2001 build project. Ok this is going to take a while...

Thought you guys might be interested in what I am gonna do to my first gen Tundra.
Its a 2001 and it has 210,000 miles on it and I have decided its going to need a few major upgrades. Dont get me wrong the truck drives great and we just took a 5 day trip through Moab from Colorado doing some decent trails.
So a little history I have had the truck since 2017 got it at 175k for 6 grand its been wonderful but over the last year all my buddies got new fancy trucks so last November I decided to upgrade a bit and got a 2011 Ram 2500 with the Cummins 6.7 I loved the truck but in the 8 months I had it I had about 10 different codes come up (I still have not had one on my Tundra.)
Anyway after I was told I needed all new injectors and dpf and whatnot I decided to go back to Toyota. Thankfully my wife would not let me sell my Tundra and the dealer said they would give me 2k over what I originally paid for the Ram. After realizing I didn't have a car payment I decided to why not just put some money into ole faithful.

So This is where I start.

Stock 2001 TRD Limited with an LSD with 30in tires, dented front and rear bumper, highrise camper shell and decked box. With a horrible peeling paint job.
I would like to end at
2001 TRD limited with 34in tires and a 3 in lift, Rhino lined Grey with new front and rear high clearance bumpers. 9000lb winch. Rock rails. Front and rear lockers (down the road). New seats, new headlights, and a new speaker unit.

I am starting with the bumpers/suspension.

My wife thought it would be a good idea to forget 4wd in a snow storm (she drives a Subaru) and run into a pole.

Anyway looking for any and all suggestions.

I would love to do a long travel set up but I dont think I wanna shell out the 3k for the set up. Unless someone wants to sell me one real cheap?

I do have a set of Icon remote res long travel shocks that I can use but I think I might just get them rebuilt to fit my midtravel set up its about 850 for the rebuild.

I am about to order new upper control arms and as I am doing this as a daily driver I was looking into the JBA ones what do you guys think?

 

Welcome from St. Barts!

Do a little searching around the 1st Gen Section and it may give you some ideas/answers. Lots of good shtuff floating around here.

 

Yeah been reading through a ton of different threads some really great information. Figured I had done enough reading and I should start interacting.

 

Let us know how you plan to use your truck. I’m asking because it sounds like the truck has a LSD, did well off-road on 30” tires, and most of us haven’t found a way to go bigger than 33” without limiting articulation.

As for long travel: “DO it!”

I paused when you estimated 3k (multiply by 2 then round up by 2k), but then I saw you’ve already got quality coilovers, so if you can do all the work yourself, I vote you commit and jump in. Do you weld?

 

I don't have personal experience with the JBA's but have heard really good things about them. The icon rebuild for $850 doesn't sound bad.

 

It does have an LSD and it has done really well I just am thinking I might have to regear in the future so might try for lockers. Are they worth it compared to the LSD?

yeah I am an ok welder and I have a Miller 211 so most fabrication is not too far out of my reach. Besides the price is there any downsides to long travel that I am not thinking about? In the future I want to get a light pop up camper?

looked at the total chaos set up and I just don’t think I can swing that price.

 

Yeah they would basically be brand new shocks.

 

Welcome aboard. I'm not familiar with the JBAs, so I can't comment on those. If you want uniball UCA on a mid-travel setup you might be able to get a good deal on Total Chaos UCAs here: https://www.tundras.com/threads/warehouse-liquidation-sale.66300/

Lockers are going to be an upgrade IMO. Especially rock crawling, doing obstacles, and being recovered. When the differentials are locked, you have "true" four wheel drive and the wheels are locked together at the same speed. If you have a tire off the ground with an LSD or open differential, that wheel will still receive receive torque and spin at its own speed when off the ground. LSDs solve this by applying more torque to the wheel that has traction, and less to the spinning wheel. If your differential is locked, the wheel that has traction will be getting 100% torque. If both tires are on the ground, and getting traction they'll be getting that torque. If one wheel is off the ground, it will spin at the same speed as the wheel with traction. A locker will help you in a situation where one wheel can get good traction but the other can't. There's much more to it, but hopefully that helps you understand a bit.

 

Unless we know where/ how you like to drive, it’s hard to weigh in on long travel. LT makes everything easier, rock climbing or high-speed, but if you drive well, you can do a lot of the rock crawling without LT. Whether you get TC’s LT kit or piece components together, for LT you’ll want to reinforce all the mounting points.

And unless you find a truck like yours with 34” tires, don’t commit to that size. You can maybe do it with LT and wheel spacers and a body mount chop, but it would suck to start building and realize you can’t get full use out of the articulation and droop you spec’d.

 

Ok well in my dreams I want a truck I can use for any and everythying is that too much to ask hahah.
Anyways I would love to be able to do Mild rock Crawling not expecting to run King of the Hammers but I would love to get to some more remote places that stock trucks can't.

Truck will be my daily driver about 10 miles back and forth to work, 8 of those on the highway. But once the truck is fully set up I wanna get a little beater car for commuting.

Also I plan on carrying a small camper in the bed somewhat like the four wheel campers. Ya see this is where I am wondering if I go with a long travel front will I decrease my payload capacity?

I don't want long travel for launching my truck or anything but I would like the extra articulation.

So you are saying that with a long travel set up you cannot use as big of tires? or that even with a "mid travel" set up the bigger tires will reduce articulation I guess this makes sense that thats why guys put on fiberglass?

This I guess is my conundrum where is the sweet spot considering all this? I know I can't get everything but I don't want to do a bunch of work and realize that I need to change it all.

I appreciate any and all ideas!

 

Thanks for the succinct explanation probably will end up doing those down the road sometime. Thanks for the heads up on the warehouse sale. I have sent Him a PM to see what he has.

I was liking the Uniball style but then realized that it would probably need a lot more maintenance. Are the uniball joints stronger? The JBA say they have 90 degree articulation and have less maintenance. Honestly my brain is spinning with all the information that I have been learning haha.

 

Picture of the truck a couple of years ago. It was a bit prettier back then.

 

I have been pretty rough on the truck over the last 4 years.

 

I think you should name your truck Gantu. The chrome grill on a dark truck is uncommon me thinks, and honestly, I kinda like it. Congrats.

 

Hahah only problem is that I plan on repainting the whole thing soon. But you are very right it’s funny how our brain associates things.

 

Your front bumper is pooched anyway, time to go coastal....

 

Yes I was gonna go with a Move bumper but after all said and done the coastal are only 50 more than the move. Thanks for reminding me about those guys!

 

https://www.srqfabrications.com/store/00-03-Tundra-3-5-Long-Travel-Suspension-p216208128


any body heard of these guys? I like the price a bit better.

 

I've never heard of them, but their swaybar links on site look very similar to some on marketplace here.

https://www.tundras.com/threads/sway-bar-links-1st-gen-springfield-or.53425/unread

 

Looks like you have a solid plan, good base of knowledge and a great platform to work with. Looks good to me.

 

If you like BFG AT tires they make a 34x10.5 that I think you could get away with if you have the right wheels and are skillful in the art of hammer. With a 4wd I wouldn't recommend more than 2" lift up front but some guys run 3" and seem to get away with it.

 

I would not recommend JBA until they get new boots sourced. They cracked only couple months after having them. Said they would get new boots to me in February. Still have yet to get new updated boots. Also saw a guy at car wash with JBA and his were rusted... ‍♂️

 

With enough trimming anything is possible. I have 35s on 3 inches of lift and 2in spacers. Only time it rubs is full lock in reverse. She’s all chopped up to fit them though.