JoeyV's 2012 Build Thread.

[JoeyV]

After finally hitting the 15 post minimum, I'm getting to starting my own build thread.

My wife and I picked up a 2012 SR5 in magnetic grey 2 years ago. We agreed she wouldn't spend money on it until it was paid off. I don't have that same constraint, so I started working on it right away.

Here's what it looked like the day we got it.

 

[JoeyV]

The first thing we did was to get new wheels and tires. We looked at the popular names in the wheel market and the model my wife settled on was the Fuel Shock in Anthracite/Grey. 17x9 ET1. We were also looking at tires and while we considered the popular options many people put on (Wildpeaks, KO2) we ended up going with Fuel Gripper A/T's since Fuel was having a huge sale and the product looked good. (looking back on it now, we're super happy we went with this option as it's been nothing but great for us). We went with the 33" variant over stock size. (we also tinted the vehicle - 5% over the factory rear tints and 35% up front)

 

[JoeyV]

Late in 2024, once work slowed a little at our shop, my wife wanted to go try camping. I was busy over the weekend and couldn't go, but I made time to build her a platform so she could drop in a memory foam mattress. This is the sleeping set-up w would end up using all throughout the 2025 season as well.

 

[JoeyV]

August 2025 - After going on a few camping trips, the horn stopped working and a few lights came on in the dash. Thanks to this forum, I narrowed the problem to a bad clockspring. I picked up a new one and got swapped out. Problem solved.

Given that the truck was now at 125k miles, I did a bit of maintenance. The rear brakes got a complete rebuild with new calipers, new rotors, new pads and spring kit.

I figured since I was already under the truck, an oil change was another thing to knock out.

Lastly, I picked up a good condition SR5/OR skid plate for dirt cheap to replace our old rusted one. (in time, this will be upgraded)

Unfortunately, I didn't get any pics of this, which isn't the most fun stuff to look at anyways.

 

[JoeyV]

Summer/Fall 2025

Working on the vehicle is fun, but we took most of the summer to enjoy the outdoors whenever we could. Next post will be a "what did we do to it" update, but for now, some pics of some camping and trails.

 

[OregonTrail]

Rig looks great and it appears you are enjoying it. Quick question on the tires, you don't mention any sort of lift or other mods so wondering if you have had any clearance/rubbing issues with the 33's?

 

[JoeyV]

Rig looks great and it appears you are enjoying it. Quick question on the tires, you don't mention any sort of lift or other mods so wondering if you have had any clearance/rubbing issues with the 33's?

We in fact do not have a lift yet. Only leveling kit on the front. (we're doing our lift this year) We did have some mild rubbing on the passenger side due to the factory SR5/OffRoad skid plate which we trimmed back. There was also some rubbing on the front fender liner which we trimmed back. There would have been more issues if we opted for a more aggressive offset wheel, but with these it's minimal.

Next update covers the facelift and full body colour-change PPF, so I'll include some more details in there.

 

[JoeyV]

October 2025 - Like any good car enthusiast, I spent many a nights scouring through marketplace and kijiji (Canada's version of craigslist) for any deals. At the tail end of the 2025 camping season, I found someone pretty local who was getting rid of a Prinsu roof rack for $600 (they sell for about $1300 new in Canada) and it came with a 40" lightbar. I rushed over the same night and picked up. Now, being a used unit, it needed some love; mostly new hardware. So I ordered some stainless steel engine dress-up bolts with neochrome washers. All that was left was to clean it and get it installed.

Note: We will eventually be replacing the front air dam with the LP4 version as the wife wants to go with 7 AuxBeam units instead of a straight lightbar, which is why I didn't replace that hardware on that section.

Note much in terms of pictures, but we did make a video about it.
- YouTube

 

[gordonp]

October 2025 - Like any good car enthusiast, I spent many a nights scouring through marketplace and kijiji (Canada's version of craigslist) for any deals.

Quick Note:

With friends and family spread across Canada, I've noted:

- Kijiji seems most-popular from Rockies on eastward. Want a bike in Banff - try Kijiji

- Craigslist dominates west of the Rockies. Want a 4Runner part in Vancouver? Don't even try Kijiji, but head first toward Craigslist

 

[JoeyV]

November 2025 - Facelift and PPF

I spent about a year and a half watching videos, looking up part numbers and collecting all the parts required for a facelift. Once I managed to snag the most elusive part - the crash beam/rebar - we put it in the schedule and got started.

Being the owner of the longest standing STEK PPF shop in Quebec (established in 2008, working with STEK since 2017), we spoke with our rep about the project and we received a sponsorship where they provided us with material for the full body color change PPF. We opted for the DynoGrey (kind of a Nardo grey) for most of the body, and DynoDamascus-Black for the hood and roof. The pattern in this black film looks like topography up close, so we thought it was fitting.

Unfortunately, about 3 weeks before starting the project, a young man was more concerned with looking at his phone than the road and rear-ended me, so I needed to repair the driver side of the rear bumper. It's not a perfect repair, but it's good enough to finish up the PPF given that this vehicle does go off-road.

 

[JoeyV]

We started by disassembling the front end and swapping out the base/SR5 hood with the scooped TRD hood and the DynoDamascus-Black PPF. Then we moved on to PPFing the fenders. Once that was done, we installed all the facelift brackets and components and test fitted the headlights and bumper for fitment.

 

[JoeyV]

Once the facelift fitment was confirmed, we PPF'd the rest of the vehicle and mounted a temp rear bumper while the oem repair dried.

 

[JoeyV]

The front passenger door had some rust that was starting to form, so I removed it to address it before PPFing it. Once the PPF was done, I sanded and painted the over fenders with bed liner for a durable textured finish and reassembled the whole thing. We also changed the tail lights and added an Alibaba replica Gobi Ladder (this has since been removed and will be replaced with a C4). The last image is how it stands now.

 

[JoeyV]

March 2026 - Drawer System

The end of 2025 was hectic with a move for the business, so I didn't get a chance to address anything on the truck, but it did give me some time to think about the platform we were using to sleep. Last year was always a bit of a hassle and a mess to load and store stuff in the truck for trips, so I decided to build a drawer system to help with organization. It replaced the rear section of the previous platform, but I designed it to work with the front section of the old platform. Removing the 2nd row seats also allowed for an extra 4" of headroom so my feet won't be in the back-glass anymore overnight.

My "not-a-how-to" video of the build.

 

[MDFI29]

March 2026 - Drawer System

The end of 2025 was hectic with a move for the business, so I didn't get a chance to address anything on the truck, but it did give me some time to think about the platform we were using to sleep. Last year was always a bit of a hassle and a mess to load and store stuff in the truck for trips, so I decided to build a drawer system to help with organization. It replaced the rear section of the previous platform, but I designed it to work with the front section of the old platform. Removing the 2nd row seats also allowed for an extra 4" of headroom so my feet won't be in the back-glass anymore overnight.

My "not-a-how-to" video of the build.

Nice work!