The Mighty Buffalo build thread

[Mighty Buffalo]

I've had this for almost two years now, and it started with 150k. Now it's got just over 170k, and I'm hoping it'll do double that.

It started as a 2001 SR5, auto 4WD. The guy I bought it from lives in Half Moon Bay, so there's more rust than I would expect from a CA car. Here's how it looked when I drove it home.

Here's what I've got now:

suspension
ICON 2.5 extended travel fronts, 2.0 rears
OME890 rears
All-Pro UCA
All-Pro sliders
Gibson catback SS
BFG KO2

I took off all the stickers, and the roof racks. I've added a fixed mast because the electric one stopped working.

 

[Mighty Buffalo]

Here's the fronts just after I put them on.







And here's the last trip I made:

Pismo for The Race of Gentlemen






That was probably the biggest trip I've made so far. I've made some short camping trips while sleeping in the back, but I'm hoping to put the 4WD to work!

 

[The Donald 69]

I have always though putting newer year rims on these trucks looked kinda..... bad. But you have proved me wrong. Wouldn't mind putting those on my 3rd gen.

 

[gamefreakgc]

I like the Tacoma TRD wheels. Got a beat up set for free, sanded it down, stripped the paint and painted them Graphite. Looks pretty good! Just if you ever do plan on painting them...

 

[Mighty Buffalo]

I have always though putting newer year rims on these trucks looked kinda..... bad. But you have proved me wrong. Wouldn't mind putting those on my 3rd gen.

Thanks, but I wish I had kept the 5-stars. These were take-offs from a Tacoma guy that went to 35" mud tires. The tires on the 5-stars were nearly bald, and the snowflakes were already mounted and balanced, couldn't pass them up.

 

[Mighty Buffalo]

Finally got around to installing the satoshi grille from [MENTION=102266]SRQ-Runner[/MENTION]

Good, clean fit and finish. My only gripe is that I had to shave down the mounts where the clips fit in in order to clear the slots on the frame.

 

[Mighty Buffalo]

Cupholder fix:

The pivot point was broken when I bought it, so I've never had the rear cupholders. All the parts were there, but the door would just fall off.

I epoxied the chipped corner to strengthen it, then drilled a hole to slide a dowel in, and epoxied a dowel of the same diameter as the other side.

Cut to length:

And done!

 

[Wedgy]

Cupholder fix:

The pivot point was broken when I bought it, so I've never had the rear cupholders. All the parts were there, but the door would just fall off.

I epoxied the chipped corner to strengthen it, then drilled a hole to slide a dowel in, and epoxied a dowel of the same diameter as the other side.

Cut to length:

And done!

Git 'er done !
Good engineering

 

[Mighty Buffalo]

Made a trip to Death Valley, but before I did, added a B&M 70264 cooler for the transmission and did a flush.

Didn't have to make any new holes, just used the mounting points that existed already, although I did have to take out one of the horns

After trimming the brackets and some flat black paint

I flushed it and replaced with synthetic using the method Timmy outlined in his video.

Comparison of new vs old fluid

I put in a scangauge to monitor trans temp. In OD locked on the highway, it runs about 150 degrees. In 3rd, runs about 180 degrees. Climbing up the hills in Death Valley, it got up to 210, but came back down quickly when coming to a stop, or slowing for a turn.

 

[Mighty Buffalo]

And now, some action shots