TRDHULK Build Thread - 2020 Army Green TRD Pro

[TRDHULK]

Time for new rubber!

The Geolandars were great. I loved the look, and the on/off road performance. The handled great in the rain, and got me out of any sticky situation.

After about 15k miles or so they did require balancing a little more often than usual to avoid vibrations above 70mph, but that's pretty much expected with mud terrains.

Here are my new 315/70r17 BFG KM3's!!!!

I really wanted true 35's, but with this whole chip shortage issue, they were back ordered at Discount tire for an unknown period of time. No problem though, because the 315's are only 1mm shorter and 2mm wider than true 35's. I LOVE the width of these things!

I also decided to rock the RRW's with no protection rings for a bit at this time.

So YES, 35's (or 315's) DO FIT with a spacer lift if you do the right trimming.


USE CODE "TRDHULK5" FOR 5% OFF ROCK SLIDERS AND MORE FROM CALI RAISED LED

 

[TRDHULK]

Time for new suspension! (27,334 miles)

Trail Runner USA is a small company that sponsored me to promote their product. They wanted me to keep the suspension on my truck for at least 6 months.

Their kit offers a true 3" lift, with coil-overs in the front and external reservoirs front and rear. The kit presents itself well and appears to be good quality.

This is the bottle jack trick I use to remove my rear springs. Do not try this at home. There are for sure safer methods, but this is how I chose to do it.

I used Dobinsons C59-675V variable weight 3" lift rear springs.

I did the rear first, then put the truck back on the ground so I could pick up my daughter from school before finishing the front.

Here is the stance with the spacer lift in the front and the Dobinsons springs in the rear.

Starting on the front now:

I went with Ironman 4x4 America for the UCA's. I wanted the simplicity of using the stock style ball joint. These allow for 3-4* of caster as well, which I'm told is needed to help minimize rubbing on the rocker cap area. Very nice product.

I also installed some Ark one-piece splash guards, which are AWESOME.

USE CODE "TRDHULK" FOR 10% OFF OF ARK SPLASH GUARDS

 

[TRDHULK]

Final result after the new 3" lift suspension:

I drove it without an alignment for a few days with no issues; just a crooked steering wheel.

Aligned and done!

KINGS are next!

 

[TRDHULK]

Now its time for the DRT body mount relocate!

This is not required for 315's or 35's. An aggressive BMC is all you really need, but I really liked the look of the DRT kit, and since I never had the BMC welded up and did the cutting myself, I figured I'd go all out with the relocation kit.

I was a little nervous dropping off the truck to a fab shop, since I've done all of my own work until now.

This turned out to be an ORDEAL to say the least. DRT is excellent, with TOP notch customer service. The shop that did the work is another story.

I posted on a local Facebook group looking for the best place to take the 4Runner for the relocate. Several people reached out with recommendations, but the owner of a fab shop called Turn5 Fabrication reached out and sounded promising. They were also the closest place compared to the others, and they were able to fit me into their schedule quickly.

I prepped and painted the pieces before bringing them to the fab shop.

I decided to knock out my Eimkeith panhard bar correction kit at the same time.

First issue with Turn5 was the ETA; they promised me same day even though I told them to take their time. I made arrangements to pick up the same day. They never called or replied. Next day dragged on with poor communication until they finally told me it was ready in the early evening.

This is their "finished" product........

Left over metal from the old body mount on the bottom of the frame, melted splash guard, weld splatter EVERYWHERE, even on my rock sliders, metal shavings and grinding residue all over my green paint, missing frame hole plugs, and no paint or even primer on any of the bare metal surfaces. I was horrified, and did not have the time to leave the truck there and have them complete the work. The shop was about 40 minutes from me and work was busier than usual at this time for me. The ended up giving me a $40 discount and I decided to finish and clean up their work myself.

After just a couple of minutes driving down the road, I start to hear loud clunks that sound like metal on metal every time I hit a bump or made a turn. I called and told them the issue. They claimed they did everything right, but would come pick up the truck and bring it back to their shop to inspect.

No way was I letting them touch my truck again, especially if it involved them driving it for over an hour and a half.

I got back to work, worked the rest of the day, and inspected when I got home.

I couldn't find anything immediately obvious, so I had to drive the truck for a few days until my next day off, all the while its making louder and louder metal on metal clunking noises.

Finally I had time to remove the body mount bolts and inspect.

The GENIUSES welded the body mounts onto the frame WITH the poly bushings pre-installed!!! They completely melted the poly bushings while welding!!!

You can see all of the melted polyurethane left behind in the body mount.

Here's the extra metal from the old body mount they decided not to grind off

This is how they left the body mount bolt hole plugs in the floor. Yes, those are also chunks of sharp bare metal left under my carpet...

Luckily my friendly neighbor had the exact same bushing and DRT kit sitting aside to install on his Tacoma. He let me steel his bushings and order him new ones so I didn't have to wait a few days!

I was able to use my air powered wire brush to get all of the melted poly out of the body mount.

I took advantage of being in the wheel well and decided to hammer my pinch welds. I cut every inch or so to make the metal easier to hammer. Worked like a charm.

I used urethane to seal the pinch welds after hammering, before paint.

Now time for paint.

And here's the finished product. Not perfect, but I'm happy with it, especially considering the circumstances.

The paint over the urethane didn't stay that shiny by the way; it was still drying.

Luckily, even though the shop was sloppy and incompetent, the welds looked strong. They reimbursed me for the cost of new bushings, but the owner Kevin was a complete ass through the entire process.

DRT was amazing through the entire process, and even offered to fix the shops mistakes if I was willing to drive a few states away to their shop. They even gave me their cell # for me to call if I had questions while I was correcting the mistakes.

 

[TRDHULK]

Now finally getting to test out the new suspension, tires, and clearance with the DRT body mount relocation with some softcore offroading.

All is good with clearance in the front, but I do need to massage the metal behind the rocker trim cap a little more.

There is one problem though;

The 315's did not like where I mounted the rear reservoirs...

And it also looks like its time for some rear link skids...

Here's my solution for the rear reservoirs.

I used anodized billet roll cage brackets that slightly changed the mounting location and held them more securely. At full flex, you can see the 315's still rub the brackets a little, but they arent getting torn off so this works for now until I install my Kings.

Here's a look at the trimming done to the rocker cap and lower fender area. I think I still need to trim more, and find more of a pan-head style bolt to replace the factory one.

 

[TRDHULK]

Here's a random photo wifey took showing how big it looks next to a strock 4Runner :wow2:

 

[TRDHULK]

Added some billet beadlock rings from RRW. For now they are just mounted as protection rings, but I plan to take them to an offroad shop to have the tire mounted on the outer lip of the rim, which will allow these rings to work as true beadlocks.

I went with raw billet to avoid having to touch them up all the time when they get damaged offroad. Plus, I think they look SICK.

USE CODE "TRDHULK" FOR $25 OFF RRW WHEELS

 

[TRDHULK]

Moving on to some interior upgrades.

I added a Canvasback cargo liner in Snow Camo with red stitching.

Canvasback is an awesome company. Their products are hand-made in the US and are excellent quality and easy to install.

Here you can see the matching bumper protector rolled up near the hatch.

Added a cargo organizer from Amazon.

And the OEM cargo net.

USE CODE "TRDHULK1032" FOR 10% OFF YOUR CANVASBACK CARGO LINER



Also added a Molle panel from Victory 4x4 for the rear hatch.

And replaced the factory pull strap with a red one from Agency6.

 

[Cobratuner182]

Glad to see your build written out fully. Followed awhile ago on IG. Got a couple more mods to buy thanks to this write up lol

 

[TRDHULK]

Just so you know where your suspension is now compared to stock, go out and measure your front center of wheel to lower edge of fender and record. Then jack up the front under the frame until the front wheel is off the ground, take the same measurement. The difference between the measurements is the available down travel of your front suspension.
Stock is like 3.75", the Factory Fox setup may allow a little more. How do you compare with your lift?

I've never measured it that way, but wish I would have. I do have some measurements somewhere after the lift from the hub center to the fender.

Glad to see your build written out fully. Followed awhile ago on IG. Got a couple more mods to buy thanks to this write up lol

Thanks for the support!

 

[TRDHULK]

Ditches work well to check clearances when flexing. Still need more trimming to the rocker area, but all else is clear.

 

[TRDHULK]

Lighting!

I've had Auxito LED headlight bulbs since the truck was new. Install is simple and the color matches the factory LED fogs really well.

While the Auxito's are great (easy install and good color) they only seem to last a year or so. Because of that, I gave Lasfit a try. The design is a cool concept and they have good reviews.

A couple of days after install, I noticed one of the bulbs was burnt out, and there was a smoke smell a couple minutes into my drove home from work. I pulled over and noticed the housing was filled with smoke. I pulled out the bulb, which was super hot, and drove home to install the factory bulbs. Lasfits customer service was great, but I wont be using them.

I ran phillips halogens for a few weeks, and eventually went back to the Auxito's since I know they wont burn my truck down.


Recently I added a Diode Dynamics tail-for-turn kit and LED bulbs for the reverse and brake lights.

I love this mod; it basically makes the large area of the housing the reverse light instead of wasting that space for the turn signal, and now the turn signal is below the reverse light.

Went back to Auxito for the headlights

USE CODE "TRDHULK15" FOR 15" OFF AUXITO LIGHTS

 

[TRDHULK]

On Oct 31st I added this 2017 LC200 to the fleet for wifey, so I'll be sprinkling in some posts with updates here and there.

For now the build will be mild; not really a "build" yet, but plans in he near future include a 2.5-3" lift and 34s or 35s.

Its a 2017 in Magnetic Gray Metallic on Terracotta interior with black headliner and dual DVDs.

It came with new 285/65r18 BFG K02's. I blacked out the wheels, tinted the windows super dark, removed the mud flaps, and added 1.25" Spidertrax wheel spacers.

So far the build is starting out pretty similar to the 4Runner.

The LC needed a few things done at the dealer after the purchase, so I got to drive this Raptor as a loaner for a few days. I liked it more than expected.....but I'll keep the LC and 4Runner for now.

During the minor snow storm we had thus year, we actually broke the rack playing around, so back to the shop it went.

 

[fernando.]

Love the whole fleet!

 

[TRDHULK]

Some pics from the little bit of snow we got this year.

 

[TRDHULK]

I use a SnowFoam Foam cannon with my electric Suncoo power washer, Chemical Guys Cherry Maxi Suds, micro fiber mitt, and Adams drying towel.

With the ceramic coating, I only have to wash once a month or so, and when I do, I do the wheel wells and suspension as much as I can.

 

[TRDHULK]

Wifey got me custom plates for my Birthday back in Sept.

 

[TRDHULK]

I picked up some used Kings for the front since most places have them on back order for a year. I'll be getting these rebuilt with new bearings and all.

Managed to find some short lead times on rear Kings from Accutune!!!

 

[AUXITO.COM]

Random pics showing off lift, tires, and ceramic coat.

Glass screen protector recommended by TRDJon

LED headlight bulbs from AUXITO. I love these lights, but only the low beams work. I tried installed their high beams as well and they cause the lights to flicker and act finicky.

The camera makes the lights look a little more blue here, but they have more of a white tone.

I'm sorry about the bulb appearing to not decode, man.
Could I send you a pair of decoders to try to fix the bulb not decoding?

Nice car by the way, I love the green!

 

[TRDHULK]

I'm sorry about the bulb appearing to not decode, man.
Could I send you a pair of decoders to try to fix the bulb not decoding?

Nice car by the way, I love the green!

I've never heard of that solution, so sure, sounds great! Thank you!