the OEM warranty is done (another year and a half).

I'm looking at options for the exhaust reroute mod. I *think* it might be okay for me to do it in California... I see a lot of forum posts of 3rd gen Taco guys from SoCal getting the reroute done. The smog check here includes verifying every single emission control component is a state sanctioned component and installed correctly. But I think this is just a pipe so they wouldn't care too much? Looks like it should be in the $100-300 range to have done at a muffler shop. That seems worth it.

 

[DaveInDenver]

Just my $0.02 but the best way to run 35+ and have legitimate hard core capability is SAS. Plus it'll be probably comparable or maybe less money with fewer proprietary parts.

 

[DouglasVB]

Just my $0.02 but the best way to run 35+ is SAS.

I've thought about it 😅

 

[Notyourmomslx450]

No need to SAS your truck. 3rd gen tacos and 35’s go great together. Tons and tons of people doin it and doing it well.
If you want IFS beef go with the Malin RCLT!

 

[DouglasVB]

No need to SAS your truck. 3rd gen tacos and 35’s go great together. Tons and tons of people doin it and doing it well.
If you want IFS beef go with the Malin RCLT!

I'm definitely lusting over the Marlin RCLT. It's a wee bit spendy but Big Mike and all his customers are getting great results.

 

[Notyourmomslx450]

I'm definitely lusting over the Marlin RCLT. It's a wee bit spendy but Big Mike and all his customers are getting great results.

As time goes on I’m sure it’ll get a little cheaper, but once you factor in custom axle housings, and all the stuff to SAS, and the shop….. a SAS is almost as much.

 

[DouglasVB]

As time goes on I’m sure it’ll get a little cheaper, but once you factor in custom axle housings, and all the stuff to SAS, and the shop….. a SAS is almost as much.

I like that I can retain ABS and whatnot with the Marlin RCLT versus all of the various SAS setups I've seen. This is going to be my daily so I want to retain all the safety features.

 

[Notyourmomslx450]

And w/ 35’s you wouldn’t need all the extra beef big mike has since he’s on four deez

 

[DouglasVB]

And w/ 35’s you wouldn’t need all the extra beef big mike has since he’s on four deez

I always liked that Sublime album ... Maybe that's a sign to follow Big Mike's lead to big rubber.

 

[DaveInDenver]

It's just one person's experience that these trucks aren't going to go the distance when you do 35+. Mine's only 119k miles old. I've never gone bigger than 265/75R16 and mid travel and I don't subject it to super hard trails much anymore since it's already tearing apart at the radiator core support seams. I guess what's possible depends on how long you intend to keep it and why, ironically, I'm considering going back a 38 year old mini truck.

 

[DouglasVB]

Didn't @Squishy! crack his frame in half somewhere up front in the last year or two? 🤔

Are people reinforcing 3rd gen frames for long travel and big tires like people did with mini trucks when SASing them? It seems like a natural progression to keep welding on more metal 😅

 

[Notyourmomslx450]

Didn't @Squishy! crack his frame in half somewhere up front in the last year or two? 🤔

Are people reinforcing 3rd gen frames for long travel and big tires like people did with mini trucks when SASing them? It seems like a natural progression to keep welding on more metal 😅

He discovered cracks, but don’t think the frame was reinforced when it was originally SAS’d. It has been now for sure.
I’d look at Big mikes build on the Marlin forum to see what, how, etc he’s done to his truck.

 

[DouglasVB]

He discovered cracks, but don’t think the frame was reinforced when it was originally SAS’d. It has been now for sure.
I’d look at Big mikes build on the Marlin forum to see what, how, etc he’s done to his truck.

It looks like I've got a lot of reading to do 😅

BigMike's Big Journey: A 2016 Tacoma Build Thread

BigMike's Big Journey: A 2016 Tacoma Build Thread

board.marlincrawler.com

 

[Corbet]

It looks like I've got a lot of reading to do 😅

BigMike's Big Journey: A 2016 Tacoma Build Thread

BigMike's Big Journey: A 2016 Tacoma Build Thread

board.marlincrawler.com

at least there’s lots of photos.

 

[DouglasVB]

Baby's first 4L and engaged locker!

All of the trails are closed near my parents place (high sierra ranger district in the Sierra national Forest) due to a lack of snow and soupy muddy conditions so I went for a little drive around my parents property on their forest access skid trails. The steps need to go ASAP and I need full skids 😅

It performed very well and can happily crawl along at idle in 4L up a hill doing about 1mph. I did bottom out the suspension on a few big water bars made by the skid steer plow but that was mainly because of over exuberance on my part. Although it would be nice having long travel and air bumps. It would also be nice to bob the bed by about a foot.

I'm still hunting around for an answer on the exhaust reroute being okay for Cali smog. Although I'm not really sure it matters considering there are two braces that tie between the frame and the transfer case cross member that seem to hang down just about as much. Do those get removed when the exhaust is rerouted to have a smooth belly?

 

[Notyourmomslx450]

Another cool idea would be portals instead of the Marin stuff……. 🤷‍♂️
I’m just havin fun spending your money. 😂

These guys are in the Sacramento area and build some sick stuff.


View: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C1PjI7DRxjG/?igsh=bDQ5MHozcDd2eHho

 

[DouglasVB]

there are two braces that tie between the frame and the transfer case cross member that seem to hang down just about as much. Do those get removed when the exhaust is rerouted to have a smooth belly?

According to the RCI installation instructions for the skids, those little braces are removed when installing the transmission skid. Their instructions say the little braces are only there to protect the cats from trail damage and with the skid plate they're not needed. Also they're not structural.

I still need to figure out the exhaust route legality in California before I pull the trigger on the skids. Driving around yesterday on a couple forest roads to check on some burn piles, I nearly speared a branch through the floor of the cab 😅😬

 

[DouglasVB]

Another cool idea would be portals instead of the Marin stuff……. 🤷‍♂️
I’m just havin fun spending your money. 😂

These guys are in the Sacramento area and build some sick stuff.


View: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C1PjI7DRxjG/?igsh=bDQ5MHozcDd2eHho

🤩🤩🤩

They're only 20k. Totally worth it!

 

[Notyourmomslx450]

🤩🤩🤩

They're only 20k. Totally worth it!

Agreed!

 

[DouglasVB]

I did baby's first mod today. I now have a front and rear facing dash cam with all of the wires hidden behind the trim.

I installed a VIOFO A229Pro which has a 4k front-facing and 2k rear-facing camera. If I wanted, I could buy another part and install a camera that looks into the cab but that feels like overkill. I used fuse taps to get constant and switched power for now. Eventually when I do other electrical work, I'll find somewhere better to tap in for both so that I can put the OEM fuse block cover back on.

And yes, I was careful with wire routing around all of the airbags.

I also discovered a StarGard SG950MV installed on the back side of the OBD2 port. They tapped the power and ground on the OBD2 but that's it -- they did not wire in the kill switch for the ignition thankfully. My guess is the original Toyota dealer installed it for asset management and then up-charged the customer $2500-5000 for the privilege as a mandatory accessory. Based on when the vehicle was purchased (May or June 2022), that's what just about every deal was doing on the west coast. All of the paperwork I signed with the dealer I bought the truck from and with my bank did not mention any requirements for me having to retain such a device -- I checked when I signed everything.

Anyway I removed the device and am pondering what to do with it.

I got a closer look at the two holes at the front of the truck bed. That part of the bed is fiberglass so there's nothing that needs to be painted. Check that off the list! The convolute tube running through the holes goes to drain holes on the underside of the tonneau cover (a BakFlip MX4).

The next thing on my list is to extend the AC drain hose so it doesn't drip on the top of the frame. I'll run to the parts store in a bit for that.

I've also finally confirmed that it's okay for me to modify my exhaust with the exhaust reroute. So I'm going to proceed with buying skids accordingly.

When I was in the guts of the dash and headliner, I also took a look at how hard/easy it'll be in the future to add more buttons for accessories -- it will be surprisingly easy!