NJshadow93's 2006 SR5 Build
- Thread starter NJshadow93
- Start date
NJshadow93
New member
Thanks! I love the tires. Size is perfect IMO. I didn't want bigger originally and still don't. To me, going to 285s wasn't worth the loss of torque, loss of MPG, and increased inaccuracy of the speedometer. In person, it looks way better than these cell phone pictures may show. I would say that if these weren't as aggressive, I would have wanted bigger tires but it actually fills out very nicely. I thought they were a little loud, but realized the tire shop only had them at 31.5 PSI:wtf: which explained the crappy MPGs too. I filled them up to 36.5 PSI and they quieted down and the handling is great. Overall, I love the tires, love the size, very happy with the setup so far! Looking forward to testing it out in the snow and off road very soon.
NJshadow93
New member
I don't think the alignment is perfect, which is expected with the stock UCAs. I didn't get them because I read that the alignment will be good enough to not induce excessive tire wear and I don't really notice it pulling too much. I may get the LR UCAs some time down the road.
NJshadow93
New member
Just some videos I got of me playing around in the mud in the Pine Barrens :bluejump:
NJshadow93
New member
Installed it right out of the box, no adjustments made. Congrats on the purchase!
NJshadow93
New member
Good move. I had Daystar on my old truck for 2 weeks before it got totaled and when I got this one I wanted to do it right. I have no plans for a rear steel bumper so I wanted the Toytec Superflex coils. I knew I wanted Bilstein shocks because I always heard how smooth they were compared to the OME which I heard was stiff. As for the front coils, I took a bit of a gamble on them because I haven't heard of anyone's reviews on them. They say they can support extra weight so I was worried they would be too stiff, but then again I have the extra 300lbs of the V8. The ride is perfect for me. It's a tight, firm, solid ride compared to stock. If you don't have a new suspension by the next time we go wheeling I can let you feel the ride if you want.
Alex T4R
New member
Thanks Mike, yeah it will probably take me sometime to get new lift. Maybe by my BD in March.
NJshadow93
New member
Light Racing UCA's were installed yesterday. Pics are in second post. My alignment is perfect, has the nice solid feel to it again!
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NJshadow93
New member
My Satoshi Grille
I did not take many detailed pics like others have who built their Satoshi grilles, but I just followed certain steps from others on this forum. I'm just going to give a quick walk through here on my build thread on how I made mine.
I ended up getting the grille for free. Not only was it a gift, but it arrived to my house damaged (scratches in the chrome finish) and the aftermarket company that sold it refunded us while letting us keep the grille since they had no more in stock. My parents got me a chrome grille thinking I was going to paint it (I mentioned I wanted to Plasti-Dip mine) but I could not pass up this opportunity to build my Satoshi grille with this free, aftermarket grille since the idea of taking on this project was a little intimidating
Cutting: Like every other member who has conquered this project has done, I had to cut out the inner part of the grille. The tools I used for this were a simple hacksaw and a jigsaw. The plastic cut so easily and within 20 minutes I had the frame. The slightly downside of the aftermarket grille was that the entire thing was one piece (the chrome center piece could not be removed) and made cutting around it slightly more difficult. This is the piece I'm talking about:
Sanding: Nothing special here, I just sanded down the inner portion of the frame to get it to be as flat and smooth as possible. I also took this opportunity to sand the rest of the frame to prep for painting. Here is the frame after it has been cut, sanded, and washed.
Aluminum Sheet Metal: Fitting the Aluminum Sheet Metal mesh was by far the most difficult task of this project. I used a metallic silver permanent marker to draw the outline of the grille. I cut the shape with a pair of scissors. My mom helped a lot with cutting the mesh and bending it to fit the grille.
Close up of the mesh (metallic silver marker already on it):
Attatching the Mesh: After hours of playing with the mesh (and a week off in between out of frustration
) I was ready to attach the mesh. I have seen methods such as zip tying, gluing, double sided tape, and just screwing it on. I chose to screw it on. I bought a box of self tapping screws and washers. Because of the shape of the grille, it was nearly impossible to drill straight, so a bunch of crooked screws secured the aluminum mesh to the frame of the grille . I would just drill in whichever spot needed it, and did not keep track of how many I used. After that though, this mesh is not going anywhere.
Miscellaneous: After the mesh was secured to the frame of the grille, I was not entirely satisfied with the appearance. There was a gap between the frame of the grille and the mesh, which also revealed much of the uneven bends in the metal. I went to Advanced Auto Parts to look for a rubber weatherstripping of some sort but found something even better. It is a chrome molding with 3M adhesive on one side (could have done without the chrome, but the entire thing will be painted so it didn't bother me.) Here are pictures showing the gap on one side, and the chrome molding after it is applied.
Here is the gap on the side:
After the 3M molding is applied:
I will be installing the "TOYOTA" badge once the grille is painted. I will paint the whole thing (frame, molding, mesh) black. Unfortunately, the temperature this week won't go above 30 degrees so doesn't look like I'll get a chance yet
out: But in the meantime, here is a shot I got where I laid the badge on top of the mesh and taped it, just so I can see how it'll look.
Also, taking opinions, should I put the V8 badge on the Satoshi grille? If I do, I'll paint it white to match the "TOYOTA" badge. :thanks:
I did not take many detailed pics like others have who built their Satoshi grilles, but I just followed certain steps from others on this forum. I'm just going to give a quick walk through here on my build thread on how I made mine.
I ended up getting the grille for free. Not only was it a gift, but it arrived to my house damaged (scratches in the chrome finish) and the aftermarket company that sold it refunded us while letting us keep the grille since they had no more in stock. My parents got me a chrome grille thinking I was going to paint it (I mentioned I wanted to Plasti-Dip mine) but I could not pass up this opportunity to build my Satoshi grille with this free, aftermarket grille since the idea of taking on this project was a little intimidating
Cutting: Like every other member who has conquered this project has done, I had to cut out the inner part of the grille. The tools I used for this were a simple hacksaw and a jigsaw. The plastic cut so easily and within 20 minutes I had the frame. The slightly downside of the aftermarket grille was that the entire thing was one piece (the chrome center piece could not be removed) and made cutting around it slightly more difficult. This is the piece I'm talking about:
Sanding: Nothing special here, I just sanded down the inner portion of the frame to get it to be as flat and smooth as possible. I also took this opportunity to sand the rest of the frame to prep for painting. Here is the frame after it has been cut, sanded, and washed.
Aluminum Sheet Metal: Fitting the Aluminum Sheet Metal mesh was by far the most difficult task of this project. I used a metallic silver permanent marker to draw the outline of the grille. I cut the shape with a pair of scissors. My mom helped a lot with cutting the mesh and bending it to fit the grille.
Close up of the mesh (metallic silver marker already on it):
Attatching the Mesh: After hours of playing with the mesh (and a week off in between out of frustration
) I was ready to attach the mesh. I have seen methods such as zip tying, gluing, double sided tape, and just screwing it on. I chose to screw it on. I bought a box of self tapping screws and washers. Because of the shape of the grille, it was nearly impossible to drill straight, so a bunch of crooked screws secured the aluminum mesh to the frame of the grille . I would just drill in whichever spot needed it, and did not keep track of how many I used. After that though, this mesh is not going anywhere.Miscellaneous: After the mesh was secured to the frame of the grille, I was not entirely satisfied with the appearance. There was a gap between the frame of the grille and the mesh, which also revealed much of the uneven bends in the metal. I went to Advanced Auto Parts to look for a rubber weatherstripping of some sort but found something even better. It is a chrome molding with 3M adhesive on one side (could have done without the chrome, but the entire thing will be painted so it didn't bother me.) Here are pictures showing the gap on one side, and the chrome molding after it is applied.
Here is the gap on the side:
After the 3M molding is applied:
I will be installing the "TOYOTA" badge once the grille is painted. I will paint the whole thing (frame, molding, mesh) black. Unfortunately, the temperature this week won't go above 30 degrees so doesn't look like I'll get a chance yet
out: But in the meantime, here is a shot I got where I laid the badge on top of the mesh and taped it, just so I can see how it'll look.
Also, taking opinions, should I put the V8 badge on the Satoshi grille? If I do, I'll paint it white to match the "TOYOTA" badge. :thanks:
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NJshadow93
New member
Thanks Alex. It is off a Land Cruiser. I ordered the genuine Toyota part, not cheap but it's exactly what I was looking for. Here's the link: EMBLEM, RADIATOR GRILLE (OR FRONT PANEL). TOYOTA. EMBLEM & NAME PLATE. TOYOTA LAND CRUISER (1985 - 1987) # 7531190K00
NJshadow93
New member
Thanks Terri! Your grille was definitely one of my references when I was figuring out how to make this thing.
NJshadow93
New member
Installed 6000K HIDs in both the low beams and fog lights. All bulbs are DDM, fog light ballasts are DDM, and low beam ballasts are from Xtralights. Output is incredible and does NOT blind oncoming drivers. I performed the squirrel finder mod upon doing this and aimed my headlights lower to accommodate for the lift.
This is against the garage door. You can see the improved cutoff after the squirrel finder mod.
This is against the garage door. You can see the improved cutoff after the squirrel finder mod.
riceandpho
Elite Member
That looks too 8000k to 10000k, not much lumens on the road.
NJshadow93
New member
Applied primer to the Satoshi grille today and drilled the holes for the TOYOTA emblem. The holes don't look level but that's what it takes to make the emblem level.
NJshadow93
New member
Finished building my Satoshi grille!
