THealey’s Build thread

2017 SR5 CrewMax XSP 4x4
Bought the truck with about 55k miles, it came with the bed topper, color-matched fender flares, and an aluminum grille.

 

The first upgrades which I don’t have pictures of were WeatherTech HP Floor Mats, Headlight revolution Interior LED Upgrade Kit, LED Cargo Bed Light, and License plate light.

 

Next: lift, Wheels, and tires.
Lift:BDS 4.5” w Bilstein B8 5100 Front/Rear
Wheels: Fuel Maverick 20x10
Tires: Nitto Ridge Grappler 35x12.50r20

 

Audio Upgrade:
OEM Audio Plus Reference 500 System with Dual subwoofers and dedicated sub amp

Pretty happy with this upgrade, crisp, clear audio. But I would like to be louder in the future.

 

Next up:
Alpharex Nova Headlights
Repowdercoat the grille & Plastidip the emblem

Really cleans up the front end, and the lights are bright.

 

Ronin Factory Bullet Antenna + Morimoto XB Fog lights installed!

Radio connection is terrible, but looks 10x better. I use Bluetooth anyways.

 

Alpharex Luxx Tail lights, easy install, and I feel like they make a huge difference in the way the truck looks.

 

Headed to the keys. Using a Weight safe 180 hitch and newly installed airlift 5000 airbags.

Truck tows great. ~8-9mpg. The airbags are a little rough when unloaded but definitely nice when towing.

 

Added ESP underseat storage. Functional mod, truck lacked storage so I had a box with breakdown/recovery goodies in the bed, and it was always in the way. But, this solved the issue!
1. Lay the template and trace it onto the carpet
2.Use a razor blade to cut the carpet
3.I used a hot knife to cut the foam for a cleaner install instead of a razor blade.
4. Test fit storage box
5. Cut Chanel into floor mat so it’s still functional.
Take your time with the install, double triple check and it will come out good

 

Next up was rock lights, not gonna go over how I did them, I have a separate thread for that.
https://www.tundras.com/threads/rock-lights.136503/
Was a big install but I love the final Product. I used 16 36w Pure white overkill lighting rock lights wired to a remote switch.

 

After the lighting upgrades, I needed to upgrade my power source.
-X2 Power 27F
-Down4Sound 4 spot SAE Lug Terminals
-Voltage Booster Pro “Spark”
I run the voltage booster pro on the “low” setting which keeps my battery at ~14.4v with everything running

 

Next was “performance” and some cosmetic stuff.
1.Stillen CAI
2.AFE Throttle Body Spacer
3.K&N Engine and Cabin Filters
4.Painting Engine bay plastics
Also did a thread on this:
https://www.tundras.com/threads/painting-engine-bay-plastics.154310/

My takeaway from these;
1. Stillen CAI, the design looked the best out of the CAI’s on the market. Getting true cold air from the OEM location and Ram air from behind the grille. But this thing had its problems. The install was a pain in the ass, the mounting holes were slightly off, so I had to make them a little bigger for the bolts to line up. Next issue was the threaded brass inserts that hold the lid on the air box. One became loose and was spinning in place, not a fun issue to fix, had to pry it out… fun times. Went back and forth with Stillen to try and get a new box and ended up getting one. And haven’t had an issue since. But that is definitely a flaw. After install, the truck was starting like shit, taking several times to crank and start. No CEL’s but very rough starts, and drove fine. After about a week of this, I decided to let the truck idle for ~1 hr. This solved the issue. I believe it gave the ECU “memory” at the low rpm’s. Ran the filter it came with for a while and had no issues. Saw about a 1mpg increase and definitely can hear the engine when you step on it.
2. Throttle body spacer- In hindsight, I feel like it was a waste of money, no real research that it does anything, whatever I was 16 when I bought it. It makes a whistle noise between a certain rpm range, kinda sounds like a supercharger, so take that how you want. It’s annoying when towing because it is a constant whistle, but daily driving I don’t mind it.
3.K&N Filters- was tired of buying new cabin air filters so I got the K&N washable, it’s nice.
I got one for the Stillen CAI as well. This created a little problem. It was allowing too much air and throwing a MAF code. Thankfully I was in contact with RCTuningFL to get OTT tuned in a month, and a MAF rescale would take care of the issue.

 

Nicely built for Florida! The only time, so far, I ever miss 4wd is when I go to your side and cannot go on the beach... That said, I do just fine on our beaches until they close them down lol...

Is the red in your grill just from the paint? That is... bold... if so.

 

I had been wanting to add some red under the truck. I wish I would’ve powder coated the lift before install, but i didn’t. Decided I’ll powder coat what I can without disassembling too much as I still need to drive the truck. While doing this I might as well paint the frame to mask some surface rust. This is happening in 2 parts, front and rear. Rear is still being worked on. Got a good quote on my skid plate and tow hooks(Sent it with my brother’s lift kit) for powder coat. Used Prismatic Powders, Toyota Radiant Red.
I used POR-15 Top coat chassis black to paint the frame. Extensive prep process, which I wont go into unless requested, But came out pretty nice good.
To start, I just powdered the skid plate and my tow hooks.

My brothers truck:

 

Thanks! Yea I would’ve been screwed on the beach several times without 4wd, have had to save several people and the truck does it like nothing. Definitely will never own a truck without 4wd living over here. Yes the red behind the grill is just from paint, horns and radiator air deflectors.

 

My next upgrade was to add a switch panel because I have several more lighting upgrades to make. I have a separate thread on that:
https://www.tundras.com/threads/auxbeam-install.155316/

 

I have had both and unless I was visiting your side and going on the beach or on a slippery boat ramp, I didnt use it. So when I had to unexpectedly buy a new truck, I was/am ok with 2wd. Once this Tundra is at its limit and I go to a Power Wagon, it will be 4wd again.

 

Like I talked about earlier, I had heard the rave of the OTT tune for Tacoma, but hadn’t heard that much about it for tundras. And I saw mixed reviews about the DAP tune. Black Friday Rolled Around and RC Tuning FL ran a sale for OTT Tunes. Couldn’t resist at 15% off. Ever since I put 35s on the truck it was sluggish until you really got on it, and some rough shifting from 1st to 2nd, and held onto 5th gear on the highway. And the Stillen CAI problems I mentioned earlier. Talked with Ralphie With RC Tuning FL about these things and got the truck OTT Tuned, along with a MAF Rescale for the aftermarket intake (Turned out it was off by ~20%). Boy did it wake the truck up, Went with Medium/spicy(when you hit tow/haul). Truck had smooth shifting, and instantaneous power. No lag Whatsoever. I highly recommend this mod and wish i would’ve done it sooner, it just makes the driving experience that much nicer. As far as fuel economy goes, I find myself driving faster/more aggressive now so i don't see an improvement there, but if I was to drive like a grandpa, I would likely see improvement.

 

Got a Few Xmas Gifts for the truck.
-TRD sway bar front and rear (getting powder coated)
-JL Oil Separator
-Billet battery tie down(from Amazon, couldn’t justify $90)
-HMC Billet License plate Frame
-TufSkinz


I’ll post the TufSkinz and Sway bars when they go in. This Finishes up the engine bay for the most part, and everything was easy to install.

 

Rear end Teardown was commenced once I got the sway bars. Tore off my Caliper covers, Air bags, and hitch receiver. Also ordered extended links for my rear sway bar from BDS.
Everything was off, it was time for prep and POR15 Topcoat.

these were the parts going to powder coating.

Got everything back From powder, and got all new stainless hardware where applicable. Next steps are to ceramic coat everything and assembly!





yes the bolts will get cut, waiting to put 500mi on them, and do a retorque then I’ll cut them.

as far as the TRD sway bars, huge difference in the way it handles, especially in the corners, haven’t towed anything with it yet but excited to see how it performs with them.