The Crater

Got a 2022 Lunar Rock Tundra. SR5 Off Road, double cab for the big boy bed. My first ever new vehicle! Will see how this goes.



First up was some 37" Mickey Thompson Baja Boss for the snowflake. Put them on method 706 wheels. Bronze colour for a real lunar rover vibe.




CBI skids went on as well. They do the thing.

Next came a bit of suspension. Went with Elka 2.5 DC, timbren front bumps and dobinson rear coils. Not my first choice, but what I could get and wanted to see how they were. So far, no real complaints other than the adjusters not making a whole tonne of difference all the way open to all the way closed.

Tried with the front swaybar off, but found the body roll a bit too much for how I'll be using this truck. Problems occured when I realized the Elka suspension allows more droop, and now the sway bar hits the CBI skids all the way across. I'll be making new sway bar links when I get time. At ride height and city driving it's fine.

Got a 1999 pop top camper that we put in the bed. Works decent, and my wife and I really wanted to try the camper life, coming from ground tents and rtt's, but it's just too limiting on the places we like to go we found. Will probably end up selling it soon.



Very overloaded for that trip. 4 people and a tonne of gear.

The most recent addition was the C4 front bumper with BD fogs and light bar with a gen3 smittybilt winch. Looks decent enough, definitely freaking heavy, and the parking sensors go off constantly now with them pointed much more towards the ground. Considering finding the beeper and unplugging it. Wish there was a mute option, instead of just low volume. Never actually took a picture with the bumper just realized.

Pretty much sums up where it's at currently. Have 16000km (around 10k miles) so far. Truck isn't perfect, but over all I do like it.

 

Yours looks exactly like mine, at least before the 37s and cap which mine will never have. Good luck and enjoy.

 

how big were the people in back seats? How long of a drive? Any complaints about leg room?

 

How’s the ride with the Elka’s? Thinking about going with them

 

There were 3 guys between 5'11" and 6'2", and my wife who is 5'4". The first day we drove 26 hours straight, taking turns. It was horrible. Way too cramped. But I don't think 26 hours straight is all that comfortable in any vehicle. On the way back we drove 18 hours straight, and it didn't feel as bad, but it wasn't very comfortable either. For shorter drives, I'd say under 4 hours, it was okay.

Mostly though, it's just me, my wife, and our dog. That was a special circumstance.

 

I got the elkas as a place holder until the suspension I actually want comes out for the truck. The ride is about what you'd expect from Elka, decent enough on and off road at moderate speeds. They run a bit soft, and if you start going faster off road, they get bouncy. That's the case for most stock length shock setups though.

I'd say if you're mostly on road, with some dirt road driving as well, you'd be happy with them.

Just note, the minimum lift height in the front is 2" with stock weight. I wanted to keep the truck low, but that was too high, so I had to get the dobinson rear coils to maintain some rake, which I need as I haul a lot with the truck.

 

Which model of elka did you get? Front and back?

I'm thinking of getting elka that have 0-2in lift as I don't want any lift on my truck because of the garage..

 

They are the DC ones, 2-3", which makes sense why I wasn't able to lower them anymore, I just assumed that they all used the same coil. I found that Elka's coils are usually over-rated, so they run soft for the rating, but these tundra coilovers have Eibach coils on them, so those should be good!

 

Looks like you are in the NW, if you sell the camper, let me know, I may be interested in it.

 

Did you get elka for front struts and rear shocks? Or just front?

 

You might be able to have someone at toyota turn the beep off or someone with a good enough scan tool or disconnect the fuse for the sensors.

 

I'm in BC Canada. I'll let you know!

 

all 4 corners

 

I tried tuning it out, but the ECU is still locked. I will try the dealership though, that's a good idea. I need to call them anyway, as my bed is already knocking like the tacomas with the composite bed end up doing after the bed wears in a little bit. Tightening the bed bolts doesn't help because they bottom out on the metal sleeve. I could fix it myself, but I bought a new vehicle and kinda just want to make them aware of it so maybe enough people complain, they fix it in future revisions. Surprised they went for the same design on a full size truck.

 

Which spring rate did you go with and found to be soft?

 

Mostly the different Tacoma options I've installed. The Elka come with a "700" lb coil, which is usually super heavy on a taco, and I've even had to swap some setups to a "750". With king or fox, a 700 is quite firm, and you'd never go stiffer than that, and they usually come with a 600 or 650.

 

So what rate did you go with for the tundra? I got 700 because they didn’t have any 650 ready and they said 600 is too soft.

 

honestly whatever came on them, I never looked. Probably 700.

 

Your truck looks great! Where do you find Elka’s?

 

I have a set in stock at our shop

 

Love that setup but what sort of MPG do you get on the trip with 37’s, a lift and camper? The MPG loss just going to 34’s was shocking to me but I bet loaded down it’s gotta be ugly.

 

yeah i flipped away from the economy screen and stopped looking a long time ago. it's terrible. I do need to regear this thing at some point, which might help slightly. honestly it wasn't even good completely stock. I think the best I got when it was completely stock was 15l/100km, and now I'm more like 21l/100km so I guess that's like 15.6mpg to the current 11.2mpg

 

That’s not so bad, considering. Yeah you definitely have to just stop caring about MPG when you’re going all out. We towed like a 10k lb toyhauler trailer with my brothers Gen2 hunting one time and it got like 6.5mpg lol.

 

I do have to disclaim that those are numbers straight off the screen which became completely inaccurate as soon as I put the 37s on, so I don't actually know what it is. Theoretically it should actually be a bit better than that, but who knows

 

Took a quick street parked shot of the bumper on the truck with the camper as well ready for a surf trip this weekend!

 

Recent surf trip! A little chilly!

 

If you end up swapping out the Elka's, I'll buy them!

 

Your dog is lovin life!

 

I don't expect the setup I want to be available for another year or two! But we do have a new kit in stock right now at the shop

 

He's a spoiled boy, that's for sure! I don't think he realizes how good he has it.