New from Central CA

[Kwikvette]

1) Obligatory pic, as it's known that any thread without pictures is a useless thread!



2) Central California

3) 2001 Toyota Tacoma Prerunner, yep it's a 2-wheel drive and it's gone places it shouldn't have

4) Absolutely none! Actually, take that back. I'm a backpacker so I guess I've got half the skill down!

It was only a matter of time before I decided to add a truck to my lineup and make it my "camping" rig. I've got a few other cars (2 Corvettes and 1 Mustang), and so, the truck will be used mainly for the outdoors.

Hoping to learn a lot about places to see/check out as I get more and more familiar with how the forum layout works.

I'm on other forums (calguns, tacomaworld, ar15, corvetteforum, rx7club, etc) so some of you may recognize me from there.

Thanks for having me!

 

[RoarinRow]

Welcome from Norcal!

 

[Kwikvette]

Oh and the picture is from 2 days ago at Big Sur; love me some dispersed camping.

 

[Chadlyb]

1) Obligatory pic, as it's known that any thread without pictures is a useless thread!

View attachment 109325

2) Central California

3) 2001 Toyota Tacoma Prerunner, yep it's a 2-wheel drive and it's gone places it shouldn't have

4) Absolutely none! Actually, take that back. I'm a backpacker so I guess I've got half the skill down!

It was only a matter of time before I decided to add a truck to my lineup and make it my "camping" rig. I've got a few other cars (2 Corvettes and 1 Mustang), and so, the truck will be used mainly for the outdoors.

Hoping to learn a lot about places to see/check out as I get more and more familiar with how the forum layout works.

I'm on other forums (calguns, tacomaworld, ar15, corvetteforum, rx7club, etc) so some of you may recognize me from there.

Thanks for having me!

Hello and welcome to the OB crew....nice looking Toy. Look forward to seeing your build and your adventures. Throw some pics up of the car barn. Car junky here.

 

[Kwikvette]

Hello and welcome to the OB crew....nice looking Toy. Look forward to seeing your build and your adventures. Throw some pics up of the car barn. Car junky here.

Thanks!

I've only had the Tacoma for about 5-6 months and I've done the following -

Maintenance to ensure longevity IE lower ball joints, lower control arm bushings, radiator, fluids, etc.

Fox 2.5 coil overs up front, Fox 2.0 shocks in the rear (off the truck, need to be revalved for a lighter weight), Bilstein 5100's in lieu of the Fox rears, OME Dakar leaf springs, custom-made bed rack for an RTT (forum member on Tacomaworld makes them), Trail Gear rear bumper, and BPV relocation kit.

Still need to do a few more mods such as a 4x4 conversion, but seeing how it's an extra vehicle, it's hard to justify spending!

Here are the other 2 cars, the 3rd lives at my aunts house in the city -









The C4 has a performabuilt transmission and 383 stroker; been non-op for awhile now since it's way passed being street-legal.

 

[Chadlyb]

Thanks!

I've only had the Tacoma for about 5-6 months and I've done the following -

Maintenance to ensure longevity IE lower ball joints, lower control arm bushings, radiator, fluids, etc.

Fox 2.5 coil overs up front, Fox 2.0 shocks in the rear (off the truck, need to be revalved for a lighter weight), Bilstein 5100's in lieu of the Fox rears, OME Dakar leaf springs, custom-made bed rack for an RTT (forum member on Tacomaworld makes them), Trail Gear rear bumper, and BPV relocation kit.

Still need to do a few more mods such as a 4x4 conversion, but seeing how it's an extra vehicle, it's hard to justify spending!

Here are the other 2 cars, the 3rd lives at my aunts house in the city -

View attachment 109329

View attachment 109330

View attachment 109331

View attachment 109332

The C4 has a performabuilt transmission and 383 stroker; been non-op for awhile now since it's way passed being street-legal.

Thank you....very nice collection. I love seeing someone else's passions. Look forward to seeing what you do with your Toy.

 

[Kwikvette]

Thank you....very nice collection. I love seeing someone else's passions. Look forward to seeing what you do with your Toy.

Thanks again!

Here's one for ya -



Single turbo RX7 FD; did an auto to manual transmission swap so I had the shorter FDR as well.

I've lost count with Corvettes alone...

 

[Narbob]

1) Obligatory pic, as it's known that any thread without pictures is a useless thread!

View attachment 109325

2) Central California

3) 2001 Toyota Tacoma Prerunner, yep it's a 2-wheel drive and it's gone places it shouldn't have

4) Absolutely none! Actually, take that back. I'm a backpacker so I guess I've got half the skill down!

It was only a matter of time before I decided to add a truck to my lineup and make it my "camping" rig. I've got a few other cars (2 Corvettes and 1 Mustang), and so, the truck will be used mainly for the outdoors.

Hoping to learn a lot about places to see/check out as I get more and more familiar with how the forum layout works.

I'm on other forums (calguns, tacomaworld, ar15, corvetteforum, rx7club, etc) so some of you may recognize me from there.

Thanks for having me!

Welcome to Overland Bound!
There are a couple of meetups in Central California you should check out on the Meetup Thread.

Check the forum calendar and Meet-Up page for events, and the Trip Planning page for trips being planned by members.

Overland Bound Meetups

Overland Trip Planning

Trip planning and questions.

www.overlandbound.com

If you have any questions message your Member Representative, @Magic Mike, or me, your Regional Director, on the forum at @Narbob

 

[Kwikvette]

Oh I also forgot to mention, I'm an advocate of onboard air!



I'm not into rock crawling/etc. by any means but some of the things those guys/gals do really help with the Overland experience.

I had aired down to 20 PSI throughout the drive, only to get back to solid ground the next day and air back up to 40 PSI within seconds.

 

[JoelIII]

Nice rig set up, and welcome from NC. Mine is a prerunner as well, haven't tried to much off the trails down in the flat lands out here, but it works for me.

 

[Kwikvette]

Nice rig set up, and welcome from NC. Mine is a prerunner as well, haven't tried to much off the trails down in the flat lands out here, but it works for me.

Thanks!

If you find some trails, don't hesitate to take your Prerunner out there.

At first I was skeptical, because of the "you always need 4wd" crowd but these trucks are really capable; the secret is, quite a bit more throttle.

 

[JoelIII]

Thanks!

If you find some trails, don't hesitate to take your Prerunner out there.

At first I was skeptical, because of the "you always need 4wd" crowd but these trucks are really capable; the secret is, quite a bit more throttle.

Thats true, you hit a mud hole fast enough and you'll just fly right through it! I baby it more right now since its my daily driver and don't care to pay for any extensive repairs unless really needed, but if she's still around when I retire then its game on!

 

[JoelIII]

With the suspension set up you have right now, how much lift did you add and did you upgrade your upper control arms?

 

[Kwikvette]

With the suspension set up you have right now, how much lift did you add and did you upgrade your upper control arms?

Going to piggy back on your post before this one an add, if you don't know how long your lower ball joints have been on your truck, replace them with an OEM set!

They are the weak point in our trucks and can go out when you least expect it.

To answer your question, I opted for Fox 2.5 standard travel.They offer standard travel, for 0" to 2" of lift, and extended travel, for 0" to 3" of lift. With 1st gen Tacoma's, you want to stick with 2" or less before you have to replace the upper control arms. Anything more than 2", you'll have issues getting an alignment done.





This picture was before I replaced the tires, lower control arm bushings, and lower ball joints.

I did a ton of mods within the first 3 months of ownership lol.

 

[Kwikvette]

For the rear, our Tacoma's have naturally flat springs. It's when they're frowning that they need replacing. I went with OME Dakar's for the lift, flex, and retention of the stock payload.

It's a little more involved replacing these things, but nothing you can't do with basic hand tools -



One thing you have to be wary of when extending rear end travel is, you can't use standard length shocks...unless you want to have trouble installing/uninstalling them, and destroying them by both bottoming out/over extension.

As you can see, I also installed longer bump stops.







Shocks dampen the ride, springs provide lift. Having said that, since everything was new, it'll take awhile to settle. This is what I ended up with after initial install -



RAKE FOR DAYS!

 

[Kwikvette]

Since then, it took about 2 months for the springs to settle and about 2,000 miles. They provide decent flex and unfortunately, I don't have many pictures to show what they're capable of but here's one where I parked at a stupid angle -





I also don't carry much weight if at all, so I opted to install Bilstein 5100's for the meanwhile - they're an upgrade from stock, they're longer both extended and collapsed (to match the leaf springs), and they're cheap!





And the final ride height, before I buy my RTT that is -



Once I find out the actual weight I'll keep on my rig, I'll be going back to my Fox 2.0 when they're revalved. I may also go with Deaver J59 leaf springs if I decide to do a rear shock relocation mod; performing said mod will open up the option to go with 10" to even 14" shocks.

 

[JoelIII]

Going to piggy back on your post before this one an add, if you don't know how long your lower ball joints have been on your truck, replace them with an OEM set!

They are the weak point in our trucks and can go out when you least expect it.

To answer your question, I opted for Fox 2.5 standard travel.They offer standard travel, for 0" to 2" of lift, and extended travel, for 0" to 3" of lift. With 1st gen Tacoma's, you want to stick with 2" or less before you have to replace the upper control arms. Anything more than 2", you'll have issues getting an alignment done.

View attachment 109424

View attachment 109425

This picture was before I replaced the tires, lower control arm bushings, and lower ball joints.

I did a ton of mods within the first 3 months of ownership lol.
[/QUOTE
Ok, yeah I've been reading around for a few months as far as max lift without upper control arm upgrades. I have seen where people have been able to get up around 2.5 or in a rare case or two 3 inches and being ok but the general consensus that I've read is 2 inches or less so that's what I'm aiming for in front lift, I'll stay with one inch in the rear that way it stays pretty level.

As for my lower ball joints, I bought the truck in 2016 with about 87k miles on it and the truck looked to have all original parts so other than what I've replaced I'll put money on it that everything is stock still.

 

[JoelIII]

Since then, it took about 2 months for the springs to settle and about 2,000 miles. They provide decent flex and unfortunately, I don't have many pictures to show what they're capable of but here's one where I parked at a stupid angle -

View attachment 109443

View attachment 109444

I also don't carry much weight if at all, so I opted to install Bilstein 5100's for the meanwhile - they're an upgrade from stock, they're longer both extended and collapsed (to match the leaf springs), and they're cheap!

View attachment 109441

View attachment 109442

And the final ride height, before I buy my RTT that is -

View attachment 109445

Once I find out the actual weight I'll keep on my rig, I'll be going back to my Fox 2.0 when they're revalved. I may also go with Deaver J59 leaf springs if I decide to do a rear shock relocation mod; performing said mod will open up the option to go with 10" to even 14" shocks.

I am planning to go with the Bilstein 5100 shocks as well. I was gonna keep factory springs in front and rear and max the front shocks to a two inch lift, hadn't decided on the method of lift for the rear yet. I am almost set on toytec rear shackles and then the 5100 shocks.

 

[Kwikvette]

Ok, yeah I've been reading around for a few months as far as max lift without upper control arm upgrades. I have seen where people have been able to get up around 2.5 or in a rare case or two 3 inches and being ok but the general consensus that I've read is 2 inches or less so that's what I'm aiming for in front lift, I'll stay with one inch in the rear that way it stays pretty level.

As for my lower ball joints, I bought the truck in 2016 with about 87k miles on it and the truck looked to have all original parts so other than what I've replaced I'll put money on it that everything is stock still.

Hope I was able to quote all you said correctly.

You really don't want to lift these trucks any more than 2-3" anyway; the provide pretty decent travel as it is unless you're turning it into a rock crawler. At that point, you might as well do an SAS.

Do you have a rear locker? When used correctly, you won't have trouble keeping up with 4x4 vehicles depending on terrain.

 

[Kwikvette]

I am planning to go with the Bilstein 5100 shocks as well. I was gonna keep factory springs in front and rear and max the front shocks to a two inch lift, hadn't decided on the method of lift for the rear yet. I am almost set on toytec rear shackles and then the 5100 shocks.

Bilstein 5100's are always a solid choice.

If your rear leaf springs are needing help, I would just suggest the full OME kit instead.