2020 Army Green TRD Pro Build

Before front and rear measurements. Again, this is still factory wheels and tires. 38” up front, 39 1/4” in the rear.



And after. 39 7/8” up front, 41 5/8” in the rear. So just short of 2” lift up front, and about 2.5” in the rear.

 

Thanks! Same to you!

 

So again, tomorrow is tire installation day. I already rub ever since slightly with just the lift and the wheel spacers. So I 100% have to remove the front wheel well, front and rear mud flaps. And even after that, I know it’s still going to rub in the front. But I’m not so sure about the rear yet.

 

I’m curious what the diameter of the tubing on that stillin ram air pipe that connects to the box.

Awesome build so far!

 

I’m not 100% sure, but I can measure it. Honestly, from the driver’s seat I can’t hear the difference in sound over the volume of the TRD Pro exhaust. But my son said that he can definitely hear the difference as far as a better intake sound. But the actual difference doesn’t come from that. Yes, it’s a bigger, cone style air filter. And it still also pulls in fresh air from a hole, cutout in the side of the fender, just like the factory intake, but it also has a branch that goes to the front grill area. So when you consider the fact an engine is just a big air pump, and it operates the most efficiently with cooler air, it makes sense to want the, “ram air”, style of intake. No, that’s not exactly what this is, but when you’re moving and not stopped, you’re forcing much cooler air into the intake and throttle body. Now that does NOT translate directly into HP gains or numbers, but it does make it more efficient, which should indirectly give you better power or mileage, depending on how you’re driving. It’s the same theory as upgrading an intercooler on a turbo charger or super charged engine.

Anyway, that’s just my 2 cents. And if I remember, I’ll measure the tube tomorrow.

 

Ok, I got some much better pics this morning.

 

You got rake!!

 

I do!! But call me old, or old school, but I actually like and prefer a certain amount of rake.

 

And I just took the front and rear mud flaps out of the front wheel well. And I had to call literally 10 tire places to find someone who can mount, balance, and align my truck. So I’ll be dropping it off soon

 

It’ll look good with those 35’s on it!

 

Looking at the pics after your lift where you are showing the entire truck in one photo... The red lettering inlays seem to be a bit much and break up the appearance of the army green. It didn't see so strong in the above photos, but I think you'd maintain a more distinct look w/o them. I'm only offering feedback because you said you weren't sure if they were going to stay...

 

No, I appreciate your input. And I think that I agree. I do think I’m going to take them off. But I do think that I’m going to paint the calipers red though. That will help tie in the red of the TRD lettering on the factory wheels. Plus, the letters are a good alignment and fix. But they look even cheaper and lower grade in person than they do in pictures. So again, I don’t mind hearing other people’s opinions. I appreciate it.

Also, the truck and tires are at the only local place I could find who had technicians available today, as well as the ability to mount, balance, and do the alignment. I literally had to call 10 places to find one. That seems crazy to me. Why are there so many tire places that can’t do alignments? Seems ridiculous. And I’m even talking about the big name chain places too.

The guy at the tire place asked me where I got my lift kit installed. I said, my driveway!! He laughed!! Apparently people don’t do their own work very often anymore. But why pay $1500 or however much when I have plenty of tools and young boys who can help? Plus, no one takes pride in their work anymore. Even if you find an, “expert”, to do something like that, literally no one cares about or will take as much pride in or be as OCD as you will be with your own stuff.

I will say this though. It 100% still rides and drives like factory after the lift with the factory wheels and tires. So we’ll see how it does with the 35’s.

 

And it’s home. It looks amazing I think. But definitely going to have to do the body mount chop as well as trim the front of the front inner fender. Neither of which is a big deal for me.

 

The bad. Here’s where it rubs.

 

Red calipers will look nice; they're subtle enough, but still make a statement!

To do alignments you've gotta spend money on equipment and pay to have someone that knows how to do them beyond what is taught at the weekend seminar, especially when dealing w/lifted vehicles. I think a lot of places are a bit too cookie cutter to use that to their advantage and make money off of it. Kinda equipment, training and personnel to do Road Force balancing...

If they invest and provide good service, they can build a good clientele base (just through word of mouth w/the 4x4 community. But, if they don't; they'll try to do a few and end up wasting a crap ton of time trying to get it right (plus in contrast word of mouth will hurt them quickly w/these types of vehicles), so they keep it simple and do easy turn key work... Bottom line, it's poor management and ownership.

Trucks are not the only industry that kind of stuff happens; my wife moved out here about 6 months before I did and started painting the inside of house. We have a typical 2 story w/a switch back on the stairs; so the walls are fairly tall at a few points. I told her I did not want her climbing a ladder by herself trying to do that shit (for some reason she loves to paint and wanted to tackle painting the entire inside prior to all of our stuff showing up; more power to her)... Anyhow, point being, she called around town and no one, I mean no one that does interior painting wanted the job (middle of the winter when they are super slow her); she was told numerous times... 'ehhhh... that's just really isn't worth our time to do that type of work so we don't do it'!!! WTH???? She even offered to let them do the entire upstairs as 'incentive' for their time to cover set up, prep, tear down, etc.... NOPE!!! Amazes me!

Anyhow, sorry for the rant! I'm looking forward to seeing your truck w/the new shoes!!!!!


Edit: Well, apparently I should have scrolled a little further!!!! Looks great!!! I'm sure you'll get a few recommendations from guys here on how to resolve that rubbing you're dealing with, but I'm sure it'll be an easy fix in lieu of the other work you've done!!! Congrats on your build!

 

Thanks man! I really appreciate it!!

And I hear you. No one wants to work, and even when they do, there is no pride in knowing that your name will be attached to something.

 

You are going balls-to-the-wall. I like it!

 

I know. I really am. I’ve literally never bought some nice and new and exactly what I wanted. I’ve always driven the hand me down and old crappy vehicles. So I told myself that when I did it this time that I was going to go all in and build it exactly the way that I want it. And ASAP. Not slowly over many years. So that’s what I’m doing.

This morning was the first time that I took it onto the interstate at high speeds. The ride quality is still there. But the big foot print of those tires definitely grabs the road and you kind of feel it wander every so slightly if that makes any sense. Not crazy, like the death wobble of a solid axle truck, but definitely not as nice as it was before the lift and tires.

Plus, there is literally 0 road noise from the tires, which is nice. And I’ll gladly take the slightly worse ride for the look and the capability improvement. But I guess that’s personal preference. The look and stance is absolutely perfect for my personal taste. Although I know that everyone has a different opinion.

Anyway, I’m on a flight on my way to Hawaii to work on a submarine at the moment. But the head unit gets delivered today from Crutchfield. So when I get back I’ll install that. And while I’m gone I plan to decide on component speakers and a subwoofer enclosure and speaker(s).

I’m not looking to impress or piss of the neighbors, but I also want my money’s worth and to have the option to make it a lot more loud than the level that I ever plan to listen to it at. In case you haven’t noticed, I usually go high and right and overkill. My theory is the buy once cry once. And that I will hopefully never have to readdress something that I didn’t do right the first time.

 

looking great. Try to find a local toyota off road shop for your body mount chop and alignment. check forums like tacomaworld. Some guys cut/weld on the side and their work could be great.

 

I already got an alignment at the same place where I got my tires mounted and balanced. They’re a specialty off road place, so I feel pretty good about it.

And I actually plan on buying the metal triangles from a website while I’m out of town for the body mount and doing it myself. It’s pretty straightforward actually. And for the front, I’m going to take the front inner fender loose and see what I need to trim or relocate and push further forward. Probably cut where the bottom part attaches, heat with a heat gun and slowly remold further forward, then mark where the mounting holes go, and weld the sheet metal that I cut out back in the same area so I can actually put the bolts back in and have it look factory.

That’s the plan anyway. Sounds good in theory. We’ll see how well it works in real world practice!!

 

I do have a quick question though that someone knows a quick easy answer to. Or can at least share a link.

So I did notice on the ride to the airport this morning that my factory fog lights shake excessively. I remember reading or hearing about this, but I don’t know what the fix is. Can anyone point me in the right direction? Thanks in advance!

 

This may have been pointed out but if you ditched the 2” spacer for a 1”, maybes 1.5”, you may not have to BMC or cut front liner.

 

I know that. I appreciate you letting me know though. I like the 2”. And I’m not afraid to trim, cut, and weld.

Everyone has a different thought or feeling about this, but I like this look and stance. Besides, I paid almost $400 for these, so they’re going to stay around for a while!!

At least until in need new tires again. Then I’ll readdress getting different wheels with a better offset and no spacers.

If you have the right tools and level of ingenuity level and are as OCD and critical of your own work as I am, you can easily make alterations like this that are as good looking and functioning as they were from the factory. I guess what I’m saying is that I look forward to the challenge.

 

Hey Chris. Zip ties are your friend. Even after I switched my fogs to amber diodes I zipped tie them. No shaking issues at all.

 

Ok, sounds good. Thanks Don!

 

Excuse my ignorance, but when you say you switched to 'amber diodes'... did you retain the original housing and rigid assembly and just change the bulbs or something, or did you replace the entire light????

The factory lights or not poor quality or "cheap", but anyone using them in actual dense fog knows yellow/amber light does much better than bright white LEDs....

If you did switch them out, what did you go w/and are you happy w/them???

 

Hi, Yes they are the Pros and not the max. Got them from HotShot off road here. Really big difference from my Led fogs on my 21 Pro. I got the round housing from sparks Toyota. You cannot use the Pro housing unless you modified them. The housings are cheap. I’m very happy with my amber fog lights. No reason to go with the Max. There diode dynamite lights. So if I ever need to switch back to my factory fog lights the hood housing is together. But I used zip ties to make sure the lights don’t shake. Plenty of areas to wrap them around. Hope this helps.

 

Really well done. I have the same setup as you although I went with 37's. Doing the work yourself is very rewarding. Only way to do it!

As for the rubbing, I took an angle grinder and flap discs to the front bumper. Worked out well and the cuts are barely noticable. You should be just fine. I totally removed the fog lights plastic shrouds.

 

I just got home from my work trip and look what was waiting for me.

 

I was thinking about making a whole separate forum post for this stereo and speaker upgrade since it seems to be such a hot topic of conversation on this site.

I’m literally going all out. I have this top of the line head unit, new front component door speakers and tweeters that come with passive crossovers. New 2 way, full range rear door speakers. And a 5 channel amp on the way as well as a ********* ported subwoofer box that holds a single 12” sub. Plus, hopefully everything I need to remove the factory amp and the connectors to tap into the existing speaker wires under the passenger front seat.

So, for any of you who don’t know, a 5 channel amp is just 1 single amp that has the 4 channels for the 4 door speakers, and then a second single channel with a lot more power for a subwoofer. Anyway, the subwoofer is an Alpine S-W12D4 S series. Nothing too crazy or too expensive, and it works perfectly for the small amount of space that we have behind our back seats without having to go to a shallow mount, which in my opinion always sound bad. Plus it’s perfect size, depth, and Ohm/wattage load for my amp. And I see no need to have 2 subwoofers when I rarely need or want crazy base anyway. But I’m also installing a bass knob so that it’s quick and easy to turn the bass up or down without messing with head unit settings.

Ok, with all of that said, what do you guys think? Put all of the intimate details here, or in a separate stereo post so that others can more easily search and find and use it in the future?