New from Central CA

[JoelIII]

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.

Yeah I'm pretty sure you covered it and the pics helped as well. No rock crawling in my agenda so I'm good with how it performs for the most part. I do have the rear locker which I've used once or twice to get up some steep embankments but I also have street tires so some good all terrains would have probably given me the ability to do it without the diff locked.

 

[JoelIII]

Yeah I just looked at them for the first time in a while, their is the slightest hint of a down slope on the leafs so they might be up for an upgrade as well.

 

[Kwikvette]

This intro thread almost turned into a mini-build thread

 

[JoelIII]

This intro thread almost turned into a mini-build thread

No complaints from me, I'll take experience any day. One thing though I did forget to ask is for the ball joints... little bit of confusion with the actual brand. Done some research and seen where at some point in time, the dealerships used Sankei 555 brand as a replacement. I know everyone says use OEM only for more of a guarantee and stay away from the cheap versions if your not gonna use OEM. But on some of the forums, people have said to stay away from the Sankei 555's as well. Do you know the actual brand you used when purchasing new ones, or at least what brand the originals used to be?

 

[Kwikvette]

No complaints from me, I'll take experience any day. One thing though I did forget to ask is for the ball joints... little bit of confusion with the actual brand. Done some research and seen where at some point in time, the dealerships used Sankei 555 brand as a replacement. I know everyone says use OEM only for more of a guarantee and stay away from the cheap versions if your not gonna use OEM. But on some of the forums, people have said to stay away from the Sankei 555's as well. Do you know the actual brand you used when purchasing new ones, or at least what brand the originals used to be?

555 is an OEM supplier, but if you were to buy '555' labeled LBJ's, they actually had a different grease inside of them versus the OEM counterpart.

I went ahead with the 555's anyway knowing that many people in the past have used them with success, and knowing that I'll be replacing them every 100k or so.



Replace the bolts that hold the LBJ's in place; I consider it cheap insurance.

 

[JoelIII]

555 is an OEM supplier, but if you were to buy '555' labeled LBJ's, they actually had a different grease inside of them versus the OEM counterpart.

I went ahead with the 555's anyway knowing that many people in the past have used them with success, and knowing that I'll be replacing them every 100k or so.

View attachment 109448

Replace the bolts that hold the LBJ's in place; I consider it cheap insurance.

Sounds good on all, yeah I plan on this thing lasting longer than me. I don't mind not buying the most expensive, or the "best" quality every time. Some parts you can get away with going cheaper at times but when its an item like a ball joint, I'd rather go with what will definitely work.

 

[Kwikvette]

Sounds good on all, yeah I plan on this thing lasting longer than me. I don't mind not buying the most expensive, or the "best" quality every time. Some parts you can get away with going cheaper at times but when its an item like a ball joint, I'd rather go with what will definitely work.

Standard maintenance, lower ball joints, and you'll be good for a million miles!

I've got 244k on mine and it runs like a champ.

 

[mjherron]

Welcome to Overland Bound from Missouri! Nice rig and setup!

 

[Natenite]

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.

Can you elaborate on the “depending on terrain” part? We have a prerunner and are trying to decide if we should build it out for our vehicle or try to convert it to 4wd or go an entire other route. Really love our truck and if we can make it work we want to but it’s hard to get concrete answers about a 2wd locker prerunner truck. Thanks!

 

[Kwikvette]

Can you elaborate on the “depending on terrain” part? We have a prerunner and are trying to decide if we should build it out for our vehicle or try to convert it to 4wd or go an entire other route. Really love our truck and if we can make it work we want to but it’s hard to get concrete answers about a 2wd locker prerunner truck. Thanks!

Absolutely.

To start, most off-roading can be done with;

quality tires, high-clearance, in 2wd with a solid rear or a rear locker, and experience

Where a Prerunner will fail is in sand, and wet grass/mud combined at least in my experience.

A 4x4 is still going to be more capable if we're talking rock crawling, etc. but my goal isn't to rock crawl at all so 4x4 can come at a later time. It's cheap to do and the only hard part is finding all the parts in my neck of the woods.

Experience, and knowing which lines to take, can keep someone that's driving a 4x4, out of 4x4. Too often do new off-roader's put their vehicle in 4x4 or even worse, 4L, without figuring out where to point their vehicle, and when to let out the clutch and give it a go.

If your Tacoma is a 1996-2002, you can easily convert into a 4x4 with all bolt on parts. It's only tricky when you get to an 03-04 due to the drive by wire setup, different PCM, and other odds and ends.

 

[Kwikvette]

Oh and to add to this introduction/build thread, I just purchased a Wilco Tiregate for my truck.

A full size spare is hard to fit in the spare tire area, plus my cut exhaust could damage said rubber. With that being said, I want to be able to remove the spare tire easily if I ever need to replace it so it'll sit where the tailgate is just like a "Jeep"

It'll also help for when I do my rear shock relocation mod later.

 

[Kwikvette]

Went to Tepui today -







Been meaning to buy an RTT for awhile now, but today was a total impulse buy.