After that, I did a couple of cosmetic mods. I used a heat gun to remove the chrome emblems and replaced them with black ones, so I could be part of the cool kids club. It matched the steel bumper and wheels better than the chrome (in my opinion), and I got a deal on them from someone in my office who bought them by mistake thinking they were overlays. I thought about leaving the SR5 badges off, but the paint underneath the removed badges looked so shiny and new that you could still see the "SR5" outline after removing the goop, so I slapped the black one on. Wear it loud, wear it proud!

I also ordered (and waited 9 months for) an LED switchback running light bezel kit from Aiden James Customs (BEWARE OF THIS GUY, my experience is documented here Aiden James Customs - LED Running Light Bezel Kit). I like the look, but it was not worth dealing with the BS from the vendor.

In addition, I took a dremel to the front end and did my own "high clearance" cut. It looks fine, and increased my clearance a little prior to upgrading suspension. I added some weather stripping to the edges to give it a more finished look. At this point, I still like the look, but I could probably take it or leave it. But you can't uncut your bumper.









Next, I decided I had put off replacing the suspension for long enough. I decided on the Toytec BOSS Aluma series, after considering other options like Bilstien, Old Man Emu, etc. This kit came with everything needed for the diff drop, sway bar relocation, bump stop relocation, UCA replacement, etc. And the Toytec physical shop was only about 30 minutes from my house, which made it easy to shop and compare. Until this point, I had done all of my mods myself, but I have no experience with suspension. I had Toytec install the lift to make sure it was done right the first time.







The lift turned out fantastic, I'm very happy with the results. I got rid of my bumper-induced droop, road manners are dramatically improved, and I have no regrets with my decision. My 275/70/17 tires did look a little dinky afterwords, but I wasn't willing to buy bigger tires while these still had life on 'em. I purchased a set of Spidertrax wheel spacers from a member here ( thanks @jk24runner !) to push my wheels out and fix my stance. We met up at 5:00 AM in a Popeye's parking lot, stood around in the snow for 20 minutes talking about mods, and I left with a gently used set of spacers. Looks great!