07 DCLB Mall Crawling DD Build

At the end of December I finally got my hands on a Tundra after a year of searching. Covid making prices spike made the whole process harder, but I finally stumbled upon this gem after Christmas. 175,000 miles on her for $12,000 (280km and $15k Canadian)


That's her, the day after I drove her home.

Here she is now, after a half-assed wash and a good undercarriage hosing.





The previous owner was kind enough to install heated leather seats. I have to figure out how to fix the passenger side heater, though.

He also added much beefier stock height springs in the rear for hauling, and I'm definitely a fan of that.

I need to pick up a second set of wheels so I can swap my winter and summer tires easily. Hopefully I can do that this weekend. From there, I've got a plan, and absolutely no money, so we'll see what happens. Here's what I'm thinking, in the order I'm thinking of doing it:

Fix/swap seat heater:
I'm hoping this is a free or close to free upgrade. I'm either going to fix the passenger side heater or swap the driver side over to the passenger side. I'm not a huge fan of the hot seat feeling but my wife likes it. I would appreciate any tips, or a guide would be really cool.

31M battery:
Costco has a good deal on 31M AGM batteries. The previous owner had a Cambodian Tire battery in the truck that I swapped for an AC Delco after getting stranded thanks to a dead battery. The AC Delco was my only option at the time and it's a little lean on CCA's. I think I need some extended terminals for the larger 31M, and once I find some I'll be doing the swap asap.

Headlights:
I was hoping to get a set of retrofits from SouthPaw since he does such good work, but it sounds like he is waiting on parts so I don't know if that will happen. If that doesn't work out, I like the Morimoto XB headlights so I will probably grab a set of those.

Fog lights:
The truck didn't come with fog lights, so I'd like to add some. and make them on demand, not tied to my low beams or whatever. Not quite sure how to accomplish this so any advice is appreciated. I like the Diode Dynamics Max fog lights, and I found a great price so unless something crazy happens, I'm going to go with them.

3 inch Lift
Baja North has great deals on sets of Elka front and rear shocks. I'm going with the 2.5 IFP shocks for 3 inches of lift up front. In the rear, I'm thinking the Icon RXT leaf pack at option 3 for about 4 inches of lift. I'm probably also going to pick up a set of Coachbuilder +1 shackles. I don't want any more lift but I haven't seen any other shackles that beefy. If you know of some please give me a shout.
Going to go with SPC for UCAs.
I'm also considering a carrier bearing drop and a diff drop, not sure how necessary those are, but they aren't expensive. I'm also looking at the coachbuilder bumper shims, but I'm not sure if I will need them.

Tires:
Once I wear out the two sets of blizzaks and the set of summer tires that came with the truck, I'm going to pick up a set of Michelin Defender XLT M+S's and a set of Nokian Hakkapeliitta LT3's, both in 275/70R18. That's the largest size they come in, or I'd go bigger.

Reverse/turn/brake/cargo lights:
Going to swap my other exterior lights for LEDs. Probably just ones I can find on Amazon, unless anyone has a better suggestion?

Fuel tank:
I'd really like to swap in either a 46 gallon tank from LRA or TransferFlow, or the stock 38 gallon tank would be cool too. This one is going to be pricey so it's not going to happen soon.

FRAC system:
I don't have a screen on my head unit so I'm not sure what to do about that. Some day I'd like to put in cameras, but the parking sensors are good enough for now.

Bed extender:
Hunting for a used one for cheap. I want one of the U shaped ones, not the new V shaped ones. Probably going to use it more as a divider than an extender. It's definitely going to come in handy.

Window and hood deflectors:
Not in a rush to get a set, waiting for a good deal.

Hellwig rear sway bar:
Going to get one of these at some point after I lift the truck.

Antenna upgrade:
Looking to upgrade my fm radio reception in the mountains. Looking at a new antenna, relocating the antenna to the back end of the bed rails, and a signal booster. If there is anything else I can do, I'm all ears.

Skid plate:
I'd like to get an RCI skid plate, but I think that might be a bit of a pipe dream, at least for the near future. I'll be doing my oil changes by taking off the skid plate until then.

Demello off road winch plate bumper:
While I'm dreaming, I'd really like one of these. The dual fog light set up appeals to me. I'd slap a set of diode dynamics max driving lights in the second slot.

Fab Fours Red Steel rear bumper:
This is the cheapest rear bumper I could find that supports the parking sensors, and that I like the look of. Going to have to modify it to fit another set of SS3 max fog lights in there.

 

The opposite of a progress update. I fried my truck by hooking the battery up backwards. The fusible link popped, so fingers crossed that the truck is fine. I get a new fusible link tomorrow, and I'm really hoping there's nothing else wrong.

The guy selling a set of stock wheels is willing to hold them until the weekend so I really hope I can go get them.

On the plus side, the wife and I have decided to name her Cherry.

I've also started collecting chrome pieces. Door handles, mirror caps, tailgate latch, fuel door, front bumper, platinum grille and surround. If you want to get rid of your chrome, let me know.

 

More good news and bad news.

All I needed was that fusible link. No issues with the truck since.

Had to make an emergency trip to Edmonton. With the cold snap, the dinky little 600 cca battery that Lordco sold me is useless. I picked up an h7 battery from Costco. Hopefully that will work. Block heater plugged in full time now. I really hope it'll be a while before I have to swap batteries again.

Now I'm focused on getting exterior lights upgraded. I'm looking for fog light assemblies and bezels. I'm currently considering TruLux Black Series LED headlights. Does anyone know of quality plug and play LEDs that put out light between 4000 and 5000 Kelvin? Driving in the dark, a yellower light definitely helps with eye strain.