JDeMello

I feel pretty cool right now so I might sound a little excited! I went over to Donahoe this morning to check out the new 05 Tacoma and talk about the cool build up were doing on it!

Kreg Donahoe has put together a awesome team for this build up. Donahoe is going to be building some coil overs for it, and after seeing what Dylan had planned this morning it's going to be awesome! It's a little differnt than there current tacoma coil overs but will only be better.

DeMello Off-Road is going to be doing the sliders, with the help of Kreg we will also be doing some bumpers and rear bed rack type thing!

Walker Evans is working on the bead lock wheels right now. Those will be covered in some new 17in MTR's. But for those that want a smaller rim, we did fit a factory 16in tundra/tacoma wheel on there with no problems this morning.

Delta is going to be doing some new 8in lights for it also!

I feel pretty special, while I was there Dylan let me take The 05 Tacoma for a spin! All I got to say is WOW! I'm pretty hard to impress but this thing is a HUGGGE improvement over a already great current truck!

First off the power, It pulls hard thru at least 3 of the 5 auto gears! Thats all I had room for on the streets of Anahiem...lol That new engine kicks ass! It just keeps pullin hard!

The ride is pretty nice, very comfortable and quite! Much like the tundra but tighter! this was a sport model and has some pretty nice sport seats! Way better than the current ones! The interior was also very nice! Very well laid out and felt really well built!

Ground clearence is not bad! It "apears" to have the same tacoma 8.4" rear end but only wider, the sport model has a LSD but the TRD model has the locker. I think the numbers show it being a little lower than the current truck, but it seemed to be the same or higher to me?

I was really concerned that it would be too wide or too tall, but honestly it isn't much bigger than the current tacoma. We parked it next to Dylans 02 with 35's on it and it was only a little bit bigger here and there! It really didn't seem to loose anything due to the size. I don't think it will be long before you see a SAS'ed 05 on the trail!

The really cool thing that Dylan already mentioned is the front end will be capable of lifting at least 3in of lift and the CV's are still really happy! The front diff looks a little like the current one but It might be a little bigger, same basic design but I think it's bigger! the CV's also looked a little larger than the current ones!

Over all this is a huge improvement on a already great truck! I'm pretty sure this one will make it's first official appearence at the sema show in Novemeber!

I'm already trying to figure out what car's I can sell to make room for this one!

Stay tunned for updates and pictures

calg3

Awesome! Can't wait to see what you are going to come up with tube wise for these trucks. The more I hear about these the more I want one. Lucky!

Good Times

Hey jason I thought you were busy working on your taco and not fartin around w/ the new 05 I'll definitely have to talk to ya saturday if you're not busy so we can talk about the new 05!!

btw, I need a quick patch on something if possible b4 I head out for my trip on sunday (small and quick might I add).

(pss.. sell the 4runner, the red taco and make room for the 05!) - sorry but i can't help ya fund that one though

SLC Punk

Nice review. Its good to hear that you actually drove it and liked it. Some of the 05 Tacoma posts are just dogging on it, but they have no first hand experience.

I can't wait to see one with at 3" lift and 285's on it!

JDeMello

I don't know what direction we will go with the front or rear bumpers. This is a toyota project also, meaning they will have it in there sema booth at sema, so we have to keep it somewhat toyota. I don't know if we will go full awesome front bumper or a simple light bar?

We have to think of it from a selling point also! People are not going to want to tear up a new truck with huge ass bumpers right off the bat. But a really nice front bumper will get them thinking also?

JDeMello

I will be really busy from here till the ORE but come on by I will see what I can do.

I drove the runner in this morning and I don't know if I want to sell it or not it's really nice now, it only took me 1 year to get it nice..lol DAMN POS!

JDeMello

People really need to have a open mind, I hated the tacoma when it first came out in 95. I hated it! But it grew on me and I have bought two since then! Change is always hard to except but just know that it will be differnt, except the positives and work around the negatives!

I wasn't planning on getting one when they came out, I thought my white one would be my last, but I'm seriously thinking about getting one when they do come out!

jacksonpt

Any word on what pricing will be like?

JDeMello

Nope but I don't think it will be a huge differnce?

MrTom

Jason,
As you are working on this project please look into how much of what you do can be fitted to the current 4Runner. It is my understanding that the two vewhicles are now on the same Prado frame. Havent seen any specs for the track dimensions but suspect they are the same. Would like to here what you think about the compatability of parts.
Thanks,
Tom

Good Times

front 1/3 of the truck (basically from the dash to the front bumper) is the same as the 03+ 4runner.

This means the suspension is identical as well. Visually speaking it is identical. The top plate studs might be offset or something like how they did that w/ the 3rd gen 4runner and the current 04 taco's.

JDeMello

Well I can tell you that they are about the same as the 96-04 tacoma's in relation to the 96-02 4runners. The front ends look about the same as far as suspension is concerned. the engine is the same v6 the 4runner has. There may be some other things they share but the frames are differnt. The tacoma is box and c-channel much like the tundra and the 4runner is all boxed.

I'm pretty sure the 4runner coil overs will work in the tacoma's also.

SEAN_at_TLT

Cool, that is great that you guys are working w/Donahoe on this high-profile project!

Although the older rims will bolt-up, they are a only 4.5" back spacing as opposed to the newer rims being about 5.5" or so. So the older rims would stick out 1" more.

You mean it looks like they stopped using the "V6" rear? I hope so, the larger 8" is theoretically much stronger. If that's true (even for locker quipped models) then that means people with non-locked Tacoma's could easily retrofit a locker now! I hope that they didn't just use the larger 8" on the LSD equipped trucks...

Although it's not too much larger, the current Tacoma is already about as big as you would want for tight trails. Also the new truck has more purdy sheetmetal to get dented.

The new Taco's use the same awesome 8" as the new 4Runner's, so yes it is bigger and the CV's are larger and way stronger! IMO this is the most exciting news, I hope there is a way to retrofit the new 8" to older trucks.

I think the trucks will be in dealers already by then but barely. Are you going to go out to SEMA with Kreg and Dylan? If so I look forward to meeting you in person!

Keep up posted on progress, Thanks for the good info!

FirstToy

Jason Demello,
Congrats on getting to work on the new truck! I hope it brings you tons of good business, you are 'one of the good ones'.

Also thanks for your analysis. Very cool.

calg3

Sounds like a cool bolt-on prerunner style might be the way to go, especially with the Walker Evans wheels and Donahoe suspension.

JDeMello

>>>The new Taco's use the same awesome 8" as the new 4Runner's, so yes it is bigger and the CV's are larger and way stronger! IMO this is the most exciting news, I hope there is a way to retrofit the new 8" to older trucks.
<<<<

Is this true? if so that would be awesome! I wounder what gears will work in there? Next thing you will tell me is the same 8in gears for the rear's will work in the front

I wounder if they would fit in the old trucks? they look about the same?